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THE
Jewish Encyclopedia
A dcsciuptive: rxcord of
THE HISTORY, RELIGION, LITERATURE, AND CUS-
TOMS OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE FROM THE
EARLIEST TIMES
Prepared by More than Four Hundred Scholars and Specialists
UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE FOLLOWING EDITORIAL BOARD
Cyrus Adler, Ph.D. {Departments of Post-
Biblical Antiquities ; the Jews of America) .
GOTTHARD Deutsch, Ph.D. [Department
of History from J4g2 to igoi) .
Louis Ginzberg, Ph.D. {Department of
Rabbinical Literature) .
Richard Gottheil, Ph.D. {Departments of
History from^ Ezra to I4g2 ; History of
Post-Talmudic Literature) .
Joseph Jacobs, B.A {Departments of the
Jews of England and Anthropology ; Revi-
sing Editor) .
Marcus Jastrow, Ph.D. {Department of the Talmud).
Morris Jastrow, Jr., Ph.D. {Department of the Bible) .
Kaufmann Kohler, Ph.D. {Departments of Theology
and Philosophy) .
Frederick de Sola Mendes, Ph.D. {Chief of the
Bureau of Translation ; Revising Editor).
Isidore Singer, Ph.D. {Department of Modern
Biography from 17JO to igoi) .
Crawford H. Toy, D.D., LL.D. {Departments of
Hebrew Philology and Hellenistic Literature) .
ISIDORE SINGER. Ph.D.
Projector and Managing Editor
ASSISTED BY AMERICAN AND FOREIGN BOARDS OF CONSULTING EDITORS
(see page v)
VOLUME V
DREYFUS-BRISAC— GOAT
KTAV PUBLISHING HOUSE, INC.
KTAV PUBLISHING HOUSE, INC.
N.Y. 2, N.Y.
PRINTED AND BOUND IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
•C-TE U J^tV
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LITERARY DIRECTORATE w c
\y.
w*
EDITORIAL BOARD
CYRUS ADLER, Ph.D.
(Departments of Pu:<t-BibUcal Antiquities ; the Jews of
America.)
President of the American Jewish Historical Society ; Librarian,
Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C.
GOTTHARD DEUTSCH, Ph.D.
(Department of Histom from IISH to 1901.)
Professor of Jewish History, Hebrew Union College, Cincinnati,
Ohio ; Editor of " Deborah."
LOUIS GINZBERG, Ph.D.
(Department of Rahl)inical Literature.)
New York ; Author of " Die Haggada bei den Kirchenvatem."
RICHARD GOTTHEIL, Ph.D.
(Departments of Huttoryfiom Ezra to lh92 ; History of Post-
Talmudic Literature.)
Professor of Semitic Languages, Columbia University, New Yorli;
Chief of the Oriental Department, New York Public Library ;
President of the Federation of American Zionists.
JOSEPH JACOBS, B.A.
(Departments of the Jews of En[jland and Anthropology i
Revising Editor.)
Formerly President of the Jewish Historical Society of England ;
Author of "Jews of Angevin England," etc.
MARCUS JASTROW, Ph.D.
(Department of the Talmud.)
Rabbi Emeritus of the Congregation Rodef Shalom, Philadel-
phia, Pa. ; Author of " Dictionary of the Talmud."
MORRIS JASTROW, Jr., Ph.D.
(Department of the Bible.)
Professor of SeroHlc Languages and Librarian In the University
of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pa. ; Author of " Relig-
ion of the Babylonians and Assyrians," etc.
KAUEMANN KOHLER, Ph.D.
(Departments of TheolDyy and Philosophu.)
Rabbi of Temple Beth-El, New York ; President of the Board of
Jewish Ministers, New York.
FREDERICK DE SOLA MENDES, Ph.D.
(Chief of the Bureau of Tranxlation ; Revising Editor.)
Rabbi of the West End Synagogue, New York ; Vice-President
of Board of Jewish Ministers, New York.
ISIDORE SINGER, Ph.D.
Ma.nagixg Editor.
(Department of Modem Biography from 1750 to 1901.)
CRAWFORD HOWELL TOY, D.D., LL.D.
(Departments of Hebrew Philology and Hellenistic
Literature.)
Professor of Hebrew In Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. ;
Author of "The Religion of Israel," "Judaism and
Christianity," etc.
AMERICAN BOARD OF CONSULTING EDITORS
BERNARD DRACHMAN, Ph.D.,
Rabbi of the Congregation Zichron Ephraim, Dean of the Jewish
Theological Seminary, New York.
B. FELSENTHAL, Ph.D.,
Rabbi Emeritus of Zion Congregation, Chicago ; Author of " A
Practical Grammar of the Hebrew Language."
GUSTAV GOTTHEIL, Ph.D.,
Rabbi Emeritus of Temple Emanu-El, New York.
EMIL G. HIRSCH, Ph.D., LL.D.,
Rabbi of Chicago Sinai Congregation, Chicago, 111.; Professor of
Rabbinical Literature and Philosophy, University of
Chicago ; Editor of the " Reform Advocate."
HENRY HYVERNAT, D.D.,
Head of the Department of Semitic and Egyptian Literatures,
Catholic University of America, Washington, D. C.
J. FREDERIC McCURDY, Ph.D., LL.D.,
Professor of Oriental Languages, University College, Toronto,
Canada ; Author of " History, Prophecy, and
the Monuments."
H. PEREIRA MENDES, M.D.,
Rabbi of the Shearith Israel Congregation (Spanish and Portu-
guese), New York ; President of the Advisory Board of
Ministers of the Jewish Theological Seminary.
MOSES MIELZINER, Ph.D., D.D.,
Professor of Talmudic Literature, Hebrew Union College, Cin-
cinnati, Ohio ; Author of " Introduction to the Talmud."
GEORGE F. MOORE, M.A., D.D.,
Professor of Hebrew Language and Literature and President of
Andover Theological Seminary, Andover, Mass. ; Author
of a Commentary on the Book of Judges, etc.
DAVID PHILIPSON, D.D.,
Rabbi of the Congregation Bene Israel : Professor of Homiletlcs,
Hebrew Union College, Oncinnati, Ohio ; President of
Hebrew Sabbath School Union of America.
IRA MAURICE PRICE, B.D., Ph.D.,
Professor of Semitic Languages and Literature, University of
Chicago, 111. ; Author of " The Monuments and
the Old Testament," etc.
IV
LITERARY DIRECTORATE
HERMAN ROSENTHAL,
Chief of the Russian Section of The Jewish Encyclo-
pedia.
In chanre of Slavonic Department, New York Public Library.
JOSEPH SILVERMAN, D.D.,
President of Central Conference of American Rabbla ; Rabbi of
Temple Emanu-El, New York.
JACOB VOORS ANGER, D.D.,
Rabbi of the CongreRation Emanu-El, San Francisco, Cal.; Pro
fessor of Semitic Languages and Literatures, Uni-
versity of California, Berkeley, Cal.
EDWARD J. WHEELER, M.A.,
Editor of " The Literary Digest," New York.
FOREIGN BOARD OF CONSULTING EDITORS
ISRAEL ABRAHAMS, M.A.,
Coedltor of the " Jewish Quarterly Review " ; Author of "Jew-
ish Life in the Middle Ages," etc. ; Senior Tutor
in Jews' College, Loudon, England.
W. BACHER, Ph.D.,
Professor in the Jewish Theological Seminary, Budapest,
Hungary.
M. BRANN, Ph.D.,
Professor In the Jewish Theological Seminary, Breslau, Ger-
many ; Editor of " Monatsschrlft f iir Geschlchte and
Wissenschaft des Judeuthums."
H. BRODY, Ph.D.,
Rabbi, Nachod, Bohemia, Austria ; Coeditor of " Zeltschrift fur
Hebriiische Bibliographle."
ABRAHAM DANON,
Principal of the Jewish Theological Seminary, Constantinople,
Turkey.
HART WIG DERENBOURG, Ph.D.,
Professor of Literary Arabic at the Special School of Oriental
Languages, Paris, France ; Member of the French Institute.
S. M. DUBNOW,
Author of " Istoriya Yevreyev," Odessa, Russia.
MICHAEL FRIEDLANDER, Ph.D.,
Principal of Jews' College, London, England; Author of "The
Jewish Religion," etc.
IGNAZ GOLDZIHER, Ph.D.,
Professor of Semitic Philology, University of Budapest, Hungary.
M. GUDEMANN, Ph.D.,
Chief Rabbi of Vienna, Austria.
BARON DAVID GUNZBURG,
St. Petersburg, Russia.
A. HARKAVY, Ph.D.,
Chief of the Hebrew Department of the Imperial Public Library,
St. Petersburg, Russia.
ZADOC KAHN,
Chief Rabbi of France; Honorary President of the Alliance
Israelite Universelle ; Officer of the Legion
of Honor, Paris, France.
M. KAYSERLING, Ph.D.,
Babbl, Budapest, Hungary ; Corresponding Member of
Royal Academy of History, Madrid, Spain.
the
MORITZ LAZARUS, Ph.D.,
Professor Emeritus of Psychology, University of Berlin ; Meran,
Austria.
ANATOLE LEROY-BEATJLIEU,
Member of the French Institute ; Professor at the Free School
of Political Science, Paris, France ; Author of
" Israel chez les Nations."
ISRAEL LEVI,
Professor In the Jewish Theological Seminary ; Editor of
" Revue des Etudes Juives," Paris, France.
ETJDE LOLLI, D.D.,
Chief Rabbi of Padua ; Professor of Hebrew at the University,
Padua, Italy.
IMMANUEL LOW, Ph.D.,
Chief Rabbi of Szegedin, Hungary ; Author of " Die Aramaischen
Pflanzennamen."
S. H. MARGULIES, Ph.D.,
Principal of the Jewish Theological Seminary ; Chief Rabbi of
Florence, Italy.
H. OORT, D.D.,
Professor of Hebrew Language and Archeology at the State
University, Leyden, Holland.
ABBE PIETRO PERREAU,
Formerly Librarian of the Reale Biblioteca Palatlna, Parma,
Italy.
MARTIN PHILIPPSON, Ph.D.,
Formerly Professor of History at the Universities of Bonn and
Brussels ; President of the Deutsch-Jfldlsche
Gemeindebund, Berlin, Germany.
SAMUEL POZNANSKI, Ph.D.,
Rabbi in Warsaw, Russia.
SOLOMON SCHECHTER, M.A., Litt.D.,
Professor of Hebrew, University College, London, England;
Reader in Rabbinic, University of Cambridge :
Author of "Studies in Judaism."
E. SCHWARZFELD, Ph.D.,
Secretary-General of the Jewish Colonization Association, Paris,
France.
LUDWIG STEIN, Ph.D.,
Professor of Philosophy, University of Bern, Switzerland ; Editor
of "Archiv fur Geschlchte der Philosophle," etc.
HERMANN L. STRACK, Ph.D.,
Professor of Old Testament Exegesis and Semitic Languages,
University of Berlin, Germany.
CHARLES TAYLOR, D.D., LL.D.,
Master of St. John's College, Cambridge. England ; Editor of
" Sayings of the Jewish Fathers," etc.
44
CONTRIBUTORS TO VOLUME V
A Cyrus Adler , Ph.D. ,
President of the American Jewish Historical
Society ; President of the Board of Directors of
the Jewish Theological Seminary of America;
Librarian of the Smithsonian Institution,
Washington, D. C.
A. A. G Am^lie Andre Gedalgre,
Paris, France.
A. Bl Armand Bloch,
Chief Rabbi, Brussels, Belgium.
A. BljimrrTTTAr-Blumg-rund, Ph.D.,
-'''^^ Rabbi, Carlsruhe, Baden, Germany.
A. Bii Alexander Biichler, Ph.D.,
Rabbi, Keszttiely, Comitat Zola, Hungary.
A. Buch Adolf Buchler, Ph.D.,
Professor, Jewish Theological Seminary,
Vienna, Austria.
A. E A. Eckstein, Ph.D.,
Rabbi, Bamberg, Germany.
A. F A. Freimann, Ph.D.,
Editor of the "Zeitschrift fiir Hebraische
Bibliographie": Librarian of the Hebrew
Department, Stadtbibliothek, Frankfort-on-
the-Main, Germany.
A. Fe Alfred Feilchenfeld, Ph.D.,
Principal of the Realschule, Fiirth, Bavaria,
Germany.
A. a Adolf Guttmacher, Ph.D.,
Rabbi, Baltimore, Md.
A. Ge A. Geig-er, Ph.D.,
Frankfort-on-the-Main, Germany.
A. Ha Alexander Harkavy,
New York City.
A K I
a'. Ka' '.'.'.'.' ) ■^- Kaminka, Ph.D. ,
Rabbi ; Secretary of the Wiener Israelitische
AUianz, Vienna, Austria.
A. Kai Alois Kaiser,
Cantor, Temple Oheb Shalom, Baltimore, Md.
A. Ki Alexander Kisch, Ph.D.,
Rabbi, Prague, Bohemia, Austria.
A. Ko Adolf Kohut, Ph.D.,
Berlin, (Germany.
A. Ku A. Kurrein, Ph.D.,
Rabbi, Teplitz, Bohemia, Austria.
A. Lew Adolf Lewinsky, Ph.D.,
Chief Rabbi, Hildesheim, Germany.
A. M. F Albert M. Friedenberg-, B.S., LL.B.,
Counselor at Law; Correspondent of "The
Jewish Comment," Baltimore, Md.; New
York City.
A. P A. Porter,
Formerly Associate Editor of "The Forum,"
New York; Revising Editor "Standard Cyclo-
pedia," New York City.
A. Pe A. Peiginsky, Ph.D.,
New York City.
A. E, A. Rhine,
Rabbi, Hot Springs, Ark.
A. S. W. R.. . A. S. W. Rosenbach,
Philadelphia, Pa.
A. W Albert Wolf,
Dresden, Saxony, Germany.
B. B Benuel H. Brumberg',
Contributor to " National Cyclopedia of Amer-
ican Biography," New York City.
b! F^* ;.■.;■; f ^- ^riedberg:,
Fraukfort-on-the-Main, Germany.
B. J Benno Jacob, Ph.D.,
Rabbi, Gottingen, Germany.
B. P Bernhard Pick, Ph.D., D.D.,
Formerly Pastor of St. John's Lutheran
Church, Albany, N. Y.; New York City.
B. R Baer Ratner,
Wilna, Russia.
C. de B C. de Bethencourt,
Lisbon, Portugal.
C. F. K Charles Foster Kent, Ph.D.,
Professor of Biblical Literature and History,
Yale University, New Haven, Conn.
C. J. M Charles J. Mendelsohn,
Philadelphia, Pa.
C. L Caspar Levias, M.A.,
Instructor in Exegesis and Talmndic Aramaic,
Hebrew Union College. Cincinnati, Ohio.
C. S Carl Siegfried, Ph.D., LL.D. (deceased),
Late Professor of Theology at the University
of Jena, Germany.
D Gotthard Deutsch, Ph.D.,
Professor of Jewish History, Hebrew Union
College, Cincinnati, Ohio.
D. P David Philipson, D.D.,
Rabbi, B'ne Israel Congregation ; Professor of
Homiletics, Hebrew Union College, Cincin-
nati, Ohio.
D. S. M David Samuel Margoliouth,
Laudian Professor of Arabic in the University
of Oxford, England.
D. Su David Sulzberger,
Philadelphia, Pa.
E. C Executive Com. of the Editorial
Board.
E. G. H Emil G. Hirsch, Ph.D., LL.D.,
Rabbi, Sinai Congregation ; Professor of Ral)-
binical Literature and Philosophy in the Uni-
versity of Chicago ; Chicago, 111.
E. I. N E. 1. Nathans,
Philadelphia, Pa.
E. K Eduard Kbnig', Ph.D., LL.D.,
Professor of Old Testament Exegesis, Uni-
versity of Bonn, Germany.
E. Lev Ezekiel Leavitt,
.New York City.
E. Li Enno Littmann, Ph.D.,
Librarian of the Oriental Department and
Lecturer in Semitic Philology, Princeton Uni-
versity, Princeton, N. J.
E. Ms Edg'arMels,
New York City.
E. N. A Elkan N. Adler,
London, England.
E. Schr E. Schreiber, Ph.D.,
Rabbi, Emanu-El Congcegatlon, Chicago, 111.
VI
CONTRIBUTORS TO VOLUME V
E. Sd E. Schwarzfeld, LL.D.,
Secretary of Jewish Colonization Association,
Paris, France.
E. W. B Edward William Bennett,
New York City.
F. Bu Frants Buhl, Ph.D.,
Professor of Semitic Philology, University of
Copenhagen, Denmark.
F. G. H F. G. Hoffmann,
Paterson, N. J.
F. H. V Frank H. Vizetelly, F.S.A.,
Associate Editor of the "Columbian Cyclo-
pedia " and of the Standard Dictionary,
New York City.
F. L. C F. li. Cohen,
Rabbi, Borough New Synagogue, London,
England ; Coeditor of " Voice of Prayer and
Praise."
F. P Felix Perles, Ph.D.,
Rabbi, Konigsberg, East Prussia, Germany.
F. T. H Frederick T. Haneman, M.D.,
Brooklyn, N. Y.
G Richard Gottheil, Ph.D.,
Professor of Semitic Languages, Columbia
University, New York ; Chief of the Oriental
Department, New York Public Library ; Presi-
dent of the Federation of American Zionists,
New York City.
G. A. B Georg-e A. Barton , Ph . D. ,
Associate Professor in Biblical Literature and
Semitic Languages, Bryn Mawr College, Bryn
Mawr, Pa.
G. A. K George Alexander Kohut, Ph.D.,
Formerly Rabbi in Dallas, Texas ; New York
City.
G. B. li Gerson B. Levi,
Philadelphia, Pa.
G. Dr George Drenford, Ph.D.,
Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md.
G. Ii Goodman Lipkind, B.A.,
Rabbi, London, England.
G. Mo Godfrey Morse,
Lawyer, Boston, Mass.
G. R G.Riilf, Ph.D.,
Rabbi, Brunswick, Germany.
G. S Gabriel Schwarz, Ph.D.,
Agram, Croatia, Austria.
H. A Herman Adler,
Chief Rabbi of England, London, England.
H. B H. Brody, Ph.D.,
Coeditor of the "Zeltschrlft fiir Hebraische
Bibliographie " ; Rabbi, Nachod, Bohemia,
Austria.
H. Bl Heinrich Bloch, Ph.D.,
Professor of History, Jewish Theological Sem-
inary, Budapest, Hungary.
H. C Henry Cohen,
Rabbi, Galveston, Texas.
H. Fr Harry Friedenwald, M.D.,
Baltimore, Md.
H. Gut H. Guttenstein,
New York City.
H. H Henry Hyvernat, D.D.,
Professor of Oriental Languages and Arche-
ology, Catholic University of America, Wash-
ington, D. C.
H. Hir Hartwig Hirschfeld, Ph.D.,
Professor, Jews' College, London, England.
H. M Henry Malter, Ph.D.,
Assistant Professor, Hebrew Union College,
Cincinnati, Ohio.
H. Ma Hilel Malachovsky ,
New York City.
H. R Herman Rosenthal,
Chief of the Slavonic Department of the New
York Public Library, New York City.
H. V Hermann Vogelstein, Ph.D.,
Rabbi, KiJnigsberg, East Prussia, Germany.
I. A Israel Abrahams,
Cambridge, England.
I. B Isaac Bloch,
Chief Rabbi, Nancy, France.
I. Be Immanuel Benzinger, Ph.D.,
Professor of Old Testament Exegesis, Uni-
versity of Berlin, Germany.
I. Ber Israel Berlin,
Chemist, New York City.
I. Br 1. Broyde,
Diplome de I'Ecole des Hautes Etudes; for-
merly Librarian of the Alliance Israelite Unl-
verselle, Paris, France; New York City.
I. D. M I. D. Morrison,
New York City.
I. E Ismar Elbogen, Ph.D.,
Instructor at the Lehranstalt fur die Wlssen-
schaft des Judenthums, Berlin, Germany.
I. H Isidore Harris, A.M.,
Rabbi of West London Synagogue, London,
England.
I. Ij Israel Ij^vi,
Professor in the Jewish Theological Seminary,
Paris, France ; Editor of " Revue des Etudes
Julves."
I. M. C I. M. Casanowicz, Ph.D.,
United States National Museum, Washington,
D. C.
I. M. P Ira Maurice Price, B.D., Ph.D.,
Professor of Semitic Languages and Litera-
tures, University of Chicago, 111.
I. P. M I. P. Mendez,
Rabbi, Savannah, Ga.
I. S I. Sch-wartz,
Paris, France.
J Joseph Jacobs, B.A.,
Formerly President of the Je^.lsh Historical
Society of England ; Corresponding Member
of the Royal Academy of History, Madrid;
New York City.
J. Ch. J. Chotzner,
Monteflore College, Ramsgate, England
J. D. E J. D. Eisenstein,
NevF York City.
J. D. P John Dyneley Prince, Ph.D.,
Professor of Semitic Languages, Columbia
University, New York City.
J. D. Pe J. D. Perruchon,
Paris, France.
J. E Joseph Ezekiel, J.P.,
Bombay, India.
J. F. McC. ..J. Frederic McCurdy, Ph.D., IjL.D.,
Professor of Oriental Languages, University
College, Toronto, Canada.
J. G J. Guttmann, Ph.D.,
Professor, Jewish Seminary, Breslau, Ger-
many.
J. G. Ii J. G. Lipman, Ph.D.,
Assistant Agriculturist, New Jersey State Ex-
periment Station, New Brunswick, N. J.
J. H. G Julius H. Greenstone,
Rabbi, Philadelphia, Pa.
J. Hy J. Hyams,
Bombay, India.
J. Jr Morris Jastrow, Jr., Ph.D.,
Professor of Semitic Languages, University of
Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pa.
J. Kla J. Klausner, Ph.D.,
Odesstk, Ru6s-ia.
CONTRIBUTORS TO VOLUME V
vn
J.
M
...Jacob Marcus,
Eluiiia, N. Y.
M. Fr
..M. Franco,
Principal of the Alliance Israelite Unlverselle
J.
So
...Joseph Sohn,
School, Shunilii, Bulgaria.
Contriliutcjr to " The New International En-
M. G
. ..M. Giidemann, Ph.D.,
cyclopedia"; formerly of "The Foruin," New
Chief Rabbi, Vienna, Austria.
York City.
M. Gi
TVT- O-iTiflbpivg-prj
J.
Sr
...Marcus Jastrow, Ph.D.,
Rabbi Kiiieritus of CongreRatiou Rodef Sha-
Rabbi, Get)weiler, Alsace, Germany.
loin, Philadelphia, Pa.
M. Gr
..M. Grunwald, Ph.D.,
J.
Sto
...Joseph Stolz, Ph.D.,
Rabbi, Vifiiiia, Austria.
Rabbi, Chicago, 111.
M. K
. .Meyer Kayserling, Ph.D.,
J.
S. R....
J. S. Raisin,
Uabbi, Budapest, Hungary.
Rabbi, Gemiluth Chesed Congregation, Fort
M. Lev...
...M. Level,
Gibson, Miss.
Paris, France.
J.
T
...J. Theodor, Ph.D.,
Rabbi, Bojanowo, I'osen, (jermany.
M. R
..Max Rosenthal, M.D.,
Visiting Physician, German Dispensary, New
J.
V .
...Jacob Voorsanger, D.D.,
York City.
Rabbi, Emanu-El Congregation, San Francisco,
M. Sc
. .Max Schloessinger, Ph.D.,
Gal.; Professor of Semitic Languages and
Uabbi, New York City.
Literature, University of California, Berkeley,
Cal.
M. Sel
..M. Seligsohn,
Diplome de TEcole des Hautes Etudes, Paris,
J.
W
...Julien Weill,
Rabbi, Paris, France.
M. W
France ; New York City.
..MaxWeisz, Ph.D.,
K.
. . .Kaufmann Kohler, Ph.D.,
Rabbi Emeritus of Temple Beth-El, New
Budapest, Hungary.
York; President of the Hebrew Union Col-
M. W. M..
. .Mary W. Montgomery, Ph.D.,
lege, Cincinnati, Ohio.
New York City.
K.
H. C...
. .Karl Heinrich Cornill, Ph.D.,
Professor of Hebrew and Old Testament Exe-
M. W. R..
. .M. W. Rapoport,
Lemberg, Galicia, Austria.
gesis, University of Breslau, Germany.
N.D
..N. Dunbar,
K.
M. C.
...Katharine M. Cohen,
Newark, N. J.
New York City.
N.E
...N. Ehrenfeld, Ph.D.,
I,.
A. R...
...Ludwig- A. Rosenthal,
Chief Rabbi, Prague, Bohemia, Austria.
Rabbi, Rogasen, Posen, Germany.
N. L
..N. Lucas, Ph.D.,
L.
B
...Liudwig- Blau, Ph.D.,
Rabbi, Glogau, Silesia, Germany.
Professor in tlie Jewish Theological Seminary,
N. T. L.. .
..N. T. London,
Budapest, Hungary; Editor of "Magyar
Zsid6-Szemle."
New York City.
L.
G
...liouis Ginzberg-, Ph.D.,
Professor of Talmud, Jewish Theological Sem-
P. B
. .Philipp Bloch, Ph.D.,
Rabbi, Posen, Germany.
inary of America, New York City.
P. Wi
. .Peter Wiernik,
L.
Qr
. .Louis Grossman,
New York City.
Rabbi, Cincinnati, Ohio.
R. Grii....
. Richard Griinfeld, Ph.D.,
L.
Qru....
. .Lazarus Griinhut,
Rabbi, Bingen, Hesse, Germany.
Director of Orphan Asylum, Jerusalem, Pales-
R. W. R...
. .Robert W. Rogers, D.D., Ph.D.,
tine.
Professor of Hebrew and Old Testament Exe-
L.
La
. . .Laura Landau,
New York City.
gesis, Drew Theological Seminary, Madison,
N.J.
L.
N.D...
...Lewis N.' Dembitz,
Attorney at Law, Louisville, Ky.
S
. . Isidore Singer, Ph.D.,
Managing Editor, New York City.
L.
V
..Ludwig- Venetianer, Ph.D.,
Rabbi in Neupest, Hungary.
S. B
. .Samuel Baeck, Ph.D.,
Rabbi, Lissa, Posen, Germany.
M
B
. .Moses Beer,
Berlin, Germany.
S. E
..Samuel Ehrenfeld, Ph.D.,
Prague, Bohemia, Austria.
U
Ba
. ..Moritz Bauer, Ph.D.,
Rabbi, Gaya, Moravia, Austria.
S. J
. . .S. Janovsky,
Lawyer, St. Petersburg, Russia.
M
Bl
. .Maurice Bloch,
Principal of the Blschoffshelm School at
S. K
...S. Kahn,
Rabbi, Nimes, France.
Paris, France.
S. Kr
...S. Krauss, Ph.D.,
M
Br
...M. Brann, Ph.D.,
Professor, Normal College, Budapest, Hungary.
Professor, Jewish Theological Seminary,
Breslau, Germany.
..Max Cohen,
S. M
...S. Mendelsohn, Ph.D.,
JUL
.Co
Rabbi, Wilmington, N. C.
Attorney at Law, New York City.
S. Man...
. ..S. Mannheimer, B.L.,
m
Da
...Myer Davis,
London, England.
Instructor, Hebrew Union College, Cincinnati,
Ohio.
M
F
. . .Michael Friedlander, Ph.D.,
S. M. D....
...S. M. Dubnow,
Odessa, Russia.
Principal Jews' College, London, England.
M
. Fi
. . .Maurice Fishberg, M.D.,
Surgt-on to the Beth Israel Hospital Dispen-
S. Mu
..S. Mtihsam,
Chief Rabbi, Gratz, Styria, Austria.
sary ; Medical Examiner to the United Hebrew
S. Mun...
...Sigmund Miinz, Ph.D.,
Charities, New York City.
Vienna, Austria,
vin
CONTRIBUTORS TO VOLUME V
s.
R. D...
...S. B. Driver, D,D.,
Regius Professor of Hebrew, Oxford Uni-
T. Se
. ..Thomas Seltzer,
Philadelphia, Pa.
versity, Oxford, England.
U. C
. ..Umberto Cassuto,
s.
Ro
. ...S. Rothschild,
Florence, Italy.
Worms, Germany.
V. E
. ..Victor E,. Emanuel,
s.
S
...Solomon Schechter, M.A., Liitt.D.,
Laurel, Md.
Dean of the Jewish Theological Seminary of
V. R
...Vasili Rosenthal,
America, New York City.
Kremeuchug, Russia.
s.
Sa
. Sigismund Salfeld, Ph.D.,
Kabbi, Mayence, Hesse, Germany.
W. B
...W. Bacher, Ph.D.,
Professor, Jewish Theological Seminary, Buda-
s.
Sam —
....Salomon Samuel, Ph.D.,
pest, Hungary.
Rabbi, Essen, Rhine Province, Germany.
W. M.-A..
...W. Muss-Arnolt, Ph.D.,
s.
Se
. . . Sig-mund Seelig-mann,
Amsterdam, Holland.
W. M. M..
Assistant Professor of Biblical Philology, Uni-
versity of Chicago, 111.
. ..W. Max Muller, Ph.D.,
s.
S. W...
....Stephen S. Wise, Ph.D.,
Rabbi, Portland, Ore.
Professor of Bible Exegesis, Reformed Epis-
copal Theological Seminary, Philadelphia, Pa.
T.
...Crawford Howell Toy, D.D., IiL.D.,
Professor of Hebrew, Harvard University,
Cambridge, Mass.
W.N
...William Nowack, Ph.D.,
Professor of Old Testament Exegesis, Uni-
versity of Strasburg, Germany.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS IN VOLUME V
N. B. — In the following list subjects likely to be sought for under various headings are repeated
under each heading.
PAGE
Aaron of Lincoln, Starr of, Acknowledging Receipt of Part Payment from Richard Malebys, 1181.
In the British Museum 1G3
Abraham, Son of Maimonides, Autograph Letter of. From the Cairo Genizah plate facing 612
Abyssinia, Falasha Village at Balaukab 329
Type of a Falasha Woman 328
" 'Akedat Yizhak," Page from Isaac Arama's, Printed by Gedaliah, Salonica, 1522 581
Almemar (Reading-Desk) and Pulpit of the Florence Synagogue 418
Amenophis III. : see Stele.
Amsterdam, Medal Struck in Honor of Eieazar ben Samuel by the Community of 104
Amulet Prepared by Jonathan Eybeschiitz 309
Anthropology : see Types, Jewish.
Archeology: see Coins; Egypt; Glass; Inscriptions; Tombs.
Architecture: see Frankfort-on-the-Main ; House; Synagogues; Tombs; Vault.
Arithmetic, First Hebrew: Page from Elijah Mizrahi's "Mispar," Printed by Soncino, 1532 45
Art : see Archeology ; Architecture ; Cases ; Costume ; Key ; Manuscripts ; Medal ; Typography.
Autographs: see Abraham, Son op Maimonides; Emden, Jacob; EYBESCHtJTZ, Jonathan.
Baltimore, Medal Presented to Leon Dyer by the Community of, 1847 23
Bible: see Esther; Genesis; Pentateuch.
Bottle, Ornamented, Found in a Jewish Catacomb at Rome 678
see also Glass.
Cairo Genizah, Autograph Letter of Abraham, Son of Maimonides, Found in the plate facing 612
New Synagogue at 67
Plan of the City of, Twelfth Century 63
Case, Silver, for Etrog 262
Cases, Olive-Wood, for Scrolls of Esther. From Jerusalem 238
Silver, for Scrolls of Esther 235
Catacomb : see Bottle.
Ceremonial : see Elijah, Chair of ; First-Born, Redemption op.
Chair of Elijah as Used in the Ceremony of Circumcision 128-129
Charles of Anjou Presenting Arabic Manuscript to Faraj for Translation. From an illumination by
Friar Giovanni 342
Chirograph Containing an Agreement Between Isaac of Northampton and Dame Margaret de Hue,
1216. In the Record Office, London 285
Circumcision Ceremony in Holland, circa 1725 129
Citron : see Etrog.
Coins: see Eleazar ben Simon; Elephant; Herod the Great; Nerva; Simon Maccabeus.
Colophon and Printer's Mark of Abraham Usque on the Last Page of Hasdai Crescas' "Or Adonai,"
Ferrara, 1555 371
Columbia University Library' : see Mizrahi, Elijah; Or Adonai; Tur Orah Hayyim.
Conference of Franco-Jewish Rabbis, Thirteenth Century. From a miniature in the BibliothSque Na-
tionale, Paris 457
Costume, France (Thirteenth Century) 457
Frankfort-on-the-Main (Early Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries) 379, 486
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS IN VOLUIME V
PAGE
Costume, Fiirth (Early Eighteenth Century) 536
Germany (Sixteenth Century) 44
Holland (Early Eighteenth Century) 129, 395
Jerusalem (Modern) 49
Nuremberg (Early Eighteenth Century) 564
see also Dubno, Solomon; Edueiii, Moses; Falk, Hayyim; Fiukovicii, Abraham; Frank,
Jacob; Giiazzati, Nathan.
Crescas, Hasdai, Last Page from " Or Adonai " of, Printed at Ferrara, 1555 371
Deed : see Chiuogkaph.
Documents: see Manuscripts.
Dress: see Costume.
Dubno, Solomon, Russian Hebrew Scholar 7
Dukes, Leopold, Hungarian Historian of Jewish Literature 10
Dyer, Leon, Medal Presented to, by the Baltimore Community, 1847 23
Eagle, Reverse of Copper Coin Attributed to Herod the Great, Bearing an 26
Edels, Samuel, Polish Rabbi 36
Edict of Frederick the Great with Regard to the Conversion of the Jews 503
Edrehi, Moses, ]\Ioroccan Rabbi and Traveler 42
Education : German Jewish School of the Sixteenth Century 44
Modern Jewish School at Jerusalem 49
Page from the First Hebrew Arithmetic, 1532 45
Eger, Akiba, the Younger, German Rabbi 52
Solomon ben Akiba, German Rabbi 54
Egypt: Israelites Building Storehouses for Pharaoh. From an early illuminated Haggadah 57
Letter (Papyrus) of an Egyptian Rabbi to Solomon ben Judah, TAvelfth Century 65
New Synagogue at Cairo 67
Plan of the City of Cairo, Twelfth Century 63
Syenite Stele of Amenophis HI., with Added Inscription of Meneptall. Mentioning the Israelites 56
Tell al-Yahudiyyah (The Mound of the Jews) 59
see also Exodus; Fishing.
Einhorn, David, American Rabbi 78
Eisenmenger, Johanu Andreas; Ti Lie-Page of "Entdecktes J udeuthum," Konigsberg, 1711 81
-El Nora 'Alilali," Music of 87
Eleazar ben Samuel, Medal Struck by the Amsterdam Community in Honor of 104
ben Simon, Brass Coin of . . 94
Elephant: Jewish Coin of the Maccabean Period, Countermarked by an Elephant, the Symljol of the
Seleucid Kings 105
"Eli Ziyyon," Music of 108
Elijah Announcing the Coming of the Messiah. From an early illuminated Mahzor 126
Ascension of. From a ketubbah of the early nineteenth century 121
The Prophet. From the first illustrated printed Haggadah, 1526 125
Chair of. After Leusden, 1657 128
as Used in the Circumcision Ccremonv, circa 1725 129
Elijah ben Solomon of Wilna, Russian Rabbi and Author 134
Emden, Jacob, Page from " Tur Orah Hayyim," 1702, Bearing Autograph Annotations cf 151
Eniin Pasha (Eduard Schnitzer), German Explorer 153
"En Kelohenu," Music of 155
Endingen, Old Synagogue at. From Ulrich, 1768 157
Engedi, Mount, in Judea 160
England: Chirograph Containingan Agreement Between Isaac of Northampton and Dame Margaret de
Hue, 1216 285
Map Showing Towns Where Jews Resided Before the Expulsion in 1290 167
Starr of Aaron of Lincoln, 1181, Acknowledging Receipt of Part Payment from Richard Malebys. 163
"Entdecktes Judcnthum," Title-Page of Eisenmenger's, Kouigsberg, 1711 81
Erfurt Synagogue in 1357 , 200
'Erubim, Diagrams Illustrating Forms of After Bodenschatz, 1748 204
Esau Seeking Isaac's Blessing From the Sarajevo Haggadah, fourteenth century 207
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS IN VOLUME V xi
PAGE
Esdraelon, Plain of, with Mount Tabor in the Distance 219
Esther, Illuminated Scroll of, Eighteenth Century Frontispiece
Olive-Wood Case for Scroll of Esther 238
Scrolls of Esther as Fixed in Cases. ^S."), 238
Traditional Tomb of Mordecai and ... 233
" 'Et Sha'are Razon, " Music of 243
Etrog or Citron 262
Citron-Tree with Etrogim 261
Copper Coin of Simon Maccabeus, Bearing an 262
Silver Box for 262
Europe: Map Showing the Comparative Density of Jewish Population per 1,000, in 1900. 273
see also Costume; England; Fi-orence; France; Geneva; Germany.
Exchequer of Jews: Chirograph Containing an Agreement Between Isaac of Northampton and Dame
Margaret de Hue, 1216 285
Exodus of Israelites from Egypt. From a printed Haggadah, 1823 295
The Israelites Leaving Egypt and Crossing the Red Sea. From the Sarajevo Haggadah, four-
teenth century 294
Eybeschiitz, Jonathan, Germ.in Rabbi 308
Amulet Prepared by 309
Ezekiel, Traditional Tomb of. South of Birs Nimrud 315
Joseph, Indian Hebraist 319
Moses, Statue of " Religious Liberty, " by 320
Ezra, Site of the Traditional Tomb of 322
Falasha Village at Balankab, Abyssinia 329
^\ Oman, Showing Full Face and Profile 328
Falk, Hayyim, the " Ba'al Shem," English Cabalist and Mystic 331
Familiant : Marriage License Granted to a Jew of Nikolsburg, 1831 337
Family Vault, Ground-Plan of a, in Talmudic Times 339
Fano, Page from Hal Gaon's "Musar Haskel," Printed in 1503 at. The first Hebrew 32mo 340
Faraj, Charles of Anjou Presenting Arabic Manuscript for Translation to. From an illumination by
Friar Giovanni 342
Faro, Part of Page from Hebrew Pentateuch, Printed at, 1487. In the British Museum 345
Faudel-Phillips, Sir George, Lord Mayor of London (1896-97) 352
Felix, Ehsa- Rachel, French Actress 360
Felsenthal, Bernhard, American Rabbi 361
Ferdinand III., Key Presented by the Jewish Community of Seville to 363
Ferrara, Last Page from Hasdai Crescas' "Or Adonai," 1555, Bearing Imprint of Abraham Usque. . . . 371
Fettmilch, Vincent, Portrait of. From Schudt, 1714-17 378
Riot Instigated at Frankfort-on-the-Main, Aug. 22, 1614, by 379
Fez, Group of Jews at 380
Interior of a Jewish House at 381
Firkovich, Abraham, Russian Karaite Archeologist 394
First-Born, Redemption of, in Holland. After Picart, 1722 395
Scenes at Redemption of. After Bodenschatz, 1748 397
Fiscus Judaicus : Reverse of Brass Coin of Nerva, Bearing Inscription " Fisci ludaici Calumnia Sublata " 403
Fishing in Assyria and Egypt 403
Fleckeles, Eleazar, Austrian Rabbi and Author , 408
Florence, A Nook in the Ghetto of 416
Pulpit and Reading-Desk of the Large Synagogue at 418
The Large Synagogue at 417
Flour : Hand-Mill Used in Modern Palestine 420
France, Conference of Jewish Rabbis of, Thirteenth Century 457
Earliest Known Inscription Relating to Jews of. Dated Narbonne, 689 445
Map Showing Chief Towns Where Jews Dwelt Before the Expulsion in 1394 465
Franck, Adolphe, French Philosopher 473
Frank, Jacob, Pseudo-Messiah and Founder of the Frankists 476
Frankel, Zechariah, German Theologian . . . .' 482
Frankfort-on-the-Main, Enactment of the " Judenordnung " by Jews of. From Schudt, 1714-17 486
xii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS IN VOLUME V
PAGE
Frankfort-on-the Main. Medal Commemorating the Great Fire in tlie " Judengasse " of, 1711 486
Medal Struck in Commemoration of the Erection of the Synagogue in, 1852 489
Permit Granted to a Jew of, to View the Coronation Procession of Leopold II., 1790 489
Plan of, in 1553, Showing Position of Jewish Quarter 485
Procession of Jews of, in Honor of Archduke Leopold, May 17, 1716. From Schudt, 1714-17 487
Riot Instigated by Vincent Fettmilch at, Aug. 22, 1614 379
The "Judengasse "of 490
The " Neuschule " of. Showing E.xterior and Interior. After old woodcuts 487-488
The Synagogue on the " Judengasse "of 491
Frankl, Ludwig August, Ritter von Ilochwart, Austrian Poet and Writer 495
Franks, Isaac, OfTicer in the American Revolutionary Army 498
Franzos, Karl Emil, Austrian Author 498
Frederick the Great, Edict of, with Regard to the Conversion of Jews 503
Friedlander, David, German Writer and Communal Leader 515
Frug, Semion Grigorey vich, Russian Writer and Poet 524
Fuenn, Samuel Joseph, Russian Scholar 526
Fulda, Ludwig, German Author 527
Filrst, Julius, German Hebraist and Orientalist 533
Furtado, Abraham, French Politician 535
Filrth, Jewesses of, in 1705. After an old engraving 536
The Old and the New Synagogue at. After an engraving of 1705 537
Gamaliel II., Traditional Tomb of, at Jamnia 561
Games: Hanukkah " Trendel " or Tee-Totum 565
Played on the Eve of Purim. After Kirchner, 1726 564
Gans, David, Gravestone of, at Prague 566
Eduard, German Jurist 567
Gaza, View of Modern 577
Gedahah, Page from Isaac Arama's " 'Akedat Yizhak," Printed at Salonica, 1522, by 581
Ge-IIinnom, Valley of 583
Geiger, Abraham, German Rabbi 585
Genesis, Illuminated Page of. From a manuscript formerly in the possession of the Duke of Sussex. 601
Geneva, Synagogue at 611
Genizah, Cairo, Autograph Letter of Abraham, Son of Maimonides, from a Fragment of the Early
Thirteenth Century, Found in the plate facing 613
Gerizim, Mount, from Nablus 630
Germany : A " Schutzbrief " of the Elector of Hesse, 1804 plate between 632-633
see also Endingen; Erfurt; Familiant; Fettmilch; Frankfort-on-the-Main; Frederick
THE Great ; Firth ; Marriage License ; Prague ; School.
"Geshem," Music of 644-645
Ghazzati, Nathan. From Coenen's " Sabethai Zevi," Amsterdam, 1669 650
Career of. From a contemporary woodcut 651
Ghetto, a Nook in the Florence 416
see also Judengasse of rR.\NKFORT-ON-TnE-MAiN ; Plans op Cities.
Giacon, Samuel, Part of Page from Hebrew Pentateuch, Printed by, at Faro, 1487 345
Gibraltar, Interior of the Synagogue at 661
Ginzbcrg, Asher, Russian Hebraist 6'''0
Glass Bottle Found in Jewish Catacomb at Rome. From Garrucci 678
Greco-Plieni(>ian Tear-Bottle Found Near Jerusalem 677
Tear-Bottle Found Near Jerusalem 677
Gravestone of David Gans at Prague 566
Haggadah Illustrations: Esau Seeking Isaac's Blessing. From the Sarajevo Haggadah, fourteenth
century 207
Israelites Building Storehouses for Pharaoh. From an illuminated Haggadah in the pos-
session of Earl of Crawford 5'^
Israelites Leaving Egypt and Crossing the Red Sea. From the Sarajevo Haggadah, four-
teenth century 294
The Exodus. From a printed Haggadah, Vienna, 1823 295
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS IN VOLUME V xiii
PAGE
Haggadah Illustrations : The Prophet Elijah. From the first illustrated printed Haggadah, Prague, 1526 125
Hai Gaon, Page from "Musar Haskol," by, Printed at Fano, 1503. The first Hebrew 32mo 340
Hand-Mill, Modern Palestinian 420
Hanukkah " Trendel " or Tee-Totum 565
Hebrew: see Coins; Gravestone; Manuscripts; Medal; Typography.
Hcder : see School.
Herod the Great, Copper Coin of, Bearing an Eagle 26
House, Interior of Jewish, at Fez (Modern) 381
Germany (Early Eighteenth Century) 397, 564
Holland (1722) 395
Imprint: see Printer's Mark.
Inscriptions: see Coins; France; Gravestone; Medal; Stele.
Isaac, Blessing of, Esau Seeking. From the Sarajevo Haggadah, fourteenth century 207
Isaac Arama, Page from " 'Akedat Yizhak " of. Printed by Gedaliah, Salonica, 1522 581
Isaac of Northampton, Chirograph Containing an Agreement Between Dame Margaret de Hue and, 1216 285
Israelites Building Storehouses for Pharaoh. From an early illuminated Haggadah 57
Syenite Stele of Amcnophis III., with Added Inscription of Menepta II., Mentioning the 56
Italy : see Florence.
Jamnia, Traditional Tomb of Gamaliel II. at 561
Jerusalem, Jewish School at 49
Jewries: see Ghetto.
" Judcngasse " of Frankfort-on-the-Main. 490
Medal Struck Commemorating the Great Fire in the, 1711 486
" Judenordnung," Enactment of the, by Frankfort Jews. From Schudt, 1714-17 486
Karaite Costume : see Firkovich, Abraham.
Key Presented to Ferdinand III. by the Jewish Community of Seville 363
Letter (Papyrus) of an Egyptian Rabbi to Solomon ben Judah, Twelfth Century 65
Maccabean Coin, Countermarked by an Elephant, the Symbol of the Seleucid Kings 105
Maccabeus, Simon, Copper Coin of, Bearing an Etrog 263
Malebys, Richard (Leader in the York Massacres, 1190), Starr of Aaron of Lincoln, 1181, Acknowledg-
ing Receipt of Part Payment from 163
Manuscripts: see Amulet; Chirograph; Elijah; Faraj; Genizah; Haggadah; Papyrus; Scrolls
OF Esther; Starr.
Map of England Showing Towns "Where Jews Resided Before the Expulsion in 1290 167
of France Showing Chief Towns Where Jews Dwelt Before the Expulsion of 1394 465
Showing the Comparative Density of Jewish Population per 1,000 in Europe, 1900 273
see also Plans of Cities.
Marriage License Granted to a Jew of Nikolsburg, 1831 387
Medal Commemorating the Great Fire in the " Judengasse " of Frankfort-on-the-Main in 1711 486
Presented to Leon Dyer by the Baltimore Communit}', 1847 23
Struck by the Amsterdam Community in Honor of Rabbi Eleazar ben Samuel 104
Struck in Commemoration of the Erection of the Frankfort-on-the-Main Synagogue in 1852 489
Megillah: see Scrolls of Esther.
Menepta II., Syenite Stele of Amenophis III., with Added Inscription of. Mentioning the Israelites. . . 56
Messiah, Elijah Announcing the Coming of the. From an early Mahzor 126
Mizrahi, Elijah, Page from "Mispar " by, the First Hebrew Arithmetic, Printed by Soncino, 1532 45
Monuments: see Egypt; Gravestone; Religious Liberty.
Mordecai and Esther, Traditional Tomb of 233
Morocco : see Fez.
"Mound of the Jews " (Tell al-Yahudiyyah), Egypt 59
Mount Engedi in Judea 160
Gerizim from Nablus 630
Tabor and the Plain of Esdraelon 219
"Musar Haskel," Page from Hai Gaon's, Printed at Fano, 1503 340
XIV
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS IN VOLUME V
PAGE
Music, "El Norah 'Alilali " 87
" Eli Ziyyon " 108
" En Kc'lohenu " 155
" 'Et Sha'are Razou " 243
" Geshem " 644-645
Narbonne, Earliest Known Inscription Relating to Jews of France, Found at, Dated 689 445
Nerva, Reverse of Brass Coin of, Bearing Inscription " Fisci ludaici Calumnia Sublata " 403
"Neuscbule," Exterior and Interior of the, Frankfort-on-tbe-Main 487-488
"Or Adonai," Last Page from Hasdai Crescas', Ferrara, 1555, Bearing Colopbon and Imprint of Abra-
ham Usque 371
Palestine : sec Coins ; Engedi ; Esdraelon ; Gaza ; Ge-Hinnom ; Gerizim ; Glass ; Hand-Mill ;
Jerusalem.
Papyrus, Letter on, of an Egyptian Rabbi to Solomon ben Judah, Twelfth Century 65
Pentateuch, Part of Page from the Hebrew, Printed at Faro, 1487 845
Permit Granted to a Frankfort Jew to View the Coronation Procession of Leopold II., 1790 489
see also Marriage License.
Pliaraoh : see Egypt.
Picart: see Fikst-Born, Redemption of.
Plain of Esdraelon, with Mount Tabor in the Distance 219
Plan of a Family Vault in Talmudic Times 339
of the City of Cairo, Twelfth Century 63
of Frankfort-on-the-Main in 1553, Showing Position of Jewish Quarter 485
Portraits: see
DuBNO, Solomon. Faudel-Phillips. Sir George. Franzos, Karl Emil.
Dukes, Leopold. Felix, Emsa-Rachel. Friedlander, David.
Edels, Samuel. Felsenthal, Bernhard. Frug, Semion.
Edrehi, Moses. Fettmilch, Vincent. Fuenn, Samuel Joseph.
Eger, Akiba. Firkovich, Abraham. Fulda, Ludwig.
Eger, Solomon. Fleckeles, Eleazar. FDrst, Julius.
Einhorn, David. Franck, adolpiie. Furtado. Abraham.
Elijah ben Solomon. Frank, Jacob. Gans, Eduard.
Emin Pasha. Frankel, Zechariah. Geiger, Abraham.
EybeschUtz, Jonathan. Frankl, Ludwig August Ghazzati, Nathan.
Ezekiel, Joseph. Franks, Isaac Ginzberg, asher.
Falk, Hayyim.
Prague, Gravestone of David Gans at 566
Printer's Mark of Abraham Usque on the Last Page of Hasdai Crescas' " Or Adonai," Ferrara, 1555. . . 371
Procession of Frankfort Jews in Honor of Archduke Leopold, May 17, 1716 487
Pulpit and Reading-Desk of the Florence Synagogue ■ 418
Purim, Eve of. Games Played on. From Kirchner, 1726 564
Rachel (Elisa-Rachel Felix), French Actress 360
Receipt: see Starr op Aaron of Lincoln.
Red Sea, the Israelites Crossing the. From the Sarajevo Haggadah, fourteenth century 294
Redemption of First-Born in Holland. After Picart, 1722 395
Scenes at. After Bodenschatz, 1748 397
" Religious Liberty " : Statue by Moses Ezekiel 320
Riot Instigated by Vincent Fettmilch at Frankfort-on-the-Main, Aug. 22, 1614 379
Sabbath-Day Journey : see 'Erubim.
Salonica, Page from Isaac Arama's " 'Akedat Yizhak," Printed by Gedaliah in 1522 at 581
School, German Jewish, Sixteenth Century 44
Modern Jewish, Jerusalem 49
Scrolls of Esther in Olive-Wood Cases 238
in Silver Cases 235
Sculpture : see Religious Liberty.
Seville, Key Presented to Ferdinand III. by the Jewish Community of 363
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS IN VOLUME V xv
PAGE
Simon Maccabeus, Copper Coin of, Bearing an Etrog 263
Soncino: see IMizrahi, Elijah.
Starr of Aaron of Lincoln, 1181, Acknowledging Receipt of Part Paj'inent from Ricliard Malebys, After-
ward Leader in tlie York IMassacre, 1190 163
Stele of AmenopliisIIL, with Added Inscription 'of Menepta II., Mentioning the Israelites 56
Switzerland: see Geneva.
Synagogues: see Cairo; Endingen; Erfurt; Florence; Frankfort-gn-tiie-Main; Fi^Rxn;
Geneva; Gibraltar.
Tabor, Mount, and the Plain of Esdraelon 219
Tear-Bottles, Ancient, Found Near Jerusalem 677
Tell al-Yahudiyyah (The Mound of the Jews), Egypt 59
Title-Page: see Entdecktes Jcdentiium.
Tombs, Traditional: see Esther and Mordecai; Ezekiel; Ezra; Gamaliel II.
Tree with Etrogim or Citrons 201
•'Tur Orah Hayyim," Page from, Berlin, 1702, Bearing Autograph Annotations of Jacob Emden 151
Types, Jewish: seeFALASHA; Fez; Jerusalem; Portraits.
Typography: see Entdecktes Judenthum; Fang; Farg; Ferrara; Gedaliah; Soncing;
Tur Orah Hayyim.
Usque, Abraham, Printer's Mark of, on the Last Page of Hasdai Crescas' "Or Adonai," Ferrara, 1555 371
Valley of Ge-Hinnom 583
Vase on Coin of Eleazar ben Simon 94
Vault, Family, Ground-Plan of a, in Talmudic Times 339
THE
Jewish Encyclopedia
DREYFXJS-BRISAC, LOTHS LTJCIEN :
French physician; born at Strasbnrg Feb. 3, 1849;
died May 5, 1903; studied in liis native city, and after-
ward at tlie Paris Faculte de Medecine, where he
became house surgeon in 1873, and titular physi-
cian in 1878. He was clinic superintendent for ail-
ments of children in 1879. In 1894 he became phy-
sician at the Lariboisiere Hospital. He was ap-
pointed a member of the Superior Council for Public
Aid at its formation in 1888, and was mainly instru-
mental in securing the passage, in 1893, of the law
providing free medical aid. Dreyfus-Brisac is a
member of the medical commission of the Women's
Union of France. At the Paris Exposition of 1900
he was appointed vice-president of the second sec-
tion of the Congress of Public Aid. Among his pub-
lications are: "De I'lctfere Hemapheique" (1878);
"De l'AsphyxieNonToxique"(1882); "Traitement
du DiabSte Sucre" (1894); "De la Phthisic Aigu6"
(in collaboration, 1892). He is also the author of
papers in the "Gazette Hebdomadaire " and else-
where. He has been Chevalier of the Legion of
Honor since 1893.
Bibliography : Curinier, Dictionnaire National.
8. V. E.
DBIBIX. See Mohilev Government.
DRINK-OFFERING. See Sacrifice, The.
DRINKING- VESSELS : Less is known of the
form and material of the drinking-vessels of the
Hebrews than of those of the Greeks and the Romans.
The water-skin ("hemet," Gen. xxi. 15, 19; "ob,"
Job xxxii. 19; and "nod," Judges iv. 19), made of
the hide of the goat and the kid, and still used among
the Bedouins, certainly dates from very early times.
It served both as a receptacle for water and for milk
and as a drinking- vessel. The Israelites probably
first saw earthen drinking-vessels in Palestine, where
they were used by the common people. The wealthy
had metal — usually silver — ones (Gen. xliv. 2), while
those of the kings were of gold (I Kings x. 21 ; II
Chron. ix. 21 [A. V. 20]) or probably of bronze. It
may be safely assumed that these metal vessels were
first imported by the Phenicians, and that the Israel-
ites learned from them how to work the metals
(compare I Kings vii. 12 et seq. [A. V. 13]); hence it
is probable that the drinking-vessels of the Israel-
ites resembled very closely those in use among the
Phenicians.
v.— 1
In regard to form the vessels may be divided into
two groups; viz., (1) cups and (2) bowls. A cup
was usually called " kos, " a designation applied both
to the cup of the poor man (II Sam. xii. 3) and to
that of the king (Gen. xl. 11, 13, 21). I Kings vii.
26 shows that the rim was often bent, and Isa. li. 17,
22 indicates that the sides were bulging. In Gen.
xliv. 2, 12, 16 et srq. the term "gabi'a" is used to
designate "Joseph's cup," which, according to Jcr.
XXXV. 5, seems to have been larger than a kos, and
was probably a chalice or a goblet. The same ap-
plies perhaps to "kubba'at" (Isa. 11. 17), to which
the accompanying word "kos" is probably a gloss.
"Kefor" (I Chron. xxviii. 17; Ezra 1. 10, viii. 27)
means "cup," as is evident from the Assyrian
" kapru," and from the Neo-Hebraic and Judajo- Ara-
maic " kefor " (compare Euting's combination with
"IQ3 =" bulging," in Nabatsean Inscription No. 27).
The bowl, which was called "sefel," was used for
holding milk (Judges v. 25) and for drawing water
(Judges vi. 38). Judges v. 25 shows that in addi-
tion to the bowls of ordinary size there were larger
ones, evidently designed for guests of honor, who
were served with double portions (Gen. xliii. 34; I
Sam. ix. 23 et seq.), not only of meat, but also of
drink ; hence the use of the phrase " sefel addirim "
(lordly dish).
The word "saf " mentioned in I Kings vii. 50; II
Kings xii. 14; and Jer. lii. 19 probabl}' refers to a
bowl also. In Ex. xii. 22 and Zech. xii. 2 a saf is
used at the sacrifice. The "aggan" mentioned in
Cant. vii. 3 is not a bowl for drinking, but rather
for mixing wine with spices; hence /cpar^p in Sep-
tuagint. The " kad " — mentioned in Gen. xxiv. 14 et
seq., which was carried on the shoulder, and from
which Rebekah gave Eliezer water (Gen. xxiv. 18) —
was used for drawing water (comp. Eccl. xii. 6)
rather than as a drinking-vessel (comp. "deli," Isa.
xl. 15). Jugs were also used as drinking-vessels; in
I Sam. xxvi. 12, 16 a "zappahat" (cruse) is men-
tioned, probably a bulging jug carried on journeys
as a drinking-vessel. " Nehel," which has a similar
meaning, may have originally designated a water-
skin (I Sam. i. 24, x. 3. etc.), but later it undoubt-
edly signified an earthen vessel (Isa. xxx. 14; Lam.
iv. 2). "Bakbuk" (Jer. xix. 1, 10; I Kings xiv. 3).
also meaning an earthen vessel, was perhaps used for
drinking purposes.
e. g. h. W. N.
Drissa
Druxnont
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
2
DRISSA : Russian city in the government of
Vitebsk. Th6 population in 1897 was 4,237, of
whom 2,856 were Jews. There were 657 artisans
(including 229 masters) and 158 day-laborers. Among
its charitable institutions may be noted the Bikkur
Holim, and among its educational institutions a
county school with 120 pupils (7 of whom are Jews)
and a day-school with 70 pupils (13 of whom are
Jews).
Drissa existed as early as the fourteenth cen-
tury, and Jews are mentioned there in connection
with the lumber trade in 1547 ("Regesty i Nadpisi,"
No. 464). Situated on the Drissa, an affluent of the
Duna, Drissa was a center for the export of lumber
and grain to Riga and Danzig, a tra'de which was
entirely in the hands of the Jews.
n. R. S. J.— M. R.
DRIVER, SAMUEL ROLLES : English
Christian Hebraist; born at Southampton Oct. 2,
1846; regius professor of Hebrew (in succession to
Pusey), and canon of Christ Church, Oxford, since
1883 ; member of the Old Testament Revision Com-
pany, 1876-84.
Together with T. K. Cheyne and Robertson
Smith, Driver has been one of tlie foremost cham-
pions of Biblical criticism in England. Driver ap-
proached it from its linguistic side ("Jour, of Phil."
1882, pp. 201-236). His first contribution, "A
Treatise on the Use of the Tenses in Hebrew " (Ox-
ford, 1874; 3d ed., 1892), has remained the most com-
plete presentation of the subject. Driver has de-
fended his position before several Church congresses
{e.g., in 1883); his attitude has frequently been crit-
icized from a theological point of view (see, for
example, "The Guardian," 1890, pp. 1419 et seq.;
Robinson, "Early Religion," p. xii.), while Cheyne
complains that Driver is not a sulliciently represent-
ative exponent of modern higher criticism (" Intro-
duction to the Book of Isaiah," p. xi.). In matters
of criticism Driver has always taken a conservative
view, showing much moderation and sympathy with
the orthodox position. For him "the Old Testa-
ment is not a systematic treatise on theology, but
the record of a historical revelation, which, just be-
cause it was historical, passed through many suc-
cessive phases, and was completed gradually " ; and
the conclusions at which he arrives "afEect, not the
fact of revelation, but only its form. They help
to determine the stages through which it passed,
the different phases which it assumed, and the proc-
ess by which the record of it was ouilt up. They
do not touch either the authority or the inspiration
of the scriptures of the Old Testament" (compare
his "Isaiah," Preface, and "Introduction," p. vii..
New York, 1891). He takes a similar position in
regard to the results of archeological and anthro-
pological research ; holding that though these results
have taken the Hebrews out of the isolated position
which they, as a nation, seem previously to have
held, they "do not, in any degree, detract from that
religious preeminence which has always been deemed
the inalienable characteristic of the Hebrew race "
("Hebrew Authority," p. 7).
Driver's critical works deal with the most impor-
tant books of the Old Testament, and his " Introduc-
tion " is still the standard English work on the
subject. Driver's chief productions are his contri-
butions to "The Holy Bible with Various Render-
ings and Readings" (together with Cheyne, 1876);
known from the 3d ed. onward as " The Variorum
Bible," 1888; "Notes on the Hebrew Text of the
Books of Samuel," Oxford, 1890; "An Introduction
to the Literature of the Old Testament," 1891; 6th
ed., 1897; "Sermons on Subjects Connected with
the Old Testament," 1892; "Isaiah: His Life and
Times," in the "Men of the Bible" series, 1893;
"Critical and Exegetical Commentary on Deuteron-
omy," 1895, in the "International Critical Commen-
tary " series; "Joel and Amos," 1897, and "Daniel,"
1900, in the "Cambridge Bible for Schools"; "The
Parallel Psalter," 1898, and a critical edition of
Leviticus, in the " Sacred Books of the Old Testa-
ment," ed. Haupt, 1894; "Hebrew Authority," in
"Authority and Archaeology, Sacred and Profane,"
ed. D. G. Hogarth, 1899. To the " Studia Biblica "
(vol. i., Oxford, 1885) Driver has contributed a
paper on " Recent Theories on the Origin and Na-
ture of the Tetragrammaton "; to the "Jew. Quart.
Rev." (i. 258 et seq.), an article on "The Origin and
Structure of the Book of Judges " ; and to Neubauer
and Cowley's edition of Ben Sira he has added a
glossary and some notes (" Original Hebrew of Ec-
clesiasticus," 1897, p. xv. ; compare "Oxford Maga-
zine," viii., Nos. 11 and 12, 1890; and "The Guard-
ian," 1896, p. 1029).
Driver has edited two small rabbinical works : a
commentary on Jeremiah and Ezekiel by Moses ben
Sheshet, London, 1871, and one on Proverbs, attrib-
uted to Abraham ibn Ezra, Oxford, 1880. He has
also been a collaborator on the second edition of
Smith's "Bible Dictionarj^" on Hasting's "Diction-
ary of the Bible," and on Cheyne and Black's "En-
cyclopaedia Biblica," andiscoeditor, with Professors
Brown and Briggs, of the Clarendon press edition of
Gesenius.
Bibliography : Who''s Who, s.v.; Prominent Men of the
Nineteenth Century, s.v.; Cheyne, Founders of Old Testa-
ment Cnticism, pp. 248 et seq.. New York, 1893.
J. G.
DROHOBICZER, ISRAEL NAHMAN BEN
JOSEPH : Talmudic scholar and preacher of Stan-
islaw (according to Ghirondi he came from Os-
trog, Russia) ; died at Safed early in the nineteenth
century. He was a pupil of Israel Ba'al Shem-Tob,
and after having been rabbi and rosh yeshibah in
several towns of Germany, he undertook a long
journey in order to publish his works. He stayed
for several years at Leghorn, where his books were
printed; and then went to Palestine, where he died.
He wrote the following works: "Emet le-Ya'akob,"
funeral dirges, 1704; "Hemdat Yisrael," a commen-
tary on Ecclesiastes, on "Elef Alfin," and on " Alef
Bet "of Elijah ha-Levi, 1820; "Pekuddatha-Melek,"
containing novellae on Maimonides, and funeral
dirges, 2 vols.
Bibliography: Steinschnelder, Cat. Bodl. col. 1166; Nepi-
Ghirondi, Toledot Oedole Yisrael, pp. 170, 180; Zedner, Cat.
Hebr. Books Brit. Mus. p. 211.
L. G. M. Sel.
DROMEDARY : A variety or choice breed of
the camel proper, or one-humped camel; much taller
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Drissa
Drumont
and longer in the leg than the ordinary camel, of a
more slender shape, and generally of a very light
color. Its speed is considerable, reaching eighty miles
a day. Zoologists include all varieties of one-humped
camel under the name Camelus dromedarius, in con-
tradistinction to the Camelus bactrianus, or two-
humped camel. As the two species interbreed suc-
cessfully and the offspring is able to procreate, some
assume that they are only two varieties of one spe-
cies; but as the Camelus dromedarius has not yet
been found in a wild state, the question can not be
settled.
The word " dromedary " occurs four times in the
English versions; viz., twice in both the Authorized
and the Revised Version as a rendering of the He-
brew "beker" (Isa. Ix. 6) or "bikrah" (Jer. ii. 23),
and twice in the Authorized Version alone, to render
the Hebrew "rekesh" (I Kings v. 8 [A. V. iv. 28]
and Esth. viii. 10). But in neither case is the ren-
dering correct. "Rekesh" means rather a swift
steed, as the Revised Version has it; and "beker"
designates the young of the camel up to nine years,
and not any special variety or breed.
Bibliography : Tristram, Natural History of the Bible, s.v.;
Wood, Bible Animals, s.v.
E. G. H. H. H.
DROPSIE, MOSES AARON : American law-
yer, and president of Gratz College ; born in Phila-
delphia, Pa., March 9, 1821. Beginning life as a store-
boy, he first learned watchmaking, and afterward
studied law under Benjamin Harris Brewster, sub-
sequently attorney-general of the United States.
After his admission to the bar (in 1851) he took an
active interest in public affairs, was the candidate
of the Whig party for mayor of the Northern Liber-
ties district of Philadelphia in 1852, and, like most
members of the party, was strongly opposed to
slavery.
Dropsie has been instrumental in the development
of railways in Philadelphia; and after acting as
president of the Lombard and South Street Passen-
ger Railroad (1862-82), he became (1888) president
of the Green and Coates Street Passenger Railroad,
which position he still holds (1903).
In 1870 he became chairman of the commission
appointed by the legislature for the construction of
a bridge over the Schuylkill River.
Dropsie has always taken a deep interest in Jew-
ish charitable and educational work. He has been
a director of the Hebrew Fuel Society ; a member of
the board of "ad junta" (directors) of the Sephardic
Congregation Mickve Israel; and was one of the
charter members, and for more than forty years an
oflBcer, of the Hebrew Education Society of Phila-
delphia, having acted as secretary, vice-president,
and (twice) president. He is now (1903) an honor-
ary life-member of the board of officers.
Dropsie was also president of Maimonides College
from 1867 to 1873, and has been president of the
Philadelphia branch of the Alliance Israelite Uni-
verselle since 1883 and of Gratz College since its
foundation in 1893. From 1856 to 1861 he was pres-
ident of the Mercantile Club.
Owing to failing eyesight, Dropsie in 1885 re-
tired from the practise of the law. He has trans-
lated and edited Mackeldey's "Handbook of the
Roman Law " (1883), and in addition has published
(1892) a separate work on "The Roman Law of Tes-
taments, Codicils, and Gifts in the Event of Death
(Mortis Causa Donationes)."
Besides a "Panegyric on the Life of the Rev.
Isaac Leeser," Dropsie has written pamphlets on
" The Life of Jesus from and Including the Accusa-
tion Until the Alleged Resurrection, with an Account
of the Cross-Crown of Thorns," and "Reform Juda-
ism and the Study of Hebrew."
Bibliography : H. S. Morals, The Jews of Philadelphia, pp.
255-258 and Index.
A. D. 8u.
DROSHCHIN. See Grodno.
DRTJCKER, HAYYIM B. JACOB (also
known as Arbicli) : Printer of Amsterdam at the
end of the seventeenth and the beginning of the
eighteenth century. His activity as a typesetter,
publisher, author, and translator extends from 1680
to 1724. He worked successively in the printing
establishments of David Tartas, of Moses Mendez,
and of Asher Anshel & Co. He edited in 1690 a
Judaeo-German translation of Manasseh b. Israel's
" Mikweh Yisrael, " and of the " Masse'ot Binyamin "
(Itinerary of Benjamin of Tudela). He published
the following works: in 1706, his own "Leb Haka-
mim " containing a treatise on morals, together with
the ethical work " Leb Tob," by Isaac b. Eliakim of
Posen, both in Judaeo-German; in 1711, a new edi-
tion of the "Ze'enah u-Re'enah"; in 1718, a calen-
dar for the year 5479 (=1719); and in 1722, Isaac
Aboab's "Menorat ha-Ma'or," with the Judaeo-Ger-
man translation of Moses Frankfurter, which Frank-
furter himself revised. Drucker had two sons. Hen-
del Elhanan and Jacob, both of whom were the
printers and publishers of Judaeo-German transla-
tions of various works.
Bibliography: Steinschnelder and Cassel, JUdische Tvpo-
graphie iind JUdischer Biichhandel, in Ersch and Gruber,
Encyc. xxviil. 70; Fiirst, Bibl.Jud. 1. 49; Benjacob, Ozor
ha-Sefarim, pp. 254, 338; Steinschnelder, Cat. Bodl. Nos.
4691, 7919.
J. P. Wi.
DRTJCKER, MICHAEL: Musician; born in
Russian Poland Dec. 31, 1861. At the age of five
he began the study of the violin under his father,
and in 1875 attended the Kiev Conservatorium. He
became concert-director in Kiev in 1877, and later
leader of the orchestra at the operetta theater there.
He then went to Warsaw to complete his studies.
After making extended concert tours in Sweden,
Norway, France, and Germany, he became concert-
director at the Lemberg opera-house (1880), where
he remained for thirteen years. Then he removed
to Vienna, where he is (1903) active as a virtuoso
and music-teacher.
Bibliography: Eisenberg, Das Geistige Wien, 1. 91.
H. K. N. D.
DRTJISK. See Kovno.
DRUMONT, EDOUARD ADOLPHE : French
anti-Semitic author and former deputy from Al-
geria; born at Paris on May 3, 1844. Drumont's
ancestry is not Jewish, as has been sometimes as-
serted. His ancestors came from Lille, where they
were porcelain-painters. Drumont studied at the
Lycee. When Drumont was but seventeen his
father died, and left him to earn his own livelihood.
Drunkenness
Dublin
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
He entered the Prefecture de la Seine, but soon left
this for the profession of letters. At first he worked
on the staff of several daily, weekly, and monthly
periodicals. He was one of the chief collaborators
on the "Liberte," "Gaulois," and "Petit Journal."
During the seventies he published several volumes
dealing with historical and theatrical themes.
In 1886 Drumout withdrew from the staff of the
" Liberte " (owned by Pereire, a Jew), claiming that
the newspapers were unduly controlled by the
Jews. He then issued his famous work in two vol-
umes, "La France Juive," a book which may be re-
garded as the beginning of the anti-Semitic move-
ment in France. It gives an account of the Jews of
that country, and analyzes the Jewish element of
the French nation. The work, of course, is written
from an intensely prejudiced point of view. It
has passed through more than one hundred editions,
arousing wide-spread interest, and was soon trans-
lated into several languages. Because of it, Dru-
mont fought several duels, notably with Charles
Laurent and Arthur Meyer. In addition, Drumont
wrote the following books to explain his previous
work: "La France Juive Devant I'Opinion " (1886),
"La Fin d'un Monde" (1888), "Dcrni^re Bataille,"
"Testament d'un Antisemite" (1889), etc.
Meantime the Panama affair, in which several
Jewish financiers were prominently involved, gave
to Drumont's agitation groat popularity, and in
September, 1893, he founded the "Libre Parole,"
a daily journal of rabid anti-Semitic tendencies.
For his anti-Panama articles, Drumont was con-
demned to three months' imprisonment. In 1893 he
was an unsuccessful candidate for the representa-
tion of Amiens; the following year he retired to
Brussels. The Dreyfus affair helped him to regain
popularity, and in 1898 he returned to France and
was elected deputy for the first division of Algiers,
but was defeated as a candidate for reelection in
1903.
Bibliography: Dewamin, Collection Enci/clopcdique dcs
Notahilites du XIXe Steele, i. 218 et seq., Paris, 1901 ; Curi-
nier. Dictiorniaire Natioiial des Contemporains, i.dSetscq.,
Paris, n.d.; Noxiveau Laronsse Ilhistre, iii. 856; De Giiber-
■DaUs, Dictioniiaire International des Ecrivains du Jour,
p. 800, Paris, n.d.
D. A. M. F.
DRUNKENNESS IN LAW: The Talmud
speaks only once of drunkenness in its relation to re-
sponsibility for contracts or for crimes; namely, in
tiie following baraita ('Er. 65a):
" A drunken man's purchase is a purchase ; his sale is a sale ;
if hecomuiits a capital offense, they put him to death; if he
does an act punishable by stripes, they tiog him ; in a word, he
is deemed of sound mind for all purposes, except tliat he is free
from prayer [elsewhere the recital of the prayer is forbidden to
the drunken man]. R. Haninasays: "All this is true only until
the man has gone as far in his drunkenness as Lot went; but
wlien he has pone as far as Lot, he is free from everything.' "
These rules are followed by all the codes; e.fj.,
Maimonides, "Yad," Mekirah, xxix. ; Shulhan
'Aruk. Hoshen Mishpat, 223, 22.
Speaking broadly, these principles agree with those
of the English-American law. Compare, however.
Fraud and Mistake, Law of.
L. G. L. N. D.
DBTJSIIiliA : Daughter of Agrippa I. and Cy-
pres (Josephus, "Ant." iviii. 5, § 4; idem, "B. J."
11. 11, §6); born in 38. She was only six years old at
her father's death (44), and was subjected to the
insult of having the portraits of herself and two sis-
ters, Berenice and Mariamne, carried into the houses
of ill-fame of Ca^sarea by the Roman soldiers, who
rejoiced over Agrippa's death ("Ant." xix. 9, § 1).
Tlie sisters did not enjoy a good reputation, the
beautiful Drusilla being even worse than her elder
sisters. Her father had betrothed her to Epiphanes,
son of Antiochus of Commagene; but as Epiphanes
refused after Agrippa's death to keep his promise
to embrace Judaism, Drusilla was married by her
brother Agrippa II. to Azizos, King of Emesa, who
accepted the Abrahamiccovenant(" Ant." xx. 7, § 1).
Drusilla dissolved her marriage with Azizos about
the year 53, the newly appointed procurator of
Judea, Felix, having fallen in love with her. With
the help of a Cj'priote magician, whose name is
variously given as "Atomos" and "Simon," he in-
duced her to follow him, though a pagan, and to
become his wife, contrary to the laws of her people
(Acts xxiv. 24). Envy of her sister Berenice aided
in driving Drusilla to this step.
By Felix, Drusilla had a son, Agrippa, who, to-
gether with his wife, perished during the eruption
of Vesuvius in 79 ("Ant." xx. 7, § 2).
BiBLiOGRAPnv: Basnage, Histoire dex Juifs, i. 187; Gratz,
Gesch. 4th ed.. iii. 354, 428, 438; Gerlach, in Zeitschrift fUr
Lntherische TheoloQie, 18ti9, pp. 68 et seq.; Schiirer, Gei^ch,
3d ed., i. 573. It is said in the Prosopographia Imperii Rn-
mani, ii. 95, that Tacitus, in his History (v. 9), confounds
two wives of Felix of the name of Drusilla.
G. S. Kr.
DRTTTZK. See Mohii.ev Government.
DRiryA, See Wilna.
DRUZHKOPOL. See Volhtnia.
DUAL : Form of a noun or verb Indicating its
application to two persons or things. Arabic is the
only Semitic language that has the dual form for the
verb as well as for the noun; in Syriac only a few
traces of the dual have been preserved. In Hebrevy
the dual has been preserved in the case of the noun
only, its suffix being "ayim." It is used chiefly to
designate objects that are found naturally in pairs, es-
pecially members of the human body or of the bodies
of animals. It is also used of the teeth, because they
form a pair of rows ("shinnayim "). In addition,
the dual is used for those products of human skill
which are constructed in such a way that the sin-
gular would not apply to them ; e.g. , " melkahayim "
(tongs), " misparayim " (scissors). The numeral " she-
nayim " (two) is likewise a natural dual, as are also
such expressions as "kiflayim" (twofold), "kil'a-
yim" (two kinds; corresponding to the Ethiopian
numeral for " two ").
But the dual is occasionally used to indicate two
objects not naturally connected; e.g., "yomayim"
(two days), "shebu'ayim" (two weeks), "shena-
tayim" (two years), "ammatayim" (two ells), Neo-
Hebrew "tefahayim" (two spans). The numbers
200 and 2,000 are also designated by the dual: "ma-
tayim," "alpayim." A special group of the dual is
formed by geographical names, principally those of
cities ending in " ayim " ; for example, " Ramatayim "
(A. V. " Ramathaim "), " Horonayim " (A. V. " Horo-
naim"), "Kiryatayim" (A. V. " Kirjathaim." " Kiri-
atliaim "), etc. In one of such names the dual form
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Srunkennesa
Dublin
has been contracted to " an " ; namely, " Dothan " for
"Dothayin" (Gen. xxxvii. 17). To this group be-
longs also the Hebrew name of Egypt, " Mizrayim "
(A. V. "Mizraim" = Upper Egypt and Lower
Egypt); also " Aram-Naharayim " (A. V. "Aram-
naharaim "=;the Aram of the two rivers Euphrates
and Tigris, or, according to a recent view, Euphrates
and Chaboras). " Yerushalayim," however, tlie
name of Jerusalem, according to the Masoretic read-
ing of the name D^lJ'n', must not be explained as a
dual, as it is one of several words having the suffix
" ayim " that are not duals. Thus, " mayim " (water)
and "shamayim" (heaven) are plural forms, the "y "
preceding the plural ending "im" being radical.
This was recognized by as early a grammarian as
Abual-Walid ("Luma'," pp. 285'c!: se<7.="Rikmah,"
pp. 172 et seq.)\ while Abraham ibu Ezra (" Sefer ha-
Shem," i. ; commentar}^ to Gen. i. 2) holds that they
are duals, and attempts to explain them as such
on the ground of natural philosophy.
Hayyuj and Abu al-Walid have borrowed a term
from Arabic grammar for the dual, "tathniyyah."
Abu al-Walid devotes to the dual, as a variant of the
plural, a short chapter of his chief work, "Luma' "
(pp. 247 et sf9. = "Rikmah," pp. 148 et seq.). Ibn
Ezra calls the dual " leshon shenayim " ; the later
Jewish grammarians use the term " ribbui ha-zugi " ;
I.e., "paired plural."
Bibliography : Philippi, Bas Zahlwort Zweiim Semitischen,
in Z. D. M. G. xxxii. 21-98.
G. W. B.
DUALISM: The system in theology which ex-
plains the existence of evil by assuming two coeter-
nal principles — one good, the other evil. This dual-
ism is the chief characteristic of the religion of
Zoroaster, which assigns all that is good to Ahura-
mazda (Ormuzd), and all that is evil to Augro-
mainyush(Ahriman; seeZoROASXRiANisM). Against
this dualism, which may have some basic elements
in Chaldean mythology, the seer of the Exile pro-
tests when accentuating the doctrine that the Lord
"formed the light and created darkness," that He
"is the Maker of peace and the Creator of evil"
(Isa. xlv. 7). The verse has found a place in the
daily liturgy (see Liturgy), but with the change
of the word "ra'" (evil) into "ha-kol" (all), prompted
by an aversion to having "evil" directly associated
with the name of God (seeBer. lib; compare Num.
R. xi. 16). The same idea occurs in Lam. (iii. 3s.
Hebr.): " Out of the mouth of the Most High coni-
eth there not evil and good ? " No less emphatic are
the Rabbis in their opposition to the dualistic views
of Parseeisra when they teach that both death and
the evil desire (" yezer ha-ra' ") are agencies working
for the good (Gen. R. ix. ; compare Sanh. 39a, (ilb;
Shab. 77b; ]\Iaimonides' preface to Mishnah com-
mentary ; see Sin).
Zeller ('-Gesch. der Pliilosophie," 2d ed., iii. 250)
mistakenly ascribes dualistic notions to the Essenes
(Hilgenfeld, " Ketzergesch. des Urchristenthums,"
1884, p. 109; see Essenes). On the contrary, Philo
("Quod Omnis Probus Liber," § 12) says that ac-
cording to them " God only produces what is good,
and nothing that is evil." They beheld in life only
certain contrasts — opposing tendencies of purity and
impurity, of good and evil — and, following ancient
Chaldean traditions, placed the one to the right (to-
ward the light) and the other to the left (toward the
night) ( Josephus, " B. J. " ii. 8, § 9 ; " Clementine Hom-
ilies," ii. 15, 33; xix. 12; "Recognitiones," iii. 24)—
views which are found also among the Gnostics and
the Cabalists (see Jew. Encyc. iii. 458, s.v. Cabala).
Of course, the tendency toward evil was found by
them, as well as by Philo, in matter — the things of
the senses — in contradistinction to the spiritual world
(Zeller, I.e. p. 348; see PiiiLO); but this does not
contradict the belief in God as Creator of the visible
world. There were, however. Gnostics who would
ascribe the creation of the visible world to the dem-
iurge ("artificer"), an inferior god mentioned in
Plato's "Timffius" (§ 29); and this doctrine of "two
powers" (nnt^n ^nt'). frequently alluded to in Tal-
mud and Midrash (Hag. 15a; Gen. R. i. ; Eccl. R. ii.
12; see Elisiia ben Abuyab), actually led its fol-
lowers to the dualistic view ascribing evil to the in-
ferior god. Thus dualism became the chief doctrine,
on the one hand, of the Manicheans, a sect founded
on Zoroastrianism, and, on the other hand, of the
anti-Judean Christian Gnostics, who opposed the
Old Testament as recording the dispensation of an
inferior god, the author of evil (Hilgenfeld, I.e. pp.
192, 209, 332, 383, 526; see Gnosticis.m; God; Mani-
cheans).
Among Jewish philosophers Saadia ("Emunot
we-De'ot," ii.) takes especial pains to demonstrate
the untenability of dualistic definitions of the God-
head. Were there two creators, it must be assumed
that only with the help of the other could each
create, and that therefore neither is omnipotent.
Light and darkness do not prove the contrary, for
darkness is on 1}' a negation of light (see Saadia). In
the Maimonidean system the difficulty of reconciling
the existence of evil with God's unity is solved by
the assumption that evil is only negative ("Moreh,"
iii. 8). K.— E. G. H.
DTJARTE, LUIS {alias Luis Noble) : Chilean
]\Iaran(); born in Evora, Portugal, at the end of the
sixteenth century. He served for six years in the
Chilean army, and, being accused of stealing a cru-
cifix,was imprisoned by order of the Inquisition in
Callao. A Jesuit induced him to confess, promising
him speedy acquittal. He, accordingly, admitted
(Aug., 1614) his secret adherence to Judaism. As a
concession to his voluntary self-denunciation, he was
admitted to "secret reconciliation"; and was sen-
tenced to do "spiritual penance." The alcaldes,
considering this punishment inadequate, had him
whipped and sent to the galleys.
Bibliography: J. T. Medina, Histni-ia del Tritninal del
Santo Oficio de la Inquisicion en Chile, ii. 50, SautiaKO de
Chile, 1890.
A. G. A. K.
DUARTE DE PINEL, See Usque, Abraham.
DUBLIN: Chief city of Ireland. The Jewish
community in Dublin is one of the oldest of those
which have been founded in Great Britain since the
Resettlement, having been established in the first
half of the eighteenth century. In the j'ear 1748
]\Iichael Phillips acquired some freehold ground at
Drumcondra, opposite Ballybough Bridge, which
he presented to the Jews of Dublin for a cemetery.
Some years later the Jews of Dublin sought pecu-
Dublin
Dubnow
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
6
niary assistance from their Polish and German core-
ligionists in London, for the purpose of building a
wall round their cemetery. Their applications were
refused, but they received the desired help from the
Bevis Marks congregation, which, besides defraying
the expenses of the work, sent an agent from Lon-
don to supervise it. The title-deeds of the Dublin
Jewish cemetery were then deposited at Bevis
Marks, with the archives of which congregation they
are still to be found.
Toward the end of the eighteenth century (about
1791) the Dublin community worshiped in Marl-
borough street, "in the yard of the glass-works."
But the congregation fell into decay, and its effects
were seized and sold for rent. Two scrolls of the
Law were, however, rescued, and for some time they
remained in the possession of "the brothers Cohen."
Other .scrolls, which had been borrowed from the
Bevis Marks congregation, appear to have been pre-
viously returned.
The congregation was resuscitated in 1822, when
the few remaining families joined to open a place of
worship at 40 Stafford street, the residence of J. W.
Cohen. In 1829 this place of worship was enlarged,
and about the same time " the brothers Cohen " pre-
sented to the congregation the two scrolls of the
Law which they had rescued from the former build-
ing. Six years later the congregation removed to
Mary's Abbey, where it had bought a meeting-house
for £300. In 1842 the Mary's Abbey congregation
expressed a wish to affiliate with the Portuguese
Synagogue of London, but nothing appears to have
resulted from the negotiations. Subsequently the
congregation removed to their present building in
Adelaide Road.
In recent times, in addition to the principal syna-
gogue in Adelaide Road, there have grown up a
number of minor synagogues, or "hebrahs," of
which at present there are five, situated respect-
ively in St. Kevin's Parade, Camden street, Lennox
street, Oakfield Place, and Lombard street. The
principal ministers have been J. Sandheim, Philip
Bender, and L. Mendelsohn.
Other Jewish institutions are: the Board of Guard-
ians (founded 1882), the Ladies' Benevolent Soci-
ety, Hachnosath Orechim, and Medical Relief Soci-
ety (founded 1888), and the National and Hebrew
School (founded 1893), in Adelaide Road, which en-
rolls 160 scholars. The present Jewish population
of Dublin is about 2,700. The Dublin community
has for many years included a large number of
cultured Jews, who have taken the highest distinc-
tions at Trinity College.
Bibliography: Laws and Regulations of the Hehretv Con-
gregation in Dublin, Historical Preface, London. 1839 ; Pic-
ciottx). Sketches nf Anglo-Jeunsh History, pp. 77, 168,225;
Archives of the London Spa7iish and Portuguese Congre-
gation ; Jewish Tear Book, 1903-08.
J. I. H.
DTJBNER MAGGID. See Jacob ben Wolf
Kranz of Dubno.
DTJBNICZA: Bulgarian town; 22 miles south
of Sofia, and on the left bank of the Jerma. In
tracing the origin of its population by the names of
the families at present found there, one discovers
French, Spanish, Arabian, Hungarian, and other
elements. It is known that there were Jews at
Dubnicza in 1586. Among the chief rabbis of Dub-
nicza were Solomon Moreno (1680-1750) and Abra-
ham b. Samuel Alkalai (1793-1811). The Kirjall,
a band of brigands that terrorized the Balkans at the
end of the eighteenth centur}', occupied the town sev-
eral times. In 1793 and again in 1794, a tribute was
imposed amounting to 3,000 piasters on the first occa-
sion, and 300 on the second. The share contributed
by the wealthier Jews was determined by the assess-
ments of Chief Rabbi Alkalai. It also appears from
" Hesed le-Abraham " that the community of Dub-
nicza paid two classes of taxes not demanded from
Jews anywhere else. Abraham Alkalai (1741-1811),
a celebrated rabbi who was born at Salonica, first be-
came prominent at Dubnicza, where he officiated for
twenty years. The town esteemed him so highly
that his tomb has become an object of pilgrimage.
Dubnicza has a population of 8,000, about 1,150
being Jews. The latter are chiefly engaged in vari-
ous trading and mechanical occupations, and the
carpet-weaving industry is entirely in their hands.
The synagogue dates from 1825. There are a boys'
school with an attendance of 216, and two societies,
a bikkur holim and an association of Zionists. The
cemetery at Dubnicza contains a tombstone bearing
the date 5330 (1569) and the name "Mosse b. Morde-
khai Frances." There are also some synagogue ap-
purtenances dating from 1740.
Bibliography : Rumanian Jewish Year-Book, Bucharest,
1888.
D. M. Fb.
DTJBNO : Town in the government of Volhynia,
Russia. According to the census of 1897 it had a
population of 13,785, including 5,608 Jews. The
chief sources of income for the latter are in trading
and industrial occupations. There are 902 artisans,
147 day-laborers, 27 factory and workshop em-
ployees, and 6 families cultivate 90 deciatines of
land. The town has a Jewish hospital, but no edu-
cational institutions except several hadarim. The
earliest date given in connection with the Jews of
Dubno is the beginning of the seventeenth cen-
tury. In 1650 there were in Dubno 47 Jewish and
141 Christian taxable households.
The following list of Dubno rabbis extends from 1600 to the
present time: Isaiah ha-Levl Hurwitz (1600-06), author of
" Shene Luhot ha-Berit." Samuel b. Aaron ha-Levi Hurwitz
(1625-30), cousin of Isaiah Hurwitz. Zebi (Hirsch) b. Ozer, son-
in-law of Abraham Hayyim Shor, chief rabbi of Satanow ; author
of n"3. Me'ir b. Moses Ashkenazl, the father of Shabbethai
Kohen (ShaK); died at Dubno Nov. 25, 1649. Judah ha-Hasid,
martyred 1649. Abraham Heilprin (166b-€2),
Rabbis. son-in-law of the physician Jehiel Michael
Epstein. Nahman b. Meir ha-Kohen Rape-
port (also called Nahman Lifsches); died in 1674; previously
rabbi 6t Kremenetz (Volhynia) and Belz (Galicia); took part in
the Council of Four Lands at the fair of Jaroslaw. Moses
b. Joseph, died at Lemberg May 22, 1684. Israel b. Mordecal
Yolis (also called Israel Swinhar) . Simhah b. Nahman ha-Kohen
Rapoport, died at Szebreczin July 15, 1717 ; son-in-law of Israel
b. Mordecai : replaced the latter in the rabbinate of Dubno from
1682 to 1688 ; rabbi of Grodno to 1714, of Lublin to 1717 ; called
to the rabbinate of Lemberg in the same year ; he died on his
way there. Joseph b. Judah Yudel of Lublin, died April 13,
1706 ; wrote a work entitled " Ne'imah Kedoshah," containing
moral precepts and a poem for the Sabbath. Samuel b. Shalom
Shakna of Cracow, died at Brody June 22, 1729. Isaac b. Saul
Ginzburg (1712-15). Eleazarb. Issachar Baerof Cracow (1715-
1719), maternal grandfather of Ezekiel Landau. Heschel b. Ele-
azar (also called R. Heschel "der Kleiner"), died July 25, 1729.
Zalman Ephraim b. Saul. Abraham b. Samuel Kahana, died
1741; previously rabbi of Brody and Ostrog (Volhynia). Isaac
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Dublin
Dubno\7
Moses b. Abraham Kahana (d. 1745). Saul b. Aryeh Lob, born
at Reischo 1717; died at Amsterdam June 19, 1790; son-in-law
of Abraham Kahana and author of "Binyan Ariel" (1745-55).
Naphtali Herz b. Zebi Hirsch (d. May 17, 1777). Ze'eb Wolf b.
Naphtall Herz, born at Brody 1745; died at Dubno 1800; pre-
viously rabbi of Radzivil, Volhynia; his responsa were pub-
lished in the "Tif'eret Zebi" of Zebi Hirsch, rabbi of Brody
(Lem berg, 1811). Nathan ha-Levi Hurwitz. Hayylm Mordecai
Margaliot, brother-in-law of Nathan Hurwitz and author of
•'Sha'are Teshubah." Hayyira Jacob b. Ze'eb Wolf, previously
rabbi of Rovno, Volhynia ; died Sept. 2.5, 1849. David Zebi
Auerbach, son-in-law of Hayyim Jacob and author of "Mal-
bushe Taharah " (unpublished). Menahem Mendel Auerbach,
son of David Zebi, is the present (1903) incumbent.
Bibliography: P. Pesis, Tr Duhno we-Rabhaneha. Cracow,
1902; RegeMu i Xadpisi, i. 339, 432, St. Petersburg. 1899;
K. H. Margolyesh, in Ned. Khronika Voskhnda, 1887,
p. 45.
11. R. S. J— M. Sel.
DUBNO, SOLOMON BEN JOEL: Russian
poet, grainiuuriaii, and student of the Masorah;
born at Dubno, Volhynia, Oct., 1738; died
at Amsterdam June 26, 1813. When he
was fourteen years old his parents
married him to the daughter of the
Talmudist Simhah ben Joshua of
Volozhin. Having exhausted
the knowledge of his Volhyn-
ian instructors, Dubno went
to Galicia, studying there tor
several j^ears Biblical exe-
gesis and grammar under
the direction of Rabbi Sol-
omon of Cholm. Dubno
soon became proficient in
these branches of Jewish
science, and was charged
by his master with the
revision and publication
of his work on the He-
brew accents, " Sha'are
Ne'imah" (Frankfort-on-
the-Main, 1766).
From 1767 to 1772 Dub-
no lived at Amsterdam,
attracted by its rich col-
lections of Hebrew books.
On leaving Amsterdam he
settled in Berlin, earning a
livelihood by teaching. Among
his pupils was the son of Moses
Mendelssohn, who, highly appreci-
ating Dubno's scholarship, became
his patron and friend. Dubno wrote
a commentary for Mendelssohn's
translation of the Bible, of which only a portion —
the " ' Alim li-Terufah " (Amsterdam, 1778)— was
published. See Jew. Encyc. iii. 192, s.v. Bible
Translations.
During his stay at Wilna Dubno wrote a poem,
preceded by a dissertation on the writing of the
Scrolls, entitled " Birkat Yosef " (The Benediction of
Joseph), published at Dyhernfurth, 1783. After the
death of Mendelssohn, Dubno stopped for a short
time in Frankfort-on-the-Main, and then returned to
Amsterdam. There, at first feted, and later ignored,
deriving a scanty income from the loan of the books
from his rich library, he remained until his death.
In addition to the works mentioned above, Dubno
wrote the following: (1) Poems, appearing (p. 34)
among those of Immanuel, published by Lob Wolf
at Berlin, 1776; in the "Bikkure To'elet" (pp. 4,
114), published by the Anshe To'elet Society of
Amsterdam; and in Heidenheim's "Sefer Kero-
bot." (2) "Ebel Yahid," an elegy on the death
of Jacob Enulen, published at Berlin, 1776. (3) A
preface to Moses Hayyim Luzzatto's poem "La-
Yesharim Tehillah," ib. 1780. (4) A work on the
geography of Palestine, promised by him in his
commentary on Genesis, where he displayed a
profound knowledge of the subject. Luncz ("Je-
rusalem," 1892, pp. 137 et seg.) identifies tiiis work
with the "Ahabat Ziyyon " of Dubno's father-in-
law, Simhah ben Joshua; but as this is a mere
plagiarism from the Karaite Samuel ben David's
stoiy of his voyage to Palestine, published in Gur-
laud's"Ginze Yisrael," it is probable that Lehren
("Catalogue," p. 247) is right in doubting the
identification. (5) " Reshimah " (Register),
catalogue of his library, published at
Amsterdam, 1814. It contains 2,076
printed works and 106 manu-
scripts. Dubno left a great
number of essays, poems, etc.,
which are still extant in man-
uscript.
Bibliography : De Ros.sl, Dizi-
onariOjp. 92; Zunz, Z.G.p.241 ;
idem, T7/e Rinerary of Rahbi
Benjamin of Tudela,ii. 291;
Carmoly, Revue Orientale,
li. 310 et seq.; Delitzsch, Zur
Oesch. der Hebr. Poesie,
p. 118 ; Steinschneider, Cat.
Bodl. col. 2303; Auerbach,
Gesch. der Israel. Ge-
wemde Halherstadt, p.
179 ; Kayserling, Moaes
Me7idehssohn, pp. 287-289,
301-304.
L. G. I. Br.
DUBNOW, SIMON
(SEMION MARKO-
VICH) : Russo - Jewish
historian; born at Mstis
lavl, government of Mohi-
lev, 1860. He attended the
Jewish government school of
his native town, and then the
district school, whence he was
graduated in 1877. In search of
knowledge and the means of sup-
port, Dubnow moved from place to
Solomon Dubno. place, visiting Wilna, Diinaburg,
Mohilev, and Smolensk. He earned
his livelihood by tutoring, and at the same time
prepared himself for university work. In 1880
he settled in St. Petersburg, where he soon be-
came a contributor to the "Russki Yevrei," pub-
lishing his first article on the historical develop-
ment of Jewish thought under the title "Glavnyye
Momenty iz Istorii Yevreiskoi Mysli." About this
time (1881) he also assumed charge of the foreign
news department of the Russo-Jew-
His Jour- ish periodical "Plazsvyet." Disap-
nalistic proving the pan-Palestinian policy of
Activity, this periodical, Dubnow in 1882 trans-
ferred his literary activity to the
"Voskhod," on which periodical he has since re-
mained an active collaborator in the field of Russo-
Dubncnr
Dukes
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
8
Jewish history and Russian Judaism in general.
Among the more important of his early contribu-
tions are his articles on Shabbethai Zebi, under the
title " Sabbatai Zewi i Pseudomessianizm v XVII.
Vyekye" (in "Voskhod," 1883, Nos. 9-12). and on
the Frankists, entitled " Frank i Yevo Sekta Chris-
tianstvuyushchikh " {ib. 1883, Nos. 1-10). In 1883
he assumed charge of the critical department of the
" Voskhod. " He also wrote an essay on reform in
the Jewish religion, entitled " Kakaya Samoeman-
cipatziya Nuzhna Yevreyam" (ib. 1883, Nos. 5-8),
which created a stir in Orthodox circles. Among
his other valuable contributions on the Jewish ques-
tion may be numbered his articles on the civic con-
dition of the Jews and on the reform of Jewish
school education in Russia, and his critical reviews
in "Voskhod," 1885 to 1887. Another important
work of Dubnow's is his monograph on the history
of Hasidism (" Istoriya Chassidizma, " in " Voskhod, "
1888-93). This work is based on the study of orig-
inal and hitherto unexploited sources.
In 1891 Dubnow set himself to the task of creating
among the Russian Jews an interest in their history.
For this purpose he published a series of articles in
"Voskhod," outlining a plan for the study of the
history of the Jews in Russia, and advocating the
establishment of a Russo-Jewish his-
Dubno-was torical society. These articles were
Historian, afterward printed in book form under
the title " Ob Izuchenii Istorii Russkikh
Yevreyev," St. Petersburg, 1891. Although the
appeal made by Dubnow did not create such a wide-
spread interest as he hud anticipated, his efforts were
seconded by many persons interested in the history
of the Jews iu Russia. From the many unpublished
documents gathered by Dubnow from libraries and
from the " pinkeses " of Jewish communities, he pre-
pared a series of contributions bearing the title " Isto-
richeskiya Soobscheniya " (in " Voskhod, " 1893-95).
Among Dubnow's other historical studies may be
mentioned his articles on the part taken by Jews in
the French Revolution (in "Voskhod," 1889) and on
the Jewish historian Gratz {ib. 1892, Nos. 2-9). In
1893 he published (in "Voskhod," pp. 9-12) a philo-
sophic-historical study, "Chto Takoe Yevreiskaya
Istoria"; a German translation by I. F. [Fried-
lander] appeared in Berlin, 1898, and an English
translation was published by the Jewish Publica-
tion Society of America in 1903. His " Yevrei-
skaya Istoria," Odessa, 1897, a two-volume work
on the history of tlie Jews from the beginning of
the post-Biblical period up to 1882, is an adap-
tation of the handbooks of Jewish liistory by S.
Baeck and M. Brann, but it al.so contains original
contributions to the history of the Jews in Poland
and in Russia. In 1900 Dubnow published a brief
history of the Jews for the Jewish youth, entitled
"Uchebnik Yevrciskoi Istorii Dlya Yevreiskavo
Yunosiiestva," in three parts (ib. 1900-01). In the
same year appeared the first part of his larger his-
tory of the Jews from the earliest to the present
time, entitled " Vseobschaya Istoriya Yevreiyev " (ib.
1901). The second part, dealing with the period
beginning with the Babylonian captivity, is now
(1902) appearing as a supplement to the monthly
edition of the " Voskhod. " Dubnow's recent labors,
apart from his historical researches, consist in a series
of letters devoted to the discussion of ancient and
modern Judaism as regards the development of its
national consciousness. These have been published
in the " Voskhod " since 1897 under the title " Pisma
o Starom i Novom Yevreistvye."
Dubnow's works are all characterized by elegance
of literary style. He is also a fluent writer in He-
brew, and has contributed valuable articles to the
Russo-Hebrew periodicals, among them his articles
"Ha-Hasidira ha-Rishim ba-Erez Yisrael," in "Par-
des,"ii. 201, Kiev, 1894; "Nahpesahwe-Nahkorah,"
ib. 1. 221; and "Hasidim Parze Geder," in "Ha-
Shiloah," v. 7. He is also a contributor to Brock-
haus' "Lexikon" and to Efron's "Russian Ency-
clopedia," for which he wrote the articles on the
Frankists and the Hasidim.
Since 1890 Dubnow has been a resident of Odessa.
H. R.
DUBOSARY: Village in the government of
Klierson, liussia. In 1897 it had a population of
13, 276, of whom about 5,000 were Jews. A consid-
erable number of the latter are engaged in to-
bacco growing, while many otliers are occupied in
wine-making and fruit-growing. Dried fruits and
tobacco are the chief articles of trade. There are
940 artisans, 186 day-laborers, and a number en-
gaged in agriculture and bee-keeping. There are
the usual charitable institutions in the village, and
a liospital and dispensary. There are also a Talmud
Torah with 130 pupils, a private school with 580
Jewish pupils, and 18 hadarim.
H. R. S. J.
DUBOVO. See Kiev.
DUBROVNA: Village on the banks of the
Dnieper, government of Mohilev, Russia. In 1898 it
had 8,687 inhabitants, of whom 4,559 were Jews.
Dubrovna is known as the first and almost the
only place to manufacture woolen tallits. This
occupation dates back many years. It is known
that in 1750 a factory for their manufacture existed
in Dubrovna, but they had been made here even
earlier. The artisans work in their own homes, and
are often helped by their wives and children. There
are about 600 families so engaged. The dyers, who
dye the woolen thread a dark blue ("tekelet"), earn
from eight to ten rubles a month. The more numer-
ous class of weavers, with the hard, incessant work
of tlieir families, even of children of six or seven
years, earn less than the dyers. The launderers
(10 or 12 families), who wash tlie tallits, earn more
than the others — sometimes five rubles a week. The
shavers ("goler " ; about 20 families), who cut the
nap from the surface of the tallits, receive the least
of all. The work is carried on amid very unsanitary
surroundings. The peasants are exploited by the
dealers who supply them with wool and purchase the
finished article. The dealers (there are only three
or four of them) have agencies in all important com-
mercial centers, and their agents cover every town
and village within the Pale of Settlement. The
Dubrovna tallit was formerly sold abroad, even in
America ; but within the last ten years the machine-
made tallit of South Russia and Lithuania is sup-
planting that made in Dubrovna.
9
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Dubno'w
Dukes
The pitiable condition of the weavers has lately
attracted the attention of their Jewish coreligionists.
Thanks to the cooperation of the Jewish Coloniza-
tion Association, several Jewish capitalists have
organized the "Aktzionernoye Obshchestvo Dnicp-
rovskoi Manufaktury " (a stock company for the de-
velopment of Dnieper manufactures), with a capital
of 1,200,000 rubles. Two-thirds of the shares have
been taken by the Jewish Colonization Association.
The ultimate purpose of this undertaking is to reor-
ganize and raise the level of the weaving industry
among the Jews in Dubrovna and to furnish employ-
ment to those needing work. Besides the weavers
there are in Dubrovna 270 Jewish artisans and 24
day -laborers.
The local charitable institutions are: a society
for the aid of the poor, founded by the governor of
the province; abikkurholim; andalehem ebyonim.
The Jewish children are taught in the Talmud Torah
(72 pupils). There are twenty-six hadarim (210
pupils), a yeshibah (60 pupils), a government school
(175 pupils, part of whom also attend the yeshibah
or the hadarim), and the district school, with 36
pupils in the industrial departments.
Bibliography: M. v., Yevrel-Kustar, in Ekmiomicheski
Zhurnal, 1886, No. 12; 0. Lurye, Diihrnvenskie YexJreii^Kns-
tary, in Voskhnd, 1889, No. 9 (issued in pamphlet form, Mos-
cow, 1890); N. V. G., Duhrovenskava Kustarnaya Promy-
shlennnM, in Vnskhod, Oct., 1890; Dr. Feipenberg, O. Dubro-
veTiskikh, Tkachakh, Khronika Voskhoda, 1899, No. 32.
H. R. S. J.
DUDERSTADT: A city in Eichsfelde, prov-
ince of Hanover. Jews have lived there as early
as the beginning of the fourteenth century, as ap-
pears from the renewal of the privileges for that
town by Duke Henry II. on Nov. 17, 1314. They
enjoyed the rights of citizenship, which fact was
emphasized by the dukes Henry, Ernest, and Will-
iam in their confirmation of the privileges on July
15, 1324. A synagogue and a school in Duderstadt
are mentioned in a document dated May 1 of the
year 1338, according to which the Jew Samuel
sold before the city council a yearly interest on
that building amounting to one farthing. The
Jews of Duderstadt were involved in the calam-
ities which followed the Black Death (1348-49).
After some decades a Jew of the name of Benedict
settled again in Duderstadt, who, according to an
entry in the revenue records, paid one mark as Jewish
protection money (" Jodinschot "). He was followed
by other Jews in the fifteenth centur3^ In 1435 the
council of the place made a contract with Isaac of
Amoneburg and his son Fivis to receive them into
the city upon a payment of 120 gulden; in 1457
it defined the rights and duties of Jews when it
granted certain of them, such as the children of
"Nachtmann and Schalammes," the privilege of set-
tlement for three years. The number of Jews in
Duderstadt from 1450 to 1460 was 12, and their an-
nual payments averaged from 5 to 14 marks. The
council in 1465 received "Abraham de Jodde mj't
synermoder" (Abraham the Jew with his mother)
for seven years, and in 1489 Nathan, Jacob, the " Na-
thanite woman," and Meir of Wiirzburg (Nathan's
brother) for six years. At that time a sj'nagogue
was erected again, and its inventory for the years
1435-42 and 1466 has been preserved. A special
street was assigned to the Jews, which is first men-
tioned in 1497. There is also documentary evidence
of a "Jews' Gate" (first in 1469) and of a " Joden-
born " (Jews' bath, 1495). Only scanty records ex-
ist for the following centuries. In 1902 the com-
munity numbered about 100 souls. Its new temple
was dedicated Aug. 24, 1898.
BiBMOGRAPHY : Job. Wolf, Gesch. U7id Beschreihuna der
Stadt TXidcrstadt, pp. 238 et f-eq., GOttinRen, 180;J; Idem,
PoUtvtche Gei^ch. des EichsfeMes ; Jaeger. Urknndenhuch
der Stadt D. his zum Jahre 1500. Hilde.sheim, 1885, Nos. 14,
33, 58, 72, 11.5, 28.5, 370, note to No. 370, and Nos. 490, 503, 510. 51 1,
515, 519. Supplement No. viii.; M. Wiener, in Mnnatifschrift,
X. 127 et seq.; Salfeld, Das Martyrol. dtR Nllrnheracr Me-
morh. p. 8,3, note 7, and p. 284, note 5 (see Lewinsky's review
In Zeitsch. fUr Hebr. Bibl. lii. 82) ; Allg. Zeit. dcsJud. Sept.
16, 1898, No. 37.
G. A. Lew.
DTTEREN, ISAAC BEN MEIR: German
rabbi and codifier; lived in the second half of the
thirteenth century at Dueren, from which place he
took his name. He was one of the leading German
Talmudical authorities of his time; and his work
"Sha'are Dura," on th^ dietary laws, is the standard
code. Several high authorities who lived after him,
among them Israel Isserlein, Solomon Luria, R. Na-
than Shapiro, and Isserles, added to his book notes
and explanations, with which it has often been pub-
lished: Cracow, 1538; Venice, 1547, 1564; Constanti-
nople, 1553; Lublin, 1575,1699; Basel, 1599; Jessnitz,
1724; and many times in the nineteenth century.
According to Zunz, Dueren may be the Isaac b.
Meir he-Hasid ("the Pious") who wrote "Tikkun
Shetarot," a work containing the forms and laws of
documents and deeds. It is still extant in manu-
script in the Vienna Royal Library.
Bibliography: Gans, Zemah Dawid, p. 53, Warsaw, 1878;
Fuenn. Ketteset Fi«»'at'?, p.' 607 ; Zedner, Cat. Hebr. Buoks
Brit. Muff. p. 372; Zunz, Literaturgesch. p. 303; Benjacob,
Ozar ha-Sefarim, p. 669.
L. G. N. T. L.
DUKAN (pn, NJ3n): The "platform" upon
which (1) the Temple priests stood to pronounce the
benediction (Mid. ii. 6), (2) the Levites stood during
their singing (hence, also, name for the Levitical
service: compare Meg. 3a), and (3) the teacher
or assistant teacher sat while instructing the chil-
dren (B. B. 21a). The name "dukan," liowever,
in the course of time, came to be applied chiefly to
the priestly blessing. The call to the priest to recite
the blessing was, " Go up to the dukan " (Shab. 118b ;
compare Targ. Yer. to Num. vi. 23); hence "du-
kenen " or "duchenen." See Blessing, Phiestly.
Bibliography: Levy, JVeu/iebr. TTOrterb. s.v.; Jastrow, Diet,
s.v. jjn-
8. 8. K.
DUKES, LEOPOLD : Hungarian historian of
Jewish literature; born at Presburg, Hungaiy,
1810; died at Vienna Aug. 3, 1891. He studied
Talmudical literature in the yeshibah of Moses Sofer,
rabbi of Presburg; but his passion for Biblical stud-
ies, which found no sympathy in his native town,
led him to the yeshibah of Wiirzburg, where he also
devoted himself to the acquisition of a secular edu-
cation. After a prolonged stay at Wiirzburg he
returned home; but displeased with the manners
of his fellow citizens, and impelled by a thirst for
knowledge, he visited the principal European cities
in which there were libraries containing Hebrew
manuscripts. He lived successively at Munich,
Dukes
Dunash
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
10
Tubingen, Hanover, Hamburg, Paris, Leipsic, Ox-
ford, and then spent about twenty years in London.
Dukes was an original character, a fact due prob-
ably to his solitary life and privations. His scholar-
ship was extensive and exact, and his works cover
the fields of exegesis, Haggadah, grammar, ]\Iasorah,
the history of literature, ethics, and poetry. In
all of these he made many ingenious and impor-
tant discoveries; and
his books became in-
dispensable supple-
ments to those of
Zunz, Rapoport, and
Krochmal.
Dukes was the au-
thor of the following
works :
Leopold Dukes.
" Raschi zum Penta-
teurb," translated into
German (In Hebrew char-
acters) and explained, 5
vols., Prague, 1833-38;
'' Ehrensiiulen und Denk-
steine zu eineni Kiinfti-
gen Pantheon Hebraischer
Dichterund Dichtungen,''
Vienna, 1837 ; " Moses Ibn
Ezra," Altona, 1839; "Zur
Kenntniss der Neuhebrai-
schen Religiosen Poesie,"
Frank fort-on-the-Main, 1843; " Rabbinische Blumenlese," Leip-
sic, 1814; three "beitriige," published by Ewald and Dukes:
I. "Beitrage zur Geschichte der Aeltesten Auslfgung und
Spracherklarung des A. T." ; II. " Literatur-Historische Mitt-
heilungen iiber die Aeltesten Hebriiischen Exegeten, Gram-
matiker, und Lexicographen," Stuttgart, 1844; III. "Leber
die Arabisch Geschriebenen Werke JudischerSprachgelehrten,"
Stuttgart, 1844 ; "Sefer Dikduk, die Grammatischen Schriften
des JehudaChajjug," Frankfort, 1844; "Konteros ha-Masorah,"
Tiibingen, 1845 ; " Kobez 'al Yad. Handschrittliche Inedita iiber
Lexicographic, " Esslingen, 184G; "Die Sprache der Mischna,"
ib. 1840; "Shir 'al Mot," etc., elegy on the death of Meyer
Joseph Konigsberg, London, 1847; "Les Proverbes de Salo-
mon" (historical introduction), in Cahen's Bible translation,
Paris, 18.31 ; " Ginze Oxford," extracts from manuscripts, in
collaboration with H. Edelmann, London, 1850; "Nahal Kedu-
mim," on the history of Hebrew poetry in the Middle Ages, in
two parts, Hanover, 1858; "Zur Rabbinischen Spruchkunde,"
Vienna, 1858; "Shire Shelomoh," Hebrew poems of Solomon
ibn Gabirol, Hanover, 1858 ; " Salomo ben Gabirol aus Malaga
und die Ethischen Werke Desselben," ih. 1860; "Philosoph-
Isches aus dem Zehnten Jahrhundert," Nakel, 18(58.
In addition to these works, Dukes was a frequent
contributor to all the Jewish scientific periodicals,
chiefly to the "Literaturblatt des Orients," which he
enriched with numerous valuable articles on the
history of Jewish literature.
Bibliography : Belh-El, Ehrentempel Verdienter Unga-
rischer Jsraefife?!, pp. 127 et seq.; H. Zirndorf, in Pnpidur-
wissenschaftliche Monatsbliitter, 1892, pp. 127 et seq.
8. I. Bll.
DTJMAH (= "silence").— Biblical Data: 1.
Son of Ishmael (Gen. xxv. 14; I Chron. i. 30). Suk
(" market ") Dumah has been found in Dumat al-Jan-
dal in Arabia, called "Jauf" to-day (Yakut, s.v.;
Burkhardt," Travels in Syria," p. 662), and compared
with Domatha (Pliny, "Historia Naturalis," vi. 32;
Stephanus Byzantius, s.v.). The Dumathii are men-
tioned in Porphyry, " De Abstinentia " (ii. 56), as an
Arabian tribe which sacrifices a boy every year and
buries him under the altar of its idol. The name
"Dumah" seems to point, like the name "Hadra-
maut " (niOIVn, Gen. x. 26), to some legend of Hades
(compare Glaser, "Skizze der Gesch. und Geogra-
phic Arabicns," 1890, p. 440).
2. Name of aland probably identical with the ter-
ritory of the tribe of Ishmael (Isa. xxi. 11). The Sep-
tuagint substitutes "Idumca" (.see conuiientaries ad
^-^^f., and comp. Abu al-Walid's" Dictionary, "s.r. QH).
3. Name of a city of Judali (Josh. xv. 52). The
Ginsburg ]\IS., the Vulgate, and the Septuagint
have "Rouma," but Jerome's and Eusebius' Ono-
mastica, s.v., mention a village of the name of
"Dumah," which has been identified with "Khirbat
Daumah " in the neighborhood of Bait Jibrin.
4. Name for the nether world (Ps. xciv. 17 [the
Septuagint has "A'^vc], cxv. 17).
E. G. n.
In Rabbinical Literature : " Dumah " is the
name of the angel who has charge of the souls of the
nether world. " According to Dozy ("Die Israeliten
in Mecca," p. 95, note), the name was adopted also
by the pre-Islamic Arabs (compare Wolff, "Mohara-
niedanische Eschatologie," 1871, Arabic text, p. 39:
German trans., p. 69, where "Ruman" seems a cor-
ruption [another reading is "Dhudat"] of "Dumah,"
as the name of the angel wlio has charge of the
souis). The angel of death has to deliver all souls
to Dumah, both the righteous, who are led to the
place of eternal bliss, and the wicked, who are to
meet their doom (Hag. 5a; Shab. 152b). He also
announces the arrival of newcomers in the nether
world (Ber. 18b). Dumah takes the souls of the
wicked and casts them down "in the hollow of a
sling" into the depth of Hades, and this is repeated
every week at the close of the Sabbath, when the
souls, after the day's respite, must go back to their
place of torment (Shab. 152b, after 1 Sam. xxv. 29;
Pcsik. R. 23; She'eltot, Bereshit i.). According to
Jlidr. Teh. to Ps. xi. (see ed. Buber, 102, note),
Dumah .leads the spirits every evening out of Hades
into Hazarmavct (the Courtyard of Death), a walled
place with a river and a field adjoining, where they
eat and drink in perfect silence. Many authori-
ties, such as Jacob Tam and Solomon b. Adret,
have the word " Sabbath " added, so as to refer only
to Sabbath evening (see Demonology ; compare Tan.
Yelamdenu, Ha'azinu : " Prayer is said for the dead
that they may not have to return to Gehinnom ").
Dumah was originally, according to the Cabalists,
the guardian angel of Egypt; but when flee-
ing before the Lord's decree (Ex. xii. 12), he was
placed in the nether world over the spirits of the
dead (Zohar ii. 18a). Mashhit, Af, and Hemah are
the officers of execution under Dumah (Recanati,
Wayera). The name of Dumah is found also on a
JudiEO-Babvlonian vase in the Louvre (see Schwab,
" VocabulaiVe de I'Angelologie," 1897, p. 707).
" Dumah " is also the name of one of the seven
departments of Gehinnom, and those who have
been guilty of slander and the like are " silenced "
tliere (Midr. Teh. and Yalk., Makiri, toPs. xi. ; com-
pare, however, 'Er. 19a, where Dumah is not men-
tioned). It is identified by R. Levi with Hazarma-
vet (Gen. x. 26; see Gen. R. xxxvii.). "When the
soul has been drawn out of the body by the angel
of death, it remains seated above the nostrils until
decay sets in ; then it breaks out into wailing, and
it cries to God, saying: 'Whither am I brought?'
11
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Cukes
Dunash
Instantly Dumah takes it and brings it to the Court-
yard of Death [Hazarmavet, seemingly the purga-
tory mentioned in the Testament of Abraham, xiv.],
where the spirits are gathered, and if the soul be that
of a righteous one, the call goes forth : ' Make room
for this N N, the righteous ! ' Then it ascends from
department to department, according to its merit,
until it beholds the face of the Shekinah. If the soul
be that of a wicked one, it descends from department
to department according to its demerit " (Midr. Teh.
I.e.; Jellinek, "Bet ha-Midrash," v. A^ et seq.).
s. s. K.
DUMASHEVSKI, ARNOLD BORISO-
VICH: Russian lawyer; born at Mobile. -on-the-
Dnieper, 1836, of poor Orthodox Jewish parents;
died at St. Petersburg 1887. He received his first
instruction in the heder, but ran away from home at
the age of fourteen, and entered the Agricultural
School at Gorigoretzk, from which he graduated in
1855. During this time he was left entirely to his
own resources. By his exceptional abilities he at-
tracted the attention of his instructors, who took a
great interest in him. After leaving the school
Dumashevski found employment at the office of the
Foreign Emigration Committee in Odessa. Here be
was noticed by the Russian surgeon and philanthro-
pist PiKOGOV, who helped him to enter the Richelieu
Lyceum of that city; and there he studied law.
Later he attended the University of St. Petersburg,
graduating in 1862. Here again his abilities attract-
ed the attention of the authorities, and he was sent
abroad at the expense of the government to complete
his law studies, a professorship being promised him
on his return. After his return in 1865 a new law
was passed prohibiting Jews from occupying pro-
fessors' chairs of legal and of political science. He
accepted a position in the Ministry of Education, and
later he served in the Ministry of Justice, by which,
for valuable services on the Committee for Reform-
ing the Legislation of Poland, he was appointed first
secretary of the third department of the Senate.
Dumashevski was for many years one of the edi-
tors, and finally the owner, of the "Sudebnyi Vyest-
nik " (Messenger of Judicial Affairs), and was author
of the following articles and works on jurispru-
dence: "Nashe Pravovyedenie," etc., in the "Jour-
nal of the Ministry of Justice, " 1867 ; " Ocherk Frant-
zuzskavo Grazhdanskavo Sudoproizvodstva," ib.
1865 and 1867 (published also in the "Journal of
Judicial Affairs"); " O Predyelakh Vlasti Kassatz-
ionnavo Departamenta Senata," 1867; and "O Silye
Kassatzionnykh Ryesheni." His chief work is
" Sistematicheski Svod Ryesheni Kassatzionnavo
Departamenta," etc. (Systematic Collections of the
Decisions of the Appeal Department of the Senate,
with notes by Dumashevski), St. Petersburg, many
editions. Of special interest as pertaining to the
Jews are the articles : " Nuzhen li Zhournal dlya Yev-
reyev i na Kakom YazykeV " (Do the Jews Need a
Special Periodical, and in What Language?), pub-
lished in " Russki Invalid " in 1859 ; " Brak po Bibleis-
komu i Talmudicheskomu Pravu " (Marriage Accord-
ing to Biblical and Talmudic Law), in "Biblioteka
dlya Chtenlya," 1861; " Yevrei Zemledyeltzy v
Rossii " (Jewish Agriculturists in Russia), in " Vyest-
nik Imper. Russkavo Geogr. Obshchestya."
Dumashevski advocated a practical tendency in the
study of civil law, opposing the historico-philosoph-
ical side ; and at the same time he was a partizan of
the dogmatic development of Russian civil law. In
his will he loft 36,000 rubles to the University of St.
Petersburg under the condition that this be entered
as a gift " from the Jew Dumashevski. "
Bibliography: N. S. Rashkowski, Sovremennye Russko-
Yevreiskiye Dyeyatelu parti., Odessa, 1899; Ho^isi/, War-
saw, 1889.
H. R.
DUMB. See Deaf-Mdtism.
DUNABURG. See Dvinsk.
DUNASH BEN LABRAT : Philologist and
poet of the tenth century. For the name " Dunash, "
which Joseph Kimhi on one occasion ("Sefer ha-
Galui," p. 62), for the sake of the rime, writes C'ljn
("Dunosh"), see Dunash ibn Tamem. "Labrat"
(tSNIl?, generally written without N, li"l3?) does
not occur elsewhere as a given name ; hence " Ben
Labrat " may be the family name. " Labrat " has
been explained as "Laurat" (Steinschneider, "Jew.
Quart. Rev." xiv. 180) and as "Librat," "Librado"
(Derenbourg, " Opuscules, " p. 2). Both of Dunash's
names, therefore, are of Romance origin. Abraham
ibn Ezra Hebraizes " Dunash " into " Adonim " ; Du-
nash himself employed the Biblical name " Adoni-
jah," which is a mnemonic device containing the
servile letters ("Criticism of Saadia," No. 6). Du-
nash was of Levitical descent (Moses ibn Ezra calls
him " Al-Levi "), and to this origin also his pupil
Jehudi b. Sheshet dedicated a few panegyric verses
(Polemic Treatise, verses 10-16). Dunash's family
came originally from Bagdad, although he himself
was born in Fez (Moses ibn Ezra).
While still young, though doubtless equipped
with a rich fund of knowledge, Dunash, perhaps in-
fluenced by tlie origin of his family, journeyed east-
ward and became a pupil of the renowned gaon of
Sura, Saadia, whom, in his tract against Menahem
b. Saruk, he proudly designates as his master.
The term employed by Dunash in this connec-
tion (^JpT, verse 101 ; the pupils of Menahem more
clearly expressed it as "[ill *lJpT, P- 48) is responsi-
ble for the singular belief that Du-
Becomes nash was a grandson of Saadia ; but
a Pupil of the pupils of Menahem (p. 27) ex-
Saadia. pressly designate him as the "least
important of the pupils of Saadia."
Dunash himself relates that he submitted his Hebrew
verses, containing the first application of an Arabic
meter, to the gaon, who expressed his astonishment
at this innovation in the words, " Such a thing has
hitherto been unknown in Israel." Dunash was,
therefore, still very young when he adapted the
Arabic meter to Hebrew poetry. This innovation
created a new epoch for Hebrew poetry, and was
probably inspired in North Africa, where Ibn Ku-
raish and Dunash ibn Tamim prepared
Founder the way for a systematic comparison
of New of the Hebrew and Arabic—a corn-
Hebrew parison to which Ibn Labrat after-
Meter, ward gave his indorsement in his tract
against Menahem. It may be accepted
as a historical fact that Dunash was the founder of
the new Hebrew meter. He is as such regarded by
Dunash
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
12
his opponent^, the pupils of Menahem, who objected
to the innovation on the ground of its inappiopriate-
ness, although they themselves follow the example of
Dunash by writing metrical verse. Dunash is cele-
brated as an innovator by his pupil Jehudi b. She-
shet, who, referring to his work, says : " He created a
new foundation for our poetry, such as did not exist
in the days of our fathers." Another observation
which this scholar makes would seem to indicate that
Dunash did not hesitate to put forward his convic-
tions even when they clashed with those of Saadia.
After the death of Saadia (942) Dunash returned
to Fez, and thence went to Cordova, which city,
under the powerful influence of the statesman Hasdai
ibn Shaprut, was rapidly becoming a center of cul-
ture among the Jews of Spain. Of the circumstances
of Dunash 's life nothing further is known. He
seems, .however, to have been a man of means.
Dunash soon found an opportunity for applying
his knowledge, his critical acumen, and his literary
talents to a matter of consequence. The first im-
portant product of Jewish literature in Spain had
appeared — the Hebrew lexicon of Menahem b. Saruk.
Dunash wrote an exhaustive criticism of it, com-
posed partly in the metrical verse introduced by
him, and dedicated this comprehensive and logically
elaborated polemical treatise to Hasdai ibn Shaprut,
Menahem's patron. In the opening verses Dunash
proclaims the fame of this statesman, whose services
in the cause of his prince and of his coreligionists
were alike eminent. This dedication was skilfully
interwoven with a tribute to the great
Criticizes diplomatic successes which Hasdai
Menahem. had shortly before obtained (in 960) ;
ben Saruk. namely, the acquisition of the ten for-
tresses, and the journey of the son of
Ramiro and his grandmother Tota to pay homage at
the court of the califs of Cordova (Dozy, " Histoire
des Musulmans d'Espagne," ii. 54 etseq.). The flat-
tery of Dunash impressed Hasdai powerful)}' ; and
his attacks on Menahem lowered the latter in the
estimation of his patron. The supposition is justi-
fied that in consequence of the action of Dunash,
Menahem not only lost the favor of his patron, but
was treated by him in the harshest manner, even to
the extent of being deprived of his freedom, as is
known from the remarkable letter sent by jMcnahem
from prison to his former patron. That Menahem,
as Dunash intentionally emphasizes, should have
made the respected gaon Saadia the subject of un-
justifiable criticism, and that he should have ex-
pressed opinions wiiich placed Saadia in the cate-
gory of the founder of the hated sect of the Karaites
— these were the causes which especially roused the
resentment of Hasdai against him.
Concerning the further relations between Dunash
and Hasdai nothing is known. It is probable, how-
ever, that the former obtained the position previ-
ously occupied bj' Menahem. But the pupils of the
latter arose to defend the scientific standing of their
teacher, who probably died soon after his humilia-
tion and without replying to Dunash's criticism.
Three of them collaborated in the preparation of an
important polemical work, in which they adopted
the half-metrical, half-prosaic form employed by
Dunash. In this work they opposed the views of
Dunash and defended the honor of their master and
of their fatherland, claiming that Dunash had sought
to humiliate not only Menahem, but the Jewish
scholars of Spain in general. It is certain that the
conduct of Dunash — the foreigner, who doubtless
boasted also of his sojourn in the Babylonian high
schools — aroused the resentment of the native schol-
ars. Dunash was probably too proud to reply to
this attack in person, and therefore committed the
task to his pupil Jehudi b. Sheshet, whose still more
violent polemic, characterized by a coarse satire,
undoubtedly contained many arguments inspired by
his teacher. With this tract, which at the same
time sounded the praise of Dunash, the literary feud
engendered by Dunash's attack upon Menahem seems
to have ended. This quarrel inaugu-
Results of rated the golden age of Hebrew philol-
His Q,uarrel ogy in Spain ; and one of the partici-
•with pants in it, Judah b. David Hayyuj,
Menahem. a pupil of ^lenahem, laid the founda-
tion of a new and wider knowledge of
Hebrew grammar. Dunash probably did not live to
witness this extraordinary development to which he
had given so powerful a stimulus.
Many years after the death of Dunash a second
but uncompleted polemical treatise of that scholar
was di.scovered in Egypt (before 1140) by Abraham
ibn Ezra. In this work Dunash had begun to form
an alphabetical arrangement of his comments on the
grammatical and exegetical opinions of his teacher
Saadia. The greater part of the work, however, con-
sisted of scattered notes. In this criticism of Saadia
(which Abraham ibn Ezra answered by the tract en-
titled "Sefat Yeter") the doctrine of the triconso-
nantal nature of the weak roots already finds clear
expression. It was the study of Arabic which
enabled Dunash, like Haj'yuj at a later period, to
arrive at this knowledge. But the latter, upon the
basis of his discovery, proceeds to the systematic
elucidation of the conjugation of the before-men-
tioned verbs; while Dunash does not go beyond the
statement that the first, second, or third root-leiter
is weak and may be eliminated. Owing to its in-
complete form, this second writing of Dunash's was
never published by him; nor is there the slightest
reference to its existence before Ibn Ezra, who
praises Dunash by stating that "he was the only one
before Hayyuj who awakened somewhat from that
slumber of ignorance which, like a deep sleep, still
held others in its bonds" ("Safah Berurah," p. 256;
Bacher, "Abraham ibn Ezra als Grammatiker," p.
87). Ibn Ezra's contemporary R. Jacob Tam, the
eminent grandson of Rashi, in a verj' interesting
work defended ]\Ienahem b. Saruk against the criti-
cism of Dunash ; but Joseph Kimhi (in "Sefer ha-
Galui ") sided with Dunash. Thus were the great
feuds that agitated Spain during the tenth century
revived in France two centuries later.
The first work of Dunash was published from a
codex of the Bodleian Library (Neubauer, "Cat.
Bodl. Hebr. MSS." No. 1449), together with Jacob
Tam's criticism of it, by H. Filipowski ("Criticae
Vocum Recensiones," London, 1855). The second
was edited by R. SchrOter from a manuscript (No.
27,214) in the British Museum ("Kritik des Dunash
b. Labrat," Breslau, 1866). The genuineness of this
13
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Dunash
treatise has recently been contested by N. Porges
m the Kaufmann Gedenkbuch, Breslau, 1901), but
aot on good grounds. See Eppcnstein in " Monats-
schrift," 1902, i. 46, pp. 62-83, 535-536; Porges, ih.
pp. 141-153; Bacher, ib. pp. 478-480;
His D. Kohn, in "Ha-Goren," iii., 1902,
"Writing-s. pp. 86-89. The polemical writings
of Dunash and of the pupils of Meu-
ihcm have been edited by S. G. Stern (" Liber Re-
sponsionum," Vienna, 1870).
The poems of Dunash ibn Labrat were early for-
gotten (Al-Harizi, "Tahkemoni," iv.), only a few
religious verses having been preserved, which acros-
;ically reveal the name of Dunash, or Dunash ha-
Levi (Mahzor Vitry, ed. Hurwitz, p. 178; Zunz,
' Literaturgesch." p. 484). One of these (Xip"' "I'm)
s still included in the Sabbath songs of the prayer-
Dooks (Bar's "Gebetbuch," p. 257). Perhaps it is
the poet Dunash, the creator of the new versifica-
;ion, that Solomon ibn Gabirol, the elaborator of it,
iias in mind when he praises Samuel ha-Nagid with
the words, "O Samuel, dead is Ben Labrat, and
:hou hast taken his place. Were he living, he would
lave to bow to thee " (" Shir Shelomoh," Ko. 54).
Bibliography : Bacher, Die Hchritische Sprachwissenschaft.
in Winter and Wunscbe. Die Jddische Litcratur; ii. 1-49-155 ;
idem. Die Anfilnge dcr HehrdiHChen Grammatik, pp. 95-
114; D. Kohn (Kahana).i?. Dinioi^h b. Labrat (Hebrew), in
the collection Ozar Yisrael (published by the Ahiasaf, War-
saw,1894); I. Steinherz, Diinasb. Labrat (Hungarian), Buda-
pest, 1885; Gratz, Gesch. der Juden^ v.; Geiger, Das Juden-
thum und Seine Gcsch. ii. 90 ct sea.
T. W. B.
DUNASH IBN TAMIM : Scholar of the tenth
century and pioneer of scientific study among Ara-
Dic-speaking Jews. His Arabic name was "Abu
3ahl"; his surname, according to an isolated state-
nent of Moses ibn Ezra, was " Al-Shafalgi," pcr-
aaps after bis (unknown) birthplace. The name
'Dunash," for which Abraham ibn Ezra substitutes
;he Hebrew " Adonim," is proliably derived from the
Latin "dominus," and not from the Arabian "dhu
las " (lord of mankind), concerning which there is
lothing to show that it was used as a proper name,
riie name seems to have been native to North
A-frica; the younger contemporary of Ibn Tamim,
Dunash ibn Labrat, for instance, was born in Fez
see Steinschneider, "Cat. Bodl." cok 897; "Jew.
^uart. Rev." x.519; J. Dereubourg, " Opuscules et
rraites d'Aboul-Walid," p. 2). Hence the state-
ment of Abraham ibn Ezra to the effect that Ibn
Famira came from the East — to be more exact, from
Babylonia, or Bagdad (on one occasion he calls him
Mizrahi, on another Babli) — does not deserve con-
sideration beside that of Moses ibn Ezra, who calls
liim a native of Kairwan. The statement of Ibn
Ezra has been interpreted as signifying that the
Family of Ibn Tamim came from Bagdad; but it is
possible that Abraham ibn Ezra has erroneously
transferred the appellation "Babylonian" from Ibn
Labrat to Ibn Tamim. The additional details con-
:erning Ibn Tamim's life and activities have been
gathered principally from his Yezirah commentary
liscussed below.
In this commentary, which was written in the
ye&T 955-956, Saadia the Gaon is mentioned as no
longer living. Tlie author refers, however, to the
correspondence which was carried on when he was
about twenty j-ears of age between his teacher, Isaac
b. Solomon Israeli, and Saadia, before the latter's
arrival in Babylonia, consequently before 928; hence
Tamim was born about tlie beginning of the tenth
century. Like his teacher, he was physician in ordi-
nary at the court of the Fatimite califs of Kairwan,
and to one of these, Isina'il ibn al-Ka'im al-Mansur,
Tamim dedicated an astronomical work, in the sec-
ond part of which he disclosed the weak points in
the principles of astrology. Another of his astro-
nomical works, prepared for Hasdai b. Isaac ibn
Shaprut, the Jewish statesman of Cordova, consisted
of three parts: (1) the nature of the spheres; (2)
astronomical calculations; (3) the courses of the
stars. The Arabian author Ibn Baitar, in his book
on simple medicaments, quotes the following inter-
esting remark on the rose, made by Ibn Tamim in
one of his medicinal works: " There are yellow roses,
and in Irak, as I am informed, also black ones. The
finest rose is the Persian, which is said never to open."
The Arabic original of Ibn Tamim's commentary
on the Sefer Yezirah no longer exists. In the He-
brew translations the manuscripts are widely dis-
similar, and contain varying statements regarding
the author. In several of these manuscripts Ibn
Tamim is expressly referred to as the author; in one
instance he is named again, but with his teacher,
while in another Jacob b. Nissim is named, who
lived in Kairwan at the end of the tenth centtiry.
From certain passages of the commentarv it appears
that Isaac Israeli, who is mentioned elsewhere as a
commentator on the Sefer Yezirah, actually had a
part in the authorship of the work. But the major-
ity of the statements contained in the commentary
itself justify the assumption that Ibn Tamim was
the author. He must, therefore, have selected the
commentary of his teacher as his basis, while the
finishing touch must have been given by Jacob b.
Nissim (Steinschneider, " Ilebr. Uebers." pp. 395 et
seq.). A short recension of the commentary (Bod-
leian MS. No. 2250) was published by Manasseh
Grossberg, London, 1902.
In the history of Hebrew philology Ibn Tamim
ranks as one of the first representatives of the sys-
tematic comparison of Hebrew and
Ibn Tamim Arabic. In his "Moznayim" (Preface)
as Gram- Abraham ibn Ezra mentions him be-
marian, tween Saadia and Judah ibn Kuralsh,
and speaks of him as the author of a
book " compounded of Hebrew and Arabic. " Moses
ibn Ezra says that Ibn Tamim compares the two
languages according to their lexicographical, not
their grammatical, relations, and in this respect is
less successful than Ibn Barun Abu Ibkahim at
a later period. The latter also criticized certain
details of Ibn Tamim's book. In the Yezirah com-
mentary Ibn Tamim says: "If God assists me and
prolongs my life, I shall comjiletethe work in which
I have stated that Hebrew is the original tongue of
mankind and older tlian the Arabic; furthermore,
the book will show the relationship of the two lan-
guages, and tliat every pure word in the Arabic can
be found in the Hebrew; that the Hebrew is a puri-
fied Arabic; and that the names of certain things are
identical in both languages." In adding, " We have
obtained this principle from the Danites, who have
Dunayevtzy
Dura
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
14
come to us from the land of Israel," he certainly
alludes to the well-known Eldad ha-Dani. Abra-
ham ibn Ezra (commentary on Eccl. xii. 6) men-
tions the interesting detail that Ibn Tamim believed
he could recognize the diminutive form of Arabic
names in several noun-formations of the Biblical
Hebrew (for instance, pj^OX: II Sam. xiii. 20). The
statement cited by Saadia b. Danan (end of fifteenth
centurj^), according to which the Mohammedans be-
lieve that Ibn Tamim was a convert to Islam, is
erroneous, and is probably due to the fact that Ibn
Tamim is often quoted by Mohammedan writers.
Bibliography: S. Munk, Notice sur Aboxi'UTValid Merwan
Ibn-Djanah, In Journal Asiatique, 1850, pp. 43-60; Neu-
bauer. Notice sur la Lexicographic Hebrciiqrie, In ib. 1861,
pp. 156-158; Gratz, Gesch. v.; Stelnschnelder, Hebr. Vebers.;
Idem, Die Arabische Litteratur der Juden, p. 72; Kauf-
mann, in Rev. Et. Juives, viil. 126.
G. W. B.
DUNAYEVTZY : Village in the government
of Podolia, Russia. It had a population (1898) of
13,000, of whom 7,000 were Jews. The chief sources
of income for the Jews are from trade and industrial
occupations. The most important articles of com-
merce are timber, grain, and cloth. Several of the
merchants do a fairly large business. From funds
collected for charitable purposes a wood-yard has
been established, where the poor can buy wood at a
reduced price. See Podolia.
Bibliography : Voskhod, 1898, No. 4.
H. R. S. J.
DUNNER, JOSEPH HIRSCH: Rabbi; born
at Cracow Jan., 1833; received his rabbinical edu-
cation at his native place ; studied philosophy and
Oriental philology at Bonn and Heidelberg. In
1862 he was called from Bonn to the rectorate of the
Nederlandsch Israelitisch Seminarium in Amster-
dam. His ability soon made it famous as a school
of Jewish theology, ancient languages, and religious
philosophy. In 1874 he was made chief rabbi of the
Amsterdam community and of the province of North
Holland, and though he belongs to the strictly Ortho-
dox party, no dissension has marred his administra-
tion. The government recognized his ability and
activity by decorating him with the Order of the
Lion of the Netherlands.
Dilnner is known by his researches on the Hala-
kah of the period of the Tannaim, and by his dis-
quisitions on the Tosefta. According to him the
Tosefta originated after the close of the Talmud,
being edited by a redactor who had before him an
ancient, or at least fragments of an ancient, Tosefta.
He asserts that a comparison of the texts contained
in the collections of the Tannaim with the two Tal-
rauds will substantiate his contention. Diinner has
acquired a reputation as an orator. He has written :
"Die Theorien ijber Wesen und Ursprung der To-
sephtha, Kritisch Dargestellt," Amsterdam, 1874;
" Glossen (Haggahot) zum Babylonischen und Pala-
stinensischen Talmud " (in Hebrew), 4 vols., Frank-
fort-on-the-Main, 1896-1903; "Kritische und ErlSu-
ternde Anmerkungen zu Bedarschl's Chotham Toch-
nit," Amsterdam, 1865; "Leerredenen," 5 vols., t6.
1897-1901. Besides these works he has contributed
to the "Joodsch Letterkundige Bijdragen," "Mo-
natsschrift," "Weekblad voor Israeliten," and "Is-
raelitische Letterbode. "
Bibliography: Polak, J. H. DUnner, lets Uit Diens
Leven en Werkeiu in Weekhlad voor IsraHxtische Huis-
Oezinnen, Rotterdam, 1899-1900; De Joodsche Courant
No3. 18, 19, Tbe Hague. 1903.
8. S. Se.
DTJNS SCOTUS, JOHN: Franciscan monk,
theologian, and scholiast; born at Dunston, North
umberland, England (according to some, at Dun,
Ireland), in 1266 (?); died in Cologne, 1308. He was
the foremost representative of the Franciscan Order,
and founder of the Scotists, which school stood in
sharp contrast to the Thomists, or followers of
Thomas Aquinas, who, together with their leader,
belonged for the most part to the Dominicans.
In accordance with his opposition to the doctri-
nal speculations of Aquinas, Duns Scotus professed,
concerning the attitude that the secular authori-
ties and the Church should assume toward the Jews,
views which were diametrically opposed to the
more humane and enlightened views held by Aqui-
nas, and which represented a deplorable reaction.
Thus, whereas Aquinas denounced the forcible bap-
tism of Jewish children, especially on the ground
that such a course would be a violation of justice,
inasmuch as the child, not being possessed of its
full reasoning powers, is naturally under the juris-
diction of its parents (compare Guttman, "Das
Verhaltniss des Thomas von Aquino zum Judenthum
und zur JudischenLiteratur," p. 4, Gottingen, 1891),
Duns Scotus stoutly advocated such baptism. Such
a procedure, he maintained, would mean a breach of
natural justice only in the event of its being under-
taken by a private person; to the sovereign, how-
ever, the right appertains. Just as the jurisdiction
of local magistrates is limited by the authority of
higher functionaries, so the jurisdiction of the par-
ents ceases when it conflicts with the authority of
God. Accordingly, it is not only a privilege, but a
duty to take children out of the power of their par-
ents in case tlie latter are unwilling to bring them
up conformably to a true worship of God, and to lead
them in the right way (commentary in Sent. iv.
4, 9: "Opera," ed. Wadding, viii. 275, Lyons, 1639).
And not only the children, but also the parents
themselves should be subjected to forcible baptism.
Nor can the words of Isaiah (iv. 22), according to
which the remnant of Israel shall be converted in
the last days, be cited against such a procedure,
since, in order to fulfil this prophecy, it would suf-
fice to transfer a little band of Jews to some island,
and to grant them permission to observe the Law.
Duns Scotus, in support of his contention, refers
to the decision of the Council of Toledo, which com-
mended King Sisebut for his piety in compelling
the Jews to an acceptance of Christianity (ib.).
Duns Scotus' acquaintance with Hebrew literature
was confined to the "Fons Vitae " of Ibn Gabirol
(whose name takes with him, as with William of
Auvergne, the form of " Avicebron ") and to the
" Moreh Nebukim " of Maimonides. In one place he
makes mention of a rabbi who is unknown even
to the greatest scholars of Hebrew literature. He
speaks there of one "Rabbi Barahoc," who is a
worthy counterpart to the renowned "Rabbi Tal-
mud " ; for he is indebted for this name to the Tal-
mud tractate Berakot, out of which a certain con-
vert of Jewish extraction communicated a passage
15
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Dunayevtzy
Dura
to a Franciscan monk, who interpreted it in a spirit
not very friendly to the Jews (" Qusestiones Miscel-
lanese," qu. 6, art. 21: "Opera," iii. 477).
The influence of Gabirol's philosophy shows itself
particularly in the doctrine which is at the founda-
tion of one of the most important dif-
Influence ferences between the Dominicans and
of Gabirol. the Franciscans. As early as Alex-
ander OF Hales, the founder of the
Franciscan theological school, the view is expressed
that not only corporeal, but also spiritual substance
is compounded of matter and form. This view is
held also by William of Lamarre, Bonaventura the
Mystic, Roger Bacon, and Raimond Lully, who were
all members of the Franciscan Order. Stoutly re-
jected by the Dominicans, this fundamental concept
of Gabirol's philosophy was adopted by Duns Scotus
and incorporated in his system as an integral part. In
his " De Rerum Principiis " (qu. 8, art. 4 : " Opera, " iii.
51) he expressly declares, in opposition to Aquinas,
in favor of a return to the standpoint of Avicebron.
The metaphysical and cosmological system which
is advanced in this work, presupposes Gabirol's doc-
trine of a unitary, universal substance underlying
all created things, both corporeal and spiritual. In
elaborating this doctrine Duns Scotus, as might be
expected of an independent thinker of his type,
follows his own individual bent. But as regards
the fundamental principles, the dependence of his
system upon Gabirol is so marked that, in the words
of Stockl ("Gesch. der Philosophiedes Mittelalters,"
ii. 808), "his work gives the impression of a running
commentary on the metaphysics of Avicebron."
Strange to say. Duns Scotus makes no mention
whatsoever of Gabirol's teaching on the will. In
his other works, which are mainly in the nature of
a commentary on the Bible, and in which, therefore,
there is little occasion for a systematic substantia-
tion of his theological doctrines, Duns Scotus rarely
refers to Avicebron.
With Maimonides, too. Duns Scotus shows more
than one point of contact. Like Thomas Aquinas,
he follows the statements of Maimon-
Influence ides concerning belief and knowledge,
of Mai- or the relation of revelation and rea-
mouides. son, which statements are all, in their
essential points, traceable back to
Saadia as their first source (see Guttmann, "Die
Religionsphilosophie des Saadia, " pp. 24-25 ; idem,
"Das Verhaltnissdes Thomas von Aquino," etc., pp.
32 et seq.). " The doctrine concerning the existence
and freedom of God," says Duns Scotus, referring to
Maimonides, "had to be imparted to the Israelites by
means of revelation, although it may indeed be de-
monstrated by human reason. Such a revelation
was necessary in view of the fact that the culture of
the Israelites was of an imperfect order, and also be-
cause they were inclined to idolatry " (comment, in
Sent, i., dist. 2, qu. 3, 7, v. 294; compare "Moreh
Nebukim," ii. 31). "Altogether, it can not but be
helpful to a people that even truths accessible to
reason should be authoritatively communicated to
them; since there is a general indolence in regard
to the discovery of truth, and the powers of compre-
hension of the average man are limited ; and, finally,
for the reason that errors are apt to creep into spec-
ulations independently carried on, giving rise to
doubts. Through an authoritative communication
or revelation such a danger is obviated " (Duns Sco-
tus, ib. p. 295; compare "Moreh Nebukim," i. ch.
xxxiv. ; Munk, "Guide,"!. 118-130).
In connection with Aquinas' statements concern-
ing the divine attributes, Duns discusses the view of
Maimonides, which he finds to be in harmony with
that of Ibn Sina, and which is to the effect that the
attributes applicable to God either refer to His activ-
ity or else are of a negative character (commentary
in Sent, i., dist. 8, qu. 4, 2: "Opera," v. 751; com-
pare "Moreh Nebukim,"!. ch. 1!., \m. et seq.). To
]\Iaimonides also is traceable the statement that there
occur in the Bible designations that are applicable
only to God — a view which the Jews held in regard
to the TetragrammatoQ (comment, in Sent. !., dist.
22, qu. 1, 3: "Opera," v. 1053; compare " Moreh Ne-
bukim," i. ch. Ixi.; Munk, "Guide,"' i. 271 et seq.).
Duns Scotus follows ^laimonides also in his treat-
ment of the various forms of prophecy, not to men-
tion other less important particulars. The highest
form of prophecy is, according to him, that in which
the prophet not only grasps the revelation that comes
to him, but is also aware of its coming to him from
God. Of this character was, for instance, the intui-
tion of Abraham, who would not have been ready
to sacrifice his own son had he not been convinced
that the command proceeded from God ("Quaest.
]\Iiscell." 6, 8: "Opera," iii. 474; compare "Moreh
Nebukim," iii. ch. xxv. ; Munk, "Guide," iii. 194-
195). On the other hand. Duns Scotus combats the
opinion that the temporal character of the world can
not be proved — an opinion held by Aquinas, and
borrowed by the latter from Maimonides, whom
Duns does not mention (" Quaestiones in Metaphys."
qu. 1, 13: "Opera," iv. 513; compare "Moreh Ne-
bukim," ii. ch. xxi. ; Munk, "Guide," ii. 269).
BcBLiOGRAPHY: Guttmann, Die Beziehungen des Johannes
Duns Scotus zum Judenthum, in Monatsschrift, 1894,
xxxvlil. 26-39 ; idem. Die Scholastik des Dreizehnten Jahr-
hunderts in Ihren Beziehungen zum Judenthum und zur
JUdischen Literatur, Breslau, 1902.
J. J. G.
DUPORT, ADRIEN : French lawyer and friend
of the Jews; born in 1758; died in exile 1798. He
became a deputy to the States-General in 1789, and
from the first was a member of the Jacobin party.
After the arrest of Louis XYI. in June, 1791, Du-
port became a royalist. In the constitution of Sep-
tember, 1791, the Jews of France were not remem-
bered, although statements as to freedom of religious
opinions were inserted. On Sept. 27, 1791, Duport
proposed that the Jews be accorded all the privi-
leges of citizenship in France, and the suggestion
was adopted despite some slight opposition. The
National Assembly next abrogated all exceptional
laws against the Jews.
Bibliography : Thomas, Dictionary of Biography, i. 876,
Philadelphia, 1901 ; Gratz, Gesch. xi. 220.
D. A. U. F.
DURA : A valley mentioned only in Daniel (iii.
1). Here Nebuchadnezzar set up a golden image, to
the dedication of which he summoned all the officers
of his kingdom. The Septuagint (Codex Chisianus)
reads nepi^dTjov (" walls surrounding a city "), and this
may be due to the Assyrian " duru " (= a wall). The
place is therefore to be looked for in Assyria. De-
Duran
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
16
litzsch ("Wo Lag das Paradies?" p. 216) says that,
according to Rawlinson, "Cuneiform Inscriptions of
Western Asia," iv. 38, 9-llb, there were three places
in Babylon called "Dura" (see also Schrader, "C. I.
O. T." ii. 128). In one of these places east of Baby-
lon, according to Oppert, ruins of an ancient statue
have been found.
E. G. H. G. B. L.
DURAN, DUB AND, or DURANTE: A
widely scattered family, originally from Provence,
not from Oran ("d'Oran"), as some scholars think.
A " Mosse Duram " is mentioned in a list of Tarascon
Jews, 1350-1487 (" Rev. Etudes Juives," xxxix. 268).
The Durans went first to Majorca, and finally settled
in Africa. Some of their descendants are met with
as late as the end of the eighteenth century, as shown
in the subjoined pedigree. M. K.
The.priucipal members of the family were:
Aaron ben Solomon ben Simon Duran : Day-
yan of Algiers in the fifteenth century. He and his
brother Zemah Duran lived at one time in Majorca,
from which they sent a responsum to tlie community
of Constantinople ("Yakin u-Bo'az," 1., No. 126).
His name and those of his brothers Simon and Zemah
are associated as the authors of a responsum written
at Algiers and directed to the community of Oran
(ib. 1., Nos. 53-5.")).
Bibliography : Michael, Or ha-Hayyim, No. 316.
M. Sel.
Hayyim Jonah b. Zemah Duran : Published
at Leghorn in 1763 the first part of "Magen Abot,"
written by his grandfather, Simon b. Zemah Duran.
Moses Duran : Lived in Provence in the thir-
teenth ceflt«ry. His death (1380) was lamented in an
elegy by Abraham b. Isaac Bedersi (Zunz, "Z. G."
pp. 464, 523).
Moses b. Zemah Duran : Elder of the Jewish
community at Leghorn in 1790. He published a part
of the "Magen Abot" at that city in 1785 from a
manuscript in the possession of Zemah b. Benjamin
Duran and Zemah b. Hayyim Jonah Duran.
Nissim Duran : Son of Zemah and brother of
Simon Duran, of Majorca, where he died after 1395.
Profiat Duran (called Maestre Profiat, and
also Efodi or Efodseus, from the initial letters of
IX"in D^'Dlia ^JK; real name Isaac b. Moses ha-
Levi) : Philosopher, grammarian, and controver-
sialist; born in the second half of the fourteenth
century, of parents from the south of France. It
is not known whether he was born at Perpignan,
where he lived for some years, or in a town of Cata-
lonia. In his youth he attended a Talmudic school
in Germany for a short time, but instead of confi-
ning his studies to the Talmud, he took up philoso-
phy and other sciences also, in spite of the interdic-
tion of his teachers. Duran became a tutor in the
Crescas famil}'-, and during tlie bloody persecution
of 1391 was forced to become an ostensible convert
to Christianity.
In order to return to Judaism, he and his friend
David Bonet Bongoron agreed to emigrate to Pales-
tine. Duran set out on his journey, but instead of
meeting his expected friend, he received a letter
irom him stating that in consequence of the persua-
sions of the neophyte Paul de Burgos he had de-
cided to remain true to the new faith, and exhorting
Duran to follow his example. Duran 's answer was
the famous satiric epistle called, after the repeatedly
recurring phrase, "Al Tehi Ka-Aboteka" (Be Not
Like Thy Fathers). It was written about 1396, and
was circulated by Don Mei'r Alguades, to whom it had
been sent. It is so ingeniously ambiguous that the
Christians, who called it " Alteca Boteca, " interpreted
it in their favor; but as soon as they recognized its
satirical import they burned it publicly. This epis-
tle, with a commentary by Joseph b. Shem-Tob and
an introduction by Isaac Akrish, was first printed at
Constantinople in 1554, and was republished in A.
Geiger's "Mclo Chofnajim," 1840, in the collection
"Kobez Wikkuhim," 1844, and in P. Heilpern's
"Ebcn Bohan," part 2, 1846. Geiger also translated
most of it into German (" Wissenschaftliche Zeit-
schrift," iv. 451).
Connected with this epistle is the polemic " Kelim-
mat ha-Goyim " (stilL in manuscript), a criticism of
Christian dogmas written in 1397 at the request of
Don Hasdai Crescas, to whom it was dedicated.
In 1395 Duran compiled an almanac in twenty-
nine sections entitled "Hesheb ha-Efod," and ded-
icated to Moses Zarzal, physician to Henry III.,
King of Castile. That Duran was familiar with the
philosophy of Aristotle as interpreted by the Ara-
bian philosophers, is apparent from his synoptic
commentary on Maimonides' "Moreh Nebukim,"
which was published at Sabbionetta in 1553, at Jess-
nitz in 1742, and at Zolkiev in 1860.
Duran 's chief work, praised by both Christians
and Jews, is his philosophical and critical Hebrew
grammar, "Ma'aseh Efod," containing an introduc-
tion and thirty-three chapters, and finished in 1403.
He wrote it not only to instruct his contemporaries,
who either knew nothing about grammar or had erro-
neous notions concerning it, but especially to refute
mistakes promulgated b}' the later grammarians.
He frequently cites the otherwi.se unknown Samuel
Benveniste as an eminent grammarian. See the edi-
tion of J. Friedliinder and J. Kohn (Vienna, 1865).
Duran was also a historian. In an unknown
work entitled "Zikron ha-Shemadot " he gave the
history of Jewish martyrs since the destruction of
the Temple. Griitz has shown that this work was
used by Solomon L^sque and Ibn Verga.
In 1393 Duran wrote a dirge on Abraham b. Isaac
ha-Levi of Gerona, probably a relative ; three letters
containing responsa, to his pupil Mei'r Crescas; and
two exegetical treatises on several chapters of II
Samuel, all of which have been edited as an appen-
dix to the "Ma'aseh Efod."
At the request of some members of the Benveniste
family, Duran wrote an explanation of a religious
festival poem by Ibn Ezra (printed in the collection
"Ta'am Zekenim " of Eliezer Ashkenazi), as well as
the solution of Ibn Ezra's well-known riddle on the
quiescent letters of the Hebrew alphabet (quoted
by Immanuel Benvenuto in his grammar "Liwyat
Hen," Mantua, 1557, without mentioning Duran),
and several explanations relating to Ibn Ezra's com-
mentary on the Pentateuch.
Bibliography: Monatsftchrift, Hi. 320 et seq.; J. Friedlander
and J. Kohn, Ma'aaeh Efod, Introduction, pp. 3-12; S. Grone-
mann, De Profiatii Diirani Vita ac Studiis, Breslau, 1869;
Steinschneider, Cat. Bodl. cols. 2112 et seq.; De Rossi-Ham-
berger. Histoiisches Wr/r(er/<?/c?i, pp. 261 ef .seq.; Gross, Gal-
lia Judaica, pp. 358 et seq., 472 ; Gratz, Gesch. viil. 94, 403.
17
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Duran
Simon b. Solomon Duran : Rabbi in Algiers,
1531 ; grandson of Simon ben Zemah. He and his
brother Zemah are the authors of the responsa which
appeared under the title " Yakin u-Bo'az," Leghorn,
1782, the fifty-one responsa printed in the second
part (" Bo'az ") being Simon's work. His liturgical
poems (nine dirges) still exist in manuscript (Zunz,
" Literaturgeschichte der Synagogalen Poesie," p.
534). M. K.
Simon b. Zemah. Duran (BaShBaZ) : Rabbin-
ical authority; born Adar, 1361, not in Barcelona,
as Zunz ("Zeitschrift," p. 132) and others assert, but
on the island of IMajorca; a near relation but not a
grandson of Levi b. Gershon ; died in 1444. He was
a pupil of Ephraim Vidal, and of Jonah de Maestre,
rabbi in Saragossa or in Calatayud, whose daughter
Bongoda he married. He was also a student of
philosophy, astronomy, mathematics, and especially
of medicine, which he practised for a number of
years at Palma.
After the persecution of 1391 (see Balearic Isles)
he went with his father and sister to Algiers, where,
in addition to practising medicine, he continued his
studies during the earlier part of his stay. In 1394
he and the Algerine rabbi Isaac b. Sheshet drafted
statutes for the Jewish community of Algiers.
After Sheshet 's death Simon was chosen as rabbi on
condition that he would not, like his predecessor,
have his election confirmed by the regent. As Du-
ran had lost all his property during the massacre at
Palma, he was forced against his will to accept a
salary from the community, not having other means
of subsistence. He held this office until his death.
His epitaph, written by himself, has been reprinted
for the first time, from a manuscript, in "Orient,
Lit. "-v. 452. According to Joseph Sambari, Simon
was much respected in court circles (" Medieval Jew.
Chron."i. 130).
Simon was a very active litei'ary worker. He
wrote commentaries on several tractates of the Mish-
nah and the Talmud and on Alfasi(Nos. 4, 5, 7, 11, 12,
and 16 in the list of his works given below) ; he treated
of various religious dogmas and of the synagogal rite
of Algiers (Nos. 5, 8, 10, 16) ; while in his responsa
he showed a profound acquaintance with the entire
halakic literature. His theologico - philosophical
scholarship, as well as his secular learning, is con-
spicuous in his elaborate work, "Magen Abot," in
which he also appears as a clever controversialist
(No. 7). The same ability is evidenced in his wri-
tings against Hasdai Crescas, which afford him an
opportunity to defend Maimonides (No. 2); in his
commentary on the Pentateuch (No. 6), where he
takes occasion to enter into polemics with Levi b.
Gershon ; and in that on the Book of Job (No. 1),
especially the introduction. In his commentary on
the Pirke Abot he shows a broad historical sense
(No. 7, partiv.); and it is not improbable that the
tradition which ascribes to him the historico-didactic
poem " Seder ha-Mishneh leha-Rambam " (No. 9), is
well founded.
Simon also wrote a considerable number of poems,
both religious and secular (Nos. 9 [V], 15); com-
mented on the Pesah Haggadah, the Hosha'not, and
the works of more ancient poets (Nos. 5 (c), 13, 14) ;
and was the author of numerous pamphlets. The
v.— 2
following list of Duran 's writings is arranged ac-
cording to tlie letters of the Hebrew alphabet, on the
basis of a catalogue drawn up by the author him-
self (Responsa, vol. iii.):
1. "Oheb Mishpat," commentary on the Book of Job, with a
theologico-phllosuphlcal introduction, Venice, 1589 ; Amsterdam,
1734-27 (in the Rabbinic Bible " Kehillat Mosheh ").
2. "Or ha-Hayyim," controversial treatise against Hasdai
Crescas' " Or Adonai."
3. " Zohar ha-Rakia'," commentary on Solomon Ibn Gabirol's
" Azharot," Constantinople, 1515. (Jacob Hagis [" Petil Teke-
let"] and Moses Pisante ["Ner Mizwah"]'have reedited this
work, of which a shorter recension also exists.)
4. "Hiddushe ha-Rashbaz," novelloB on and elucidations of
Niddah, Rosh ha-Shanah, Kinnim, Leghorn, 1744. ("Hiddu-
shim," novellas to Ketubot and Gittin [Fiirth, 1779], is errone-
ously ascribed to Duran.)
5. " Yabin Shemu'ah " : (a) precepts for shehitah and bedikah ;
(5) " Ma'amar Hamez," precepts concerning hamez and maz-
zah; (c) " Aflkomen," commentary on the Pesah Haggadah;
(d) "Tif'eret Yisrael," on the computations of the new moon
("moladot"); (c) " Perush," commentary on the MishnahZeba-
him, ch. V. ("Ezehu Mekoman "), and the " Baraita de Rabbi
Yishma'el " (taken from the Sifra) subjoined thereto in the
prayerbook (Leghorn, 1744). Part (c) appeared as "Ma'amar
Aflkomen " with the Haggadah (RSdelheim, 1822).
6. "Liwyat Hen," commentary on the Pentateuch; also two
tracts against Hasdai Crescas ("'Anakim," "Ma'amar ha-
Yihud").
7. " Magen Abot," consisting of four parts with special titles :
U "Helek Eloah mi-Ma'al" ; ii., "Helek Shosenu"; 111.,
"Helek Ya'akob"; iv., "Helek Adonai 'Ammo." Part Iv., a
commentary on Abot, including a literary-historical Intro-
duction on the sequence of tradition, appeared under the title
"Magen Abot," Leghorn, 17(32; reedited by Y. Fischl, Leipslc,
1855. Under the same title appeared parts i.-iii., with the ex-
ception of one chapter in part ii. (ib. 1785). The missing chap-
ter in this edition, being a polemic against Christianity and
Islam, was published under the title " Keshet u-Magen " (ib.
1785-90; reedited by Steinschneider, Berlin, 1881). Extracts
from this chapter, "Setirat Emunat ha-Nozrim," are contained
in "Milhemet Hobah," Amsterdam, 1710. It is largely taken
from Proflat Duran's "Kelimmat ha-Goyim" (" Monatsschrif t,"
iv. 179).
8. " Minhagim." ritual observances, presumably treating of
V.M rites in Algiers.
9. " Seder ha-Mishneh leha-Rambam," didactic poem, ascribed
to Duran in MS. Poc. 74 (Neubauer, " Cat. Bodl. Hebr. MSS."
No. 1971).
10. " Perush ha-Ketubbah weha-Get," on marriage contracts
and divorces, Constantinople, c. 1516-48.
11. " Perush HUkot Berakot le-Harif," commentary on Alfasi's
" Berakot."
12. " Perush Masseket 'Eduyyot," commentary on 'Eduyyot.
13. "Perush 'al ha-Hosha'not," published with the "Hosha'-
not "according to the Spanish rite, Ferrara, 1553. (A short ex-
tract from the " Perush " is contained In the Spanish prayer-
book of 1571.)
14. " Perush Kezat Piyyutim," of which several pieces are
inserted in the Algiers Mahzor, Leghorn, 1772. (The commen-
tary on the introduction, "[Baruk] Asher Ishshesh," may also
be found in B. Goldberg's " Hefes Matmonim," pp. 85 et seq.,
Berlin, 1845.)
15. " Kuntras Tehinnot u-Pizmonim," religious and secular
poems. (The elegy ["kinah"] on the destruction of Jerusa-
lem, " Eksof le-Sapper," was published in Proflat Duran's " Ig-
geret Al-Tehi," Constantinople, c. 1577; that on the persecu-
tions in Spain in the second edition of "Magen Abf)t," Leipsic,
1855. A larger collection was edited by I. Morali in part I. of
his "ZofnatPa'aneah," Berlin, 1897.)
16. " Remaze Piske Niddah " (distinct from No. 4).
17. "Tikkun ha-Hazzanim," of which the title only is known.
18. "Takkanot ha-Rashbaz," inserted in part ii. of the re-
sponsa (19), and in Judah 'Ayyash's responsa, entitled "Bet
Yehudah," Leghorn, 1746.
19. "Tashbaz," 802 responsa in three parts, Amsterdam,
1738-39; title ed., ib. 1741.
Bibliography : H. Jaulus, R. Simeon b. Zemach Diiran. in
Moruit)iSchrift, xxiii. 241 et seq.: A. Frankel, Allg. Zeit. des
Jiid. xxiv. 417, 501 ; Michael, Or ha-Hamiim, p. 601 ; Stein-
schneider, Cat. BihU. No. 7199 ; De Rossi-Hamberger, HiMo-
risches WOrterbuch der Jildijichen Schriftsteller. pp. 92 et
!feq.; Zedner, Cat. Hebr. Bonks Brit. Mus. pp. 703 et seq.;
Duran
Diisseldorf
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
18
Zunz, Literaturgesch. pp. 521 et seq.; Gratz, Gesch. 3d ed.,
vlii. 100; Brody, la Isr. Monatsschr. 1897, No. 7; I. Morali,
Zofnat Pa''aneah, i., Berlin, 1897; Kaufmann, in Monats-
sthrift, xli. 660. '
M. K— H. B.
Solomon b. Simon Duran (abbreviated SaSh-
BaSh) : Son and successor of Simon b. Zemah
Duran ; born in Algiers about 1400; died there 1467.
In his youth he became familiar with the Talmud and
rabbinical literature, and with a resoluteness remark-
able for his time he protested against the Cabala.
Like his father, he was the author of many responsa
(published in Leghorn, 1742); his letter, written in
the language of the Talmud, to Nathan Nagara in
Constantine has been separately reprinted, with an
index of passages ("Kerem Hemed," ix. 110 et seq.).
His defense of the Talmud, written in 1437 against
the attacks of the convert Geronimo de Santa Fe,
appeared under the title "Miihemet Hobah," and
also the title " Setirat Emunat ha-Nozrim," after the
second part of his father's "K^eshet u-Magen." It
was also published separately at Leipsic in 1856. His
treatise "Tikkuu Soferini," which has frequently
been ascribed to his father, is printed as an appendix
to the work " Yabin Shemu'ah," Leghorn, 1744. A
dirge written by him has been preserved iu manu-
script.
Bibliography: Conforte, Kore ha-Dorot, p. 26b; Kerem
Hemed, ix. 114 et seq.; De Rossi-Hamberger, Historisches
W(")7-tcrbuch, p. 94 ; Orient, iii. 812 et seq.; Gratz, Gesch. vlii.
166: Zunz, Literaturgeach. p. 524; E. N. Adler, in Jew.
Quart. Rev. xii. 147.
Solomon ben Zemah. Duran : Rabbi in Algiers,
where he died after 1.593; great-great-grandson of
Solomon ben Simon Duran. In addition to some re-
sponsa, which have been added to Simon ben Zemah
Duran's collection, he wrote a detailed commentary
on Proverbs, which appeared under the title "He-
shek Shclomoh," Venice, 1623; six discourses on tlie
seven kinds of wisdom ; a commentary on the book
of Esther ; and a treatise on temperance. All these
works were completed by the year 1591, and pub-
lished under the title "Tif'eret Yisrael," Venice,
(c. 1596) (Roest, "Cat. Rosenthal. Bibl." pp. 494
et seq. ).
Zemah. Duran (also called Astruc) : Father of
Simon Duran; went from Provence to Pal ma, and
thence to Algiers, where he died in 1404. He had
some knowledge of medicine and astronomy, and
was preacher at Algiers ("'Rev. Et. Juives," xlii.
277).
Bibliography: Isaac b. Shesbet, Responsa, No. 60; Kay-
serling, Gesch. der Juden in Sipanien, 1. 169.
Zemah b. Simon b. Zemah Duran: Great-
grandson of tlie preceding ; died 1590; author of a
commentary on a liturgical poem for Purim by Isaac
1). Ghayyath. This poem, with the Aramaic text,
was printed in "Tif'eret Yisrael," a work written
by liis son Solomon b. Zemah Duran (Roest, " Cat.
Rosentlial. Bibl." Appendix, p. 494; Steinschneider,
"Cat. Bodl." p. 2761).
Zemah ben Solomon Duran : Great-grandson
of Zemah Duran.
Zemah ben Solomon Duran : Talmudist ; died
Sept., 1604; was mourned in an elegy by Abraham
Gavison (Nepi-Ghirondi, "Toledot Gedole Yisrael,"
p. 49).
Pedigkee of the Duran Family.
("Cat. Bodl." col. 2306.)
Zemah Duran, Jonah de Maestre
d. 1404
I
f I
Nissim Simon, d. 1444 married Bongoda
Solomon,
d. 1467
Zemah
■ I ■
Simon
Simon,
1531
Joseph (?)
Zemah. d. 1590
■ I
Solomon.
d. after 1593
I
Zemah,
d. 1604
!
Simon,
1623
Simon
I
Zemah
n
Jonah
i
Ben.]amin
Zemah
■ I ■
Benjamin
I
Zemah
Hayyim Jonah,
1763
I
Zemah
G. ■ ■ M. K.
DURESS (Hebrew, dJIX) : In law, the use of
such unlawful force against a contracting party
as will entitle him to rescind a contract. The rab-
binical law on this subject goes back to the wars of
Vespasian and Titus, when many Jews, in order to
save their lives, gave up their lands to armed rob-
bers (" sikarikin " = daggermen ; Git. v. 6).
From several Talmudic passages (compare B. B.
40b, 47b ; B. K. 62a) the standards have drawn the
following rules:
" If one has been put under duress until he sells, and takes
the purchase-money, even if they hang him up till he sells, yet
the sale is valid, whether of movables or of lands, and this
though the price has not been accepted before witnesses. Hence
he should make his protest before two witnesses, and say to
them : ' Know ye that I sell this field [or this article] under com-
pulsion.' If the seller does this, the sale may be set aside after
many years' possession, and the buyer must make restoration.
Hut the witnesses must know of their own knowledge that force
was used ; and when the protest is written out to be signed by
them, it should recite such knowledge on their part. This re-
fers only to a sale of property or to the compromise of a claim ;
but a gift of property, or the free release of a claim, is void
whenever the donor or releasor protests his unwillingness at
the time, though he be not under duress at all. Beating or
other bodily violence is not the only form of duress ; duress
may consist in the threat of any harm which it is in the power
of the other party to inflict. . . . But no protest is necessary to
prevent the possession of land which is taken by sheer violence
from ripening into a title by prescription. An admission made
by the seller after the protest does not estop ; for it is presumed
that he was forced to make it" (Maimonides, " Yad," Mekirah,
X.: much to the same effect is Shulhan 'Aruk, Hoshen Mishpat,
305).
What has been said as to deeds or other acts of
conveyance would, with proper changes, apply to
bonds or promises of payment made under compul-
sion ; but the case of sale under duress, being that
which occurs most frequently, has been especially
treated here.
L. G. L. K D.
DTJRKHEIM, EMILE : French writer ; born at
Epinal, in the department of Vosges, France, April
19
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Duran
Dusseldorf
15, 1858. He was educated at the college of his na-
tive town, and later in Paris at the Lycee Louis le
Grand and the Ecole Normale Superieure. From
1882 to 1887 he occupied the position of professor
of philosophy in various lycees, in 1887 became pro-
fessor of sociology at the Faculte des Lettres of the
University of Bordeaux, and in 1902 was called to the
Sorbonne. It was Durkheim who introduced the
study of sociology into the French universities. In
1897 he founded an annual, " L'Annee Sociologique, "
in which he gives an account of the sociological liter-
ature of France and other countries. He has pub-
lished the following works: "De la Division du Tra-
vail Social," Paris, 1893 ; " Les Ragles de la Methode
Sociologique," Paris, 1895; "Le Suicide: Etude de
Sociologie," Paris, 1897. Besides these Durkheim
published a great number of essays in the " Revue
Philosophique," "Revue Bleue," and elsewhere.
Bibliography : La Grande Encyclopedic ; Nouveau La-
rousse lllustre.
S.
DXJRLACHER, ELCAN : Hebraist and pub-
lisher; born at Karlsruhe, Germany, in 1817; died
Dec. 21, 1889. He went to Paris in 1845 as a
teacher of languages, and founded a Hebrew pub-
lishing-house, which was continued, after his death,
by his son. He compiled a Hebrew reader and an
almanac, and wrote a small book entitled "Joseph
and His Brothers." His two most notable works
are a French translation of the German Mahzor, and
another of the daily prayer-book, which he made
with the assistance of L. Wogue, whose edition of
the Pentateuch he published.
s. J. W.
DTJRY, JOHN: English divine of the seven-
teenth century. During his travels abroad he met
Manasseh ben Israel iu 16-14, and heard from him an
account of Antonio de Montesino's alleged discovery
of the Ten Tribes in America. In 1649 he addressed
a further inquiry to Manasseh on the subject, which
resulted in the publication of "The Hope of Israel."
Dury was also author of a pamphlet issued in 16o6
entitled " A Case of Conscience : "Whether It Be Law-
ful to Admit Jews into a Christian Commonwealth."
To a question put to him by Samuel Hartleb, as to
the general lawfulness of their admission, Dury re-
plied in the affirmative; but from the point of view
of expediency he considered that circumstances as
to a particular time and place might render their
admission unwise.
Bibliography: Worthington's Diary, i. 78, 83 ; Jewish Chron-
icle (London), Feb. 10, 1899; Rev. S. Levy, in Trans. Hist.
Soc. Eng. Iv.
J- G. L.
DUSCHAK, MORITZ: Austrian rabbi and au-
thor; borniuTriesch, Moravia, Nov. 14, 1815; died in
Vienna July 21, 1890. He was a pupil in Talmud
of R. Moses Sofer of Presburg, and was for a long
time rabbi at Gaya, Moravia. In 1877 he became
preacher in Cracow and teacher of religion at the
gymnasium of that city. He was a modern preacher
and the author of works in the German language.
Although engaged to deliver his sermons at the
Temple, his sympathies were mostly with the old-
style Orthodox people of the "Klaus," wJio could
better appreciate his Talmudical knowledge. His
position as preacher was thus somewhat anomalous;
and after several years' service he left Cracow and
settled in Vienna, where he spent his last days in
neglect and disappointment.
Duschak wrote much for various periodicals, and
was, besides, the author of the following works:
"Mor Deror," on Josephus and tradition, Vienna,
1864; " Das MosaischTalmudische Eherecht mit Be-
sonderer Rlicksicht auf die Biirgerlichen Gesetze,"
Vienna, 1864 ; " Gideon Brecher, eine Biographische
Skizze," Prossnitz, 1865; "Gesch. und Darstellung
des Judischen Cultus," Mannheim, 1866; "DasMo-
saisch-Talmudische Strafrecht," Vienna, 1868; "Zur
Botanik des Talmuds," Budapest, 1871; "Schulge-
setzgebung und Methodik der Alten Israeliten,"
Vienna, 1872; "Die Biblisch-Talmudische Glaubens-
lehre," etc., ib. 1872 ; " Die Moral der Evangelien und
des Talmuds," Brtlnn, 1878. He also wrote "Jeru-
shalayim ha-Benuj^a," a commentary on the Mish-
nah, treatise Mo'ed, Cracow, 1880.
Bibliography: Ha-^si/, 1894, pp. 139-140; Ha-^efirah, xvli..
No. 183.
s. P. Wi.
DUSCHENES, FRIEDRICH: Austrian ju-
rist; born at Prague Jan. 18, 1843; died there Jan.
11, 1901. He received his education at the Unter-
Realschule of his native town, and in deference to the
wish of his father became a teacher at the Jildische
Hauptschule. Duschenes went in 1867 to the Uni-
versity of Vienna, whence he was graduated as doctor
of law in 1871. Returning to Prague, he was (1878)
admitted to the bar and engaged in practise. He re-
tired from prbfessional life in 1899.
Duschenes, with Wenzel, Ritter von Belsky, and
Carl Baretta, edited from 1890 the " Oesterreichisches
Rechts-Lexikon," published in Prague, which was
also translated into Bohemian. He took an active
part in the councils of the Jewish community and
in the political life of Prague.
Bibliography : Oesterreichische Woehenschrift. Jan. 25,
1901, pp. 63, 63; Prager Tafjeblatt, Feb. 22, 1901; Prager
Gemeindezeitung, 1901, No. 3.
s. F. T. H.
DUSCHINSKY, WILHELM: Austrian wri-
ter; born in Strasnitz, Moravia, May 6, 1860. He
attended the gymnasium in Vienna, and afterward
studied Romanic and Germanic philology at the
universities of Vienna and Paris. Since 1892 he has
been professor at the Ober-Realschule in the seventh
district of Vienna. The following monographs of his
may be mentioned : " Zur Lautlehre des Franzosis-
chen," 1887; " Die Technik von ' Hermann und Do-
rothea,'" 1888; "DasStumme 'e' im Franz5sischen,
in Prosa und Vers, " 1889 ; " Die Analj-tische Methode
im Sprachunterrichte," 1889-90; " Das Franzosische
Verb," 1891; "Sur le 'Misanthrope' de Moli^re,"
1893; " Shakespearische Einflusse auf Schiller's
' Tell, ' " 1H98 ; " Ueber die Quellen von Grillparzer's
'Esther,'" 1898; "Ueber die Quellen von Kleist's
' Prinz von Homburg,'" 1900; "Uebungsbuch zur
Franzosischon Syntax," 1901; "Zur Reform der
Franzosischen Syntax," 1901; "Gesch. des Neuphi-
lologischen Vereines an der Wiener Universitat,"
1902; "Choix de Lectures Expliquees," 1902.
S.
DUSSELDORF : City in Rhenish Prussia, situ-
ated on tlie right bank of the Rhine. According to
tiie census of 1900 it has about 2,600 Jews (500 house-
Dusseldorf
Duytsch
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
20
holds) in a total population of 213,767. In 1890 it
had 1,401 Jews in a total population of 144,643. Al-
though Diisseldorf was raised to the rank of a town
in 1288, its Jewish community is one of the young-
est in Germany, the history of the Jews in the duchy
of Jillich-Berg, of which Diisseldorf was the capital,
dating only from 16U8; in Diisseldorf itself the first
records of Jews are of a much later date. The synods
or councils of the Jews of the duchy were usually
held in Diiren, and the name of Diisseldorf is rarely
mentioned in the records which have come down to
us. In the "ketab rabbanut," or contract, dated
June 6, 1746, b)' which R. Simson ha-Levi was chosen
rabbi of Jlilich-Berg, it is stipulated that, inasmuch
as R. Simson had taken up his residence in Diissel-
dorf, wliich is remote from some parts of Jlilich, he
must visit central localities like Jlilich and Diiren at
least once a year. Similar stipulations were made
with R. Mordecai b. Eliezer Halberstadt, author of the
responsa "Ma'amar Mordekai" (Briinn, 1790), when
he was chosen to succeed R. Simson in 1752. R.
Mordecai had already styled himself rabbi of Diis-
seldorf and the surrounding country, which tends to
prove that the community was rising in importance
in the second half of the eighteenth century. An
interesting incident during the rabbinate of R. Mor-
decai was the ordering by him of special prayers
after the earthquake of Lisbon (Nov. 16, 1755 ; see
Carl Brisch, "Zur Gesch. d. Juden ini Bergischen
Lande," in "Israelit," 1879, No. 7).
R. Mordecai died in 1769, at the age of 84, and
was succeeded by R. Jacob Brandeis (d. 1775), who
had been rabbi of Flirth and of Darmstadt for
twenty years. It is stated by Adolph Kohut, editor
of the "Dlisseldorfer Zeitung," that R. Judah Lob
Abraham Scheuer of Flirth, who died in 1821, aged
87, was rabl)i of Diisseldorf and of Jlilich-Berg for 42
years. Since the incorporation of Diisseldorf in the
kingdom of Prussia in 1815, the community has not
been connected with the neighboring communities,
and later rabbis, as A. Wedell or the present incum-
bent, have not been "Landesrabbiner," as were their
earlier predecessors.
The remains of numerous members of Heinrich
Heine's family are buried in the old Jewish cemetery
of Diisseldorf, which is now within the city limits,
and was closed Jan. 1, 1877. Among other promi-
nent personages buried there are David Selig, the
first Jewish " Stadtrath " of Diisseldorf (d. 1849) ; the
mother of Hakam Bernays (d. 1855); and Solomon
Eichberg, who was cantor of the community for 50
years and died aged 85.
The anti-Jewish demonstration which occurred in
Du.sseldorf at the time of the reaction in 1819, seems
to have been confined to "black marks and threaten-
ing placards placed on the doors of several Jewish
hou.ses" (Graetz, "Hist." v. 30). After the emanci-
pation the Jewish community of Diisseldorf soon
rose to importance among the Jewish communities
of Germany, and is now the home of two prominent
Jewish national organizations — the Bildungsanstalt
fiir Israelitische Lehrer and the Verein zur Verbrei-
tung und Forderung der Handwerke Unter den
Juden. The last-named society, founded about 1880,
maintains a home for apprentices, and is doing
much good work. Stadtrath Gustav Ilerzfeld (b.
1828) is one of the founders, and was for a long time
its president. The Jewish community also has
charge of five foundations, which bear the names
of their founders or of their dedicatees: Martha
Horn, S. _Scheuer, S. Simon, N. Franck, and D.
Fleck. The erection of the new synagogue was
decided on in March, 1899. Diisseldorf has the fol-
lowing institutions: Hebra Kaddisha we-Haknasat
Kalah; Hebrah Gemilut Hasadim; Hebrah Malbish
'Arumim; Zedakah- Verein for general charity ; and
Israelitischen Privatverein for the prevention of
house-to-house begging.
In 1901 the Regierungsbezirk Diisseldorf, which
comprises 24 districts, had 16,032 Jews in a total
population of 2,191,359.
Bibliography: Allg. Zeit. des Jud. 1877, p. 379; Kaufmann.
MUPiiikes hn-Mcdinah shel K. K. DUsseldoi-f, in Ozar
ha-Sifi-iit, iii. 7-10; IsTaelitische Monatsschrift (supplement
to Judische Pres.se), 1888, No. 11, p. 43; Schulmann, Mi-Me-
kor Yisrael (Heine^s biography), pp. 15-17, Vienna, 1876;
jiiis Heinrich Heine's Stammhaum VatetUcherseits, in
Allg. Zeit. des Jud. 1901, No. 30; see also the supplement
{Gemeindehote) to that periodical for 1898, No. 4 ; for 1899.
No. 2; lor 1900, No. 41; for 1901. No. 48; Statistisches Jahr-
huch des Deutsch-Isi'aelitisclien Geweindehundes, v. 15,
Berlin, 1901, s.v. D'ilsseldorf . A Geschichie der JUdwcf)e,n
Gemeinde Dilsseldorfs, by A. Wedell, rabbi of that city, ap-
peared in 1888 as a part of the Gescltichte Diisseldorfs, which
was published (Diisseldorf, 1888) by its historical society in
commemoration of the 600th anniversary of the foundation of
the city of Diisseldorf.
D. P. Wl.
DUSYATY. See EovNO.
DUTCH WEST INDIES. See West Indies,
Dutch.
DUTY (Hebr. "mizwah" = commandment; later
Hebr. "hobah " = obligation): That which is due to
God as the Master of life, or to a fellow man, or to
oneself. "Duty " is an ethical term; its recognition
as such is urged by the inner voice called conscience
(see Wisdom xvii. 11), which tells man what he ought
or ought not to do. It derives its sanction and au-
thority from God. " Fear God and keep his command-
ments, for this is the whole of man " (Eccl. xii. 13;
A. V. wisely adds the word " duty "). " Duty " is
too abstract a term to find a place in the Biblical ter-
minology, but the idea of duty as inseparable from
life is expressed in difi"erent forms in the Bible. It
is " the keeping of the way of the Lord " (Gen. xviii.
19); it is defined by Micah (vi. 8, Hebr.): "He hath
told thee, O man, what is good and what the Lord
requireth of thee : to do justly, to love kindness, and
to walk humbly with thy God " ; and it is summed
up in the commandment : " Holy shall ye be, for I
the Lord your God am holy " (Lev. xix. 2). This
thought of duty runs through all Jewish literature.
" Walk after the Lord thy God ; as He is merciful,
be thou also merciful ; as He is kind, be thou also
kind" (Sotah 14a). So also Philo: "Man was cre-
ated in the image of God ; it must therefore be his
aim to become more and more like God " (" De Deca-
logo," § 197; "De Migratione Abrahami,"iii. § 470);
"Man's highest duty is to imitate God according to
the best of his ability, and to neglect no opportu-
nity to become like God " {tb. % 40).
The Jewish conception of duty is therefore su-
perior to that of the Greek and the Roman in that it
emanates from a God of holiness, and life is based
upon duties and obligations which form the contents
of the Law, and the faithful fulfilment of which
by the Jewish people estal)lishes their claim to the
21
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Diisseldorf
Duytsch
title "'am kadosh" (holy people: Ex. xix. 6, xxil.
30; Lev. xi. 44, 45; xix. 2; xx. 7, 26; Num. xv. 40;
Deut. vii. 6; xiv. 2, 21; xxvi. 19;
The xxviii. 9). True, in the Pentateuch no
Extent of distinction is made between duties of
Duty. various kinds; the ceremonial duty is
of as great importance as the moral
act. In Lev. xix., which may be assumed to repre-
sent the spirit of Pentateuchal legislation at its best,
the duty to offer sacrifices (verses 5-7) — a purely rit-
ual obligation — is given as high sanction as the fear
of father and mother (3), the care of the poor (10),
honesty in speech and dealing (11), respect for the
aged (32), love for one's neighbor (18), and similar
moral duties of the highest type. The command
to keep the Sabbaths (3) has no more binding force
than that requiring honesty in regard to weight and
measure (35). From the standpoint of the Mosaic
legislation life in its various aspects is one, and no
distinction is made between the different kinds of
duty enjoined ; God commanded them all, and there-
fore they all have equal sanction.
The prophetic conception of life, however, distin-
guished between the various kinds of duties. To
the Prophets duty meant chiefly to
Prophetic do justice and to love mercy (corn-
Hierarchy pare Isa. i. 26; Jer. vii. 5-8; Hosea vi.
of Duties. 6; Amos v. 24; Zecli. vii. 9, 10). This
characteristic of prophetic thought is
expressed very clearly by R. Simlai (Mak. 23b).
Similarly, Bahya ben Joseph ibk Pakuda, in his
" Hobot ha-Lebabot, " distinguishes between the vari-
ous kinds of duties by dividing them into two classes :
"hobot ha-ebarim" and "hobot ha-lebabot," the ex-
ternal religious duties and the duties of the heart, or
the ritual duties and the moral obligations. How-
ever, though individual thinkers made these distinc-
tions, yet Jewish tradition developed the thought
that all duties derive their sanctity from the Law as
the unchangeable will of God. And here lies the
danger of Legalism, inasmuch as every ceremonial
law is regarded from this point of view as an actual
debt ("hobah" =. o<pe'i7.Tifia) incumbent upon man,
and of which he must rid himself (in^in H^ NV^ or
simply K^fi; Ber. ii. 1, 8b, 20b; Yer. Suuh. vii. 2Ib;
Eccl. vii. 18) by performing it. This debt is a sin
while it remains unpaid ("hobah"); but when paid
it becomes a merit ("mizwah"; Yer. Ber. ix. 4 —
according to the Pharisees; compare Montefiore,
"Hibbert Lectures," 1892, pp. 467-563; see also
Ceremonies and the Ceke.monial Law; Com-
mandment).
In the fulfilment of duty, possibly the chief con-
sideration is the character of the motive. Why shall
duty be performed : for reward or for its own sake?
In this matter Jewish ethics rest on
Motive. the highest plane. The sages taught,
"Whether one do much or little, all
that is necessary is that the intention be pure " (Ber.
17a). The classical saying of Antigonus of Sokho
clearly expresses the true Talmudic ideal of the spirit
that should accompany the performance of duty :
"Be not like servants who serve their master for the
sake of the reward, but be like servants who serve
their master not for tlie sake of the reward, and let
the fear of Heaven be upon you" (Ab. i. 3). The
usual expression for this thought of doing duty for
duty's sake is "le-shem shamayim" (in the name of
God), or "lishmah" (for its own sake); thu3 it ia
said, " Those who occupy themselves with communal
affairs should do so in the name of God," and "Let
all thy deeds be done in tlie name of God " (Ab.
ii. 2, 16). Another manner of expressing the same
thought appears in the phrase "rahmana libbaba'e"
(God requires the intention of the heart to be pure;
see Sanh. 100b). This doctrine is clearly taught in
passages like the following : " The words ' to love the
Lord thy God, to barken to Him, and to cling to
Him ' mean, ' Let no man say, " I will study so that
people shall call me a wise man ; I will learn that
they may call me rabbi; I will learn that I may be-
come an elder and preside over the academy." ' Let
him learn for the love of learning, and the honor will
come in the end " (Ned. 62a). So also says R. Elea-
zar, commenting upon Ps. cxii. 1: "Happy he who
delighteth in His commandments, but not for the re-
ward that might come from observing them" ('Ab.
Zarah l>^a). Bahya (z6. Introduction) says: "I am
convinced that all actions which are to conduce to
the honor of God must have their basis in purity of
the heart and of the intention ; if the intention be not
pure the deeds will not be acceptable, be they ever
so numerous, as it is said in Scripture, ' If ye heap
up ever so many prayers I will not hear, for your
hands are full of blood; wash yourselves, make
yourselves clean ' " (Isa. i. 15, 16, Hebr.). See
Ethics.
K. D. P.
DTJX, ADOLF : Hungarian writer; born at Pres-
burg Oct. 25, 1823 ; died at Budapest Nov. 20, 1881 ;
cousin of Leopold Dukes. He studied law and phi-
losophy at the University of Vienna, and was con-
nected with the " Presburger Zeitung " until 1855,
when he became a correspondent of the "Pester
Lloyd. " He translated Alexander PetOfi's and Josef
Eotvos' Hungarian poems, and Katona's tragedy,
"Bank Ban," and wrote " Aus Ungarn,"and various
stories in German under the title " Deutsch-Unga-
risches."
6. A. Ku.
DUX, LXJDWIG. See Doczv, Ludwig.
DUYTSCH, CHRISTIAN SALOMON : Hun-
garian clergyman; born in Temesvar, Hungary, in
1734; died in 1797. He attended the Talmud Torah
in Prague. Returning to Temesvar, he received in
1760 the title of " Morenu. " Two years later, excited
on the subject of conversion and distracted by relig-
ious doubt, he became a wanderer, and visited Dres-
den, Leipsic, Berlin, Amsterdam, Arnheim, Wesel,
Halle, and even London. In 1767, owing to the
influence of Pastor van Essen, he received baptism
in Amsterdam. In 1768 he married for the third
time, and then studied theology at the University of
Utrecht, becoming in 1777 a preacher at Mijdrecht.
A number of Duytsch's sermons were published;
and his confession of faith, entitled " Jehova Ver-
heerlijkt door de Erkenning van den Warcn Messia3
Jezus Christus," had a large sale. His principal
work was " Israels Verlossinge en Eeuwige Behou-
denis," 3 vols., Amsterdam, 1769-93. His "Neder-
lands Deborah 't Middle in God's Hand tot Redding
Dvinsk
Dyes and Dyeing:
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
22
van 't Zinkend Vaderland " appeared in 1767, and a
new edition in 1873.
Bibliography : De le Roi, Oesch. der Evangelischen Juden-
Missinn, pp. 59-61.
s. N. D.
DVINSK (formerly DTJNABITRG) : City in
the government of Vitebsk, Russia. It is situated
on the River Diina, at the intersection of two rail-
roads. It was founded in 1278 by the Knights of
the Livonian Order, and in 1561 was annexed to
Poland. According to the census of 1897 it has a
population of 72,231, the Jews numbering 32,369.
The latter are engaged in commerce, industries, and
manufacturing. The local trade is entirely in their
hands, and the chief articles of commerce are flax,
flaxseed, and timber. Toward the end of the last
century the business transactions amounted to ten
millions of rubles annually.
Industrial occupations are also left almost entirely
to the Jews. According to the official census of
industries made in 1893, there were in Dvinsk 330
industrial establishments owned by Jews, and 99
owned by non-Jews, while the number of Jewish
artisans was only 741. As a matter of fact both the
absolute and the relative number of Jewish artisans
is much greater. According to a private investi-
gation in 1898 there were 4,862 Jewish artisans, in-
cluding 2,193 masters, 1,760 journeymen, and 909
apprentices.
The most important of the trades followed by the
Jews are tailoring (1,210) and shoemaking. In the
32 local factories and workshops (match ft^ctory,
tannery, sawmill, button factory, etc.), all owned
by Jews, there is a total of 2,305 employees, of
whom 1,942 are Jews. There are in Dvinsk 658
Jewish day-laborers.
Taking the average family as consisting of Ave
persons, it appears that in 1898 thirty per cent of the
Jewish population of Dvinsk applied for aid from
the community. The help given to poor and desti-
tute Jews comes from a savings and lending asso-
ciation, and from various charitable institutions.
The first of these, founded in 1900, was established
as a mutual aid society. It has more than 1,200
members, and lent in 1902 (up to Sept. 1) various
small sums, ranging from 15 to 50 rubles, and ag-
gregating 41,321 rubles. There is another organi-
zation, established on charitable principles, for
the advancement of small loans. This is a loan
fund of 13,000 rubles founded in memory of M.
Vitenberg. Loans, secured by personal property,
are advanced without interest. Of other charitable
institutions there are a society for aiding the poor,
founded by the governor, with an income in 1899
of 8, 917 rubles ; a cheap dining-hall ; a bikkur holim ;
a dispensary ; and a lying-in hospital.
In the year 1898, in the general schools of Dvinsk
there were 1,203 pupils, 359 of them being Jews.
In the schools exclusively Jewish there were 401
pupils. The attendance in the general schools was
as follows: scientific high school, non-Jews 344,
Jews 36; girls' classical high school, non-Jews 240,
Jews 140; city school, containing industrial classes,
non-Jews 151, Jews 74; private four-class girls'
school, non-Jews 73, Jews 76; one-class girls' school,
non-Jews 36, Jews 33.
In the Jewish schools: Talmud Torah, 122; Jew-
ish school, with preparatory class, 116; three-class
Jewish industrial school, 87 ; private Jewish school
for boys and girls, 51 ; private Jewish one-class
school, 25.
In several of the general schools Jews are not ac-
cepted ; and those that are open to them are so
crowded that many Jewish children can not gain
admittance. The poor people can not even send
their children to the "melammed," for the latter
charges from 40 to 50 rubles a year for instruction.
The local Zionist association opened in 1901 a model
free heder, where about 80 children get instruction.
Thanks to the efforts of the Zionists, there were es-
tablished in 1900 a library and reading-room, with a
charge of three kopeks for admission.
Bibliography: Moskovskiya Vyedomosti, 1886, No. 234;
Voskhod, 1900, No. 53 ; 1901, Nos. 18 and 28 ; 1902, No. 40.
H. R. S. J.
DVORETZ. See Grodno.
DWARF.— Biblical Data: The rendering in
A. V. of pn (Lev. xxi. 20, literally "thin "), denoting
one of the physical disqualifications of
Bible. priests for the service. In this sense
pT is taken by Targ. Yer. (DJJ) and
Ibn Ezra ad loc. (comp. Bek. vii. 6), but the adopted
rabbinical tradition (see Sifra, Emor, 3; Bek. 45)
and modern commentators explain the word differ-
ently (see commentaries ac? loc); nevertheless, the
dwarf is declared unfit for service (Hullin 63a ; Sifra,
I.e. ; Bek. I.e. ; see Blemish). Legends concerning
giants and dwarfs exist among all nations (Tylor,
"Primitive Culture," i., ch. x. ; German ed., i. 379
et seq.\ comp. Wutke, "Der Deutsche Volksaber-
glaube der Gegenwart," p. 42; Lehmann, "Aber-
glaube und Zauberei," p. 67, Stuttgart, 1898; Sei-
fert, "Zwerge und Riesen," in "Neue Jahrbiicher
fiir das Klassische Alterthum," etc., vol. v., part 2,
p. 9). These legends are based mostly on primitive
conceptions regarding the original inhabitants of a
country. In the Bible the pre-Israelitic inhabitants
of the Holy Land are supposed to have been gigantic
— a reminiscence of the prehistoric man (comp. the
Hebrew dictionaries s.t). D^^''DJ, \>iV'^ ^Iso Gen. vi. 3
and the commentaries to the respective passages;
Baedeker, "Palastina," 5th ed., p. 59; Pirke R. El.
xxii.). Compared with these the Israelites regarded
themselves as "grasshoppers" (Num. xiii. 33).
Dwarfs are said to have been numerous in the tow-
ers of the fortresses of Tyre (Ezek. xxvii. 10 [A. V.
11]).
E. G. H.
In Rabbinical Literature : In tradition the
dwarf (DJJ or D3J, vdvoq) is mentioned frequently,
T T T -
and the word has been adopted in the
Talmud. Judso-German jargon. One who sees
a giant or a dwarf should say:
"Blessed be God, who alters man " (Tosef., Ber. vii.
3). The apes were regarded by many nations as
human dwarfs (Tylor, I.e.), and strangely enough
the Talmud enjoins that the same benediction be
said when seeing an elephant, or apes, or birds look-
ing like men (see Rashi on Ber. 58b).
In opposition to the gigantic Philistines the Caph-
torim (Gen. x. 14, DmnSD : according to Targ. Onk.
23
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Bvinsk
Dyes and Dyeing
"Cappadocians," according to modem commenta-
tors "Cretes") are called dwarfs (Gen. K. xxxvii.
5). There is here, no doubt, the general legend in
regard to dwarfish tribes and nations. Legendary
elements may perhaps also be found iu the following
parable: The governor of a province summoned for
ihe king the men liaving the necessary military stat-
ure. A woman complained that her son, who was a
dwarf, but whom she called "swift-footed giant"
{/uaKpoiTuKpoi), had been overlooked. She was an-
swered: "Though he be in your eyes a makro-
elaphos, in our eyes he is a dwarf of the dwarfs "
(Gen. R. Ixv. 11; Cant. K ii. 15). L. B.
Nebuchadnezzar is frequently called in rabbinical
literature "the dwarf of Babel " (Pesik. xiii. 112a;
Pesik. R. xxxi.), or "the little one ell dwarf" (with
reference to Dan. iv. 14, 17), " the lowest of men "
(Yalk. ii. 1062); according to another tradition,
Pharaoh was the dwarf referred to in Daniel, I.e.
(M. K. 18a). The description "one ell the height,
one ell the beard, and one ell and a half another
member of his body "
makes it probable
that the grotesque,
dwarfish figure of
some popular deity or
demon, such as the
Egypto-Arabic Bes,
a god of music and
(lancing which under
the Ptolemies ap-
peared on coins and
structures all over
Asia (Erman, "Zeit-
schrift filr Numis-
matik," 1883, pp. 296
et seq. ; Wiedman ,
"^Egyptische Ge-
schichte," pp. 391,
595), was identified by the Babylonian Jews with
either Nebuchadnezzar or Pharaoh.
s. 8. K.
DYATLOVO. See Grodno.
DYBOSSARI. See Dubosary.
DYER, ISADOBE: American merchant and
communal worker; born in Dessau, Germany, 1813;
died at Waukesha, Wisconsin, 1888. He went to
America while young, living first in Baltimore,
whence in 1840 he moved to Galveston. He was
engaged in mercantile pursuits till 1861, when, after
a successful business career, he retired. In 1866 he
was elected to the presidency of the Union Marine
and Fire Insurance Company of Galveston, which
position he filled until the company discontinued
business in 1880. lie held high place in the Odd
Fellows' lodge, and was among the earliest of its
grand masters. The first Jewish religious services
in Galveston were held at his house (1856). He made
provision in his will for the maintenance of the two
Hebrew cemeteries, and left bequests to the Congre-
gation B'nai Israel ("to afford increased pews and
seating capacity for the poor Israelite families who
are unable to purchase or rent same"), and to the
Protestant Orphans' Home of Galveston.
Biblioghaphy: Records of the City of Galveston, 1840-88 ;
Encyclopedia of Vie New West, 1886; Records of the, Pro-
Medal Presented to Leon Dyer by the Baltimore Community, 1847.
bate Office of Galveston, Texas, 1888; PublicatioTie Am.
Jew. Hist. Soc. No. •^, 1894.
A. H. C.
DYER, LEON : American soldier ; born at Al-
zey, Germany, Oct. 9, 1807; died in Louisville, Ky.,
1883. At an early age lie went with his parents to
Baltimore. Dyer was self-educated. In the early
part of his career he worked in his father's beef-pack-
ing establishment (the first in America). As a young
man he enjoyed great popularity with the citizens
of Baltimore, and filled a number of minor public
offices. When the great Baltimore bread riots broke
out, he was elected acting mayor, and through his
intervention order was soon restored. While Dyer
was engaged in business in New Orleans in 1836,
Texas called for aid in her struggle for independ-
ence. Dj'er was at that time quartermaster-general
of the state militia of Louisiana. With several hun-
dred citizens of New Orleans he embarked at once
on a schooner bound for Galveston, arriving two
days after the battle of San Jacinto. He received
a commission as
major in the Texas
forces, signed by the
first president, Bur-
nett. The Louisiana
contingent was as-
signed to the force of
Gen. Thomas Jeffer-
son Green, and saw
active service clear-
ing western Texas of
bands of plundering
^I e x i c a n tr o o p 3.
When Santa Anna
was taken from Gal-
veston to Washing-
ton, Major Dyer ac-
companied the guard,
and Santa Anna's autograph letter thanking Dyer
for courtesies received on the journey testifies to the
general's gratitude.
Dyer's natural talent and strong patriotic feeling
won him the confidence of ante-bellum statesmen,
and in Van Buren's administration he was chosen
to be the bearer of despatches to the Prussian gov-
ernment. Dyer saw extended service in the United
States army. He was on General Scott's staff in the
Florida campaign against Osceola, the Seminole
chief, and was wounded in the neck In the final
battle which ended in Osceola's defeat and subse-
quent capture. During the Mexican war Dyer,
then with the rank of colonel, was appointed quar-
termaster-general by Gen. Winfield Scott.
In 1848 Colonel Dyer crossed the plains to Califor-
nia, and settled in San Francisco, where he founded a
congregation — the first on the Pacific coast. Before
his departure from Baltimore he had been presented
with a medal by the community of that city (1847).
BinLTOGRAPny : Records of the City of Onhieston, 1888; En-
cyclopedia of the New West, 1886; Publications Am. Jew.
Hist. Soc. No. 3, 1894.
A. H. C.
DYES AND DYEING (= y^iv) : Though not
mentioned as a special art in the Bible, dyeing was
probably practised as in Egypt by the fuller and
Dyes and Dyeing
Dyvin
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
24
the tanner. Dyed stuffs are mentioned among the
vestments of the high priest and the appurtenances
of the Tabernacle. Red, however, seems to have
been the only dye manufactured. In fact, in several
instances "adom" (red) is used as a synonym of
"zeba' " (later Hebrew and Talmudic), "dye," from
"zaba'," to dye, dip, immerse (see Ex. xxv. 5, xxvi.
14, xxxv. 7, xxxvi. 19, xxxix. 34); in Ezek. xxiii.
15 the word " tebulim " = dipped, is used ; in Isa.
Ixiii. 1, "hamuz" = leavened; in Judges v. 30,
"zeba'." Dyes, dyers, and dyeing, with occasional
mention of manufactured colors, are referred to in
the Talmud (Shab. vii. 2; Sheb. vii. 1-2; Pes. iii.
1; Tosef., Sheb. v. 1 ; Men. 42a-44a; Meg. 24b; Yer.
Shab. 1. 3b, vii. 10c; B. K. 100b; Yer. B. K. ix. 6d).
Abba Hoshayah of Tarya, the saint, was a fuller
who also practised dyeing (Yer. B. K. x. 7c). Am-
ram, the dyer, is mentioned in Git. 52b. Regarding
the purple dyeing of the Phenicians see Delitzsch,
"Iris," 1888, pp. 46 et seq. ; and Pukple. Especially
was the tribe of Zebulon believed to have acquired
this art, together with that of glass manufacture,
from the Phenicians (see Sifre, Debarim, 354; Meg.
2Ca; Herzfeld, " Handelsgeschichte der Juden des
Alterthums," 1879, p. 106). According to Shab. 26,
the Jews in the vicinity of Tyre manufactured pur-
ple stuffs for the market (comp. Schurer, "Ge-
schichte," 3d cd., ii. 56, notes, and Herzfeld, I.e.
pp. 108, 307). A Jewish gild of purple dyers is
mentioned on a tomljstone inscription in Hierapolis
(Schurer, I.e., 3d ed., iii. 14). In the twelfth century
the Jews of Tyre were still purple dyers and manu-
facturers of glass (see Benjamin of Tudola, " Travels, "
ed. Asher, p. 30b). In St. George, the ancient Luz,
Benjamin found one Jew to be a dyer {ib. 32b), and
in Thebes, Greece, the Jews were the most eminent
manufacturers of silk and purple cloth {ib. 16b).
They were noted for being skilled dyers also in Italy,
Sicily, and elsewhere {ib. 15a; see also Bedarride,
"Les Juifs en France, Italic et Espagne," 1867, p.
179; Depping, " Die Juden im Mittelalter," German
transl., 1834, pp. 136, 353, 401). Delitzsch ("Jewish
Artisan Life," p. 27) speaks of "Migdal Zeboa'ya"
(" the tower of the dyers " ; Lam. R. ii. 2), and cites
Yer. Shab. 3b to the effect that when walking abroad
the dyers hung red and blue threads behind one ear,
and green and pale-yellow threads behind the other.
Purple was the most costly dye known to the an-
cient Hebrews. " The blood of the purple mollusk
is used to dye wool purple " (Menahot 44a). Each
shell secreting but one drop of the dye, and the
work of preparation being tedious, such dyeing
was costly. Akhissar, the ancient Thyatira, a Jew-
ish stronghold in Asia Minor, seems to have been
connected with tlie dyeing trade in the early cen-
turies, and even to-day the crimson fez usually worn
in the East is generally manufactured and dyed in
that locality (Brightwen, " Side-Lights on the Bible, "
p. 47). In antiquity the trade obtained some distinc-
tion, purple being the royal color. The almond-
trees of Bethel and Luz ("luz " = almond-tree) pro-
duced a color used in dyeing.
Jews seem for a long time to have held the
monopoly of the dyeing trade. In Asia they were
especially noted as dyers, as they were also, ac-
cording to Beckmann, in Italy and Sicily. The
Jews' tax in southern Europe was sometimes called
"tincta Judaeorum," as it was levied on dyed goods
(Abrahams, "Jewish Life in the Middle Ages," p.
219; Giidemann, "Geschichte des Erziehungswe-
sens,"ii. 312).
In the itinerary of Benjamin of Tudela (c. 1170) it
is noted that Brindisi contained ten Jews who were
dyers (p. 45, Asher's ed.) ; that purple dye was found
in the neighborhood of New Tyre (p. 63) ; that one
Jew, a dyer, lived at St. George, the ancient Luz (p.
65) ; that the dye-house in Jerusalem was rented
by the year; that the exclusive privilege of carrying
on that business had been purchased by the Jews,
two hundred of whom dwelt in one corner of the
city under the tower of David (p. 69) ; and that but
twelve Jews lived in Bethlehem, two in Bet Nuba,
one in Jaffa, one in Karyaten Binyamin, and one in
Zer'in, the ancient Jezreel — all dyers (pp. 75, 78, 80,
87). Rabbi Pethahiah of Rcgensburg visited Jeru-
salem in the twelfth century, and found only one
Jew there. Rabbi Abraham, the dyer (" Travels of
R. Petachia," ed. Benisch, pp. 38, 60). Nahmauides
(c. 1250) also found in Jerusalem only one or two
families of dyers (Graetz, " History of the Jews," iii.
606).
Dyeing was the occupation of the Jews in Aragon
in the Middle Ages (Jacobs, "Sources," p. 16), and
there were many dyers among the Jews of Prague
in the seventeenth century (Abrahams, " Jewish Life
in the Middle Ages," p. 248). Dr. Wolff ("Narra-
tive of the Mission of Dr. Wolff to Bokhara," ii. 3)
mentions that in 1844 there were in Bokhara 10,000
Jews, "mostly dyers and silk merchants"; and
Franz von Schwarz (" Turkestan, die Wiege der In-
dogermanischen Volker," p. 441) says that "the Jews
of Bokhara devote themselves to commerce and
industry. . . . Nearly all the dyers, especially the
dyers of silk, are Jews. . . . The Jews of Bokhara
have in a way monopolized the commerce with dyed
raw silk."
According to Errera (" The Russian Jews," p. 177),
the Jews in Russia created the industries of dyeing
and preparing furs. The manufacture of zizit,
tallit, and arba' kanfot in Russia, and the dyeing
which is incidental to the last two, have placed
a considerable part of the dyeing business in the
hands of the Jews of that country. See Artisans;
Color.
Bibliography : Giidemann, Geschichte des Erziehungswe-
sens in Italien, p. 312, note v.
A. H. C.-K.
DYHERNFT7RTH : Town in Prussian Silesia,
with 1,463 inhabitants; founded Jan. 20, 1663. In
that year the Austrian emperor Leopold I., desir-
ing to reward the Silesian chancellor. Baron von
Dyhern, gave his estate Przig the rights and status
of a city with the name "Dyhernfurth." To fur-
ther the prosperity of his city its owner obtained
permission (July 12, 1667) to establish a printing-
house, which, liowever, soon ceased to exist. In
1688, under Baron von Glaubitz, the new lord of the
estate and of the city, the workers whom the printer
Shabbethai Bass had gathered about him became
a community — the first in Silesia since the expulsion
of the Jews from that province in 1584. The Jewish
25
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Dyes and Dyeing
Dyvin
cemetery established by Bass in 1689 has twice been
enlarged (1805 and 1881) by purchase. Until 1761
the Jews of Breslau buried their dead in the Dyhern-
furth cemetery. A synagogue had been established
and maintained by Feibl Pesong, its president; in
1785 it was succeeded by a new temple, which was
superseded in 1851.
Among the rabbis who served the community of
Dyhernfurth were: Wolf Katz (y''^ = KohenZedek)
Schotten, who founded its hebra kaddisha; Rabbi
Jacob L5b Falk, later dayyan in Breslau; and Hay-
yim Kroner. A branch community existed formerly
in the neighboring town of Auras. The community
of Dyhernfurth has steadily diminished, number-
ing at present only nineteen ; its president is M. B.
Weinbaum.
Bibliography : Grunwald, Zur Gesch. der Jiidischen Gc-
meinde Dyhernfurth, in Liebermann's Jahrbuch zum
Volkskalerider, Brieg, 1882; idem, Zur Gesch. derjuden iu
Schlesien, in ib. 1862; Brann, Gesch. des Landrabbmats in
Schlesien, In Grdtz Jubelschrift, Breslau, 1887; Stoffs-
tisches Jahrbuch des Deutsch-Israelit. OemeiJidebundes,
1901.
D. S. Sa.
-Typography : The earliest Hebrew printing-
office in Dyhernfurth was established in 1681 by the
bibliographer Shabbethai ben Joseph Bass. The
place was well fitted for such an enterprise. East-
ern Europe was the best market for Hebrew books,
and, outside Prague, had no Hebrew printing-office
at that time. A further point in its favor was the fact
that the books supplied by Holland were very expen-
sive. The first work to be issued from the presses
of Dyhernfurth was Samuel ben TJri's "Bet Slie-
muel," on the Shulhan 'Aruk, Eben ha-'Ezer (1689).
In the same year appeared David ha-Levi's commen-
tary on Rashi to the Pentateuch ; three prayers to
be recited in the cemeteries (with a Judoeo-German
translation by Eliezer Liebermann) ; and the mystic
prayers of Nathan Nata' ben IMosesof Hanover. In
1708 the establishment was partly destroyed by fire.
It was, however, soon rebuilt, and in 1712 Shab-
bethai transferred it to his son Joseph, whose name
appeared on the title-pages, together with that of
his father, after 1707. During his last ten years of
active work, Shabbethai confined himself chiefly to
liturgical productions. In these years he issued four
editions of the Pentateuch ; a Juda;o-German edition,
by Hayyim ben Nathan, of the historical parts of
the Bible; four editions of the Psalms; seven of the
Siddur; four of the Mahzor; five of the Selihot;
and two of the Tikkura recited on the nights of
Shabu'ot and Hosh'ana Rabba.
About this time Joseph, with his father, was ac-
cused by the Jesuits of circulating a book containing
blasphemies against Christianity. They were im-
prisoned, and business was practically suspended.
The subject of the accusation was the " Sha'are Ziy-
yon " of Nathan of Hanover, published at Dyhern-
furth in 1705. No works published by the Bass firm
from 1714 to 1718 are known to be extant. In the
latter year business seems to have been resumed by
Berl Nathan of Krotoschin, husband of Shabbethai's
granddaughter Esther. Berl Nathan paid 5,000
thalers purchase-money. After Nathan's death in
1729, it was carried on by his widow.
About 1780 Jehiel Michael May from Breslau
established another printing-office, which, after his
death in 1790, was managed at first by his widow
Rachel, and his sons Michael, Simon, Arbn, and
Joseph, but later by Joseph alone. In recent times
a printing-office was established in Dyhernfurth by
Warschauer & Co.
Although there have been issued from the Dyhern-
furth presses many important works, such as the
Babylonian Talmud and the Yad ha-Hazakah, and
although for a long time they supplied Silesia and
the neighboring territories with books, they failed,
owing to poor type and the lack of correctness, to
find much favor.
Bibliography: Cassel and Stelnschnelder, In Ersch and
Gruber, section 11., part 28, p. 87 ; C. F. Unger, Neuer Bli-
chersaaU ix. 696, xiv. 91 et sea., where are given the publica-
tions of Dyhernfurth up to 1*12 ; Brann, in Monatsschrift,
xl. 474 et seq.
J. I. Br.
DYTE, D. M.: English Jew who distinguished
himself by saving the life of George III. of England
under the following circumstances: On May 15,
1800, George III. attended the Drury Lane Theater to
witness a comedy by Colley Cibber; and while the
monarch was acknowledging the loyal greetings of
the audience, a lunatic named Hadfield fired a horse-
pistol pointblank at his Majesty. Two slugs passed
over the king's head, and lodged in the wainscot of
the royal box. The king escaped unhurt; but it
was only subsequently realized that Hadfield had
missed his aim because some man near him had
struck his arm while in the act of pulling the
trigger. This individual was Dyte, father of Henry
Dyte, at one time honorary secretary to the Blind
Society. It is said that Dyte asked as his sole re-
ward the " patent " of selling opera-tickets, then a
monopoly at the royal disposal.
Bibliography : Plcciotto, Sketches nf Anglo-Jewish History,
London, 1875 ; Howell, State Trials.
J. G. L.
DYVIN : Village in the government of Grodno,
Russia. It has a very old Jewish community, but
it is impossible to determine when Jews first settled
there. When the town endeavored to secure the
Magdeburg Law, the Jews contributed for the pur-
pose fifty gold coins, in return for which they were
to be allowed to avail themselves of the privileges
and income of the town. Notwithstanding this the
burghers often attempted to curtail the rights of the
Jews. In 1634 King Ladislaus IV. granted them
certain privileges, and recognized their rights to the
possession of houses, market-places, the public bath,
and lands legally acquired by them. The right to
own a synagogue and a burial-ground, and to free
and undisturbed conduct of religious services, was
also recognized. They were permitted to engage in
commerce, and to enjoy other privileges, on equal
terms with the burghers of Dyvin. They were sub
ject to the jurisdiction of the Dyvin court, but had
the right to appeal from this to the judges of the
king's court. With the burghers, the Jews have
often farmed various profitable portions of munici-
pal property, as, for instance, the flour-mills and
the distillery.
In 1656 the commissioners appointed by tlie king,
on the complaint of the Jews, reaffirmed that the
latter, having enjoyed for many years with the
burghers the privileges and incomes of tlic city, and
Dzhurin
Earthquake
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
26
having contributed to the expense of securing the
Magdeburg Law, were entitled to avail themselves,
to an equal extent with the burghers, of the income
from the farming of public property. But since
for a number of years they had neglected to avail
themselves of these rights, the commissioners con-
ceded to the Jews the right to share, as was done in
other towns, in one-third of the farming privileges.
Subsequently new differences arose between the
burghers and the Jews in regard to the unequal dis-
tribution of taxes for the maintenance of soldiers.
These differences were settled by mutual agreement
on Feb. 9, 1661.
In 1898 there was in Dy vin a Jewish population
of 1,200 out of a total population of 10,000. Most
of the Jews are engaged in commercial and indus-
trial occupations ; there are also 237 artisans. The
educational institutions include a Talmud Torah
with an attendance of 24 pupils, and ten hadarim
with an attendance of 115.
BiiiLTOGRAPHY : Bcgcsty i Nadpisi, i. 365, 440, 448, St. Peters-
burg, 1898.
H. R. S. J.
DZHURIN. See Podolia.
DZIGOVKA. See Podolia.
Reverse of Cop-
per Coin Bear-
ing an Eagle,
Attributed to
Herod the
Great.
(After Madden,
** History of Jewish
Coinage.")
EAGLE : The rendering in the English Bible
versions of the Hebrew "nesher." The nesher,
however, was bald ; nested on high pocks ; and was
gregarious in its habits (Micah i. 16; Job xxxix.
27, 28; Prov. xxx. 17), all of which characteristics
belong to the griffin-vulture, but not to the eagle.
Several species of eagles inhabit Palestine; and
these are probably all included in the term " 'ozniy-
yah" (Lev. xi. 13; Deut. xiv. 12;
compare Tristram, " Natural History
of the Bible," p. 181).
The Talmud says that the eagle is
the king of birds, but that it is afraid
of the flycatcher (Shab. 77b). It flies
rapidly without tiring {1^22 ~ip =
"light like the eagle," Ab. v. 20).
The eagle is ranked among the
unclean birds — a fact variously ex-
plained by the Talmudic writers (Hul.
61a). The nesher is found deified in
the Assyrian Nisroch, the vulture-
headed god (II Kings xix. 37; Isa. xxxvii. 38), and
in the Arabic idol Nasr. In Ezekiel (i. 10, x. 14)
the eagle is mentioned in connection with the
throne of God. In rabbinic parlance " nesher " is
used as a title of distinction; e.g., to denote the
Roman government (Sanh. 12a).
On the ancient fallacy that the eagle could renew
its youth see Bochart, "Hierozoicon," part ii., bk.
ii., ch. 1 (compare Kimhi on Ps. ciii. 5).
Bibliography : J. G. Woods, Animals of the Bible, Philadel-
phia, 1873 ; L. Lewysohn, Die Zoologie des Talmuds, 1858.
R. G. H. H. H.
EARNEST-MONEY: Part payment of the
price by the buyer of a commodity as a guaranty
tliat he will stand by the bargain.
Wherever the payment of the whole price secured
title to property, the payment of a part of the price
did the same. All objects, whether movable or
immovable, could be acquired by the pa)'ment of
money, and part payment was sufficient to make a
sale valid. The payment of a " perutah," the small-
est coin of Palestinian currency, on account of the
purchase was sufficient to bind the bargain (Kid.
3a; Maimouides, "Yad," Mekirah, i. 4; Shulhan
'Aruk, Hoshen Mishpat, 190, 2). The law regarding
acquisition was restricted by the earlier rabbis,
however, to immovable property. Because of cer-
tain apprehensions, they provided that movable
property could be acquired only by actual posses-
sion of the object (B. M. 47b; see Alienation and
Acquisition). Hence, where there was no delivery
the payment of the purchase-money did not consti-
tute a sale. It was, however, considered a breach
of good faith if one of the contracting parties re-
tracted after the paj'ment of an earnest or of the
whole sum, and the following curse (yiDK' ^O) "was
pronounced upon him:
" He who revenged Himself on the men of the generation of
the Flood, and on the men of the generation of the division of
languages ["haflagah "], and on the men of Sodom and of Go-
morrah, and on the Egyptians who were drowned in the sea.
will revenge Himself upon him who does not abide by his word"
(B. M. 44a, 48a).
In cases of hiring and letting, the payment of an
earnest was sufficient (Hoshen Mishpat, 198, 5, Is-
serles' gloss; 198, 6; 199).
In the case of immovable property the paj^ment
of earnest-money constituted a sale where local cus-
tom did not require the formality of a deed of sale
(" shetar "). The remainder of the purchase-money
was then considered a loan to be paid by the buyer
at a stipulated time. If the seller was urgent for
the payment, and thus made it obvious that he sold
the property because he was in need of money,
either of the parties could retract before the pay-
ment of the last instalment; for it was evident that
the seller did not agree to sell except on condition
that he receive the full amount. If, however, this
urgency could be explained in another way — for
instance, when the property was in bad condition
and the seller was afraid lest the buyer find some
excuse to retract, or when the seller wished to re-
move to another place — then the sale was valid and
neither could retract (B. M. 77b; Maimonides, I.e.
viii. ; Hoshen Mishpat, 190, 10-16). In cases where
the earnest did not validate the sale, he who re-
tracted had to submit to the conditions of the other
party as to the manner in which the earnest-money
should be refunded (ib.).
A pledge, either for part or for the whole of the
27
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Dzhurin
Earthquake
purchase- money, was not considered an earnest, and
did not constitute a sale (Kid. 8b).
All the laws that applied to the acquisition of im-
movable property applied also to the acquisition of
slaves (see Slaves). See also Kinyan.
Bibliography: Bloch, Der Vertrofi, Budapest, 1893; Saal-
schutz, Das Mosaische Recht, ex., Berlin, 1853.
8. 8.
J. H. G.
EARNINGS. See Master and Servant.
EAimiNG : A ring or hook passed through tlie
lobe of the ear. Earrings, so widely used by East-
ern peoples, have no particular designation in He-
brew. The word DTJ is applied to both the orna-
ment for the ear and that for the nose ; so that when
this term occurs in the Bible, it may mean either.
When the writer wished to specify, he added the
word jTX to indicate earrings, or P)X to indicate nose-
rings. The word DTJ ("stringed ornament"), the
equivalent of the Arabic "nazm," induces one to
suppose that the primitive form of the ear-pendants
was a string of pearls, beads, etc., of a globular
form. It is perhaps this shape which is indicated
by the word niD'^DJ (lit. "drops," Judges viii. 26).
The references in Ex. xxxii. 2 and Judges I.e. to
earrings of gold, show at the same time that there
also existed earrings of other materials. It was not
until the time of Ezekiel that earrings acquired a
circular form, and were then called p^jy (Ezek. xvi.
12). It is true that this word occurs also in Num.
xxxi. 50, but there is nothing to indicate that it
means "earrings." The passage in Exodus proves
that earrings were worn by women and by the
youth of both sexes.
Earrings seem to have been regarded by Eastern
nations as sacred things — some scholars even sug-
gest as amulets — for the sons of Jacob surrendered
their earrings with the idols which Jacob afterward
concealed under the oak-tree (Gen. xxxv. 4). The
Targum and the Samaritan version of the Pentateuch
always translate DTJ by KKHp (Syriac, "kadasha"),
which Buxtorf ("Lex. Rab." s.r. NKHp) supposes to
mean " the ornament consecrated to Astarte " ; but
there is no proof that this belief in the sacredness of
earrings was current among the ancient Hebrews.
If the word D"'E^n^, occurring in Isa. iii. 20, A. V.,
really means " earrings, " the latter are so called be-
cause, these ornaments being suspended from the
ears, they are figuratively looked upon as whisper-
ing to the wearer.
E. G. H. M. SeL.
EABTH (HOTS): The Hebrew expression for
"earth" means primarily earth or soil as an element,
and also the surface of the earth and plowed land,
the latter being probably of the red color charac-
teristic of Palestinian soil (compare Abu al-Walid,
"Dictionary," s.v.; Credner, "Der Prophet Joel,"
1831, pp. 123 et seq.). Josephus says that the He-
brew for " man " (DTX ='AJa//of), which is related to
"earth" according to Gen. ii. 7, really means "red,"
since virgin soil is red ("Ant." i. 1, § 2). The Syr-
ians also called the earth fc<nOTN {a6a[ida in The-
odoret, "Quaest. Ix. in Gen."; compare Mishnah
Shab. viii. 5); the expression is not found in the
other Semitic languages, surviving only in the pro-
toplast Adam. The original meaning of riDTN Is,
however, not certain ; Friedrich Delitzsch thinks it
means, as in the Assyrian, "arable land " ("The He-
brew Language Viewed in the Light of Assyrian
Research," p. 58). Another expression for "earth,"
|*"1X. is equivalent to "terrestrial globe," in contrast
with "the heavens." According to a rabbinical in-
terpretation, the earth has four names, "erez,"
"tebel," "adamah," and "arka," corresponding to
the four points of the compass (Gen. R. xiii. 12).
In Hebrew, "heaven and earth" together consti-
tute the universe. The earth has foundations and
pillars (I Sara. ii. 8; Ps. Ixxv. 4, civ. 5; Job ix. 6,
XXX viii. 6); it rests on the ocean, out of which it
rises (Ps. xxiv. 2, cxxxvi. 6); it is suspended in
space (Job xxvi. 7); the idea of ils free suspension
in the air is especially worked out in the mystical
"Book of Creation" (Sefer Yezirah). Like most
peoples of antiquity, the Hebrews conceived of the
earth as a disk (Prov. viii. 27; Job xxvi. 10; Isa.
xl. 22); and they spoke, therefore, of peoples like
the Assyrians, Egyptians, Persians, and Medes as
living at the ends of the earth (see Gesenius. Com-
mentary on Isaiah, i. 247). As Ezekiel (v. 5) could
describe the Israelites as being set in the " midst of
the nations," so also could he speak of their land as
being the "navel of the earth" (xxxviii. 12, Hebr.);
for Palestine in fact occupied a central position as
regards Assyria and Egypt, the two chief powers of
antiquity. In later times, indeed, it was positively
asserted that .Palestine, or Zion, was the physical
center of the earth (Enoch, xxvi. 1, 2 ; Book of Jubi-
lees, viii.); and the Rabbis interpreted the phrase
"midst of the nations" as referring both to Palestine
and to Jerusalem as the center of Palestine (Tan., ed.
Buber, iii. 78).
The earth was destined not for a desert, but for
the habitation of man (Isa. xlv. 18). In Ecclus.
(Sirach) xl. Ic the earth is called " the mother of all
living " (comp. Targum on Job i. 24). The Biblical
conception of the paramount importance of the
earth prevailed down to the time of the great as-
tronomical discoveries of Copernicus and Kepler.
The allusions of the Prophets to a new heaven and
a new earth (Isa. Ixv. 17, Ixvi. 22) were interpreted
even as early as Maimonides in a non-physical sense
("Moreh," ii. 29). In mystical speculations the
earth, like the other heavenly bodies, was taken to be
an animated being, having therefore its own genius
(Num. R. xxiii. 6), and also its guardian angels
(Schwab, "Vocabulaire de I'Angelologie," p. 75).
Bibliography: Gesenius, Th. 1. 1.54; Rosenmiiller, Handhuch
der Bibl. Alterthumskunde. 1833, i. 1, 133, 153; Johansen,
Kosmogonische Aiisichten der Inder und Uebrder, 1833.
E. G. H. S. Kr.
EARTHaUAKE: The Hebrew word "ra'ash,"
as well as its Assyrian and Arabic equivalents des-
ignating an earthquake, is indicative of a great
noise or tremendous roaring. In Ps. Ixxii. 16 the
same word is used to describe the gentle rustling of
wheat. It is also employed in poetry to express the
harmonious choral song of angels. It would thus
seem that during an earthquake the Hebrew was
most impressed by the rumbling connected with it,
which he regarded as a theophany (Ps. xviii. 8
[A. V. 7] ; Hab. iii. 6; Nahum i. 5; Isa. v. 25). The
Earthquake
Ebed-melecn
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
28
trembling and smoking of the mountains, as during
the revelation on Sinai (Ex. xix. 18, xx. 18), the
moving of the door-posts, as during Isaiah's ini-
tiation (Isa. vi. 4), accompanying great theopha-
nies, must in the view of the authors be regarded as
earthquakes (comp. I Kings xix. 11, 12).
Palestine was subject to frequent earthquakes,
the volcanic nature of the region around the Dead
Sea and the Sea of Gennesaret being a contributory
cause. The earthquake mentioned under Ahab (I
Kings xix. 11) is legendary, but that under Uzziah
(809-759 B.C.) is historical: time was counted
from it (Amos 1. 1 ; Zech. xiv. 5). Ibn Ezra and
R. David Kimhi refer Amos' entire prophecy, es-
pecially Amos ix. 1, to this earthquake (comp. Euse-
bius, "Demonstratio Evangelica," vi. 18).
Josephus describes an earthquake that occurred
in Judea during the battle of Actium. The earth
trembled, and many animals and more than 30,000
persons perished ("Ant." xv. 5, § 2). The earth-
quake at the death of Jesus is mentioned in Matthew
(xxvii. 52), but not in the other Gospels (see Cruci-
fixion). A few years before Bar Kokba's insurrec-
tion, the cities of Ca^sarea and Emmaus were des-
troyed by an earthquake (Eusebius, "Chronicon,"
eleventh year of Hadrian). In 499 severe earth-
quakes devastated Asia Minor, continuing until 502,
when the synagogue of the Jews at Beirut fell (As-
semani, "Bibl. Orient." i. 272; "Jerusalem," vi. 17).
Autioch was visited by numerous earthquakes in
the sixth century (Procopius, "De Bello Persico,"
ii. 14; Evagrius, "Hist. Eccl." v. 17, vi. 8). Bar
Hebrajus, 'Abd al-Latif, and the " Gesta Dei per
Francos" mention many earthquakes in Palestine
during the Middle Ages. On Jan. 1, 1837, the
whole province of Galilee was shaken ; the cities of
S.\FED and Tii5EKi.\s especially suffered, 4,000 Jews
perishing. The seismic disturbance was also felt at
Tyre, Sidon, Beirut, and even at Jerusalem. The
last-named city has otherwise been free from earth-
quakes (Robinson, " Biblical Researches in Pales-
tine," etc., iii. 500-585; "Jerusalem," v. 295).
The Rabbis, following Joel and Amos, use the ex-
pression JXtJ* iu the sense of " earthquake " ( Yer. Ber.
13c; Ex. R. xxix. 9). Earthquakes, according to
them, are a divine punishment for the performances
in the circus and theater of the heathens, or for their
immorality. Others held that earthquakes were
meant to remind men of their sins. An earthquake,
like thunder and lightning, called forth tiie benedic-
tion, "Praised be Thou, Eternal One, with whose
power and might the world is filled " (Ber. ix. 1).
A chapter on "Thunder and Earthquake," in the
form of a calendar, is contained in the appendix to
"Milhemet Hobah," Constantinople, 1710.
Bibliograpfiy; Forhiger, Hcnidhvch (lev Alten Gengraphie,
1. 6:56 ; M. Ralimer, 7)as Erdhchen in den Tagen Usia's, in
Monatsschrift, 1870, xix. 241.
E. G. II. S. Kr.
EASEMENT : An incorpoi'eal right, existing
distinct from the ownership of the soil, consisting of
a liberty, privilege, or use of another's land without
profit or compensation ; as, an easement consisting of
a right of way, a right to running water, to free air,
etc. According to rabbinical legislation, an ease-
ment was accjuired by mere possession, provided no
objection was raised against it by the other parties
concerned. The later authorities, however, differed
with regard to the conditions that constitute such
possession (see Hazakaii). If one erected a rain-
spout from his roof leading to his neighbor's prem-
ises, and the neighbor did not object, he acquired
the use of his neighbor's premises to that extent,
while the neighbor also acquired the use of the
water coming from the rain-spout onto his premises.
The owner of the rain-spout could not remove it
without the permission of his neighbor, while his
neighbor could not compel him to remove it after he
had once acquired the right (B. B. 58b, 59a). For
such a right could never be destroyed; and con-
sequently if one acquired the right of opening a
window or a door into his neighbor's premises, the
right, or easement, would exist even after the house
containing the window or door was destroyed ; and
iu rebuilding the house, he might open a window or
a door of the same size and in the same place, even
if his neighbor then objected {ib. 60b). One who
possessed an easement of a window overlooking his
neighbor's premises could prevent his neighbor from
building in front of it and thus shutting out its
light; or if his neighbor were to build a wall against
the window, he could compel him to remove the wall
at least four cubits from the window (ib. 22a, 59b).
In some cases the possession of an easement was
not sufficient to establish a right to it. The con-
struction of a window opposite another's window,
even though the other did not object at first, did not
establish an casement, for the Rabbis considered it
indecent to look into another's house and watch his
actions and movements (n^NI prn; ib. 60a). The
establishment of a baker's or of a potter's oven,
which emitted large volumes of smoke, or of a factory
from which much dust issued, in the immediate vi-
cinity of another's house, or of anything that caused
obvious injury to another's property, although no
objection had been raised against it at first, did not
constitute an easement (ib. 23a). The rules which
applied to easements in the property^ of individuals
also applied, with a few exceptions, to easements
in the common property of the community. See
Boundaries; Neighbors; Partnership.
Bibliography: Maimonides, Yad, Shekcuim, vii.-xii.; Caro,
tilitdhan 'Ariik, Himlien Mvshpat, 153-150; Bloch, Das Be-
sitzrecht, Budapest, 1897.
s. s. J. II. G.
EAST : niTDcr COCnniTO = "rising" or "the ri-
sing of the sun" [opposed to iiyo = "west": Isa.
xli. 2, 25; Ps. 1. 1, ciii. 12], or Dip = [Ht. "for-
ward "] the direction of the face, west being " be-
hind " [linX], north " to tlie left " [^Xf^tT], and south
"to the right" [pov Job xxiii. 8-9; Gen. xiii. 14,
xxviii. 14; Num. x. 5, 6]): Worshipers of the sun
turned toward the east, with their backs to the
Holy of Holies (Ezek. viii. 16; comp. Suk. v. 4),
whereas the Jews of the Exile prayed toward the
Temple (Dan. vi. 11; I Kings viii. 38, 44 et seq.;
Ber. iv. 5; Sifre, Debarim, 29). For those living
in the west, therefore, the east was the direction in
which they were to pray (see "Kiblah" in the ar-
ticle Mohammed).
East is the part of the world where God planted
paradise (Vita Adae et Evje, 18, 22; [Lat.] Apoc.
29
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Earthquake
Ebed-melech
Mosis, i., according to Gen. iii. 24, LXX.). Accord-
ing to tlie "Didascalia," prayer is offered with the
face turned to the east "because God ascended to the
heaven of heavens to flic cast, and because paradise
is situated in the east" ("Apost. Const." ii. 57).
This was enjoined on tlie early Christians (see
Clemens Alexandrinus, "Stromata," vii. 7; Syriac
Canons [Teachings] of the Apostles, i. ; Ante-Nicene
Library, viii. 668, New York, 1890; Tertullian,
" Apology," 16). A much older custom, which goes
back to very primitive times and is connected with
the belief that the dead go down to the land of
Hades in the west, but will rise again with the sun
in the east, is the burying of the dead with the face
toward the east (see Tylor, "Primitive Culture,"
1874, pp. 423 et seq.). See also Mizkah.
BiBLioGRAPnv : Schiirer, Gesch. 3d ed., ii. 453, Leipsic, 1898;
Low, Gcsatnmelte Schriften, 1898, iv. 36 et ^eq. ; Smith and
Oheetham, Dictionary of Christian Antiquities; Smith,
Dictionary of the Bible.
E. G. H.
K.
EAST INDIES. See Cochin; India.
EASTER (from "Eostre," "Ostara," the Teuton
goddess of the rising day, particularly of spring):
Name given by Anglo-Saxons to the Christian Pass-
over as the Feast of Resurrection, and rather incor-
rectly used for the Jewish Passover (Acts xii. 4, A.
v.). Originally "Pascha," or "Passover," was the
name given by the Christians to the fourteenth day
of Nisan as the day of the Crucifixion, corresponding
to the eve of the Jewish Passover, the season of the
sacrifice of the paschal lamb; this was followed by
the memorial of the Resurrection on the succeeding
Sunday; the former was regarded as a day of fast-
ing and penitence, the latter as a festival of joy.
Under the first fifteen bishops of Jerusalem, who
were all Jews, no difference occurred between the
Jewish and the Christian dates.
In the course of time it appears that custom and
tradition differed in the various churches of the East
and the West, some laying stress upon Friday as
the historical day of the Crucifixion, others again
adhering more to the Jewish custom of celebrating
the fourteenth day of Nisan ; but as the anti-Judean
element obtained ascendency, the connection of the
Jewish and the Christian Passover was severed, and
adhesion to the fourteenth day of Nisan by Christians
(the "Quatrodecimani") was condemned as heresy.
Greater stress was laid, in the Western Church at
least, on the connection of Easter with the vernal
equinox of the sun than with the full moon of the
fourteenth of Nisan. In other words, Easter became
a solar date, whereas Passover was essentially lunar.
The ]Metouic cycle was, however, employed by both
Jews and Christians to reconcile the calculations
by sun and moon respectively ; Passover and Easter
always occur, therefore., about the same time of
the year, though they only rarely fall on the same
day. At the Nicene Council in 325 it was decided
that the Christian Passover should be celebrated fm
the Sunday following the full moon of the vernal
ecjuinox (March 21); and in the Western Church it
was decreed that, in case the full moon falls on Sun-
day, so that there arises the possibility of a conmion
celebration of Passover by Christians and Jews, the
Christian Passover should be postponed until the next
Sunday ; the reason for this given by Emperor Con-
stantino (Socrates, "Hist. Eccl." i. 9) was that "it
seemed very unsuitable that we should follow this
custom of the Jews, who, constantly erring in the
utmost degree, celebrate the Feast of Passover a
second time in the same year"; i.e., celebrate it
sometimes before the spring equinox. See Passover.
Thus the Crucifixion day, tlie Friday before
Easier, gradually lost its ancient paschal, or Jewish,
character, and the day of the Resurrection assumed
more and more the character of the Teutonic and
Slavonic spring festival with all its pagan rites and
festive symbols. Regarding the (Easter) egg at the
Jewish Seder, see Sedeu.
nini.iOGRAPHY: Schaff-Hfirzop, EHC)/r.; Smith, Diet, of Chri»-
tiiwi Antiquities; unA the literature in Herzog-Plitt's iie^i-
Eiicyc. s.v. Pessah.
K.
EATING. See Banquets ; Clean and Unclean
Ammals; Cookery; Dietary Laws; Food.
EBAL i^2^]!; Septuagint, rru/?aA; now called
"Jabal Slamiyyah"): 1. A bare mountain 2,900 feet
kigh, north of Sicliem, opposite Mt. Gerizim. At
the base toward the north are several tombs. The
higher part is on the west, and contains the ruins of
some massive walls called " Al-Kal 'ah " ; east of this
are other ruins now called "Kunaisah." In the
Old Testament Ebal is mentioned only infrequently :
Joshua built an altar of unhewn stones there (Joshua
viii. 31 et seq.; compare Deut. xxvii. 5-7); there
must have been a sanctuary on this spot. Another
account (Joshua viii. 32; compare Deut. xxvii. 1-4,
8) relates that largo stone slabs whitened with lime
were erected there with the Law inscribed upon
them. In Deut. xi. 29, xxvii. 13; Joshua viii. 33,
one-half of the people were ordered to place them-
selves on IMt. Ebal to pronounce curses against those
who disobeyed the twelve precepts of prime relig-
ious and ethical importance, while the remainder of
the tribes, standing upon Mt. Gerizim opposite, pro-
nounced the corresponding blessings upon those
who obeyed them. 2. Name of an Edomite tribe
(Septuagint, TmSi/l; Gen. xxxvi. 23; I Chron. i.
40). 3. Name of an Arab tribe (I Chron. i. 22;
Gen. X. 28); the Samaritan text has "Ebal" also;
the Septuagint rat/3)y/. ; while the Masoretic reading
is ^aiy ("'Obal ").
E. O. H. F. Bu.
EBED-MELECH. — Biblical Data : A Cush-
ite officer at the court of King Zedekiah, who in-
terceded in behalf of Jeremiah, and was sent by
the king with thirty (Ewald and Duhin, "three")
men to draw up the prophet from the pit (A. V.
" dungeon ") into which he had been cast by order
of the princes (Jer. xxxviii. 4-13). For this deliv-
erance Elbed-melech was prophetically assured of
safety in the general overthrow of Zedekiah (ib.
16-18). The name occurs in the Phenician inscrip-
rion, "C. I. S." i. 46, 3 (Lidzbarski, in "Handbuch
der Nordsemitischen Epigraphik," p. 334; see also
Grey, "Hebrew Proper Names," pp. 117, 147).
E. G. H. G. B. L.
-In Apocryphal and Rabbinical Litera-
ture : Ebed-melech is the hero of popular legend.
According to "The Rest of the Words of Baruch."
Ebed 5:0b
XJbsteiu
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
30
published by J. Keudel Harris in Greek under the
title Td UapaXeiTTofieva lepejiiov tov MpoipriTov (Cam-
bridge, 1889), Ebed-melech slept under a tree during
the sixty-six years which elapsed between the de-
struction of the Temple in the month of Ab and the
return of the exiles from Babylonia on the 12th of
Nisan ; during all this time the figs in the basket
which Jeremiah had sent him to carry to the sick in
Jerusalem remained fresh as when first put there.
Ebed-melech is also counted among the nine persons
who entered paradise alive ("Masseket Derek Erez,"
!., ed. Taurogi, p. 8; " Alphabeticum Siracidis," ed.
Steinschueider, pp. 27 et seq. ; comp. "J. Q. R." v.
409-419). K.
There is a disagreement among rabbinical writers
as to the identification of Ebed-melech. Jonathan b.
Uzziel rendered the name " the servant of the king,"
considering " ha-Kushi " to apply to Zedekiah. This
interpretation was adopted by the Talmudists (M.
K. 16b). But the Talmud does not state who the
servant of Zedekiah was. In Pirke Rabbi Eliezer
liii. (see also Pesik. R., ed. Friedmann,131b), Ebed-
melech is identified with Baruch b. Neriah, to whom
the epithet "ha-Kushi" is referred. Still, Ebed-
melech is generally counted among the nine persons
who entered paradise alive, or among the thirteen
who never tasted death (Derek Erez Zuta ch. 1.,
end; Yalk. ii. 367; Yalk, Hadash, s.v. py }J). The
source of this legend is Jeremiah xxxix. 16, from
which is also derived the Ethiopian legend that
Ebed-melech, like Honi ha-Ma'gal, slept for seventy
years (see R. Basset, "Les Apocryphes Ethiopiens,"
fascic. x., and Syriac MS. No. 65, fols. 230b-247a in
the Bibliotheque Nationale of Paris).
s. s. M. Sel.
EBED TOB. See Abdi Heba.
EBEL RABBATI. See Semahot.
EBEN-EZER (Hebr. "Eben ha-'Ezer " = the
stone of help): 1. Scene of two battles in which
the Israelites were defeated by the Philistines. In
the first engagement they lost 4,000 men. The Ark
of the Covenant was then fetched from Shiloh, in
the hope that its presence might bring victory to
the Israelites ; but in a second battle they lost 30,-
000 men. The Ark was captured, and Hophni and
Phineas, the sons of Eli, were killed (I Sam. iv.
1-11).
The exact site of Eben-ezer has not been deter-
mined. It was near Aphek, and near enough to
Shiloh for a man wlio had been in the second bat-
tle to reach Shiloh the same day that it was fought
(see G. A. Smith, " Historical Geography," p. 223,
note).
2. Name given by Samuel to the stone set up by
him between Mizpeh and Shen to commemorate the
victory of the Israelites (I Sam. vii. 12).
J. JK. C. J. M.
EBER : The eponymous ancestor of the He-
brews; grandson of Arphaxad and great-grandson
of Sheni; father of Joktan, the ancestor of the
Arabs, and of Peleg, among whose progeny, in the
fifth generation, was Abram (Gen. x. 22, 25-30; xi.
18-26).
The word "Eber" signifies "the region beyond."
Of the nine words in Genesis that designate Shem's
descendants, at least two, " Arphaxad " and " Serug "
(Gen. xi. 10, 21), are identical with the names of
districts: the former indicating the district of Arra-
pachitis on the upper Zab, the latter the place where
Abu Zaid of "Saruj," the hero of Hariri's "Maka-
mat," had his home. The conclusion is therefore
warranted that the term " Eber " originally desig-
nated a district.
The use of " Eber " as a " nomen appellativum " is
common; it denotes originally "that which is be-
yond. " This explains the fact that, in the genealogy
of the Semites, Abraham and, especially, Israel are
called descendants of " Eber " ; for if " Eber " had
been originally the name of a person, it would be
strange that Abraham should have been so closely
linked with him, since Eber was not his immediate
ancestor, but one six times removed. It is because
"Eber" was originally the name of a region that it
took so important-a place in the genealogical tree.
"Eber" designates the region occupied longest
and most continuously by the peoples that traced
their descent from Shem through Arphaxad. This
is apparent in the words, "And ships shall come
from the coast of Chittim [Kition, on the island of
Cyprus], and shall afflict Asshur, and shall afflict
Eber " (Num. xxiv. 24). Here " Eber " designates a
country in the neighborhood of Assyria, and to a
certain extent forming a part of it — the country be-
yond the Euphrates. The importance of that river
for anterior Asia may serve to explain the fact that
the country beyond the Euphrates was designated
Kar' e^oxfjv as the "region beyond."
The Babylonian name corresponding to the He-
brew " 'Eber ha-Nahar " is " 'Ebir Nari" (comp.
Winckler, " Gesch. Israel's," i. 22.3, note 1). It oc-
curs in an inscription of Assur-bel-kala (Hommel,
"Ancient Hebrew Tradition," p. 195, line 5) about
1100 B.C. In I Kings v. 4 (A. V. iv. 24) "'Eber
ha-Nahar" is descriptive of the limits of Solomon's
kingdom.
Hommel's opinion is that the region beyond
Wadi Sirhan is indicated ; but see Ed. Konig, " Fiinf
Neue Arabische Landschaftsnamen im Alten Testa-
ment," 1901, p. 44.
e. g. h. E. K.
EBER BEN PETHAHIAH : Moravian schol-
ar; lived in Ungarisch-Brod at the beginning of the
eighteenth century. Steinschueider indicates the
possibility of the name being merely a pseudonym.
It appears on the title-page of "Mar'eh ha-Ketab
we-Rashe Tebot," a guide to Hebrew-German and
its abbreviations (n.d.). See H.\yyi.\i b. Menahem
OP Glogau.
BiBLioGRAPny: Steinschnelder, Cat. Bodl. col. 901; Fiirst,
Bibl. Jud. i. 219; Benjacob, Ozar ha-Sefarim, p. 370.
G. ■ M. Sei..
EBERLEN, ABRAHAM BEN JUD AH :
German mathematician; lived at Frankfort-on-tlie-
Main in the first half of the sixteenth century. He
was the author of a work entitled "Sefer ha-Zifar,"
containing mathematical problems with solutions,
which was finished Tuesday, Feb. 27, 1537.
Bibliography : Neubauer, Cat. Bodl. Hcbr. MSS. No. 1271, 10.
G. M. Sel.
EBERTY, GEORGE FRIEDRICH FELIX :
German jurist and author; born in Berlin Jan. 26,
31
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Ebed ^ob
Ebstein
1812; died at Arnsdorf (Riesengebirge) July 7,
1884. He was educated at the universities of Berlin
and Bonn. In 1849 he became privat-docent at the
University of Breslau in natural and criminal law,
and in 1854 associate professor.
Eberty's principal works are: "DieGestirne und
die Weltgeschichte: Gedanken ilber Raum, Zeit, und
Ewigkeit," Breslau, 1846, 3d ed. 1874; translated
and published in English, and retranslated into Ger-
man by Voigts-Rhetz, Leipsic, 1860; " Versuch auf
dem Gebiete des Naturrechts," Leipsic, 1852;
"Geschichte des Preussischen Staats," 7 vols., Bres-
lau, 1866-73 ; " Walter Scott, ein Lebensbild," 2 vols.,
Leipsic, 1860; translated into several languages,
and reissued in 1870 ; " Lord Byron, eine Biographic,"
2 vols., ib. 1862, 2d ed. 1879; " Jugenderinnerungen
eines Alten Berliners," Berlin, 1878. De le Roi, in
his " Geschichte der Evangelischen Juden-Mission "
(i. 240), cites Eberty as a convert to Christianity.
Bibliography : Meyers Konversatinns-Lexikon.
B. M. Co.
EBIASAPH or ABIASAPH (PjO'^nK, eiDN'-nx) :
A Levite, descendant of Kohath, and one of the an-
cestors of the prophet Samuel and of Heman, the
singer. In Exodus vi. 24 and I Chronicles vi. 22
(37), ix. 19, Ebiasaph (Abiasaph) occurs as a son of
Korah and brother of Assir and Elkanah ; but in I
Chronicles vi. 8 (23) he is stated to have been a son
of Elkanah, son of Assir, son of Korah.
K. M. Sel.
EBIONITES (from D"'JV3X = " the poor ") : Sect
of Judaeo-Christiansof the second to the fourth cen-
tury. They believed in the Messianic character of
Jesus, but denied his divinity and supernatural or-
igin ; observed all the JewLsh rites, such as circum-
cision and the seventh-day Sabbath ; and used a gos-
pel according to Matthew written in Hebrew or
Aramaic, while rejecting the writings of Paul as
those of an apostate (Irenseus, " Adversus Haereses,"
1. 262; Origen, "Contra Celsum," ii. 1; Eusebius,
"Hist. Eccl."iii. 27; Hippolytus, "Refutatio Ha-
resium," vii. 34; Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah, i. 3,
12; on Matt. xii. 13). Some Ebionites, however, ac-
cepted the doctrine of the supernatural birth of
Jesus, and worked out a Christology of their own
(Origen, I.e. v. 61).
The origin of the Ebionites was, perhaps intention-
ally, involved at an early date in legend. Origen
("be Principiis," iv. 1, 22; "Contra Celsum," ii. 1)
still knew that the meaning of the name "Ebiouim "
was "poor," but refers it to the poverty of their
understanding (comp. Eusebius, I.e.), because they
refused to accept the Christology of the ruling
Church. Later a mythical person by the name
of Ebion was invented as the founder of the sect,
who, like Ceriutli, his supposed teacher, lived among
the Naz.\renf.s in Kokabe, a village in the district of
Basan on the eastern side of the Jordan, and, having
spread his heresy among the Christians who fled to
this part of Palestine after the destruction of the
Temple, migrated to Asia and to Rome (Epiphanius,
"Hoereses," xxx. 1, 2; Hippolytus, I.e. vii. 35, x. 22;
TertuUian, "De PrcTcscriptione Hsereticorum," 33).
The early Christians called themselves preferably
"Ebionim" (the poor; comp. Epiphanius, I.e. xxx.
17; Minucius Felix Octavius, ch. 36), because they re-
garded self-imposed poverty as a meritorious method
of preparation for the Messianic kingdom, according
to Luke vi. 20, 24: "Blessed are ye poor: for yours
is the kingdom of God" ; and " Woe unto you that are
rich ! for ye have received your consolation " ( = Mes-
sianic share; Matt. v. 3, "the poor in spirit," is a
late modification of the original; comp. Lukeiv. 18,
vii. 22; Matt. xix. 21 et see/., xxvi. 9 etseq.; Luke
xix. 8; John xii. 5; Rom. xv. 26; II Cor. vi. 10, viii.
9; Gal. ii. 10; Jamesii. 5 e^ s«^.). Accordingly they
dispossessed themselves of all their goods and lived
in communistic societies (Acts i v. 34 e< seq.). In this
practise the Essenes also were encouraged, partly
by Messianic passages, such as Isa. xi. 4, xlix. 3
(comp. Ex. R. xxxi.), partly by Deut. xv. 11: "The
poor shall never cease out of the land" — a passage
taken to be a warning not to embark upon com-
merce when the study of the Law is thereby neg-
lected (Ta'an. 21a; comp. alsoMek., Beshallah, ii.,
ed. Weiss, 56; see notes).
Origen {I.e. ii. 1), while not clear as to the precise
meaning of the term "Ebionim," gives the more
important testimony that all Judseo-Christians were
called " Ebionites. " The Christians that fled to the
trans-Jordanic land (Eusebius, "Hist. Eccl." iii. 5,
3), remaining true to their Judean traditions, were
afterward regarded as a heretic sect of the Ebion-
ites, and hence rose the legend of Ebion. To them
belonged Symmachus, the Bible translator {ib. vi.
17).
Bibliography : Herzog-Hauck, ReaUEncyc. s.v. Ebioniten ;
Harnack, Histom of Dogma, pp. 299-300, Boston, 1895 ; Hil-
genfeld, Ketzei-Qeschiclite, 1884, pp. 421-446, where tbe leg-
endary Ebion is treated as a hLstorical person.
K.
EBONY (□"'jnn): This word is mentioned only
once in the Old Testament, namely, Ezek. xxvii. 15,
where it is stated that the Arabian merchant people,
the Dedanites (see Dodanim), brought horns of ebony
to Tyre. The genuine ebony is the wood of the
Biospyros Ebenum and of several kindred species.
It is now indigenous to eastern Asia and Cej'lon,
but is found in Zanzibar and Mozambique also. In
ancient times ebony was brought from Ethiopia;
and this variety, Avhich was considered superior to
that of India, was held to be very precious. The Phe-
nicians, Egyptians (Thebes ; see " Zeit. f iir Aegyp-
tologie," 1886, xiii.). and Babylonians ("ushu"; see
Schrader, "K. B." iii. 37) used it for fashit)ning im-
ages of their gods and all kinds of precious vessels
for sacred and profane use. Chej'ne thinks, with
some degree of probability ("Encyc. Bibl."), that
ebony is mentioned also in I Kings x. 22, wliere,
corresponding to Ezek. xxvii. 15, he reads Q'jnni \^,
"ivory and ebony," instead of D^nnjCi*.
E. G. n. I. Be.
EBRON (A. v., incorrectly, Hebron). See Ab-
DON, of wiiich it is a variant form.
EBSTEIN, WI'LHELM: German physician;
born in Jauer, Prussian Silesia, Nov. 27, 1836. He
studied medicine at the universities of Breslau
and Berlin, graduating from the last-named in 1859.
In this year he was appointed physician at the
Allerheiligcn Hospital. Breslau; in 1868, chief phy-
sician at the municipal poorhouse; in 1869, privat-
Ecclesiastes
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
32
decent; in 1874, professor in Gottlngen Universitj^
(which chair he still [1903] holds) ; and in 1877, di-
rector of the university hospital and dispensary.
Ebstein's specialties are malassimilation and de-
fective nutrition, in the treatment of which he has
introduced several new methods. He eliminates the
hydrocarbons from the food almost entirely, but al-
lows fat to be taken with adequate albumen, his
theory being that fat contains nutritive matter
equivalent to two and a half times that of hydro-
carbons (see the following by Ebstein: "Die Fett-
leibigkeit," etc., 7th ed., Wiesbaden, 1887; "Fett
Oder Kohlenhydrate," Wiesbaden, 1885; and " Was-
serentzietiung und Anstrengende Muskelbewegung-
en,"^■6. 1885; also Oertel, "Die Ebsteinsche Flug-
schrift ilber Wasserentziehung," Leipsic, 1885). In
this field Ebstein has become one of the leading spe-
cialists of the world.
Of his nvmierous works may be mentioned : " Nie-
renkrankheiten Nebst den Affectionen der Nieren-
becken und der Urnieren," in Von Ziemssen's
" Handbuch der Speziellen Pathologic und Thera-
pie," 2d ed., vol. ix. ; "Traumatische Leukamie," in
" Deutsche Med. Wochenschrif t, " 1894 ; " Handbuch
der Praktischen Medizin," ib. 1899; "Die Medi-
zin im Alten Testament," Stuttgart, 1901; "Hand-
buch der Praktischen Medizin," (with Schwalbe),
ib. 1901 ; " Die Krankheiten ira Feldzuge Gegen
Russland,"^■i. 1902; "Dorf- und Stadthygiene," ib.
1902; "Die Medizin in Bibel und Talmud" (New
Testament and Talmud), ib. 1903.
Bibliography: Pagrel. Biograp/ii.sche.f Z/ej*i7£on, s.v.; Meyers
Knnver nations- Lexikon, s.v.; Broekhaus, Koiiversatiuns-
Lexikon, s.v.
s. F. T. H.
ECCLESIASTES, BOOK OF: The name
" Ecclesiastes " — literally, " Member of an Assembly, "
often thought to mean (after Jerome) " Preacher " — is
the Septuagint rendering of the Hebrew "Kohelet,"
apparently as an intensive formation from the root
"kahal," with Avhich such forms as the Arabic
" rawiyyah " (professional reciter) have
Name been compared. The Hebrew word is
and Au- given by the author of the book as his
thorship. name, sometimes with the article (xii.
8, and probably vii. 27), but ordinarily
without it: similar license is allowed in Arabic in the
case of some common nouns used as proper names.
Tlie author represents himself as the son of David,
and king over Israel in Jerusalem (i. 1, 12, 16; ii.
7, 9). The work consists of personal or autobio-
graphic matter, with reflections on the purpose of
life and the best method of conducting it. These,
the author declares, were composed by him as he
increased in wisdom, were "weighed," studied, cor-
rected, expressed in carefully chosen phrases, and
correctly written out (xii. 9, 10), to be taught to the
people.
The fact of the author describing himself in the
foregoing style, together with his statements concern-
ing the brilliancy of his court and his studies in
philosopliy (i. 13-17, ii. 4-11), led the ancients to
identify him with Solomon; and tliis identification,
which appears in the Peshitta, Targum, and Tal-
mud (compare 'Er. 21b; Shab. 30a), passed unques-
tioned till comparatively recent times. The order
of the Solomonic writings in the canon suggested
that Ecclesiastes was written before Canticles (Rashi
on B. B. 14b); whereas another tradition made
their composition simultaneous, or put Ecclesi-
astes last (Seder '01am Kabbah, ed. Ratner, p.
66, with the editor's notes). The fact that Kohelet
speaks of his reign in the past tense (i. 12) sug-
gested that the book was written on Solomon's
death-bed (2'5.). Another way of accounting for it
was to suppose that Solomon composed it during
the period in which he was driven from his throne
(Git. 68b), a legend which may have originated from
this passage. The cauonicity of the book was, how-
ever, long doubtful (Yad. iii. 5; IMeg. 7a), and was
one of the matters on which the school of Shammai
took a more stringent view than the school of Hil-
lel; it was finally settled "on the day whereon
R. Eleazar b. Azariah was appointed head of the
assembly." Endeavors were made to render it
apocryphal on the ground of its not being inspired
(Tosef., Yad. ii. 14; ed. Zuckermaudel, p. 683), or
of its internal contradictions (Shab. 30b), or of a
tendency which it displayed toward heresy — that is,
Epicureanism (Pcsik., ed. Buber, viii. 68b); but
these objections were satisfactorily answered (see S.
Schiffer, "Das Buch Kohelet," Frankfort-on-the-
Main, 1884). It was assumed that Solomon had
taken the name "Kohelet," just as he had taken the
name "Agur" (Prov. xxx. 1), as a collector (see,
further, Eppenstein, " Aus dem Kohelet-Kommentar
des Tanchuin Jeruschalmi," Berlin, 1888); and
probably the Septuagint rendering represents a
theory that the name contained an allusion to I Kings
viii. 1, where Solomon is said to have gathered an
assembly.
As to the age of the work, there is an indication
of the latest date at which it could have been writ-
ten in the fact that Ben Sira repeatedly quotes or
imitates it (Ecclus. [Sirach] xxvii. 26, from Eccl.
x. 8, verbatim [comp. LXX.]; xviii. 5, from Eccl.
iii. 14, inverted, probably for metrical reasons; xxx.
21, from Eccl. xi. 10; xxxiv. 5b, from Eccl. v. 9;
xiii. 21, 22, after Eccl. ix. 16; xxxvii. 14, after Eccl.
vii. 19; xxxiv. 1, after Eccl. v. 11; comp. "The
Wisdom of Ben Sira," ed. Schechter and Taylor, In-
troduction, pp. 13 et seq., and p. 26, note 2). Since
Ben Sira declares himself a compiler from the Old
Testament (xxiv. 28), whereas Ecclesiastes claims
originality (xii. 9, 10), it seems certain, in the case of
close agreement between tlie two books, that Ben Sira
must be the borrower. This fact gives some date
about 250 or 300 B.C. as the latest possible for the
composition of the book in its present form; for this
repeated borrowing implies that Ben Sira regarded it
as part of his canon, which would scarcely contain
any works tliat had been produced in liis lifetime.
With this fact the nature of Ben Sira's language, as
preserved in Talmudic quotations, agrees; for such
decided Neo-Hebraisms as pDJ,' ("business"), NDB^
("lest"), and nti'in ("authorize") are
Date. not found in Ecclesiastes, though, had
they been in vogue in the author's
time, he would have had constant occasion to em-
ploy them. He uses instead yZiJl, HDP (vii. 16, 17;
also used in the Phenician Eshmunazar inscription),
and tD^^tJTI. Though allusions to Ecclesiastes are
33
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Ecclesiastes
not common in the New Testament, Matt, xxiii.
23, R. v., "These ye ought to have done, and not
to have left the other undone," seems clearly a
reminiscence of Eccl. vii. 18. It is therefore nec-
essary to reject all theories that bring the book
down to a date later than 250 u.c, including that
of Graetz, who regarded it as Ilerodian — in which
he is followed by Leimdorfer (Erlangen, 1891),
who makes Simeon ben Shetah the author — and
that of Renan, who places it somewhere before
100 B.C. These theories are largely based on con-
jectural interpretations of historical allusions, which,
though often attractive, are not convincing. The
Grecisms supposed to be found in the book are
all imaginary (for instance, DJriD has no connec-
tion with (pdey/xa ; the phrase " under the sun, " which
occurs so freqiientlj% is also found in the Eshmu-
nazar and Tabnith inscriptions, not later than 300
B.C., as the equivalent of "on earth"), and the sup-
positions as to borrowings from Greek philosophy
which some have professed to detect are all fallacious
(see Ad. Lods, "L'Ecclesiaste et la Philosophic
Grecque," 1890).
On the other hand, there is much in the language
which, with the present knowledge of Hebrew, one
should be disposed to regard as characteristic of a
comparatively late period. H. Grotius, in the six-
teenth century, collected about a hundred words and
phrases of this sort occurring in the book ; but sev-
eral apparent modernisms may represent usages
which must have been introduced into Palestine at
an early period (c.^., tJ* for "iK'K, and the abstracts
in ni, both from Assyrian), or words "which may have
been largely used in ancient times (e. 5"., "takken,"
" to correct," also Assjnian) ; and even in the case of
some idioms which seem especially characteristic of
late Hebrew, the likeliest account is that they were
preserved through long ages in remote dialects
(so "kebar," "already, "occurring only in this book
— apparentlyanold verb,"kabur," "it is great"; i.e.,
"it is a long time since"; comp. the Arabic" talama");
certain Persisms, however (DJDQ. "account" [viii.
11], Persian "paygham"; DTID, "park" [ii. 5],
Zend "pairidaeza," Armenian "partez"), seem to
provide a more certain clue ; and that the book is
post-exilic may be asserted with confidence, though
how near the latest possible limit the date can be
brought down can not be fixed with precision.
Hence the Solomonic authorship (which few now
hold) may be dismissed ; nor indeed could the sec-
ond king of the dynasty have spoken of "all which
were in Jerusalem before me."
Beyond the fact that Kohelet was uncriticall}'
identified with Solomon, it seems impossible to dis-
cover any connection between the two names. The
interpretation of the word "Kohelet" as a substan-
tive is purely conjectural; and though the phrase
rendered "masters of assemblies," but more probably
signifying "authors of collections," lends some color
to the rendering "collector," it is not free from
grave difficulty. As a proper name, however, it
might be derived from " kahal"' in one of the Arabic
senses of that root, though its use with the article
would in that case constitute a difficulty ; finally,
it might be a foreign word. The Talmud seems
rightly to call attention to the importance of the
v.— :i
past tense in i. 12; for one who says "I tens king"
implies that his reign is over: he must be speaking
cither as a dead man or as one who has abdicated.
Kohelet is then either a fictitious person or an adap-
tation of some monarch, like Al-Nu'man of Arabic
mythology (Tabari, i. 853), who, becoming con-
scious of the instability of the world, abandons his
throne and takes to devotion. Similarly, JKohelet
appears to pass from king to preacher, though it is
not actually stated that he abandons his throne.
The references to kings in all but the earliest chap-
ters rather imply that the author is a subject; but
this may be unintentional. The author's idea of a
king would seem to be modeled on the monarchs of
Persia, with kings and provinces subject to them
(ii. 8); and the gardens with exotics (ii. 5) and irri-
gated parks (ii. 6) are likely to belong to the same
region.
The Israelitish name for God is nowhere em-
ployed, nor does there appear to be any reference to
Judaic matters; hence there seems to be a possibility
that the book is an adaptation of a work in some
other language. This supposition would agree with
the fact that certain of the idioms found in it are not
so much late Hebrew as foreign Hebrew {e.g., vii.
24, viii. 17, xii. 9) ; with the frequent use of the parti-
cipial present {e.g., viii. 14); with the unintelligible
character of several phrases which are apparently not
corrupt (e.^f., iv. 17, x. 15, much of xii. 4-6) ; and with
the want of sharpness that characterizes some of the
aphorisms {e.g., x. 9). Further, the verb |TK (xii. 9),
which describes a process to which the author says
he subjected his proverbs, should, ou the analogy
of the Arabic "wazan," refer to the numbering of
syllables; and the following phrases, apparently
meaning " searched out and corrected " or " carefully
straightened," have the appearance of referring to
metrical correctness, though their exact import is
not easy to fix. Of any such formal technicality
the verses of Kohelet bear no trace in their existing
form ; yet there are places where the introduction of
words woidd be more intelligible if the author had a
fixed number of syllables to make up {e.g., xii. 2,
"while the sun or the light or the moon or the stars
be not darkened "). If this be so, the character of
the idioms noticed {e.g., xii. 9, "the wiser Kohelet
became, the more did he teach ") renders it probable
that the language of the model was Indo-Germanic;
and the introduction of the names " David, " " Israel, "
and "Jerusalem," as well as the concealment of all
names in the case of the anecdotes which the author
introduces (f.y., iv. 13-15, ix. 14-16), is with the view
of accommodating the work to Jewish taste.
In Ecclesiustes there are some continuous sections of
considerable length : (1) Kohelet's autobiography, i.
12-ii. 26; (2) a statement of the doctrines of deter-
minism and Epicureanism, ix. 1-12; (3) a description
of death, xii. 1-8. The rest of the book is in short
paragraphs or isolated aphorisms; and the author in
xii. 11, 12 declares that the aphoristic style is supe-
rior to the continuous discourse — a doctrine which in
modern times has been associated with the name of
Bacon. In the autobiography the author states that
he experimented with various forms of study, pleas-
ure, and cnterpri.se, in the hope of finding the mean-
ing of the endless chain of plienomena. but that he
£cclesiastes
Edelmann
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
34
abandoned them in disgust. The morals that he
draws, liowever, appear to be inconsistent; since,
while some verses encourage the theory
Contents, that pleasure is the suinmum bonum,
others seem tOAvarn j-outii against any
such view. This inconsistency, which could proba-
bly be paralleled from the works of Oriental pessi-
mists like Omar Khayyam and Abu al-'Ala of Ma'ar-
rah, aj^tracted attention, as has been stated, in early
times; but the various attempts that have been
made to bring the author into Iiarmony with himself
are too subjective to be convincing. Tlius some
would regard all the edifying passages as interpola-
tions (so Haupt, " Oriental Studies," pp. 243 et seq.)\
others would regard the Epicurean passages as to be
read with interrogations (so some rabbis), while it
has also been suggested (by Bickell, " Der Prediger ")
that the sheets of the book have been displaced.
None of these opinions can be received without ex-
ternal evidence. It seems more probable, therefore,
that the author expresses the varying sentiments of
different moods, just as the second of the writers
mentioned above alternates between orthodoxy and
blasphemy.
After his personal history the author proceeds to
give illustrations of more general experiences. In
these he speaks as a subject rather than as a king;
he cites the prevalence of injustice in the world,
for which he had some tentative solutions (iii. 17,
18); later, how^ever, he relapsed into the Epicu-
rean conclusion (iii. 22), accentuated by further ob-
servation into pessimism (iv. 1-4). At this point he
proceeds to introduce a variety of maxims, illus-
trated by anecdotes, leading up to the conclusion
(vii. 17) that the plan of the universe is incompre-
hensible. Chapter ix. formulates the doctrine that
men's actions and motives are all foreordained, and
advises gaiety on the ground that whatever is to
happen is already fixed, and that there will be no
room for activity in the grave. This is emphasized
by anecdotes of the unexpected happening (11-16).
There follows another series of maxims leading up
to a poetical description of death, and, after some
observations on the value of the aphorism, to the as-
sertion that the substance of the whole matter is
" Fear God and keep his commandments, . . . for God
shall bring every work into judgment" (xii. 13-14).
The felicity, wisdom, and profundity of many of
the aphorisms probably endeared the book to many
who might have been displeased with the Epicurean
and pessimistic passages. Yet without the idea that
Kohelet was Solomon one could scarcely imagine the
work ever having been included in the canon; and
had it not been adopted before the doctrine of the
Resurrection became popular, it is probable that the
author's views on that subject would have caused
his book to be excluded therefrom. Mystical inter-
pretation of the book began fairly early (see Ned.
32b); and the work was a favorite source of citation
with those rabbis who, like Saadia, were philosophers
as well as theologians.
Bibliography : See, besides the commentaries of Hitzig. De-
Utzsch, Volck-Oettli, SiepfrieU, and Wildeboer, the followintr :
'E.yraXd.PoetiicheSchriftendes Alien TeHtaments, iv.; Renan.
L'Ecclesiante, Paris, 1882; Graetz. Kaheleth, Breslau, 1871 ;
C. H. H. Wright. The Bonk of Knhelet, London. 188,3; Bick-
ell, fi:o/ieZef, 1886; Plumptre, Er.clexiaxtex, Cambridge, 1881;
Tyler, Ecclesiastes, London, 1874 ; Wunsche, Bibliotheca
Rahhinica, MMrnsh K»he\eth, 18f-t»; Cheyne, Juli and Solo-
mon, London, 1887 ; also the following monographs on special
points: Haupt, The Book of Kcclesiaates (Oriental Studies
of the Philadelphia (yriental Club), 1894 ; Euringer. Der Ma^
soratcrt dts Kohelet, Leipsic, 1890; Kohler, Ueher die
Gruj.ilanscliauungcn dcs Bucliesf Kohelet, Erlangen, 188r>;
Bifkell, Der Prcdiijer iiher den Wert dea Daseinx, Inns-
briK-k, 1884; Schiffer. Dax Bueh Knlielet XacJi der Autf'as-
.«i()i(7 iler Weisen dex Talmudf! und Midraxch, 1884 ; Renan,
Hijitoire dii Peuple d'lxrael, vol. v., ch. xv.; Piepenbring,
Histoire du Pcuple d''Israel. For further bibliography con-
sult Palm, Die Qoheleth Litteratur, Tubingen, 1888; and
Siegfried, Commcntanj, pp. 2.5 27.
J. JU.
D. S. M.
ECCLESIASTICUS. See Siracii.
ECHO DES JTJDENTHUMS. Sec Period-
icals.
ECIJA (nJD'X) : Spanish city in the province of
Seville. A charge of ritual murder occurred in the
time of the "great king" Alfonso (Alfonso X., or
Alfonso XI.). The Jew charged with the crime
was imprisoned on the eve of the Passover. At
the mere report the populace rose. Many Jews
saved their lives by taking refuge in the houses of
the nobles. In Ecija, his birthplace, the fanaticism
of the archdeacon Ferrand Martinez found a fruitful
soil. At his bidding the synagogue was destroyed
(Dec, 1390, not 1395 as in Jacobs, "Sources," No.
1318). The great Jewish massacre in 1391 spread
from Seville to Ecija, where most of the Jews joined
the Church. With no less cruelty were the Maranos
treated in 1473, until a few knights came to their
rescue.
Bibliography : Ibn Verga, Shebet Ychudah, pp. 25, 88 ; Ama-
dor de los Rios, Hist. ii. 611 et scq., iii. 159 ; Jacobs, Sources.
G. M. K.
ECIJA, JOSEPH DE. See Benveniste, Jo-
seph HEN El'HRAIM HA-LeVI.
ECK, JOHANN MAIER VON : Catholic theo-
logian; born at Eck, Bavaria, Nov. 13, 1486; died in
Ingolstadt Feb. 10, 1543. One of the most active
antagonists of Luther, he was an equally zealous
enemy of the Jews. His work, " Verlegung eines Ju-
den-Biichleins, Darin eiu Christ (der) Ganzen Chris-
tenheit zu Schmach Will, als Geschahe den Juden
Unrecht, in Bezilchtigungder Christ -Kinder-Mord,"
an endeavor to fasten the blood accusation on the
Jews, was published in Ingolstadt in 1542. Eck
translated the Vulgate into German in an effort to
counteract the influence of Luther's version of the
Bible. His translation, known as " Die Ingolstadter
Bibel von 1538," is by no means as accurate or as
well written as Luther's version. He also edited
Haggai in Hebrew.
BinLiOGRAPHY: AUgemeine Deutsche Biographic, v. 596:
Fiirst, Bibl. Jud. 1. 220; (iratz, Gesch. ix. 310 et .s^r/.;
Herzog-Hauck, Real-Encyc, and Wetzer and Welte's Kircli-
enlexiknn, s.v.
J. A. M. F.
ED ("witness"): Name supplied by the Engli.sh
versions for the altar erected by the tribes on the
east of the Jordan ( Jcshua xxii. 34). The name does
not appear in the Masoretic text nor in the Septua-
gint. Tiie Hebrew reads simply, "And the children
of Reuben and the children of Gad called the altar,
for it is a witness between us that the Lord is God " ;
and it would seem that the name of the altar must
have been dropped by a copyist.
35
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Scclesiastes
Edelmann,
Dillmann (Joshua ad he.) suggests "Gal-'ed," as
iu Gen. xxxi. 47 (A. V. "Galeed ").
E. G. II. G. B. L.
'EDAH KEDOSHAH or KEHALA KAD-
DISHA: Two Hebrew appellatious signifying re-
spectivelj^ "holy congregation" and "sacred col-
lege " ; the former being peculiar to the Palestinian
sources, while the latter is used exclusively in the
Babylonian Talmud. They designate a Palestinian
association of scholars that flourished in the second
century (last tannaitic generation), and of which
Jose ben Meshullam and Simeon ben ISlenasya were
members; but whether these two constituted the
whole association, or merely formed part of a larger
aggregation, can only be conjectured, tlie purport
of the main sources relied upon in this instance being
somewhat ambiguous and contradictory. The Pal-
estinian Talmud (Ma'as. Sh. ii. 53d) asserts, "By
'Edah Kedoshah are meant R. Jose ben ha-Meshul-
1am and R. Simeon ben Menasya."
BiBLiOfSRAPHT: Zacuto, Yuhasin, ed. Filipowski, p. 70; Hell-
prin, Sederha-JDorot, ii., s.v. Shime'<inh. Menasya; Frankel,
Darke ha-Mishnah', p. 201 ; Brull, Meho ha-Mishiiah, i. 238 ;
Bacher, Ag. Tan. ii. 489 et seq.; Hamburger, R. B. T., ii.
368.
s. s. S. M.
EDDINUS : One of the three " holy singers
. . . , the sons of Asaph " (I Esd. i. 15), at Josiah's
Passover. He alone belonged to the royal suite.
The name Is a Greek equivalent of "Jeduthun."
See the parallel passage — II Chron. xxxv. 15.
K. G. II. E. I. K
EDEL, JUDAH LOW BEN MOSES HA-
LEVI : Russian preacher ; born at Zamoscz, govern-
ment of Lublin, Poland: died at Slonim 1827. He
wp,s a pupil of Elijah Wilna, and, besides possessing
great homiletic talent, was a Hebraist and a Tal-
mudic scholar. He wrote: "Safah le-Xe'emanim,"
a concise Hebrew grammar for beginners (Lemberg,
1793); "Afike Yehudah," a collection of homilies, of
which only the first volume, containing twenty-four
sermons, appeared (ib. 1802); "Me Neftoah," a com-
mentary on Maimonides' introduction to Tohorot
(uyelosiok, 1816); " Mayim Tehorim," a commen-
tary on Tohorot {ib. 1817); "lyye ha-Yam," essays
on the Haggadah, edited by his son Solomon (Os-
trog, 1835); "Yam ha-Talmud," casuistic notes;
"Redife Mayya," on Hebrew synonyms.
Bibliography : Fiirst, Bihl. Jud. 1. 220 ; Fuenn, Keneset Yin-
rael, p. 415 ; Zeitlin, Bm. Post-3Iendels. p. 71.
K. M. Sei..
EDELMANN (HEN-TOB), HIRSCH : Au
thor and editor ; born in Swislocz, Russia, 1805; died
at Berlin, Nov. 20, 1858. He was the son of a rab-
binical scholar, and received a good Talmudical edu-
cation, w^hich he later supplemented by acquainting
himself thoroughly with ancient and modern Hebrew
literature. In 1839 Edelmann published his first
work, "Haggahot u-Bi'urim," notes and commenta-
ries to the "Me'irat 'Enayim" of Nathanson andEt-
linger, Wilna, 1839. Five years later he published
"'Alim le-5Iibhan," specimens or extracts from his
work on difficult passages of the Haggadah in the
Talmudimand Midrashim, Avith an appendix, "Me-
gillat Sefer," on Purira and the Megillah, Danzig,
1844. The following year he published in Konigs-
berg (where, as at Danzig, he had charge of a print-
ing establishment) two critical editions of the Hag-
gadah for Passover, with introductions, annotations,
etc. The same year he published, also in Konigs-
berg, the " Siddur Ilegyon Leb," which is commonly
known as "Landshuth's Prayer-Book." To this
work Edelmann also contributed glossaries, emen-
dations, and notes.
Edelmann spent about ten years in England, and
was one of the first competent scholars to examine
the manu.scri])ts and rare printed books of the Op-
penheim collection iu the Bodleian Library, Oxford,
and to give the outside world some knowledge of
their contents. In this work he was assisted by
Leopold Dukes ; and tliey jointly edited and pub-
lished " Ginze Oxford " (with an English transla-
tion by ]\I. II. Bresslau, London, 1851).
To this period of Edelmann 's activity belong also:
"Derek Tobim," ethical wills of Judah ibn Tibbon
and Maimonides ; also ancient Arabic and Greek prov-
erbs rendered into Hebrew, with English translation
by Bresslau, London, 1852; "Dibre Hefez," extracts
from various unprinted works, London, 1853 ; " Tehil-
lah la-Yesharim," poem by Moses Hayyim Luz-
ZATTO from an Oxford manuscript, with preface by
Edelmann, Loudon, 1854; and "Hemdah Genuzah,"
unedited manuscripts by early rabbinical authori-
ties, with a literary -historical introduction, K5nigs-
berg, 1856. Edelmann also brought out a valuable
critical new edition of Estori ha-Farhi's " Kaftor
u-Ferah," Berlin, 1851, and wrote "GedullatSha'ul,"
a biography of Rabbi Saul Wahl, the alleged one-
day King of Poland, with an appendix, "Nir le-
Dawid ule-Zar'o," the genealogy of Denis M. Sam-
uel of London, a descendant of that rabbi, London,
1854. In 1853 Edelmann settled in Beilin. For
three months before his death he was in the insane
department of the Charite hospital of that city.
Bibliography: Zeitlin, Bibl. Post-Mendels. s.v.; Ally. Zeit.
des Jud. 1858, No. 51 ; Fiirst, Bibl. Jud. i. 222.
L. G. P. Wl.
EDELMANN, SIMHAH REUBEN : Russian
grammarian and commentator; born in Wilna Jan.,
1821; died in Warsaw Dec, 1892. He received a
good Talmudical education at home and later at the
yeshibah of Yolozhin. He lived in Rossein for about
thirty years, mainly in the employ of a rich mer-
chant of the name of Gabrilovitch, but for a part
of the time in business for himself. Edelmann was
the first to discover the latent talent of the poet
Judah Loeb Gordon, for whom he obtained a posi-
tion as teacher in Gabrilovitch's house. After the
death of his wife Edelmann left Rossein and lived
for a short time in Tels (1867). Later he was em-
ployed successively in Mohilev and Konigsberg. In
his later days he was again in business for himself,
first in Brest and then in Kovno, and at last settled
in Warsaw, the home of his surviving children, where
he died.
Edelmann was the author of the following works:
"Shoshannim," containing, besides some treatises on
grammar and exegesis, a few poems, and a commen-
tary on Canticles, Konigsberg, 1860; " Ha-Mesillot,"
in three parts, of which the first treats of the Maso-
retic text of the Bible and of the changed readings
occurring in the Bible quotations of the Talmud;
Edels
Eden
THE JEAVISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
36
the second is a quasi-ciilicul coiiiinentary on
Psalms Ixviii., xc., and c., and the tliird con-
tains commentaries and explanations on various dif-
ficult passages of the Haggadah, Wilna, 1875; "Ha-
Tirosh," a commentary on Midrash Kabbali, part 1,
Genesis, Warsaw, 1891; and "Doresh Reshiunot "
(a scathing criticism of the liberal views advanced
liy Weiss in "Dor"), ih. 1892. He also contributed
valuable articles to Fuenn's "Ha-Karmel" and At-
las' "Ha-Kerem."
Edelmann was considereil one of the foremost
champions of Ortliodoxy in modern Hebrew litera-
ture.
Bibliography : Haham iir-Do/-, a biography of S. R. Edel-
mann by his son Mordecai Isaac, Warsaw, 1.hs5 (Hebrew);
Zeitlin, Bibl. Post-Mendeh.
I., o. ' P. Wi.
EDELS, SAMUEL ELIEZER BEN JU-
DAH : Polish rabbi; born in Posen, 1555; died at
Ostrog Nov. 30, 1(531. He was a son-in-law of Rabbi
Moses Ashkenazi, author of " Zikron Mosheh. " Sam-
uel bears the name of his mother-in-law, Edel. In
Samuel Edels.
(From a traditional portrait.)
1585 his Avife's parents founded for him a large yeshi-
bah, which was under his management until 1609.
His mother-in-law supported the students out of her
own money. In 1590 he was already recognized as an
eminent scholar, and together with other rabbis, who
were in convention at the city of Lublin, he signed the
anathema against the use of money for the purpose
of securing a rabbinical position. In 1610 he became
rabbi of Chelm, which position he held Avith dis-
tinction for four years; he was then elected rabbi
and head of tlie yeshibah at Lublin (1614). From
Lublin he was called to Tictin (Tykoczin). During
the remainder of liis life Edels was rabbi and head
of the yeshibah of Ostrog, in the Russian province
of Volhvnia.
Edels conceived a new method in the study of the
Talmud. His efforts were directed toward the in-
vestigation of the Tosafot, and the explanation of
any passages on them which seemed to be unclear
or to contradict the Talmud. He thus succeeded
in producing many "hiddushim" (novelise) on the
entire Talmud. His constant desire was to discover
something new and original, and because of liis orig-
inality discussions that were really complex and
difficult seemed to him extremely simple.
Edels in 1600 publi.shed part of his hiddushim
anonj'mousl}'. On learning that his new method
had made a favorable impression upon his contem-
poraries, he published the remaining part in 1611.
Edels also endeavored to apply his new method
to the Haggadot of the Talmud. This he did in a
work which he published in 1627 in opposition to
the many rabbis who devoted their time to the
Cabala, and who tried to explain the Haggadah by
means of it. Edels considered the method of his
opponents as a mere waste of time.
From his various works it is clear that Edels pos-
sessed a knowledge of astronomj' and philosophy ; of
the latter science, indeed, he made a deep and care-
ful study.
His published works are ; uovella3 on Bezah and
Yebamot, Basel, 1600; on Niddah and Nedarim,
Prague, 1602; and on the other treatises of the Tal-
mud, Lublin, 1611-21; novelloe on the haggadic
portions of the Talmud, vol. 1., ib. 1627; vol. ii.,
Cracow, 1631 ; supplement to parts of his halakic
novellae, Lublin, 1670; hymns for the Sabbath in the
work "Kabbalat Shabbat," ib. 1620. Most editions
of the Talmud contain Edels' novellas
Bibliography : Ha-Nesher, No. 20, Lemberg, 1864 ; C. N. Dem-
bltzer, Kelilat Yufi, ii. 126, Cracow, 1893 ; B. Friedberg, Lu-
hot Zihkarnn, p. 16, Drohobicz, 1897; idem, Gcscfi. der Fa-
inilie Schor, p. 10, Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1901 ; S. A. Horo-
detzky, SJiem mi-SJienniel, Drohobicz, 1875 ; S. B. Nissen-
baum, Leknrnt lia-Ycfnidim be-Li(Wui, p. 34, Lublin, 1899;
Steinschne'ider, Cat. Budl. col. 2419; Gratz, Gesch. Hebr.
transl.. viii. Ill, Warsaw, 1899; M. Perles, MeuiUot l'«?ia.si»,
p. 32, Warsaw, 1899.
L. G. B. F.
EDEN, GARDEN OF (Hebrew, p]} ]}; Arabic,
"Januat 'Adn". — Biblical Data : Name given to
the "earthly paradise" occupied by Adam and Eve
before their fall through sin. The word " Eden, " per-
haps an Assyrian loan-word, is of the same root as
the Assyrian "edinu," synonymous with "seru"
(= field, depression; compare the Arabic "zaur,"
which is the name still given to the country south
of Bab^'lon and extending to the Persian Gulf; the
nomadic tribes inhabiting it were called by the As-
syrians "sabeedini") (see Delitzsch, "Wo Lag das
Paradies? "). Its connection with the Hebrew word
py is of later origin. Sprenger (" Das Leben und
die Lehre des Mohammad," ii. 507) explains it
through the Arabic " 'adn."
The writer of the Biblical story of Eden (Gen.
ii.-iii. ) is evidently describing some jilace which he
conceives to be on the earth; hence the exact details:
"God planted a garden eastward, in Eden," etc.
Many attempts have been made to determine the
preci.se geographical location. The most ancient
37
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Edels
Eden
tradition, going buck to Joscplius and followed by
most of the Church Fathers, makes Ilavilah eciuiva-
lent to India, and the Pison one of its rivers, while
Cush is Ethiopia and the Gihon the Nile. A very
popular theory places Eden in Babylonia. Calvin
made tiieShattal-'Arab — formed by the union of the
Tigris and Euphrates — the river that "went out of
the garden " ; but it is now known that in ancient
times the two rivers entered the Persian Gulf sep-
arately. FriedrichDelitzschalso places Eden in the
country around Babylon and south of it, a country
which was so beautiful in its luxuriant vegetation
and abundant streams that it was known as "Kar-
Duuiash," or "garden of the god Duniash." Raw-
linson even tried to show the identity of the names
"Gan-Eden" and "Kar-Duniash." This region is
watered practically by the Euphrates alone, which is
here on a higher level than the Tigris. The Pison
and the Gihon are identified with two canals (they
may originally have been river-beds)
Views of which branch out from the Euphrates
Delitzsch. just below Babylon. The former, to
the west, is the Pallacopas, upon which
Ur was situated, and Havilah is thus identified with
the portion of the Syrian desert bordering on Baby-
lonia, which is known to have been rich in gold.
The latter, Gihon, is the Shatt al-Nil, which passes
the ruins of the ancient Erech, while Cush is the Mat
Kashshi, or the northern part of Babylonia proper.
Curiously enough, this region was also called "Me-
luha," which name was afterward transferred to
Ethiopia. Other Assyriologists (e.^., Haupt, "Wo
Lag das Paradics?" in "Ueber Land und Meer,"
1894-95, No. 15) do not credit the Biblical writer
•with the definiteness of geographical knowledge
which Delitzsch considers him to have had.
A very natural theory, which must occur to any
one reading the Babylonian Gilgamesh epic, con-
nects Eden with the dwelling of Parnapishtim, the
Babylonian Noah, at the "conlluence of streams."
This is supposed to have been in the Persian Gulf
or NarMarratim(" stream of bitterness"), into which
emptied the four rivers Euphrates, Tigris, Kercha,
and Karun (compare Jensen, " Kosmologie der Baby-
lonier," p. 507, and Jastrow, "Religion of the Baby-
lonians and Assyrians," p. 506). It is probable,
however, that the story as given in the Bible is a
later adaptation of an old legend, points of which
were vague to the narrator himself, and hence any
attempt to find the preci.se location
The of Eden must prove futile. Indeed,
Gilgamesh the original Eden was very likely in
Epic. heaven, which agrees with tlie view
on the subject lield by the Arabs.
Gunkel, in his commentary on Genesis, also adopts
this view, and connects the stream coming out of
Eden with the Milk}' Way and its four branches.
Though there is no one Babylonian legend of the
Garden of Eden witli which the Biblical story can be
compared as in the case of the stories of the Creation
and of the Flood, there are nevertheless points of re-
lationship between it and Babylonian mythology.
On one of the tablets found at Tell cl-Amarua, now
in the Berlin Museum, occurs the legend of Adapa.
Adapa, the first man, is the son of the god Ea, by
whom he has been endowed with wisdom, but not
.with everlasting life. He lives in Eridu, and cares
for the sanctuary of the god. One day while fish-
ing in a calm sea the south wind suddenly arises and
overturns his bout. In his anger Adapa figiits with
the south wind and breaks his wings so that he can
not blow for seven days. Anu, the god of heaven,
hearing of this, summons Adapa before him. Ea
gives his son instructions as to his behavior before
Anu; among otlicr tilings he tells him: "Bread of
death will they offer thee: eat not of it. Water of
death will they bring thee: drink not of it. " Adapa
does as he is told, but the bread and* water Anu
causes to be placed before him are of life, not of
death. Thus Adapa loses his chance of eternal life.
He puts on the garment, however, which is offered
him, following Ea's instructions. In
The El- this story the bread of life is parallel
Amarna to the tree of life in the Biblical story.
Tablets. It is probable that the water of life also
formed a part of the original story,
and that the river of Eden is a trace of it. In Ezek.
xlvii. 6-12 and, with .some variation, in Rev. xxii.
1,2 mention is made of a " river of water of life, . . .
and on either side of the river was there the tree of
life," showing that the water of life was associated
with the tree of life.
Further, in the Biblical story, as in the Adapa
legend, man is prevented from eating the food of
life through being told that it means death to him.
"In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt
surely die" (Gen. ii. 17); and it is Ea, who has
formed man, who is the means of preventing him
from attaining life everlasting, just as it is God who
removes man from out of Eden "lest he put forth
his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat,
and live for ever " (ib. iii. 22). Jastrow (I.e.) remarks
that the Hebrew story is more pessimistic than the
Babylonian, since God even begrudges man knowl-
edge, which the Babylonian god freely gives him.
Adapa, who has been endowed with knowledge,
puts on the garment given him by Anu, and Adam
and Eve, after eating of the tree of knowledge, make
for themselves garments of fig-leaves.
Schrader ("K A. T." ii. 1, 528) calls attention to
the possibility of associating the name " Adam " with
"Adapa." The "garden of God," situated on the
mountain, in Ezek. xxviii. 13, 14, and the tall cedar
in Ezek. xxxi. 3, may have some connection with the
cedar-grove of Khumbaba in the Gilgamesh epic and
with the high cedar in the midst of the grove. In
this connection may be mentioned the attempt to
associate Eden with the mountain in Iranian myth-
ology, out of which rivers flow, or with the Indian
mountain Maru with the four rivers (Lenormant).
Jensen (" Keilschriftliche Bibliothek." vi.) places
the " confluence of the streams " in the Far West, and
associates the island with the Greek Elysium.
The snake in the story is probably identical with
the snake or dragon in the Babylonian story of the
Creation. In the British jMuseum there
Snake and is a cylinder seal which has been sup-
Cherubim, posed by Delitzsch, among others, to
represent the Babylonian story of
Eden (see illustration, Jew. Encyc. i. 174). The
seal represents two figures, a male and a female,
seated on opposite sides of a tree, with hands
Eden
Edessa
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
38
stretched toward it ; behind the woman is an up-
right snake. This picture alone, however, is hard-
ly sufficient basis for believing that the Babyloni-
ans had such a story. The cherubim placed to
guard the entrance to Eden are distinctly Babylo-
nian, and are identical with the immense winged bulls
and lions at the entrances lo Babylonian and Assyr-
ian temples. See Cherub.
Biblioorapht: Guttmacher, Optimism and Religionism in
the Old and New Toitamentif, pp. 343-245, Baltimore, 19(13.
E. G. n. M. W. M.
In Rabbinical Iiiterature : The Talmudists
and Cabalists agree that there are two gardens of
Eden: one, the terrestrial, of abundant fertility and
luxuriant vegetation; the other, celestial, the habi-
tation of righteous, immortal souls. These two are
known as the "lower "and "higher" Gan Eden.
The location of the earthly Eden is traced by its
boundaries as described in Genesis.
In 'Erubin 19a (comp. Rabbinovicz, " Varise Lec-
tiones,"rtd ^w. ) Resii Lakish expresses himself to the
following effect: "If the paradise is situated in Pal-
estine, Beth-Shean [in Galilee] is the door; if in
Arabia, then Bet Gerim is the door; and if between
the rivers, Damascus is the door." In another part
of the Talmud (Tamid 32b) the interior of Africa is
pointed out as the location of Eden, and no less
a personage than Alexander the Great is supposed
to have found the entrance of Gan Eden in those
regions which are inhabited and governed exclu-
sively by women. Alexander, who desired to in-
vade Africa, was directed to Gan Eden by the ad-
vice of the "elders of the South."
A baraita fixes the dimensions of Gan and of Eden
by comparisons with Egypt, Ethiopia, etc. : " Egypt
is 400 parasangs square, and is one-sixtieth the size
of Cush [Ethiopia]. Cush is one-sixtieth of the
world [inhabited earth], the Gan being one-sixtieth
of Eden, and Eden one-sixtieth of Geliinnom. Hence
the world is to Gehinnon in size as the cover to the
pot " (Ta'an. 10a). The same baraita in the Jerusa-
lem Talmud defines the territory of Egypt as 400
parasangs square, equal to forty days' journey, ten
miles being reckoned as a day's journej^ (Pes. 94a).
The Rabbis make a distinction between Gan and
Eden. Samuel bar Nahman says that Adam dwelt
only in the Gan. As to Eden — " No mortal ej'e ever
witnesseth, O God, beside thee " (Isa. Ixiv. 4, ilebr. ;
Ber. 34b).
The Midrash (Gen. R. xvi. 7) identifies the "four
heads " of the rivers with Babylon (Pison), Medo-
Persia (Gihon), Greece (Iliddekel),
Identi- Edom-Rome (Perat), and regards Ha-
fication of vilah as Palestine. The Targum Yeru-
the Four shalmi translates "Havilah " by "Hin-
Rivers. diki " ("Hindustan," or India), and
leaves " Pison " untranslated. Saadia
Gaon, in his Arabic translation, renders " Pison " the
Nile, which Ibn Ezra ridicules, as "it is positively
known that Eden is farther south, on the equator."
Nahmanides coincides in this view, but explains
tiiat the Pison may run in a subterranean passage
from the equator northward. Obadiah of Bertiiiorn,
the commentator of the Mishnah, in a letter descri-
bing his travels from Italy to Jerusalem in 1489, re-
lates the story of Jews arriving at Jerusalem from
"Aden, tlie land where the well-known and famous
Gan Eden is situated, which is southeast of Assyria."
Jacob Safir, who visited Aden in 1865, describes it in
his " Eben Sappir " (ii. 3) as sandy and barren, and can
not posssibly indorse the idea of connecting Aden
with the Eden of Genesis. The opinions of the most
eminent Jewish authorities point to the location of
Eden in Arabia. The " four heads " or mouths of
the rivers {= seas) are probably the Persian Gulf
(east), the Gulf of Aden (south), the Caspian Sea
(north), and the Red Sea (west). The first river,
Pison, piobably refers to the Indus, which encircles
Hindustan, confirming the Targum Yerushalmi.
The second river, Gihon, is the Nile in its circuitous
course around Ethiopia, connecting with the Gulf
of Aden. The third river, Hiddekel, is the Tigris,
which has its course in the front (riOlp) of Assur
(= Persia), speaking from the writer's point of view
in Palestine. Some explain tlie difficulty of finding
the courses of the rivers by supposing that since the
Deluge these rivers have either ceased to exist, en-
tirely or in part, or have found subterranean outlets.
Indeed, the compiler of the Midrash ha Gadol ex-
presses himself as follows: "Eden is a certain place
on earth, but no creature knows where it is, and the
Holy One, blessed be He! will onlj' reveal to Israel
the way to it in the days of the king Messiah " (Midr.
ha-Gadol, ed. Schechter, col. 75).
The boundary line between the natural and super-
natural Gan Eden is hardly perceptible in Talmudic
literature. In fact, "Gan Eden and heaven were
created by one Word [of God], and the chambers of
the Gan Eden are constructed as those of heaven,
and as heaven is lined with rows of stars, so Gan
Eden is lined with rows of the rigliteous, who shine
like the stars" (Aggadat Shirha-Shirim, pp. 13, 55).
The leviathan disturbs the waters of
Earthly the seas, and would have destroyed
and the life of all human beings by the
Heavenly bad breath of his mouth, but for the
Gan Eden, fact that he occasionally puts his head
through the opening of Gan Eden, the
spicy odor issuing from which acts as an antiseptic
to liis bad smell (B.B.75a). Hiyya bar Hanina says
that God had prepared for Adam ten canopies of
various precious stones in Gan Eden, and quotes
Ezek. xxviii. 13 (B. B. 75a). This, according to the
Midrash, relates to the celestial Gan Eden. The Zo-
har claims for everything on earth a prototype above
(Yitro 82a). Nahmanides also says that the narra-
tive of Eden in Genesis has a double meaning, that
besides the earthly Gan Eden and the four rivers
there are their prototypes in lieaven (Commentary
to Gen. iv. 13). See Paradise.
s. s. J. D. E.
In Arabic Literature : The Arabic word for
Eden is " 'Adn," which, according to the commenta-
tors and lexicographers, means " fixed residence, " i.e. ,
the everlasting abode of the faithful. " 'Adn," pre-
ceded by " jannat " (gardens), occurs ten times in the
Koran (suras ix. 73, xiii. 23, xvi. 33, xviii. 30, xix.
62. XX. 78, xxxv. 30, xxxviii. 50, xl. 8, xli. 12), but
always as the abode of the righteous and never as the
residence of Adam and Eve, which occurs in the
Koran only under the name of " jannah " (garden),
although the Mosleni commentators agree in call-
89
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Eden
£dessa
ing it " Jannat ' Adn " (the Garden of Eden). In sura
ii. 23 occur the words : " And we have said to Adam :
' Stay with thy wife in the garden [" fi al-januah "j, ' "
which Baidawi explains: -'The garden liere is the
'Daral-Tliawab' [The House of Recompense], whicli
is the fourth of the eight heavens." According to
tlie Koran, the gardens of Eden are in lieaven, and
form a part of the blissful abode of the believers.
Insuraii. 23 it gives the command : "Announce that
tlie believers will reside in delightful gardens," on
which Baic.lawi remarks: "According to Vm al-'Ab-
bus, there are seven gardens, one of which is called
' Firdaus ' [Paradi.sc] and one ''Adn' [Eden]."
Hence there is a difliculty as to the p]deu from
wliicli Adam was cast out. Baidawi says on sura
ii. 23: "Some people have thought that this Eden
was situated in the country of the Philistines, or
between Persia and Karman. God created it in
order to put Adam to the test." Mohammed Tahir
("Majma' al-Bihar," p. 220), speaking of the tradi-
tion that the rivers Jaihun and Jaihan are rivers
of the garden ("al-jannah"), says: "The terms are
figurative, implying that faith extended to those
regions and made them rivers of paradise." In
another place (tb. p. 164) lie says: "The four rivers,
Sihan [Jaxartes], Jaihan [Gihou], Furat [Euphrates],
and Nil [Nile], are rivers of paradise." Abu Mo-
hammed Mu'afa al-Shaibani, author of the " Uns al-
Mimkati'in," states the following tradition : " When
God created the Garden of Eden, He created in it
that which the eye had never seen before, that which
the car had never heard of before, and that which
had never been desired before by man's heart."
There is another tradition that God, liaving created
the Garden of Eden, ordered it to speak. Tlic gar-
den pronounced the following words: "There is no
God besides Allah. " The garden was ordered to
speak a second time, and it added: "The faithful
will be happy." After a tliird order it said : "Misers
or hypocrites will never enter me." Wahb ibn Mu-
nabbahsaj'S: " Tliere is a tradition that the Garden
of Eden has eight gates, the porters of which must
not let anybody come in before tliose who despise
earthly things and prefer those of heaven." Ac-
cording to one tradition the tree of life was a stalk
of wheat — which in the days of Adam grew to the
size of a tree — a vine, a fig-tree, or a " tree that who-
ever eats of it grows young again " (Baidawi, Com-
mentary on Koran, sura ii. 33). Weil, in "Biblische
Legenden der Propheten," gives some interesting
traditions in regard to Eden and Satan.
Bini.ior.RArnY : Hiiplies, Dictionary of Islam, s.v. Eden;
D'Herbelot, Bihiinlheqne Orientale, i. 166; Mohammed
Tahir. Majma^ al-Bihar, pp. 164,225; A. Geiger, Judaism
and Islam, pp. 32, SJ.Madras, 1878.
E. G. n. M. Sel.
EDER, EDAK : 1. A place near Ephrath, i.e.,
Bethlehem. Jacob, while journeying from Bethle-
hem to Hebron, encamped " beyond the tower of
Eder" ("Migdal-'eder," Gen. xxxv. 21). The name
"Migdal-'eder," signifying " tower of the flock," was
probably derived fr<Mn a tower used as a lookout for
robbers (comp. Micah iv. 8).
2. ^ city in Judah " toward the border of Edom in
the .south " (Josh. xv. 21, R. V.), identified by Conder
with Khirbat al-'Adar, five miles south of Gaza.
3. A Levite of the Merari clan, a contemporar}'
of David (I Chron. xxiii. 23, xxiv. 30).
4. A Benjamite chief (A. V. "Ader," I Chron.
viii. 1;-)).
K. c. II. E. I. N.
EDERSHEIM, ALFRED: Christian theolo-
gian and missionary to the Jews; born at Vieima, of
Jewish parents, March 7, 1825; died at Menton
]\Iarchl6, 1889. He embraced Christianity in 1846,
and was for some time a missionary to the Jews in
Jassy, Rumania. After having been successively a
Presbyterian and a member of the Free Church, he
joined the Episcopalians, settling at Oxford in 1882.
His last ecclesiastical appointment was that of vicar
of Loders, Dorsetshire, which he resigned in 1883.
Edersheim's works include: "A History of the
Jewish Nation After the Destruction of Jerusalem,"
1856; "The Temple; Its Ministry and Services,"
1874; "Life of Jesus, the Messiah," 2 vols., 1883 (his
most important work); "Prophecy and History in
Relation to the Messiah," being his Warburtonian
Lectures; and a commentary on Ecclesiasticus, in
Wace's commentary on the Apocrypha.
BiBLiOGRAPUY : Tnhu va Bofiu, (Edersheim's autobio(?raph.7),
Lon(\on,\»^); Dirt. National Biograpliji, s.\ .; The Times
(London), March 20, 1889.
s. J.
EDESSA (UrJiai, 'Oapo>/v>/): The present Urfa,
a city in the vilayet of Aleppo, Asiatic Turkey. No
mention of the name is found in Jewish writings,
except, perhaps, in Yoma 10a (n3"lX or niDnX;
Neubauer, "G. T." p. 346; but explained by Jas-
trow, s. V. , as Warka in southern Mesopotamia). Tlie
Targum Yer. has DIH ("Edessa ") for "^-is in Gen.
X. 10. Jews certainly lived here in earlj' times.
One of the pre-Christian rulers, Bakru I., son of
Phradasht (115-112), is said to liave been saved by
a Jewess named Kutbi, whom the Mesopotamians
afterward adored as a goddess (Cureton, "Spicile-
gium Syriacum," 25, 11). At the beginning of the
first century c.e. a Parthian family ruled here,
whose first member was Abgar YIL, son of Izates,
son of Helena of Adiabene. "When Addai, the apos-
tle, came to Edessa, he is said to have stayed at the
house of a Jew named Tobias, and to have converted
many of his host's coreligionists. The influence of
the Jews is seen as well in the fact that the Peshitta
translation — with its Jewish tendencies — was made
in Edessa, as in the Jewish material if) be found
in the writings of such Syriac Church fathers as St.
Ephraim. The old Edessan chronicle mentions at
least two synagogues (xmn KDlw' D^ll one of
which was turned by Bishop Rabbuia (412) into the
chapel of Mar Stephen (though Heller reads KHiy,
a Christian sect); the notice is repeated in pseudo-
Dionysius of Tellmahre and by Bar Hebra>us. The
latter relates also ("Eccl. Chron." i. 359) that the
Moslem Mohammed ibn Tahir built a mosque in 825
where formerly there had been a synagogue. The
city was visited by Pedro de Texeira (seventeenth
century) and Benjannn II. (c. 1860); both report
the legends which comiect the place with Abraham
because of its proximity to Harran. The Syriac
]\Iidrasli identifies -|-|X with Edessji. as in Targum
Yer. (Budge, " The Bee," p. 37 ; Bezold. " Die Scliatz-
Edinburg'h
Edrehi
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
40
hOlile," p. 154). The liouse where Abraham was
born and the furnace into wliich he was thrown by
Nimrod are still to be seen, and the great mosque still
bears the name "Klialil al-Rahman " {i.e., "Abra-
ham "). The house of Job is also to be seen, and, ac-
cording to Julius Africanus, the tent of Jacob was
preserved here. According to Benjamin II., the
city had, in his day, 150 Jewish inhabitants; accord-
ing to Cuinet, the whole sanjak, of which Urfa is
the capital, has at present about 367 Jews in a total
population of 143,483; the city itself 323 in a total
of 55,000.
Bibliography : Rubens Duval, HisUiire . . . d'E de-nnc, pp. 16
e.tstq.x L. Hallier, Untersuchxingenilber die Edess. Chronik,
pp. 8, 106 ; Bonet Maury, In Rev. Hist, des Relig. xvi. 281 ;
Cuinet, Turquie en Asie, s.v.).
J. G.
EDINBURGH: Capital of Scotland. When the
Jews began to settle in Scotland early in the nine-
teenth century, they appear to have been attracted
in the first instance to Edinburgh. The first regular
synagogue was established in 1816 with twenty fam-
ilies. This synagogue was situated in a lane off
Nicholson street. After a year the congregation
moved to a small hall in Richmond Court ; and here
it remained until it acquired a synagogue in Park
Place, the old Ross House having been adapted
for the purpose (1868). The congregation worshiped
here until quite recent years. The present syna-
gogue in Graham street was erected in 1897. Until
1880 there was only one synagogue in Edinburgh.
By that time a number of foreign families, princi-
pally engaged in the water-proof clothing industry,
had settled in the Dairy quarter of the city, and they
formed a congregation and erected a small place of
worship in Caledonian Crescent.
The original cemetery of the Edinburgh Jews was
situated near the Causeway side. This ceased to be
used about a quarter of a century ago, when a por-
tion of the Echo Bank Cemetery was acquired and
railed off for Jewish purposes.
The first minister was the Rev. Moses Joel of
London, who continued in office forty-six years,
until his death in 1862. He was succeeded in the
order named by Elkan, Rosebaum, Abraham Har-
field (1864-66), B. Rittenberg (1867-73), Albu, and S.
Davidson. J. Fiirst, a native of Courland, educated
at the rabbinical college of Wilna, has been the min-
ister since 1879.
Edinburgh has three Jewish charities: a benevo-
lent loan society, a board of guardians, and a lying-
in society. A Hebrew school is attached to the
Graham Street Synagogue; and there is a Jewish
literary society as well as a Jewish amateur orches-
tral society. The Jews number (1908) about 2,000
in a total population of 317,000.
Bibliography: Edinburgh Eveninp Express, March 39, 1883 ;
Jewish Year Book 566.3 (= 1902-3).
J. L H.
EDINGEB, MABKUS : German deputy ; born
at Worms Jan. 14, 1808; died at Mannheim Feb. 9,
1879. He was the first Jew summoned by the gov-
ernment to act as juror, serving at Mayence in 1847.
It was he who brought about at Mayence, in spite
of the passionate opposition of the Orthodox, the
holding of regular synagogue .services in German.
He took an active part in politics, hi 1848 he was
one of the leaders of the Democratic party, and his
services were acknowledged in the following year
when he was elected mayor, while in 1850 he was
sent as deputy to the Upper House of Hesse— a dis-
tinction rarely enjoyed by a Jew in those days. The
success of the reactionary party in 1853 obliged him
to retire from his office for a time.
s. S. Ro.
EDOM, IDUMEA (DHX, 'l<^ov/iaia): Edom is
the name which was given to Esau, the first-born
son of Isaac, on the day he sold his birthright to
Jacob for a mess of pottage, the reddish color of which
gives it its name— "Adom" (Gen. xxv. 30). The
country which was subsequently inhabited by Esau
and his descendants was called "the field of Edom"
(Gen. xxxii. 3, R. V.) or "the land of Edom" (Gen.
xxxvi. 16 ; Num. xxxiii. 37). " Edom " in the Bible
is also used as an equivalent for " Edomites, " though
the expression "the children of Edom" occurs but
once (Ps. cxxxvii. 7). The country had before that
been called "Mount Seir" (Gen. xxxii. 4 [Hebr.],
xxxvi. 8), from "Seir" the progenitor of the Horites,
who lived there previously (Gen. xiv. 6; xxxvi. 20,
21). According to Josephus ("Ant." i. 18, §1), the
name " Seir " is due to the fact that Esau was liairy
(Gen. xxv. 25), but according to Gen.
Biblical xiv. 6, the mountain was called " Seir "
Data. long before Esau's birth. The bound-
aries of Edom are very concisely de-
fined: The country stretched along the route
followed by the Israelites from the Sinaitic peninsula
to Kadesh-barnea, that is, along the east side of the
valley of Arabah. Southward it reached as far as
Elath, which was the seaport of Edom (Deut. i. 2 ; ii.
1, 8). On the north of Edom was the territory of
Moab (Judges xi. 17, 18; II Kings iii. 8, 9). The
boundary between Moab and Edom was the brook
Zered (Deut. ii. 13, 14, 18). The ancient capital of
Edom was Bozrah (Gen. xxxvi. 33; Isa. xxxiv. 6,
Ixiii. 1, et al ). In the time of Amaziah (838 b.c),
Selah (UeTpa) was its principal stronghold(II Kings
xiv. 7); Elath and Ezion-gaber its seaports (I Kings
ix. 26).
Contrary to the promise of Isaac that Esau's
dwelling would be of the fatness of the earth and of
the dew of heaven (Gen. xxvii. 39), Edom was a
rocky and calcareous country. Esau is described as
a man who subsisted by hunting (Gen. xxv. 27 et
passim), as his descendants, the Edomites, did, living
amid rocky fastnesses and mountain heights (Jer.
xlix. 16; Obad. 3, 4). The name "Mount Seir" or
" Mount of Esau " shows that Edom was a mountain-
ous country, and therefore it was called by later
writers " Gebalcne " (the mountainous).
According to the Bible, immediately after Isaac's
death Esau settled in Mount Seir (Gen. xxxvi. 6, 8),
where he had lived before (Gen. xxxii. 3). The
Edomites soon became powerful enough to extirpate
the Horites, the former inhabitants of
Rulers of the country (Deut. ii. 12), whose ways
Edom. of life they adopted. As among the
Horites, each tribe was ruled by a
prince or chief (C|1^N), whose position resembled
probably that of an Arab sheik (Gen. xxxvi. 15-19,
29-30). Later the Edomites organized themselves
41
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Edinburgh
£drehi
into a kingdom, and had had eight kings when the
first king in Israel began his reign {ib. xxxvi. 31-
39). However, a list of chiefs given after that of
the kings {ib. xxxvi. 40-43) shows that subordinate
chiefs ruled under the sovereignty of the king. In
the time of Moses both chiefs and king are mentioned
(Ex. XV. 15; Num. xx. 14). When the King of
Edom refused to allow the children of Israel to pass
through his land on their way to the land of Canaan
the Israelites were expressly ordered not to wage war
upon the Edomites, but to go round their country
(Num. XX. 14-31; Deut. ii. 4-6). Neither did the
King of Edom attempt hostilities against the Israel-
ites, though he prepared to resist aggression.
Nothing further is heard of the Edomites until their
defeat by Saul four hundred years later (I Sam. xiv.
47); forty years later David overthrew the Edomites
in the " valley of salt," and his general Joab slew all
their males (II Sam. viii. 13, 14; I Kings xi. 15, 16).
Hadad, one of the royal family, fled to Egypt, and
after David's death returned and endeavored to ex-
cite his countrymen to rebellion; failing in which he
went to Syria {ib. xi. 14-22; Josephus, "Ant." viii.
7, § 6). From that time Edom remained subject to
Israel. David placed over the Edomites Israelite
governors or prefects (D^TVJ : II Sam. viii. 14), and
this form of government seems to have continued
under Solomon. When Israel divided into two
kingdoms Edom became a dependency of Judah. In
the time of Jehoshaphat (914 B.C.) a king of Edom
is mentioned (II Kings iii. 9, 10, 13, 26), who was
probably a Judean appointed by the King of Judah.
It is stated further (II Chron. xx. 10-23) that the
inhabitants of Mount Seir invaded Judea in conjunc-
tion with Ammon and Moab, and that the invaders
turned against one another and were all destroyed.
Edom revolted against Jehoram, elected a king of
its own, and afterward retained its independence
(II Kings viii. 20-22; II Chron. xxi. 8). Amaziah
attacked the Edomites, and slew 10,000 in battle;
10,000 more being dashed to pieces from the cliffs.
Their stronghold, Selah, was taken, but the Israelites
were never able to subdue Edom completely (II
Kings xiv. 7; II Chron. xxv. 11, 12).
In the time of Nebuchadnezzar the Edomites took
an active part in the plunder of Jerusalem and in
the slaughter of the Jews (Ps. cxxxvii. 7; Obad.
11, 13, 14). It is on account of these cruelties that
Edom was so violently denounced by the Prophets
(Isa. xxxiv. 5-8; Jer. xlix. 7-22; Obad. passim).
Edom is mentioned in the cuneiform inscriptions in
the form " Udumi " (u) ; three of its kings are known
from the same source: Kaus-malaka at the time of
Tiglath-pileser {c. 745), Malik-rammu at the time
of Sennacherib {c. 705), and Kaus-gabri at the time
of Esarhaddon (c. 680). According to the Egyptian
inscriptions, the "aduma" at times extended their
possessions down as far as the borders of Egypt
(Milller, "Asien und Europa," p. 135). After the
conquest of Judah by the Babylonians, the J^dom-
ites were allowed to settle in southern Palestine.
At the same time they were driven by the Naba-
taeans from Idumea. In southern Palestine thej^
prospered for more than four centuries. Judas
Maccabeus conquered their territory for a time (B.C.
163; "Ant." xii. 8, §§ 1, 6). They were again sub-
dued by John Hyrcanus (c. 125 B.C.), by whom they
were forced to observe Jewish rites and laws {ib. xiii.
9, § 1 ; xiv. 4, § 4). They were then incorporated
with the Jewish nation, and their coun-
Post- try was called by the Greeks and Ro-
Biblical mans "Idumea" (Mark iii. 8; Ptol-
Times. emy, "Geography," v. 16). With
Antipater began the Idumean dynasty
that ruled over Judea till its conquest by the Ro-
mans. Immediatel}' before the siege of Jerusalem
20,000 Idumeans, under the leadership of John, Sim-
eon, Phinehas, and Jacob, appeared before Jerusalem
to fight in behalf of the Zealots who were besieged
in the Temple (Josephus, " B. J." iv. 4, § 5).
From this time the Idumeans ceased to be a sepa-
rate people, though the name "Idumea" still exiti.ed
the time of Jerome.
According to the Law (Deut. xxiii. 8, 9), the con-
gregation could not receive descendants of a mar-
riage between an Israelite and an Edomite until the
fourth generation. This law was a subject of con-
troversy between R. Simeon and other Talmudists,
who maintained that female descendants were also
excluded until the fourth generation, contrary to R.
Simeon, who regarded the limitation as applicable
in only to male descendants (Yeb. 76b).
The name " Edom " is used by the Talmudists for
the Roman empire, and they applied to Rome every
passage of the Bible referring to Edom or to Esau.
In Leviticus Rabbah (xiii.) Rome, under the name of
"Edom," is compared to a boar, and the symbolic
name " Seir " was used by the poets of the Middle
Ages not only for Rome (comp. Ec-
TJse clus. 1. 26, Hebr.), but also for Chris-
ofName. tianity (Zunz, "Literaturgesch." p.
620). On this account the word
"Edom " was often expunged by the censor and an-
other name substituted (Popper, " Censorship of He-
brew Books," p. 58). In place of "Edom," the word
" Hazir " (swine) was occasionally used, perhaps as
a mere term of reproach (but see Epstein, " BeitrSge
zur Jild. Alterthumskuude," p. 85). In Midrash
Tanhuma Bereshit, Hadrian is called " the King of
Edom." The Talmudists, however, made an excep-
tion in favor of Antoninus Pius, whom they assured
would attain paradise, because he had not acted in
the manner of Esau ('Ab. Zarah 10b). 'Abodah
Zarah 10a, however, explaining Obadiah, verse 2,
says that Edom had neither written nor spoken lan-
guage. This is inconsistent with its application to
Rome. See Teman.
Bibliography : Buhl, Die- Edomiter, 1893; NOldeke, In Cheyne
and Black, Encyc. Bibl. 11. 1181 ; Trumbull, Kadesh Barnea;
Baethgen, Beitrtige zur Semit. BeliQionsgesch. p. 10 : Hom-
mel. Ancient Hebr. Trad., Index ; Rapoport, Erech Millin,
p. 14.
G. M. Sel.
EDBEHI, MOSES: Moroccan cabalist and
teacher of modern and Oriental languages of the
earlier part of the nineteenth century; born in Mo-
rocco; resided in Amsterdam and in England. He
was the author of: " Yad Mosheh," sermons for the
festivals, Amsterdam, 1809, "Ma'aseh Nissim," an
account of the River Sambatyon, London, 1834 (of
this a Hebrew and a German edition appeared at Am-
sterdam, 1818) ; " An Historical Account of the Ten
:Edrei
Education
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
42
Tribes, Settled Beyond the River Sambatyon in the
East," London, 1836. Edrehi was a firm believer
in tlie existence some-
where in western
Asia of the Ten
Tribes.
Edrehi appears to
have been in Edin-
burgh in 1829, for in
Jnne of that year
there appeared in
"Blackwood's Mag-
azine" one of Chris-
t o p h e r North's
"Noctes Anibrosi-
an;e, "devoted in large
measure to Edrehi's peculiarities. His long beard
and Oriental costume, and the mixture of tongues
lie employed to convey his meaning, are all ad-
verted to with kindly humor.
Bodl. col. 1799; Zediier,
Moses Edrehi.
Bibliography : Steinschneider, Cat.
Cat. Hebr. Books Brit. Mus. s.v.
G. L.
EDREI : Ancient city in the Jordan valley, at
present Der'at, southeast of Muzerib. The city is ap-
parently mentioned as "Otara" in Egyptian inscrip-
tions. In the Old Testament Ashtaroth and Edrei
are referred to as the capital cities of King Og(Josh
xii. 4, xiii. 12). According to Num. xxi. 33 and
Deut. i. 4, Og was defeated in a battle at this place.
Edrei is mentioned as a boundary of the Israelitish
conquests (Deut. iii. 10) and as situated in the terri-
tory of Manasseh lying bevond the Jordan (Josh
xiii 31). Then the city disappears from historical
notice, and it is met again onl}' in post-Biblical
times After Pompey's conquest of the land, the city
belonged to the Roman province of Syria, later to
the province of Arabia. Eusebius calls it " Adraa "
It was the seat of a Christian bishop. Part of the
Jews whom Mohammed drove from Medina came
to "Adra'at," as the Arabs called the city. In the his
tory of the Crusades, " Adratum " is spoken of. The
present comparatively populous city contains few
ruins, as the old city was completely destroyed. A
great Roman aqueduct ran from the city to Mukes.
Extensive subterranean dwellings, forming an entire
city, are one of the remarkable features of Der'at.
BiBMOfiRAPiiv : W. Max Muller, Asicn tind Eiiropa. p, 139;
Weustein, Riii<i:hpriclit, p. 47: Schumacher, Across the Jor-
dan, pp. 1-148; Z. D. P. V. xi. 40; Schurer, Gcsch. ii. IG.
E. G. II. F. Bi:
EDRIS. See Enoch i\ Akaiuc Litkuatuue
EDUCATION.— Biblical and Pre-Talmud-
ical Data : The moral autl religious training of the
people from childhood up was regarded by the Jews
from the very beginning of their history as one of
the principal objects of life. Of Abraham the Lord
says : " I have singled him out [A. and K. V. " known
him "] to the end that he may command his children
and his household after him that they keep the way of
the Lord to do justice and judgment" (Gen. xviii.
19, Hebr.). All the festivals and ceremonies have
for their object the inculcation of religious and moral
lessons in the children (Ex. xii. 2(iet scq. ; xiii. 8, 14;
Deut. iv. ^et seq. ; vi. 20ctseq. ; xxxii. 7. 40) Espe-
cially are the fundamentals of the faith coupled with
the admonition to teach the childien and bring its
truths by words and signs constantly and impress-
ively to their consciousness (Deut. vi. 7, ix. 19).
The whole Law was at an early stage utilized for
public instruction. The Deuteronomic law, what-
ever its contents were, was to be written "very
clearly " on large stones on the highways, that all
the people might read (Deut. xxvii. 1-8); and while
each king or leader was to keep a copy of the Law
and read therein all the days of his life (Deut. xvii.
18;comp. Josh. i. 8), all the people, "the men, women,
and the little ones," were to assemble every seventh
year at the close of the Sukkot festival to hear and
to learn the Law. Out of this Biblical ordinance
was evolved the custom of completing one consecu-
tive reading of the Pentateuch at the Sabbath serv-
ices within every three years (probably seven orig-
inally, later three and one-half, finally one year:
Schurer, "Gesch." 3d ed., ii. 455; see Pentateuch
and Liturgy). This custom, however, of reading
the Law every Sabbath in public is so old that Jose-
phus("Contra Ap."ii. 17; "Ant."xvi. 2, §4), Philo
("De Septennario," 6), and Eusebius (" Praeparatio
Evangelica," viii. 7, 12) assign its origin to Moses
(comp. Acts XV. 21).
At any rate "Torah," denoting originally "Law "
(Ex. xxiv. 12; Lev. vi. 2, vii. 1, xxvi. 46), assumed
in the course of time the meaning of "religious
teaching " (Deut. i. 5, iv. 44; Mai. ii. 7; Ps. xix 8;
cxix. 71, 174; Prov. iii. 1. iv. 2, vi. 23, vii. 2),
and religion to the Jew became the synonym of
common instruction. For a long time the priests
and Levites, as the keepers of the Law, were the
main instructors of the people (Deut. xxxi. 9,
xxxiii 10; Jer ii. 8, xviii. 8; Mai. ii. 6; II Chron.
xvii. 7; Book of Jubilees, xxxi. 15). According to
ancient rabbinical tradition, the tribe of Issachar
produced many teachers of the Law (Gen. R. Ixxii.,
xcix. ; Sifre, Debarim, 354, based on I Chron. xi.
33) ; also the descendants of Jethro the Kenite are
singled out as teachers (Mek., Yitro, 2; Ab. R. N.
XXXV., after I Chron ii. 55).
The recital of the chapters Shema' and Wehayah
Im Shamoa' (Deut. vi. 4-9, xi. 13-21) in the daily
liturgy instituted by the founders of the Synagogue
impressed each father with the obligation of teach-
ing his children. Josephus ("Contra Ap." i. 12, ii.
18-25; "Ant." iv. 8, § 12), and Philo ("Legatio ad
Caium," 16, 31) point with pride to the fact that
Jewish children were from earliest childhood in-
structed and trained in the Law and the traditions
of their fathers. The Books of Wisdom contain
many pedagogic rules. Father and mother are re-
garded as the child's natural instructors (Prov. i. 8,
iv. 1, vi. 20, xiii. 1, xxxi. 7; Ecclus. [Sirach] xxx.
1-13) ; " fear of the Lord," as the chief part or begin-
ning of knowledge (Prov. i.7; comp ix. 10) The
application of "the rod of correction" is often rec-
ommended (Prov. xiii. 24; xix. 18; xxii. 15; xxiii.
13; xxix. 15, 17), though to the intelligent re-
proof is better than a hundred stripes (xvii. 10). Tiie
chief admonition is to train the child at the right
age (xxii. 6), and the child's life itself is to be a con-
tinual training (Prov. i. 2, 7, 8). The daughters
probably remained under the supervision of the
motlier until their marriage (Cant. viii. 5).
43
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Edrei
Education
From the hands of the parents, whose place in
roj\il houses Avas taken by tutors (D^JDIX: II Kings
X. 1, 5; comp. II Sam. xii. 25), the child passed into
the hands of i:)rofcssional teachers (D'lID or D^"Id!5D:
Prov. V. 13; Ps. cxix. 99), called also "the wise"
(Prov. xiii. 21). The public teachers were also
termed D''J''30 (Neh. viii. 7; Ezra viii. 16; I Chron.
XXV. 8) and D''^"'3tJ>0 (Dan. xi. 83, 35; xii. 3). Tlie
pupils (D^IO^, Isa. viii. 16, liv. 13; or Dn''D^n. I
Chron. xxv. 8) were addressed as "children" (Ps.
xxxiv. 12; Prov. i. 8; Ecclus. [Sirach] ii. 1; iii. 1,
17, and frequently; see also Didache).
It is interesting to note that tJie commandment
"teach them diligently to thy children" (Deut. vi,
8) was referred to the instruction of pupils (I7X "I'J37
*]n*D?n) at a time when the propagation of the Law
was made the chief aim of life (Sifre, Debarim, 34;
comp. Abot i. 1-2; Peah i. 1), and the synagogues
were called " places for instruction " (Philo, " De
Vita Moysis," iii. 27). It is quite characteristic of
Judaism that the prophetic ideal of the future is of the
time when " the earth shall be full of the knowledge
of the Lord as the waters cover the sea " (Isa. xi. 9),
when all will know the Lord, "from the least of
them unto the greatest of them " (Jer. xxxi. 34).
The time of King Hezekiah was believed to be of
this kind, when men, women, and children alike
studied and knew the Torah (Sanh. 94b).
How old the institution of the KmOH n"'3. or
schoolhouse, is, first mentioned in Ecclus. (Sirach)
li. 23, it is difficult to say (see Bet ha Midrash).
Bibi.iographt: Hasting, Diet. Bible, s.v.; Cheyne and Black,
Encuc. Bihl. s.v.; Hamburger, R. B. T. s.v. Erzieliuim and
Untcrricht ; Schiirer, Oesch. ii. 3, 419-426.
E. G. II. K.
In Talmudical Times : Tlie period of book-
learning or of the scribes ("soferim ") has received
its name from the practise of transcribing and com-
menting on the Book of the Law. In the latter
years of the kingdom of Judah, and more especially
under the discipline of the Exile, the religious
teachings and the moral principles of the Law and
the Prophets had assumed definite shape as the be-
lief and religion of the people. After tlie end of the
Exile it became necessary to preserve these teach-
ings and the documents containing them. The
education of the people passed from the hand of the
prophet into those of the scribe or "sofer" (Mai. iv.
4). This period is introduced by Ezra the Scribe,
who is extolled as the " restorer of the Torah "
(Suk. 20a); and just as a band of disciples gathered
around Samuel, so men gathered around Ezra, who,
following Samuel's example, read the Law to the peo
pie distinctly and explained its meaning (Neh. viii. 5
ftseq.). Ezra belonged to the priestly caste, to whom
the task of education fell from this time forward,
"for the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and
they should seek the law^ at his mouth : for he is the
messenger of the Lord of hosts" (Mai. ii. 7). Indeed,
the body of scribes came from among the Levites
(Neh I.e. ; II Chron. xxxv. 3, where the educational
activity of the Levites is by an anachronism trans
ferrcd to an earlier period) Tiu> iiicn thus engaged
are designated as D'J'3^ "r D^^'3CD. '■^•, expound
ers of the Torah. Here for the first time in Jewish
history is an organized body of teachers. The Proph
ets liad been replaced by the priests ; these in turn
were succeeded by the scribes, " the wise " (comp.
B. B. 12a, N-'^JO Piny D3n). The latter are described
in Dan. xii. 3 as the teachers, D^^^JK'Dn; "they that
be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firma-
ment; and they that turn many to righteousness, as
the stars for ever and ever." The Talmud refers the
second clause to the teachers. The study of Scrip-
ture grew to be the central point of the life of the
people, and divided them into two classes, the erudite
scribe (" hakam " or " haber ") and the unlettered class
(" 'amha-arez"; compare Josephus, "Ant." i., end).
The scribes at first restricted their educational
activities to adults, delivering free lectures in syna
gogues and schools (see Bet ha-Midrash), while
the education of children remained, as in olden times,
in the hands of their fathers. But as boys often
lacked this advantage, the state employed teach-
ers in Jerusalem (B. B. 21a), to whose
The care the children from the provinces
Reform of were entrusted ; and as these did not
Simon suffice, schools were also established
ben Shetah. in the country towns. This arrange-
ment must probably be referred to an
ordinance of R. Simon b. Shetah (Yer. Ket. viii.,
end), who was one of the presidents of the Sanhedrin
during the last century of the Jewish state. These
district schools were intended only for youths of
sixteen and seventeen years of age who could pro-
vide for themselves away from home. The high
priest Joshua b. Gamla instituted public schools
for boys six and seven years of age in all the cities
of Palestine, and on this account he was praised as
the man who prevented teaching in Israel from
being altogether neglected. It was said that no man
who pretended to the title "Talmid hakam" ought
to live in a place where there were no teachers for
children (Sanh. 17b). One teacher was employed
for every twenty-five boys If the number reached
forty, he was given an assistant ("resh dukna";
B. B. I.e.). Many rabbinical sayings indicate the
extraordinary value placed by the Rabbis on educa-
tion, on the school, and on the teacher. R. Eleazar
b. Shamua' said:
" Let the honor of thy pupil be as much to thee as thine own.
and the honor of thy companion [" haber"] as much as the rev-
erence for thy teacher, and the reverence for thy teacher as much
as the reverence for God" (Ab. iv. 13). "The study of the
Torah outweighs all other religious commands" (Peah i. 1).
"Touch not my anointed [i's. cv. 15]: this refers to the school
children : and do not offend my prophets : this refers to ihe
teachers." " By the breath from the mouth of school children
the world is sustained" (Shab. 119b). "Teaching must not be
interrupted even for the reestablishment of the sanctuary in
Jerusalem" (i7).). "Instruct thy son with the assistance of a
good text" (Pes. 112a). " The advantage of reviewing Is un-
limited : to review 101 times is better than to review 100 times "
(Hag. ix. 6). " As I have taught you without pay, says God, so
must you do likewise " (Ned. 36a).
The duty to give free instruction refers, however,-
only to teaching in the academics, not to elementary
instruction. Women were excluded from this in-
struction. While, on the one hand,
Education they were required to be taught the
of Women. Torah, on the other Iiand it Avas said
by R. Eleazar that he who instructs
his daughter in the Law is like one who teaches her
indecorous things (Sotah iii. 4). Yet there were
Education
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
44
always educated, even learned, women. These prin-
ciples obtained throughout the Middle Ages. Since
religion entered into the whole sphere of life, as in
determining the calendar, in agriculture, etc., astron-
omj'and mathematics formed an integral part of in-
struction. Indeed, it is said that knowledge of these
sciences reflected honor upon Israel in the eyes of
the nations (Shab. 7oa, with reference to Deut. iv.
6). Furthermore, it was the duty of a father to
let his son learn a trade, not only that he might be
able to support himself, but also because a one-sided
intellectual occupation with the Torah was not con
sidered to be conducive to success, but rather a
drawback from a moral point of view (Ab. ii. 2;
Kid. 29a). Accord-
ing to one opinion,
a father was in duty
bound to have his
son taught even
swimming (Kid.
I.e.).
"With the dissolu-
tion of the Jewish
state, the Jewish
system of educa-
tion, while preserv-
ing intact its main
characteristics, be-
gan to be differen-
tiated according to
the varying sur-
roundings and ovit-
ward circumstances
of the Diaspora. In
Egypt and in other
countries along the
Mediterranean, Ju-
daism succumbed to
Hellenism; but in
Palestine the former
conquered the latter
so completely that
after the destruc-
tion of the Temple
the scribes formal-
ly banished Greek
learning from the
Jewish schools
(Yer. Peah i. ; B.
K. 82b, 83a; Sotah 41a; Men. 64b, 99b).
uncompromising attitude toward "alien
German Jewish School of the Sixteenth Century.
(After a contemporary woodcut.)
But this
sciences "
has never been adhered to either in principle or in
practise. The Middle Ages furnish abundant proofs
that the Jews took a large part in the culture and
learning of the nations among which they dwelt.
Even after the dissolution of the Jewish state,
Palestine remained for some time the seat of the
patriarchy, and in consequence the center of Juda-
ism. The most momentous achievement of that
period was the final compilation of the
Post- Mishnah ; and this became the foimda-
Talmudic tionforall the lectures and discussions
Education, in the schools. Toward the end of
the fifth century this compilation was
edited under the name "Gemara" or "Talmud," and
became the principal subject for study in the schools
of the Diaspora. Babylon contributed largely to the
work through its flourishing academies in Nehardea,
Sura, and Punibedita. The schoolhouse ("sidra,"
from which the presiding officer was called "resh
sidra ") was visited by hundreds of pupils, who lis-
tened all day long to the lecturer or to his interpreter
(" meturgemau" ). Gatherings, also (" kallah"), which
attracted men from far and near, were held in the
spring and the full of the year At these gath-
erings lectures were delivered, important decisions,
or rules of conduct, were laid down, and rabbis were
appointed with certain formalities and ceremonies,
which served later as patterns for European universi-
ties (compare Jacob Alting, "Hebraeorum Republica
Scholastica,"p.l22,
Amsterdam, 1652).
D i s c o u r s es, also,
called "rigle." were
delivered on feast-
days. Every com-
munity had, in ad-
dition to the higher
schools ("metid-
tas"), preparatory or
elementary schools
-I2D; X^13DK = ff,to-
/■/) under direction
of elementary teach-
ers {''p'-['\^ npO;
J13TD = ~a"'a/W>o?),
where the children
were taught the He-
brew alphabet and
the Bible.
The influence of
Arabian civiliza-
tion in developing
the scope of Jewish
education is quite
noticeable. From
the middle of the
seventh century the
rector of the acad-
emy at Sura bore
the title "Gaon."
The Geonim, in-
stead of condemn-
ing secular knowl-
edge, considered it a means for advancing and
completing Jewish religious thought (Gratz, "Ge-
schichte," v. 268). It is fair to assume that at that
time, and in the homes of the great scholars of those
days, in both the Orient and the Occident, special
attention was paid to the system of education. A
proof of this is to be found in such works as the
"Testament" of Judah ibnTibbonof Granada (1120-
1190), as well as in the twenty-seventh chapter of the
"Cure of Souls," by Joseph b. Judah ibn Aknin of
Barcelona (end of twelfth century) Both writings
give in detail a number of rules for pedagogy and
for the course of instruction to be followed in the
schools Joseph ibn Aknin lays down the following
desiderata for the successful teacher. He must have
complete command of the subject he wishes to
teach; he must carry out in his own life the prin-
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S^_:^ ._ .^.._^___ _ _ ^ .J
Page from Elijah Mizrahi's '*Mispar," the First Hkbrew Arithmetic, Printed dy SOnci.\o» 1532.
(Iq the Culuutbia University Library, New York.)
Education
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
46
ciples he wishes to inculcate in his pupils; he must
exact no pay for his teaching; he must look upon
his pupils as if they were his own sons,
dualifica- and treat tliem accordingly ; he must
tions of train his pupils to lead an ethical life;
a Teacher, he must not be impatient, but come to
his pupils with a happy countenance;
and he must teach his pupils according to the range of
their intellectual abilities. The following order of
studies to be pursued is recommended: reading, wri-
ting, Torah, Mishnah, Hebrew grammar, poetry,
Talmud, philosophy of religion, logic, arithmetic,
geometry, optics, astronomy, music, mechanics,
medicine, and, lastly, metaphysics. Joseph also lays
down rules which the pupils are to follow. They
are to keep their bodies and souls pure ; not to be
ashamed to ask instruction in that in which they are
ignorant; not to think of future gain or that their
study has an ulterior object; to commence their
studies by learning the elements and principles upon
which science is built, to let no moment of the day
or of the night pass in idleness; to make the acquisi-
tion of wisdom an end in itself ; to leave their place
of residence for some other place famous for its
learning; and, lastly, to show their teachers even
greater honor than their parents.
From the thirteenth century onward the "seven
sciences " (mC3n T]]}2^), enumerated differently by
various writers, comprised the prescribed curricu-
lum among Jews as well as among Christians. Other
authors who insist upon having education and
teaching placed on a scientific basis are: Judah b.
Samuel b. Abbas in his "Ya'ir Netib" (c. 1250);
Shem-Tob b. Joseph Falaquera (died after 1290),
especially in his didactic novel " Ha-Mebakkesh " ;
Joseph Ezobi (c. 1250) in his didactic poem " Ka'arat
Kesef " ; and Profiat Duran of Catalonia (c. 1350) in
the introduction to his grammatical work "Ma'ase
Efod." Systematic Jewish education in Italy re-
ceived like care and encouragement, due in part to
the influence of scholars from Spain and Provence.
Deserving of mention in this connection are: Jacob
b. Abba Mari Anatolio of Provence; Zerahiah b.
Isaac of Barcelona, who lectured at Rome ; Kalony-
mus b. Kalonymus of Provence; and the native
Italian Jews Judah b. Moses of Rome and the poet
Immanuel. All these men, belonging to the thir-
teenth century, stimulated interest in the "alien
sciences " and in the scientific treatment of Jewish
literature. Numerous hints on pedagogy are scat-
tered throughout their works. The "Book on
Ethics," by Jehiel b. Jekutiel of Rome (1278). in
which are found together with the moral teachings
of the Rabbis maxims from Aristotle, Porphyry,
Theophrastus, and the emperor Frederick II., gives
the best view of the intellectual status of the Italian
Jews of the period.
Side by side with this scientific trend went the
endeavor to guard Jewish education against the in-
fluences of the current culture in so
In far as it was a menace to religion.
Northern This was the special work of the Jews
Europe. of northern France and of Germany,
where their Christian neighbors also
■were backward in learning. This one-sidedness
and concentration shaped the system of education
and teaching for the Jews of northern France and of
Germany. The so-called "Mahzor Vitry" of Sim-
hah b. Samuel, a pupil of Rashi, describes (^ 508)
how a child received its first instruction — a descrip
tion that is supplemented by the contemporaneous
" Sefer Asufot " :
On the Feast of Weeks, the day when the Law was proclaimed,
the child was handed over to the school with especial ceremony.
Having: been bathed and dressed, the boy was taken to the syna-
gogue at daybreak, and placed before the Torah, from which
was read the passage for the day (the Decalogue, Ex. xix. 16 et
scq.). Then he was led to his teachers. While on the way he
was wrapped in a shawl or a cloak to guard him from the evil
eye. The teacher took the child in his arms, and then set him
down. After this he took a slab upon which were written the
Qrst four and the last four letters of the Hebrew alphabet and
the sentences: " Moses commanded a law, even the inheritance
of the congregation of Jacob" (Deut. xxxiii. 4): "Let in-
struction be my vocation "; and the first verse of Leviticus. This
slab was placed at the head of the infant in his 'iradle when he
was named ; even in ancient times it was used for the first in-
struction with the idea that the slab which treated of the pure
(the sacrifices) should first occupy the attention of the pure (the
children). The teacher then pronounced slowly all the letters
of the alphabet, the pupil repeating them. The last four letters
were pronounced in their proper order as one word (riy-ip), and
also backward as one word (p-\'yr). The slab was smeared
with honey, which the child might lick off and taste as it were
the sweetness of instruction. There was also a honey-cake
made of three kinds of fine fiour, upon which were marked the
Biblical verses Ezek. iii. 3; Isa. i. 4, 5: Ps. cxlx. 9, 11, 12, 13, 34,
97, 130, 140.
There was also an egg inscribed with Biblical
verses — a supposed preventive of forgetfulness.
While reading the pupils were required to sway
their bodies and to recite to a certain tune, which
varied with the different parts of the Bible. The
text was translated into the vernacular. The chil-
dren soon advanced to the Mishnah and Talmud,
so that at thirteen years of age a boy had attained a
certain independence and was in a position to enter
the yeshibah or academy. Here he listened to lee
tures on the Talmud remarkable for their depth and
acuteness, and then took up the wan-
The dering life of the "bahur," which re-
Wandering sembles much that of the Christian
Scholar, bacchant or traveling scholar (see Ba-
hur). The constant influx of new ele-
ments stimulated the teaching at the academies, and
this again influenced the life of the Jewish congre-
gation. A picture of this life is to be found in the
" Book of the Pious," by Judah of Ratisbon. Com
pared with the surrounding Christians, the Jews are
seen to have been in no wise inferior to them, but, on
the contrary, somewhat superior because their intel-
lects were sharpened b}^ Talmudic studies. A Chris-
tian lay preacher, Sebastian Lotzer, refers to the ad
vantage enjoyed by the Jews in being instructed iu
the Law from their youth. The medieval period ends
in France with the expulsion of the Jews from that
country in 1395 ; in Germany with the persecution
of the Jews there in 1348; and in Spain and Sicily
with the expulsion of the Jews therefrom in 1492.
The ideas on education which the Spanish Jews
carried with them were developed more freely in
their new surroundings. In Italy especially, under
the influence of the revival of learning, this was
most apparent, as may be seen in the curriculum
published by David Provenzale, in Mantua in 1564.
for the educational institution which he had intended
to found. This curriculum includes the Bible and
47
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Education.
the Talmud with the best coninientaiies, Hebrew
grammar, Jewish philosophy, composition and cal-
ligraphy, Latin and Italian philosophy, medicine,
mathematics, cosmography, and astrology. This
shows the intellectual status of the Italian Jews and
how they became the teachers of nearly all the He-
braists of the age of humanism. The Spanish and
Portuguese Jews carried their educational ideas also
into Holland. The school at Amsterdam, wiiich
Spinoza attended, was admired by Shabbethai Shef-
tel Hurwitz (" Wawe ha-'Amuddim," 9b) on account
of its systematic arrangement, and was held up as a
pattern to the congregations of Germany, Austria,
and Poland. According to Shabbethai Bass, it com-
prised si.x classes, the curriculum being: (1) Hebrew
reading, until the prayers were mastered. (2) The
Pentateuch with the tonic accents. (3) Reading and
translation from the Bible, with Rashi's commentary
upon the weekly section. (4) The
In Am- Prophets and the Hagiographa with
sterdam. the tonic accents. (5) Lectures on
Hebrew grammar and discussions of
halakic passages from the Talmud, the class being
conducted in Hebrew. (6) The school proper, called
"'Ez Hayyim," and presided over by the grand
rabbi. The subjects taught in the school proper
were the Talmud with Rashi and Tosafot, responsa
and discussions on the code of Maimonides. The
hours of instruction were from 8 to 11 a.m. and
from 2 to 5 p.m., or until the afternoon service.
The educational systems of the Jews in Germany,
Austria, and Poland were defective in so far as the
grading of classes was so arranged that pupils were
instructed in the most difficult passages of the Tal-
mud even before they had mastered the Bible, and
were thus trained to excel in sophistic dialectics.
Many rabbis declaimed against these conditions,
which were not improved until the beginning of the
nineteenth century, and then only gradually.
Even before Moses Mendelssohn, individual Jews
had attained to the general culture of their time;
for instance, the physician Tobiah
Eighteenth. Nerol, who w^as born in Metz, 1652,
Century, and who, by permission of the Elector
of Brandenburg, had studied in Frank-
fort-on-the-Oder; the ichthyologist Bloch of Berlin;
and others. Yet to Mendelssohn is due the general
improvement of the Jewish educational system.
He had many followers, who, as contributors to
the Hebrew periodical "Ha-Meassef," were called
"Meassefim," and were instrumental in raising their
coreligionists to higher intellectual planes. In Aus-
tria especially, Hartwig Wessely's Hebrew circular
letter, "Words of Peace and of Truth" (1782), in
•which lie advocated general culture, justifying it
from the standpoint of the Jewish religion, stirred
up the Jews to carry out the suggestions of Em-
peror Joseph II. for improving their school system.
The actual systematic reorganization of the Jew-
ish system of education and teaching dates from the
founding of the following schools:
(1) The Jewish Free School of Berlin, founded in
1778 under the leadership of David Friedlilnder and
Isaac Daniel Itzig. The following subjects were
taught: German, French, Hebrew, business technol-
ogy, arithmetic, bookkeeping, writing, and drawing.
(2) The Wilhelm School of Breslau, founded in
1791, but discontinued soon afterward.
(3) The Jiidische Ilaupt- und Freischule(Herzog-
liche Franzschule) of Dessau, founded in 1799 by an
association of Jewish young men.
(4) The Jacobsonschule (day- and boarding-school)
of Seesen in the Harz, founded in 1801 by Israel
Jacobson (born in Ilalberstadt 1768,
Modern died in Berlin Sept. 13, 1828). The
Schools in school is, in accordance with the in-
Germany. tentions of its Jiumaue founder, a non-
sectarian educational institution for
boj's. It is still flourishing, and was attended
between the years 1838 and 1867 by 1,444 pupils,
of whom 719 were Christians.
(5) The Real- und Volksschule der Israelitischen
Gemeinde in Frankfort-on-the-Main (Philanthropin),
founded in 1804 by Sigmund Geisenheimer. It
was at first non-sectarian, but when the city came
under Prussian rule the school was restricted to
Jewish youth.
(6) The Samson'sche Freischule of Wolfenbiittel,
including a boarding-school, founded in 1807 by
Isaac Herz Samson. L. Zunz and M. Jost were pre-
pared there for the university.
(7) The High School at Tarnopol in Galicia,
founded in 1813 by Jo.seph Perl ; its normal courses
served as models for other normal schools of Austria.
Since the beginning of the nineteenth century the
following governments have interested themselves
in Jewish schools: Prussia, which introduced com-
pulsory education (comp. L. Geiger, "Zeit. fiir die
Geschichte der Juden in Deutschland, " iii. 29 et seq. ) ;
Wlirttemberg (" Mitteilungen der Gesellscliaft fiir
Deutsche Erziehungs- und Schulgeschichte, " ix. 51 et
seg.); Hanover, Bavaria, Baden, Hesse, etc. Since the
emancipation of the Jews their children have entered
the state or municipal schools, receiving religious in-
struction in the same way as the pupils of other de-
nominations. In Austria the Jewish teachers of re-
ligion employed in the public schools have the same
official standing as their Christian col-
General leagues, which is not the case in Prus-
Com- sia. Besides this, Jewish children
pulsory receive instruction also in special re-
Education. ligious schools (Talmud Torah Schu-
leu). The founding of Jewish ele-
mentary schools called for normal schools for Jewish
teachers. In 1809 a teachers' seminary was founded
at Cassel ; others are in Berlin, Hanover, Milnster, etc.
With this awakening to the need of general cul-
ture came the demand for scientifically trained rabbis.
The following institutions provide such training:
the Jewish Theological Seminary at Breslau, founded
by Frankel ; the Institute for the Science of Judaism
at Berlin ; the Orthodox Rabbinical Seminary at Ber-
lin; the Stale Rabbinical School at Budapest; the
Jewish Theological Institute of Vienna. The last
two institutions are supported, the first
Education entirely, and the second partly, by the
of Rabbis, government. Similar institutions ex-
ist in Paris, London, Florence, Cincin-
nati, and New York (see Seminaries, Rabbinical).
As of old, larger communities support schoolhouses
(K''nD TID), where popular lectures on the Bible,
the Talmud, and the Midrash are delivered.
Xlducation
'Eduyot
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
48
lu the eastern countries of Europe, in Russia, Ru-
mania, and Turkey, Jewish education is iu almost
the same condition as it was prior to Mendelssohn ;
that is, those countries are given over to one sided
Talmudic study, and hold aloof from general cul-
ture (see Alliance Israelite Univekselle). The
Russian government has founded rabbinical schools
— for instance, at Jitomir — wliich furnish the offi
cially recognized rabbis. More important, however,
are the yesliibot. The rabbis who direct these are
remarkable for their minute knowledge of the Tal-
mud as well as for their antagonism to culture. •In
Rumania the Jews are not only curtailed in their
civic rights, but their educational opportunities also
are limited by the government. For education in
other countries see Pedagogics.
Bibliography : Gudemann, Das JUdische Unterrichtswesen
WUhrcnd derSpaiiiscli-Arabi.'ichen PeriDdc, Vienna, 1873;
idem, Gesch. 3 vols., Vienna, 1880-88 ; idem, QueUenschriftai
zurGesch. dex Untcrrichts und der Erziehung bei Deutsch-
enJuden, Berlin, 1891 ; Samuel Marcus, Die Pddagonik de!<
Israelitvichen Vol/ces, 2 vols., Vienna, 18VT ; B. Strassburger,
Gesch. der Erziehung und dcs U7ite7-riclits her den Israe-
Uten, mit einem Anhang, Bihliographie der Jlhtiachen
Pddagogie, Stuttgart, 188."); Ludwig Horvvitz, Gescli. der
Herzogliclten Frnnzschide in Dessau 1799-181,0, in Mit-
theilungen des Verei)i^ fl'ir AnhaUii:che Gesch. und Al-
terthumskunde, vi.; Ehrenberg, Die Samson'sche Frei-
schule im Wolf enbUttel, in Orient, Lit. lBi4,pp. 66 etseq.;
Amheim, Die Jacobsnnschule zu Seeseyi am Harz, Bruns-
wick, 1867 ; Baerveald, Zur Gei^ch. der Real- und VolksscMde
der Israelitischen Gemeinde iti Frankfurt-a.-M ., In
Einladungsschrift, 1869-7.">; Das JUdi.tche Schuhllehi-er
Semitiarium in Berlin, Berlin, 184(); Joseph PerVs Biog-
raphy, in Busch's Ja?irbMch, 1846-47.
G. M. G.
Trade-Schools : As soon as emancipation came
there was a tendency among Jewish philanthropists
to train their poorer coreligionists in handicrafts,
though there were many difficulties in the way ow-
ing to the existence of the gilds. Thus, Jacobson
wished to train Jews as artisans as earh'as 1805, and
was encouraged by the government of Westphalia
to do so, though he was informed that tlicy would
not be allowed to enter the gilds (Riilf, "Jacob-
son," p. 11). Notwithstanding this, many societies
for the training of Jewish boys in handicrafts
were formed ; the earliest, so far as is known, being
that established in 1793 at Copenhagen ("Orient,"
1843, p. 58). This was followed at
Technical Cassel in 1802; and during the next
Training fifty years general associations were
Among formed in Prussia (1812), Bavaria
Jews. (1830), Baden (1833), Saxony (1837),
Hanover (1841), Hungary and Bohe-
mia (1846); in many cases these general movements
had been preceded by local associations, the success
of which led to their spread.
In 1888 Baron de Hirsch gave large sums of
money (2,000,000 gulden) for the training of Jewish
artisans in Galicia and Bukowina. In the preceding
year N. Handler of Leipsic had given 100,000 marks
for a school for Jewish boys to be trained as artisans
("Allg. Zeit. des Jud." 1888, p. 505). In 1844-45
many private benefactors devoted their money to
a similar purpose. In the former 3-ear H. Todesco
founded a prize of 500 florins for every Jewish jour-
neyman who completed his apprenticeship at Vienna
("Orient." 1844, p. 188), and D. Massaroni of Rome
gave 2,000 florins to the Trabotti foundation to train
each year two Jewish lads as watchmakers ("Allg.
Zeit. des Jud." 1845, p. 654).
The following is a list of some towns and countries
in which exist certain of the most effective associa-
tions that have helped to train Jews in handicrafts
throughout Europe in the nineteenth century.
Countries in which general institutions exist are
indicated by italics.
Founded.
Place.
Source.
1793
Copenhagen
Orient, 1843, p. 58.
1802
Cassel
A. Z. J. 1891, No. 12.
P. 2.
1812
Prussia
A. Z. J. 1882. p. 71 ; 1900. pp. 22, vi.
1819
Strasbiirg
A.Z.J. 1840, p. 214;
1900, p. 115-
1823
Frankfort-on-
Main
the-
A. Z. J. 1845. p. 22.
1826
Bavaria
A. Z. J. 1888, p. 165.
1829
Dresden
A. Z. J. 1837, p. 4.
1833
Baden
A. Z. J. 1837, p. 382.
1834
Venice
A. Z. J. 1838, p. 497.
1835
Schwerin
A. Z. J. 18.39, p. 393.
1837
Sax<niii
A. Z. J. 1837, p. F5.
1839
Budapest
A.Z.J. 1839, p. 550.
18iO
Breslau
Orient, 1843, p. 325.
1841
iionn
A. Z. J. 1841, p. 84.
1841
Hanover
A. Z. J. 1841, p. 325.
1841
Vienna
A. Z. J. 18&3. p. 107;
Jahrb. i. 69.
Werthelmer,
1843
Miilhausen
A. Z. J. 1843, p. 297.
1843
Prossnltz
A. Z. J. 1843, p. 324.
1845
Mannheim
A. Z. J. 184.5, p. 478.
1846
Prague
VVertheimer, Jabrb.
111.52.
1846
Hungary
Low)
(L.
A. Z. J. 1826, p. 748.
1846
Bohemia
A. Z. J. 1846, p. 630.
1850
Bayonne
Univers. Isr. April 19, 1901.
1855
Posen
A. Z. J. 1842. p. 114.
1867
Rome
Hebr. Bibl. xix. 455.
1888
Galicia and Bu-
kowina (Baron
de Hirsch)
A. Z. J. 1888, p. 790.
A. Z. J. = Allgemeine Zeitung des Judenthums.
In more recent times the Alliance Israelite Uni-
verselle and the Anglo- Jewish Association have estab-
lished technical schools as part of their regular work
in the East, while it is the aim of most apprentice-
ship committees, attached to boards of guardians
and other Jewish philanthropic institutions, to train
in manual labor the lads entrusted to their care.
See Alliance Israelite Universelle; Anglo-
Jewish Association.
A. D.— J.
EDUCATIONAL ALLIANCE. See New
York.
EDUCATORE ISRAELITA : Monthly period-
ical founded by Giuseppe Levi, and published by
him, in conjunction with Esdra Pontremoli, at
Vercelli (1853-74). It advocated moderate Jewish
reform, to be brought about by the cooperation of
all communities. Luzzatto, Delia Torre, Cantoni,
Mortara, and Benamozegh were among its contribu-
tors. After Levi's death in 1874 the periodical
was continued in Casale by Flaminio Servi under
the title II Vessillo Israelitico.
Bibliography : Educatore, iii. 322.
G. L E.
'EDXJYOT (" Evidences " of the sages on ancient
halakot; called also Beljirta ["Choice" of hala-
kot]): The seventh treatise in the order Nezikin of
the Mishnah. When, after the destruction of the
Temple, it became necessary, through the removal
of R. Gamaliel II. from the oftice of patriarch, to
decide religious questions by the will of the majority,
there was i^roduced, as the groundwork of the trea-
tise 'Eduyot, a collection of unassailable traditions.
'Eduyot
Eerer
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
50
From time to time more material was added to this
groundwork, until the treatise was concluded on the
redaction of the whole Mishnah. There is no con-
nection between the many subjects touched upon in
the 'Eduyot; and an exhaustive discussion of each
is not its purpose. Even the names of the sages re-
sponsible for the halakot provide but a loose thread
of union.
Following is a synopsis of the longer portions of
the treatise:
Chapter 1.: In 1-3 a matter of dispute between Hillel and
Shammai Is again brought up for consideration ; namely, the
chief rules to be observed In regard to ulddah, hallah, and
mlkweh. In 7-11 the schools bring forward various decisions
relating either to Levitical purity or to priestly tithes ("toho-
rot," "zera'lm"). In 12-14 a group of halakot Is given in
which the Hillelites incline to the opinion of the Shammaltes.
Chapters 11. and ill.: Insertions In which Hanina, "the deputy
of the high priest," reports concerning certain customs in the
Temple and other precedents at Jerusalem (11. 1-3) . Each mish-
nah consists of three halakot, which were pro-
Contents, pounded by Ishmael or in his school, or by
Akiba or in his house of learning (4-8) ; they
are followed by two haggadlc sentences of Akiba (&-10). In
ch. ill. space is given to Dosa ben Harkinas, who was promi-
nent in the disputes with Gamaliel; and matters relating to
tohorot and zera'lm are treated together with a marriage law.
In 7-12 the thread dropped in ch. il. Is taken up again : it con-
tains four questions disputed by Joshua ; three by Zadok ; four
by Gamaliel (besides two groups of his teachings, each
group consisting of three parts, which reconcile the conflicting
opinions of the two schools) ; and three by Gamaliel's colleague,
Eleazar ben Azariah.
Chapter Iv.: Continues 1. 12-14 by giving the exceptional cases.
Here the Shammaltes appear as putting a milder construction
upon the Law than the Hillelites (1-12).
Chapter v.: Gives other halakot in which the Hillelites and
Shammaltes take a stand similar to that taken in the earlier
chapters. These halakot are severally mentioned by Judah,
Jose, Ishmael, and Eliezer (1-6).
Chapter vi.: The opinions of new colleagues of Jose, Joshua,
and Eliezer are given In continuation of ch. 111., partly treating
of the same subject (1-3) .
Chapter vll.: Joshua and Judah again appear (1-7), and Ga-
maliel's halakot are given on the consecration of the new moon
and of the leap-year, a subject of dispute at the time. In 8-9 the
opinions of older colleagues are given.
Chapter vlli.: The opinions of members of the house of Beteira
(1, 3) and of important contemporaries and older teachers (2, 4)
are presented; also a halakah of Akiba on a marriage law,
already treated, and a statement of Joshua on the future mission
of the prophet (5) . To this the opinions of other teachers are
added.
The tractate closes with an ethical teaching : " The wise men
say, Elijah will not appear in order to draw some nigh and to
keep others away, but in order to bring peace into the world :
* Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming
of the great and dreadful day of the Lord : And he shall turn
the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the
children to their fathers ' (Mai. 111. 23-24 [A. V. Iv. 5-6])."
The space in this treatise allotted to each of the
teachers is in proportion to his importance; and
the frequent occurrence of Akiba's name is justified
by the great conciliatory part which he took in the
disputes of the time.
A synopsis of some of the insertions follows :
In I. 4-6 this question is put : " Why are not the names given
of the authors of those halakot which are not accepted ? " The
answer is : " To show that after a clearer in-
Insertions. sight they withdraw their opinions and do not
abide by them stubbornly ; or they are used as
sources to serve as precedents in certain cases." In v. 6 Akiba
ben Mahalalel is cited as having firmly adhered to his opinion ;
but at his death he bade his son yield to the majority. In 11.
9-10 and vili. 6-7 are sayings to encourage the people for the
loss of the Temple.
The Tosefta to 'Eduyot generally follows the or-
der observed in the Mishnah. After the introductory
halakot (Tosef. i. 1-3 = Mishnah i. 1-3) and the
peace exhortations (Tosef. i. 4-6 = Mishnah 1. 4-6),
those cases mentioned in Mishnah i. 12 are taken up
in which the Hillelites yield to the Shammaltes (To-
sef. i. 6), the disputes between the schools being
omitted. Sentences follow (Tosef. 1. 8-14 = Mish-
nah ii. 5-10) advising a wise and moderate limitation
of individual opinions where certainty is lacking
in cases of dispute. After a short selection from the
third chapter of the Mishnah (Tosef.
The 1. 16-18 = Mishnah iii. 3, 6, 7), con-
Tosefta. sideration is given to the occasional
milder constructions of the Shamma-
ltes and the severer ones of the Hillelites (Tosef. ii.
2-9 = Mishnah iv. 6, 7, 11 ; v. 1, 3-5). In Tosef. ii.
9, the exceptional opinion of Akabia (Mishnah v.
6, 7) is considered. Tosef. ii. 10 (= Mishnah vi. 3)
and iii. 1 (= vii. 2) touch briefly upon the chief oppo-
nents of Gamaliel. Tosef. iii. 2, 3 (= Mishnah viii.
5) gives laws of purification which have reference
to the position of Jerusalem after the destruction.
The conclusion (Tosef. iii. 4) agrees with Mishnah
viii. 7. Tosef. i. 7, ii. 1-2, and ii. 6 do not wholly fit
into this treatise. The last paragraph is a fragment
from the Mishnah of Eliezer ben Jacob.
In general, the Tosefta took as a basis a treatise
which dealt only with the chief questions regarding
the day called " bo ba-yom " (that day) ; but the
Mishnah of Eduyot is of a wider range.
BiBLiOGRAPHT: J. H. Dunuer, Einitfcs liber Ursprung iind
Bedeutung des Traktats 'Eduuot, in Monatsschrift, 1871,
pp. 33-42, 59-77; Rabbinowicz, LegUilation CriminelUy p\).
205-212, Paris, 1871; Schwarz, Controverse der Scham-
maiten und HilUliten, Vienna, 1893 ; Briill's Jahrb. Iv.
63-64 ; Rapoport, in Kerem Hemed, v. 181 ; Krochmal,
Moreh Nebuke ha-Zeman, pp." 163-164 et po^iT^ : Kluger,
Ueher Genesis und Composition der HalacJiasammlunQ
^Eduyot, Breslau, 1895; L. A. Rosenthal, Ueber den Ztt^arn-
menhang der Mischna, pp. 37-53, Strasburg, 1891; Idem,
Ueber die Hagada in der Mechilta, in Kohut Memorial
Volume, New York, 1897 ; Albert Schelnin, Die Hochschule
zu Jamnia, Krotoscliln, 1898; Rosenthal, Die Miachna:
Aufbau und QueUeTischeidung, Strasburg, 1903.
s. 8. L. A. R.
'EFA or HEFA: Rabbinic scholar of the fourth
century. He Avas a native of Babylonia, who. al-
though but few halakot and fewer haggadot are
associated with his name, acquired considerable
fame as belonging to "the ingenious scholars of
Pumbedita " (Sanh. 17b ; Men. 17a). His full name,
which was"'Efa b. Rahba," appears once in the
Babylonian Talmud (Sanh. I.e.); but in Yerushalmi
he is always cited as "Hefa," without patronymic
or title.
Bibliography : Frankel, Mebo, p. 85a; Hellprin, Seder ha-
Dorot, ii., s.v.
8. S.
S. M.
EFES, AFES, or PAS : Scholar of the third
century ; secretary to the patriarch Judah I. (Gen.
R. Ixxv. 5), and one of the last tannaim. Af-
ter Judah 's death, while Efes conducted a col-
lege in southern Judea, on account of which he was
called "Efes (in Yerushalmi, "Pas") Daromi"
(Yer. Ta'an. iv. 68a; Eccl. R. vii. 7), he was made
principal of the academy at Sepphoris, although the
dying patriarch had ordered the appointment of
Hanina b. Hama to that position. The latter re-
fused to supersede Efes, who was his senior by
two years and a half (Shab. 59b; Ket. 103b; com-
61
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Eduyot
Egrer
pare Yer. I.e. ; Eccl. R. I.e.). Hosha'yah Rabba was
one of his disciples, and reported in his name several
haggadic reniarks, among them one bearing on Isa.
Ix. 3 (Hebr.): "Nations shall walk by thy light,"
from which he argues that Jerusalem will in the
future become a torch by the light of which people
will walk (Pesik. xxi. 144b). Hosha'yah reports also
a civil law in Efes' name (Yer. Yoma v. 43a); and
Simeon b. Lakish applied to him for information on
a ritualistic point ('Er. 65b; Yer. 'Er. iv. 28c).
Efes did not survive Judah I. many years. He
was succeeded by Hanina b. Hama.
Bibliography: Frankel, Mebo, p. 122a; Halevy, Dorot ha~
Risfwnim, li. 133a et seq.; Bacher, Ag. Pal. Amor. I. 91;
Heilprin, Seder Uo^DoroU u., s.r.; Weiss, Dor, ill. 44.
8. s. S. M.
EFODI. See Dukan, Profiat.
EFRATI, AMRAM BEN NATHAN : Rabbi
of Valencia in the second half of the fourteenth cen-
tury. He was a contemporary of Kissim b. Reuben,
rabbi of Barcelona, and of Simeon b. Zemah (RaSH-
BaZ), whom he consulted on rabbinical questions.
He occupied the rabbinate of Valencia for more than
forty years. Efrati was held in high esteem by his
contemporaries, notwithstanding the fact that at the
very outset of his career he had had occasion to at-
tack certain powerful members of his community
whose actions had given public offense. He enjoyed
the reputation of being a great Talmudist and mys-
tic, and was credited with a knowledge of secular
sciences also. He seems to have been opposed to
casuistry. In his decisions there is good reason
to suppose that he largely followed Mairaonides.
Toward the end of his life there came to Valencia
Hasdai b. Solomon, a distinguished casuist, who en-
deavored to defame Efrati and attacked him openly.
Efrati's literary remains consist only of a few re-
sponsa, which are to be found in the collection of
Isaac b. Sheshet.
BiBLiOGRAPHT : Wciss, DoT, Y. 157-161; Azulal, Shem ha-Ge-
doUm, i. 77b.
B. 8.
M. Sel.
EGEB (Czech, Cheb) : Bohemian town, on the
right bank of the River Eger. The population of
Eger in 1890 was 17,148, including 508 Jews. The
oldest document mentioning the Jews is dated March
12, 1314, and refuses them permission to inhabit a
new street near the monastery. They are again
mentioned in a document of Oct. 23, 1322, in which
the emperor Louis the Bavarian pledges Eger to
John, King of Bohemia. Louis annulled all the debts
of Abbot Griebel of "Waldsassen to the Jews. At
that time the Jews inhabited a special part of the
city called "Unter den Juden."
About 1332, under Charles lY., many rich Jews
settled in Eger, where they succeeded so well that
iu a short time the Jews formed one-fourth the pop-
ulation of the town. They had then a high school,
a synagogue, a synagogue courtyard (" Judenhoff "),
a house for the cantor, and a cemetery. Their
wealth aroused the jealousy of the other inhabitants.
The charges against the Jews at the time of the
Black Death (1348) reached Eger on March 25,
1349; and in 1350 they were suddenly attacked by
the mob, incited by a monk's preaching; nearly
all were massacred, their goods appropriated, and
their books taken to the town hall, whence they were
sent to the Imperial Library of Prague. The street
where this occurred still bears the name "MordgSss-
chen." On May 15 the citizens were absolved from
all guilt in the matter by Charles IV. himself. It
seems that the few survivors fled to KOnigsberg, a
neighboring town, where they gave Jewish burial to
many of the dead whom they had carried with them.
Some Jews returned to Eger shortly after this, for
four " Judenmeister " (rabbis) are mentioned in 1352,
and a tombstone of a Jewess, " Kele " (1353), is still
to be seen. They repurchased from Albrecht Noth-
heft, the "Landvogt," their synagogue, school, and
cemetery. This purchase was confirmed by Charles
Nov. 6, 1364. On Jan. 25, 1379, King Wenzel form-
ally declared that the Jews of Eger were his serfs
(" Kammerknechte "), and that they could be sum-
moned only before the royal judge of the town;
they were thus protected against the injustice of
the popular authorities. Two years later. May 5,
1381, he freed the Jews of Eger (together with other
inhabitants) from taxes for five years in return for
financial assistance. In 1390 he remitted all debts
due the Jews. He included them in the safe-con-
duct given (1391) to the inhabitants of the city, so
that they had protection within the empire and in
Bohemia. Many documents of the fifteenth and
sixteenth centuries evidence the jealousy aroused
through their success by the " Jewish bread-thieves."
In 1410 they had their own "Tanzhaus" in the
" Juden gasse."
In the fifteenth century, during the Hussite troub-
les, a deputation from Eger complained to King
Sigismund (1430) that the Jews, on the strength of
their old privileges, were not performing military
service. The city council thereupon received permis-
sion (Oct. 3) to expel all the Jews. The synagogue be-
came a chapel. But the council soon repented, and
in 1434 received permission from Sigismund to allow
as many Jews to enter the city as business interests
demanded. A safe-conduct was given on Oct. 1.
Each Jewish family was to pay fifty florins " Schutz-
geld. " In 1437 there were two families, in 1457 only
three, the last with the express permission of King
Podiebrad. In 1463 King George agreed to the re-
quest of the Senate to put the Eger Jews under the
dominion of the city itself.
At the present time the community of Eger has
three village dependencies, a synagogue, a cemetery,
a hebra kaddisha, a society of synagogal chorists
and a woman's benevolent society. See Bohemia.
Bibliography: Wertheimer, Die Juden in Oesterreich, p.
176; Heinrich Gradl, Momimenta Egraua, Nos. 621, 714;
Frledlander, MateriaJien zur Gesch.der Juden in B6hmen,
pp. 11-14, 17, Brunn, 1888; Jacob Simon, Urktindliches Ma-
terial zur Gesch. der Eqerer Judengasse, in Mniiatftschrift,
xli7. 297 et seq., 345 et seq.; Salfeld, Martyrologium, pp. 250,
M. Sel.— G.
EGER or EGERS : A family established for a
long time at Halberstadt, Germany. It appears to
have been originally known by the name of " Gins "
or "Ginsmann," by which appellation the first two
definitely authenticated members, Mayer and Da-
vid, are known. R. Akiba Eger of Posen, likewise
called himself *' Ginsmann " while in Friedland. To
the same family probably belongs Jacob Egers, some-
Eg-er
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
52
time Ic'iichc'i- at the Training-School for Teachers in
Berliu.
Biographical sketches of the foregoing and of
some of the other important members of the family
follow the subjoined pedigree:
The shtadlan R. Mayer Ginsmann
(Halberstadt, Germany ; d. 1674)
Elijah Eger (d. ITtt'j)
I
Lob Kj^er
(d. 1750)
I
David Ginsmann (d. 1694 ;
celebrated as a " harlf ")
Elijah Eger
(d. 1761)
Simhah Bunim Eger
■ (d. 1764)
I \ I
Mayer Eger David Eger Aklba Eger
(author of " Mishnat de-
Rabbi Akiba '" ; d. 1758)
Gitel = Moses Guens
I
Akiba Eger (rabbi
in Posen ; d. 1837)
LOb b. Eger Wolf Eger (rabbi
(rabbi in Halberstadt ; in Leipnik)
d. 1814) I
I Akiba Eger (rabbi
Samuel Levin Egers in Halberstadt;
(author of " 'Atteret d. 1824)
Paz "; " Laudrab- I
biner " in Bruns- Joseph Eger (assistant
wick ; d. 1842) rabbi ; d. 1854)
I
Jacob Egers
(d. 1891)
Bibliography : Auerbach, Oesch. derlsraelitischenGemeindf
Halberxtadt, pp. 32, 33, 142, 1866.
.7. H. Gut.
Akiba Eger (Eig-er) the Young-er (Akiba
ben Moses Guens): German rabbi and champion
of Orthodoxy; born at Eisenstadt, Hungary, Nov.
8, 1761 ; died at Posen Oct. 12, 1837. Akiba's mother.
Gitel, whose family was probably from the Bohemian
city of Eger, was the only daughter of Akiba Eger
(d. 1758), formerly rabbi of Presburg, whose name
was taken by his grandson, Akiba ben Moses Guens.
At an early age Akiba showed great proficiencj'
in Talmud, so that his uncle, Wolf Eger, later rabbi
of Leipnik, took him under his care at Breslau.
Akiba distinguished himself so highly that the
wealthy Itzig Margalioth of Lissa gave him his
daughter Glueckche and provided for his needs.
He refused to accept a rabbinical position, his ideal-
istic nature being repelled by the idea of deriving
juaterial benefit from the study of the Law. The
great conflagration which destroyed Lissa in 1791
impoverished Lis father-in-law and forced Eger to
accept the rabbinate of Markisch Friedland in West
Prussia. His noble and self-sacrificing character
and his great Talmudic learning made him univer-
sally beloved, and won for him an international rep-
utation among orthodox Jews. He repeatedly ex-
pressed a desire to resign his charge and to accept a
position as teacher, or a small stipend from wealthy
patrons of a bet ha-midrash, in order to escape from
the religious responsibilities of the rabbinical office,
but remained in deference to the entreaties of his
congregation and family. When his daughter Sorel
married Moses ScuREiBER in 1813, he allowed his son-
in-law to present his name as a candidate to the con-
gregation of Triesch (Mun/, "Rabbi Eleasar, Gc-
uannt Schemen Rokeach," p. 143, Treves, 1895).
For unknown reasons the change was not made, but
a year later he was called to the important rabbinate
of Posen. From that time his real public activity
began, and lasted till iiis death twenty-five years
later.
Eger's Talmudic learning moved altogether in
the paths of the dialecticism com-
Spiritual mon among the rabbis of the eight-
and eenth century. An example is given
Religious by O. H. Schorr in "He-Haluz," ii.
Activity. 29. His mode of thinking on such
subjects may be judged from the
following quotation :
" I saw an admirable explanation of a
"Emek ha-Melek.' 'The Talmud says
Abraham said. Neither a thread nor a
23), his descendants were privileged to
zizit and the strap of the teflllin.' As
wound about the left arm, corresponds
proper that we should tie the latchet
(Notes on Shulhan 'Aruk, Orah Hayyim
Talmudic saying in the
(Hul. 69a): "Because
shoe-latchet (Gen. xiv.
wear the thread of the
the strap of the teflllin,
to the shoe-latchet, it is
of the left shoe first"
, p. 1, Berlin, 1863).
In casuistry he was of the ultra-rigorous tj^pe. In
a circular, published both in Hebrew and in German,
he appealed in the most solemn terms to his col-
Akiba Eger the Younger.
leagues not to allow the use at Passover of alcohol
made from potatoes. He prohibited the writing
of a bill of divorce upon parchment originally
manufactured for use as a scroll. It should, how-
ever, be added that in his decisions he was guided
by humanitarian views, and allowed many things,
otherwise forbidden, out of consideration for the
poor and the widow.
Eger was naturally a strict opponent of Reform,
and declared the slightest change in the order of serv-
ice inadmissible: "If one disturbed only the one-
thousandth part of the words of our Rabbis in the
53
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Egrer
Talmud the whole Torah would collapse " (sec
"Eleh Dibreha-Berit," p. 27, Altona, 1819). He
was also opposed to secular learning, and one or two
hours a day for that purpose was the utmost con-
cession he would make to the government when
compulsory secular education of Jewish children
was introduced into Prussia. He accordingly re-
buked Solomon Plessneu, though somewhat mildly,
for having advocated secular schools for the Jews in
place of the heder (Ellas Plessner, "Biblisches und
Rabbinisches aus Salomon Plessner's Nachlass,"
Hebr. part, p. 13, Fraukfort-on-the-Main, 1897).
Though when measured by modern standards Akiba
Eger appears extreme in his views, compared with
his contemporaiies, and especiallj'' with his son-in-law
Moses Sofer, he presents really one of the mildest
types of Orthodo.xy. In spite of an extremely deli-
cate constitution he often spent whole nights at the
bedside of the sick, and his conduct during the
cholera epidemic of 1831 was recognized by Freder-
ick William III. in a special royal order addressed
to the chief of the province.
Of his works the following have been edited :
"Hilluka de-Rabbanan," notes on Nissim Gerondi's
novellas to Baba Mezi'a, Dyhernfurth, 1822; Re-
sponsa, Warsaw, 1834, reprinted with additions, ib.
1876; "Derush we-Hiddush," novelte
His "Works, on various Talmudic treatises and
homilies, ib. 1839; Glosses on the Tal-
mud, printed in the editions of Prague, 1830-34,
and Warsaw, 1860-63; Tosafot, glosses on theMish-
nah, in the editions of Altona, 1841-45, and Warsaw,
1862-67; "Hiddushe Rabbi Akiba Eger," notes on
various Talmudic treatises, Berlin, 1858; Notes on
the Shulhan 'Aruk, Yoreh De'ah, in the edition of
Konigsberg, 1859 ; Notes on Shulhan 'Aruk, Orah
Hayyim, edited by Abraham Bleicherode, Berlin,
1862; Notes on Shulhan 'Aruk, Hoshen Mishpat
and Eben ha-'Ezer, edited by Nahum Streusand,
Thorn, 1869; a further collection of Responsa, edited
by Isaac Caro, Vienna, 1889.
Bibliography-: Kaempf, Biographie des Hochberilhmtoi
Hocliseligen Herni Akiba Ege7\ Oherrahbiner zu Posen,
etc., Lissa, 1838 ; K. I. Fiirstenthal. Ebel Yahid, Trauerge-
dicht auf den Tod des R. Jacob Moses Ege7\ Breslau, 1838 ;
Toledot R. Akiba Eger, by bis sons Abraham and Solomon,
in the Berlin edition of his notes on Orah Hayyim, 1862, re-
printed, Warsaw, 1875. From the latter Solomon Sofer's
(Schreiber) Hut ha-Me«huUash (Pacs, 1887) is largely taken.
Eger's ethical will has been publi.shed, together with that
of Jacob Lissa, under the title Zawwa''ot ha-Geonim, War-
saw, 1875.
J. D.
Akiba Eger the Elder of Presburg : German
rabbi; born at Halberstadt about 1720; died at
Presburg Sept. 17, 1758. When he was twenty
years old he had a dispute on Talmudic matters with
Meir, chief rabbi of Eisenstadt. In 1749 he was
elected rabbi of Ziilz (Silesia), and in 1756 was ap-
pointed assistant to Rabbi Moses Harif of Pres-
burg. Eger was the author of " Mishnat de-Rabbi
Akiba," novell.Te on several treatises of the Talmud,
Flirth, 1781 ; and of several Responsa, published
in the "Bene Ahubah" of Jonathan Eybeschiltz,
Prague, 1819.
Bibliography : Steinschneider. in Ersch and Gruber, Encuc.
section i., part 67, p. 345; Friinkel, in Orient, Lit. 1848, col.
15 ; Neubauer, in Berliner's Mam^in, i. 43 : Aiierhach, Gesch.
der Israelitiachen Oemeinde Halberstadt, pp. 33, 71.
L. G. M. Sel.
Jacob Egers : German scholar and educator;
born at Halberstadt Jan. 18, 1834; died at Berlin
Nov. 17, 1891. He was for more than twenty years
a master at the Trainiug-ISchool for Teachers (" Lehr-
erbildungsanstalt") in Berlin.
He publislied the diwan of Abraham ibn Ezra to-
gether with the hitter's secular poetry and allegory,
"Hai ben Mekiz," Berlin, 1886, some jjarts of which
were translated into German by D. Kaufmann; and
two poems of Solomon ibn Gabirol with notes in the
"Zunz Jubelschrift," Hebr. part, pp. 192-200.
Bibliography: Ocster. Wochenschrift, 1891, p. 886.
s. M. Skl.
Lob b. Akiba Eger : German Talmudist ; died
at Halberstadt 1814. In 1775 Eger was appointed
rabbi of the community in succession to his late
teacher, Isaac Schwanfeld. He devoted his whole
energies to furthering Talmudic studies in his native
city, jiis yeshibah in consequence achieving a high
reputation. In collaboration with his brother Wolf
he published supplementary notes to his father's
work, "Mishnat de-Rabbi Akiba." A funeral ora-
tion delivered by Eger on the death of Frederick
the Great (1786) gives proof of his oratorical attain-
ments. A few of his sermons have been preserved
in manuscript. Some of them denounce the fash-
ions then coming into vogue, especially the wearing
of jewelry by women; others warn against buying
Christian sacred vessels, even when offered by the
clergy.
Bibliography : Auerbach, Gesch. der Israelitischen Gemeinde
Halberstadt, p. 105.
L. G. A. Pe.
Nathan ben Abraham Eger: Bohemian Tal-
mudic scholar; lived at Prague in the second half of
the seventeenth century. He was the author of
"Gan Nata'," a commentary on the Shulhan 'Aruk,
Orah Hayj'im, Prague, 1695, and often reprinted.
Bibliography : Wolf. Bibl. Hebr. ili.. No. 1723c; Steinschnei-
der, Cat. Bodl. col. 2035.
L. G. M. Skl.
Samuel Levin (Perez Sabel) Egers : German
Talmudist; born in Halberstadt June 9, 1768; died in
Brunswick Dec. 3, 1842. He was one of the most
brilliant pupils, and afterward an assistant, in his
father's yeshibah. In 1809 he was appointed rabbi
of Brunswick, and filled this position until his
death.
Egers was not adverse to tlie introduction of re-
forms; thus he founded in 1828 an "Elementar-
schule " in Brunswick ; and three years later he in-
troduced the confirmation of boys and girls.
In 1836 Egers became blind; but in spite of his
severe sufferings he did not relax his labors. In
1842 he gave his assent to a plan to render the
synagogue service shorter and more intelligible.
Egers' works include: " Atteret Paz," novellae on
Bezah; "Rimraon Perez," novella' on Ketubot, Al-
tona, 1823; besides several homihes.
Bibliography: Herzfeld, in Allg. Zeit. destJud. 1842, pp. 412,
461, 762, Suppl. to 1843; Zunz. Z. G. i. 243: Auerbach, Gesch.
der Isj-aeUtischen Gemeinde Halberstadt, p. 103.
s. G. R.
Solomon ben Akiba Eger : German rabbi ; born
at Lissa 1785; died in Posen Dec. 22, 1852. In 1830
E^esippus
Eg^rpt
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
54
he became rabbi of Kalisch, Russian Poland, and on
the death of his father (1837) he succeeded him in the
rabbinate of Posen,
which charge he held
till the year of his
death.
His published works
are : notes on the work
of R. Alfasi. Wilna,
1860; a biography of
hisfather, Berlin, 1862;
Notes on the Talmud,
Wilna, 1880; Notes on
the Shulhan 'Aruk,
Yoreh De'ah, Konigs-
berg.
Bibliography: Solomon
Lewysohn, VolLstiindiye
Bingraphie des R. Akiha
Eger, p. 35, Posen, 1875; S. Jewnin, Nahlat ^Olamim, p. 11,
Warsaw, 1883 ; S. Sofer, Hut ha-MeshuUdsh, p. 51a, Munkacs,
Solomon ben Akiba Eger.
1894.
L. G.
B. Fii.
Wolf ben Akiba Eger : German Talmudist ;
lived in the second half of the eighteenth century.
He was born in Halberstadt, and married the daugh-
ter of Joseph Teomim, the rabbi of Breslau, where-
upon he took up his abode in that city. He con-
ducted a school which attracted great numbers of
youth possessed of a desire for Talmudical study.
After 1780 he was called as rabbi to Leipnik, which
position he held until his death. Together with his
brother Lob he edited his father's "Mishnat de-
Rabbi Akiba," and added to it a supplement of
his own, Fiirth, 1781.
Bibliography : Auerbach, Ocsch. der laraelitischen Gemeinde
Halberstadt, p. 103; Lewysobn, Vollstdndige Biographic
des B. Akiba Eger, pp. i-16, Posen, 1881; Walden, Sliem
ha-Gednlim he-Hadash, i. 29.
L. G. A. Pe.
EGESIPPXJS. See Joseph b. Gorion.
EGGS (nV''2).— Biblical Data : The Old Testa-
ment refers to eggs of birds (Deut. xxii. 6) and of
vipers (Isa. lix. 5, A. V., "cockatrice"), and to the
well-known fact that the ostrich leaves tlie egg in
the warm sand and allows it to come to maturity
through the heat of the sun (Job xxxix. 14). The
humane command is given not to take away the
dam together with the eggs from the nest (Deut.
I.e.). The custom of collecting eggs which had
been left in the nest is made use of in the fine im-
agery of Isaiah (x. 14).
In Rabbinical Liiterature : According to the
Rabbis (Hul. 64a), the eggs of birds suitable for eat-
ing have one end oblate and the other pointed, and
the white surrounds the yolk; whereas with the
eggs of impure birds the ends are either both pointed
or both oblate, while at times the yolk is outside the
white. In the eggs of amphibious animals the yolk
and white are intermingled. Impure birds may sit
upon and hatch the eggs of pure birds, and vice
versa (Hul. 138b). The male bird sometimes sits
upon the eggs, as in the case of the partridge ; accord-
ing to some authorities both the eggs and the sitter
may then be taken, though seemingly in opposition
to Deut. xxii. 6 (ib.). The development of the egg
proceeds from the chalaza of the oblate end, which
is supposed to represent the original seed (Hul. 64b)
— a mistake opposite to that of Aristotle, who traces
the development from the chalaza of the other end.
The strength of the shell was known to the Rabbis,
who stated that it was used sometimes to support a
bedstead (Bezah 3b). The egg of the ostrich was
sometimes used as a vessel (Kel. xvii. 14), and its
membrane was used in medicine (Shab. 110b); the
hen's egg was used as a liquid measure (Yoma 80a;
'Er. 83), of which 144 went to a seah. For the egg
of the phenix see Bar Yokni. Unclean birds and
their eggs are alike prohibited ; therefore the above
criteria are used in the halakic text-books (see Shul-
han 'Aruk, Yoreh De'ah, 66, 86).
In Jewish Ceremonial : A roasted egg is
included among the objects placed upon the
Seder table on the eve of the Passover to repre-
sent the " hagigah," or burnt ofEering, offered at
the three chief festivals {ib. Orah Hayyim, 476).
Eggs are also to be eaten lirst of all at the meal
of the Seder, the reason given for this by some
authorities being that all joyful occasions should
have a touch of the mournful, as indeed the Ninth of
Ab always falls upon the same day of the week as
the first day of Passover (Isserles, ad loc). Eggs
mixed with ashes are used on the eve of the Ninth of
Ab as a sign of mourning. It is possible that this
identification of eggs and mourning is due to the
fact that the mourners' meal always includes an
egg, perhaps to suggest the idea of the resurrection,
as some writers hold. Yet eggs are associated with
the joyful festival of the thirty-third day of 'Omer,
when they are used, like Easter eggs, to amuse chil-
dren ; the one custom is probably derived from the
other. It is usually said that the egg at the Pass-
over represents life and creative force, but this is
not borne out by the common view given above.
On the occurrence of the egg in creation-myths see
COSMOGONT.
Modern Superstitions : In Russia a bride, to
be blessed with children, carries an egg in her bosom
while going to the huppah. In the Orient the bride
steps over a fish roe with the idea that this will
give fecundity. He who gets the roasted egg of the
Seder on the morning of the second day of Passover
will be specially lucky, and will gain whatever he
wishes while eating it. If you steal an egg you
will have seven years of poverty, and after death
your body will roll round in the grave. A childless
woman who is lucky enough to find an egg with a
double yolk will, if she eats it, surely bear children.
Bibliography: Lampronti, Pahad I'teijwfc, 16a, 17a; Lewy-
sobn, Zoologie des Talmuds, §§ 18, 183, 240'.
s. s. J.
EGLAH ("heifer"): Mother of Ithream, David's
sixth son (I Chron. iii. 3). The expression "wife
of David " (II Sam. iii. 5) probably means the favor-
ite wife of David. According to the Targum, Eglah
is identical with Michal, the daughter of Saul, and
David's favorite wife.
E. G. H. E. L N.
EGLATH-SHELISHIYAH ("the third Eg-
lah "): A place mentioned in ancient oracles against
Moab (Isa. xv. 5, R. V. ; Jer. xlviii. 34, R. V.), to-
gether with Zoar, Luhith, and Horonaim. It has
been identified witli the 'AyaAXa mentioned bv Jose-
60
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Eg-esippus
Egypt
phus ("Ant." xiv. 1, § 4) in connection with Zo-
har as an Arabian town, while others have claimed
it to be the Ajlun, a mountain range, district, and
city north of Jabok. The former identitication is
the more likely. There must have been three places
known as "Eglah" (r= heifer), the ordinal numeral
being added, as is also the custom in Arabic nomen-
clature, to distinguish them. Misled by the nu-
meral, some commentators have argued that three
horns of a mountain near Zoar were known as
"heifers," taking the name as an appellative. Most
of the commentators have translated "Eglath-Sheli-
shiyah" as "the three-year-old heifer" (A. V., Tar-
gum, Rashi, !Kimhi, etc.). E. G. H.
EGLON : A king of Moab, who overcame the
Israelites and captured the "city of palm-trees," by
which is probably meant Jericho (Judges iii. 13). He
held the Israelites in subjection for eighteen years,
and they were then delivered by Ehud, who assas-
sinated Eglon (i6. 15-26).
J. JR. G. A. B.
EGOZI, MENAHEM BEN MOSES : Turkish
Talmudist ; lived at Constantinople during the six-
teenth century. He was the author of " Gal shel
Egozim," expositions on Genesis, published at Bel-
vedere, near Constantinople. He also edited the
responsa of the Geonim, comprising 400 numbers,
Constantinople, 1575.
Bibliography : Furst, Bibl. Jud. 1. 224 ; Stelnsclinelder, Cat.
Boill. col. 1736.
K. B. p.
EGOTISM. See Altruism.
EGRA, MESHTJLLAM BEN SAMSON:
Austrian rabbi ; born in Galicia 1733; died at Pres-
burg Sept. 21, 1785. Egra's father was of Buczacz,
Galicia, but Meshullam Egra was at Brody as a boy
of nine. At about that age he delivered a casuistic
homily in the large synagogue of Brody, and
had a discussion with its rabbi, Isaac Hurwitz,
whose son-in-law he became. He was a contempo-
rary of Sender Margoliouth, with whom he discussed
ritual laws, and the master of Jacob Lissa, author
of "Derek ha-Hayyim." Egra w^as at first rabbi of
Tusmenetz, becoming rabbi of Presburg in 1775.
He wrote " She'elot u-Teshubot RaMA " (the last
word of the title being an abbreviation of " R. Me-
shullam Egra"), responsa, Czernowitz,1862; and an
unpublished work on Maimonides.
Bibliography : Walden, Shew, ha-Gedolim he-JJadash, 1. 105.
K. 'M. Sel.
EGYPT,— Ancient and Biblical: The valley
of the Nile north of the first cataract, having an
area of 9,000-12.000 square miles of arable ground.
Almost rainless, the country depends upon the in-
undations of the Nile and artificial irrigation (comp.
Deut. xi. 10; Zech. xiv. 18), although the narrow
valley and its triangular prolongation of alluvium,
the Delta or Lower Egypt, possess an extremely
fertile soil. Egypt had in early times a very limited
flora, which, like its fauna, was of an entirely Afri-
can character. The same may be said of its popu-
lation, which, quite in agreement with Gen. x.,
formed a branch of the great white African or
Hamitic family.
Tradition has preserved the recollection of the
early division of Egypt into two kingdoms, (a) that
of the red crown in the north, whose capital was
Buto, and (A) that of tiie white crown in the south,
with its capital at Eileithyiaspolis, the modern El-
Kab; and in literary style Egypt is always desig-
nated as "the two countries" (comp. "Miziayim,"
dual, but see below). Yet these formed one king-
dom even before King Menes (about 3500 b.c.?),
whom the later books of history considered as the
first historical king. The division of the country
into about thirty (thirty-six ? ; later, forty-two) nomes
or counties points to a still more primitive period,
indicating that many independent tribes may have
inhabited the land.
Some very primitive traits always adhere even to
the later, highly developed culture. The clothing
was remarkably scanty long after 3000 b.c. ; and the
scarcity of metals, although these were known very
early, forced not only priests (in analogy with the
old Israelitish custom referred to in Ex. iv. 25 and
Josh. V. 2), but also sculptors, masons, and other
craftsmen, generally to use stone implements nearly
up to 1000 B.C. The religion above all remained
most primitive: it never concealed that its hun-
dreds of local divinities, its sacred animals, trees, and
stones, had their most perfect analogy and origin in
the fetishism or animism of the negroes, although
even in prehistoric time higher ideas, partly of un-
doubtedly Asiatic origin (especially traits of that
astral mythology of which the clearest expression is
found in Babylonia), mingled with it. The language
and the race remained very consistent.
The history of Egypt cr.n be best divided after
the system of Manetho, using his scheme of thirty
royal dynasties from Menes to Alexander. Although
these groups of kings do not represent genealogic-
ally correct divisions, and are often quite conven-
tional, the uncertainty of chronology, especially
before 2000 B.C., forces the student to use that ar-
rangement. Dynasties 1-6 are called the ancient
empire, dynasties 11-13 the middle empire, and dy-
nasties 18-26 the new empire.
The tombs of Manetho 's " Thinitic " dynasties 1 and
2 have recently been excavated near This-Abydos
(see especially Petrie, " Royal Tombs,"
The 1900 et seq.). Whether that of the half-
Ancient legendary IMenes is among them re-
Empire, mains disputed, but some of the tombs
may be even earlier. The arts and
architecture were even then highly developed at
the royal court; and that the system of hieroglyphic
writing was perfectly established as early as 3500
B.C. is shown by the inscriptions. The residence
of those ancient kings seems to have been partly
at This, partly in the ancient capitals of Upper
Egypt, the twin cities Hieraconpolis and Eileithy-
iaspolis. Less well known at present is dynasty 3,
which moved the capital not far south of Memphis.
The earliest known pyramid (in steps, because un-
finished), near Sakkarah, was built by King Zoser of
this dynasty, who seems to have first exploited the
mines near Sinai, which furnished the copper for
tools and weapons. Dynasty 4 (from about 2900?)
is famous for the construction of the three larg-
est pyramids, those of Cheops (Khufu), Chephren
Esypt
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
66
(Kha'f-re'),and Mycerinus(>Ien-ka[u]-re') near Gizcli
— monuments which the successors did not try to imi-
tate. Snefru(i), the first king, seems to have waged
extensive wars in Nubia and Palestine. From dy-
nasty 5 remainders exist of several gigantic monu-
ments in the form of huge obelisks (not monolithic!)
on platforms, dedicated to tlie sun-god Re' (see
Pillars). In dynasty King Pepy (pronounced
"Apopy "?) I. (c. 2450 B.C.) was a great builder; he
founded Memphis prop-
er. With dynasty 6
closes the period called
conventionally the an-
cient empire. Of its liter-
ature only religious and
magic texts (chiefly from
the funerary chambers of
the pyramids in dynas-
ties 5 and 6; comp. Mas-
pero, "Les Inscriptions
des Pyramides de Saqqa-
rah," 1894) have been
preserved. Egyptian
sculpture reached its
acme of perfection at
that time.
After the sixth dynas-
ty the centralization of
the government broke
down, and
The Middle the nom-
Empire. archs or
counts be-
came independent
princes. The long wars
which they waged over
their possessions or the
crown of the w hole
country, led to the es-
tablishment of two rival
kingdoms, one (dynas-
ties 9 and 10) at Her-
acleopolis, the other (dy-
nasty 11) at Thebes.
The younger Theban
family finally united
Egypt again under one
scepter (c. 2150 u.c.?).
Much more important is
the 12th (Theban) dy-
nasty (c. 2000 to 1800
B.C.) of seven kings —
four of whom were called
Amen-em-he't, and three
Uscrtesen (or Sa-n-usor-
et) — and a queen. The fertile oasis of Fa(i)yum
was created by diking off (not excavating) the
lake called "Moeris" (after Amen-em-he't III.).
Nubia to above the second cataract was conquered ;
but a powerful Canaauitish kingdom prevented con-
quests in Asia — only Usertesen III. records an ex-
pedition to Palestine.
The following period (13th and 14th dynasties) soon
developed the former decentralization, together with
civil wars and anarch}'. One hundred and fifty kings
— i.e., aspirers to the crown — are recorded. This
Syenlto Stele of Amenophis III. with Added Inscription of
Meneptah II. Mentioning the Israelites.
(From Flinders Petrie, "SixTtmpIes at Thebes.")
explains the ability of a Syrian power, the so-called
Ilyksos (better "Hyku-ssos" = "foreign rulers, "mis-
translated "shepherd kings "in Manetho), to con-
quer Egypt {e. ITOOV). On this family of (7?) rulers,
in whose time, after Ex. xii. 40, the immigration of
Israel into Egypt is usually assumed, see Apophis.
Most scholars consider them as Canaanites, some-
what after Josephus' confusion of "Hykussos" and
"Israelites"; but it seems that those kings were of
non-Semitic (northern?)
origin (comp. " Mittheil-
ungen der Vordera'siati-
schen Gesellschaft,"
1898, p. 107). The nom-
archs of Thebes re-
volted against the
foreigners(^. 1620 B.C.?),
and af tera long struggle,
especially around the
stronghold of the for-
eigners, Hat-wa'rct
(Auaris) (near Tanis?),
expelled the Hykussos
soon after 1600.
These circumstances
gave to the new dynasty
(the 18th) a warlike
character.
The New Following
Empire, the claims
of their
predecessors, its kings
conquered and held
about two-thirds of
Syria; the north seems
to have been under the
control of the Mesopota-
mian kingdom Mitanni,
and it withstood, there-
fore, the Egyptian
attacks. Amosis (A'h-
mose) I. began those con-
quests. Amenophis
(Amen-hotep) I. died
after a short, peaceful
reign. Thutmosis
(Dhut[i]-mose) I. pene-
trated to the Euphrates
(after 1570). Thutmosis
II. 's reign was filled ap-
parently with internal
disturbances connected
with the question of
succession. Thutmosis
III. (c. 1503) stood for
twenty-two years under the control of his aunt (?)
Ma'-ka-re or Ha't-shepsut (who has commemorated
in her beautiful terrace-temple at Per al-Bahri a
commercial expedition to Punt, i.e., the incense re-
gion east of Abyssinia). His independent rule
is marked by fourteen campaigns, reaching as far as
northern Mesopotamia, and by great constructions
(the temple of Karnak, etc.). Amenophis II., Thut-
mosis IV., and, less successfully, Amenophis III.
{c. 1436) maintained the Asiatic conquests; Ethiopia
as far as Khartum had been subjected and, unlike
57
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Egypt
Syria, wliich was merely tributary, liad been inude
a province by tlie first l<ings of dynasty 18.
Amenopbis IV'.(''. 1400) is a most interesting per-
son. He attempted a great religious reform; ma-
king tbe sun-di.sk bis cbief god, and perseeuting
tlie cult of several gods, especially tbat of tlie
Tbebau Amon, tbe official god of tbe empire, witb
sucb batred tbat be even cbanged bis royal name
and bis residence. At bis new capital, tbe modern
Tell el-Amarna, tbe famous arcbive of cuneiform
despatcbes bas been found, wbicb sbows bim cor-
responding witb all tbe important kings of western
Asia, but unable to control bis Syrian possessions
owing to tbe great struggles wbich bis innovations
bad caused in Egypt. After bis dealli (c. 1383) bis
reforms were ovcrtbrown, especially by bis fourtb
successor, Har-em-beb(e). Tbe religion, mummified
again, kept its deplorable state of confusion forever.
deuce for Israel's stay in Egypt. Me(r)neptah
warded off a great invasion of Libyans allied witb
pirates from A.sia Minor and Europe. Tbe nineteentb
dynasty ended witb several sbort-livcd, powerless
rulers, among tbcm a Syrian (officer?) as usurper.
Setnakbt(e) reunited tbe country and estal)lisbed
a newd^'nasty (the20tb) somewbat befqre 1200. Ilia
son Rame.ses III. tried to imitate
The Kameses II., especially as builder. He
Ramesides. fougbt witb tbe Libyans, wbo pressed
more tban before on Lower Egypt;
witb tiu nortbern pirates; witb tbe Pbiiistines, wbo
bad just settled in Syria; witb the Amorites; and
with small Hittite princes. His successors, the
Ramesides (Rameses IV. -XII.), bad sliort, inglori-
ous reigns; Palestine and Plicnicia were freed from
the condition of an Egyptian dependency, wbicb bad
been their lot for more than 400 years. The priest-
jmMMMjm^^^^H^^jisL
f^^^sc^^ic^^^.s?^.^.-^!'^::''^^^^^
Israelites Building Storehouses for Pharaoh.
(From an illuminateti haggadah in the possession of the Earl of Crawford.)
The 19th dynasty begins witb Rameses I. (after
1350?). Sethos (Setoy) I. and Rameses II. main-
tained only tbe smaller half of Sj'ria against tbe
encroaching empire of tbe Hittites. Both were very
active as builders ; Rameses II. (tbe " Sesostris " of
tbe Greeks, reigning 67 years from about 1330?) was
undoubtedly tbe greatest builder of the Pharaohs,
even after taking into account tbe many cases where
be appropriated monuments already in existence.
Under bis son Me(r)neptah (c. 1263?) occurs tbe first
monumental mention of Israel apparently dwelling
ns a rebellious nation in Palestine. Ex. i. 11, on the
other band, seems to fix upon Rameses II. as tbe
Pharaoh of the oppression (see Rameses), while
Me(r)neptab is generally considered as the Pharaoh
of tbe Exodus. How to fit tbe new monumental
data in with the Biblical chronology is yet an open
question, there being no certain monumental evi-
hood bad become so wealthy by numerous donations
that the rcyal power vanished, and finally the high
priests of Thebes became kings. They bad soon to
yield to the twenty-first (Tanitic) dynasty (c. 1100).
Its seven kings were hemmed in by their Libyan
mercenaries, whose generals gained great influence.
Therefore the Pharaohs Avere unable to interfere
in Syria, where the Philistines were waging war.
Solomon's Egyptian wife (I Kings Ix. 16, 24; xi. 1)
would seem to have been a daughter of the follow-
ing ];uler (comp. ib. ix. 16, which states that Gezer
was her dowry).
Sbosbenk I. (tbe Biblical " Sbisbak ''), a descendant
of Libyan generals, who foimded the twenty-second
or Bubastite dynasty {c. 950 B.C.), checked tbe Phi-
listines, arranged tbe division of tbe Israelitisb king-
dom, evidently in favor of Jeroboam (comp. I Kings
xi. 18), and ransacked Palestine (if), xiv. 25 ; II Chron.
Eg-ypt
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
08
xii.). On the Edomite Hadad (I Kings xi. 17-22)
see below. Shoshenk's successors, however — 3
Shoshenks, 2 Takelots, 3 Osorkons (Wasarkeu), 1
Pemay — could not maintain this influence in Asia.
After 800 b.c. Egypt was again practically divided
into about twenty kingdoms ruled by the generals of
the larger Libyan garrisons. The new kingdom of
Ethiopia was thus able to occupy Thebes; about
750 the Ethiopian king P-'ankhy even tried to con-
quer all Egypt. Only his grandson Shabako was,
however, able to accomplish this and to subject the
most powerful of the many princes, the ruler of
Sais and Memphis (Bocchoris or Bok-en-ranf, the
son of Tef-nakhte), somewhat before 700. Neither
he nor his successor Shabatako seems to have been
able to interfere in Syria, finding it difficult to main-
tain Egypt It has been shown conclusively by
Winckler (especially in " Mittheilungen der Vor-
derasiatischen Gesellschaft," 1898, p. 1; comp. also
Schrader, " K. A. T." 3ded., p. 145) that the king
So with whom Hoshea had conspired against Assyria
(II Kings xvii. 4) was Sib'e, viceroy of Musri, i.e.,
northwestern Arabia (not Mizraim-Egypt, cunei-
form "Misri"), and that various other conflicts be-
tween Assyria and Egypt ( ?) refer rather to this Musri
(which curiously had a king, Pir'u,
Musri and formerly understood as "Pharaoh").
Mizraim. Few scholars, however, have accepted
in all its conclusions the inference
drawn from this, namely, that a great many Bib-
lical passages originally refer to this Musri, not Miz-
raim-Egypt (thus Gen. xiii. 10; xvi. 1, 3; 1. 11;
I Sam. XXX. 13; II Sam. xxiii. 21; I Kings iii. 1, xi.
14 et seq. ; Hadad's and Jeroboam's exile [see above] ;
and even Israel's servitude in Egypt).
The third king of the twenty-fifth (Ethiopian)
dynasty, Taharko (see Tirhakah), had a share in re-
bellions of the vassals of Assyria, especially in the
rebellion of Tyre, which led to two expeditions of
Esarhaddon against Egypt. It was conquered in
the second campaign and divided among twenty
princes, descendants of Libyan generals. Taharko
and his successor Tandamani repeatedly disputed
without success the possession of Egypt by the
Assyrians (comp. Nahum iii.); about 660 B.C.
Psam(m)ethik I. (son of Necho I.), a descendant
of the 24th dynasty, nominal reign 664-610,
made himself independent of Assurbanipal's sov-
ereignty.
The new Saitic dynasty (the 26th) brought the first
centralized government after several centuries, and
new prosperity, which was demonstrated by a re-
markable archaizing revival of art. The enterprising
Necho (Nekau) II. (610-594) undertook the conquest
ot Syria, which, however, was frustrated by his
defeat at Carchemish by Nebuchadrezzar. He
built a fleet, dug the first connection between the
Nile and the Red Sea, and sent Phenician sailors
around Africa. After Psam(m)ethik
Saitic II. (594-588), Apries or Uaphris (Pha-
Dynasty. raoh-hophrah, 588-569), seeking to
check the Babylonians who menaced
Egypt, instigated and aided the Jews (Jer. xxxvii.
5; comp. Ezek. xxix. 6) and Tyrians and received
their fugitives (Jer. xli. 17). This policy seems to
have been continued by his successor, the clever
usurper Amasis (A'hmose II., 564-526), who still
warded off the destruction threatened in Jer. xlvi. 26.
But when the Babylonian empire had been su-
perseded by the Persian, Psam(m)cthik III. could
not maintain himself any longer. In 525 Egypt was
conquered by Cambyses, and remained a Persian
province notwithstanding various rebellions, led
by the half-Libyan soldiers, in 487, 460, and most
successfully in 414. The period of independence
(414-350?) was filled by internal struggles and by
wars of defense against the Persians. The Mace-
donian conquest brought Egypt independence under
the dynasty of the Ptolemies. But Egyptian cul-
ture was sinking fast; the native population (which
rebelled repeatedly against the foreign rulers, led
again by the old soldier class of Libyan descent) was
reduced to the position of heavily taxed pariahs;
and the kings in Alexandria considered their empire
as a part of the Greek world. The annexation by
Rome (31 b.c.) aggravated this decline of an old
civilization, though temples were repaired or built
by the Roman government and decorated with
verj' poor hieroglyphics till about 300 c.e. The
condition prophesied, that Egypt should be with-
out native rulers, can, however, be traced back, as
an actuality, as far as the tenth century b.c. (see
above).
For the political history of the Ptolemies down to
Ptolemy XVI. and the famous queen Cleopatra VII. ,
see Ptolemy. The great development of African
commerce by Ptolemy II. and the building of the
Jewish temple at Leontopolis under Ptolemy VI.
may be mentioned. Palestine was an Egyptian
province until 198 b.c, when Antiochus III. the
Great conquered it The attempt of Ptolemy VI.
Philometor to regain it (I Mace. xi. 1) was ended by
his death in 145 B.C.
The Biblical name (land of) "Mizraim," or (in
more poetic style) " Mazor, " is Semitic (" Misri " is
the earliest Babylonian form) and may have some
connection with that of the neighboring Musri (see
above). The Biblical (dual?) form was usually un-
derstood as an allusion to the prehistoric division
of Egypt, but, although the Hebrew (and Assyrian)
has a special name for Upper Egypt, "Pathros"
(Isa. xi. 1 ; Jer. xliv. 1 ; Ezek. xxix. 14, xxx. 14),
the ending " ayitn " is now considered as a locative
by scholars. The common Egyptian designation
was "Keme[t]" = "black," i.e., "fertile land."
The classical name " ^-Egyptos " seems to be con-
nected with the old name of Memphis, "(H)a(t)-
ka-ptah." The Bible calls Egypt also "land of
Ham" (Ps. cv. 23, 27; comp. Ps. Ixxviii. 51, cvi.
22), or contemptuously "Rahab," i.e., "boasting
monster." The fertility of the country is men-
tioned in Gen. xiii. 10; Ex. xvi. 3; and Num. xi.
5 (see Deut. xi. 10 on the necessity of laborious
irrigation). That the country depends on the Nile
(the abundance and overflowing of which are prover-
bial ; see Nile) is indicated by the Prophets, who
threaten Egypt often with its drying up [e.g., Isa.
xix. 5; comp. also the kine of Pharaoh's dream
rising from the river [Gen. xl.]). On other disad-
vantages of the country see Plagues.
The monuments furnish several examples of per-
mission given to large numbers of fugitive or starv-
59
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Egypt
ing Semites to settle in the laud, as Gen. xlviii.
describes. Traders had always free access, as Gen.
xxxvii. 25 and xlii. 2 imply. Hence after 1700 b.c.
Egypt had constantly a large Semitic
Biblical element of population, especially along
References, the eastern frontier of the Delta (comp.
Isa. xix. 18 on five cities speaking the
language of Canaan). The Egyptian cities mentioned
in the Bible all belong to this part of the country.
No (Thebes) and Syene show, however, that the
land south of Memphis also was well known in Pal-
estine. More Jews and Samaritans immigrated in
the Ptolemaic time, settling especially around Alex-
andria. The heavy taxation of the Egyptian peas-
ants and their serfdom, from which only the priests
were exempted, are mentioned in Gen. xlvii. 20-26 ;
the hard socage of the Israelites in Egypt was the
usual one of royal serfs, into the condition of whom
"durrah") were especially characteristic products
of the fields (Ex. ix. 31-32, R. V.).
In morals, the marriage of brothers and sisters as
a regular institution was the principal difference.
Women had greater liberty even than in Babylonia
(comp. Gen. xxxix.). The Egyptians were very in-
dustrious (as their gigantic constructions attest), but
neither enterprising (hence they never made good
sailors or traders) nor warlike. From the earliest
period they preferred to employ foreign mercenaries
(comp. Jer. xlvi. 9; Ezek. xxvii. 10). Hence Egypt
was a conquering power only on a rather limited
scale (comp. on its military weakness II Kings xviii.
21 ; Isa. xxxvi. 6). The country exercised a strong
influence in the development of Eastern culture
chiefly by its remarkable art and industries, less by
science because of the national writing, the hiero-
glyphs, Avhich could not be adapted to other Ian-
Tell al-Yahudiyyah (The Mound of the Jews), Egypt.
(From *' Memoirs of Egypt Exploration Fund.")
the colonists of Goshen had to enter. The most im-
portant industry, the weaving of various kinds of
linen (of which " buz " [byssus] and " shesh " kept
their Egyptian names with the Hebrews), is alluded
to in Isa. xix. 9; Ezek. xxvii. 7; and Prov. vii. 16.
Of Egyptian customs, the shaving of the beard and
(sometimes) of the head (which, however, the better
classes, except the priests, covered again by a wig),
circumcision, the laws of clean and unclean (almost
as complicated as those of Israel and often quite
analogous), the custom of embalming the dead by
a long process (mummification), and the long mourn-
ing are alluded to in Gen. xli. 14; Joshua v. 9 (?);
Gen. xliii. 32, xlvi. 36, 1. 2-3, respectively. Other-
wise the customs did not differ very much from those
of the Syrian peasants (beer largely replaced wine, as
castor-oil, etc., did the olive-oil, and linen the woolen
clothing of Syria). Flax and spelt (the modern
guages (what the Greeks called hieratic writing
was merely the cursive form ; the demotic was a kind
of stenography, developed from that cursive after
700 B.C.).
Of the enormous number of local divinities (usu-
ally arranged in triads — father, mother, and child —
as in Babylonia) the Bible mentions only the god of
Thebes, since the 18th dynasty the oflicial deity of
Egypt (see Amon) ; for the sun-god (with whom later
religion tried to identify almost all ancient local gods)
see Beth-shemesh. For the reputation of Egyp-
tian learning see an allusion in I Kings iv. 30; for
magic, Isa. xix. 3; Ex. vii. 11. The magic litera-
ture is, indeed, endless. Modern scholars consider
Babylonia as generally more advanced in science (ex-
cept, perhaps, medicine, which was an Egyptian spe-
cialty). Contrary to a popular erroneous view on
the character of the Egyptians as gloomy, they were
Egypt
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
60
extremely superstitious, but less serious than any
branch of the Semites, as a very remarkable enter-
taining literature and their non-official art demon-
strate. Their massive architecture forms no contra-
diction, being relieved by polychromy.
Bibliography : History : Flinders Petrie, Hiatory of Egypt,
1895 et seq.; Wiedemann, Acujiptischc Gesch. 1884 ; E. Meyer,
GeschicJitc dcs Alten Acgijptcns, Berlin, 1887; Maspero,
HMori) of the Ancient Orient, 3 vols., French and English,
1895-99.
Contact between Egypt and Asia : W. Max Muller, Afien
U7id Knropa, 189;J; idem, in Der AUe Orient, 1901, No. 4.
Egypto-BiWical questions: Ebers, Acgypten und die
Bllcher Mi)s>^, 18tj7 (antiquated); Bnigsch, Steininschrift
und Bihelwort, 1891 (requires caution).
Language: Erinan, Egyptian Grammar, German and
English, 1894; Brugsch, HicrnglypJmch-Demotisches WOr-
terh. 1867-81). For the Coptic, Stern, Knpti^clie Grammatik,
1880; SteindorlT, in the Porta Linguarum Orientalium,
1894 ; Peyron, Lexicon Copticum, 1835. On the Egyptian loan-
words from Semitic, Bondi, Dcm HebrUifich-PhOnizisclnii
Sprachzn^eigc AngehiUige LeJnrwOrter, etc., 1886.
Manners and customs: Erman, Aegypten und Aegyp-
tisches Lehen, 1885 (Eng. ed., 1894); Brugsch, I>ie .4efir{/p(o-
logie, 2d ed., 1897.
Religion: Wiedemann, Die Religion der AUen Egypter,
1890 (Eng. transl., 1896); Brugsch, Religion xmd Mythologic,
1884-88; Maspero, La Mytliotogie Egyptienne, 1889; Lan-
zone, Dizionario dlMltologia Egiziana, 1881.
Names : Proper names, Lieblein, HicrogUip}iischa< Namen-
wOritrlj. I871-9:i; amient geographical names, Brugsch, IHc-
tuinnaire Georgraphique, 1877-80 (with much caution).
Literature: Translations in Kecorflso/tTie Past; Griffith, in
Tlie World's Best Literature, 1S97 ; Petrie. Egyptian Tales,
1895; Maspero, Contes Populaires, 1882; W. M. Muller, Die
Liebespoesie der AUen Aegypter, 1899; Wiedemann, in Der
Alte Orient, iii., part 4 ; the so-called Book of the Dead,
ed. Naville, 1886 ; transl. by Le Page Renouf, 1890 et seq.
Decipherment of hieroglyphics: Brugsch, Die Aegypto-
logie, Leipsic, 1881.
Art: Perrot and Chipiez, Eng. ed., 1883; Maspero, Eg!/p-
tian Archeology, Eng. transl., 1893 ; Flinders Petrie, Egyp-
tian DciMrative Ai-t, 1895; Roselliui, Monument i del Egitto,
1842 et seq.; Champollion, Momiments, 1835-45; Lepsius,
Denkmdler aus Aegypten, 1849-58; annual publications of
the Egypt Exploration Fund and Survey of Egypt.
Repertories on Egypt in general : Jolowicz, BihUotheca
JEgyptiaca, 1858-61; Ibrahim-Hilmy, The Literature of
Egypt and the Sudan, 1886-88.
E. G. H. W. M. M.
In Medieval and Modern Times : * The
history of the Jews in Egypt during the Greek and
Ptolemaic periods centers almost completely in the
city of Alexandria (see Jew. Encyc. i. 361 et seq.).
As early as the third century B.C. there was a wide-
spread Jewish diaspora in Egypt. In addition to
those in Alexandria a colony of Jews existed during
the Ptolemaic period at Athribis in Lower Egypt, on
the Damietta arm of the Nile (ib. ii. 273). An in-
scription in which the Jews dedicate a synagogue to
Ptolemy and Berenice has recently been found near
the canal which connected Alexandria with the Ca-
nopic mouth of the Delta (T. Reinach, in R. E. J.
xlv. 161; Mahaffy, "Hist, of Egypt," p. 192).
Farther to the south, on the west bank of the Nile,
was Fayum, identified by Saadia (to Ex. i. 11) with
Pithom. A papyrus of the year 238-237 B.C. men-
tions a certain lonathas of this city (Mahaffy, " The
Flinders Petrie Papyri," part ii., pp. 15, 23). An-
other papyrus of the same date records that the
Jews and Greeks in a place called " Psenyris " had
to pay a special tax for the slaves in their possession
(compare idem, "Hist, of Egypt," p. 93; T. L. Z.
1896, 2, p. 35); and in a third papyrus a place called
"Samareia" in the Fayum is mentioned, together
with a number of names, among which is that of a
certain Sabbathion, a Jewess according to Schiirer
{ib. 20, p. 522) and Reinach (R. E. J. xxxvii. 520).
Another papyrus of the third century B.C. (Grenfell,
♦ For the titles of works cited under abbreviations, see Bibli-
ography at the end of the article.
"The Oxyrhynchus Papyri," i. 74) mentions a Jew
named "Danooul." For the Roman period there is
evidence that at Oxyrynchus (Behneseh), on the east
side of the Nile, there was a Jewish community of
some importance. It even had a Jews' street (R. E.
J. xxxvii. 231). Many of the Jews there must have
become Christians, though they retained their Bib-
lical names {e.g. , " David " and " Elisabeth," occurring
in a litigation concerning an inheritance). There
is even found a certain Jacob, son of Achilles
•(c. 300 C.E.), as beadle of an Egyptian temple. A
papyrus of the sixth or seventii century c.E. con-
tains a receipt given to Geroutius, quartermaster of
the general Theodosius, by Aurelius Abraham, son of
Levi, and Aurelius Amun, son of David, bay-mer-
chants. To the same century belongs a papyrus
detailing an exchange of vinegar for must between
Apollos of the Arab village in the Arsinoe nome
{i.e., Fayum) and the Hebrew Abraham, son of Theo-
dotus (see also Wessely in " Sitzungsberichte der
Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften in Wien, "
1902, pp. 12 et seq. For a Hebrew inscription at
Antinoti, in Middle Egypt, see Jew. Encyc. i. 630,
s.v. Antinoe).
Knowledge of the history of the Jews in Egypt
from the time of the Arab invasion is still very f rag-
mentarj'. There are a few scattered notices in the
Hebrew chronicles and travels of later
From the periods; but the best information
Arab comes from the fragments found in
Conquest, the Cairo genizah and in part pub-
lished by Neubauer, Schechter, Hirsch-
feld, Margoliouth, Kaufmann, and others. To these
may be added occasional references in Arabic works
on Egyptian liistory and topography. No attempt
has yet been made to put this material together.
During this period, Egypt was known to the Jews
by its old name D"'1^0; for which, at times, was
substituted f|: ni3^D (Ezek. xxx. 13) or D'J^ID niD^'D
(Ezek. xxix. 10; seeAhimaaz Chronicle, 128, 7). It
was also known as "the Diaspora" (n?1J, Al-Harizi,
§ 46; M. xli. 214, 424; J. Q. R. xv. 86, 88;' nVPJ
ib. 88). In the Ahimaaz Chronicle K^JIpID^ is per-
haps used once (126, 2 ; see Z. D. M. G. Ii. 437).
This last is derived from p2l, a name given to Fostat
(M. V. p. 181; J. Q. R. ix. 669; synonymously,
"lyjK', ib. XV. 87), which was known to Strabo and
other Greek writers as well as to the Arabs, who,
for the sake of distinction, often called it "Babylon
of Egypt" (Pauly-Wissovva, "Real-Encyc." i. 2699;
Z. D. M. G. Ii. 438; L.-P. p. 3). The name "Bab-
li-on " (Heliopolis) was popularly con-
Cairo, nected with Babylon (Lane-Poole,
"Cairo," p. 214). Cairo itself (Misr
al-Kahirah, " tlie victorious ") is called IVD, or, as in
Arabic, NIHXp^X "iVO (S. 118, 7); it was a new city,
founded by the vizier Jauhar in 969 for the Fati-
mites. The older city was farther to the southwest.
It was called "Al -Fostat" (the camp), and was
founded by 'Amr ibn al-'Asi in 641 (B. p. 341). It
remained the official capital for three centuries, and
the commercial capital up to the time of the cru-
sading King Amalric (1168), when it was burned.
Its Hebrew name was t2Nt3DD, D^IVO t3Nt3DQ (Z. D.
M. G. 11. 451; Kaufmann Gedenkbuch, p. 236),
"1VD t3NL3DD (S. 118, 5); or "the older M.," DnVD
61
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Egypt
nyc^'n (G. p. 34), np^nyn Dnvo (or np^ny^N i^o,
S. 136, 29). Synonymously, Fostat was called
Dli'^J "I^IQE^ or D'lVD "I'lQtJ', in accordance with
the translation of "inStJ* (Jer. xliii. 10); by the
Karaites D''1VD n''D''D'' (L- notes, p. 61 ; compare Jer.
xlvi. 20). Another name for Fostat was jyv (Zoan),
or DnVD }j;V (Al-Harizi, "Tahkemoni," § 46; S. 118,
5), and for the inhabitants |yvn"IJ2 (J. Q- R- xiv. 477;
compare p^V niJ3. Curiously enough, Benjamin of
Tudela uses the name *' Zoan " for a stronghold
between Cairo and the Mukattam Hills.
Alexandria was identified with the Biblical NJ
|1DS (Nahum iii. 8) and so called by Ibn Satir
("Eben Sappir," 1. 2a), though the Greek name was
also used, D''")VO b^ ^''IIJDD^N (Couforte, "Kore
ha-Dorot," p. 5a); and, following the Arabic, the
gentile adjective ^"IIJ^DX or ^"nj3D (see Ncubauer,
"Cat. Bodl. Hebr. MSS." No. 146). The region of
the east arm of the Nile was called by its Arabic
name tSN^Dl, i-e., Damietta; or, symbolically, ""N
"117132, "linS^ ("Abiathar Megillah" and Benjaiuiu
of Tudela ; see J. Q. R. xv. 89). In the letter of Al-
Afdal's ex-minister of finance (see below) occurs the
form "'riN'pp''t2K'^N=e'f TO ^DS'^OD, Tamiathis, i.e.,
Damietta Z. D.' M. G. 11. 447). The Fay urn was
generally identified with the Biblical " Pithom "
(Din^Q) and so called (Dunash b. Tamini; compare
Griitz, "Gesch." Hebr. transl., iii. 465). The gentile
form was ^Din^DH (M. J. C. i. 40); or, according to
the Arabic, "•DVafjX (e.g., Saadia and Nathanael).
Saadia was naturally well acquainted with Egyp-
tian topography. In his translation of Gen. x. 13,
14 he has the following identifications :
a>iiS = Inhabitants of Tanis.
D'Djy = " " Alexandria.
D^anS — " " Behneseh.
DTinflj = " " Farama (Yakut, ill. 882).
D'D"ini3 = " " Biyama {idem, 1. 899).
CnSoo - " " Sa'id.
onnoD = " " Damietta.
Jerome was in Egypt in the year 400 ; he mentions
five cities there " which still speak the Canaanitish
[i.e., the Syriac] language." This perhaps refers to
Aramaic — not to Coptic, as Krauss believes — and
may very well have been due to the large colonies
of Jews in the land (J. Q. R. vi. 247). The part
taken by the Jews in the Arab invasion of Egypt is
not clear. In addition to the Jews settled there from
early times, some must have come from the Arabian
peninsula. The letter sent by Mohammed to the
Jewish Banu Janba in Makna near Aila (Wellhau-
sen, "Skizzen," iv. 119) in the year
The Jews 630 is said by Al-Baladhuri to have
and the been seen in Egypt ; and a copy, writ-
Arabs, ten in Hebrew characters, has been
found in the Cairo genizah (J. Q. R.
XV. 173). Hebrew papyri are found in the Theo-
dore Graf collection covering the period 487-909.
The Jews had no reason to feel kindly toward the
former masters of Egypt. In 629 the emperor Her-
aclius I. had driven the Jews from Jerusalem (Bury,
"Later Roman Empire," ii. 215). According to Al-
Makrizi, substantiated by Eutychius, this was fol-
lowed by a massacre of Jews throughout the empire
— in Egypt, aided by the Copts, who had old scores
against the Jews to wipe out, dating from the Per-
sian conquest of Alexandria at the time of Emperor
Anastasius I. (502) and of the Persian general Shahin
(617), when the Jews assisted the conquerors against
the Christians (B. pp. 82, 134, 176). The treaty of
Alexandria (Nov. 8, 641), wiiich sealed the Arab
conquest of Egypt, expressly stipulates that the
Jews are to be allowed to remain in that city (B. p.
320) ; and at the time of the capture of that city,
Amr, in his letter to the calif, relates that he found
there 40,000 Jews.
Of the fortunes of the Jews in Egypt under the
Ommiad and Abbassid califs (641-868), the Tulunids
(863-905), and the Ikhshidids, next to nothing is
known. One important name has come down from
that time, viz., Mashallah (770-820), the astrologer,
called " Al-Misri " or " Al-Alaksandri " (B. A. § 18).
The Fatimite 'L^baid Allah al-IMahdi, who founded
the new Shiitic dynasty in 909, is said to have been
the son of a Jewess, or to have been a Jew adroitly
exchanged for the real heir. This is probably noth-
ing more than an invention of the Sunnites tending
to discredit the Alid descent of the new house (Weil,
"Geschichte der Calif en," ii. 600; Becker, "BeitrSge
zur Geschichte Aegyptens," p. 4). During the ear-
lier period of this dynasty lived the gaou Saadia
(892-942), whose teacher in Egypt was a certain Abu
Kathir mentioned by Al-Mas'udi (Gratz, "Gesch."
v. 282).
The Fatimite rule was in general a favorable one
for the Jews, except the latter portion of Al-Hakim's
reign. This is directly confirmed by the laudatory
terms in which the dynasty is spoken of by the au-
thor of the " Abiathar Megillah " (discovered by
Schechter, J. Q. R. xv. 73). From this time on
Jews are found prominent in the service of the
califs. Isaac b. Solomon Israeli, the physician (d.
953), was recalled to Egypt from Kairwan and en-
tered the service of 'Ubaid Allah ; he was still in the
royal service at the death of Al-Mansur (952). Al-
Mu'izz (952-975) had several Jews in
Rule of the his service. The Bagdad apostate
Fatimite Ya'kub ibn Killis, who had been the
Califs. right-hand man of the Ikhshidid Kafur
(966), was driven by the intrigues of
tlie vizier Ibn al-Furat to enter the service of Al-
Mu'izz. He was probably with Jauhar when the
latter led the calif's forces into Egypt, and he
became vizier under the calif 'Aziz. This Jau-
har, who for some time was practically ruler over
Egypt and Syria, has been identified by De Goeje
with Paltiel, of whom the Ahimaaz Chronicle speaks
with much enthusiasm (Z. D. M. G. Hi. 75). Jauhar
is known to have been brought from South Italy ;
but the identification is still verj^ uncertain. The
first fifteen years of Al-'Aziz's reign were dominated
by Ibn Killis, whom Kaufmann has endeavored to
identify with Paltiel ; these were years of plenty and
quiet. A Jew, Manasseh, was chief secretary in
Syria (J. Q. R. xiii. 100; B. A. g 60; L.-P. p. 120).
Moses b. Eleazar, his sons Isaac and Ishmael, and
his grandson Jacob, were in the service of this calif
(B. A. § 55).
The foundation of Talmudic schools in Egypt is
usually placed at this period, and is connected Avith
the story of the four captive rabbis who were sold
into various parts of the Diaspora. Shemariah b.
Egypt
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
62
Elhanan is said to have been taken by the Arab ad-
miral Ibn Rumahis (or Damahin) to Alexandria and
then sent to Cairo, where he was redeemed in the
tenth century (Ibn Da'ud, ed. Neubauer, M. J. C.
i. 68). A letter from him is published by Schechter
(J. Q. R. vi. 222, 596), and one from Hushiel to him
{ib. xi. 644). That he was settled in Fostat is proved
by a legal document, dated 1002, in his own hand-
writing. His cosignatories are Paltiel b. Ephraim,
Solomon b. David, Aaron b. Moses, and Jalib b.
Wahb. He is here termed "rosh" (ha-yeshibah ;
J. Q. R. xi. 648; "Teshubot he-Geonim," ed. Har-
kavj^ p. 147). Early responsa sent to Egypt are
made mention of {ib. pp. 20, 142, 146), and one by
Samuel b. Hofni (?) to Shemariah is likewise men-
tioned (J. Q.' R. xiv. 491).
That the mad calif Al-Hakim (996-1020) during the
first ten years of his reign allowed both Jews and
Christians to remain in the somewhat exceptional
position which they had obtained under the tolera-
tion of A1-' Aziz is proved by the fragment of a versi-
fied megillah, in which the calif ^K "1D1X3 flH (Al-
Hakim bi-Amr Allah) is lauded as " the best of ru-
lers, the founder of hospitals, just and equitable "
(J. Q. R. ix. 25; Z. D. M. G. li. 442). But the
Jews finally suffered from the calif's freaks. He vig-
orously applied the laws of Omar, and compelled
the Jews to wear bells and to carry
The Pranks in public the wooden image of a calf.
of the A street in the city, Al-Jaudariyyah,
Mad Calif, was inhabited by Jews. Al-Hakim,
hearing that they were accustomed to
mock him in verses, had the whole quarter burned
down; and, says Al-Makrizi, "up to this day no
Jews are allowed to dwell there" (" Al-Khitat," ii.
5). According to Al-Kalkashandi (" Subh al-A'sha,"
transl. Wilstenfeld, p. 73) the Jews then moved into
the street Al-Zuwailah. Both of these streets were
in the northwestern part of the city, not far from
the Darb al-Yahud of to-day.
During the reign of Al-Mustansir Ma'add (1035-
1094) the real power was wielded by his mother, a
black Sudanese slave, who had been sold to Al-Zahir
by Sahl, a Jew of Tustar. This Sahl had two sons,
Abu Sa'id, a dealer in antiquities, and Abu Nasr
Harun, a banker. Through the intrigues of Abu
Sa'id the vizier Ibn al-Anbari was deposed and his
place taken by an apostate Jew, Abu Mansur Sada-
kah ibn Yusuf. After nine months Sadakah, fear-
ing the power of Abu Sa'id, had him put to death
(Wustenfeld, " Fatimiden, " p. 230). To the eleventh
century belongs the papyrus letter sent (1046) from
Egypt to the Palestinian gaon Solomon b. Judah
(" Mittheilungen aus der Sammlung der Papyrus
Erzherzog Rainer," 1892, p. 127). It seems that an
Egyptian community had been rent asunder by the
presence in the synagogue of Solomon Sabik, a haz-
zan who had been excommunicated by the bet din of
Ramleh for witchcraft. Sabik 's letter of recom-
mendation from the Palestinian gaon was considered
a forgery; and a new letter from the gaon was
demanded (R. E. J. xxv. 272; J. Q. R. xv. 82). A
papyrus deed of gift, dated 1089, names Abraham b.
Shemaiah as head of the rabbinate at Fostat, his col-
leagues being Samuel the Spaniard and Halfon b.
Shabib, the hazzan (" Fuhrer durch die Sammlung
der Papyrus Erzherzog Rainer," p. 266). At this
time there lived also Ephraim ibn al-Zafan (Za'fa-
ran ; died 1068), a noted court physician, from whom
Al-Afdal once bought a library of 10,000 volumes,
and who, when he died, left more than 20,000 books
(B. A. § 142).
At the beginning of the twelfth century a Jew,
Abu al-Munajja ibn Sha'yah, was at the head of
the Department of Agriculture. He is especially
known as the constructor of a Nile sluice (1112),
which was called after him " Bahr Abi al-Munajja "
(Ibn Dukmak, "Description de I'Egypte," ii. 46,
Cairo, 1893; Al-Makrizi, I.e. i. 72, 477; Ibn lyyas,
"Bada'ial-Zuhur," ii. 109, 182; Al-Kutubi,"Fawat,"
i. 89; Al-Kalkashandi, I.e. p. 27). He fell into dis-
favor because of the heavy expenses connected with
the work, and was incarcerated in Alexandria, but
was soon able to free himself (J. Q. R.
Jewish XV. 73). A document concerning a
Ministers, transaction of his with a banker has
been preserved (J. Q. R. xv. 168).
Under the vizier Al-Malik al-Afdal (1137) there was
a Jewish master of finances, whose name, however,
is unknown. His enemies succeeded in procuring
his downfall, and he lost all his property. He was
succeeded by a brother of the Christian patriarch,
who tried to drive the Jews out of the kingdom.
Four leading Jews worked and conspired against
the Christian, with what result is not known.
There has been preserved a letter from this ex-minis-
ter to the Jews of Constantinople, begging for aid
in a remarkably intricate poetical style (J. Q. R. ix.
29, X. 430; Z. D. M. G. li. 444). One of the physi-
cians of the calif Al-Hafiz (1131-49) was a Jew, Abu
Mansur (Wilstenfeld,' p. 306). Abu al-Fada'il ibn
al-Nakid (died 1189) was a celebrated oculist (B. A.
§ 151).
In this century a little more light is thrown upon
the communities in Egypt through the reports of
certain Jewish scholars and travelers who visited
the country. Judah ha-Levi was in Alexandria in
1141, and dedicated some beautiful verses to his
friend Aaron Ben-Zion ibn Alamani and his five
sons of that city. At Damietta Ha-Levi met his
friend, the Spaniard Abu Sa'id ibn Halfon ha-Levi.
About 1160 Benjamin of Tudela was in Egypt; he
gives a general account of the Jewish communities
which he found there. At Cairo there were 2,000
Jews; at Alexandria 3,000, with a R. Phineas b.
Meshullam, who had come from France, at their head ;
in the Fayum there were 20 families ; at Damietta 200;
at Bilbais, east of the Nile, 300 persons ; and at Da-
mira 700. At Mahallah( Yakut, iv. 428), now Mahallat
al-Kabir, half-way on the railroad line between Alex-
andria and Damietta, Benjamin found 500. Sam-
bari (119, 10) mentions a synagogue here (n^nDi5{<),
with a scroll of the Law (seen as late as 1896 by S.
Schechter) in a metal case, which was used only on
Rosh Hodesh, and which was supposed to entail the
death of any one who swore falsely after having
touched it. Benjamin also found 200 Jews at Sefi-
tah and 200 at Al-Butij, on the east bank of the
Nile. Sambari (156, 16) speaks of Jews also at
Reshid (Rosetta), where Samuel b. David, saw two
synagogues (G. p. 4).
The rigid orthodoxy of Saladin (1169-98) does
63
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Egypt
not seem to have affected the Jews in his kingdom.
A Karaite doctor, Abu al-Bayyan al-Mudawwar (d.
1184), who had been physician to the last Fatimite,
treated Saladin also (B. A. §153); while
Mai- Abu al-Ma'ali, brother-in-law of Mai-
znonides. monides, was likewise in his service
{ib. § 155). In 1166 Maimonides went
to Egypt and settled in Fostat, where he gained
much renown as a physician, practising in the
family of Sal-
adin and in that
of his vizier
?:adi al-Fadil
al - Bai sami .
The title " Ra'is
al-Umma"or"al-
Millah" (Head
of the Nation,
or of the Faith),
was bestowed
upon him. In
Fostat, he wrote
his " M i s h n e h
Torah" (1180)
and the "Moreh
Nebukim," both
of which evoked
opposition even
from the Mo-
hammed a ns,
who commented
upon them (J.Q.
Rvi.318). From
this place he sent
many letters and
responsa;c.^.,to
Jacob, son of
Nathaniel al-
Fayyumi, on the
pseudo - Messiah
in South Arabia,
and to R. Hasdai
ha-Levi, the
Spaniard, in Al-
exandria ("Te-
shubot ha-Ram-
bam," p. 23a).
In 1173 he for-
warded a re-
quest to the
North-African
communities to
aid in releasing
a number of cap-
tives. The origi-
nal of the last
document has
been preserved (M. xliv. 8). He caused the Karaites
to be removed from the court (J. Q. R. xiii. 104). He
also served Saladin 's successors as physician.
Maimonides' presence in Egypt at this time was
quite fortunate. A certain Zuta, also called " Yahya, "
had supplanted the nagid Samuel for sixty-four
days. Sam.uel, however, was reinstated. Zuta
hoarded up much wealth, and when the nagid died
(before 1169), denounced his manner of collecting the
Plan of the City of Cairo. Twelfth Century.
(After Lane-Poole, " Medieval Egypt.")
revenues. Though the accusation was proved to be
false, Zuta induced Saladin to sell him the dignity,
and under the name of " Sar Shalom ha-Levi " he
greatly overtaxed the people for four years — prob-
ably from 1185 to 1189, two documents written
during his tenure of office bearing these dates re-
spectively (J. Q. R. viii. 555). Maimonides, with
the aid of R. Isaac, whom Harkavy and Neubauer
connect with Isaac b. Shoshan ha-Dayyan, succeeded
in driving Zuta
out of office; and
he and his son
were put under
the ban for the
denunciations
which they had
hurled right and
left. The mat-
ter was even
brought to the
attention of the
vizier ('^'0). A
megillah ("Me-
gillat Zuta ") re-
counting these
events was writ-
ten in rimed
prose by Abra-
ham BAR HlL-
LEL in 1196 (J.
Q. R. viii. 541,
ix. 721, xi. 532;
Wertheimer,
" Ginze Yerusha-
layim, " i. 37 ; see
also Harkavy in
" Ha - Mizpah, "
1885, ii. 543;
Kaufmann, in M.
xli. 460, and J.Q.
R. ix. 170).
The severe
pest that visited
Egypt in 1201-
1202 in conse-
quence of an ex-
ceptionally low
Nile, and which
is graphically de-
scribed by the
physician 'Abd
al-Latif, is also
described in a
Hebrew frag-
ment which is at
present in the
possession of A.
Wolf of Dresden (Z. D. M. G. li. 448).
It was during the nagidship of Abraham Maimoni-
des, who was physician to Al-Malik al-Kamil (1218-
38), that Al-Harizi went to Egypt, of
Al-BEarizi's which he speaks in the thirty-sixth
Visit. and forty-sixth makamahs of his " Tah-
kemoni." The former is supposed by
Kaminka to be possibly a satire on Zuta (M. xliv.
220; Kaminka's ed., p. xxix. ; but D^N3D must refer
EgTPt
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
64
to South Arabia). In Alexandria Al-Haiizi mentions
R. Sinihah lia-Kohen, the Karaite Obadiah (the royal
scribe) and his son Joseph, K. Hillel, and R. Zadok,
the hazzan. In Fostat he mentions especially the day-
yan Menahem b. R. Isaac. He also met Abraham Mai-
monides; and in Egypt he began to ^vrite his "Tah-
kemoni. " At the beginning of the thirteenth centiir}^
there lived Jaool)!). Isaac (As'ad al-Din al-Mahalli), a
renowned physician and medical writer (B. A. § 163).
A letter to Hananeel b. Samuel {e. 1200), author of
commentaries to the Talmud, has been published by
Horwilz (Z. H. B. iv. 155; compare B. A. ^ 166).
In 1211 a number of French rabbis, at the head of
whom were the brothers Joseph and Meir ben Bavuch,
emigrated to Palestine, and on their way visited
Abraham Maimonides, who mentions them in his
"Milhamot Adonai" (ed. Leipsic, p. 16a; see R. E.
J. vi. 178; Berliner's "Magazin," iii. 158).
Under the Bahri Mamelukes (1250-1390) the Jews
led a comparatively quiet existence; though they
had at times to contribute heavily toward the main-
tenance of the vast military equip-
Under the ment, and were harassed by the cadis
Mam- and ulemas of these strict Moslems.
elukes. Al-Makrizi relates that the first great
Mameluke, Sultan Baibars (Al-Malik
al-Thaiiir, 1260-77), doubled the tribute paid by the
"ahl al-dhimmah." At one time he had resolved to
burn all the Jews, a ditch having been dug for that
purpose; but at the last moment he repented, and
instead exacted a heavy tribute, during the collec-
tion of which many perished (QuatremSre, " Histoire
des Sultans Mamelukes," ii. 154). Under Al-Nasir
Mohammed (three times sultan, 1293-1340) the trib-
ute from Jews and Christians amounted to 10 to 25
dirhems per head (L.-P. p. 304).
An account is given in Sambari (135, 22) of the
strictness with which the provisions of the Pact of
Omar were carried out. The sultan had just re-
turned from a victorious campaign against the Mon-
gols in Syria (1305). A fanatical convert from Ju-
daism, Sa'id ibu Hasan of Alexandria, was incensed
at the arrogance of the non-Moslem population, par-
ticularly at the open manner in which services Avere
conducted in ciuirciies and synagogues. He tried
to form a synod of ten rabbis, ten priests, and the
ulemas. Failing in this, he endeavored to have the
churches and synagogues closed. Some of the
churches were demolished by the Alexandrian mob ;
but most of the synagogues were allowed to stand,
as it was shown that they had existed at the time of
Omar, and weie by the pact exempted from inter-
ference. Sambari (137, 20) says that a new pact
was made at the instance of letters from a INIoorish
king of Barcelona (1309), and the synagogues were
reopened; but this probably refers only to the reis-
suing of the Pact of Omar. There are extant several
notable fetwas (responsa) of Moslem doctors touch-
ing this subject; e.g., those of Ahmad ibn 'Abd al-
Hakk, who speaks especially of the synagogues at
Cairo, which on the outside appeared like ordinary
dwelling-houses — a fact which had occasioned other
legal writers to permit their presence. According
to Taki al-Din ibn Tainiiyyah (b. 1263), the syna-
gogues and churches in Cairo liad once before been
closed. This fanatical Moslem fills his fetwas with
invectives against the Jews, holding that all their
religious edifices ought to be destroyed, since they
had been constructed during a period when Cairo
was in the hands of heterodox Moslems, Ismailians.
Karmatians, and Nusairis (R. E. J. xxx. 1, xxxi. 212;
Z. D. M. G. liii. 51). The synagogues were, however,
allowed to stand (Weil, I.e. iv. 270). Under the same
sullan (1324) the Jews were accused of incendiarism
at Fostat and Cairo; they had to exculpate then\-
selvfs by a payment of 50,000 gold pieces (Quatre-
mere,?.c.ii.l6). The dignity which Moses Maimonides
hud given to Egyptian-Jewish learning was not
maintained by his descendants. In 1314 the French
philosopher and exegete Joseph Caspi went on a spe-
cial mission to Egypt, where lie hoped to draw in-
spiration for philosophical studj- ; but he was much
disappointed, and did not remain there for any
length of time (Griitz, "Gesch." vii. 3G2). During
the period just refeircd to lived Abu al-Muna al-
Kuhin al-Attai', who compiled a much-used phar-
macopoeia (ed. Cairo, 1870, 1883; B. A. § 176), and
the apostate Sa'd ibn Mansur ibn Kanununa (1280),
who wrote a number of tracts on philosophy and an
interesting controversial tract on Judaism, Christi-
anity, and Islam (B. A. t^ 178).
Under the Burji Mamelukes the Franks again at-
tacked Alexandria (1416), and the laws against the
Jews were once more strictly enforced by Sheik al-
Mu'ayyid (1412-21); by Ashraf Bars
In the Bey (1422-38), because of a plague
Fifteenth which decimated the population in
Century. 1438; by Al-Zahir Jakmak (1438-53) ;
and by Ka'it-iSey (1468-95). The last-
named is referred to by Obadiah of Bertinoro (O. p.
53). The Jews of Cairo were compelled to pay
75,000 gold pieces (Muir, "Mamluks," pp. 136, 154,
180). During this century two travelers visited
Egypt — namely, Meshullam of Volterra (1481) and
Obadiah of Bertinoro (1488), just mentioned — and
they have left accounts of what they saw there (see
Bibliography, helow). ]\Ieshullam found 60 Jewish
householders in Alexandria, but no Karaites or Sa-
maritans; there were two synagogues, a large and a
small one. Fostat was in ruins; but he mentions
the Elijah and the Damwali synagogues. In Cairo
he found 500 Jewish householders, 22 Karaites, and
50 Samaritans; six synagogues, and a royal inter-
preter of Jewish descent, one Tagribardi. Of other
prominent Jews he mentions R. Suiuucl ']2~\ a rich
and charitable man, physician to the sultan, and his
son Jacob ; R. Joshua IDnfjX and Zadakah b. na^iy
(M. V. pp. 176-187).
Obadiah was protected in Alexandria by R. Moses
Grasso, interpreter for the Venetians, whom he men-
tions as a very prominent man. He speaks of only
25 Jewish families there; but there were 700 Jews
in Cairo, 50 Samaritans, and 150 Karaites. The Sa-
maritans, he says, are the richest of all the Jews,
and are largely engaged in the business of banking.
He also met there Anusim from Spain (O. p. 51).
The Jewish community must have been greatly aug-
mented by these exiles. They were well received,
though occasionally their presence caused strife, as
in the case of Joseph ibn Tabul, who insisted upon
joining the Sephardim, though he really belonged
to the Arabic communitv. Sulaimah ibn Uhna and
^^(
. 1
I.KTTKU (P.vrvias) {JY AN KtivriiAN Uaiuu to Solomon ukn Jldah, Twki.kth CKNTinY.
(Ill ihe culiri'tioii of (;r.tii<i Duke Uuiiitrr.)
Egypt
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
66
Hayyiin Vital iiiterfeird, and copies of tlieir Iciteis
to ibu Tabul have been preserved (Frumkin, "Ebeu
Shemuel," p. 7). Among their number may be
mentioned Moses b. Isaac Alashkar, Samuel Sidillo
(1455-1530), David il)u Abi Zimra (1470-1572), Jacob
Berab (who came from Jerusalem in 1522; Frumkin,
I.e. p. 30), and Abraham ibu Shoshan, the last three
holding otticial positions as rabbis. Closes de Cas-
tro, a pupil of Berab, was at the head of the rabbin-
ical school at Cairo.
On Jan. 22, 1517, the Turki.sh sultan, Salim I., de-
feated Tuman Bey, the last of the Mamelukes. He
tnade radical changes in the affairs of the Jews,
abolishing the office of nagid, making
Under the each community independent, antl pla-
Turks. cing David ibn Abi Zimra, at the head
of that of Cairo. He also appointed
Abraham de Castro to be master of the mint. About
this time David Re'ubeni was in Cairo (1523?); he
speaks of the Jews' street there (DniHM nP'DD =
"Darb al-Yahudi"), of their occupation as gold-
smiths, and of Abraham de Castro, who, he says,
lived as a pseudo -Mohammedan (M. J. C. ii. 141).
It was during the reign of Salim's successor, Sulai-
man II., that Ahmad Pasha, Viceroy of Egypt, re
venged himself upon the Jews because De Castro
had revealed (1524) to the sultan his designs for in-
dependence (see Ahmad P.vsiiA ; Abraham de Cas-
tro). The "Cairo Purlin," in commemoration of
their escape, is still celebrated on Adar 28.
The text of the megrillah read on that day has been published
by Lowe in " Ha-Maggid," Feb. U, 28, 186tj, and, from a genizali
fragment, in J. Q. R. viii. 2,7, .511. The short report of an eye-
witness, Samuel b. Nahman, is given in Neubauer, "Aus der
Petersburger Bibliothek," p. 118. Secondary sources : Ibn Ver-
ga, Additamenta, p. HI ; S. 145, 9 (see J. Q. R. xi. 6.')6); Joseph
ha-Kohen, '"Emek ha-Bakah," pp. 76,9.5; idem, "Dibre ha-
Yamim," p. 73.
Toward the end of the sixteenth century Talmudic studies in
Egypt were greatly fostered by Bezaleel Ashkenazi, author of
the " Shittah Mekubbezet." Among his pupils were Isaac Luria,
who as a young man had gone to Egypt to visit a rich uncle, the
tax-farmer Mordecai Francis (Azulai, "Shem ha-Gedolim," No.
332); and Abraham Monson (1594). Ishmael Kohen Tanuji fin-
ished his " Sefer ha-Zikkaron " in Egypt in 1.543. Joseph ben
Moses di Trani was in Egypt for a time (Frumkin, I.e. p. 69), as
well as Hayylm Vital Aaron ibn Hayyim, the Biblical and Tal-
mudical commentator (16U9 ; Frumkin, I.e. pp. 71, 72). Of Isaac
Luria's pupils, a Joseph Tabul is mentioned, whose son Jacob,
a prominent man, was put to death by the authorities (" Sar shel
Mizrayim " ; Conforte, " Kore ha-Dorot," 40b).
According to Manasseh b. Israel (1656), "The
viceroy of Egypt has always at his side a Jew Avith
the title ' zaraf bashi,' or 'treasurer,' who gathers
the taxes of the land. At present Abraham Alkula
[''!313PN] holds the position." He was succeeded
by Raphael Joseph Tshelebi, the rich friend and
protector of Shabbethal Zebi (Gratz, "Gesch." x.
34). Shabbethal was U\\ce in Cairo, the second
time in 1660. It was there that he married the ill-
famed Sarah, who had been brought from Leghorn
(ib. p. 210). The Shabbethaian movement naturally
created a great stir in Egypt. It was in Cairo
that Miguel (Abraham) Cardoso, tlie Shabbethaian
prophet and physician, settled (1703), becoming
physician to the pasha Kara Mohammed. In 1641
Samuel b. David, the Karaite, visited Egypt. The
account of his journey (G. i. 1) supplies special in-
formation in regard to his fellow sectaries. He de-
scribes three synagogues of the Rabbinites at Alexan-
dria, and two at Rasliid (G. i. 4). A second Karaite,
^Moses b. Elijah ha-Levi, has left a similar account
of the year 1654; but it contains only a few points
of special interest to the Karaites (ih).
Sambari mentions a severe trial which came upon
the Jews, due to a certain "kadial-'asakir "(=" gen-
eralissimo," not a proper name) sent from Constanti-
nople to Egypt, who robbed and oppressed them,
and whose death was in a certain measure occasioned
by the graveyard invocation of one Moses of Dam-
wah. This may have occurred in the seventeenth
century (S. 120, 21). David Conforte was dayyan
in Egypt in 1671. In Sambari's own time (1672)
there were Jews at Alexandria, Cairo, andDamaninir
(R. Half on b. 'Ula, the dayyan); at 0^3^513 or D"'3^13
(S. 138, 11; 136, 18 ;R. Judah ha-Kohen, the dayyan;
this city is perhaps identical with Bilbai's, though a
genizah fragment in Cambridge mentions the city
D''3^3 in 1119); at JMahallah (R. Perahiah b. Jose,
the dayyan), at Bulak (S. 162, 7), and at Rashid (S.
156, 16), where he mentions iMoses ibn Abu Darham,
Judah pXytW, and Abraham ibn Zur. Sambari
gives also the names of the leading Jews in Alex-
andria and Cairo. His chronicle (edited in part by
Neubauer, and reprinted by Berliner, Berlin, 1896)
is chierty valuable for the histoiy of the Jews in
Egypt, his native country. From 1769 to 1773 Hay-
yim Joseph Azulai was rabbi in Cairo (J. Q. R.
XV. 333).
Solomon Hazzan gives the following list of rabbis at Alexan-
dria during recenttimes: Jedidiah Lsiael (1777-82), his nephew
Israel (18(r2-23i, Solomon Hazzan (1832-.56), Israel .Moses Hazzan
(1862), Nathan Amram (1862-73), .Moses Pardo (1873-74i, and
Elijah Hazzan (1888). Israel Yom-Tob, who was nominally chief
rabbi of Cairo, died April 8, 1892, and was succeeded by .\aroa
ben Simon (" Israelit," 1892, p. 639).
Two Jewish travelers have left an account of the
condition of the Jews in Egypt about the middle of
the nineteenth century. Bexj.v.min' II. found in Al-
exandria about 500 families of indigenous Jews and
150 of so-called Italians. Each of these communities
had its own synagogue, but both were
In the presided over by R. Solomon Hazzan,
Nineteenth a native of Safed. In Cairo also he
Century, found two Jewish communities; the
indigenous numbering about 6,000
families and the Italian 200. Both were presided
over by Hakam Elijah Israel of Jerusalem. Benja-
min speaks of their eight synagogues, one of which
is called "the Synagogue of Maimonides." In Fos-
tat, or old Cairo, he found 10 Jewish families, very
poor, and supported by their richer brethren in Cairo.
In Damietta there were 50 Jewish families, and be-
tween that place and Cairo several scattered Jewish
communities which had lapsed into a dead state of
ignorance (Benjamin II., "Eight Years in Asia and
Africa," pp. 2^Q et seq.).
Ibn Safir ("Eben Sappir." pp. 26 et seq., Lyck,
1866) gives a more detailed account. He says that
most of the Jew-s at present in Alexandria went
there in recent times, after the cutting of the Mah-
mudij^yah Canal. A number had gone from Rasliid
and from Damietta, so that onl}' a handful of Jews
was left in those places. The number in Alexandria
he estimates at 2,000. Among the synagogues were
the Kanisal-'Aziz, a small one, and the Kanis Sarda-
liii, a large one. The Elijah synagogue had been
67
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Egypt
rebuilt three years before liis arrival. He .speaks also
of a synagogue with Sephardic ritual for the Italian
Jews, uunibering 100, aud of a special synagogue
for 50 Jews who had come there from eastern Eu-
rope. Of Jews iu other parts of Egypt he mentions :
20 at Tauta, between the Ilosetta aud Dauiietta arms
of the Nile, with a synagogue; 40 families in Man-
surali ; 20 families in ^Mahallah, with a synagogue
(p. 211)); 20 families in Bet Jamari (?); 5 families at
Zifteli, on the left bank of the Damietta arm, 10
Jews at Bcnha, and only 1 iu Fayum (p. 2oa). In
Cairo he found 600 families of native Jews and 60 of
Italians, Turks, etc., following the Sephardic ritual,
aud loO Karaite families living in a separate quarter.
New .Synagogue at Cairo, Egypt.
(After a photngraph.)
The Jews live in the northwestern part of the city
in a special quarter called "Darb al-Yahudi." Tlie
lanes are narrow, but the houses are large. The Jews
are well-to-do and are engaged largely in the banking
business. The cemetery is two hours distant from
the city, and the graves are not marked by any
stones. There is, however, a monument to a cele-
brated pious man, R. Hayyim "iDID^, to which the
Jews make pilgrimages, taking off their shoes as
they approach it. Kapusi (?) must have lived to-
ward the end of the sixteenth and at the beginning
of the seventeenth century. He is mentioned in a
document of the year 1607, together with Abraham
Castro, Benjamin TJKp ('J"'JNp, Conforte, I.e. p.
41b), and Closes Arragel (Hazzan, "Ha-Ma'alot li-
Shelomoh," p. 12a), and by Conforte {ib.).
The head of the Egyptian Jews outside of Alex-
andria was R. Elijah Israel b. Isaac of Jerusalem,
whose power over the community was considerable.
Ibn Satir mentions as leaders of the community
Yom-Tob b. Elijah Israel, a judge; Jacob Shalom;
the Ya'bez family ; Jacob CataAvi ; Saadia ; and Abra-
ham Rosana. In the ruined city of Fostat he found
twelve Jewish families, whose number was increased
during the summer by tiie rich Cairo Jews who go
there for a time ("Eben Sappir," p. 20a).
Blood accusations occurred at Alexandria in 1844
(Jost, "Neuere Geschichte," ii. 380), in 1881 (Jkw.
E.NCYC. i. 366), and iu Jan., 1902 (see "Bulletin All.
Isr." 1902, p. 24). In consequence of the Damascus
Akfaiu, Montetiore, Cremieux, and Solomon Munk
visited Egypt in 1840; and the last two did much to
raise the intellectual stiitus of their Egyptian breth-
ren by the founding, in connection with Rabbi Moses
Joseph Ai.GAZi, of schools in Cairo (Jost, l.r. p.
368; idem, "Annalen," 1840, p. 429).
In 1892 a German-Italian congregation was
foriyed at Port Said under Austrian protection ("Is-
raelit," 1892, p. 1620). When Khartum fell into the
hands of the Mahdi(1885), seven or eight Jews were
found there, among them Neufeld. They were,
however, all foreigners.
According to the oHicial census published in lh:98
(i., xviii.), there were in Egypt 25,200 Jews in a total
population of 9,734,405. Of these, 12,693 were
Egyptians and 12.507 strangers. Their distribution
in the various cities was as follows:
No. of .lews.
Governoratx.
Cairo
11,489
9,94tt
9
439
Alexandria ....
Damietta
G. Gl. du (anal ....
Suez
123
Lower
Egypt.
Pri)vi)ices.
Beliera
346
Sharif ieh
278
Dakalieh
Gharbieh
828
1,404
185
Kalyubieh . ...
^ Manufleh
28
Provinces.
Beni-Soiief
Fayum
31
9
Gizeh
17
Upper J
Minia
65
Egypt.
Assiut
13
Guerga
Kenah
19
42
Nubia
31
Total
25,200
The Alliance Israelite Universelle, together with
the Anglo-Jewish Association, maintains at Cairo a
boys' and a girls' school, founded in 1896. There
are Zionist societies in Cairo, Alexandria, Mansurah,
Suez, Damauhur, Mahallah, Kobra, and Xanta. The
Zionist society Bar Cochba in Alexandria founded
there a Hebrew school in 1901; it issues a journal,
"Le Messager Sionist," which in 1902 superseded
the "Mebassereth Zion."
The Egyptian communities were presided over
for many centuries by a nagid, similar to the " resh
galuta " in the East. One of the earli-
est references to the Egyptian nagid is
to be found in the Midrash Agadat Be-
reshit (p. 1 10, Warsaw, 1876). His full
title was f)X oy tjj (compare the title
of Simon, anpafie?. — ^x DJ? "ItJ', I. Macc. xiv. 28), or
nfjUD oy TJJ (MS. Cambridge Add. No. 3124. Da-
vid Maimonides. 1396), or perhaps DHf n '\tif (Ben-
Con-
stitution ;
the Nagid.
Eg-ypt
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
68
jainin of Tudela; compare Z. I). M. G. Hi. 44G; J.
Q. K. i.x.116); andSiiinbaridie, 20; 138, 7) speaks of
him as ^Xlt;''' h^ Dvhi N^L*'J- His autiiority at times,
Avheii Syria wasa part of the Egyptiaii-Mohauunedaii
empire, extended over Palestine; according to the
Aliimaaz Chronicle (130, 5). even to the Mediterra
uean littoral on the west. In one document C'Kauf-
mann Gedenkhuch," p. 23G) the word is used as syn-
onymous with " padishah." Tlic date is 1209; but
tlic term may refer to the non Jewisli overlord. In
Arabic works he is called "raMs al-Yahud" (R. E.
J. XXX. 9); though his connection with t!ie "sJiaikh
al-Yahud," mentioned in many documents, is not
clear. Meshullam of Volterra says expressly that
his jurisdiction extended over Karaites and Samari-
tans also; and this is confirmed by tiie official title
of the nagid in the instrument of convejance of the
Fostat synagogue. At tinvs he had an official vice-
nagid, called by Meshullam TJj ''V'l'in (IM. V. p.
187, 5); in Hebrew, Dnt'n muy (-1 Q- H. x. 162).
To assist him he had a bet din of three persons (S.
133, 21) — though ^Mesiiullam mentions four judges
and two scribes, and the number was at times in-
creased even to seven — and there was a special
prison over which he presided (M. V. p. 180). He
Imd full power in civil and criminal affairs, and
could impose fines and imprisonment at will (David
ibn Abi Zimra, Responsa, ii.. No. 622; M. V. t/i. ; O.
p. 17). He appointed rabbis; and the congregation
paid his salary, in addition to which he received cer-
tain fees. His special duties were to collect the ta.xes
and to watch over the restrictions placed upon the
further construction of synagogues (Shihab al-Din's
"Ta'rif," cited in R. E. J. xxx. 10). Even theolog-
ical questions — regarding a pseudo-Messiah, for ex-
ample— were referred to him (J. Q. R. v. 506, x.
140). On Sabbath he was escorted in great state
from his liome to the synagogue, and bi'ought back
with similar ceremony in the afternoon (S. 116, 8).
On Simhat Torah he had to read the Peutateuchal
lesson and to translate it into ArauKiic and Arabic.
Upon his appointment by the calif his installation
was effected with much pomp; runners went before
him ; and the royal proclamation was solemnly read
(see E. N. Adler in J. Q R. ix. 717).
The origin of the nagidship in Egypt is obscure.
Sambari and David ibn AbiZinua (Frumkin, "Ebeu
Shemuel," p. 18) connect it directly with a daugh-
ter of the Abbassid calif Al-Ta'i (974-
Origin of 991), who married the Egyptian calif
the Office. 'Adnd alDaulah (977-982). But'Adud
was a Buwahid emir of Ragdad under
Al-Muktafi ; and, according to Ibn al- Athir (" Chron-
icles," viii. 521), it was 'Adud's daughter who mar-
ried Al Ta'i. Nor does Sambari give the name of
the nagid sent from Bagdad. On tiie other hand,
the Ahimaaz Chronicle gives to the Paltiel who was
brought by Al-Mu'izz to Egypt in 952 the title of
"nagid" (125, 26; 129, 9; 130, 4); and it is possible
that the title originated witii him, though the ac-
counts about the general Jauhar may popularly liave
been transferred to him. If this be so, he was fol-
lowed by liis son, R. Samuel (Ahimaaz Chronicle,
130, 8), who.se benefactions, especially to the Jews in
the Holy Land, are noticed. This must be the Sam-
uel mentioned as head of the Jews many hundred
years previous by Sanuiel b. David, and claimed as
a Karaite. The claim is also made by Firkovitch.
and his date is set at 1063. He is said to have ob-
tained [jermission for the Jews to go about at niglit
in the public streets, provided they had lanterns, and
to purchase a burial-ground instead of burying their
(lead in their own court3'ards (G. pp. 7, 61). The
deed of conveyance of the Rabbinite synagogue at
Fostat (1038), already referred to, mentions Abu
(IbnV) Imran IMusa ibn Ya'kub ibn Ishak al-lsra'ili
as the nagid of that time. The next nagid men-
tioned is the physician J udah b. Josiali, a Davidite
of Damascus, also in the eleventh century (S. 116,
20; 133. 10); a poem in lionor of his acceptance of
the office has been preserved (J. Q. R.
Succession viii. 566, ix. 360). In the same cen-
of tury lived the nagid Meborak b.
Nagidim. Saadia, a physician (J. Q. R. viii.
557): he is referred to in a contract
dated 1098 (ii. ix. 38, 115), in theepislleof the ex-
minister of finance of the vizier Al-Af(jal (Z. D. M.
G. lii. 446), and in a Lewis-Gibson fragment (J. Q.
R. i\. 116). He was maligned by the exilarch Da-
vid, and was forced to take refuge for a time in
Fayum and Alexandria (ib. xv. 89).
It is uncertain whether there was a nagid named
Mordecai; the expression "Mordekai ha-Zeman "
is probably appellative {ib. ix. 170): but the frag-
ment of a poem (s(!e "He-Haluz," lii. 153) ad-
dresses him as " Negid 'Am El," which is quite dis-
tinctive (J. Q. R. viii. 553). His full name would
then be Mordecai b. al-Harabiyyah. He was suc-
ceeded by Abu Mansur Samuel b. Hananiah, who
was nagid at the time of Judah ha-Levi (1141). He
is not to be confused with Samuel ha-Nagid of
Spain, as he is even in Sambari (S. 156, 24; see J.
Q. R. ix. 170, xiii. 103; M. xl.417). He wasliving in
1 157, but not so late as 1171, as he is not mentioned
by Benjamin of Tudela. When Benjamin was in
Egypt the nagid was Nathanael (Hibat Allah ibn
Jami, a renowned physician; B. A. §145). This
can be seen from Benjamin's description, though
the title is not u.sed (despite Neubauer, J. Q. R. viii.
553). He is mentioned in 1164 in a marriage con-
tract published bv Merx ("Doc. Paleogr." 1894; M.
xxxix. 150, xli. 214; J. Q. R. xiii. 103; B. A. § 145j.
During the time that he farmed the revenues the
usurper Zuta must have held office (M. xli. 463).
Ziita was ousted by Maimonides, though whether
the latter took his place as nagid, and Avhat was
his relationship to Nathanael, are not clear. A ke-
tubbah, dated 1172, in the librarj' of the late D.
Kaufmann, seems by its wording to indicate that
INIaimonides did hold the ofiic»e (Z. D. M. G. li. 451 ;
M. xh. 425, 463). Maimonides induced manj'- Kara-
ites to return to Rabbinism (Gratz, "Gesch." vi. 359).
The dignity of nagid was vested for some time
in the family of Maimonides: Abraham (1186-1237;
a document from his bet din is published by D. W.
Amram in "The Green Bag," xiii. 339, Boston,
1901); his son David (1213-1300; S. 120, 15; 134,
29; M. xliv. 17; " Kerem Hemed," ii. 169; "Or
Meir." J). 34); the latter s .son Abraham Maimonides
II. (1246-1310); and Abraham's son Joshua b.
Abraiiam (b. 1248).
In regard to the fourteenth (ciituiv there is no
69
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Egypt
information. In t lie tiflcenlli occurs a Nagid Aiurani
(1419), to whom a letter was sent (preserved by tlie
Jtulian stylist Josei>h b. Judali Sarko) iiitroihicing
a certain li. Elias, who was on a mission to seek the
Lost Ten Tribes (J. Q. li. iv. 303). Lipmann of
^.luhlhauscu mentions tlie ottice in liis " >ii7.zahon"
(ed. Amsterdam, p. 9G). In 1481 ]Meshullam of Voi-
tcrra mentions Solomon b. Joseph, wliose father be-
fore him had also been nagid. Solomon was physi
cian to the sultan Al-.Malik al-Ashraf Ka'it Bey (>I.
V. p. 186); liis dayyanim were Jacob b. Samuel nSD
("ia"l'0> JhcoI) n^nSD^N. Samucl b. Akil.and Aaron
Me'appe. He was followed by Nathan Kohen Sholal
(seen by Obadiah of Bertinoro, 1488), who was born
in the ]\Iaghreband liad formerly lived in Jerusalem
(O. p. 52). Nathan was followed by his nephew,
Isaac Kohen Siiolal (loOO; S. 157, 1). A letter from
his bet din is mentioned, among others, by Conforte
C'Kore ha-Dorot," p. 31a; compare Frumkin, I.e.
p. 20, and Azulai, "Shem ha-Gedolim," No. 322, i.
45a). For a time he was deprived of his rank; but
he returned to Egypt in 1500 (Samuel de Avila in
Frumkin, "Eben Shemuel," p. 18; Briill's " Jahrb."
vii. 123). Abraham de Castro (1524), the mint-mas-
ter, is given the title "nagid" by Sambari (145, 10;
159, 20); his nephew, Jacob de Castro (d. 1610),
was a rabbinic authority. The same source men-
tions (S. 157, 6) as the last dignitaries T'JXr) (T'JXn^)
and Jacob ibn Hayyim. From the time of the Os-
manli rule, says Sambari (116, 22), the nagid dynasty
was no longer in the family of David, but was given
to the one preeminent for wisdom and riches. He
Avas sent to Egypt by the Jewish notables of Con-
stantinople. The pretensions of Jacob ibn Ilayyim
made him disliked (IIG, 25). He Avas put under the
ban by Bezaleel Ashkenazi, and driven from the
country.
The office of nagid was suspended about tlie mid-
dle of the sixteenth century (according to Azulai,
"Shem ha-Gedolim," i. 16, by Bezaleel himself), the
chief rabbi being given the title "tshelebi." David
ibn Abi Zimva was chief rabbi of Egypt for many
years (c. 1570), and his decisions were widely fol-
lowed throughout the Orient ("Ma'alot li-Shelo-
moh," p. 18b). The title "nagid" given to Berab
(Respon.sa, D"" "3©, i. 87) is purely honorific.
The following is a tentative list of the negidim,
as far as they can at present be determined:
Tenth Cottnrn.
Paltiel (?) Samuel (?)
fVfvri)th Cnittir>i.
Miisa iliu Ya'kiih al-IsriiMli Meborak b. Saarlia
Jiidah 1). Josiali (Mordecai h. al-Haral>iyyah ?)
Tirclfth CctLturt/.
Samuel b. Hananiali Nathanael Hibat Allali
Znta Maimonides
Th'ntcniih Ccnluvii.
vVbraliani Muimoniili's I. Aliialiain Mainumides II.
Pavid Maiiiionidfs Joshua b. .\biiiliairi MHlnionidcs
.■\ til ram
.loseph
Fifteenth Cvntxirxj.
Soloinciii b. Jd.seph (1481)
Nathan Kohen Sholal
Isaac Kohen Sholal
Si.itcoith Ccntuinj.
Abraham tie Castro (l.")24) tijN-i
Jacob ibn Hayyim
The (jui'stion of the relation of the religious lead-
ership (gaonate) to the more worklly nagidship is
extremely ditlicult of solution on account of the
paucity of documents. The Egyji-
Gaon and lians seem to have recognized the au-
Nagid. thority of the Babylonian geonim; for
they addressed questions to them (Ilar-
kavy, "Teshubot ha-Geonim," p. 342), and even
helped the declining fortunes of the Eastern schools
(Schechter, "Saadyana," pp. Ill et seq.). The head
of the schools in Egypt was called, as in Babylon.
"rosh ha-yeshibah," or "nasi"— a title which was
much misused, to judge from a responsum of Abra-
ham Maimonides ("Teshubot ha-Kambam," p. 50a).
The (juarrel between the Babylonians and the Pales-
tinians regarding the right to fix the religious calen-
dar each year could not have been passed unnoticed
in Egypt. All the fragments dealing with the con-
troversy between Saadia and Bkx Meik that have
been found of recent years have come from the
Cairo genizah (see R. E. J. xliv. 230). There is evi-
dence that the (piestion became acute for the Jews
in Egypt also, during the califate of Al-Mustansir
Billah (1036-94). This evidence is the so-called
" Abiathar scroll." It seems as if a new Palestinian
gaonate had begun about 1045 with Solomon b. Ju-
dah. Abiathar was a scion of a Palestinian priestly
family. His father Elijah and a certain Joseph (be-
fore 1054) claimed jurisdiction over the Jews l)oth
in Palestine and in Egypt under the title of "gaon."
They were bitterly opposed by a member of the ex-
ilarch's family, Daniel b. Azariah, "the Nasi," who
had come from Babylon. Joseph was supported by
the government; he died in 1054, and Daniel ruled
for eight years without opposition (d. 1062). On
his death, Elijah (d. 1084) lield the ofiice for nearly
twenty-three years. In 1082 this Elijah called a
synod at Tyre, and ordained his son Abiathar as
gaon. But about 1081 David b. Daniel, a descend-
ant of the Babylonian exilarch, aged 20, had gone to
Egypt (Damira?), and in 1083 was in Fostat, where
his claims were supported by the government, es-
pecially by the nagid Meborak and by a relative of
his, Josiali b. Azariah, the head of the school there,
to whom the title "gaon " is also given (J. Q. R. xv.
86). At times the title does not seem to have been
distinctive of any office.
The Babylonian gaonate had died out with Ileze-
kiali; and the idea was to renew it in Egypt. David
was declared exilarch: and he exercised power over
the Jewish communities in Alexandria, Damietta,
and Fostat, which he oppressed with taxes. He also
had power over the Jews in A.shkelon, Ca^sarea,
Haifa, Beirut, and Byblus. and over Tyre also
when it came again under the power of Egypt
(1089), cau.sing the gaon there to flee. Daniel ilien
sent his own repiesentative to the city. In 1093,
in opposition to Abiathar, David endeavored to be
made "rosh gelayot " over all Israel. His harshness
caused Meliorak to support Abiathar: and in 1094
Meborak assisted in having Abiathar's power as gaon
acknowledged (J. Q. R. xiv. 449, xv. 91). A defense
of the pretensions of David by the school in Fostat
has been published by Schechter (j6. xiv. 476). Abia-
thar was probably succeeded as gaon by his brother,
Solomon b. Elijah, who had been "ab bet din " {ih.
Egypt
THE JP]WISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
70
xiv. 481). Solomon was followed by I'is son Ma/-
liah (c. 1131). Following a notice of Benjamin of
Tudela, Baclier believes that the gaonate was then
transferred to Damascus (ib. xv. 95). This gives the
following list of Egyptian gconim:
Solomon (1047) Ablathar
Joseph (d. 1054) Solomon
Elijah (d. 1084) Mazlial.i (c. 1131)
It is not known how early the Karaites commenced
to settle in Egypt. The polemics against them of
Saadia Gaon (before 928) show that at that time
their numbers must have been large; and his activ-
ity in this respect may have won for him his position
at Sura (J. Q. R. x. 240). It was in Egypt that lie
wrote his polemical work against Anan, "Kitab al-
Rudd " (915), and his "Kitab al -Tarn-
Karaites yiz " (926). His " Emunot " was writ-
in Egypt, ten in 933. Four years afterward Al-
Kirkisani wrote his " Kitab al- Anwar,"
in which he gives an account of the Jewish sects of
his day. Amongthe.se he mentions the "Kar'ites"
(n'-y-ip^K), so called because they used vessels made
of gourds. They resided near the Nile, 20 parasangs
from Fostat. and traced their descent from Johanan
the son of Kareah (Jer. xliii. 4), who had emigrated
to Egypt. They celebrated Sunday in addition to
Saturday {ib. vii. 704). Saadia even had personal
disputations with Karaites, notably with Abu al-
Sari ben Zuta (M. xli. 204). Of his adversaries in
Egypt, mention may l)e made of Solomon b. Jeroham,
author of Karaitic commentaries to the Bible and
of controversial tracts (B. A. §40), and of Menahem
Gizni of Alexandria, who wrote polemics against
Saadia, and of whom a poem and a letter to the
Karaites of Fostat have been preserved (L., Notes,
p. 50). The oldest Egyptian Karaitic document pub-
lished is a bill of divorce dated Fostat, 1030 (E. N.
Adler in J. Q. R. xii. 684). Present knowledge of
Karaitic scholars and communities commences reall}^
with the twelfth century. Cairo and Alexandria
became, after Jerusalem and Constantinople, their
chief centers; and Karaites were to be found in
Egypt wherever Jews dwelt. Most of the Kapntic
manuscripts in the Paris and St. Petersburg libra-
ries have come from Egypt (Neubauer, "Aus der
Petersburger Bibliothek," p. 21). At the end of the
twelfth century there lived in Egy])t the Karaite
poet Moses Dar' I ; Israel b. Daniel al-Kumisi (about
1162), who wrote a "Sefer ha-Mizwot " (J. Q. R. viii.
701; B. A. § 70); and David b. Solomon (Sulaiman
b. Mubarak, 1161-1241), who is described by his con-
temporary, Ibn Abi Usaidia, as an excellent physician
and teacher in the service of the Ay3'ubid Abu Bakr
al-'Adil, and as being connected with the hospital
Al-Nasiri in Cairo (J. Q. R. xiii. 103; B. A. § 154).
Ibn al-Hiti, in his literary chronicle, mentions in
Ramk'h the sheik 'Ali b. Abraham al-Tawil, and es-
]iecially the nasi Solomon, who wrote on forbidden
marriages (J. Q. R. ix. 440). Of Karaites in the fol-
lowing centuries mention may be made of Yafitli b.
Saghir, author of a "Sefer ha-Mizwot"; Solomon
Kohen (Abu Mansur Sulaiman ibn Hafas), writer on
medical subjects (B. A. ^i 194); and Yafith ibn Abi
a I Hasan al-Barkamani, polemic — all of the tliir-
tccnlh century ; Israel b. Samuel ha-Ma'arabi (1310),
who also wrote a "Sefer ha-Mizwot " (B. A. § 184);
Samuel b. Moses ha-Ma'arabi (1434), author of " Al-
Mushid," on the laws and commandments, as well
as of commentaries to the Bible (B. A. § 199).
Little is known about the organization of the com-
munal life of the Karaites. They claim to have had
at the head a "ra'is," whose seat for a time was in
Fostat; though Saadia (Commentarj-
Karaite to Ps. 119, end) expressly states that
Or- the Karaites agreed to have no nasi in
ganization the Diaspora (L., Notes, p. 52). This
in Egypt, head was called " nasi " or " rosh ha-
golah." A list of the nasis is given
in Karaitic manuscripts, carrying their genealogy
back to David, which fact at once raises suspicions.
For Egypt the following are given: Saadia, 980;
Solomon ; Hezekiah ; Hasdai ; David ; and Solomon
Abu al-Fadl — (see Filrst, " Gesch. des Kariierthums,"
ii. 192; No'tes, p. 77; J. Q. R. ix. 441).
The fact of there being such a head can hardly be
doubted, since several of those cited above are men-
tioned regularly with the title attached to their
names. Samuel b. David gives a description of his
Karaite brethren in Egypt in the seventeenth cen-
tury, and paints their condition in glowing colors
(G. p. 5; transl. in Neubauer, I.e. p. 40). He stayed
in Cairo with the nasi Baruch ; and he mentions espe-
cially one Abraham Kudsi {i.e., "of Jerusalem").
This latter, together with the physician Zachariah, is
mentioned by Moses b. Elijah al.so (G. p. 34). Sam-
uel relates further that many of the Karaites were
goldsmiths, but that in his daj^ the wealth of the
community was reduced (p. 5). Ibn Safir likewise
speaks of the Karaitic goldsmiths. In his day Moses
ha-Levi of Jerusalem was their hakam and Elisha
their "rosh." Reference has already been made to
the number of Karaites in Egypt at various times.
Occasionally many were converted to Rabbinism,
notably by Abraham Maimonides in 1313 (S. 134,
15; "Kaftor u-Ferah," p. 13b; J. Q. R. xiii. 101), a
fact due, perhaps, to the mild and considerate man-
ner in which they were treated, especiall}' by Moses
Maimonides (see his "Teshubah," No. 153, ed. Leip-
sic, p. 35b). A similar policy was pursued by Jo
seph del Medigo, who, being in Cairo in 1616, en-
tered into friendly relations with their hakam, Jacob
Alexandri (Geiger, "]\Ielo Chofnajim," p. xxxii.).
According to a report in Jost's " Annalen" (iii. 84),
they numbered 100 in Cairo in 1841; while E. N.
Adler speaks of 1,000 in 1900 (J. Q. R. xii. 674). A
Karaitic Haggadah, with Arabic translation for the
use of the Karaites in Cairo, was published at Presburg
in 1879 by Joshua b. Moses ("Ilebr. Bibl." xix. 2).
The Samaritans also settled in Egypt at an early
date, though very little is known of their actual his-
tory. For Alexandria, see Jew. Encyc. i. 366; and
for the Dosithean sect, ib. iv. 643. The Samari-
tan chronicle published by Neubauer
Samaritans (J. A. 1869, No. 14) gives the names of
in Egypt, the high priests and of the chief Sa-
maritan families in Egy]it. He men-
lions Helbah b. Sa'adah, who went to live in Egypt
and M'as tlie progenitor of tlu; Ha-Mora and Helbah
families (idem, offprint, p. 74); (iarnakah b. Helef,
progenitor of the; Garnakali family (p. 75); Rahiz b.
Shafar, tiie tirst to go to Egypt by sea; Joseph b.
71
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Egrypt
Ht'lef; Eliiis Sadakah lia-Hifi. progenitor of the
Hofiii family at Cairo (p. 77); and in 15U4 one Ja-
cob of the family Pukah, who is called "King of
Israel " and " Abrek " (compare " Ile-IIalnz, " iii. 153,
2), and whom the wiiter praises for his numerous
good deeds (p. 80). In the fifteenth ( ?) century lived
Abu Sa'id al-'Atif, one of the best-known physicians
in Cairo, and a writer on medical subjects (B. A.
>; 325). Mention must also be made of Muhadhdhib
al-Din Yusuf al-'Askari, author of a "Sefer ha-Miz-
wot " {lb. § 328).
In 1481 Meslnillam of Volterra found 50 Samaritan
families in Cairo, with a synagogue (p. 185). A hang-
ing for the Ark with a Samaritan inscription and com-
ing from this synagogue was presented to the congre-
gation of Widdin or to that of Ofen in the sixteenth
century. Samaritans are also mentioned by David
ibu Abi Zimra and by Joseph del ]\Iedigo, who saw
them at disputationsAvith Ali ibu Rahmadan (Briill's
" Jalirb." vii. 44). Of Samaritan literature in Egypt
nothing is as yet known. Mailer and Kaulmann
susjK'ct that a papyrus fragment containing part of
an acrostic litany is of Samaritan origin (" ]\Iitthei-
lungen aus der Sammlung der Papyrus Erzherzog
Rainer," i. 39). The use of Hebrew script by Samari-
Xixns, is not, as Ilarkavy thinks (see " Allg. Zeit. des
Jud." 1891, p. 57), peculiar. Oneof the Arabic Penta-
teuch manuscripts described by De Sacy ("Memoire
sur la Version Arabe a I'Usage des Samaritains,"
p. i:!) was bought at Cairo, and seems to have been
written thereat the timeof the Circassian sultan Al-
Ashraf Kansuh al-Ghuri (beginning of the sixteenth
century) by one Sadakah b. Joseph D''2n30n tWK'
D'lVtDl D^K'Hpn: ib. p. 17; compare a similar ex-
pression, t^npn 3n30n KTDL", in the colophon of a
Cambridge Samarilau Pentateucli, J. Q. R. xiv. 28,
1. 8; 352; xv. 75). The Scaliger manuscrij^t, from
which Juynboll edited the Book of Joshua (Leyden,
1848). came from the Egyptian Samaritans in 1584.
It was written upon the skin of the Passover lamb
(Juynboll, "Commentarii in Ilistoriam Gentis Sam-
aritauiv," p. 33).
The importance of the Jewisli communities in
Egypt may be seen from the number of synagogues
which formerly existed in and around
Syna- Cairo. Arabic topographers of Egyjit
gogues in have even given accounts of them;
Cairo. c.y. , Ibrahim ibn Mohammed ibu
Dukmak (1850-1406; "Description de
I'Egypte," ed. Vollers, 1893, p. 108) and Al-Mak-
rizi ("Al-Hitat," ii. 464). These accounts are fol-
lowed by Samburi (S. 118, 136; see Schreiner in Z.
D. M. G. xlv. 296). There were at least ten syna-
goicues; Meslndlam of Volterra (^I. V. p. 185) de-
scribes six of them. The Karaite Samuel b. David
speaks of thirty-one, besides fifty mt^pH T\'2
(" charital}le foundations"), of which there were
originally as many as se\ enty (G. p. 6). Following
is a list of the synagogues:
1. The Damwa synagogue in Gizeli, on the west bank of the
Nilo, opposite Fostat : ni~-i (S. 130. 4). icn (d. p. 18 and a MS.
in "Or Mcir," p. :!4). i~-> (M. V. p. 183: see J. Q. R. xv. 75); on
the spot to which Moses is saifi to have retired. Tradition says
that it was built forty years after the destrurlioii of tlie First
Temple. A tree there is said to have prown out of Moses' rod. A I-
Makrizi relates that the Jews made piltrrimapes to this syna-
gogue on the Feast of Revelation. Samlian states tliat the Cairo
Jews were accustomed to invite their luettiren from all parts of
Egypt to come there on Adar 7 (Death of Moses), the day fol-
lowing being celel)rated with feasting. It was also called
" Moses' Synagogue" ("Kanisat Musa";S. 130, 137; Benjamin
of Tudela, ii, 3:i.j); but in Sambari's time it was in ruins (S. 119.
30 ; 137, 14). According to Benjamin of Tudela. the overseer of
the synagogue was called " Al-Shaikh abu Na§r" (p. i)H). Bertl-
noro speaks also of a Karaite synagogue in the place.
3. The Jauhar synagogue, t)uilt upon the spot where iwth Eli-
jah and Phineas b. Eliezer were born (" Al-Hitat," Ii. 47). This
also was in ruins (S. 131, 1.")).
3. The AI-Ma.sasah synagogue in Cairo, built In the year 315,
Seleucidan era [=3-4 c.K.], and restored under Omar ibn al-
Khattab (816); situated in the Darb al-Kamiah.
4. The synagogue of the Palestinians (" Al-Shamiyyin "), la
a section of Cairo called Ka.?r al-Stiam ; according to Ibn Duk-
mak. in the Ka§r al-Rum. A wooden tablet over the gate says
that it was IJuilt in 336 of the Seleucidan era, forty-flve years
before the destruction of the Temple; but Moses ben Elijah (G.
p. 34) gives the date as VAX (= 1391, if, as he thinks, this is
according to the Seleucidan era). It is called after Elijah (S.
118. 9), who is said to have appeared in the southeast comer (O.
p. 18). About 1487 the sultan Ka'it Bey, or his vizier (I'^cn),
wished to remove the columns of the building for use in his own
palace. He was bought off with l,0O0 gold pieces (O. ih.). In
the northeast corner was a platform, on which was a celebrated
Torah scroll, said to have been written by Ezra, and to which
magical powers were attributed (S. 118, 137; O. ih.). Moses
b. Elijah speaks of the many inscriptions and i>salms which cov-
ered the walls and the " hekal," as well as the names, written
or cut in, of the many visitors to the synagogue. Benjamin II.
calls It also " Kenisat Eliyahu " (Engl, ed., p. 3;W). It is stand-
ing to-day (1903); and E. N. Adler holds that it was originally a
church of the third or fourth century, the titular saint of which
was Michael (J. Q. R. ix. 670). Samuel b. David tries to make
out that it was in former times a Karaite synagogue (G. p. 60).
The best description of the synagogue is given by Ibn Saflr
(Z.c.pp. 30e( set/.). He calls it the "synagogue of Ezra," on the
theory that it was founded by him. Rosh Hodesh lyyar is cele-
brated with much pomp here, and Jews flock from Cairo and
other places with offerings. Ibn Saflr also mentions the many
Inscriptions and names to be found upon the walls ; the room
In the southeast corner where Elijah is said to have appeared;
the cupboard in the northetist corner containing the Ezra manu-
script; and especially the Gf.mzah, to which he ascended by
means of a ladder, but found little of value there.
5. In the same part of the city (Ibn Dulcmak. again, has Kasr
al-Rum), in the "Jews' Lane' (" Zukakal-Yahud") was the
synagogueof the Babylonian Jews (" Al-'Irakiyyin "). In Sam-
bari's time it was in ruins. Benjamin II. must refer to this in
speaking of the synagogue " Al-Karkujan " (S. p. 333).
6. 7. Al-Makrizi mentions two Karaite synagogues; one that
of Ibn Shamikh (ncix p '3;S. 137. 11). This is the only one
referred to by Sambari, in the district c"D'J">o'''N ((-''•. the street
Al-Khurunfush in the northern part of Cairo; Makrizi. I.e. ii. 27;
Al-Kalkasliandi. p 72) ; it is now in ruins. Ibn Dukmak mentions
one in Masmuma, in a small alley of the Darb al-Kannah (see
above). The Karaites, however, speak of two; one. large and
spacious, for the Jerusalem Karaites, with fourteen marble pillars
and containing Ave hekalot, fourteen scrolls, and many Arabic
Karaitic manuscripts; the second, smaller and private, situated
in the courtyard of a certain Aaron ((i. pp. 0, 34).
8. A Rabbinit« synagogue in which Sambari worshiped. " Ka-
nisat al-Musta'rab " (S. 156, 5 ; compare Conforte, " Kore ha-
Dorot," 32b, 33a), for the Arabic Jews. The deed of conveyance
of the synagogue (1038) speaks of it as situated in the Darb al-
Banadir in the Zuwailah quarter. It was closed at one time,
opened again by Eliezer Skandari in 1580. but had been closed
for forty years before Sambari wrote (S. 160. 10). A specially
venerated Bible codex, called " Al-Sunbati." was brought to the
synagogue in 163:1 from the Egyptian village of Sunbat ; a light
was kept burning before it, and on Simhat Torah it was carried
once around the synagogue (S. 119. 1; perhaps the "Codex
Sambuki " ; see JKW. Encyc. iii. 179).
9. Synagogue al-Hadrah (Al-Makrizi). This also was in the
Zuwailah quarter, in the Darb al-Ra'id.
10. A Samaritan synagogue (Al-Makrizl; M. V. p. 1R5).
In addition, Sanibari mentions a synagogue of the West-Afri-
can Jews (3int p'n ^-i' PCJo; 134. 9i, in which Maimonides
was buried before his body was taken to Palestine, and a private
one of R. Sedillo, still standing in his day (S. 14-5. 16; but 159, 7
has vv'^'^D = Sevilla?). In the middle of the nineteenth cen-
tury n)n Saflr ((. r. p. 9a i found ten old svnagogues in Cairo
proper, and of them mentions the following: (1) Synagogue of
Eg-ypt
£hrenkraiiz
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
72
R. Ishmael, rebuilt, in which most of the Franks (European
Jews) worshiped. Attached to it was a school for orphans and
poor children. (3) Synagogue Mizrayim, the oldest of all,
about to be rebuilt. (3) Synagogue of the Portuguese, rebuilt.
(4) Synagogue of R. Moses (Maimonides), still standing ; on the
north side was a small room before which a perpetual light
burned. This must be Sambari's Maghrabi synagogue, (o)
Synagogue of R. Zimrah (David ibn Abi Zimrah). (6) Synagogue
of R. Hayyim 'Di£3^ (see below). (7) Synagogue of the " Ba'al
ha-Nes"; who he was is unlsnown. (8) Turkish synagogue;
very old, and in which various minyanim prayed.
Of the literary ability of the Egyptian Jews the
old Cairo genizah is continually giving further evi-
dence. The old Bible fragments still to be found
there are minutely described by Ibn Safir, I.e. pp. lib
et seq. ; the standard Bible codex of Aaron b. Aslier
was brought to Egypt and used by Maimonides
(" Yad," Sefer Toraii, p. 3, end). A codex of the
year 1008, written in Egypt, was corrected by
means of this standard manuscript (M. xx. 8).
Maimonides found there portions of the G(!mara
which he thought were 500 years old ('' Yad," Mal-
weh, XV. 2). Many of the writers and scholars
whose names have become famous have already been
mentioned. All departments of Jewish literature
are represented; but it was especially in poetry of
various kinds that they excelled. This was prob-
ably due to their intimate personal and
Literary literary acquaintance with Arabic au-
Pro- thors. Mention may be made here
ductions. of the dedicator)- poem to the nagid
Judah (J. Q. R. viii. 5o6, i\. 360); the
"Makamah " of the historian Abraham b. Hillel {ib.
ix. 168), which shows also the influence of the Span-
ish-Hebrew poets; the involved and extremely well-
executed " Tarshish " (Arabic, "Tajnis") of tlie pro-
fessional scribe who wrote the letter of the ex minister
of Al- Afdal {ib. ix. 29, x. 430) ; the verses of Abiahani
Maimonides, mentioned even by Sambari (S. 184,
16); and tlie prose with occasional lapses into piy-
yut, many specimens of which have been found by
Schechter. The megillah form was generally used
for historical records, either in prose or in poetry- ; e.f/. ,
the Cairo Purim, the Zuta, and tlie Abiathar Me-
gillot (ib. xiv. 449). From Egypt have come nearly all
the fragments of the Hebrew original of Ben Siracli
(Ecclesiasticus). The number of the manuscripts of
this text testifies that it was widely read. ^lany pri-
vate libraries of large extent must have exieted in
Egypt — e.g., those of Bezaleel Ashkena/i and David
ibn Abi Zimrah; and the fragments of catalogues
which have been preserved show the wide scope
of the literary interests of the times (Schechter,
"Saadyana," p. 78).
The material used for writing was at first papyrus
(for an example of the eighth century see Chwolson,
"Corpus," p. 121; for a marriage contract of the
ninth century see " Flihrer Durch die Papyr. Erz-
herzog Rainer," p. 262; seealso?/;. p. 284; "Aegyp-
tische Zeitsclirift," xxxiii. 64; "Magazin," vi. 2o0);
later, parchment and paper Avere employed. The
Egyptian Jews wrote in Arabic as frequently as in
Hebrew, and wrote well. Sambari's remark to that
effect (S. 120, 1) is borne out by recent discoveries.
At times they even went so far as to write their He-
brew in Arabic characters; e.g., the Karaite Bible
manuscripts descril)ed by Hornle (''British Museum
Karaite .MSS." London, 1889), and the fragments
published by Hirsciileld (J. Q. R. xv. 168). They
busied themselves also with Arabic literature, frag-
ments of wiiich have been found written in Hebrew
characters (ib.).
As regards typography, one Jewish work only is
known to bear the imprint "Mizrayim" (Cairo) —
Hayj'im Vital's ritual book in two volumes, " Hok le-
Yisrael " (1740). It was edited by Isaac Baruch and
published by Abraham Zaddik. The establishment
in which it was printed was owned by Abraham ben
Moses Yatom, whose workmen were Solomon Sa-
eliata ben Samuel, Aaron ben Isaac Xahmias, Israel
ben Jacob Kimhi, and Gerslion ben Solomon. The
book was approved by Nissim Solomon al-Gazi, rabbi
at Cairo, and ]\Ioses Israel, labbi at Alexandria.
With the exception of this one work, it is only
quite recently that Hebrew books have been printed
in Egypt, notably by Faruj Ha3'yim Mizrahi in
Alexandria. He has published the following works:
By Solomon Hazzan : ncSc''' .""iSy-n 'a, a companion to the
" Shem ha-(jedolim," dealing with Eastern authors (1894);
a^-<pn ly,:' 'D (1895j; n-i'Dn 31"i3'd (lS9.j); ncS;:' p, an alpha-
betic collection of ritual ordinances ( 19tK)) . By Elijah Hazzan :
DiSiT' nij 'd, on the peculiar religious observances and customs
of the Alexandrian Jews (1894). By Meborak Berhent of Trip-
olis: S'lT'D zy nOD ^Z" nijn 'd (189C).
In addition, the following works have been print-
ed in Alexandria :
ni3K 'plfl, with commentary of David Maimonides (1901).
mjn (1888); TjirVx (1887). By Abraham Kestin: ps'C ninSn
Niay, "Hebrew Grammar foi' Arabic-speaking Jews" (1896).
nx'^si h-Zf-z jvrn n'j (1S80).
T'Dnn mi2>', prayer-book, Egyptian rite.
r|Din''"\ mfl-.i'.
The peculiarities in the liturgy and religious ob-
servances of the Egyptian Jews have been indicated
by Zuuz ("Ritus," p. 55), and for Al-
liiturgy. exaiulria they have been exjilained at
length by Elijah Hazzan in his " Xeweh
Shalom" (Alexandria, 1894); see also Ibn Safir, pji.
10 ct acq. In the Siddur of Saadia there is given
probably the earliest form of the Egyptian order of
service (see the account by Steinschneider in " Cat.
Bodl." col. 2203, and B. A. §62); but it seems
doubtful if this order was observed for any length
of time. Maimonides found little occasion to make
changes; though his decisions in such matters be-
came authoritative for the greater part of the East.
As the Palestinians and Babylonians had their own
sj'nagogues, so they preserved some of their pe-
culiar customs; e.fj., the Babylonians preserved the
yearly cycle in the Reading of the Law ; the Pales-
tinians, the triennial — an arrangement not touched
by Maimonides ("Yad," Tefillah, xiii. 1), and of
which Abraham Maimonides complains (J. Q. R. v.
420; M. xli. 464; Benjamin of Tudela, p. 98; S. 118.
25). The buying of certain mizwot was a heredi-
tary privilege. The"Kol Nidre" pra\'er was not
recited in Cairo (Geiger's "Zeitschr." ii. 254; M. xli.
464). On special occasi(ms, when more than seven
were called to the Law on a Sabbath, certain por-
tions were repeated. On week-days the Sabbath
portion was read, but without the Ilaftarah (Samuel
b. David, ed. Gurland, p. 6). According to Con-
forte {I.e. p. 14a), David Maimonides' Midrashot to
th(; Torah were read in some of the Egyptian con-
gregations every Sabbath.
73
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Egrypt
£breiikranz
Some Egyptian liturgical texts have been found
in the Cairo geuizah, aud their peculiarities noted
by Scliechter (J. Q. K. x. 654). From these, frag-
ments of the Passover Haggadah liave been pub-
lished by I. Abrahams (ih. p. 41), in which the
lepeated reference to the " Memra" or " Logos " dis-
closes peculiar Egyptian traits. Tlie first attempts
to illustrate the Haggadah are also found in the
geuizah fragments (Kaufmann, ib. p. 381). Pecu-
liarities in connection with the rite of cii .umcision
are described in the letter of Moses b. Elijah (ed.
Gurland, p. 3o) ; but it is not said whether these are
Karaitic. It was customary in Egypt to put a ref-
erence to the ritual bath (" mikweh ") in the ketub-
bah, a point upon which Maimonides, having the
Karaite system in view, insisted with rigor (" Teshu-
bot," No. 116) ; also to insert a promise from the man
that he would not marry an additional wife (ketiib-
bah of 1396 ; MS. Cambridge Add. No. 3124 ; compare
V3' t^'n, i- 94). It was also customary to carry the
dead to Palestine for burial (Abi Zimrah, Responsa,
^§ 611, 741). According to Ibn Satir (p. lib), in
every synagogue in Cairo there is a small cupboard
(called also ^yn) in which an old copy of the Bible
in book-form, or portions of jt, is kept, and before
which a light is kept burning (see above).
Bibliography : Many of the genizah fragments mentioned have
been republished bv Schechter, Saaduatia : Geniza Frag-
ments, Cambridge, liXJ3. Compare, especially. Bacher, Ein
Neuerschlosscnai Capitel der JM. Gcsch. in J. Q. R. xv. 79
et seq.: Berliner, Die NaaM-Wilrde, in Magaziii, xvii. 50 et
seq. See further Steinschneider and Cassel, in Ersch and
Gruber, Encyc. section ii., part 28, p. 64.
The following is a kev to the abbreviations used in this
article: B. = Butler, Arab Conqiiesi of Egypt. B. A. =
Steinschneider, Bihliotheca Arabica Judaica, Frankfort,
1902. G. = Gurland, Oime Yi.vael: Neue Denkmiller der
JM. Literatur, part 1, Lvck, 1865. J. Q. R. = JewUih Quar-
terly Review. L. = Pinsker, Likkxite Kadnuniiyyot, Vienna,
1860. L.-P. = Lane-Poole, A Hi.stor'y of Egypt in the Middle
Ages, London, KHIL M. = Monatsachrift. M. J. C. = Me-
dieval Jewish Chronicles. M. V. = Meshullam of Volterra, in
Luncz, Jerusalem, i. O. = Obadiah of Bertinoro, in Neu-
bauer, Zwei Brief e AhadjalCs, Leipsic, 1863. R. E. J. = Re-
vue dea Etude.^ Juircs. S. = Sambarl, ed. Neubauer, in M. J.
C. i. T. L. 7i. = Theologische Literaturzeituiig. Z. D. M. G.=
Zeitschrift der Dentselieu Morgetddndi.trlien Gesellschaft.
Z. H. B. = Zeitschrift fUr Hebrdisehe BU)liographie.
G.
EHAD MI YODEA' ("One; who knows ?") :
Initial words of a Hebrew nursery-rime which, with
Had Gadya, is recited at the close of the Seder on
Passover v,ve. It consists of thirteen numbers, and
was probably recited originally as a dialogue, if not
in chorr.c.
Question : " One— who knows ? " Answer : " One— I know :
One is our God In heaven and on earth."
Question : " Two— who knows ? " Answer : " Two— I know :
the two tables of the Covenant. " ChorvLS : " One is our God in
heaven and on earth."
Question: "Three— who knows?" Answer: "Three— I
know: the three patriarchs." Chorus: "Two tables of the
Covenant, One is our God in heaven and on earth."
(;^(&sUon :" Four—who knows ? " Answer: " Four— I know :
the four mothers in Israel." Chorus : " Three patriarchs. Two
tables of the Covenant, One is our God in heaven and on earth."
Question : " Five— who knows ? " Answer : " Five— I know :
the Ave books of Moses." Chorus: " Four mothers in Israel,
Three . . . ."
Question : " Six— who knows ? " A nswer : " Six— I know :
the six books of the Mishnah." Chorus : " Five books of Moses,
Four . . . ."
Question: "Seven— who knows?" Answer: "Seven- 1
know: the seven days of the week." Chorus: "Six books
of the Mishnah, Five . . . ."
Que.'^tion: " Eight— who knows?" Answer: "Eight- 1
know : the eight days of circumcision." Chorus : " Seven days
of the week. Six . . . ."
Question : " Nine - who knows ? " Answer : " Nine— I know :
the nine months of child-bearing." Chorus: "Eight days of
circumcision. Seven . . . ."
Question: "'I'en— who knows?" Ansiver: "Ten— Iknow:
the Ten Commandments." Chorus : " Nine months of child-
bearing. Eight . . . ."
Question: " Eleven— who knows?" Answer: "Eleven— I
know: the eleven stars " (in Joseph's dream: Gen. xxxvil. 9).
Chorus: "Ten Commandments, Nine . . . ."
Question : " Twelve — who knows ? " ATiswer : " Twelve— I
know: the Twelve Tribes of Israel." Chorus: " Eleven stars.
Ten . . . ."
Question: " Thirteen— who knows?" Answer: "Thirteen
—I know; the thirteen attributes of God" (Ex. xxxiv. 6-7).
Chorus : "Twelve Tribes of Israel. Eleven . . . ."
This song, stated by Zunz in "G. V." p. 133
to occur only in (Jerman Pesah haggadahs since the
fifteenth century, was later found by Zunz him-
self in the Avignon ritual as a festal table-song
for holy-days in general ("Allg. Zeitung des Ju-
denthums," iii. 469). The theory, therefore, ad-
vanced by Zunz, and worked out in detail by
Perles ("Gratz Jubelschrift," 1887, pp. 37 et seq.;
Briill's" Jahrb."iv. 97^^ »e(?.), that it is an adapta-
tion of a German folk-song, must be revised, not-
withstanding the striking parallels brought by the
former from Simrock'8"Die DeutschenVolkslieder"
(1851, p. 520), where it is shown that what was orig-
inally a peasants' drinking-song was adapted by
monks, and the numbers (one to twelve successively)
declared to signify: one, the Lord God who lives in
heaven and earth; two, the tablets of Moses; three,
the Patriarchs; four, the Evangelists; five, the
wounds of Jesus; six, the jugs of wine at the wed-
ding of Cana; seven, the sacraments; eight, the
beatitudes; nine, the choruses of angels; ten, the
Ten Commandments; eleven, the eleven thousand
virgins; twelve, the twelve Apostles. Other Ger-
man parallels are given in L. Geiger's "Zeitschrift
filr die Geschichte der Juden in Deutschland," iii. 93,
234 (note), 238; while Sander (" Das Volksleben der
Neugriechen," 1844, p. 328) has compared an old
Greek Church song; Kohler, in Geiger, "Zeitschr."
I.e. p. 239, an English Church song; and Green, in
"The Revised Hagada," p. 98, London, 1897, a
Scotch nursery -rime.
A peculiar feature of Ehad Mi Yodea' is that it
proceeds to the unlucky number thirteen (see " D. ]\I.
L. Z." xxix. p. 634, note), and stops there as if to
make the Jew feel that with him thirteen (= ShK) is
a holy, and therefore lucky, number. The origin of
the numerical folk- or riddle-song has been traced
by Kohler (I.e.) to ancient Oriental sources (comp.
Cosquin, "Contes de Lorraine," 1876).
BiBLTOGRAPHY : Kohler, Sage und Sang im SpiegelJildischen
Lebens, in L. Geiger's Zeitschrift filr die Gesch. der JuMn
in Deutschland, 1889, iii. 234-240.
K.
EHRENKRANZ, BENJAMIN WOLF (also
known as Zbarazer) : Galician Yiddish poet; born
in Zbaraz, Galicia, about 1812 ; died about 1882. He
spent many years in Rumania and southern Russia,
wandering from place to place, and singing his songs,
sometimes extemporaneously composed, in cafes and
similar resorts. Some of his poems were written
down by his hearers, and given to him for revision
when he was in better condition for such literary
work. He was a real folk-poet, and his songs are
still sung by the Jewish masses of Galicia and south-
£hrenreich
£ibenschtitz
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
74
em Russia. Some of them are reprodueed iu Dal-
man's " Jiidisch-Deutsche Volkslieder aus Gali/.ien
und Russland," pp. 29-42, 2d ed., Berlin, 1891.
His first published poem, written in Hebrew and
based on a Talmudical parable, appeared in " Kokebe
Yizhak," xii. 102-103, Vienna, 1848. His next work,
"Hazon la-Mo'ed," a satire on the Hasidimand their
rabbis, is also in Hebrew (Jassy, 1855). His Yiddish
songs were published with a He1)rew translation
in four parts, imder the collective name " jVIakkel
No'am" (Vienna, 1865, and Lemberg, 1869-78). A
new edition in Roman characters appeared in Braila,
Rumania, 1902 (see "Ha-Meliz," v. 42. No. 125).
His " Makkel Hobelim " (1869) and " Sifte Yeshenah "
(1874) appeared in Przemysl.
Bibliography : L. Wiener, Histnru of Yiddish Literature in
the Nineteenth Centurii, pp. 77-80; Ha-Shahar, ii. 204-206;
V. 367, 368.
s. P. Wi.
BHRENREICH, MOSES LEVI: Italian
rabbi; born at Brodj', Galicia, 1818; died at Rome
Dec. 27, 1899. Having graduated from the gym-
nasium of his native city, Ehrenreich, attracted by
tlie reputation of Samuel David Luzzatto, went to
Padua to study at the Istituto Rabbinico, where he
received the rabbinical diploma (May 10, 1845). He
immediately began teaching at GOritz, where he
became friendly with Isaac Reggio, whose daughter
Helena he married later on. After a short stay at
Triest, he became rabbi at IModena, and in 1861 rabbi
at Casale, Piedmont. In 1871 he was teacher in the
families of Guastalla and Malvano at Turin, and in
1882 he was called to the principalship of the Tal-
mud Torah in Rome, shortly afterward becoming
chief rabbi of the Italian capital. It was through
his efforts and under his direction that the Collegio
Rabbinico Italiano was reopened in 1887. In 1894
tlie infirmities of old age compelled liis retirement
from the rabbinate.
His chief literaiy woik consisted of the part he took
the translation of the Bible into Italian under the
■direction of Luzzatto, for which he translated Hosea,
Micah, Daniel, Ezra, and Nehemiah. He also wrote
a biography of his fatlier-in-law, Isaac Reggio. He
was a member of the committee of the society of
Mckize Nirdamim from its reestablishment in 1885.
BiHLiOGRAPHY : AU(i.Zeit. dis Jud. 1900, p. 20; VatcilUi Is-
raeliticn, 1900, p. 2:j.
s. I. E.
EHRENTHEIL, MORITZ : Hungarian edu-
cator and writer; born at Szilagy-Nagyfalu in 1825;
died at Budapest Dec. 27, 1894. After teaching in
various cities, he established himself in Budapest
(18f)7), and devoted his time to literary work.
His publisiied works are : a Hungarian grammar,
written under tlie pseudonym "Erenyi Mor " ;
"Kleine Deutsche Sprachlehre," Budapest, 1865;
"Jildische Charakterbildcr," Saros-Patak, 1866; a
Hebrew-Hungarian dictionary to the five books of
Moses,Saros-Patak,1868 : " .Tiidisches Familienbuch,"
Budapest, 1888; " Der Geist des Talmud," ?7^. 1888;
"Itezeption und Orthodoxie," I'b. 1S92. He also
edited the magazines " Jiidische Volksschule " ( Arad)
and " DasTraditionelle.Iudenthum " (Budapest), the
hitler under tlie pseudonym "Dr. Freund."
Bibliography: Petrik. KCmyveszet \ Kiss Xnm, Maqunr
NepixhoUu Tanitdx Tftrtenete, p. 323.
s. L. V.
EHRLICH, ADOLPH (ABRAHAM
ABELE) : Russian educator and rabbi; born in
i\Iitau, Courland, Sept. 20, 1837. In 1858 he became
teacher of the Hebrew language and religion at the
Jewish government school in Friedrichstadt, Cour-
land. In 1861 he studied at Berlin under Michael
Sachs, who employed him as teacher for his chil-
dren. He spent three years at Berlin University, and
in 1868 received his degree of Ph.D. from Halle.
He then taught at the Religionsschule in Berlin
until 1870, when he became rabbi of Neudenberg,
East Prussia ; eighteen months later he returned to
his old post in Berlin; iu 1872 he was elected gov-
ernment rabbi of Riga, but the election was not con-
firmed; and in 1876 he was placed by the Russian
government at the head of the Jewish school in Riga.
This position he held for about twenty years. Ehr-
lich is now (1903) rabbi of Tilsit, Prussia.
Ehrlich has written : " De Judicio ab Aristotele de
Republica Platonica," Berlin, 1872; " Vaterland und
Landesvater," three sermons, St. Petersburg, 1883;
"Le-Regel ha-Yeladim," a Hebrew primer, Wilna,
1883; and "Entwickelungsgeschichte der Jiidischen
Gemeindeschule zu Riga, ein Beitrag zur Culturge-
schichte," St. Petersburg, 1894. He has also written
critical notes to the "Be'er Mikael" of his teacher,
Michael Sachs.
Bibliography: Scfer Zikkaron, pp. 81-82, Warsaw, 1891.
H. K. P. Wl.
EHRLICH, ARNOLD: Bible critic; born in
Volodovka, near Brest-Litovsk, Russia, Jan. 15,
1848. Educated at the universities of Leipsic and
Berlin, he later became assistant librarian of Orien-
tal books in the Royal Library in Berlin. In 1878
he emigrated to the United States, settling in New
York city, where he still (1903) resides.
Since 1898 Ehrlich has devoted practically his en-
tire time to his commentary on the Hebrew Bible,
entitled "Mikra ki-Peshuto." The first volume, on
the Pentateuch, appeared in Berlin in 1899; the sec-
ond, on the prose books (including Ruth, but not
Esther), has the subtitle " Dibre Soferim " (26. 1900);
the third, entitled " Dibre Nebuah " {ib. 1901), in-
cludes all the Prophets; and the fourth and last vol-
ume, on the poetical works of the Old Testament, is
in course of preparation.
Bibliography: W. Frankenberg, ia Gf)ttinfii-'<che Gelehrte
Anzeigen, v. 162, 3a3-33K; Hebrew Standard, May 9, 1902;
Ha-Maguid, 1901, Nds. 23-26; Ha-Shiloah, v. 546-552.
ir. R. P. Wi.
EHRLICH, HEINRICH: German composer,
pianist, and musical critic ; born at Vienna Oct. 5,
1822; died Dec. 20, 1899. He began his musical
career at Bucharest and Jassy, and for some years
was court pianist to George V. of Hanover. From
1855 to 1862 he lived successively at Wiesbaden, in
England, and at Frankfort-on-the-Main. Thence he
removed to Berlin, where he became teacher of piano
at the Stern Conservatorium, and musical critic on
the "Tageblatt," the "Gegen wart," and the "Neue
Berliner Musikzeitung." In 1875 the title of pro-
fessor was conferred upon him.
Among Ehrlich's noteworthy compositions are
75
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Ehrenreich
£ibeuschTitz
" Konzertstlick in Ungarisclicr Weise," " Variutioncn
i^bor ciu Originaltliema," and a sonata for violoncello.
Hl' was one of the foremost writers on music; liis
chief work in this line includes the text-books " Der
Musikalisclie Anschlag," " Wie Uebt Man Klavier? "
"^lusikstndien beiui Klavierspiel," "DieOrnamen-
tik in Beethoven's Sonaten," "Die Ornamentik in
Sebastian Bach's Klavierwerken." and the works
"Schlaglichter imd Schlagscliatten aus der Musik-
welt," "Ans Allen Tonarten," "Lebenskunst und
Kunstlerlcben," "]\Iodernes Musikleben," " Dreissig
Jahre Ki'mstlerleben." He wrote besides many
novels and stories. His autobiography was pub-
lished posthumously in the "Berliner Musik- und
Theater- Welt " (vol. iii., Nos. 21, 22) by Ad. Kohut,
who also published the letters addressed to Ehrlich
by Hector Berlioz, Robert Frank, Clara Schumanr
and others. Ehrlich embraced Christianity in mid-
dle life.
8. A. Ko.
EHRLICH, MESHULLAM : Polish philolo-
gist; born at Lublin 1818; died at Paris 186L He
Avas one of the leading Talmudic scholars of his time,
as well as a master of Oriental and modern lan-
guages. His numerous works all remain in manu-
script, with the exception of one containing re-
searches in the field of Hebrew pliilologj-, ])ublished
under the title "Heker Millim u-Sefat Kodesh,"
Paris, 1868.
Bibliography : Ha-Karmcl. Russian Supplement, 1861, No. 6 ;
Zeitlin, Bibl. PDnt-McjideU. s.v.
II. u. M. R.
EHKLICH, PAUL: German physician; born
at Strehlen. Prussian Silesia, March 14, 1854. He
studied medicine at the universities of Breslau, Frei-
burg-in-Baden, Leipsic, and Strasburg, being grad-
uated from the last-named in 1878. After holding
some minor appointments, he became privat-docent
at Berlin University in 1887, and in 1890 assistant
professor and assistant to Koch in the laboratory
for infectious diseases. In 1896 he was appointed
director of the laboratory for serum examination
(Institut fiir Sorumforschung und Serumprlifung)
at Steglitz, near Berlin ; and when in 1899 this labo-
ratory was transferred to Frankfort-on-the-Main,
Ehrlich became its director, resigning his imiversity
position. Ehrlich is the author of various essays
and treatises relating to his profession.
Bibliography : Pasul, Bind. Jje.r. s.v. and Appendix, Vienna,
1901 ; Meiiers KoiiriisatiDns-Lc.rii.nii, xviii. s.r.
s. F. T. n.
EHRMANN, DANIEL: Austrian rabbi; born
at Muttersdorf, Bohemia, in 1816; died at Briinn
Nov. 15, 1882. After studying at Budapest and
Prague, he became rabbi and preacher at Kuttenplan
and Diirrmaul in 1843; and a year later succeeded
Abraham Kolm in Hohenems. He was rabbi at Boh-
niisch-Leipa from 1852 to 1860, when he resigned his
oflice and, removing to Prague, engaged in the book
business. In Prague and Bruiin he edited for many
yrars the Jewish jx'iiodical ''Das Abeiidland.'" In
1n67 he was called as toac-hcr of religion to Briinn,
where he remained until his death. Ehrmann's
works include: " Betrachtungen liber Jiidische Ver-
hiiltnisse" (Budapest, 1841); "Gebete fiir Israeli-
tische Frauenzimmer " (Prague, 1845) ; " Beitrilge zu
eiiier Geschichte der Schulen und der Kultur Unter
den Juden" (Prague, 1846); "Geschichte der Israe-
liten von den Uriiltesten Zeiten bis auf die Gegen-
wait," 2 vols. (Briinn, 1869; 2d ed., 1871); "Aus
Paliistina und Babylon : VAne Sammlung von Sagen,
Legenden, Aliegoricn, Fal)eln, Erzahlungen, Gleich-
nisscn, u. s. w. aus Talmud und Midrash " (Vienna,
1880). He also wrote a story, "Die Tante"; and
contril)uted to the "Orient," " Kokebe Vizhak,"
and other periodicals.
s. M. K.
EHUD.— Biblical Data : Second judge of Israel ;
aBenjamite, the son of Gera. Concealing under his
garment a two-edged sword, he carried a present to
Eglon, the Moabite king who had held Israel in sub-
jection for eighteen years. After delivering it he
requested a private audience, which was granted.
Being left handed, Ehud was able to draw his
weapon without suspicion, and he plunged it
through the body of the king, who was too surprised
and too corpulent to resist. Ehud made his escape
to Seirath, and gathering an Israelitish army, slew
the whole Moabite forces numbering 10,000 men
(Judges iii. 14-30). See Egi-on.
J. JK. C. J. M.
Critical View : The story of Ehud was taken
from one of the oldest sources of the Book of Judges,
into which it had possibly been put after having
passed from mouth to mouth as a folk-tale. The
beginning of the tale has been displaced by the prag-
matic introduction of the author of Judges (com-
pare Moore, Commentary on Judges, pp. 89 et seq.\
"Judges," in" S. B. O. T." pp. 6 et se(j. ; and Budde,
" Die Biicher Richter und Samuel, " etc. , p. 28). The
author of Judges has taken the narrative of a local
incident and transformed it into a deliverance of all
Israel. The story is not quite homogeneous, but is
not so composite as Winckler ("Untersuchungenzur
Altorientalischen Geschichte," pp. 56etse(/.) believed.
Recent critics accept Ehud as a historical character.
In addition to references above, compare Bud^e, ib.
\^\). 98 et seq.
J. Ji{. G. A. B.
EIBENSCHUTZ, ALBERT: German i)ianist;
born in Berlin Ajjril 15, 1857; studied pianoforte
under Reinecke and composition under Paul at the
Leipsic Conservatorium. He was professor at the
musical institute at Kharkof, Russia, until 1880, and
then teacher at the Royal Conservatorium at Leipsic
until 1883, Avhen he accepted a professoiship at the
Cologne Conservatorium. In 1893 he became director
of the Cologne Liederkranz, and in 1896 first pro-
fessor of piano at the Stern Conservatorium in Berlin.
Two years later he became the owner and director
of the Conservatorium at Wiesbaden.
As a pianist Eibenschiitz is distinguished bj- a
brilliant technique, richness of tone, and remarkable
delicacy and precision of touch.
Bibiiography: Ehrlich, CeUhrate(\ Piauistc, p. 91, Leipsic,
IWU; Rieinann, Mitsih-Ijcriknii.
s. J. So,
EIBENSCHUTZ, DAVID SOLOMON: Rus
sian rabbi and author; died in Safed. Palestine. 1812.
He was a pupil of Rabbi .'Moses Zebi Heller, autlior
of "Geon Zebi," and occupied the position of rabbi
£ibenschutz
Eilenburgr
THE JEWI8II ENCYCLOPEDIA
76
in Buzhanow, Soroki (Volhyhia), and Jassy, (lluina-
nia). From the last-named city he went to Palestine
and remained there till his death. He was tlie
author of many cabalistic and Talmudical works,
which still exist in manuscript. He also wrote
"Lebushe Serad," in two parts. The first part con-
tains a commentary on the Shulhan 'Aruk, Orah
Hayyim, with comments on David b. Samuel's
"Ture Zahab " and Abraham Abele Gumbinner's
"Magen Abraham"; at the end of this part is
added the plan of the Temple as descril)ed by Eze-
kiel (Mohilev, 1818, and frequently). The second
part is on Shulhan 'Aruk, Torch De'ah (Moliilev,
1812). His "Ne'ot Deshe " is a compilation of 138
respon.sa, in two parts, the first of which was pub-
lished in Lemberg, 1861, while the second is in manu-
script. " 'Arbe Nahal" is also in two pans, the first
being a treatise on the Pentateuch, the second con-
sisting of sermons (Kopust, Sdilkov, 1835; Kro-
toschin,1840; .litomir, 1850; Lemberg. 18o6).
Bibliography: Kliezer Kohn, Kin'ot Soferiw, p. 90; Fuenn,
Kirunh Ne''cmanah, p. 22:^; Benjacob, (jzar lia-Scforifii,
pp. 255, 391, 449.
I,. G. N. T. L.
EIBENSCHUTZ, ILONA: Hungarian pian-
ist; born at Budapest May 8, 1873. She received
her first instruction in music from her cousin Albert
Eibenschiitz ; Liszt is said to have played at a con-
cert with her when she was only five years old. She
later studied Avith Carl Marek, and from 1878 to 1885
at the Leipsic Conservatorium under Hans Schmitt.
At her debut in Vienna her remarkable plaj ing cre-
ated a sensation. xVfter attaining her twelfth year
she annually made a concert tour through Germany,
Austria, France, Russia, Denmark, Norway, and
Sweden ; playing before the Queen of Denmark at
Copenhagen, before the Czar and Czarina of Russia
at the Gatschina Pidace, and before the Emperor of
Austria at Vienna, by whom she was granted an im-
perial stipend for five years.
From 1885 till 1890 she was tauglit by Clara Schu-
mann, and then resumed her concert tours, playing
witli great success in London.
BiBMor.UAPHY : Ehrlich, Cclchrated Pin)iMs, p. 93.
s. J. So.
EIBENSCHTJTZ, JONATHAN. S( e Eyui:
8CHVTTZ, Jonathan.
EIBESCHUTZ, SIMON AARON: Danish
phihinthropist ; born Nov. 14, 178G in Copenhagen;
died there Nov. 25, ]85(). lie left a fortune amount-
ing to about 1,700,000 Danish crowns; a part of the
income was to go to his nearest relatives, provided
they continued in tiie Jewish faith, but by far the
greater part was to go to Jewish and municipal in-
stitutions. The income of the sum bequeathed to the
Copenhagen University Library was to be devoted to
the purchase of Hebrew and Oriental works. E(]ual
sums were l)e(|ueathed to the Polytechnic Institute
and to the Academy of Arts in Copenhagen, on con-
dition that they receive without compensation two
Jewish youths annually, and that the Academy of
Arts employ the income of its share to establish a
prize for a work of art, the subject of which must
be derived from the Old Testament.
BiBi.KXiRAPiiY : .1//)/. Zcil. ills .liiil. \\i. IIU; Fnrtegnelsc
nrir di: Lciiatii: \>. 11:3, Copenhagen, ls;s ; Dansk, Biografili
Lr.rihini.
s. M. K.
EICHBERG, JULIA. See Roskwai.d, Jri.iA
Ekiibkkg.
EICHBERG, JULIUS : Violinist, director of
music, and comjxtser; born in Dlisseldorf, Germany,
June 13, 1824; died at Boston, Mass., Jan. 18, 1893.
In his youth he had the benefit of the best musical
instructors in his native town and at Mayence, and
he became a favorite of Reitz and ^lendelssohn. He
also studied at the Conservatoire in Brussels, and
upon his graduation received the first prize for vio-
lin playing and composition. Soon afterward he
became the director of an opera troupe at Geneva,
Switzerland, where he remained for eleven years.
In 1857 Eicid)erg went to New York, and two
y(.'ars later removed to Boston, where he was engaged
as director of music at the Museum. At this time
he wrote the operetta "The Doctor of Alcantara,"
which had a favorable reception, and is even now
frequently played in America. His other composi-
tions include the operettas "The Rose of Tyrol,"
"The Two Cadis," and "A Night in Rome," besides
trios and quartets for strings, violin pieces, and
songs.
After serving seven years as conductor of the or-
chestra at the Boston Museum he established the Bos-
ton Conservatory of Music, and about the same time
was appointed general supervisor and director of
music ill the high schools of the eily.
A. G. Mo.
EICHBERG, PAULINE. SccWkii-lkk, Pai-
I,INI<; ElCIIBEl{(i.
EICHENBAUM, JACOB: Russian educator,
poet, and mathematician; one of the pioneers of
mcjdern education among the Russian Jews; born in
Krasnopolie, Galicia, Oct. 12, 1796; died at Kiev
Dec. 27, 1861. He showed extraordinary ability in
Hebrew and mathematical studies, in which latter
he was assisted by his father, Moses Gelber.
In 1815 Eichenbaum settled in Zamoscz, Russian
Poland, in which city there was a circle of progress-
ive Jewish youths who were followers of the "Ber-
lin culture." Here he gave himself up to his fa-
vorite work, occupying liim.self with the rational
interpretation of the Bible, and with the study
of Hebrew, German, philosophy, and mathematics,
especially the last-named. In 1819 he translated for
his own use Euclid's "Elements" from German into
Hebrew. Jacol), who had assumed the familj' name
of " Eichenbiium," soon entered on a period of wan-
dering and of hard struggle for his daily bread. He
became a private tutor, and lived in different towns
of southern Russia, teaching Hebrew subjects and
mathematics in the houses of wealthy people. In
1835 at Odessa, which was then the educational cen-
ter of the south-Russian Jews, he opened a private
school for Jewish children on the lines of the Ger-
man-Jewish schools. In 1836 he |)ul)lished at Leip-
sic, under the title " Kol Zimrah," a series of Hebrew
poems. Tliis little book was one of the first pro-
ductions of Neo-Hebrew poetry which received its
inspiration from Mendelssohn's school.
The verse-making talent of Eichenbaum is stri-
77
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Eibenschutz
Eilenburg
kingly evidt'iiccd in liis '' Ilii-Kcrab," London, 1840,
in whicli are dcsfiibed the moves in the game of
chess. Joscpli (Ossip) Kubhinovie/ tianslated tiiis
poem into Kussiun verse (Odessa, 1S4T; 2d ed., ih.
1ST4).
In tlie course of a few years tiie pedagogic and
literary labors of Eiclienbauni attracted the atten-
tion of the Russian government, which in 1844 ap-
pointed him ovi'rseer of the Russo-Jewish school in
Kishinev, and six years later cinef insi)ector of tlie
new rabbinical school opened by the Russian gov-
ornnicnt in Jitomir (IS.IO). lie retained this position
until his death.
In the later years of his life he published a text-
book of arithmetic in llebiew, "Hokmat ha-Sliiu-
rim," Warsiiw, 1857, and an allegorical poem, "Ila-
Kosem," iu "Ha-Meliz," 1861 (also in book form,
Odessa, 1862).
BiULiOGRAPiiv : Tarnegol, J. Eichcnbauiii. in Razuciirt, IS61,
Nos. 51-53; Fueiiii, Safah ?e-iVt''ema/M;)i, S 101, Wilaa, 18S1;
idem, Koiexet Yisraci. s.v.; Ifa-Mizpali, iv. 15-18, St. Peters-
burg, lasti: Be'er Yizhah (((irrespondence of I. B. Levin-
.son;, pp. Gl. '.):!, \\';ii'sii\v, I's'.ti).
H. K. S. M. D.
EICHHORN, JOHANN GOTTFRIED :
Orientalist and Bil)lical scholar; born at Dorreuzim-
mern, in the principality of Iloheniohe-Oehringen,
Oct. 16,lTr)2 ; died at Gottingen June 27, 1827. After
studying theology and Oriental languages under
Johann David ^Alichaelis at the Universitv of Got-
tingen, he was appointed i)rofessor of Oriental lan-
guages at Jena in 1775. Later (1788) lie became pro-
fessor of philosophy at Gottingen. After J^Iichaelis'
death (1794) he succeeded his foimer teacher as pro-
fessor of Old Testament literature. This post he oc-
cupied until his death.
The diversity of Eichhorn's studies and labors is
remarkable, but his lasting merit lies in the field of
Old Testament research. His "Einleitung in das
Alte Testament" (3 vols., Leii^sic, 1780-82) marks
an epoch in the study of the Bible. Accepting the
theories advanced by Herder, Eichhorn attempts to
give a just aiipreciation of the poetrv and religion
found in Hebrew literature. His work, which passed
through four editions and was often reprinted, com-
bines vividness of exposition with great scholarship,
although the criticism is often immature, and is di-
rected more to an esthetic enjoyment than to a real
solution of the difficulties. Eichhorn's second great
work is "Die HebriiischenPropheten " (8 vols., 1816-
i819), a poetical translation, with a short exposition,
of the prophetic literature, arranged in chronolog-
ical order. Here for the first time an important and
suggestive problem was seriously dealt with, al-
though it was not solved. In 1777-86 Eichhorn
published a "Repertorium fur Biblische und ]\Ior-
genliindische Litteratur," and in 1787-1803 appeared
liis ■' AUgemeine Bibliothek der Riblischen Littera-
tur."
BiHi.ioc.R.vpiiv : Alhj. Deiitsche Bioi/nip/iiV, v. 731-7:57.
•' K. II. C.
EICHTHAL, GUSTAVE D' : French publicist
and Hellenist; boiual Nancy March 22, 1804; died
at Paris April 9, 1882. At the age of thirteen he
liecame a convert to Roman Catholicism, and when
he left theLycee lleiui IV. in 1822. he became a (lis
ciple of Auguste Comte, who initiated him into the
iloctrines of Saint-Simon, to the propagation of
which he devoted a part of his fortune.
In 1832 D'Eichthal went to Greece, and on his re-
turn to Paris in 1836 published " Les Deux Mondes,"
containing his reflections on the Orient. He now
began to advocate the use of Greek as a universal
language, and published many works, among which
were: "Les Trois Grands Peuples Mediterraneenset
le Christianisme," Paris, 1864; "Origines Boud-
dhiques de la Civilisation Americaine," in the "Re-
vue Archeologique," Sept., 1864, and April, 1865;
and "Texte Primitif du Premier Recit de la Cre-
ation," Paris, 1875; reprinted after his death under
the title "Melanges de Critique Biblique."
D'Eichthal was one of the chief founders (1881)
of L'Association pour 1 'Encouragement des Etudes
Grecques. After his death liis son pul)lished his
" La Langue Grecque," Paris, 1887.
BiBLioHRAPUY: La Grande EncuclopeiUc, s.v.; Larousse,
Diet. s.v.
s. V. E.
EIDLITZ, MOSES ZARAH : Austrian Tal-
mudist; born before 1725; died May 17, 1786, at
Prague. Following the custom of the time, he con-
ducted a Talmud school in his dwelling, and, besides
teaching his pupils gratuitously, he aided them with
his small means to such an extent that he impover-
ished himself. Nevertheless, he continued to pay
the same Jew-tax that had been apportioned to him
in his better days. Only when he was actually un-
able to pay the sum did he bend to the entreaties of
his friends and state his case to the "primator,"
Israel Frankl. Eidlitz, however, refused the roll of
ducats that the latter sent him. Frankl, desiring
to force the modest rabbi to accept the money, de-
clared that he could not remit the tax if Eidlitz was
rich enough to refuse such a sum of money, and the
rabbi was tinally forced to yield. After his death
the roll of ducats was found among his few posses-
sions, with a note requesting his family to restore the
money to its original owner, Frankl.
Eidlitz wrote jnC^Tin n3N^D, a manual of arith-
metic in Hebrew, Prague, 1775; and DnL*"!? '^^^{.
haggadic discourses, ib. 1785.
Bibliography: Steinschneider, Cat. Bndl. pol. 25»4; Lie-
ben, Gal 'Ed, p. 62 ; German ed., pp. 56 et .sfy.
s. A. Ki.
EIGHTEEN BENEDICTIONS. See She-
MOXKll ESKEH.
EILENBTTRG, ISSACHAR BAER BEN
ISRAEL liEYSER: Polish rabbi; born in Posen
about 1570; died in Austcrlitz, Moravia, iu 1633.
His father gave him a thoiough training in the Tal-
mud. From Po.sen Eilenburg went to Prague and
entered the j'eshibah of Rablii Liva. After study-
ing there for a few years, he returned to Posen and
continued his studies in the yeshibah of Rabbi Mor-
decai Jafe.
About 1600 Eilenburg became rabbi of the city
and district of Goritz, and about 1620 rabbi of Aus-
tcrlitz, Moravia.
Eilenburg's works are: "Beer Sheba," commen-
taries on the treatises of the Talmud upon which there
are no tosafot (Venice, 1614). This work is divided
into seven parts, namely; (1) " Ner Mizwali,"' on
Einbeck
£inborn
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
78
Horayot ; ( 2 ) " Ner Tamid, " on Tamid ; ( 3 ) " Ner
Adonai," on the first and last chapters of Keritot ;
(4) "Ner Elohim," on two chapters of Sotah ; (5)
"Ner Yisrael," on the last chapter of Sanhedrin ;
(6) "Ner Hora'ah," on parts of Hullin ; (7) "Ner
Torah," novellas and responsa. Eilenburg also wrote
"Zedah la-Derek," supercommentary on Rashi to
the Pentateuch (Prague, 1623-34).
Bibliography: Azulai, Shem ha^OedoUm, i. 115; S.Wiener,
Bibl.Friedlandiana., No. 1052; Roeat, Cat. Rosenthal. Bibl.
8.V.
L. G. B. Fr.
EINBECK : Town in the province of Hanover,
Prussia. That Jews lived there at a very early date
is shown by the fact that some Einbeck Jews were
burned at the stake in 1298. In a document of 1355
a Jews' street and a " schole der Joden " are men-
tioned, and an " old Jewish cemetery " is referred to
in a document dated 1454. An old and mutilated
tombstone still exists to record the interment of a
Jewess in the year 5160 (= 1400). It appears from
an assignment of Duke Erich of Brunswick to his
wife Use (Elizabeth), dated July 14, 1405, and from
a letter of Duke Philipp to his brother Ernst, dated
1562, that the Jews of Einbeck paid a yearly tax
which formed part of the revenues of the castle of
Grubenhagen. When the dukes Wolfgang and
Philipp of Grubenhagen forbade all Jews not under
their protection to pass through the principality, the
envoys of the " Gemeine Jiidischheit " petitioned
Emperor Maximilian (Feb. 25, 1570), who annulled
their decree. A few years later, in 1579, when the
fanatic Magister Johann Velius, pastor of the Jacobi-
or Marktkirche at Einbeck, raised a storm of public
feeling against the Jews of the town, the latter were
expelled. They reappeared, however, after the
Thirty Years' war.
In 1718 the elector Georg Ludwig of Hanover was
forced to restrict the influx of Jews in the interest
of the Christian merchants. During the French su-
premacy (1806-13) the district contained forty Jewish
families, nine of which lived at Einbeck. On Aug.
31, 1896, a new synagogue was dedicated bj' Dr. Le-
winsky, to which the banker Bernhard Meyersfeld of
Brunswick, a native of Einbeck, contributed 20,000
marks. In 1902 the community of Einbeck included
110 persons.
Bibliography : Harland, Gesch. der Stadt Einheck, Einbeck,
1854-59 ; Wiener, Jahrh. filr die Gesch. der Juden, IStiO, i.
176 et seq.; idem, In Monatsschrift, 1861, pp. 243 et seq., 251
etseq.; Idem, in ZeitschriftdesHistor. Vereins filr Nieder-
sachsen, 1861, pp. 248 et seq.; Salfeld, Martyr olngium, pp.
28 et seq.; Max, Gesch. des FUrstentums Gruherihaaen,
1862-63 ; Feise, Zur Gesch. der Juden in Einheck, in Ein-
becker Zeitung, 1903, Nos. 23 et seq.; Zeitschrift des Hi«tor.
Vereins fVr Kiedersachsen, 1899, p. 339 ; L. Horwitz, Die
Israeliten Unter dem K6nigrevch Westphalen, pp. 9, 99;
Monatsschrift, 1901, p. 568.
D. A. Lew.
EINHOBN, DAVID : German rabbi, preacher,
and theological writer; leader of the Reform move-
ment in America ; born at Dispeck, Bavaria, Nov.
10, 1809; died in New York Nov. 2, 1879. A dis-
ciple of R. Wolf Hamburger and R. Joshua Moses
Falkenau in Filrth, he received the Morenu title in
his seventeenth year, and pursued his philosophical
studies in Wiirzburg and Munich. When the con-
gregation of Wellhausen near Uffenheim elected him
rabbi in 1838, tlie Bavarian government would not
David Einliorn.
contirm the election on account of his liberal views.
In 1842 he became rabbi of Hoppstadten and chief
rabbi of the principality of Birkenfeld. Though
he advocated Reform as represented by Geigcr
(see "Rabbinische Gutachten iiber die Vertiaglich-
keit der Freien Forschung mit dem Rabbineramte,"
pp. 125-139, Breslau, 1842), he strenuously opposed
the radical tendencies of the Reformvereinin Frank-
fort-on-the-Main, which, as he wrote, "instead of
regenerating Judaism upon a historical basis and
with full recognition
of Israel's priestly
character and Messi-
anic mission, desired
to create a schism in
Judaism under the
pretext of Reform,
denying the very es-
sentials of the Jew-
ish faith" (" Allg.
Zeit. des Jud." Dec.
5, 1844).
At the rabbinical
conference at Frank-
fort in 1845, Einliorn
pleaded against Z.
Frankel in favor of
the vernacular in the
liturgy and the elim-
ination of all prayers
referring to the res-
toration of the Jewish state and Temple, but insist-
ed on the accentuation of the universal character
of the Messianic hope. At the Breslau conference
in 1846, he was appointed chairman
His of the committee on the dietary laws
Principles, (see Diet .\uy Laws). In 1847 Einliorn
succeeded Holdheim as chief rabbi of
Mecklenburg-Schwerin. In the same year he was
charged with heresy by Franz Delitzsch, then pro-
fessor at Rostock, for having pronounced the blessing
over an uncircumcised Jewish child in the synagogue ;
but he refuted the charge by referring to rabbinical
authorities who declared that the child of Jewish
parents is entitled to all Jewish rights and privileges
(see "Sinai," Nov., 1857 et seq.; L. Donath, "Ge-
schichte der Juden in Mecklenburg," pp. 237-244,
Leipsic, 1874 ; and Circumcision).
Opposed by the Conservatives, Einhorn found
his position becoming perilous under a reactionary
government, and he accepted a call as rabbi of the
Reform congregation at Budapest in Oct., 1852. But
the Austrian government also was opposed to the
Reform movement, and, despite the protestations and
personal entreaties of Einhorn, the temple was, after
a brief period, ordered closed.
Einhorn determined to continue his career in
America. In 1855 he became rabbi of the Har Sinai
Congregation of Baltimore, and was soon the leader
of the radical Reform element, issuing
Einhorn in a protest against Wise, Lilienthal, and
America. Cohn, who, under the title " American
Sanhedrin," had, at a rabbinical con-
ference held in Cleveland, declared "the Talmud to
be the only legally binding interpretation of the
Bible," and endeavored to organize an American
79
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Einbeck
Einhorn
synod on that principle. Soon afterward he started,
in the interest of radical Reform Judaism, a monthly
magazine in German under the name of "Sinai."
In 1858 his prayer-book, "Olat Tamid," appeared;
it was at once recognized as the standard Re-
form liturgy in America. Afterward its princi-
pal contents were, though in a somewhat altered
form, embodied in the Union Prayer-book (see Ri:-
FOKM Judaism).
A man of resolute character and well-defined prin-
ciples, Einhorn impressed friends and antagonists
alike by his consistency and courage. When the
Civil war broke out in 1861, he denounced the de-
fenders of slavery so unsparingly that to stay in
Baltimore became dangerous in the e.xtreme. The
mob threatened his life, and he fled on the night of
April 22, 1861, guarded by friends, to Philadelphia,
where he became rabbi of the Congre-
Opposes gation Keneseth Israel. Philadelphia
Slavery, had hitherto been the bulwark of con-
servative Judaism; Eiuliorn, from his
pulpit and in his periodical "Sinai," which he con-
tinued until 1863, fought for more liberal views.
In August, 1866, Einhorn became rabbi of the
Adath Yeshurun congregation in New Y'ork. Here
he worked, in common with Dr. Samuel Adler, rabbi
of Temple Emauu-El, and with his successor in Phil-
adelphia, Dr. Samuel Hirsch, for the propagation and
better comprehension of the views and aims of Re-
form Judaism. In 1869 a rabbinical conference was
held in Philadelphia, at which he was the leading
spirit (see Conferences, Rabbinic.\i,).
At the approach of his seventieth year he resolved
to retire; his farewell sermon was delivered on July
12, 1879. In 1844 Einhorn had married Julia Ochs
of Kreuznach, and of this union were born five
daughters and four sons, the third daughter marry-
ing Dr. K. Kohler, and the fourth Dr. Emil G.
Hirsch.
Einhorn wrote : " Princip des Mosaismus und Des-
sen Verhaltniss zum Heidenthum und Rabbinischen
Judenthum," Leipsic, 1854 (written in Budapest;
one volume only completed); "Ner Tamid," a relig-
ious catechism in German, stating concisely the fun-
damental principles of Reform Judaism ; and many
controversial articles on the religious questions of
the time in "AUg. Zeit. des Jud.," "Israelit des
XIX. Jahrhunderts" (1842-46), "Sinai," and "Jew-
ish Times."
Bibliography : H. S. Morals, Eminent Israelites of the Nine-
teenth Century, pp. 6t>-71, Philadelphia, 1880 ; i)amd £m-
horn's Ausgeivlihlte Predigten und Reden. ed. Dr. K. Koh-
ler, New York, 1880; Der Zeitgeist, Nos. 1 and 3, Milwaukee,
1880; Americayi Israelite, Supplement, Nov., 1879; Puhlir
cations Am. Jew. Hint. Sac. v. 147-151.
A. K.
EINHORN, IGNATZ (EDUARD HORN) :
Hungarian preacher and political economist; born
at Vagh-Ujhely Sept. 25, 1825; died at Budapest
Nov. 2, 1875. He was educated at the Talmud
schools at Neutra, Presburg, and Prague, and at
the University of Budapest. In the last-named
city he began his journalistic career, contributing
to the "Pester Zeitung," the " Allgemeine Zeitung
des Judenthums," and "Der Orient."
In 1847 he began to preach in the temple of the
new community of Alt-Ofen, and he also edited the
first Juda'o-Hungarian year-book. A year later ap-
peared his "Zur Judenfrage in Ungarn," Alt-Ofen,
1848. In April, 1848, he founded at Budapest the
weekly "Der Ungarische Israelit," which gave the
first impulse toward the formation of the Reform con-
gregation there. Einhorn became the tirst preacher
of this new congregation.
In religion as in politics Einhorn was a decided
liberal. He took part in the Hungarian struggle for
liberty, first as a revolutionary speaker at Budapest,
and then as an army chaplain at Komorn, a position
to which he had been apjioiiited by General Klapka.
After the capitulation of Vilagos he returned home;
but not feeling secure there, he went to Vienna and
then to Prague. Still pursued by the police, he
finally went to Leipsic (March, 1850), where he re-
mained for two years. There he published under the
pseudonym of "Eduard Horn," which he had as-
sumed since the Revolution, the pamphlets "Arthur
Gorgey," "Ungarn im Vormiirz, "and "Zur Unga-
risch-Oesterreichischen Centralisationsfrage." He
wrote for Brockhaus' " Konversations-Lexikon " the
articles relating to Hungary. He also wrote in 1851
"Die Revolution und die Juden in Ungarn." His
"Ludwig Kossuth" (1851), which was immediately
confiscated and led to the publisher's imprison-
ment for two years, again directed the attention
of the Austrian police to Einhorn. To escape ex-
tradition to Austria and consequent imprisonment,
he went to Brussels, and thence, destitute of all
resources, to Amsterdam, where he published his-
" Spinoza's Staatslehre zum Ersten Male Darge-
.stellt" (1852). Returning to Brussels, he devoted
himself to the study of the French and English lan-
guages. He also studied Belgian affairs with such
success that in 1853 and 1854 he was able to publish
two works: " Statistische Gemalde des Konigreichs-
Belgien," and "BevOlkerungswissenschaftliche Stu-
dien aus Belgien."
At the time of the Paris Exposition of 1856 he
went to the French capital as correspondent of sev-
eral German periodicals. There Michel Chevalier
secured him for the "Journal des Debats." In 1863-
he became one of the founders of "L'Avenir Na-
tional." From Paris he directed a persistent liter-
ary Avar against the policy of the Austrian govern-
ment. King Victor Emmanuel appointed him a
Knight of the Order of Saint Maurice and Saint
Lazarus. In 1867 he published "L'Economie Poli-
tique Avant les Physiocrates," which was crowned
with the " Grand Prix " of the French Academy.
In 1869 Einhorn was enabled to return to Hun-
gary. He was elected a member of the Reichstag-
from Presburg, and some years later from the most
populous district of the capital. He founded the
"Neue Freie Lloyd," but it had a short existence.
In Judaism, in the struggle between the Orthodox
and Reform parties, which was conducted with great
bitterness, lie sided with the former, although he
had been a liberal theologian. He was appointed
assistant secretary of commerce, but had held this
post for six months only wlien he died.
His brother, Moritz Einliom, an able mathemati-
cian, fought in the Hungarian civil war under Gen-
eral Bem in Transylvania, and was killed beside his
cannon.
Sinhorn
Eiseumeug'er
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
80
Anton Einhorn (Horn), who liad been editor of
the "Jouruul de St. Petersburg" for several years,
fought iu the same war.
liiBLiOGRAPHY: Unyam'ti yRliiner <ler Zeit, parts 1 and 2;
Reich. Bet-El, 1. 194 et seq.; Pester Lloyd, Nov. 2.3, 1875;
Neuc Freie Presse, Nov. 2, 3, 1875.
s. M. K.
EINHORN, MAX: Physician; boru Jan. 10,
1863, at Grodno, Russia; studied medicine at the
universities of Kiev and Berlin, graduating as M.D.
from the latter in 1884.
Einhorn worked for a time witli Ehrlich and Sal-
kowski, and then went to America, settling in New
York city. In 1885 he was appointed house physi-
cian in the German Hospital at New York, but re-
linquished the post in 1886 to engage in private
practise. In 1887 he returned for a few mouths
to Berlin, where he acted as Ewald's assistant.
On his return to New York Einhorn occupied
himself with, questions relating to the pathology of
digestion. In 1888 the New York Post Graduate
Medical School appointed him instructor iu diseases
of the stomach and intestines, and in 1898 Jie was
appointed assistant professor at that institution, and
in 1899 professor. lie lias also for several years
been phvsician to the German Dispen.sarv of New
York.
Einhorn is the inventor of man}- new instru-
ments and pieces of apparatus wliicli have become
well known throughout the medical world, such as
the fermentation sjiccharometer, tiie stomach-bucket,
the gastro-diaphane, the deglutitive stomach elec-
trode, the stomach spray apparatus, the gastrograph,
etc.
Einhorn 's literary activity has embraced nearly
the whole domain of stomach pathology.
H. K.
EINSTEIN, EDWIN: Boru at Cincinnati
Nov. 18, 184'^; educated iu New York city; re-
ceived the degree of master of arts at Union Col-
lege, Schenectady, New York. Ein.stein was a rep-
resentative from New York citj- iu the Forty -si.xth
Congress; was the Republican candidate for ma3'or
of New York in 1892, receiving the greatest number
of votes ever polled for the mayoralty nominee of
that party ; he acted as commissioner and treasurer
of the department of docks from 1895 to 1898, and
was a director of the Mt. Sinai Hospital from 1876
to 1878.
A.
EIRAGOLY. See Kovxo.
EISENMENGER, JOHANN ANDREAS:
Anti-Jewish author; boru in Mannheim 1654; died
in Heidelberg Dec. 20, 1704. The son of an ofRcial
in the service of the Elector of the Palatinate, Eisen-
menger received a good education, and distinguish-
ing himself at the Collegium Sapieuti:e at Heidel-
berg by his zeal for Hebrew studies, he was sent by
the elector to England and Holland to continue
them there. In Amsterdam he met three Christians
who had been converted to Judaism, and this filled
him witli indignation. As a further cause of his
hatred of Judaism, he claims the otlierwise unknown
attacks against Christianity which he heard from
the mouth of David Lida. then (1681) rabbi of Am-
sterdam. For nineteen years he studied rabbinical
literature assisted by Jews, first in Heidelberg and
afterward in Frankfort-on-the-Main.
Studies pretending that he desired to be con-
Rabbinical verted to Judaism. Having collected
Literature, from rabbinical literature all that was
calculated to bring it into disrepute
and to give justification for anti-Jewish prejudices,
he published his "Entdecktes Judenthum " (Judaism
Unmasked), which has remained the arsenal for de-
tractors of Talnuulic literature down to thepresent
day. The full title of the book is interesting and is
given in the facsimile on page 81. The work, in two
large quarto volumes, appeared in Frankfort-on-
the-Main in 1700, and the prince elector took great
interest in it, appointing Eisenmenger professor of
Oriental languages in the University of Heidelberg.
The Jews, who feared that the publication of this
book would give additional strength to the prejudice
against them, denounced it as a malicious libel; and
the fact that only a year previously riots against
the Jews had occurred in the diocese of Bamberg,
and that in the same year (July 21) a mob had sacked
the house of the court Jew Samuel Oppenheimer in
Vienna, made their opposition all the stronger. Op-
penheimer was chiefly instrumental in procuring an
order of confiscation from the emperor,
His who commanded that the whole edi-
"Entdeck- tion of 2,000 copies should be placed
tes Ju- under lock and key. With him others
denthum." worked for the same end, including
Jospa von Geldern, the great-grand-
father of Heinrich Heine's mother. There was also
Roman Catholic influence at work, as Eisenmenger
was accused of anti-Catholic tendencies.
The Jews had offered Eisenmenger the sum of
12,000 florins (§5.000), if he would suppress his
work; but he demanded 30,000 florins, and the
transactions led to no result. Eisenmenger died sud-
denly of apoplexy in 1704. Meanwhile two Jewish
converts to Christianity in Berlin had brought
charges against their former coreligionists of having
blasphemed Jesus. King Frederick William I. took
the matter very seriously, and ordered an investiga-
tion. Eisenmenger's heirs applied to the king; and
the latter tried to induce the emperor to repeal the
injunction against the book, but did not succeed.
He therefore ordered a new edition of 3,000 copies
to be printed in Berlin at his expense, but as there
was an imperial prohibition against printing the
book in the German empire, the title-page gave as
the place of publication Konigsberg, which was be-
\'ond the boundaries of the empire. Almost forty
years later the original edition was released.
Of the many pcjlemical works written by Chris-
tians against rabbinical literature, Eisenmenger's has
become the most popular one, and since the begin-
ning of the anti- Semitic movement it has supplied
anti-Semitic journalists and the authors of anti-Sem-
itic pamphlets witli their main arguments. Eisen-
menger undoubtedly possessed a great deal of knowl-
edge, but he was blinded by prejudice. His work is
best characterized by Siegfried, who says ("AUg.
Deutsche Biographic," s.v. " Eisenmenger "): " Taken
as a whole, it is a collection of scandals. Some
passages are misinterpreted ; others are insinuations
Profcflbr^ t)cr Orientalifcbcn ©ptad^CB beJ? Det
irtkcf ft6 iui)enf f uitt/
(Dbit ^
TITLE-PaGE of EISE.NMEXGKR'S "ENTPKCKTES JUDENTHUM," Kb.VIOSBERG. 1711.
(In the library of Joseph Jacobs.)
v.— 6
I (BOtt a3ater/@o^n unt);0«^il*©«lt/^^^cf lic^t SBeife Idfim
aOet^ au^i^tett eigenctt/unt)jn)at fcl)t wlenmit gtoffagRiil^
unb un\)er^rof^emm 5(e(gbur<:bI^fenenS3ft*ern/m(t SCu^jfefiimg
^rf»p«i>i*flifc&?o?S5oitt/unD Deter tceuenUberff^unam Die ^^e^^^^ ^ !
Ccr<fi jebcr jant bel)*nfl< / alktiwl \xm ether flenn/^ tUtterie
^ , / Special-PrivUegio.
Ci3enstadt
'I'HE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
82
based on one-sided inferences ; and even if this were
not the case, a work which has for its object the pre-
sentation of the dark side of Jewish literature can
not give us a proper understanding of Judaism."
Tlie incorrectness of many of Eisenmeuger's trans-
lations is shown by Delitzsch in his "Rohling's
Talmudjude." Through Rohling's "Talmudjude"
Eisenmeuger's work had again become popular, and
from Rohling many other libelists copied these
charges, notably Sir Richard Burton in his "The
Jew, Gypsy, and El Islam." Much earlier an English
adaptation had been made by J. P. Stekelin under
the title " The Traditions of the Jews, with the Ex-
positions and Doctrines of the Rabbins," etc., 2
vols., 1732-34. A new edition of the "Entdecktes
Judenthum" was published by F. X. Schieferl,
Dresden, 1893.
Eisenmenger edited with Leusden the unvocalized
Hebrew Bible, Amsterdam, 1694, and wrote a " Lex-
icon Orientale Harmonicum," which was not pub-
lished.
Bibliography: Schudt, Jiidische MerckxiMrdigkeiten, 1. 426-
438, iii. 1-8, iv. 286 ; Gratz, Gesch. 3d ed., x. 276 ; Lowenstein,
in Berliner's Magazin, 1891, p. 209 ; Kaulmann, Arts Heinrich
Heine'9 Ahnensaal, p. 61 ; Eckstein, Gesch. der Juden im
FUi-stbMum. p. 42, Bamberg, 1898; Herzog-Hauck, Real-
Encyc, s.v.; Wetzer and Welte, Kirchenlexikon; Allg.
Deutsche Biographic. From a polemical point of view : Fr.
Delitzsch, Rohling'i^ Talmudjude Beleuchtet, Leipsic, 1881 ;
J. S. Kopp, Aktenstilcke zum Prozesse Rohling-Bloch, Vi-
enna, 1882 ; A. Th. Hartmann. Johann Andreas Eisen-
menger und Seine JUdischen Gegner, Parchim, 1834 ; Con-
stantin Ritter Cholewa von Pawlikowski, Hundert Bogen aus
Mehr als FilnfhundeH Altcji und Neuen BUchcryi Uber
die Juden Neben den Christen, Freiburg, 1859.
D.
EISENSTADT (Hungarian, Kis-Marton ;
Hebr. ^511311 I^J?) : City in the county of Oedenburg
(Sopron), Hungary. The Jewish community of
Eisenstadt is the only community of Hungary that
has an independent political existence with an or-
ganization of its own, though the neighboring Mat-
tersdorf (Nagy-Marton) was on the same footing
until 1903. Unlike other Hungarian communities of
the present day, Eisenstadt has the right to elect its
own mayor in addition to its president, although
both offices can be, and generally are, held by one
and the same person.
Eisenstadt, which once belonged to the " Sheba'
Kehillot" (Seven Communities), is among the old-
est communities in Hungary. It is mentioned as
early as 1388. Many of the Jews of Oedenburg fled
in 1526 to Eisenstadt. Leopold I. expelled the Jews
from the city in 1671 ; but Prince Palatine Paul
Esterhazy settled a number of Nikolsburg Jews
at Eisenstadt, which belonged to his dominions, and
granted them an interesting privilege (Jan. 1, 1690).
He designated the outer city dairy ("Stadtmeierhof ") at Eisen-
stadt as their dwelling-place, where he built twenty houses for
them, the Jews contributing from 30 to 50 florins each. In return
for the yearly protective tax they were allowed the free exercise
of their religion. They paid thirty pounds of pepper a year for
their cemetery. They might elect a Jewish Judge and oflQclals
for the community according to the Jewish law, the candidates
being conflrmed by the government, to whom the retirement of
the officials had to be reported. They were allowed to maintain
a Jewish inn and a slaughter-house, paying for the latter two
hundredweight of tallow a year ; they might sell kasher meat to
Christians, but not wine or beer. They were allowed to keep
horses and cattle ; but they had to be careful that the cattle of
the overlord were not injured in the pasture.
On informing the bailiff they might intermarry with Jews
from other towns, but neglect to report a wedding entailed a
One of Ave florins. They might buy and sell distilled liquors.
the director of the estate fixing the tax. They might work as
tailors, shoemakers, lacemakers, furriers, barbers, physicians,
and jewelers. Any one who opened his shop before ten o'clock
on Sundays or festivals, when the people were going to church,
was fined two florins. Their lawsuits were settled according to
the Jewish law. They were not allowed to sell or take in pawn
stolen objects. When anything was stolen, the owner reported
the loss to the Jewish judge, viho proclaimed the theft. Any
one who had bought the stolen articles before this proclamation
had to return them at the price paid ; if they were bought after-
ward, the buyer had to restore them without compensation, and
was also fined. The Jews might not smelt coins without in-
forming the government officials, lest they should be suspected
of making stolen goods disappear in this fashion.
No Jew from another town was allowed to settle In the com-
munity without the knowledge of the government. An honest,
able person, against whom the community had no objection,
paid an initiation fee of six fiorins. A Jewish traveler was al-
lowed to stay only three days in the community, and was obliged
to report his country and his origin. Whenever a rich Jew left
the district, he paid fifteen thalers to the government ; one of the
middle class paid ten thalers ; and a poor Jew five thalers : and
each of them paid to the community whatever sum the presi-
dent named. Whoever did not keep his house and grounds or
his portion of the street clean was fined two pounds of pep-
per. Chimneys had to be swept every four weeks ; and every
one was required to help in case of fire. The government sold
the Jews wood for fuel. They were protected against the
blunders of the officials.
During the Kurucz wars the Jews of Eisenstadt,
terrorized by the enemy, were forced to leave their
homes; but when peace was restored the community
entered upon a period of prosperity. At the census
of 1735 about 112 Jewish families (600 individuals)
were living at Eisenstadt. Several persons employed
at Vienna had become members of the community,
and it owed its development to the fact that it was
the fictitious legal residence of many Viennese Jews.
The Cabala was much cultivated in Eisenstadt in
the seventeenth century. The false Messiah Morde-
cai Mokiah lived there, as did also Meirben Hayyim,
who wrote glosses to Hayyim Vital's "Sefer ha-
Gilgulim," and Simeon b. Ephraim Judah, the
author of " Helek Shimeon " (Prag, 1687). The
most famous rabbi of Eisenstadt was MejCr ben
Isaac (d. June 7, 1744), author of "Panim Me'irot."
From 1851 to 1869 Israel Hildesheimer was rabbi of
Eisenstadt, and his yeshibah became a prominent
factor in Orthodox Judaism. The present rabbi
(1903) is Solomon Kutna.
D. A. Bu.
EISENSTADT : Polish family which, when the
Jews were compelled to adopt family names, se-
lected the name of Eisenstadt, a town in Hungary,
where some of the family became rabbis.
Abigdor Eisenstadt, or Abigdor Sofer (ben
Moses) : Died 24th of Ab, 1591. He was the author
of a translation from Polish into German of the fes-
tival prayers (Cracow, 1571) and of a prayer-book (^■6.
1609).
J. H. Gut.
Abraham Hirsch b. Jacob Eisenstadt of
Byelostok : Russian rabbi; born in 1812; died in
Konigsberg 1868. He was a rabbi in Ottymia ( ?), gov-
ernment of Kovno. He began at an early age to
write his important work, "Pithe Teshubah," which
is the most popular and useful index to the re-
sponsa and decisions of later authorities on the sub-
jects treated in the Shulhan 'Aruk. Eisenstadt's
great merit consists in having collected all the ma-
terial given in the works of his predecessors, and in
having added to it an almost complete collection of
83
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Eisenstadt
references to responsa of all the later eminent rabbis.
Of little value are the novellas which Eisenstadt
added to the "Pithe Teshubah" under the title
"Nahalat Zebi." The part of the "Pithe Teshu-
bah " on Yoreh De'ah was published at Wilna in
1836 (republished Jitomir, 1840, and Lemberg,
1858); that on Eben ha-'Ezer, in 1862; and, after
the author's death, that "'on Hoshen Mishpat, in
Lemberg, 1876 (republished in Wilna, 1896). Eisen-
stadt is also the author of a commentary on the
"Seder Gittin wa-Halizah," by Michael ben Joseph
of Cracow, Wilna, 1863, 2d ed. 1896.
Bibliography : Fuenn, Keneset Yisrael, p. 10 ; Benjacob, Ozar
ha-Sefarim, p. 586; Zedner, Cnt. Hebr. Bonks Brit. Mus.
pp. 216, 814 ; prefaces of the author to Yoreh De'ah and Eben
hOr^Ezcr.
L. G. N. T. L.
Benzion ben Moses Eisenstadt : Russian He-
braist ; born at Kletzk, government of Minsk, March
13, 1873. Eisenstadt devoted himself to Neo-He-
brew. At eighteen he was in correspondence with
Jewish scholars like Slonimsky, Buber, and Reif-
mann. Though comparatively young, Eisenstadt
has written: "Ziyoni," a collection of poems (War-
saw, 1895); "Dor Rabbanaw we-Soferaw," a bio-
graphical dictionary of contemporary rabbis and
other scholars (part 1, ib. 1895; parts 2-4, Wilna,
1899-1902); "Rabbane Minsk wa-Hakameha," a his-
tory of the rabbis and scholars of Minsk (Wilna,
1899); "We-Zot li-Yehudah," a supplement to the
responsa collection " Noda' bi-Yehudah " {ib. 1901).
Eisenstadt is now (1903) resident in New York.
H. K. M. Sei..
Israel Tobiah Eisenstadt : Russian biog-
rapher; born in Rushony, government of Grodno;
died in St. Petersburg Jan. 13, 1893. Descended
from Tobiah Bacharach and Israel ben Shalom, who
were executed in his native city Sept. 19, 1659, on
an accusation of ritual murder brought against the
entire community, Eisenstadt published their history
in his "Da'at Kedoshim," the material for which
was largely taken from the Friedland library, after-
ward presented to the Asiatic Museum of St. Pe-
tersburg. The unfinished work was completed
by Samuel Wiener (St. Petersburg, 1897-98), who
added several appendixes. The work contains gene-
alogies of the Eisenstadt, Bacharach, Giinzburg,
Friedland, Katzenellenbogen, Rapoport, and other
families.
Bxbliography: Ha^^efirah, 1893, No. 72; Joseph Kohen-Zedek,
In Ha^Eshkol, 111. 205-220.
H. R. P. Wl.
Jacob Eisenstadt: English scholar; lived in
London, England, in the eighteenth century. He
wrote homiletic explanations on the Talmud and
some portions of the Bible, under the title of " Toledot
Ya'akob," London, 1770. This book bears the ap-
probation of the Sephardic haham of London, Moses
de Azevedo ha-Kohen, and was the first Hebrew
book printed for a Jew in England by Isaac b.
Jedidiah ha-Levi, Moses b. Gerson, and Jacob b.
Issachar Cohen, who had secured typesetters from
Holland and occupied a shop in the house of W.
Tooke, an Englishman.
BiBLionRAPHY: Fiirst, Bibl. Jtidaica, 8.V.: Stelnschnelder,
Cat Bodl. col. 1206.
J- A. R.
Jacob ben Eliezer Eisenstadt : Born in Szid-
lowca, Poland, about 1730. He was the author of
"Toledot Ya'akob," explanations on the Haggadah
and on difficult Biblical passages, London, 1770.
Bibliography : Eisenstadt- Wiener, Da'at Kedoshim, p. 194, St.
Petersburg, 1897-98 ; Gaster, History of the Ancient Syna-
gogue of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews, p. 141, London,
1901.
J.
B. Fr.
Meir Eisenstadter (also known as Meir Ash
[compare Jewish Encyclopedia, ii. 176], and, after
his later rabbinates, Meir Gyannath and Meir
XJngvar) : One of the greatest Talmudists of the
nineteenth century ; died at Ungvar, Dec. 2, 1861. He
was called in 1807, while still a young man, to
the rabbinate of Baja, where he directed a large
yeshibah. He was the intimate friend of Gotz
Schwerin, who was then living at Baja. When
Schwerin was, through the ruin of his father-in-law,
compelled to seek a rabbinate, Eisenstadt volunta-
rily resigned to him the office at Baja, and, on the
recommendation of Moses Sofer, obtained a position
at Gyarmath in 1815, removing later to Ungvar,
where he died. His responsa were published after
his death by his son, under the title JJ^'N 'IDN,
Ungvar, 1864.
Bibliography : Samuel Kohn, GOtz Schwerin, In Magyar
Zsidd-Szemle, xv. 125, 310 ; Preface to Imre Esh.
8. L. V.
Meir ben Isaac Eisenstadt : Lithuanian rabbi ;
born In 1670; died at Eisenstadt (Kismarton), Hun-
gary, June 6, 1744. After having been dayyan
at Sachtschewar, province of Posen, and rabbi at
Szydlowiec, government of Radom, he went to Ger-
many and settled at Worms. Through the influ-
ence of Samson Wertheimer, Eisenstadt was ap-
pointed lecturer on Talmud in a bet ha-midrash. In
1701, Worms having been taken by the French, he
went to Prossnitz, Moravia, where he was appointed
rabbi. Among the innovations introduced by him in
that community was the issuing of bills of divorce,
although Prossnitz is not situated on a river large
enough to meet rabbinical requirements. Among
his disciples in Prossnitz was Jonathan Eybeschiltz.
In 1711 he again filled the office of rabbi at Szydlo-
wiec, but did not remain there long, receiving, before
1714, a call to Eisenstadt, Hungary. Here he
adopted the name of " Eisenstadt. " In 1723 he was
obliged to flee from this city. According to Zip-
ser ("Orient, Lit." viii. 187), he returned eight
months later. But the pinkeses of Eisenstadt (see
Eisenstadt-Wiener, "Da'at Kedoshim," p. 190) show
that he was absent for three years, and that his son
Jacob officiated in his place. Meir Eisenstadt was
widely recognized as an authority in rabbinical law,
being consulted by the rabbis of Turkey, Italy, and
Germany. He was the author of : "Or ha-Ganuz,"
novelise on Ketubot and notes on Yen Nesek of the
Yoreh De'ah (Flirth, 1766); "Panim Me'irot," re-
sponsa and novellaj on various Talmudic treatises,
in four parts (parti, Amsterdam, 1715; part 2. Sulz-
bach, 1733; part 3, ib. 1738; part 4, z6. 1739); "Kot
not Or," homiletic commentary on the Pentateuch
and the Five Scrolls, published, with the "Or Ha-
dash " of his grandson, Eleazar Kalir, under the title
" Me'ore Esh," the latter word being an abbreviation
of "Eisenstadt" (Fiirtli. 1766).
Eisenstein
Ekah
THE JEWISH EXCYCLOPEDIA
84
Bibliography: Azulai, .SV(»').i )in-Gcdi!lim, i., s.\. Meir A><li-
henazi ; ii.. s.v. Paniin Me'in>t : Zipser, in Orient, Lit. viii.
3S et seq.; Carmoly, in Dir hraclit, 1867, Nos. 19, 23, 31;
Eisenstadt- Wiener, Da'at Kcdoshim, p. 19U.
K. M. Sel.
Moses Eisenstadt ben Isaac : Lived in the be-
giuuing of the eighteenth centur}' ; died in Prague.
He is the author of a compendium of arithmetic
(Dyhernfurth, 1712); a German translation of tlie
"Eben Bohan " bj'^ Kalonymus ben Kalouymus
(Sulzbach, 1715); a dirge on the plague of 1713 in
Pesth (Prague, 1713). He also translated into Yid-
dish the " Diwan " (Mahberot) of Immanuel Komi.
J. H. Gut.
EISENSTEIN, JULIUS (JUDAH DAVID) :
Russian-American writer; born in Meseritz, govern-
ment of Siedlec, Russian Poland, Nov. 21, 1855. He
emigrated in 1873 to the United States, and settled in
New York, in which city he still resides. Eisenstein
was the first to translate into Hebrew and Yiddish
the Constitution of the United States (New York,
1891). Other writings of his are: ''Ma'amare Bik-
koret, " ib. 1897, and " The Classified Psalter " (Pesuke
de-Zimrah), Hebrew text with a new translation
(1899). He also made an attempt to translate and
explain a modified text of the Shulhan 'Aruk.
Eisenstein took a prominent part in the contro-
versy concerning the Kolel Amerika, a society for
the collection of funds for the poor Jews of Pales-
tine, and was one of the leaders in the movement to
arrange that the money contributed in the United
States should go primarily to former residents of
America. In " Ha-]\Io(lia' la-Hadashim " (New York)
for 1901 he published, under the title "Le-Korot
Oole Russiya be-Amerika," a sketch of the histor}-
of Russo-Jewish emigration to America. His " His
tory of the First Russo-American Jewish Congrega-
tion " appeared in No. 9 of the " Publications of the
Am. Jew. Hist. Soc," 1901.
II. K. P. Wi.
EISHISHKI. See Wilna.
EISLEB, LEOPOLD: Austrian rabbi; born
Feb. 11, 1825, at Boskowitz, Moravia; studied Tal-
mud under Rabbi Abraham Placzek, and Oriental
languages at the Universitj- of Prague. In the latter
city he also attended lectures by S. L. Rapoport.
In 1856 he was chosen rabbi of Eiwanowitz, and
in 1892 of the newly organized community of
Wlschau. He has since acted as rabbi for both
communities.
Eisler is the author of " Beitrjige zur Rabbinischen
Sprach- uud Altertumskunde," in 4 parts, Vienna,
1872-90; and "Dibre Yehuda ha-Aharonim " (1900),
containing studies and criticisms, revisions and ad-
ditions (1903). S.
EISLER, MORITZ: Austrian educator and
philosopliical writer; horn at Prossnitz, Moravia,
Jan. 20, 1823; died at Troppau, Silesia, Dec. 21, 1902.
He studied philosophy and Oriental languagesat the
University of Prague, and in 1853 was appointed
teacher of religion at the Piarist gymnasium, and
director of the communal school in Nikolsburg.
In 1862 he organized a society for the care of in-
valid teachers and the widows and orphans of
teachers-, which gave rise to the Moravian-Silesiau
Hebrew Teachers' Association (jMiUu-isch-Schlesiscli-
Israelitischer Lehrerverein), whose president Eisler
was until 1898, when it was transformed into the
Kaiser Franz Joseph I. Jubiliiumsstiftung zur Unter-
stiltzung von Lehrerwittwen uud -Waisen.
Besides essays in various literary reviews, Eisler
has published "Vorlesungen iiber die Jlidischen
Philosophen des 3Iittelalters," 3 vols., Vienna, 1870-
1883.
lu June, 1893, after forty j-ears of active service,
I-jisler withdrew from public life and retired to
Troppau.
Bibliography: Milhren''s Miliniei' der Gegenivart, BrQnu,
1889; ])e (iiibernatis, Ecrinriiis du Jour; Hinrichsen, Das
LiterariscJie Deittscldand, Berlin, 1887; Joseph Wytzlik,
Dentsche Didder und ScliriftsteUcr-CJiuraktere, Vienna,
1902.
s.
EISLER, RUDOLPH: Austrian writer; born
in Vienna Jan. 7, 1873. He was educated at the
universities of Berlin, Vienna, and Leipsic, gradu-
ating from Leipsic as doctor of philosophy in 1894.
In 1899 Eisler settled at Vienna, in which city he has
since resided. He is editor of tlie " Wissenschaftliche
Volksbibliothek " and author of the following essays
and works: "Der Psychophysische Parallelismus,"
Leipsic, 1894; " Psychologic im Umriss," ib. 1895,
2d ed. 1899; "Elcmente der Logik," ib. 1898;
"Einfiihrung in die Philosophic," ib. 2d cd., 1901;
" Worterbuch der Philosophischen Begriffe und
Ausdriicke, Quellenmassig Bearbeitet," Berlin,
1900; "Das Bewusstsein der Ausscnwelt," Leipsic,
1901.
s. F. T. H.
EISS, ALEXANDER, RITTER VON : Aus
trian colonel ; born at Picsling, Moravia, 1832. He
entered the Austrian army at the age of fifteen,
and took part in the campaigns of 1848, 1849, 1859,
and 1866. The following orders were conferred upon
him: the Order of Leopold, the Order of the Iron
Crown, the Order of Elizabeth Theresa, and the Or-
der of the Sword ; and he also received two medals
for meritorious military service. Von Eiss retired
in 1896. He is an ardent Zionist. S.
EJECTMENT : An action to recover the imme-
diate possession of real property, with damages for
wrongful withholding.
The general principle governing all cases of pos-
session of real estate in Jewish law was npTn3 J?p"lp
nD"P ilvyS (" Real property' is presumed to belong
to its owner," as distinguished from its tenant or
possessor). Mere possession, while of great weight
in cases involving personal property, was not recog-
nized in connection with real estate, except when
such possession continued for an uninterrupted
period of at least three years (see Hazakaii).
Hence, one who claimed title to real property which
was known to belong to some one else had to sub-
stantiate his claim with good proof; and any doubt
arising in such matters was always resolved in favor
of the owner (B. M. 102b; Ket. 20a; Tos. and
Asheri, ad loc. ; Shulhan 'Aruk, Hosheu ^lishpat,
225, 21, Isserles' gloss).
No writ of ejectment was necessary to reinstate
the rightful owner in possession of his property.
The owner, if powerful enough, could personally
85
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Eisenstein
Ekah
eject the holder of the property and take possession
of it. Even if the property passed through many
hands, and tlie owner lost all hope ("yi'usli ")of ever
regaining it, it was still in the same status, and
might be recovered whenever a favorable opportu-
nity presented itself (B. K. 27b; Maimonides,
" Yad," Sanh. ii. 13; Hoshen Mishpat, 4 and 331).
Any damage caused to the property by the occu-
pant, or any bonetit derived by him from it during
his tenure, became a debt which the owner could
collect by a regular legal procedure. If, however,
the damage was caused through no fault of the oc-
cupant— for instance, if water overflowed a Held,
or trees were burned down — he coidd not be held
responsible for it, since the land was legally in the
possession of the owner all this time. In the case
of improvements being made on the property by the
occupant, the court estimated such improvements
and the money expended on them. If the amount
expended exceeded the value of the improvements,
the owner had to pay only for the value of the im-
provements. If the value of the improvements ex-
ceeded the amount of the expenditure, the occupant
received the amount he had expended (B. K. 95a;
B. M. 14b; "Yad," Gezelah, ix. ; Hoshen Mishpat,
371, 374).
A tenant holding real property for a specific period
of time might be ejected immediately after the ex-
l)irati()n of such time. One holding property under
an indefinite lease at so much per month might not
be ejected unless notified by the land-
Ejectment lord thirty days previously. Noeject-
at Ex- ment might be proceeded with in the
piration. winter from Sukkot until Passover.
In large cities notice had to be given
twelve months before ejectment might be effected.
A tenant holding a shop had to be notified twelve
months, and in some cases three years, before he
might be ejected. Just as the landlord had to notif}^
the tenant before he might eject him, so the tenant
had to notify the landlord that he wLshed to leave,
and the length of notice was the same in either case.
The amount of rental was regulated by the mar-
ket value. If rent had risen during the period of
tenure, the landlord might demand the higher price,
and eject the tenant if he refused to pay it. If rent
became cheaper, the tenant might demand a reduc-
tion, or leave immediately. If the landlord's dwell-
ing was destroyed, so that he had no place in which
to live, he might eject the tenant without any notice.
The same laws governing the relations of landlord
and tenant remained in force if in the meanwiiile
the landlord sold his property to another (B. oM.
101b; "Yad," Sekirut, iii. ; Hoshen Mishpat, 312,
5-13).
The king had a right to eject a person from his
property and to give it to any one he desired. There
were, however, differences of opinion among later
commentators regarding this right (Sanh. 20b; Tos.
.s. I'. " Melek " ; " Yad," Melakim, ii. 5, iii. 3; compare
the incideni of Naboth in I Kings xxi., and Kimhi
(id lor.).
Ejectment in consequence of a mortgage might
only be proceeded with after the necessary steps of
(1) " adrakta," tracing the property, (2) " tirfa,"
seizure of property sold after the loan, and (3)
"shuma," appraisement of the property by the
court, had been taken (see Debts; Puoceduke).
BiBLiociRAPHY : Blocli, I'irilijrocess-Ordnung, Budapest, 1882;
Idem, Boiitzreclit, ib. 1897.
8. s. J. H. G.
EKAH (LAMENTATIONS) RABBATI : The
]\lidrash on Lamentations, like Bereshit Kabbah and
the Pesikta ascribed to Rab Kahana, belongs to the
oldest works of the Midrashic literature. It begins
with thirty-six consecutive proems forming a sepa-
rate collection, certainly made by the author of the
Midrash. They constitute more than one-fourth of
the work (47b-52b in the Venice ed., 1545). These
proems and, perhaps, most of the annotations, which
are arranged in the seipience of the verses (52c-66b),
originated in the discourses of which, in olden times,
the Book of Lamentations had been the subject.
The haggadic explanation of this book — which is a
dirge on the fall of the Jewish state and the extinc-
tion of the national splendor — was treated by schol-
ars as especially appropriate to the Ninth of Ab, to
the day of the destruction of the Temple, and to the
eve of that fast-day (comp. Yer. Shab. 15c; Lam .R.
iv. 20; Yer. Ta'an. 68d et seq.).
The sources from which Yerushalmi drew must
have been accessible to the author of Ekah Rabbah,
which was certainly edited some time after the com-
pletion of the former, and which probably borrowed
from it. In the same way older collections must
have served as the common source for Ekah Rabbah,
Bereshit Rabbah, and especially for the Pesikta de-
Rab Kahana. The haggadic comment on Hosea vi.
7 appears earlier as a proem to a discourse on Lamen-
tations, and is included among the proems in this
Midrash (ed. Buber, p. 3a) as a comment on Gen. iii.
9 (Ber. R. xix.). The close of this proem, which
serves as a connecting link with Lam. i. 1, is found
also in the Pesikta as the first proem to pericope
XV. (p. 119a) to Isa. i. 21, the Ilaftarah for the
Sabbath before the Ninth of Ab (comp. Miiller,
"Einleitung in die Responsen," p. 38). The same
is the case with the second and fourth proems in the
Pesikta, which are identical with the fourth and
third (according to the correct enumeration) of the
proems to Ekah Rabbah; the fifth in the Pesikta
(120b-121b), which corresponds to the second in tiiis
Midrash, has a defective ending. With a change in
the final sentences, the first proem
The in Ekah Rabl)ah is used as a proem in
Proems, the Pesikta pericope xi. (110a), and
with a change of the proem text and
of its close, proem 10 (9) of Ekah Rabl)ali is found us
a proem in the Pesikta pericope xix. (137b). On the
other hand, there is found embodied in the exposi-
tion of Lam. i. 2, "she weepctli soi-e in the night,"
etc., a whole proem, the text of which is Ps. Ixxvii.
7 etseq., "I remember my hitc-playing in the night,"
etc. (Hebr.); this proem contains also the final sen-
tence which serves as introduction to the section Isa.
xlix. 14 (ed. Buber, p. 30a), and it is known from
the Pesikta pericope xvii. (129b et seq.) to be a proem
to a discourse on tliis .section, which is intended for
the second "consolatory Sabbath " after the Ninth
of Ab. From this it becomes evident that the col-
lector of the Ekah Rabbah used the haggadic expo-
sition— found in the Pesikta fulfilling its original
X:kah
El Nora 'Alilah
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
86
purpose — as a comment ou Lam. i. 2. The same is
true of the commentary to Lam. i. 21 (ed. Buber, p.
47a), for which there was used a proem on the Pe-
sikta section Isa. li. 12, intended originally for the
fourth Sabbath after the Ninth of Ab, and a section
which had for its text this verse of Lamentations
(pericope xix., p. 138a); and also in regard to the
comment to Lam. iii. 39 (ed. Buber, p. 68a), which
consists of a proem of the Pesikta pericope xviii. (p.
130b). But the author also added four proems from
Ekah Rabbah itself (29, 18, 19, 31, according to the
correct enumeration), retaining the introductory
formula nriD ....'"), as a commentary to Lam. iii. 1,
14, 15; iv. 12 (ed. Buber, pp. 61b, 64a, b, 74b). The
opinion set forth in the introduction to Buber's crit-
ical edition that the arrangement of the proems at
the beginning of tlie work was made by a later
editor, who included the marked comments of the
Midrash as proems, and who, after prefixing the in-
troductory formula to a comment on the Midrash Ko-
heletxii. letseq., used it as a proem for Lam. R. xxiv.
(xxiii.), is entirely wrong. There can be no doubt
that precisely the opposite process has taken place.
The entire interpretation in Eccl. R. xii. 1-7, which
consists of two versions, is composed of two proems
— that in Wayikra Rabbah, ch. 18, beginning, and
the proem in this Midrash. The numberless proems
originating in the synagogal discourses of the earli-
est times must be regarded as the richest source upon
which the collectors of the midrashim could draw
(comp. "Monatsschrift," 1880, p. 185; Maybaum,
"Die Aeltesten Phasen in der Entwickelung der .Til-
dischen Predigt," p. 42). The character of the inter-
pretation in that part of the midrash Avhich contains
the running commentary to Lamentations is on the
whole the same as in the Beresiiit Rabbah. Side
by side with the simple interpretation of sentences
and words, and Avitli various midrashic explanations
dating from different authors, whose comments are
placed in juxtaposition, the Midrash contains hag-
gadic passages having some sort of relation to the
verse; as, for instance, in connection witli the verse
"at the beginning of the watches" (ii. 19) is intro-
duced the whole discussion of Yeru-
Relation to shahni, Ber. 2d, on the statement of
Bereshit tlie Mishnah, "to the end of the first
Rabbah. watcli " ; in connection with the words
"let us lift up our heart with our
hands to God in heaven " (iii. 41) is introduced a
story from Yer. Ta'an. 6oa, telling how R. Abba b.
Zabda preached on this verse during a fast-day serv-
ice. It is not strange that for similar expressions,
such as "en lo . . . " and "lo maz'ah manoah " oc-
curring in Lam. i. 2, 3, and Gen. viii. 9, xi. 30, Ekah
Rabbah (ed. Buber, pp. 31a et seq.) uses the explana-
tions of Ber. K. xxxviji. and xxxiii., end; or tliat in
the Ekah Rabbah tlie same haggadah is found three
times (pp. 23a, 56a, 56b) — i.e., in explaining the three
passages Lam. i. 1, ii. 4, and ii. 5, in each of which
the word " like " occurs ; or that the same comment
is applied to iii. 53 and iii. 56; or that a sentence of
R. Simeon b. Lakish is used five times — namely, to
iii. 3, 18, 22, 26, 32; or that the explanation for re-
versing the order and putting the letter B before y
is given twice — namely, to ii. 16 and iii. 46.
Only a few versos in eli. iii. are entirely without
annotations. To some verses (ii. 20, iii. 51, iv. 13,
18, 19) are added the stories to which they were re-
ferred, even though they are also found in the large
collections on ii. 2 and 1. 16: "For these things I
weep; mine eye, mine eye runneth down with
water." These collections, as well as the long pas-
sage on i. 5 (" her enemies prosper "), giving so raanj'
accounts of the sufferings of Israel, including the
times of the First and Second Temples and the fateful
revolt under Bar Kokba, are the most impressive in
the Midrash to Lamentations ; they form an integral
part of the work, like the interesting sagas and stories
to Lam. i. 1 on the greatness of the city of Jerusa-
lem and the intelligence of her inhabitants. Jeru-
salem and Athens are contrasted in ten stories. The
Scriptural words " the populous city, the city great
among the nations," are vividly interpreted in the
Midrash as meaning "great in intelligence." In
connection with iv. 2, " the sons of Zion, the splen-
did ones " (Hcbr.), the Midrash tells of social and do-
mestic customs. The stories of Ekah Rabbah fill
over fifteen columns of the Venice edition (about
eleven in the first chapter), and include more than
one-fourth of the midrashic comments (without the
proems). Without these stories the differences in
size of the several chapters would have been less ap-
parent, even if (as was perhaps the case) the first
chapter, in the form in which the author knew it,
offered more opportunity for comments than did the
other chapters. From this it is erroneously con-
cluded in the " Gottesdienstliche Vortrage" that
" the last sections were added later " ; and, further-
more, " that the completion of the whole work
must not be placed before the second half of the
seventh century," because Zunz concludes that the
empire of tlie Arabians is referred to even in a
passage of the first chapter.
According to a reading of Buber's edition (p. 39a),
which is the only correct one as shown by the con-
text, Seir, not Ishmael, is mentioned in connection
with Edomin tliis passage to i. 14. The other argu-
ments of the "Gottesdienstliche Vortrage" like-
wise fail to prove such a late date for the Mid-
rash, especially since Zunz himself concludes that
the authorities mentioned therein by name are not
later than Yerushalmi. All that can be definitely
stated is that Lamentations Rabbah was edited after
the completion of that Talmud, and that Bereshit
Rabbah must also be considered as of earlier date,
not so much because it was drawn upon, as because
of the character of the proem collection in Ekah
Rabbah. Like Bereshit Rabbah, this Midrash is also
of Palestinian origin, and rich in foreign words, espe-
cially Greelc. It certainly is not strange that the
" Vive domine imperator ! " with which R. Johanan
h. Zakkai is said to have approached Vespasian in
his camp, should have been reproduced. The same
phrase was likewise transmitted in Aramaic and He-
brew form, in Buber's edition and in the 'Aruk.
The Midrash is quoted, perhaps for the first time, by
R. Ilananeel under the name " Agadat Ekah. " Many
passages are quoted by R. Nathan, who invariably
calls the work "Megilfat Ekah." The term "Ekah
Rabbati," which is general even now, is used to desig-
nate the many extracts in Yalkut which have been
included with the other Biblical books. In Ekah
87
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Ekah
El Nora 'Alilah
Rabbah itself the sources are almost always missing.
The names "Midrash Ekah," "Midrash Kinot,"
"Megillat Kinot," are also found in the old authors.
In Yalkut there are likewise long extracts from
a Midrash on Lamentations published under the
name "Midrash Zuta" (Berlin, 1894) by Solomon
Buber.
BiBLior.RAPHY : Earliest editions of the Midrai<h Ekah In the
Midrashim on the Five Megillot, Pesaro, 1519 ; Constantinople,
1520 ; in the complete editions of the Rabbot to Pent, and Me-
gillot, Venice, 1545; Cracow, 1587 ; Salonica, 1594; Ekah Rab-
hati, ed. Buber, specially valuable for its commentary and in-
troduction, Wilna, 1899: the text differs largely from that of
previous editions In being inferior, having at times the char-
acter of another recension, whole passages being summarized
In some cases; on other MSS. compare Buber, Introduction,
pp. 37b et seq.; Zunz, G. V. pp. 179-181; Rapoport, Erek
MiUin, pp. 252 et seq.; Weiss, Dor Dnr we-Dorsthaw, lii.
262 et seq.; Winter and Wiinsche, Die JUdische Litteratur,
1. 543-554 ; Bacher's work on the Haqgadah. See notices
of editions and commentaries in Jew. Encyc. iii. 62, s.v.
Bereshit Rabbah.
8. 8. J, T.
EL 'ELYON (\vbv ^N).— Biblical Data: The
most high God (Gen. xix. 18-20, 22, A. V. ; R. V.
" God most high "), as whose priest Melchizedek
blesses Abraham (compare "Urusalem," in the El-
Amarna tablets ; Schrader, "K. B." iv. 180, 25 et seq. ;
183, 14; 185). He is further characterized as the
" possessor [or " creator "] of heaven and earth " (Gen.
xiv. 19). As an epithet of the Deity, " 'Elyon " oc-
curs with "El" in Ps. Ixxviii. 35; with "Ynwn" in
Ps. vii. 18, xlvii. 3, xcvii. 9; with "Elohim" in P.s.
Ivii. 8, Ixxviii. 56; and without additional noun in
Num. xxiv. 16; Deut. xxxii. 8; Ps. ix. 3, xviii. 14;
Isa. xiv. 14; Dan. vii. 18-25 (compare Hoffmann,
"Phonizische Inschriften," pp. 48, 50). Among the
Phenicians "'Elyon" was an appellation of God.
The plural, DJ^K ("gods"), is found on an inscrip-
tion of Eshmun'azar(Bloch, "PhonizischesGlossar,"
p. 12). The name is old, and analogous to "El-
EL NORA *ALILAH
m
Con spirito.
g
2:^
Refrain, El no - ra 'a
Ood, might - y in
li - lah; el no - ra
Tliy deeds; God, might - y
•a.
- li -
lah;
in
Thy
deeds;
Fine
It
H-
-iS>-
12^
i
^
ham - zi la - nu me - hi
grant for - give - ness im - to
P
lah
us
I-
be - sha - 'at ha - ne - 'i - lah.
at this hour of do - sing prayer.
d-
-t-
-^— J-i^^-
-1—
le
un
Z-
'^-
VsBSEs.l. Mete mis - par
1. They that few
ke - ru' - im
have been styled,
ka 'a - yin no - se - 'im,
to Thee their eyes now raise,
Da capo alfine.
-4-
-^-^
'^21
u - mesal - ledim
and ex - ult
be ■
■ hi -
lah.
be ■
■ sha
- 'at
ha
■ ne
- 'i - lah:
in
their
pain,
at
this
hour
of
do
- sing prayer
EKATERINOSLAV. See Yekatekinoslav.
EKBON (jnpy; LXX. 'AKmpuv; probably the
modern Akir) : One of the five cities belonging to
the Philistines (Josh. xiii. 3), situated in the mari-
time plain. It is mentioned in connection with the
Ark in I Sam. v. 10, vi. 1-8. Ekron was noted for
its sanctuary of Baal-zebub (II Kings i. 2, 3, 6, 16).
In later days it is merely named with the other cities
of the Philistines in the denunciations of the Proph-
ets (Jer. XXV. 20; Amos i. 8; Zeph. ii. 4; Zech.
ix. 5). In the Aj)ocryplia it appears as "Accaron"
(I Mace. X. 89), andAvas bestowed with its borders by
Alexander Balas on Jonathan INIaccabeus as a reward
for his services. Eusebius ("Onomasticon," ed. La-
garde, p. 218) describes Accaron as a large Jewish
village between Ashdod and Jabneh. According to
Jerome, Turris Stratonis (Ca?sarea) was identified by
some with Accaron.
E. O. II. B. P.
Shaddai," "El-'Olam," and the like. Sec God,
Names of.
—-Critical View : The Melchizedek episode is
regarded as a post-exilic interpolation, the term
"El 'Elyon" being compared to the formula by
which the Maccabean priests were designated as
"priests of the most high God " (Josephus, "Ant."
xvi. 6, ^ 2; compare also Assumptio Mosis, vi.
1). This view is maintained, among others, by Hol-
zinger in Marti, "Kurzer Ilaudkommentar," under
Gen. xiv. Gunkel ("Genesis," p. 261) maintains
that the foregoing assumption disregards the fact
that an old tradition connected Melchizedek with
Jerusalem, and that the possibility is not excluded
that in remote days the God of Jerusalem was known
as "El 'Elyon." E. G. H.
EL MALE RAHAMIN. See H.\zkar.\t Ne-
Sn AMOT.
EL NORA 'ALILAH (n^'^y X^J bn) ■ A
El Shaddai
Xllcesaites
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
88
hymn attributed to Moses ibn Ezra, and chanted, in
the Sephardic liturgy, before the commencement of
the " Ne'ilah " or closing service of the Day of Atone-
ment. It is sung to spirited tunes by English-speak-
ing, Dutch, and Italian Sephardim. The Italian
melody is of a modern character, but that of the
northern Sephardim has some claim to the Peninsu-
lar origin attributed to it. The six verses, contain-
ing the acrostic ptn HE^D, are sung with the refrain
from which the hymn takes its name.
The stirring Spanish melody has been further util-
ized for the Scriptural verses which conclude the
section "U-ba' le-Ziyyon " and immediately precede
the " Ne'ilah" prayer in the Ashkenazic liturgy. The
transcription given on page 87 follows the tradition
of Bevis Marks, London.
Bibliography : De Sola and Aguilar, Ancient Melodies, No.
36; Verrinder, Day of Atonement (West London Synagogue
music books), p. 195; Cohen and Davis, Voice of Prayer and
Praise, No. 279 ; Pauer and Cohen, Traditional Hebrew Melo-
dies, No. 19.
A. F. L. C.
EL SHADDAI. See God.
ELA (HELA, ILAA, ILAI, ILI, LA,
LEIA, TELA) : Palestinian scholar of the third
amoraic generation (third and fourth centuries).
In one form or another, his name frequently appears
in both Yerushalmi and Babli, mostly in the field
of the Halakah. He was so distinguished that his
contemporary and friend Zera I., admiring Ela's
acumen, exclaimed, "The very air of Palestine im-
parts wisdom " (B. B. 158b). On two
** Builder other occasions the same Zera applied
of the to him the epithet "Bannaya d'Ora-
Law." ita " (Builder of the Law : establisher
of fine legal points ; Yer. Yoma iii. 40c ;
Yer. Git. vii. 48d).
He carried his theoretical knowledge into actual
life, so that the very appointments of his house af-
forded object-lessons in rabbinic rites (Yer. Yoma i.
38c; Yer. Meg. iv. 7oc). It is related that when
on a certain Friday his duties detained him at col-
lege till late into the night, and, returning home,
he found the entrance barred and the people asleep,
rather than desecrate the Sabbath by knocking at
the gate for admission, he spent the night on the
steps of his house (Yer. Bezah v. 63a).
In halakic exegetics Ela laid down the guiding
rule, " Every textual interpretation must respect the
subject of the context" (Yer. Yoma iii. 40c; Yer.
Meg. i. 72a). Another and the most frequently cited
of his exegetic rules is, "Wherever the Bible uses
any of the terms ' beware,' ' lest,' or ' not,' a pro-
hibitory injunction is involved" (Men. 99b, and par-
allels). Quite a number of exegetical observations
applied to halakic deductions are preserved under
Ela's name (Yer. Sliab. i. 2b, etc.), and he reports
like interpretations by his pn^decessors (Yer. Ma'as.
Sh. v. 55(1). In the field of the Haggadah, also, Ela
is often met (Yer. Shab. ii. 5b, vi. 8c ; Yer. Yoma v.
42b, etc.), but as a transmitter of the homilies of
others he appears only rarely (Yer. Peah i. 16a;
Sanh. 44a). That psychological test of human char-
acter as betrayed in the passions produced "l)y the
cup, l)y easli, and by choler" (1Dy321 10^33 1D133,
Er. 65a; compare Derek Erez Zuta v.), which .some
ascribe to this Ela (Ilai), others ascribe to Ilai the
tanna (second century).
Eulogizing R. Simon b. Zebid, Ela skilfully inter-
weaves several verses from the Book of Job, to
which he adds simply their application to Simon's
death, thus: " ' Where shall wisdom be found? and
where is the place of understanding? ' (Job xxviii.
12). ' The depth saith. It is not in me: and the sea
saith. It is not with me ' (ib. 14). ' It is hid from
the eyes of all living, and kept close
Exegesis of from the fowls of the air ' (ib. 21). The
Job xxviii. four objects necessary to man, if lost,
may be replaced ; for ' there is a vein
for the silver, and a place for gold where they
fine it. Iron is taken out of the earth, and brass is.
molten out of the stone' (ib. 1-2); but when a
scholar dies, who can take his place? We have lost
Simon: whence shall we procure his like?" (Yer.
Ber. iii. 5c, and parallels).
Bibliography : Frankel, Mehn, p. Tob ; Weiss, Dor, iii. 101 ;
Briill, Jfebo ha-Mishnah, i. 139; Bacher, ^g. Pal. Amor.
iii. 699.
s. s. S. M.
ELADAH (R. V. Eleadah) : Son of Tahath and
father of Tahath, found in the genealogical list of
Ephraim in I Chron. vii. 20, but not mentioned in
the list in Num. xxvi. He met his death in a raid
upon Gath.
E. G. II. G. B. L.
EL AH : King of Israel ; son of Baasha, who
seized tlie throne of northern Israel after the murder
of Nadab, the son of Jeroboam, its first king. Be-
fore he had reigned two j-ears a conspiracy was.
organized against him within his corrupt court at
Tirzah, and he was slain by Zimri, "captain of half
his chariots, ... as he was . . . drinking himself
drunk in the house of Arza, steward of his house "
(I Kings xvi. 8-10). Josephus states that Zimri
struck his blow when the army, which was the
king's defense, was absent fighting at Gibbethon
("Ant." viii. 12, § 4). The family of Elah, expe-
riencing the treatment usual in that semibarbarous
age, found no mercy at the hands of the conspir-
ators.
J. JR. C. F. K.
ELAH, THE VALLEY OF (Hebr. "'Emelj!:
ha-Elah "): Scene of the combat between David and
Goliath (I Sam. xvii. 2, xxi. 9). It is identified with
the fertile Wadi al-Sant, rich in oaks, terebinths,
and acacias. The older as well as the newer name
refers to the trees growing in the valley. The pres-
ent name is an exact equivalent for an older desig-
nation, if Wellhausen's plausible suggestion is cor-
rect, that the valley of Shittim, mentioned in Joel
iv. (A. V. iii.) 18, is to be found in Wadi al-Sant
(Hebr. " shittah " = Arabic " sant ").
E. G. II. F. Be.
ELAM (D^"'j;): The great plain north of the Per-
sian Gulf and east of the lower Tigris and the moun-
tainous districts by which it is enclosed on the east
and north. It is the " Elamtu " of the Babylonians and
Assyrians and the "Elymais" of the Greeks — wlio
also called it "Susiana" from tlie capital Susa (Shu-
89
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
El Shaddai
£lcesaites
shan) — and corresponds nearly to the modern Khii-
zistan. The name may have originally signified
"the front," that is, "the east country," in the Baby-
lonian language ; but as the east was to the Baby-
lonians also the mountainous region, a popular ety-
mology connected it with "high land," and this is
the meaning of the ideograph employed to designate
it. Elam is mentioned frequently in some of the
very oldest Babylonian inscriptions. Southern
Elam was known as Anshan from the earliest times
to the days of the Persian empire.
The political importance of Elam depended upon
its attitude toward the empires of the Euphrates and
Tigris. Long before the rise of the city of Babylon
the old city-states of Accad and Lagash held for a
time part of the Elamitic territory, and border war-
fare was very frequent.
Two well-marked eras must be specially .noted.
One is the period in the twenty-third century b.c,
when the Elamites conquered the city of Ellasar
(Larsa) and subjected the whole of Babylonia. At
this epoch two expeditions were made to Palestine
under the leadership of Elam (referred to in Gen.
xiv). The other era is marked by the prolonged re-
sistance offered by Elam to the Assyrians in the eighth
and seventh centuries B.C. Assurbanipal, after he
had crushed and annexed Babylonia, put an end to
the independence of Elam itself by taking the capital
Susa (645 B.C.) and making the whole country one
of his many provinces. After the downfall of As-
syria, northern Elam became subject to the victori-
ous Medes, and somewhat later southern Elam was
occupied by the Persians, so that Anshan was the
hereditary domain of Cyrus the Great.
In Gen. x. 22 Elam is made a son of Shem along
with Asshur, but the Elamites were not Semites
either in race or language. The allusion in Isa.
xxii. 6 is also obscure.
The subjection of Elam by Persia is predicted in
Jer. xlix. 34-39. In Isa. xxi. 2 Elam is mentioned
with Media as about to subvert Babylon. Here
" Elam " is put by synecdoche for " Anshan " before
the title of " King of Persia " had been assumed by
Cyrus. Other references to Elam are Jer. xxv. 25,
Ezek. xxxii. 24, and Ezra iv. 9.
BiBLiorTRAPHY: Friedrich Delitzsch, TFo Laudas Paradiesf pp.
320-329; Tiele, BahiyL-^lssj/r. Gescli. pp. 17 etseq., 105 (note),
129, 131, 363, 391, 399, 435, Gotlia, 1886; Hommel, Gesch. Babu-
loniensund Assyriens, Berlin, 1885; Winekler, Gesch. Baby-
loniens und Assyriens, Lelpsic, 1892; McCurdy, History,
Prophecy, and the Monuments, New York and London,
1894 ; Rogers, History of Assyria and Babylonia.
E. G. H. J. F. McC.
EL 'AS AH : Amora, whose epoch is uncer-
tain ; known chiefly on account of a controversy
which he had with a certain Philippus (or a philos-
opher). The latter remarked : " Does not the prophet
say concerning Edom (Mai. i. 4), ' They shall build,
but I will throw down'? And yet, behold, what-
ever they builded still stands ! " Thereupon El'asah
said: " Scripture does not mean material building,
but machinations. As much as ye plan and devise
against us, to upbuild yourselves and to destroy us,
the Holy One — blessed be He! — annihilates it all."
"As thou livest," then admitted the first, "so it
really is. We often make attempts to destroy you,
but some elder appears and prevents our accomplish-
ing anything" (Midr. Teh. ix. 7; Yalk., Mai,
587 reads "Eliezer").
BiBLiofiRAPHY : Bacher, Ag. Pal. Amor. 111. 761.
s. s. S. M.
ELATH (rh^a or ni^'N ; in the Sinaitic inscrip-
tions Dp^N) : Idumeun port at the northern end of
the ^lanitic Gulf, the later Alia. According to the
Old Testament, the name of the place is also El-
paran. In Deut. ii. 8 it is mentioned with Ezion-
geber (comp. I Kings ix. 26; II Chron. viii. 17).
In Solomon's time the city came into the possession
of the Israelites, but afterward it was probably taken
from them. Later Uzziah reconquered it (II Kings
xiv. 22; II Chron. xxvii. 2), but under Ahaz it was
again lost (II Kings xvi. 6). The old city owed its
name to the abundance of palms in the vicinity.
Bibliography : Robinson, Biblical Researches in Palestine,
i. 280; Wetzstein, In Delitzsch, Htob, p. 118; Buhl, Gesch. der
Edomiten, p. 38.
E. G. H. F. BU.
ELBOGEN, ISMAR : German scholar ; born at
Schildberg Sept. 1, 1874. Educated by his uncle,
Jacob Levy, author of the " Neuhebrilisches WOrter-
buch," and then at the gymnasium and the Jewish
Theological Seminary in Breslau, he received his
doctor's degree from the Breslau University. He
obtained his rabbinical diploma in 1899 and was ap-
pointed lecturer on Biblical exegesis and Jewish his-
tory at the Collegio Rabbinico Italiano in Florence.
In 1902 he became privat-docent at the Lehranstalt
fiir die Wissenschaft des Judentums, Berlin. Elbo-
gen's writings include: "Der Tractatus de Intellec-
tus Emendatione und Seine Stellung Innerhalb der
Philosophic Spinoza's," Breslau, 1898; "In Com-
memorazione di S. D. Luzzatto," Florence, 1901;
"Die Neueste Construction der Judischen Ge-
schichte," Breslau, 1902. S.
ELCESAITES : A Juda?o-Christian sect of Gnos-
tic tendencies, whose period of influence extended
from about 100 to 400. The Church Fathers, who
alone mention the sect, derive the name from the
alleged founder — 'lll^al (Epiphanius),'HA;j;a(Tat (Hip-
polytus), or 'E'Aiiccai (Eusebius, Theodoretus). Epi-
phauius, who mentions as Elkesai's brother a man
called lel^fof ("Haereses," xix. 1), explains the name
as being derived from the Hebrew [Aramaic] pn =
"strength" and X''D3 = "hidden"; with which the
name 'Ifffof = J<''D3 H' corresponds, both names
designating their owners as the teachers of the " hid-
den power " and " the hidden God. " At the time of
Epiphanius the " saints " of the Elcesaites were two
women — Martha ("mi-stress") and Marthana ("our
mistress ").
The Elcesaites based their doctrine on a book
which they claimed either had fallen from heaven,
or had been given by an angel to
The Holy Elkcsai at Sera\ Parthia, Elkesai then
Book of the giving it to "Loliiai ("the Baptist";
Elcesaites. from y3X). Fragments of this book,
found in the works of the Church
Fathers, have recently been collected by Hilgenfeld
("Elxai Libri Fragmenta," in his edition of "Hermaj
Pastor," 1889, pp. 228-240). But the date of the book
is uncertain ; Hitschl and Haruack assign it to the
second half or tiie close of the second century, while
others, following the statement of Hippolytus {I.e.)
Elceeaites
Zildad
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
90
place it about 100. The book is characterized by
Epiphanius as containing the doctrine of persons
" who are neither Jews nor Christians nor pagans,
but hold a middle position between these " (" Hajre-
ses," liii. 1); and in fact the creed of the Elcesaites
contains such a mixture of Jewish, Christian, and
pagan elements that a classification of the sect is ex-
tremely difficult. They must be regarded as Jewish
because they expressly insisted on " the rule of the
Law," and held that "the faithful must be circum-
cised and live according to the Law " (Hippolytus,
" Hsereses, " ix. 14). Special emphasis was laid on the
observance of the Sabbath {I.e. ix. 16), and the turn-
ing of the face toward Jerusalem during praj^er (Epi-
phanius, I.e. xix. 3). At the same time they asserted
tliat sacrificing liad not been enjoined upon the Pa-
tiiarchs, and condemned it altogether (compare Uhl-
horn, "Homilien uud Recognitionen," p. 396).
The Christo-Messianology of the book is very
ambiguous. The Messiah is conceived, on the one
hand, as an angel of giant dimensions, a concept that
recalls Shi'ur Komah in the Cabala, and Adam in
the Haggadah ; and, on the other hand, the doctrine
of the continuous incarnation of the Messiah from
Adam to Jesus (see Adam Kadmon) is taught. A
strongly marked naturalistic-pagan element is found
in the prescribed ablutions which among the Elcesa-
ites answered to the Christian baptism. Water was
held sacred by them — an ancient pagan
Elcesaite conception widely spread, especially
Baptism, in Babylonia (Anz, "Ursprung des
Gnostizismus," pp. 99 et seq.); hence
the Elcesaites preached not only forgiveness of all
sins with the new baptism, but also enjoined ablu-
tions against madness, consumption, and possession.
During baptism they invoked, besides God and His
son, the great king, also heaven, earth, water, oil,
and salt, representing the five elements, according
to the ancient Semitic conception. It may also be
gathered from Hippolytus' quotations from the
book of the Elcesaites that astrology and magic
were prominent in their religion. The doctrine of
Elcesai is as follows: "There exist wicked stars of
impiety. This declaration is now made by us: O ye
pious ones and disciples, beware of the power of
the days of the sovereignty of these stars, and en-
gage not in the commencement of any undertaking
during the ruling days of these." The Sabbath is
important as "one of those days during which pre-
vails the poM'er of these stars." For a similar astro-
logical reason no work must be begun on the third
day from the Sabbath — Monday (Hippolytus, I.e. ;
compare Astuology; Mand^eans). The asceticism
of this sect, which forbade the eating of meat, but
maintained the sanctity of marriage, must be noted.
According to Epiphanius, Elcesai and his brother
Jexai had joined the Ossa>ans, prob-
Relation ably identical with the Esseues, who,
to Other as well as the related sect of the Naz-
Judeeo- aritcs, recognized Elcesai's authority.
Christian They lived in the region beyond the
Sects. Jordan, offering no sacrifices, and con-
demning the use of meat. Tlie El-
cesaites, then, represent the stage of transition from
those Jewish sects to the Christian heresy of llie
Sampsfcans — a'^ a section of the Elccsiutes was called
at the time of Epiphanius — and to those circles in
which the Clementine Homilies originated, the doc-
trines of which are very similar to those of the El-
cesaites; but while the pagan and Jewish elements
preponderate over the Christian among the Elce-
saites, in the Clementine Homilies the reverse is the
case (compare Clementina; Ebionites; Jud^o-
ClIRISTIANS).
Bibliography: Hamack, Doymenfjesf/i.Sd ed.J. 288-293; Hil-
genfeld, Ketzergcsch. pp. 433-435 ; idem, Judenttim und Ju-
den^CJiristeritum, pp. 99etse<7.; Ritscbl, Ueher die Sekteder
Elkesaiten, in Zeit. fllr Historltclie Thenlogie, xxlii. 573-
594; idem, EnMchung der Altkathnlischen Kirche (see
Index); Seeberg, Dogmengesch. i. 51-52; Uhlhom, Homtfien.
und Recognitionen, pp. 392 et seq. ; idem. In Herzog-Hauck,
Real-Encyc. s.v. Elkesaiten.
K. L. G.
ELCHE : City in the former kingdom of Valen-
cia. When Don Jaime I. of Aragon took the city
from the Moors, he gave houses and land to the Jews
he found there, as he did to the other Jews of Valen-
cia, and appointed a special street for them. In 1410
Vicente Ferrer came to Elche to carry on his work
of conversion. Those Jews who remained true to
their faith fled to Italy and Turkey. Abraham
Rondi (perhaps Gerondi) lived here, and corresponded
with Isaac ben Sheshet.
Bibliography : J. Amador de los Rios, Hlstoria de los Judios
de Espana, i. UXi, ii. 425 ; Isaac b. Sheshet, Responsa, Nos.
333, 353 ; Jacobs, Sources, No. 827.
G. M. K.
ELDAD BEN MAHLI HA-DANI: Mer-
chant and traveler of the ninth century. He pro-
fessed to have been a citizen of an independent Jew-
ish state in eastern Africa, inhabited by the tribes of
Dan (hence liis name, " ha-Dani " = " the Danite"),
Asher, Gad, and Naphtali. Starting from this al-
leged state, Eldad visited Babylonia, Kairwan, and
Spain, causiug everywhere a great stir among the
.Tews by his fanciful accounts of the Lost Ten Tribes,
and by the halakot which he asserted he had brought
from his native country. These halakot, written in
Hebrew, deal with the slaughtering and subsequent
examination of animals. They differ widely from
the Talmudic ordinances, and are introduced in the
name of Joshua ben Nun, or, according to another ver-
sion, of Othniel ben Kenaz. Eldad's accounts soon
spread, and, as usual in such cases, were remolded
and amplified by copyists and editors. There are no
less than eight versions with important variations.
The following is a summary of Eldad's narrative ac-
cording to the most complete of these versions:
On leaving the land " on the other side of the river of Kush,"
Eldad traveled with a man of the tribe of Asher. A great storm
wrecked the boat, but God prepared a plank
His Alleg-ed for him and his companion, on vifhich they
Travels. floated until thrown ashore among a cannibal
Ethiopian tribe called " Romroiti." (As to the
existence in former times of such a tribe, see Metz In " Das Jii-
dische Litteraturblatt," 1877, No. 41.) The Asherite, who was fat,
was immediately eaten, while Eldad was put into a pit to fatten.
Soon after a flre-worshiping tribe assailed the cannibals, and
Eldad was taken prisoner. He remained in captivity during
four years, when his captors brought him to the province of Aza-
nlan (according to another version, to China), where he was
ransomed by a Jewish merchant for thirty-two pieces of gold.
Eldad continued his journey, and fell in with the tribe of Issachar,
dwelling among high mountains near Media and Persia, their
land extending ten days' journey on every side. They are at
piace with all, and their whole energy is devoted to the study
of the Law ; their only weapon is the knife for slaughtering
animals. Their judge and prince is called " Nahshon," and they
use the four methods of capital punishment.
91
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Slcesaites
Eldad
The tribe of Zebuloii (n-cupies the land extending from the
province of Armenia to the River Euplirates. Behind the moun-
tains of Paran the tribe of Reuben faees them. Peace reigns
between these two tribes; they war as allies and divide the
spoils. They possess the Bible, the Mishnah, the Talmud, and
the Ilaggadah.
The tribe of Epliraim and half of Manasseh dwell in the
southern mountains of Arabia, and are very warlike.
The tribe of Simeon and the other half of Manasseh are in the
land of the Chazars. Tliey take tribute from twenty-eight king-
doms, and many Mohammedans are subjected to them.
The tribe of Dan emigrated to the land of gold, Havilah
(Rush), shortly after the separation of Judah and Israel. The
tribes of Naphtali, Gad, and Asher joined the Danites later.
They have a king called Adiel ben Malkiel, a prince by the
name of Elizaphan, of the house of Elihab. and a judge named
Abdan ben Mishael, who has the power to inflict the four capital
punishments prescribed In the Law. The four tribes lead a
nomadic life, and are continually at war with the five neighbor-
ing Ethiopian kings. Each tribe is in the fleld three months,
and every warrior remains in the saddle without dismounting
from one Sabbath to the next. They possess the entire Scrip-
tures, but they do not read the Roll of Esther (not having been
Included in the miraculous salvation mentioned in It) nor Lam-
entations (to avoid its disheartening Influence). They have a
Talmud In pure Hebrew, but none of the Talmudic teachers is
mentioned. Their ritual is introduced In the name of Joshua,
who had received it from Moses, who in his turn had heard its
contents from the Almighty. They speak only Hebrew (Eldad
himself professed not to understand a word of Ethiopic or
Arabic) .
On " the other side of the river of Kush " dwell the Bene
Mosheh (tribe of Levi). The River Sambation encircles their
land. It rolls sand and stones during the six working days and
rests on the Sabbath. From the first moment of Sabbath to the
last, fire surrounds the river, and during that time no human be-
ing can approach within half a mile of either side of it. The four
other tribes communicate with the Bene Mosheh from the bor-
ders of the river. The Bene Mosheh dwell in beautiful houses,
and no unclean animal is found in their land. Their cattle and
sheep as well as their fields bear twice a year. No child dies
during the lifetime of its parents, who live to see a third and
fourth generation. They do not close their houses at night, for
there Is no theft or wickedness among them. They speak He-
brew, and never swear by the name of God.
This fanciful narrative, the origin of whicli is to
be found in the liaggadic literature, of whicli Eldad
must have had a very extensive knowledge, was ac-
cepted by his contemporaries as true.
Reception The inhabitants of Kairwan were, it
of is true, troubled by the differences
His Story, between his halakot and those of the
Talmud, and by some strange He-
brew expressions used by him; but the gaon Ze-
mah ben Haj'yim of Sui-a, whose opinion they
had asked, tranquilized them by saying that there
was nothing astonishing in the four tribes disagree-
ing with the Talmud on some halakic points. More-
over, Eldad 's personalitj-, asserted the gaon, was
known to him through Isaac ben Mar and R. Sim-
hah, with whom the Danite associated while he was in
Babylonia. Hasdai ibn Shaprut cites Eldad in his let-
ter to the king of the Chazars, and Eldad 's Jialakot
were used by both Rabbinites and Karaites as weap-
ons in defense of their respective creeds. Talmudic
authorities like Rashi, Abraham ben David(RABaD),
and Abraham ben Maimon quote Eldad as an unques-
tioned authority ; and lexicographers and gramma-
rians interpret some Hebrew words according to the
meaning given tliem in Eldad 's phraseology.
The influence of Eklad's narrative extended be-
yond Jewish circles. It was tlie .source of the apoc-
ryphal letter of the so-called "Prester John," which
appeared in the twelfth century. Intending to re-
fute Eldad's assertion of the existence of independ-
ent Jewish states — an assertion contrary to the teach-
ing of the Roman Church — the Christian writer told
of a priest who ruled over the great
Source of kingdom of Ethiopia, to which were
"Prester subject some Jewish tribes, including
John." the Bene Mosheh who dwelt beyond
the River Sambation. The only writ-
ers of the Middle Ages who expressed doubts as to
the genuineness of Eldad's narrative and his hala-
kot were Abraham ibn Ezra (Commentary to Ex. ii.
22) and Me'ir of Rothenburg (Responsa, No. 193).
Modern critics are divided in their opinions con-
cerning Eldad. Pinsker, Gratz, and Neubauer saw
in him a Karaite missionary endeavoring to discredit
the Talmud by his statement that the four tribes did
not know the names of the Tannaim and Amoraim,
and that their halakot were different from those of
the Talmud. This opinion was refuted by Schorr
and Jellinek, who observed that Eldad's halakot
contain rules concerning the examination of slaugh-
tered animals which are not accepted
Modern by the Karaites. P. FrankI regarded
Opinions. Eldad as a mere charlatan whose say-
ings and doings are not worth atten-
tion. Reifmann denied outright the existence of
Eldad, and considered the letters of the community
of KairM'an and of Zemah ben Hayyim of Sura to
be forgeries. Metz was the first to analyze the con-
tents of Eldad's book in the light of the reports of
other travelers. A. Epstein followed Metz's method,
and came to the conclusion that Eldad's book is
somewhat of the nature of a historical novel in which
truth is mixed with Imagination. The halakot are,
according to him, genuine, and were in use among
the countrymen of Eldad, either in a province of
eastern Africa or in Yemen, where the Jews at that
time knew Hebrew, but not the Talmud. For Eldad
could not have been a native of Abyssinia, the coun-
try of the Falashas, since there only Geez is spoken;
and no trace of this dialect appears in Eldad's
Hebrew ; there are, however, some traces of Arabic,
which Eldad must have known, although he as-
serted the contrary.
Eldad's travels have been published from the vari-
ous existing versions: Mantua, 1480; Constan-
tinople, 1516; Z6.1519; Venice, 1544.
Editions. 1605, 1648; Fiirth, with a Judoeo-Ger-
man translation by S. H. Weil, 1769;
Zolkiev, 1772; Jessnitz, 1772; Leghorn, 1828; in Jel-
linek's "Bet ha-Midrash," iii., vi. ; Presburg, 1891
(ed. by Abraham Epstein). As to the differences be-
tween the various versions, see D. H. Milller, " Die
Recensionen und Versionen des Eldad ha-Dani," in
" Denkschrifteu der Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wis-
senschaften" (vol. xli. Vienna, 1892). Eldad's nar-
rative was translated into Latin by G. Genebrard
(Paris, 1584), and also, anonymously, into Arabic
(St. Petersburg MSS. Nos. 674, 703)"' and into Ger-
man (Dessau, 1700; Jessnitz, 1723). Extracts of the
Hebrew text are given by Bartolocci ("Bibl. Rab.,"
i. 100) and by Eisenmenger ("Eutdecktcs Juden-
thum," ii. 527).
BiRi.ior.RAPHY: Pinsker, Likkittc Kadmnniyiint. p. 100; Schorr,
in He-Halm, vi. W ; P. Fraiikl. in Mouatsxchrift, 1873, p. 491 ;
Neubauer, iii jDurnal Asiatiquc. 18(11, ;id ed., v. 339 et .seq.:
idetn, in Jiw. Quart. Rev. 1. 95. iii. 441 ; (iratz, Oesch. ii. 473;
A. Epstein, Ei(i«(/ ha-Dani (llebr.), Presburg, 1891; idem, in
Eldad and Medad
Eleazar
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
92
R. E.J. XXV.: Heifmaun, in Hn-Kn)>ncl. viii.; Berliner's Jfd-
yazin, xv. Ho; Metz, in Das Jiidische Littcratu7-t)latU'iii~'y
No. *0; (assel. In Ersch and Gruber, section ii., part 27, p.
166; Stelnscbneider, Cat. liodl. col. 923.
G. I. Bk.
ELDAD AND MEDAD (Modad according to
the Septuagiut): Two meu who prophesied in the
camp during tlie wanderings in the wilderness
(Num. xi. 26-29). According to an old rabbinical
tradition, they predicted the war with Gog and
Magog. " The king from the land of Magog will
unite all the hosts of the heathen in a warfare on the
soil of Palestine against the Jews returning from the
Exile at the Messianic time, but the Lord [D^l'p =
KiyMoc] will be ready in the time of distress and slay
them with the tire issuing forth froni His throne,
and their bodies will fall upon the mountains of the
land of Israel and be eaten up by the wild beasts and
the birds of heaven. Then will all the dead of the
people of Israel be revived and partake of the bliss
prepared for them from the beginning " (Targ. Yer.
to Num. xi. 26; comp. Sanh. 17a; Tan., Bcha'alo-
teka, ed. Buber, 22). According to the fragment of
Targum Yer. {ib.), the heathen will fall into the
hand of the Messiah (comp. Bachcr, " Ag. Tan." i.
88, ii. 119; "Monatsschrift." 1857, pp. ^A^ et seq.).
This Messianic prophecy of Eldad and Medad
seems to have been made the subject of a special
work, consisting of 400 lines, which circulated in
the first Christian century ; it is quoted in the " Shep-
herd of Hermas," vision ii. 3, as containing the sen-
tence found also in the Targum : " The Lorcl [K'vpioc,^
is nigh to those in distress." See Schlirer, "Gesch."
3d ed., iii. 266.
E. G. H. K.
ELDER, or ZAEEN : In priiuitivc times age
was a necessary condition of authority. Not only
among the ancient Jews, but also among other na-
tions of antiquity, the elders of the nation or of the
clan constituted the official class. The institution
of elders existed among the Egyptians (Gen. 1. 7),
among the Midianites (Num. xxii. 7), and later among
the Greeks (yipovreg or 'npec^vTepoi) and Romans (" pa-
tres" or "senatus"). Although the Talmud (Yoma
28b) points to the existence of such an institution in
the time of Abraham, no distinct mention is made of
it in the Bible until the period of the Exodus. Moses
is commanded to assen\ble the elders of the people,
and to assure them of a speedy redemption from
Egyptian bondage (Ex. iii. 16, 18). Afterward the
elders occupied an important position in the com-
munal as well as in the political affairs of the Jewish
people. It is not certain that they were elected by
the people, although they were considered their rep-
resentatives, and were frequentlj^ identified with the
'"am" (people) itself in the Bible (Ex. iv. 29; xix.
7, 8; xxiv. 1; Josh, xxiii. C et al.).
The position and function of the elder are nowhere
clearly defined. " What there was of permanent
official authority lay in the hands of the elders and
heads of the houses; in times of war they com-
manded each his own household, and in peace they
dispensed justice each within his own circle" (Well-
hausen). They were the defenders of the interests
of their constituents, and were especially powerful
in local or municipal affairs (Deut. xix. 13, xxi. 2,
xxii. l.'),.vxv. 7: -Tosh. xx. 4; Ruthiv. 2). Together
with the priests, they sometimes participated in cer-
tain sacrificial rites (Lev. iv. 15, ix. 1). In national
affairs they held a very important position. It was
at the request of the elders that Samuel consented ta
a monarchical form of government in Israel (I Sam.
viii. 4). It Avas through their intervention that
Abner succeeded in appointing David king over
Lsrael (II Sam. iii. 17). The elders were accomplices
in the conspiracy of Absalom (II Sam. xvii. 4); to
them Rehoboam first turned for advice (I Kings xii.
6), and they were also a prominent factor in the
proceedings brought against Naboth by Jezebel
(I Kings xxi. 8-13).
It is not known whether all the officers of the
commonwealth were chosen from the body of elders
(compare Ex. xviii. 25 and Num. xi. 16). As judges,
however, and as the chief representatives of the
people, the elders enjoyed their authority for a long
l)eriod. The Mishnah speaks of the elders as the
recipients of the oral law from Joshua (Abot 1. 1),
and as the forerunners of the Sanhedrin (Sanh. 2a).
The institution of elders flourished during the period
of the Babylonian Exile (Ezek. viii. 1, xiv. 1, xx. 1),
and continued in Palestine during the Persian and
Greek periods (Ezra v. 5, 9 ; vi. 7, 14 ; x. 8 ; I Mace,
vii. 31; xii. 6, 35; xiii. 36; Judith vi. 21, vii. 23,
viii. 33, X. 6; and in Susanna). See Judge; Patri-
ARCii.VT. Fa.mii.y and AuTHOiuTY ; and especially
S.VNHEDiaX.
UIBLIOGRAPHY : Hastiups. Diet. Jiihle ; HamburKer, R. B. T.;
Wellhausen, I. J. G.\ Driver. Denteinnonin. pp. 199, 233, New
York, 1H9.5 ; Saalschiitz, Dd.s Musam-lie Rcclit, chap, iii., Ber-
lin, 185:^; Ewald, Tfic AntiQuitks of Israel, Index, Boston,
1H76; McCiirdy. Hiisforj/, Prot'hecu. and the MunumeHts,
Index, New York, 1894; Amrani, Zekoiini, in Jour. liih.
Lit., June, 1900; Reifmann, Satiheil'rin (in Hebrew), Ber-
dyctiev, 1.h>«: a. Biichler, X>(W Sunlicdrinit in Jct~nsalem,
pp. 163, 108, Vienna, ISKL'.
s. s. J. II. G.
ELDER, REBELLIOUS (^mCD |pr) : An
elder wiio defies the authoritative rabbinic interpre-
tation of the Mosaic Law. In the period Avhen the
Sanhetlrin flourished this was a capital offense, pun-
ishable by strangulation (Sanh. xi. 1). This is based
on Deut. xvii. 8-13, and according to the Talmud
refers not to an ordinary man who refuses to abide
by the decision of the priest or the judge, but to a
regular ordained rabbi, or a judge, or an elder over
the age of forty, or one of the twenty-three jurists
constituting the minor Sanhedrin of a city or town.
If such a judge dared to defy tiie decision of a ma-
jority of tlie major Sanhedrin, he became liable to
the penalty of strangulation. R. Meir, however,
would convict only an elder whose opposition con-
cerned a criminal act which, if committed uninten-
tionally, would entail a sin-offering, or, committed
intentionally, would be punished with excision
(=ri"i3). According to R. Judah, the elder coidd
be convicted only of a schismatic decision concern-
ing a law which had its origin in Scripture, but tlie
interpretation of which was left to the Soferim.
The mode of procedure in such cases of contumacy
is related in the Mislinah. There were tiiree tribu-
nals (in Jerusalem), one at the foot of the Temple
hill (Mount Moriah), another at the entrance to the
court of the Temple, and another at the granite cor-
ridor (= n'lJn riDt'i?) of the Temple. The associate
judges, with the accused, came before the tribunal
93
THE JEWISH E^X'YCLOPEDIA
£)ldad and Medad
!Eleazar
attbefootof the Temple hill. The accused pleaded :
" Thus and so have I expounded the Law, aud thus
aud so have my associates; thus and thus have I
taught the pe()|)le, aud thus have my associates."
The judges of the tribunals, if they had any tradi-
tion bearing upon the case, gave their opinion; if
not, they betook themselves to the tiibunal at the
entrance to the court of the Temple, where the
same proceeding was repeated. Finally, they all
appeared before the highest tribunal at the granite
hall of the Temple, whence came the interpretation
of the Torah. The Great Sauhedrin rendered a de-
cision. Should the elder still maintain a schismatic
position and persist in asserting it, he became liable
to punishment. In this event he Avas brought be-
fore the supreme couit for trial, conviction, and ex-
ecution. Accoiding to R. Akiba, the execution took
place on the first festival following his conviction,
when, as a rule, the people were gathered together
in Jerusalem, so "that the people may hear and
fear." R. Meir thought such a delay cruel, and
would have had the culprit executed immediately
after his conviction, wliich would be followed by a
proclamation announcing the execution. The re-
bellious elder was classed with three other offenders:
one who incites to idolatry (=ri''DD), a rebellious
son, and a perjuretl witness. In all these cases the
execution was publicly announced (Sanh. 89a).
The question whether the supreme court might
pardon the rebellious elder and overlook the insult
dune it by his dissent is a controverted point, and the
opinion of the majority was that pardon was not
permissible, as this would increase the number of
schisms in Israel (Sanh. 88a and b).
s. s. J. D. E.
ELEAD : A descendant of Ephraim, found in
the genealogical list in I Chron. vii. 21. He joined
a party of raiders to take away the flocks of Gath,
and was killed by the Gittites. The name does not
appear in the genealogical list in Numbers.
E. G. II. G. B. L.
ELEALAH : Town of the Moabite plateau, con-
cjuered by Gad and Reuben and rebuilt by the lattei'
(Num. XXX ii. 3, 37). It is mentioned, together with
the town of Heshbon, in the prophecies concerning
Moab (Isa. xvi. 9). Elealah was still known in Roman
times, and is to-day identified Avith the mound of de-
bris called " Al-'Al" about a mile north of Heshbon.
E. G. n. E. I. N.
ELEAZAR: 1. High priest ; tliird son of Aaron.
After his two elder brothers, Nadab and Abihu, had
suffered death for offering strange fire before the
Lord, Eleazar became his father's chief assistant,
with the title " prince of the princes of the Levites"
(Num. iii. 32), his functions including the supervi-
sion of the oil for the seven-branched candlestick,
the incense, and all that pertained to the inner sanc-
tuary {ib. iv. 16). Shortl}^ before Aaron's death
Eleazar was clothed in his father's official garments
to signify that he Avas Aaron's successor {lb. xx. 25-
28). God's commands wpre now addressed to Moses
and Eleazar {ib. xxvi. 1), and Eleazar is mentioned
as God's second representative in Israel, beside
Moses (ib. xxxii. 28), aud even before Joshua (Num.
xxxii. 28, xxxiv. 17; Josh. xiv. 1, xvii. 4, xix. HI.
xxi. 1). He was the progenitor of most of the high
priests. He Avas buried '"in Gibeah, of Phinehas his
son, Avhich Avas given him in the hill country of
Ephraim" (Num. xxiv. 33, R. V.).
p]Ieazar is said to have added to the Book of
Joshua the section xxiv. 29-32 (B. B. 15a, 1. 27),
and his soi^ Phinehas, verse 33.
E. G. II. E. K.
2. A son of Dodai, an Ahohite (II Sam. xxiii. 9,
R. v.), or of Dodo the Ahohite (I Chron. xi. 12);
one of the three principal captains of David's army.
3. Fourth son of Mattathias and brother of Judas
]\Iaccabeus ; surnamed " Avarau"(IMacc. ii.5, Avapdv;
ib. vi. 43, "Lavapav iov Avapdv; Josephus, "Ant."xii.
6, § 1, A'vpdi). He distinguished himself by a coura-
geous act at the battle of Bet-Zekaryah (162 B.C.),
Avhen the JeAvs under Judas Maccabeus were hard
pressed by the large Syrian army commanded by
Lysias and encouraged b}' the presence of the j'outh-
f ul king Antiochus Eupator. Eleazar, seeing among
the enemy's elephants one that was armed with
royal breastplates, and that was taller than the rest,
concluded that it carried the king. Wishing to put
an end to the misery of his people, and being desir-
ous of gaining everlasting fame for himself, Eleazar
fought his Avay through the ranks of the enemy,
and, creeping imder the elephant, speared it from
beneath, the animal crushing him in its fall (I Mace,
vi. 43-46; Josephus, l.r. xii. 9, §4; idem, "B. J."i. 1,
§ 5). Because of this deed Eleazar is especially men-
tioned in a midrash (Rashi to Deut. xxxiii. 11 ; comp.
"Megillat Antiochus," ed. Gasler, verses 63, 64).
II Maccabees does not mention Eleazar; and Jose-
phus modifies the account in his "Wars," following
the story of I Mace. vi. 43 only in his "Antiquities."
Eleazar is included among the seventy translators of
the Bible that are mentioned in the Letter of Aris-
teas (§ 50); and scholars have assumed that this
fictitious name Avas taken from that of the Macqa-
bean (Wendland, iuKautzsch, " Apokryphen,"ii. 8).
In the Syrian document, however, the name reads
"Eliezer" (Wendland, "Aristeas," p. 143, Leipsic,
1900).
15ibi.I0(;raphy : Griitz, Gesch. ii. 363; Scliiirer, Gesc7i. 3d ed.,
i. :il3; AVillricb, Judaica, p. 149, Gottingen, 1900; Krauss, in
l{ei\ FA. Jnives, xx.\. 216; for the name "Avaran" see
Fritsclie, Kurzorfaifxteii Ej-'egetixcha^ Handbnch to I Ma«c.
ii. .'>, and Zotkler, KuizriffasKtci Coimncntar. ibid.
K. G. II. E. K.— S. Kk.
4. Son of Ananias, the high priest. Though be-
longing to a family which strove to maintain friendly
terms Avith the Romans, he induced his priestl}' col-
leagues to discontinue the daily sacrifice for the em-
peror, and to decline presents from the pagans ("B.
J." ii. 17, g§ 2-4), thereby causing a rupture Avith
the Romans. The rebels, under the leadership of
Eleazar, took possession of the lower city and the
Temple, and fought for seven days with the peace
jiarty. The Sicarii under Menahem attacked the
peace party, killing Ananias and his brother Heze-
kiah. This led to a conflict between the parties of
Menahem and Eleazar, in Avhich the former Avas
defeated and driven from Jerusalem. Eleazar also
attacked the Roman garrison that had retired to
the fortified towers— Hippicus, Phasa^lus, and Ma-
riamne; the Romans capitulated and surrendered
their arms on condition of free retreat, but were all
£!leazar
£leazer II.
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
94
massacred by the rebels (Josephus, "B. J." ii. 17, §§
2-10). Meg. Ta'an. 11 refers to this event.
The Romans retired from Judah and Jerusalem
on the 17th of Elul. It seems that Eleazar had coins
struck in his name, witli the inscription : " The First
Year of the Liberation of Jerusalem. " On the organ-
ization of the rebellion Eleazar, with Jesus b. Sap-
phias, was appointed general of Idumea ("B. J." ii.
20, § 4, reading 'Avavlov instead of vlbv Niuv). Griitz's
opinion that Eleazar is identical with Eleazar b.
Ananiah b. Hezekiah Garou is inadmissible. In Yo-
sippon, ch. 95-97, Eleazar b. Ananiah is confounded
with Eleazar ben Jair (see Albinus; Ananias).
Bibliography : Gratz, Gesch. 4th ed., lil. 453, 471 ; Schurer,
Gesch. 3d ed., i. 603 ; Schlatter, Zur Topographie tmd Gesch.
Pal&stinas, p. 368; Madden, History of Jeivish Coinage^
pp. 161-166; Levy, Gcsch. der Jlldischen Miliizen, p. 88;
Agadat Shir ha-ShiiHm, ed. Schechter, pp. 47, 96.
6. Priest and treasurer of the Temple of Jerusa-
lem. Eleazar, anxious to save the costly curtains of
the Temple from the greed of Crassus, who had
seized the treasure of the Temple amounting to 2,000
talents, gave him a golden beam weighing 300 minae,
the existence of which was unknown to the other
priests on account of its wooden casing. He made
Crassus swear to spare the rest of the Temple. Cras-
sus, notwithstanding his oath, took all the gold of
the Temple (Josephus, "Ant." xiv. 7, § 1).
6. Leader of the Zealots in the war against Ves-
pasian and Titus; son of Simon (Josephus, "B. J."
ii. 20, § 3 ; iv. 4, § 7 ; for vid^ Tiuvog read 'Ei/xuvog). He
belonged to a noble priestly family. After the de-
feat of Cestius, Eleazar seized the abandoned impedi-
menta of the Romans and the treasure of the Tem-
Brass Coin of Eleazar bk.\ Simon.
Obverse : jniar: -\tj?SN— " Eleazar the Priest." A vase ; In field
to rlprht a palm-branch. Reverse : ["^Nlitf ^ nS^jS nnN njir
—"The First Year of the Redemption of Israel," round a
cluster of grapes.
(After Madden, " History of Jewish Coinage.'*)
pie, and employed the Zealots as armor-bearers ("B.
J. " ii. 20, § 3). He found an ally in the priest Zacha-
rias, son of Amphikalles, with whose help he sup-
planted the peaceable high priest Ananias and his
party, and admitted the Idumeans into Jerusalem
(lb. iv. 4, % 1). When the patriot Johannes turned
from Gisca la to Jerusalem after the subjugation of
Galilee, Eleazar would not submit to him, but re-
tired to the court of the Temple with his friends
Judah b. Helika and Simon b. Ezron. During the
Passover Eleazar's men opened the gates of the
court of the Temple, whereupon the followers of
Johannes stole in among the pilgrims, overpowered
Eleazar's people, and drove them from the court (70
c.E. : ib..v. 3, § 1; Tacitus, v. 12).
Bibliography : Gratz, Gesch. 4th ed., lii. 509, 536 ; Schurer,
Gesch. 3d ed., 1. 633, 625 ; Schlatter, Zur Topographic und
Gesch. PaUlstina.% p. 368 ; Reinach, Textes d'Auteurs Grecs
et Romains, p. 330; Prosopographia Imperii Romani, s.t.
Eleazar.
7. Martyr in the days of Antiochus Epiphanes.
In the religious persecution under Antiochus, Elea-
zar, a scholar of rank, "and of a noble counte-
nance," at that time "well stricken in years," was
compelled to eat pork, his mouth being opened by
force. When offered the alternatives of death or re-
nunciation of his faith, he chose the former, in or-
der to set a "noble example to the young." The
king's followers desired to protect him, and im-
plored him at least to pretend to obey the commands
of the king. Eleazar refused, and died the death of
a martyr (II Mace. vi. 18-31). In Antioch (I V Mace,
v., vi.), Eleazar's edifying martyrdom, with that of
the seven Maccabcan brothers, was honored by the
Roman Church (Origen, "Exhortatio ad Marty-
rium," ch. 22-27; "Comm. in Ep. ad Rom." iv. ch.
10; Chrysostom). Cardinal Rampolla's investiga-
tions have proved the historical character of the ac-
count despite the fact that while the seven martyrs
are mentioned in rabbinical legend, Eleazar seems
to be unknown to the Rabbis (" ^lartyre et Sepulture
des Macchabees, " Bruges, 1900). Griitz had already
declared it to be substantially true ("Geschichte,"
2d ed. , ii. 317). Herzfeld's supposition (" Gesctichte
des Volkes Jisrael, " ii. 75) that Eleazar is identical
with Eleazar ben Harsom is untenable.
G. ' S. Kr.
ELEAZAK I. (LAZAB) (Eleazar b. Sham-
mua' ) : Mishnaic teacher of the fourth genera-
tion, frequently cited in rabbinic writings without
his patronymic (Ab. iv. 12; Git. iii. 8, incorrectly
"Eliezer"; compare Gem. Git. 31b; Yer. Git. iii.
45a, Mishnah and Gem.). He was of priestly descent
(Meg. 27b ; Sotah 39a) and rich (Eccl. R. xi. 1), and
acquired great fame as a teacher of traditional law.
He was a disciple of Akiba (Zeb. 93a, 110b), but ow-
ing to the Hadrianic proscriptions of Jewish observ-
ances, was not ordained by him. After Akiba's
death, however, R. Judah b. Baba ordained Eleazar,
together with Mei'r, Jose b. Halafta, Judah b. Ha'i,
and Simon b. Yohai, at a secluded spot between
Usha and Shefar'am. The ordainer was detected in
the act and brutally slain ; but the ordained escaped,
and eventually became the custodians and dissemi-
nators of Jewish tradition (Sanh. 13b; 'Ab. Zarah
8b).
Mention is made of a controversy between Eleazar
and R. Meir at Ardiska (Tosef., Naz. vi. 1 ; see Neu-
bauer, " G. T." p. 106). He also maintained halakic
discussions with R. Judah b. 'lUai and R. Jose
(Tosef., Zeb. v. 4, x. 10), and quite frequently with
R. Simon b. Yohai (Shek. iii. 1 ; Yoma v. 7) ; but he
never appeared with them at the sessions of the San-
hedrin at Usha. Hence it may be assumed that he
did not return to the scene of his ordination. Where-
ever he settled, he presided over a college to which
large numbers of students were attracted ('Er. 53a;
Yer. Yeb. viii. 9d ; compare Mek. , Beshallah, Ama-
lek, i.), among whom are named Joseph or Issi ha-
Babli (Tosef., Zeb. ii. 17; Men. 18a), and the compiler
of the Mishnah, R. Judah I. ('Er. 53a); and thus,
95
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Eleazar
Eleazar II.
while his name does not appear in rabbinic lore as
often as the names of his colleagues at the ordination,
Eleazar had an ineradicable influence on the devel-
opment of the Talmud. Abba Arika styles him "the
most excellent among the sages" (^D''3m i<J^31t3,
Ket. 40a; Git. 26b), and R. Johanan expresses un-
bounded admiration for his large-heartedness ('Er.
53a).
Eleazar's motto was, " Let the honor of thy pupil
be as dear to thee as that of thy colleague; that of
thy colleague, as the reverence of thy master; and
the reverence of thy master, as that of the Most
High" (Ab. iv. 12; Ab. R. K xxvii. 4). His disci-
ples once requested him to tell them
His whereby he merited unusual longev-
Motto. ity, when he replied, "I have never
converted the Synagogue into a pas-
sageway [for the sake of convenience] ; have never
trodden over the heads of the holy people [i.e., come
late to college and stepped between the rows of atten-
tive students ; compare Abdan] ; and have never
pronounced the priestly blessing before offering the
benediction preceding it" (Meg. 27b; Sotah 39a).
When asked what merits will save man from the
tribulations which are to precede the Messianic
epoch, he replied, "Let him engage in the study of
the Law and in deeds of benevolence " (Sanh. 98b).
According to Eleazar, children as well as pious
adults share in the glory of God (Midr. Teh. xxii.
31). He also taught that the world rests on a single
pillar, the name of which is " Righteousness " ; as
the Bible says (Prov. x. 25, Hebr.), "The righteous
is the foundation of the world " (Hag. 12b).
The following anecdote concerning Eleazar is
twice told in the Midrashim (Lev. R. xxiii. 4; Cant.
R. ii. 2) : R. Eleazar visited a certain place where
he was invited to lead the people in pra^^er, but he
avowed inability to do so. "What!" cried the aston-
ished people; "is this the celebrated R. Eleazar?
Surely he deserves not to be called ' Rabbi ' ! " Elea-
zar's face colored with shame, and he repaired to his
teacher Akiba. " Why art thou so crestfallen? " in-
quired Akiba ; whereupon Eleazar related his un-
pleasant experience. "Does my master wish to
learn?" asked Akiba; and, on receiving Eleazar's
affirmative answer, Akiba instructed him. Later,
Eleazar again visited the scene of his mortification,
and the people again requested him to lead them
in prayer. 'This time he readily complied with their
request, whereupon the people remarked, " R. Elea-
zar has become unmuzzled " (DOnn^X, from DdpI =
" to muzzle "), and they called him " Eleazar Hasma "
(compare Geiger, "Schriften," iv. 343). The hero
of this anecdote is doubtless the subject of the pres-
ent article, and not, as is generally assumed, Elea-
zar Hisma. The latter was never Akiba's pupil.
Indeed, he was Akiba's senior, and in the account of
a halakic discussion between him and Eleazar b.
Azariah and Akiba, his name precedes that of Akiba
(Neg. vii. 2; Sifre, Deut. 16). Eleazar I. was an
acknowledged disciple of Akiba, and the Midrashim
explicitly state that he " went to Akiba, his teacher. "
Bibliography: Bacher, Ag. Tan. ii. 275 etseq.; BrQlI, Mebo
hfi-Mishnah, 1. 196 et seq.; Frankel, Darke ha-Mislinah, pp.
173 et seq.; Heilprin, Seeder ha-Dornt, ii., s.r.; Weiss, Dor, ii.
164 et seq.; Zacuto, Y%'.hasin, ed. FiUpowslii, pp. 45, 58.
8. S. ■ S. M.
ELEAZAR II. (LAZAR) : Palestinian amora
of the third century (second and third genera-
tions). In the Midrashim he is frequently cited with
his patronymic, Eleazar b. Pedat, but in the Tal-
mudim only occasionally so. He was a Babylonian
by birth (Yer. Ber. ii. 4b ; Yer. Shek. ii. 47a) and of
priestly descent (Yer. Ber. v. 9d; M. K. 28a). In
his native country he was a disciple of Samuel ('Er.
66a ; B. B. 82b), and more especially of Rab (B. B.
13ob; Hul. lUb), whom he in after years generally
cited by the appellation "our teacher" (Git. 9b; B.
B. 152a), and whose college he revered above all
others, recognizing in it the " lesser sanctuary " of
the Diaspora, spoken of by Ezekiel (xi. 16) as prom-
ised to the exiles in Babylonia (Meg. 29a; Yalk.,
Ezek. 352). When and why he left his native
country is not stated ; but from the data extant it
appears that his ardent love for "the land of Israel"
(Ket. Ilia), and the superior opportunities which
Palestine afforded for religious practises (Yer. R. H.
ii. 58b; Ket. 112a), impelled him to emigrate thither
— and at a comparatively early age, since some of
Rabbi's contemporaries were still alive and active
(B. B. 87a; Hul. 110a). Indeed, it seems that for a
time Eleazar even attended the lectures of R. Hiy-
yah (Yer. Ket. ix. 33b; Yer. B. M. x. 12c) and of
R. Hoshaiah (Yer. Yeb. iv. 5d). This was for him
a period of hard study, which gave rise to the homi-
letic remark that the Biblical saying (Prov. v. 19),
"Be thou ravished always with her love," was well
illustrated by Eleazar b. Pedat at Sepphoris, who
was so absorbed in his studies as to be unconscious
of all worldly needs ('Er. 54b).
Later, Eleazar became attached to the college
founded by R. Johanan at Tiberias (Yer. Ber. ii. 4b ;
Tem. 25b ; Ker. 27a), where his scholarship procured
him great honors. In the city he waa
At associated with Simon b. Eliakim in
Tiberias, the office of judge (B.K. 117b), and at
the college he occupied the position of
colleague-disciple (l^O^ni *13n) of Johanan (Yer.
Sanh. i. 18b), who himself repeatedly admitted that
Eleazar had enlightened him (Yer. Meg. i. 72c ; Yer.
Sanh. iii. 21b), once declaring that "the son of Pedat
sits and interpertsthe Law as did Moses at the direct
inspiration from the Almighty " (Yeb. 72b). After
the death of Simeon b. Lakish, Eleazar was chosen
to fill the position of assistant to Johanan (B. 31.
84a). When Johanan became disabled through
grief at Simeon's death, Eleazar presided over the
college (Yer. Meg. i. 72b), and after the death of
Johanan succeeded him in the office of head master.
The fame of Eleazar as an expert expounder of
the Law having reached Babylonia, his most promi-
nent contemporaries there addressed to him intricate
halakic questions, to which he returned satisfactory
answers (Bezah 16b; Yer. Kid. i. 60c; B. B. 135b;
Hul. 86b). This happened so often that he became
known in his native country as the "master [i.e.,
legal authority] of the land of Israel " (Yoma 9b ;
Git. 19b; Niddah 20b); and anonymous decisions
introduced in the Babylonian schools with the state-
ment DJID ini'C' ("They sent word from there " ; Be-
zah 4b ; Git. 73a) were understood, as a matter of
course, to emanate from Eleazar b. Pedat (Sanh. 17b).
Eleazar was averse to the study of esoterics (Hag.
Eleazar II.
Eleazar 1o. Azariah
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
96
]3a). With reference to this study, he would cite
the saying of Ben Sira (Ecclus. [Sirach] iii. 21),
" Seek not things that are too hard for
His Views thee, and search not out things that
on Study, are above thy strengtli " (Yer. Hag. ii.
77c). He prized knowledge above all
things; therefore he remarked, " He who possesses
knowledge is as great as if the Temple were rebuilt
in his days" (Sanh. 93a); and from Job xx. 21 he
teaches that he who docs not contribute toward the
support of scholars will not be blessed in his prop-
erty (lb.). Eleazar wasexceedingh' poor, and often
lacked the necessaries of life (Ta'an. 25a). He fre-
quently sang the praises of charity. "The practise
of charity," he was-wont to saj% "is more meritori-
ous than all oblations; as the Bible says (Prov. xxi.
3), 'To do justice [Ilcbr. npTV] and judgment is
more acceptable to the Lord than sacritice ' [Suk.
49b]. He who practises charity secretly is greater
[in the sight of God] than ]\Ioses himself; for Moses
himself admitted (Deut. ix. 19), ' I was afraid of the
anger,' while of secret charity the Bible says (Prov.
xxi. 14), 'A gift in secret pacifieth anger ' " (B. B. 9b).
Benevolence and acts of loving-kindness, flv'DJ
D^Dn, extending to both rich and poor, are, accord-
ing to Eleazar's interpretation, even greater than
charity; as the Bible says (Hosea x. 12), "Sow to
yourselves in righteousness fPIebr. iipiv^], reap
in mercy [TDPl]" With reference to JtpDS, the
Bible uses "sowing," indicating an operation that
leaves it in doubt whether the sower will or will
not enjoy the fruit; while with reference to mercy
" reaping " is used, an occupation that renders the
enjoying of the results very probable (Suk. 49b).
From the same Scriptural expression Eleazar draws
the lesson, " Charity is rewarded only in proportion to
the kindness in it" (ib.); that is, the pleasant and
thoughtful way in which it is given, and the per-
sonal sacrifice it involves.
Poor as he was, Eleazar would never accept any
gifts, or even invitations to the patriarch's table.
When any were extended to him, he would decline
them with the remark, "It seems thatj^e do not wish
me to live long, since the Bible says (Prov. xv. 27),
' He that hateth gifts shall live ' " (Meg. 28a; Hul.
44b). His scant earnings he would share with other
needy scholars; thus, lie once purposely lost a coin
in order that poverty-stricken Simon b. Abba, who
was following him, might find it. When the latter
did find it and offered to restore it, Eleazar assured
him that he had renounced its ownership and for-
feited all rights thereto, and that consequently it
was the property of the finder (Yer. B. M. ii.
8c). It is also reported as his custom first to of-
fer a'mite to the poor, and then to offer prayer to
God (B. B. 10a). Even to impostors he would
never refuse charity. "Were it not for the ex-
istence of impostors, not a single refusal of char-
ity could ever be atoned for; we therefore ought
to show gratitude to them" (Yer. Peah viii. 21b;
Ket. 68a).
There are no data to show how long Eleazar sur-
vived B. Johanan, but the probabilitv is that he died
about 279 c.e.
Bini.iOGRAPHY: Bacher, Aq. Pal. Amur. n. let .srv.; Frankel,
Mebo, pp. 111b et seq.; Heilprin, Seder ha-Dnntt, ii., s.i\;
Weiss. Dor, ili. 85 et seq.\ Zacuto, Tuhasin, ed. Fllipowskl.
pp. 113a ct seq.
s. s. S. M.
ELEAZAR B. ABINA : Palestinian hagga-
dist of the fourth amoraic generation (fourth cen-
tury C.E.) ; junior contemporary of Aha III. , in whose
name he repeats some homiletic remarks (Pesik. R.
xiv. 60b, xxi. 109b), and senior of R. Yudan, who
reports in his name (Midr. Teh. xxxi. 7).
One of the homilies bearing Eleazar's name argues
that the observance of the Sabbath is tantamount
to all other commandments combined, which he
tries to prove from passages in each of the three
divisions of the Bible — the Pentateuch (Ex. xvi. 28,
29), the Prophets (Ezek. xx. 13), and the Hagio-
grapha (Neh. ix. 13, 14).
Bibliography: Bacher, Agadader Palestinensischen Amo-
rilcr, ili. 690 etseq.
S. S. S. M.
ELEAZAR, ABRAHAM: Fictitious author of
an ancient work on alchemy published in Leipsic
in 1760, and bearing the title " R. Abrahami Elea-
zaris Uraltes Chymisches Werk. " The real author
seems to have been Julius Gervasius of Schwarz-
burg, whose name is given as the editor on the
title-page of the first part. In the preface it is stated
that Abraham took not only his alchemistic notions,
but also the illustrations, from the copper tablets of
Tubal Cain. The edition of 1760 is said on the title-
page to be the second. The second part also pre-
tends to be by Abraham Eleazar, who asserts that
he merely reproduces what was engraved upon,
the copper tablets by a certain Jew, Samuel Baruch.
It is further stated that the original was written in
Latin, Arabic, Chaldaic, and Syriac.
BiBMOGRAPHY: Steinschneider, Schaeh heidenJuden,p. 183;
idem, Hehr. Uebers. p. 906; Furst, Bihl. Jud. i. 231 ; compare
Berthelot, La Chimie au Monen Age, 1. 230.
G.
ELEAZAR BEN AHWAI (A^BAI) : Prob-
ably identical, according to Bacher ("Ag. Tan." ii.
553), with Eleazar b. Mahbai or Mahbai, a tanna of the
second century, contemporary of Judah b. Bathyra
and Aha I. ('rosef.,Yeb. xiv. 4). He is cited but
twice under this name. His most important remark
is with regard to the Pentateuchal expression *10X^
("saying"; literally, "to say "), which frequently
follows the statement, "God spake to Moses," and
which he explains as implying that God spake to
Moses not in Moses' interest, but in that of Israel :
He spake to Moses to seiy to the people (Sifra, Wa-
yikra, ii. 13; compare Yalk., Lev. 431, where the pa-
tronymic is " Dehabai ").
s. s. S. M.
ELEAZAR BEN 'ARAK : Tanna of the sec-
ond generation (first century c.e. ). Being first among
the disciples of R. Johanan ben Zakkai (Ab. ii.
8; Ab. R. N. xiv. 3), he delighted his master with
his wisdom and penetration, so that the most ex-
travagant encomiums were lavished upon him. It
was said, "Were all the sages of Israel placed in one
scale, and Eleazar b. 'Arak in the other, he would
outweigh them all " (Ab.?.c. ; Ab. R. N. xiv. 4), while
his great master styled him " Rising Well " or " Gush-
ing Stream" (F1L31C> ^HJ, -l3Jnon j^JJO, ib.). The
master once propounded the question, "Which ac-
97
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
£leazar U.
Eleazar b. Azariah
quisition is best for man to strive after? " Several
solutions were handed in, among them one from
Eleazar, who suggested, " A good heart " (21tJ 2^) ;
thereupon Johanan remarked, "I prefer Eleazar's
solution to all of yours, since yours are included in
his " (Ab. ii. 9 ; Ab. R. N. xiv. 5). Again, the master
propounded, " Which is the worst characteristic that
man should shun?" In this case, also, Eleazar's
reply, "An evil heart," was accepted by the teacher
(ib.). Compare Beruriah ; Consolation.
In the mystical interpretation of the Scriptures,
also, Eleazar distinguished himself, and to such an
extent as to call forth his master's ecstatic ex-
clamation, "Happy art thou, O father Abraham,
from whose loins sprang Eleazar b. 'Arak " (Yer.
Hag. ii. 77a). To his counsel, often sought and al-
ways beneficial, was applied the Biblical expression
(Ps. i. 3), "Whatsoever he doeth shall prosper."
Beneficiaries of his counsel in their admiration styled
him "Prophet"; whereupon he remarked, "I am
neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet, but my
teachers have communicated to me the traditional
verity that every counsel subserving tlie promotion
of the glory of God realizes good results " (Midr.
Teh. i. 3.). His motto was, " Be diligent in the pur-
suit of study ; be prepared to answer the Epicurean,
and realize for whom thou laborest and who thy
employer is."
Eleazar's name is connected with but fewhalakot,
and with only one halakic midrash. The reason for
this disappointing paucity of doctrines and sayings
is found in the story of the period immediately suc-
ceeding the death of Johanan b. Zakkai. The disci-
ples chose Jabneh for their scene of
Eleazar in activity, while Eleazar went to Em-
Emmaus. maus, the residence of his wife — a par-
ticularly healthful place, blessed with
good water, a pleasant climate, and warm baths.
Separated from his colleagues, his faculties became
stunted; and he is said to have completely forgotten
all he had ever learned (Ab. R. N. xiv. 6; Eccl. R.
vii. 7). In later years he was pointed out as a warn-
ing to the self-opinionated ; the Talmud applying
to him the motto of R. Nehorai : " Inter thyself in a
place where the Law is studied, and think not that
it will seek thee ; for only thy colleagues will per-
petuate it in thy possession : rely not on thine own
understanding " (Shab. 147b ; Ab. iv. 14).
Bibliography : Bacher, Ag. Tan. 1. 74 et seq. ; Brull, Mebo
ha-MishnahA-S7; Fr&nke], Darke ha^Mishnah, p. 91; Ham-
burger, R. B. T. Ii. 155 ; Heilprln, Seder ha-Dnrot, ii. s.v. ;
Weiss. Dor Dor we-Dorshaw, il. 80 ; Zacuto, Yuhasin, ed.
Filipowski, p. 35b.
s. 8. S. M.
ELEAZAR B. ARYEH. See Low, Eleazar.
ELEAZAR B. AZARIAH : Mishnaic scholar
of the second generation (first century c.E.);
junior contemporary of Gamaliel II. , Eliezer b.
Hyrcanus, and Joshua b. Hananiah, and senior of
Akiba (Sifre, Deut. 32; Sanh. 101a). He traced his
pedigree for ten generations back to Ezra (Ber. 27b ;
Yer. Yeb. i. 3b), and was very wealthy (Shab. 54b ;
Bezah 23a; compare Kid. 49b). These circum-
stances, added to his erudition, gained for him great
popularity. When Gamaliel II., in consequence of
his provoking demeanor, was temporarily deposed
V.-7
from the patriarchate, Eleazar, though still very
young, was elevated to that office by the deliberate
choice of his colleagues. He did not, however, oc-
cupy it for any length of time, for the Sanhedrin
reinstated Gamaliel. He was retained as vice-presi-
dent (" ab bet din"), nevertheless, and it was arranged
that Gamaliel should lecture three (some say two)
Sabbaths, and Eleazar every fourth (or third) Sab-
bath (Ber. 27b et seq. ; Yer. Ber. iv. 7c et seq. ; Yer.
Ta'an. iv. 67d).
In company with Gamaliel, Joshua, and Akiba,
he journeyed to Rome (Kallah R. vii. ; Derek Ere?
R. v.). Neither the object of the journey nor the
result of the mission is stated; but that affairs im-
portant as pressing were involved is apparent from
the season at which the journey was undertaken:
they celebrated the Feast of Booths aboard the ship
(Sifra, Emor, xvi. 2 ; Suk. 41b). With the same com-
panions Eleazar once visited the ruins
Journey to of the Temple at Jerusalem (Sifre,
Rome. Deut. 43). On a visit to the aged
Dosa b. Harkinas the latter joyfully
exclaimed, "In him I see the fulfilment of the Scrip-
tural saying (Ps. xxxvii. 25): 'I have been young,
and now am old ; yet have I not seen the righteous
forsaken, nor his seed begging bread'" (Yeb. 16a;
Yer. Yeb. i. 3c et seq.), by which he probably alluded
to Eleazar's great learning and his proverbial wealth.
The latter was amassed by dealing in wine, oil
(Toscf., 'Ab. Zarah, v. 1 ; B. B. 91a), and cattle
(Shab. 54b; Bezah 23a). Subsequent generations
entertained the belief that dreaming of Eleazar b.
Azariah presaged the acquisition of wealth.
With Eleazar's accession to the patriarchate the
portals of the academy were opened wide to all who
sought admittance. It is said that three hundred
benches had to be added for the accommodation of
the eager throngs which pressed into the halls of
learning. Under his presidency, too, a review of
undecided points of law was undertaken. To Elea-
zar rabbinic homiletics owes the introduction of the
rule called p31DD (= "contiguous "), by which one
Scriptural passage is explained or supplemented by
another immediately preceding or succeeding it.
Thus, Eleazar declares that the slanderer and the
listener and the false witness deserve
His to be thrown to the dogs. He derives
Exegetic this idea from the juxtaposition of the
Principle, expression (Ex. xxii. 30 [A. V. 31]),
"Ye shall cast it to the dogs," and (ib.
xxiii. 1) the prohibition against raising false reports,
bearing false witness, and associating with the false
witness (Pes. 118a; Mak. 23a).
In his homilies he generallj' aims to bring out
some ethical or practical lesson. With reference to
the Day of Atonement the Bible says (Lev. xvi. 30),
" On that day ... ye may be clean [Hebr. 1"int3n
= "ye shall cleanse yourselves "J from all your sins
before the Lord." Therefrom Eleazar draws the
lesson that the efficacy of the day extends only to
sins against God, while sins against man are not
forgiven unless the offended party has first been
reconciled (Yoma viii. 9; Sifra, Ahare Mot, viii. 2).
The Bible says (Deut. xxiii. 8 [A. V. 7J), "Thou
shalt not abhor an Egyptian . . . because thou wast
a stranger in his land." Thereupon Eleazar re-
Eleazar b. Azariah
Eleazar ben Jose
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
98
marks, "The Egyptians admitted the Israelites out
of self-interest ; nevertheless God accounts their act
as one of merit. Now, if he who unintentionally
confers a favor is accorded a token of merit, how
much more so he who intentionally does a good deed "
(Sifre, Deut. 252 ; compare Ber. 63b). Similar is his
deduction from Deut. xxiv. 19, which says, " When
thou cuttest down thine harvest in thy field, and
hast forgot a sheaf in the field, thou shalt not go
again to fetch it : it shall be for the stranger, for the
fatherless, and for the widow: that the Lord thy
God may bless thee in all the work of thine hands. "
"Here," argues Eleazar, "the Bible promises bless-
ings to him by whom a good deed is done uninten-
tionally ; hence if one unwittingly loses money, and
a needy one finds it and sustains life thereon, God
will bless the loser for it" (Sifra, Wayikra [Hoba],
xii. 13; Sifre, Deut. 183).
Eleazar was independent in his Biblical interpre-
tations. He often rejected Akiba's opinions, re-
marking, "Even if thou persist the whole day in ex-
tending and limiting [see Hermeneutics], I shall
not harken to thee" (Sifra, Zaw, xi. 6; Men. 89a),
or, " Turn from the Haggadah and be-
Biblical take thee to the laws affecting leprosy
Inter- and the defilement of tents" (Cyji
nretations, ni^riKT ; Hag. 14a; Sanh. 38b). Above
all, he strove to be methodical. When
one applied to him for information on a Biblical
topic, he furnished that; was he called upon to ex-
plain a mishnah, a halakah, or a haggadah, he ex-
plained each point. Eleazar was opposed to frequent
sentences of capital punishment. In his opinion
a court that averages more than one execution in the
course of seventy years is a murderous court (Mak.
i. 10; see Capital Punishment).
In the following few sentences is comprised Elea-
zar's practical philosophy :
" without religion there is no true wisdom ; without wisdom
there is no religion. Where there is no wisdom there is no fear
of God ; where there is no fear of God there is
Wisdom, no wisdom. Where there Is no discernment
there Is no learning ; without learning there
Is no discernment. Where there is a want of bread, study of
the Torah can not thrive ; without study of the Torah there Is a
lacli of bread.
" With what is he to be compared who possesses more knowl-
edge than good deeds? With a tree of many branches and but
few roots. A storm comes and plucks it up and turns it over.
Thus also Scripture says (Jer. xvil. 6), ' He shall be like the
heath In the desert, and shall not see when good cometh ; but
shall Inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land
and not Inhabited.' But what does he resemble who can show
more good deeds than learning ? A tree of few branches and
many roots. Even should all the winds of heaven rage against
It, they could not move It from its place. Thus, the Bible says
{I.e. 8), 'He shall be as a tree planted by the waters, that
spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when
heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green ; and shall not be care-
ful In the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding
fruit ' " (Ab. lU. 17 ; Ab. R. N. xxll, 1).
While he lived he enjoyed the encomiums of his
famous colleagues, who said, "That generation in
which Eleazar b. Azariah flourishes can not be
termed orphan" (Hag. 3b; Mek., Bo, xvi.); and
when he died the learned said, " With the doath of
R. Eleazar b. Azariah was removed the crown of the
sages" (Tosef., Sotah, xv. 3; Sotah 49b; Yer. Sotah
ix. 24c).
Bibliography: Bacher, ulff. Tan. 1. 219et8eq.; Brul\, Mebo
ha-Mishnah, 1. 88 et seq.; Frankel, Darke ha-Mishnah, pp.
91 et seq.; Gratz, Gesch. 2d ed., iv. 37 et seq.; Hamburger, R.
B. T. 11. 156 et seq.; Heilprln, Seder ha-Dorot, 11., s.v.; Weiss,
Dor, 11. 94 et seq.; Zacuto, Yul),asin, ed. Fillpowski, pp. 39b
et seq.
S. M.
8. 8.
See Eleazab
ELEAZAR OF BARTOTA
B. JUDAH OF BaRTOTA.
ELEAZAR B. DAMA. See Ben Dama.
ELEAZAR B. DINAI : Leader of the Zealots
(35-60, C.E.). When the Jews of Persea had bound-
ary disputes with the pagan population of Philadel-
phia, the procurator Fadus killed Annibas, one of
the three leaders, and banished the other two, Am-
ram and Eleazar. The latter may be identical with
Eleazar b. Dinai. When Jewish pilgrims traversing
Samaritan territory were killed by hostile Samari-
tans, the Jews in self-defense called Eleazar b. Dinai
down from the mountains, and he ravaged Akraba-
tene.
The procurator Felix succeeded by cunning in
capturing Eleazar and his band, sending him in
chains to Rome (Josephus, " Ant." xx. 1, § 1 ; 6, § 1 ;
8, §5; "B. J."ii. 12, §4; 13, § 2).
Rabbinical sources also mention Eleazar. The
Midrash to Cant. iii. 5 says that in the days of
Amram and (Ben) Dinai the Jews prematurely at-
tempted liberation. Mention is also made of a com-
panion of Eleazar, Tehina ben Perisha by name,
probably the Alexander mentioned by Josephus.
Through the example of these two men murders
became so frequent that the sacrifice of atonement
for an unknown murderer (Deut. xxi. 1-8) was abol-
ished (Sotah ix. 9; Tosef. xiv. 1; Bab. 47b; Yer.
24a ; Sifre, Deut. 205). The wife of Eleazar b. Dinai
is also mentioned (Ket. 27a).
Bibliography : Gratz, Oesch. 4th ed.. 111. 431, 436 ; Schurer,
Gesch. 3d ed., 1. 570; Biichler, Das Grosse Synedrion in Je-
rusalem, p. 143, Vienna, 1902.
G.
S. Kr.
ELEAZAR B. DTJRDAIA: A famous peni-
tent, quoted both as a warning against debauch-
ery, which leads to death, and as an encouragement
to repentance, which leads to eternal happiness. It
is related of him that, after leading a life of licen-
tiousness, he at last bethought himself of his latter
end. He mentally sought intercessors among the
elements, beseeching them to appeal for his pardon
and future peace ; but none was found competent to
act for him, they themselves being finite, and doomed
to annihilation. Concluding that his future de-
pended solely on himself, he prayed and wept until
he died. Thereupon, legend adds, a Bat Kol an-
nounced that Eleazar was assured of happiness in
the hereafter. When Rabbi (Judah I.) heard this
story, he exclaimed, "Verily, some procure eternal
happiness only after toiling many years, while others
obtain the same result in a short time" ('Ab. Zarah
17a).
8. s. S. M.
ELEAZAR B. ELEAZAR HA-KAPPAR.
See Bar Kapi'ara.
ELEAZAR (ELIEZER) B. ENOCH: A
scholarly contemporary of 'Akabia b. Mahalalel and
Gamaliel II. According to the statement of Judah
99
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
£le£Lzar b. Azariah
Eleazar ben Jose
b. 'lUai, it was this Eleazar, and not 'Akabia, who
was excommunicated by the Sanhedrin for the
reason that he quibbled about the rabbinic regula-
tions concerning "cleansing of hands" ('Eduy. v. 6).
Nothing more is known of him; but the fact of his
being cited in connection with 'Akabia, and the
explicit declaration of the transgression which
prompted the august tribunal to excommunicate
him, evidence his prominence in his day. Probably
because of excommunication, in which state he
ended his earthly existence (ib.), none of his doctrines
was discussed in the academies or recorded in rabbinic
literature.
Bibliography: Meiri, Introduction in Abot, ed. Stern, lib;
Mendelsohn, in Rev. Et. Juivc^i, xli. 39 et seq.
6. S. S. M.
ELEAZAR OF HAGRONIA : Babylonian
scholar of the fourth amoraic generation (fifth cen-
tury); junior of Aha b. Jacob and Raba (b. Joseph).
He is mentioned twice in the Babylonian Talmud,
and both times in connection with extraordinary
circumstances. Once he incurs divine punishment
for assuming rabbinic authority at a place over
which extended the jurisdiction of Aha b. Jacob
('Er. 63a); and then again he is represented as hav-
ing dreamed an ominous dream. It was a season of
drought at Hagronia (Agranum ; Neubauer, "G. T."
p. 347) when Raba happened to visit the town. He
ordained a day of fasting and prayer, but no rain
came. Then he inquired, "Did any one have a
dream last night?" Eleazar had had one, and at
Raba's request he told it as follows: "There was
said to me in my dream, ' Good greetings to the good
teacher from the good Lord who, in His goodness,
doeth good to His people. ' " On hearing this Raba
remarked, "This betokens that Heaven will be pro-
pitious." Thereupon prayer was again offered, and
soon rain descended (Ta'an. 24b).
8. 8. S. M.
ELEAZAR (ELIEZER) B. HISMA ; Tanna
of the second and third generations (second
century) ; disciple of Joshua b. Hananiah and Ga-
maliel II. (Hag. 3a ; Hor. 10a). In their use of the
word "ben" in connection with his cognomen "His-
ma" or "Hasma" (see Geiger, "Schriften," iv. 343,
and Strack, "Einleitung in den Thalmud," 2d ed.,
p. 81), the sources are inconsistent ; its insertion,
however, seems justifiable. " Hisma " is not an ad-
jectival cognomen (see Eleazar I.), but a locative,
the place probably being identical with Hizmeh
(see Luncz, "Jerusalem," vi. 67; Hastings, "Diet.
Bible," i.yS.v. "Azmaveth"); hence "ben Hisma"
means "son of [= "native of"] Hisma " (compare
R. H. 17a; Meg. 19a; Kid. li. 3).
Several halakot are preserved under Eleazar's
name in the Mishnah (Ter. iii. 5 ; B. M. vii. 5), and
he is met with in halakic controversies with Eleazar
b. Azariah and Akiba (Neg. vii. 2; Sifra, Tazria', i.
2), and withEliezerb. Jacobl. (Pes. 32a; YaIk.,Lev.
638) ; and to him is ascribed the economic rule that
the employee is not entitled to a proportion of his
employer's produce greater than the amount of his
wages (B. M. vii. 5, 92a; Sifre, Deut. 266).
Some haggadot also are ascribed to him (Mek.,
Beshallah, Wayassa', 4; ib., Amalek, 1 ; Yoma 19b).
Conjointly with R. Joshua, he gives an allegorical
reason for Amalek's attack on Israel (Ex. xvii. 8 et
seq.) just at the time it occurred. Citing Job viii.
11, "Can a rush grow up without
Specimen mire? Can the flag grow without
of water?" he remarks, "Even so is it
Exegesis, impossible for Israel to flourish with-
out the Law ; and since they had neg-
lected the Law [see Ex. xvii. 1-7], an enemy was
ordered out to war against them " (compare Yal^.
to Ex. I.e., % 262; anonymous in Yalk. to Job ^.c,
§ 904). Again, he cites Isa. xliii. 22, "But thou hast
not called on me, O Jacob," and applies it to those
who are not devout in their prayers, but while re-
citing the " Shema' " communicate with their neigh-
bors by sign language (compare Yalk. to Isa. I.e.,
§ 318).
Not only was he possessed of wide rabbinic learn-
ing, but he was also an adept in the sciences. Joshua,
introducing him and Johanan b. (Gudgada) Nuri to
the notice of Patriarch Gamaliel II., remarked of
them that they could approximately calculate the
number of drops contained in the ocean (Hor. 10a).
As they were very poor, Gamaliel appointed them
to remunerative offices in the academy (Sifre,
Deut. 14; Yalk., Deut. 902; Hor. I.e.). Probably
it was here — because the academicians sought from
him instruction in secular science — that Eleazar re-
marked, " The laws concerning birds' nests and those
concerning the incipient uncleanness of woman are
elements of the Law, while astronomy and geom-
etry are only condiments of wisdom" (Ab. iii. 18;
Ab. R. N. xxvii. 2).
Bibliography : Bacher, Ag. Tan. 1. 374 ; Brull, Meho ha-
Mishnah, 1. U9 ; Frankel, Darke ha-Mishnah, p. 134 ; Geiger,
Schriften, Iv. 343; Heilprin, Seder ha-Dorot, 11., s.v.; Weiss,
Dor, 11. 122 ; Zaculo, Yuhasin, ed. Fillpowskl, p. 41b.
8. 8. S. M.
ELEAZAR B. JACOB. See Eliezer b. Jacob.
ELEAZAR B. JAIR : Leader of the Sicarii, the
remnant of whom, driven from Jerusalem about 70
by Eleazar b. Ananias, retired to JMasada. Eleazar
was a descendant of Judah, the founder of the party
of Zealots. Besieged by the Romans, Eleazar ex-
horted his fellow warriors to prefer death to slavery,
and, when it became necessary, to kill first their
families and then themselves. This speech, together
with a dirge on the fall of Jerusalem ascribed to
him, is found in Hebrew in Yosippon, ch. 97, though
the hero is here erroneously called " Eleazar b. Ana-
nias. "
Bibliography: Gratz, Oeach.ith ed.. 111. 460, 549; Scburer,
Gench. 3d ed., 1. 639.
6. S. Kr.
ELEAZAR (LAZAR) BEN JOSE I.: Tanna
of the fourth and fifth generations (second cen-
turj'). He was second among the five learned
sons of Jose b. Halafta (Shab. 118b; Yer. Yeb. i.
2b) ; and the father repeatedly reports opinions which
he had heard from Eleazar (Sifre, Deut. 148; Pes.
117a; Yoma 67a), while the latter transmits hala-
kot in his father's name (Men. 54b; Pesik. i. 4a).
He is often cited in the Tosefta, though never in the
Mishnah. He accompanied Simon b. Yohai on a
visit to Rome, with the object of appealing to the
government^for the abrogation of the renewed Ha-
diianic decrees, which seriously impeded the religious
Eleazar ben Jose
Eleazar ha-^appar
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
100
life of the Jews. On the way Eleazar was attacked
by a dangerous illness, but he recovered and pro-
ceeded on the journey (Me'i. 17b; see Rashi). The
mission was successful (Me'i. llaet seq. ; see Simeon
B. YoHAi), and at Rome Eleazar met the organizer of
the first Roman Jewish academy, Mattai b. Heresh,
with whom he discussed halakic questions (Yoma
84b; Me'i. 17a).
Of this and other journeys Eleazar reports some
experiences. In Rome he saw the curtain of the
Holy of Holies and the high priest's golden head-
band, which Titus had carried thither from Jerusa-
lem (Yoma 57a; Suk. 5a). In Alexandria he learned
that the ancient Egyptians had filled in with Jewish
bodies unfinished places in the walls: he is even said
to have actually seen evidences of those cruelties
(Sanh. Ilia). Twice he reports controversies with
Samaritans (Sotah 33b [Yer. Sotah vii. 21a reads
"Eleazar b. Simon"]; Sanh. 90b).
Eleazar lays great stress on philanthropic works,
saying, "Charity and benevolence are intercessors
for Israel : they effect peace between God and the
people" (Tosef., Pes. iv. 18; B. B. 10a). He fur-
ther says, " Whoso sinnethand repenteth, and there-
after leadeth an upright life, obtaineth immediate
pardon; but whoso saith, 'I shall sin and then re-
pent,' three times will he be forgiven, but no more"
(Ab. R. N. xl. 5).
Bibliography: Bacher, Ag. Tan. il. 412: Brull, Mebn ha-
Mishnah, 1. 246; Heilprln, Seder ha-Dnrot, \\.,8.v.\ Weiss,
Bor, U. 187; see also Gratz, Gesc?i. 2d ed., Iv. 208; Vogel-
steln and Rieger, Geach. der Juden in Rom, 1. 31.
s. 8. S. M.
ELEAZAR (LAZAR) B. JOSE II.: Pales-
tinian amora of the fifth generation (fifth century);
senior of Nahman II. and Aha III. (Pesik. v. 55a).
Most of his utterances are remarks which he had
directly or indirectly heard from Abbahu, Hauina
b. Abbahu, Tanhum b. Hiyya, and others (Yer. Ber.
vii. lid; Yer. Ma'as. i. 49a, ii. 49c; Yer. 'Er. iii.
23d ; Lam. R. iii. 17) ; but he also expresses his own
views, both doctrinal and homiletical (Yer. Shab.
xvi. 15d; Yer. Kil. viii. 31a; Yer. Hallah, ii. 58b;
Ex. R. xxiii. 5; Lev. R. xi. 6; Pesik. I.e.). His
father, Jose II., seems to have been his principal
teacher, for frequently it was before him that Elea-
zar propounded his views (Yer. Ber. i. 3d, iv. 8a;
Yer. Ned. iv. 38d) ; and it is related that his fatlier
often chided him for lack of zeal. Quoting the state-
ment (I Chron. ix. 20), "In time past the Lord was
with him [Phinehas]," he used to say, "As long as
Phinehas was zealous for the Law, the Lord was
with him; but when he ceased to be zealous the
Lord forsook him " (Yer. Yoma i. 38d; Yer. Meg. i.
72a; Yer. Hor. iii. 47d).
8. 8. S. M.
ELEAZAR (ELIEZER, LAZAR) B. JTJ-
DAH OF BARTOTA (BIRIA, BIRTA, BIR-
TOTA) : Scholar and pliilauthropist of the third
tannaitic generation (first and second centuries); dis-
ciple of Joshua b. Hananiah, and contemporary of
Akiba (T- Y. iii. 4, 5; Tosef., Bek. vii. 6). Some-
times the cognomen is omitted (compare Tosef.,
Zab. i. 5, and Zab. i. 1), and sometimes the patro-
nymic (Ab. iii. 7). While his name is connected
with but few halakot, and with still fewer mid-
rashim, he has established for himself an indelible
name in the list of the charitable. His motto was,
"Give Him of His own: thyself and what thou
possessest are His, as David says (I Chron. xxix.
14) : 'AH things come of thee, and of thine own have
we given thee ' " (Ab. iii. 7); and he lived up to his
motto. It is related that he was so extravagant in
his benevolence as to give away all that he possessed;
wherefore the collectors for the poor would avoid
meeting him (Ta'an. 24a). In illustration of this
characteristic, the Talmud (ib.) cites the following
instance: "Eleazar's daughter was to be married.
While making purchases for the occasion, he espied
the collectors, who were hiding from him. He over-
took them, and begged them to acquaint him wath
their mission. They informed him that they were
soliciting for a marriage portion for a couple of
orphans, whereupon he exclaimed, 'Verily, that
couple takes precedence over my daughter ' ; and he
gave them all that he had about him." Legend
adds that he retained one zuz, and with that he
bought wheat, w^hich he carried home and put away
in the storeroom. When his wife soon afterward
tried to open the room in order to see what Eleazar
had brought, it was found to be full to overflowing
with grain. In the meantime Eleazar had repaired
to the academy, and thither his daughter hastened
with the joyful tidings, remarking, "Come and see
what thy friend has done for thee " ; but when he
had heard her story, he consecrated the grain also to
charity.
Bibliography : Bacher, Ag. Tan. 1. 442 ; Brull, Mebo ha^MLih-
7iah, 1. 143 ; Frankel, Darke ha-Mishnah, p. 134 ; Heilprin,
Seder ha-Dorot, ii., s.v.; Zacuto, Tufiasin, ed. Filipowski, p.
56b.
S. S.
S. M.
ELEAZAR BEN JTTDAH BEN KALONY-
MUS OF WORMS: Talmudist and cabalist;
born, probably at Mayence, about 1176; died at
Worms in 1238. He was a descendant of the great
Kalonymus family of ^layence, and a disciple of
Judah he-Hasid, who initiated him into the study of
the Cabala, at that time little known in Germany.
According to Zunz, Eleazar was hazzan at Erfurt
before he became rabbi at Worms. In 1233 he took
part in the great Synod of Mayence wliich enacted
the body of regulations known as " Takkanot ShuM "
(D1t^= ■' Speyer, Worms, Mayence "). Eleazar under-
went great sufferings during the Crusades. On the
night of 22 Kislew, 1196, he was engaged on his
commentary on Genesis (he relates that he had
reached the parashah Wayesheb), when two cru-
saders entered his house and killed his wife Dulcina,
his two daughters Belat and Hannah, and his son
Jacob. His wife had conducted a business in parch-
ment scrolls in order to support the family and en-
able him to devote all his time to study.
Eleazar developed a vigorous activity in many
directions. On the one hand, he was a Talmudist
of vast erudition, a liturgist gifted with a clear and
easy style, and an astronomer, and was well versed in
the sciences open to the Jews of Germany at that
time. On the other hand, he was a cabalist swayed
by hallucinations; he saw legions of angels and
demons, and exerted himself to spread cabalistic
system.^ which went far beyond the conceptions of
the authors of the Cabala. In his cabalistic works
101
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Elestzar ben Jose
Eleazar ha-]^appar
he developed and gave a new impulse to the mysti-
cism associated with the letters of the alphabet. The
philosophical Cabala of the school of Isaac the Blind
is replaced by arithmetical speculations. By the
gematria and notarikon systems of interpretation
found in the Talmud, Eleazar invented new combi-
nations by which miracles could be performed. The
haggadic anthropomorphism which he bad com-
bated in his earlier works ("Ha-Rokeah," "Sha'are
ha-Sod weha-Yihud ") occupied later the foremost
place in his cabalistic writings. Eleazar's great merit
lies not in his new cabalistic system, but in his ethical
■works. In these he shows greatness of soul and a
piety bordering upon asceticism. Though so se-
verely tried by fate, he inculcates cheerfulness, pa-
tience, and love for humanity.
Eleazar's ethical works are : (1) "Ha-Rokeah," on
the numerical value of the word nplii, corresponding
to that of ITy^K (= 308). It is divided
Ethical into 497 paragraphs containing hala-
Works. kot and ethics ; first published at Fano,
1505. (2) "Adderet ha-Shem," still
extant in manuscript in the Vatican Library. (3)
"Moreh Hatta'im," or "Seder ha-Kapparot," on
penitence and confession of sin, first published at
Venice, 1543. This work, which is included in the
Hilkot Teshubah of the "Ha-Rokeah," has been re-
produced many times under various titles. It
appeared under the title " Darke Teshubah " at the
end of the responsa of Mcir of Rothenburg in the
Prague edition; as " 'Inyane Teshubah," or "Seder
Teshubah," in the Sephardic ritual of 1584; as
"Yesod Teshubah," with additions by Isaac ben
Moses Elles, first published in 1583 ; as " Yore Hat-
^'imba-Derek"; and as "Sefer ha-Kapparot." The
title adopted here is the same as that given in the
"Kol Bo," in which the work was reproduced.
(4) "Sefer ha-Hayyim," treating of the unity of
God, of the soul and its attributes, and of the three
stages (recognized by the ancients as "plant, ani-
mal, and intellectual") in man's life. (5) "Sha'are
ha-Sod ha-Yihud weha-Emunah," a treatise on the
unity and incorporeality of God, combating the
anthropomorphism of the Haggadah (published by
Jellinek in the " Kokabe Yizhak " collection [xxvii.].
Eleazar's mystical works are : (1 ) " Yir'at El, " still
extant in manuscript in the Vatican Library, con-
taining mystical commentaries on Psalm Ixvii., on
the Menorah, and on Sefirat ha-'Omer. (2) "Sefer
ha-Kabod," mystical explanations of
Cabalistic various Biblical passages (Neubauer,
Works. "Cat. Bodl. Hebr. MSS." No. 1566,
1). (3) "Yayin ha-Rekah," mystical
commentaries on the five Megillot. Those on Ruth
and the Song of Songs were published at Lublin,
1608. (4) A commentary on Psalm cxlv. (MS. De
Rossi No. 1138). (5) A commentary on the prayers
mentioneil by Joseph Delmedigo in his "Mazref la-
Hokmah" (p. 14b). (6) "Ta'ame we-Sodot ha-
Tefillah" (Neubauer, ib. No. 1575.) (7) "Perush 'al
Sefer Yezirah," a commentary on the "Yezirah,"
being extracts from Shabbethai Donnolo's commen-
tary. Fragments of this work were first published
at Mantua in 1562, later in several other places; a
complete edition was printed at Przemysl, 1889.
(8) "Midrash we-Perush 'al ha-Torah," cabalistic
commentary on the Pentateuch, mentioned by Azu-
lai. (9) "Sha'are Binah," in which, interpreting
Biblical verses by the system of gematriyyot, he
shows the origin of many haggadot of the Talmud.
This work is frequently quoted by Solomon al-
Kabiz in his "Manot ha-Lewi." (10) "Shi'ur Ko-
mah," a commentary on the "Shi'ur Komah," the
"Pirke de-Rabbi Yishma'el," and the " Merkabah "
(MS. Michael). (11) "Sefer ha-Hokmah," cabalistic
treatise on the various names of God and of angels,
and on the seventy-three " Gates of the Torah " (^^y5}'
min)- (12) "Sefer ha-Shem, "mystical dissertations
on the names of twenty-two letters, with a table of
permutations (Neubauer, ib. No. 1569, 4). (13) " 'Eser
Shemot," commentaiy on the ten names of God
(MS. Michael, No. 175). (14) A commentary on the
piyyut "Ha-Ohez." (15) Six small cabalistic trea-
tises entitled "Sod ha-Ziwwug," "Sefer ha-Ne'e-
lam," "Sefer Mal'akim," "Sefer Tagim," "Sefer
Pesak," and "Sefer ha-Kolot," all of which are still
extant in manuscript (Neubauer, ib. No. 1566). (16)
" Likkutim," cabalistic fragments, mentioned by Re-
canate. (17) "Sode Raza," a treatise on the myster-
ies of Cabala, particularly on the " Merkabah." Part
of this work was published at Amsterdam in 1701,
under the title " Sefer Razi'el ha-Gadol. " In the in-
troduction the editor says that he decided to publish
this book after having seen that the greater part ol
it had been produced in French under the title
"Images des Lettres de 1' Alphabet."
In addition to these works, Eleazar wrote tosafot
to many Taimudical treatises, referred to by Beza-
lel Ashkeuazi in his "Shittah Mekubbezet " ; a com-
mentary on " Shekalim " in the Palestinian recension,
cited by Asheri in his commentary to that treatise in
the Babylonian Talmud ; thirty-six chapters on the
examination of slaughtered animals (MS. Michael
No. 307). Zunz enumerates fifty-five liturgical
poems and dirges composed by Eleazar and oc-
curring in the Ashkenazic mahzorim, kinot, and
selihot.
Bibliography: Zacuto, Yul]Msin, p. 221; Zunz, Z. O. p. 131 ;
idem, LiUraturgesch. p. 318; Gratz. Gesch. vli. 29; Steln-
scbneider. Cat. Bodl. col. 918; Landshuth, 'Ammvde ha-
"Abodah, p. 25 ; Epstein, In MonatsschrifU xxxvll. 75 : Dukes,
in Orient, Lit- 1844 ; idem, Zur KenntnU^ der ReUgtOsen
Poesie, p. 148 ; Renan-Neubauer, Les Rabbiiis FrangaUs, pp.
464 et seq.; Michael, Or ha-Hayyinu No. 487.
K. I. Br.
ELEAZAR (ELIEZER) HA-KAPPAB :
Tanna of the fourth generation (second century);
father of Bar Kappara, who is sometimes cited by
the same name. Eleazar is quoted in the Mishnah
(Ab. iv. 21), where he says, "Envy, lust, and ambi-
tion shorten man's life." From him the Mishnah
{ib. 22) also preserves the following exhortation:
"The born are to die, and the dead to revive, and
the living to be judged ; in order to know, and to
notify, and that it may be known, that He is the
Franier, and He the Creator, and He the Judge, and
He the Witness, and He the Complainant, and He
with whom there is no iniquity, nor forgetfulness,
nor respect of persons, nor taking of a bribe, forell is
His, is about to judge; and know that all is according
to His plan. Let not thy ' yezer ' [evil inclinations]
assure thee that the grave is an asylum; for perforce
thou wast created (Jer. xviii. 6), and perforce thou
wast born, and perforce thou iivest, and perforce
£leazar Liasi
Sieazar ben Samuel
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
102
thou diest, and perforce thou art about to give ac-
count and reckoning before the King of Kings, the
Holy One, blessed be He ! " Elsewhere (Sifre, Num.
42; compare Num. R. xi. 7) he says, "Great indeed
is peace: it is the end of all blessings" (see Num.
vi. 26). For other ethical lessons from him see Ab.
R. N. xxix. 4; Derek Erez Zuta ix. 1. Some of
his teachings are probably to be ascribed to his sou.
Bibliography: Bacher, Ag. Tan. tl. 500; Heilprin. Seder ha-
DoroU il., 8.V.; C. Taylor, Sayings of the Jewish Fathers, 2d
ed., pp. 76 et seq.
S. 8. S. M.
ELEAZAB LASI BEN JOSEPH: German
Talmudist ; born in Berlin Sept. 24, 1740 ; died at
Hamburg Jan. 22, 1814. He studied under Tebele
Scheuer, rabbi of Bamberg, and later in the yeshi-
bah of Schwersenz under R. Gedaliah. After his
marriage he settled at Posen, where he was appointed
dayyan under R. Raphael b. Jekuthiel ha-Kolien.
In 1781, after the latter had been appointed rabbi at
Altona, Lasi removed there also. He filled for some
time the office of dayyan at Wandsbeck, and was
appointed " rosh bet-din " of the three communities
of Altona, Wandsbeck, and Hamburg. Eleazar
Lasi wrote: "Mishnat de Rabbi Eli'ezer," commen-
tary on Shulhan 'Aruk, Hoshen Mishpat, the first
part of which was published by his son Moses (Al-
tona, 1815) ; a similar commentary on Eben ha-'Ezer ;
the anonymous "Kontres," a criticism of Saul Ber-
lin's "Mizpeh Yokte'el." His glosses and novelise
on the Talmud, as well as his commentary on the
Pentateuch and a treatise on the benedictions, are
still in manuscript.
Bibliography : St«lnsclinelder, Cat. Bortl. col. 461 ; Zedner,
Cat. Hebr. Books Brit. Mm. p. 223 ; Furst, Bibl. Jud. 1. 233 ;
Fuenn, Keneset Yisrael, p. 125 ; Michael, Or ha-Hayyim, p.
234.
L. G.
A. Pe.
ELEAZAB B. MAHBAI, See Eleaz.vk b.
Ahwai.
ELEAZAB, B. MALAI: Palestinian scholar
of the fourth century, whose name is mentioned
but once, in the Babylonian Talmud, and then only
as the reporter of a homily of Simeon b. Lakish,
which reproves the wickedness of the courts with
the following words: " ' Your hands are defiled with
blood ' (Isa. lix. 3) refers to the judges, whose hands
are ever open to receive bribes; ' your fingers with
iniquity ' (ibid.) refers to the judiciary's scribes, who
write false or specious documents ; 'your lips have
spoken lies' refers to the lawyers, who misconstrue
the law, or instruct their clients how to plead ; ' your
tongue hath muttered perverseness ' refers to the
litigants, who plead falsehood " (Shab. 139a ; Rashi
ad loc). It is not certain, however, that "Malai"
was Eleazar's real patronymic, some editions read-
ing " Simlai " instead (see Rabbinowicz, "Dikduke
Soferim " to Shab. ^c).
s. s. S. M.
ELEAZAR B. MATTAI (MATTHIAS) :
Tanna of the third and fourth generations (second
century); contemporary of Hananiah b. Hakinai,
Ben 'Azzai, and Simon of Teman (Tosef., Ber. iv.
18). It is stated that, together with Halafta and
Hananiah, he examined the stones which, by order
of Joshua, the Israelites brought up from the Jordan
and pitched in Gilgal (Josh, iv.), and approximated
their weight (Tosef., Sotah, viii. 6). Eleazar was a
disciple of R. Tarphon (Tosef., Ber. I.e.; compare
Mek., Beshallah, 5), and is met with in scholastic
disputations with Judah b. 'lllai and Simon b. Yohai
(Tosef. , Pes. vi. 2 ; Pes. 79b et seq. ). According to one
report, he and Hananiah were " the disciples " present
at the dispute between R. Meir and the rabbis;
(Yer. Ma'as. Sh. ii. 53d); according to another, they
were among the four expert linguists of the Jamnian
Sanhedrin (Yer. Shek. v. 48d ; compare Sanh. 17b).
From the Scriptural dictum (Lev. v. 1), " If a soul
sin, and hear the voice of swearing," he argues that
one is subject to hear the voice of swearing because
of his having sinned. Accordingly, he teaches,
" Whoso witnesses a transgression was doomed to
see it; and whoso witnesses a good deed has de-
served to see it " (Tosef., Shebu. iii. 4). He is men-
tioned once in the Mishnah (Yeb. x. 3), and several
times in baraitot, in connection with halakic contro-
versies.
Bibliography: Brull, Meho ha-Mishnah, 1. 141; Frankel,
Darke ha-Mishnah, p. 133 ; Weiss, Dor, il. 123.
8. 8. S. M.
ELEAZAB B. MEXAHEM : Palestinian
scholar of the fourth amoraic generation (fourth
century). No halakot and but few haggadot are
connected with his name. Commenting on the
Biblical expression (Ps. xxxvi. 9 [A. V. 8]), "Thou
shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures "
iy^l]}, lit. "thy Edens"), he remarks, "Since the
Bible says not ' thy Eden,' but ' thy Edens,' it im-
plies that every pious soul has an [apartment in]
Eden for itself " (Tan., Emor, ed. Buber, 9; Lev. R,
xxvii. 1 ; Midr. Teh. xxxiv. 23 reads "Isaac b. Men-
ahem"). From the expression (Gen. xiii. 3), "He
[Abraham] went on his journeys," Eleazar infers
that Abraham returned from Egypt by the way he
had traveled thither, to liquidate the debts he had
previously incurred (Gen. R. xli. 3).
Bibliography: Bacher, Ag. Pal. Amor. ill. 697; Heilprin,
Seder ha-Dorot, U., s.v.
8. 8. S. M.
ELEAZAB, OF MODI'IM (MODAIM) :
Scholar of the second tannaitic generation (first and
second centuries) ; disciple of Johanan ben Zakkai
(B. B. 10b), and contemporary of Joshua ben Hana-
niah and Eliezer ben Hyrcanus (Mek., Beshallah,
Wayassa', 3 et seq.). He was an expert haggadist,
and frequently discussed exegetical topics with his
distinguished contemporaries. Gamaliel II. often de-
ferred to Eleazar's interpretations, admitting, "The
Moda'i's views are still indispensable" (Shab. 55b).
As his life embraced the period of Hadrianic perse-
cutions and of the Bar Kokba insurrection, many of
his homilies refer, explicitly or impliedly, to exist-
ence under such conditions (Gratz, "Gesch." iv. 79,
note). Eleazar expressed his confidence in Provi-
dence in this comment on the Scriptural statement
(Ex. xvi. 4), "the people shall go out, and gather
a certain rate everyday" (lit. "the portion of the
day on its day, " 1DV3 DV "131) : " He who creates the
day creates its sustenance. " From this verse he also
argued, " He who is possessed of food for the day,
and worries over what he may have to eat the next
103
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Eleazar Lasi
Eleazar ben Samuel
day, is wanting in faitli; tlierefore the Bible adds
[ib.], 'that I may prove them, whether they will
walk in my law, or no ' " (Mek. I.e. 2).
Eleazar's last days fell in the dark period of the
insurrection headed by Bar Kokba, and he ended
his life in the then besieged city of Bethar. Of these
days rabbinic tradition relates as follows:
" Durlnjr the Roman siepe R. Eleazar of Modi'im fasted and
prayed daily that God might not strictly judge the people that
day nor surrender the city to the enemy, because of the sins of
the inhabitants. The sifge being protracted, and no Immediate
conquest being in prospect, the Roman commander meditated
on withdrawing, when a Samaritan persuaded him to wait a
while, and offered his services to aid In subduing the apparently
unconquerable Jews by stratagem— by creating a suspicion of
treachery among the besieged against Eleazar. ' For,' argued
he, 'as long as this hen wallows in ashes [as long as Eleazar by
his prayers encourages in the people the hope of God's protec-
tion], so long will Bethar remain impregnable.' Thereupon he
smuggled himself into the city through some subterranean ducts,
and, approaching Eleazar.who was engaged in prayer, pretended
to whisper into his ear a secret message. Those present, regard-
ing this mysterious movement with suspicion, soon reported it
to Bar Kokba, and declared, ' Eleazar Intends to establish peace
between the city and Hadrian.' Bar Kokba had the Samaritan
brought before him and interrogated him on the import of his
conversation with the sage; but the Samaritan replied, 'If I
reveal the royal secrets to thee, the commander will kill me :
and if I refrain, thou wilt kill me. I would rather kill myself
than betray my king's secrets.' Bar Kokba then summoned
Eleazar and questioned him ; but Eleazar protested that he had
been absorbed in devotional exercises, and had heard nothing.
This increased Bar Kokba's suspicion of meditated treason, and
aroused him to such anger that he kicked Eleazar, In conse-
quence of which the aged sage, enfeebled by fasting and prayer,
fell dead."
The story adds that a " bat kol " thereupon pro-
nounced the immediate doom of the chief of the in-
surrection and of the beleaguered city, which soon
came to pass (Yer. Ta'an. iv. 68d ; Lam. R. ii. 2 ;
see Bar Kokba).
BiBUOGRAPHT : Bacher, Ag. Tan. 1. 194 : Briill, Meho ha-Mish-
nah.i.lSO; Fr&n^e], Darke ha-Mishnah, p. 12^ ; Hamburger,
R. B. T. il. 161; Heilprtn. Seder ha-Dorot. ii., s.v.; Weiss,
Dor, il. 130; Zacuto, Yvhasin, ed. FlUpowski. p. 33a.
8. 8. S. M.
ELEAZAB B. NATHAN. See Eliezer b.
Nathan.
ELEAZAR BEN PEDAT. See Eleazar
II. (Lazar).
ELEAZAR BEN PERATA I.: Tanna of
the third genefatiou (second century); junior con-
temporary of Eleazar of Modi'im (Tosef., Sanh. iv. 8;
Yer. Meg. i. 71c) and of Jose the Galilean (Mek.,
Yitro, Bahodesh, 2). He lived through the period
when, accoi-ding to a younger contemporary, the
performance of circumcision was punished by the
Romans with the sword ; the study of the Jewish
law, with the stake; the celebration of Passover,
with crucifixion ; and the observance of the Feast
of Bootlis, with the scourge (Mek. I.e. 6; Lev. R.
xxxii. 1). Still, Eleazar faithfully adhered to the
teachings of his religion. Once he was arrested and
cast into prison, where lie met Hanauiah ben Tera-
dion. He tried to instil hope into his fellow pris-
oner's breast, because there was only one charge
against him, that of teaching the Law, v.iiile him-
self he considered lost, because there were live
coimts against liim. Hananiah, on the contrary,
thought that Eleazar's chances of escape were bet-
ter than his own ; and the sequel proved that he
was right. Hananiali was condemned to a terrible
death, while Eleazar was acquitted ('Ab. Zarah
17b).
Eleazar's studies embraced both Halakah and
Haggadah, mostly the latter. One of his liomilies
warns against calumny in these words: "Observe
how mighty are the consequences of the evil tongue.
Learn them from the fate of the spies [see Num. xiii.
et seq.]. Of the spies it is related [ib. xiv. 37],
' Those men that did bring up the evil report upon
the land, died by the plague before the Lord. ' And
of what had they spoken evil ? Of trees and of
stones [see ib. xiii. 32]. If, now, those who slan-
dered dumb objects were punished so severely, how
much greater must be the punishment of him who
traduces his neighbor, his equal!" (Tosef., 'Ar. ii.
11 ; 'Ar. 15a).
He draws practical lessons also from Scriptural
texts. On a certain Sabbath some prominent core-
ligionists, having just learned that the Romans were
seeking them, applied to Eleazar for legal advice as
to the permissibility of flight from danger on the Sab-
bath. Eleazar referred them to Scriptural history.
"Why do you inquire of me? " said he. "Look at
Jacob [see Hosea xii. 13 (A. V. 12)], at Moses [Ex.
ii. 15], and at David [I Sam. xix. 10, 18], and see
what they did under similar circumstances" (Tan.,
Masse'e, i. ; Num. R. xxiii. 1).
8. 8. S. M.
ELEAZAR BEN PERATA II.: Tanna of
the second and third centuiies; grandson of Elea-
zar ben Perata I. ; sometimes designated as "Eleazar
b. Perata, the grandson of Eleazar b. Perata ha-
Gadol" (Ket. 100a; Git. 33a; Yer. Meg. iv. 75b),
and also without the addition of his grandfather's
name (Yer. Suk. iii. 54a; Suk. 39a). He confined
his studies mainly to the Halakah, and was a con-
temporary of R. Judah I. (see Suk. I.e. ; Yer. Meg.
I.e.).
Bibliography: Bacher, Ag. Tan. 1. 403; Briill, Mebo hon
Mishnah, 1. 140, 226; Heilprtn, Seder Jia-Dorot, il., s.v.
8. S. S. M.
ELEAZAR BEN SAMUEL : Rabbi ; born at
Cracow about 1665; died at Safed, Palestine, 1742.
On the completion of his studies he became dayyan
of Cracow. In 1708 he accepted the rabbinate of
Rakow, Poland. From there he went to Brody,
where he became rabbi (1714). In 1735 he went to
Amsterdam in response to a call from the Ashke-
nazic congregation there. A medal was designed in
his honor, one side of which exhibited his head
in relief, surrounded by the words: "Eleazar ben
Samuel, Rabbi of Brody," the other side containing
chosen verses from the Psalms. Eleazar was one of
those who placed Moses Hayyim Luzzatto under
excommunication.
In 1740 Eleazar decided to go to Palestine. He
took up his residence at Safed, where his life, how-
ever, was not of a peaceful character. It came to
his knowledge that many of the most respected citi-
zens of the place were reading the works of Nehemiah
Hayyun and of other adherents of Shabbethai Zebi.
Eleazar vigorously endeavored to eradicate this
tendenc}-, but his efforts were in vain. His life thus
became embittered, and he was seriously contem-
plating a return to Europe, when death intervened.
Eleazar ben Samuel
Elephant
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
104
Eleazar, besides being a great Talmudist, was a
profound cabalist and an able darslian.
His published works are: "Arba' Ture Eben"
(Four Rows of Stone), containing responsa and no-
velise on Mai -
monides' "Yad"
and on the Tal-
mud (Lemberg,
1789); "Ma'aseh
Rokeah " (Work
of the Ointment-
Maker), a caba-
listic commen-
tary on the Mish-
nah (Amster-
dam, 1740);
"Ma'aseh Roke-
ah," on the Pen-
tateuch (Lem
berg, 1789).
Bibliography :
Frledberg, Gesch.
der Familie
Schor, p. 16;
Idem, Luhnt Zik-
haroHs p. 52 ; Michael
WeUal Struck by the Amsterdam Community in Honor of Rabbi Eleazar ben
Samuel.
(In the collection of Albert Wolf. Dresden.)
stadt, Da'af ^edoshim, p. 181.
L. G.
Or ha-I^auyim, p,
239; I. T. Eisen-
B. Fr.
OF METZ
ELEAZAR BEN SAMUEL
(also known as BAM) : French tosafist; died 1198.
He was a pupil of R. Tam, and is often quoted in
tosafot — sometimes as "RAM," sometimes as "R.
Eleazar." He wrote commentaries on Nedarim,
Berakot, and HuUin, the last two of which Aznlai
saw in manuscript. His commentary is probably
referred to in the Tosafot to Nedarim, where
"Eleazar" is frequently quoted. The ascription to
him of the authorship of the "ShittahMekubbezet"
(Berlin, 1859), a collection of tosafot on Nedarim, is
erroneous, as its author mentions Judah ben Yakir
as his brother, and speaks of the death of Simon of
Sens, a junior and survivor of Eleazar. Besides the
above non-extant works, Eleazar wrote the " Sefer
Zera'im," on the teachings of the Pentateuch, di-
vided into twelve parts in imitation of Gaon
Judah's "Halakot Gedolot." It is preserved in
manuscript in Paris, but an extract by Bsnjamin
ben Abraham was printed at Venice (1536), and has
been several times reprinted.
Bibliography: Azulai, Shem. ha-Gedolim, i. 24; Michael, Or
ha^Hayyim, p. 217; Gross, In Monatsschrift, xxxiv. 506;
Idem, Gallia Judaica, p. 347 ; Zomber, in Monatsschrift,
1861, p. 421 ; Zuoz, Z. G. pp. 34, 162 ; Stelnschneider, Cat. Bo'dJ.
col. 962.
A. Pli.
SHAMMTJA'. See Eleazar
L. G.
ELEAZAB, B.
I (Lazar).
ELEAZAB. SHEMEN. See Low, Eleazar.
ELEAZAB BEN SIMON : Tanua of the
second century. He was the son of Simon b. Yohai,
and since he participated in many of his father's ad-
ventures, history and legend have woven an almost
interminable tissue of fact and fiction concerning
him (see B. M. 83h etsecj. ; Pesik. x. S8h etseq.). His
youth he spent with his father in a cave, hiding
from the Roman persecutors of the Jews, who
sought his father's life ; and there he devoted him-
self to the study of the Torah (Shcab. 33h; Gen. R.
Ixxix. 6, and parallel passages; compare Yer. Sheb.
ix. 38d). After the death of Hadrian, when events
took a somewhat more favorable turn for the Jews,
father and son left the cave and returned to the
busy world. Ele-
azar, grown too
zealous during
his protracted
hermitage, often
cursed those
who devoted
their time to
things secular,
and his father
found it neces-
sary to interfere,
appeasing them
and mollifying
him (Shab. I.e.).
After Simon's
death Eleazar
entered theacad-
emy of the Pa-
triarch Simon b.
Gamaliel II., and became the colleague of the patri-
arch's son, Judah I., the compiler of the Mishnah;
but no great friendship seems to have subsisted be-
tween these two scholars.
Unlike his father, who hated the Romans and
their rule, Eleazar accepted office under their gov-
ernment. In consequence thereof he grew very un-
popular, and one of the rabbis remonstrated with
him, saying, " Vinegar product of wine [= " Degen-
erate scion of a distinguished sire"], how long wilt
thou continue to deliver the people of God to the
hangman?" Eleazar, however, continued in office,
excusing himself with the averment, "I but weed
out thistles from the vineyard." His mentor an-
swered that the weeding ought to be left to the
proprietor of the vinej'^ard — that is, that God Him-
self would visit punishment on the idlers and evil-
doers.
Later in life he regretted the part he had taken
under the hated government, and is said to have im-
posed on himself the most painful penance. Still,
fearing that the aversion engendered in his people
by the aid he had rendered their persecutors would
prompt them to deny him the last honors after his
death, he enjoined his wife not to bury him imme-
diately after dissolution, but to suffer his remains to
rest under her roof. He died at Akbara, in north-
ern Galilee, and his faithful wife carried out his in-
junction to the letter. Legend relates many mira-
cles performed by the dead rabbi, one of which was
that litigants plead their cases in the rabbi's house,
and the verdict was pronounced from the mortuary
chamber.
After many years his former colleagues resolved
to bury him, but a new difficulty arose. The in-
habitants of Akbara, believing that
Place of the sage's remains miraculously pro-
Burial, tected them against incursions of wild
beasts, refused permission to remove
the body. Ultimately, however, incompliance with
the request of the rabbis people from the nearby
town of Biria carried it off bv stealth, and it was de-
105
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Eleazar ben Samuel
Elephant
posited at Meron beside that of his father (B. M.
84b). In consideration of his varied learning, his
surviving colleagues cited the Scriptural verse
(Cant. iii. 6), "Who is it that cometh out of the
wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed with
myrrh and frankincense, with all powders of the
merchant? " and answered, " It is Eleazar b. Simon,
who united in himself all noble qualities, he having
been well versed in Scripture and in traditional law,
and having been a [liturgical] poet, a leader in
prayers, and a preacher" (Lev. R. xxx. 1; Cant. R.
I.e.).
Bibliography: Bacher, Ag. Tan. li. 400 et seq.; Brull, Meho
ha-Mishnah, 1. 236; Frankel, Darke ha-Mishnah, p. 199;
Hamburger, R. B. T. il. 159; Jastrow, In Mnnat.'i.schrift,
1882, pp. 195 et neq.; Weiss, Dor, U. 185; Zacuto, Yuhasbi,
ed. Filipowski, p. 52b.
S. S. S. M.
ELEAZAR B. ZADOK. See Eliezer b.
Zadok.
ELEAZAR BEN ZITA ABIT AL-SARI
(generally cited as Ben Zita or, more correctly,
Ben Zuta) : Karaite Bible exegete ; lived probably
in Egypt in the tenth century. He supported the
rigid, ascetic, and Sadducean doctrines advocated by
Anan and other Karaites, though at times he op-
posed Allan's teaching.
It is not at all certain that he ever wrote any
work, or that Saadia compiled any reply to his
views. His disputes with Saadia seem to have been
oral. All that is known of Ben Zita comes from
Abraham ibn Ezra, who probably derived the infor-
mation from Saadia's commentary to the Pentateuch.
Ibn Ezra mentions Ben Zita several times in his com-
mentary to Exodus.
Ibn Ezra also mentions Ben Zita in his " Sefer ha-
'Ibbur " (7a), in regard to the question whether the
method of determining the months and the festivals
is to be found in the Bible. Ben Zita was the first
to cite Gen. i. 14; Num. xxviii. 14; andPs. civ. 19 as
such proof. A marginal note to a Bodleian manu-
script (No. 316) of Kimhi's commentary to Ezekiel,
published by Neubauer in "Jour. Asiatique," 1861,
p. 230, also contains a reference to Ben Zita's refuta-
tion of Anan's quaint interpretations of Ezek. xviii.
6; but Israelsohn has shown that the passage is
quoted not from Ibn Janah, but from Judah ibn
Balaam's commentary to Ezekiel. The name "Abu
al-Ari," found in the Bodleian manuscript and ac-
cepted by Neubauer, Filrst, and Geiger, is a mistake
for"Abual-Sari."
Bibliography: Geiger, In Jild. Zeit. li. 151; Pinsker, Lilf-
kute Kadmnniyijot, p. 43 ; Fiirst, Oesch. des KarUert. i. 100,
173; il. 33; Israelsohn, in Rev. EtvdesJuives, xxill. 132; Poz-
nanski, in Monatsschrift, xli. 203.
K.— G.
ELEGY. See Kinah.
ELEPHANT : A pachydermatous mammal of
the family of the Elephantidm. It is now commonly
agreed that the elephant {Elephas indicus) is indi-
rectly mentioned in a passage of the Hebrew Bible.
In I Kings x. 22 (II Chron. ix. 21), namely, it is
said that Solomon had a navy which every three
years brought gold, silver, ivory (" shenhabbim "),
apes, and peacocks. The word " shenhabbim " is
evidently a compound word, the first part of which
is well known as meaning a tooth or ivory (I Kings
x. 18 ; Cant. v. 14, vii. 14). The second element has
long been a puzzle to etymologists; but now it is
well-nigh certain (see, however. Ebony) that it
means "elephant," and is probably derived from the
Assyrian "alap," witli the assimilation of the lamed,
"app" = "abb" (see Hommel, "Namen der SSuge-
thiere," p. 324, note 1).
How and when the Hebrews became acquainted
with ivory can not be determined. In the Tar-
gums of Jonathan and of Jerusalem it is said that
the sons of Jacob laid their father in a coffin inlaid
with "shendephin" (Gen. 1. 1) — probably a substi-
tute for "shendephil," the accepted word for ivory
in the East, "pil " meaning "elephant."
The presence of the elephant in Palestine is not
recorded before the time of Antiochus Epiphanes,
who used the animals in the war against the Jews
(I Mace. i. 16, 17; vi. 30). These elephants carried
each a wooden turret strapped to its back, and hold-
Jewish Coin of the Maccabean Period, Countermarked by an
Elephant, the Type of the Seleucid Kings. The Reverse
Is from a similar Coin.
(AfUr MaddfD, " History of Jewish Coinage.")
ing a guard of from three to five men (I Mace. ii. 37,
"thirty-two men " being certainly a wrong number)
and a guide, called the "Indian." A special officer,
the elephantarch, was in command of this branch of
the military service (II Mace. xiv. 12). Before bat-
tle the animals were given intoxicating drinks to
make them furious and thus more dangerous, as
they were intended to carry confusion into the ranks
of the enemy (II Mace. xv. 20; III Mace. v. 2).
The Talmudic and Neo-Hebrew name for elephant
is N^J'-S, ^^3; plural, U^^>^ (Ber. 55b, 56b), which is
the common name also in Syriac and Arabic, and
is the Assyrian "plru " (see Lewy, "Griech. Fremd-
wOrter," p. 5). The elephant's favorite food is the
vine-leaf, for which reason Noah laid in a large
supply of vine branches (Gen. R. xxxi. ; Yer. Shab.
xviii. 16c, middle; Shab. 128a).
The time of gestation is given as three j-cars (Bek.
8a). To see an elephant in one's dream was not a
good omen (Ber. 57b); but a proverb expressive of
impossible things says: "None is shown in his
dream a golden date-tree, nor an elephant that goes
through a needle's eye" (Ber. 55b). In other con-
trasts, too, the elephant appears as the extreme
in size (see examples given in "Zeitschrift filr Alt-
testamentliches Wissenschaft," xvi. 205; e.g. p
^••Dn *1J?) K'in'n = " from the gnat to the elephant " ;
compare in Shab. 77b: fj^DH hv tJ'in'n DO'K = "the
gnat is the terror of the elephant " ; and in Maimoni-
des. Introduction to Zera'im: D'yfjnn "ly D^i^'Sn p
= " from the elephants to the worms ").
Eleutheropolis
Eliab
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
106
Bibliography : Tristram, Natural History of the Bible, Lon-
don, 1889; J. G. Woods, Bible Animals, Philadelphia, 1872;
A. Plctet, Sur les Oriffines de Quelques Noms de VElephant,
in Jour. Asiatique, Sept.-Oct., 1843 ; Lewysohn, Zoologie des
Talmuds, pp. 148, 228, Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1858 ; Bochart,
Hierozoicon,
H. H.— E. G. H.
ELEUTHEROPOLIS : Greek name of a city
called "Bet Gubriu " in the Talmud and "Baito-
gabra" by Ptolemy. In the Old Testament the
name can not be identified, but it probably occurs
in a corrupted form (see Josephus, " B. J. " ed. Niese,
iv. 8, § 1). From II Chron. xiv. 9 it is likely that
the city had no existence in ancient time. Later
the Hebrew name came to the front as Bait Jibrin,
a village with some ruins, twenty minutes to the
north of Merash, the old Maresah. The immediate
vicinity is rich in natural and artificial caverns. As
"horim" means "caverns" in Hebrew, and "hor"
also signifies "free," the Greek name is founded on
a confusion of, or a conscious play upon, words.
Bibliography : Robinson, Biblical Researches in Palestine,
11. 331 et seq. 610, 661 ; Pal. Explor. Fund Memoirs, ill. 237,
266 ; Pal. Explor. Fund Quarterly Statement, 1879, p. 138 ;
Neubauer, G. T. p. 132.
E. G. H. F. BU.
ELHA'IK, TJZZIEL : Rabbi and preacher in
Tunis, of which place he was a native; died there
1812. He left two works which were printed long
after his death: one, "Mishkenot ha-Ro'im," Leg-
horn, 1860, a collection of 1,499 responsa, relating
to the history of Tunisian Judaism during the sev-
enteenth and eighteenth centuries; the other, "Hay-
yim wa-Hesed," ib. 1865, a series of twenty-two fu-
neral orations delivered by Elha'ik on the deaths of
rabbis of Tunis (CazSs, "Notes Bibliographiques,"
pp. 169-173, Tunis, 1893).
s. M. Fr.
ELHANAN ("God is gracious"): 1. Accord-
ing to II Sam. xxi. 19, R. V., the son of Jaare-
oregim, the Bethlehemite, who in a battle with the
Philistines at Gob killed Goliath, the Gittite. Ac-
cording to I Chron. xx. 5, he was the son of Jair,
and killed Lahmi, the brother of Goliath. The orig-
inal tmditions had it that the death of Goliath was
brought about by Elhanan; but when David be-
came the central figure of heroic adventures it was
attributed to him instead, and to Elhanan was cred-
ited the death of Lahmi, Goliath's brother. The
discrepancy is arbitrarily harmonized by the Tar-
gum, which identifies Elhanan with David, and
takes "oregim" literally as "who wove the curtains
for the Temple."
2. Another Bethlehemite, son of Dodo, and one
of the "thirty" of David (II Sam. xxiii. 24 = 1
Chron. xi. 26).
E. G. H. G. B. L.
ELHANAN BEN BEZALEL TJBI HEFEZ :
Polish scholar; lived in Posen in the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries. He was the author of a
work called "Kiryat Hannah," a commentary on
Pirke Abot (Prague, 1612).
Bibliography: Steinsthneider, Cat. Bodl. col. 920; Michael,
Or ha-IIayyim, p. 157.
L. G. M. Sel.
ELHANAN HENDEL (HAENLE) BEN
BENJAMIN WOLF KIRCHHAN : Etliicul
writer; lived at Frankfort-on-the-Main at the end of
the seventeenth century and the beginning of the
eighteenth. Elhanan published in Judteo-German
an ethical work, " Simhat ha-Nefesh " (Frankfort-on-
the-Main, 1707). The book enjoyed great popular-
ity and was reprinted many times. The eminent
woman preacher V5gele der Maggid frequently re-
ferred to the book, and Berthold Auerbach mentions
it in his " Dichter und Kaufmann " (ed. 1855, p. 54).
Twenty years later Elhanan published under the
same title a work containing poems and music
(Flirth, 1727). He occupied hhnself also with Bib-
lical exegesis and published "Hiddushim," novelise
on the Pentateuch (Offenbach, 1722).
Bibliography: Steinschnelder, Cat. Bodl. col. 920; Griin-
baum, Jttdisch-Deutsche Chrestomathie, pp. 238 et seq.;
Michael, Or hOrHayyim, p. 157, No. 46.
K. I. Br.
ELHANAN BEN ISAAC OF DAM-
PIERRE: Tosafistand liturgist; martyred in 1184
(Solomon Luria, Responsa, No. 39; see Azriel).
He was on his grandmother's side a grand-nephew
of R. Jacob Tam. One of his pupils was Judah Sir
Leon of Paris. It has been suggested that Elhanan
is identical with the Deodatus Episcopus of the
English record (see Jacobs, "The Jews of Ange-
vin England," p. 412). He has left numerous tos-
afot, to which his father, who outlived him, added
glosses. Luzzatto speaks of his tosafot to 'Abodah
Zarah up to folio 61 of that tractate, and then makes
the following remark : "Here terminate the tosafot
of R. Elhanan b. Isaac of Dampierre; from here
onward are tiiose of Judah b. Isaac of Brina."
The great authority of Elhanan is attested by
Joseph Colon (Responsa, No. 52). Elhanan also
wrote: "Tikkun TefiUin," a casuistic treatise on the
phylacteries, mentioned in Tos. to Ber. (60b) and in
Mordecai (" Halakot Ketannot," t^ 932); " Sod ha-'Ib-
bur," on the intercalary days, mentioned in the
"Minhat Yehudah," section "Wayera"; Responsa,
some of which are quoted in "Shibbole ha-Leket,"
ch. i, and in Maimonides' "Hafla'ah," ch. 4; sev-
eral " pizmonim " for the eighth evening of Pass-
over, which give the acrostic of his name ; a com-
mentary to the Pentateuch.
Bibliography: Gross, Gallia Judaica, pp. 165-168; idem, in
Berliner's Magazin, iv. 191 ; Kaufmann, in Rev. Et. Juives.
iv. 210-212, 221 ; Conforte, jFTore ha^Dorot, 14a, 15b, 18a : Azu-
lai, Shem ha-Gedolim, i., s.v.; S. D. Luzzatto, In Polak's
Halikot Kedem, pp. 45, 46; Zunz, Z. G. pp. 34, 80; idem,
Liiteraturgesch, pp. 287-288; idem, S. P. p. 249 ; Landshuth,
'Ammudeha-^ Abodah, p. 13; Michael, Or ha-Hayi/im, pp.
157-158; Graetz, Hist. iii. 404 ; Fueun, KenesetYisrael, p. ^.
G. M. Sel.
ELHANAN BEN ISSACHAR KATZ : Re-
ligious writer in Hebrew and Judteo-German; lived
in the second half of the seventeenth century and at
the beginning of the eighteenth in Prossnitz, Mo-
ravia, where he was shammash, cantor, and sofer.
He was the author of the following works: "Zot-
Hanukka Bllchl," Judoeo-German verses for the
Feast of Hanukkah, Frankfort-on-the-Oder, 1702;
" Mar'eli le-Hitkashshet Bo." and the same in Juda;o-
German, under the title "Zierspiegel Anzuhangen
an der Wand," ethical sentences, Dyhernfurth, 1693.
He translated into Judteo-German the seliliot of
n n D''3'31K' (the eight weeks in which are read the
eight sections of Exodus from " Shemot " to " Tezaw-
107
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
EleutheropoliB
Eliab
weh"), Frankfort-on-the-Oder, 1703, and Berlin,
1712. Besides, he published the work of an anony-
mous author entitled " Sha'ar ha-Hazlahah," prayers
for prosperity, Prague, 1684.
Bibliography : Stelnschnelder, Col. Bodl. cols. 445, 507, 922;
Benjacob, Ckar ha-Sefarim, pp. 422, 598.
L. G. I. BeR.
ELHANAN BEN SAMUEL (SANWEL)
ASHKEN AZI : Rabbi of Schottland, near Danzig ;
born in 1713; died Sept. 27, 1780. At the age of
eighteen he became rabbi of Fordon, Prussia, and
in 1752 first rabbi of Schottland. He wrote vari-
ous Talmudic commentaries and "hillukim," or
discussions, as well as commentaries to the four
"Turim," but, with the following exceptions, they
have not been published : " Sidre Tohorah," novellae
on the laws of Niddah in the Yoreh De'ah; "Hid-
dud Halakot," novellae on the Niddah; "Shiyyure
Tohorah," novellae on the laws of "tebilah," or im-
mersion, in the Yoreh De'ah (all published by Judah
L5b b. Elhanan, Berlin, 1783). The " Or ha-Yashar "
of Aaron Simeon b. Jacob Abraham contains two
responsa of Elhanan b. Samuel.
Bibliography : Stein, In Mnnat^schrift, vl. 324-325 ; Frankel,
In Orient, Lit. vlll. 363 ; Michael, Or lia-Hayyim, p. 158.
L. G. M. Sel.
ELHANAN BEN SHEMARIAH : Egyptian
Talmudist; flourished in the tenth and eleventh cen-
turies. He was the son of Shemariah b. Elhanan of
Kairwan, who left Egypt some time after his son
Elhanan, who remained behind, had reached matu-
rity. He wrote many responsa, which he addressed
to Hai Gaon, and he corresponded with Jacob b.
Nissim of Kairwan.
Bibliography : A. Harkavy, Zikkaron la-Rishonim, Iv. 2, 342,
350, 351, 367. Berlin, 1878 ; Neubauer, In J. Q. R. vl. 222-224.
K. M. Sel.
ELHANAN B. SIMON. See Andreas.
ELI ("'^JJ?) : High priest at Shiloh and judge over
Israel (I Sam. i. 3, iv. 18, xiv. 3; I Kings ii. 27).
He was a descendant of Aaron's fourth son Ithamar
(Lev. X. 12), for it is stated that Abiathar (I Sam.
xxii. 20 ; I Kings ii. 27) was of the line of Ithamar (I
Chron. xxiv. 3), and Abiathar was the son of Ahim-
elek, the son of Ahitub (I Sam. xiv. 3), Eli's
grandson.
Eli held a twofold office : he was high priest at the
central sanctuary of Shiloh, where the Ark of the
Covenant was kept {ib. i. 3, 12; iii. 2), and he was
a judge in Israel, as is expressly stated in ib. iv. 18.
Eli had two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, whose
wickedness brought grief and disgrace upon him
and his family (ib. ii. 12-17, 27-36).
Eli lived in a sad period of Israel's history.
Shortly before, the armies of the Philistines, proba-
bly strengthened by reenforcements (Guthe, "Ge-
schichte des Volkes Israel," 1899, p. 65), had begun
to overrun the central districts from the southwest-
ern border of Palestine (Josephus, "Ant." v. 8, § 1).
Samson had arisen "to deliver Israel out of the hand
of the Philistines" (Judges xiii. 5); but after his
death the attacks were renewed, and Israel was
obliged to take up arms (I Sam. iv. 1). In order to
assure themselves of God's help the Israelites brought
the Ark from Shiloh to the seat of the war, where it
was carried by Eli's two sons. But God had not de-
creed victory to His people. They were first to be
punished by disaster. Therefore the Israelitish army
was defeated; Eli's two sons were killed, and the
Ark was lost. When the messenger who brought
the news of the battle told of the capture of the Ark
Eli. who was ninety -eight years old, fell from his
seat and died (ib. iv. 10-18).
The only specific Old Testament reference to the
term of Eli's life is in the words, "And he had
judged Israel forty years" (ib. iv. 18). Some
scholars, like Kessler (" De Chronologia Judicum
et Primorum Regum," pp. 29 et seq.) and Nowack
("Richter-Ruth," p. 19), have inferred that the forty
years of the Philistine oppression mentioned in
Judges xiii. 1 are synchronous with the twenty
years ascribed to Samson (Judges xv. 20, xvi. 31)
and with Eli's forty years. But this assumption
does not tally with the words of the Old Testament;
the years of Samson's judgeship are set forth in the
same way as those of Eli's. The Book of Judges,
moreover, always mentions the years of oppression
in contrast to the period of a judge's dispensation;
and, finally, Eli's forty years do not, as a whole,
appear to have been a period of oppression.
Biblical criticism has advanced few new theories
in regard to Eli's life. The only point that has
been made with some probability is mentioned by
H. P. Smith ("Samuel," in "International Critical
Commentary," p. 20): "An earlier source on Eli's
life contained originally some further account of Eli
and of Shiloh, which the author [of the Books of
Samuel] could not use. One indication of this is the
fact that Eli steps upon the scene in i. 3 without in-
troduction." H. P. Smith also admits that great
difficulties are encountered " in assigning a definite
date to either of our documents."
Bibliography : H. P. Smith, Samuel, In International Crit-
ical Commentary, 1899; H. Guthe, Oe»ch. des Volkes Israel,
1899, pp. 53, 67 ; Hans Kessler, De Chronologia Judicum et
Primorum Regum, pp. 12, 29 et seq., Leipslc, 1882.
E. G. H. E. K.
ELI B. JTJDAH. See Judah b. Eli.
ELI ZIYYON (p-iv ""^N) : The alphabetical hymn
closing the series of " kinot " chanted in the northern
rituals on the morning of the Fast of Ab, where it
comes as a comparative relief to the series of dirges
which precede it. The tune is not older than the
later Middle Ages, and is probably of South-German
origin. As the most prominent melody of the
"Three Weeks" (i.e., the time between the Feast of
Weeks and the Ninth of Ab), in the chant of the
officiant it is taken as the representative theme fore-
casting and recalling that period (compare Jew.
Encyc. i. 187, 302), and as such is utilized very
generally for the refrain to the hymn "Lekah Dodi."
(See music on following page).
Bibliography: Sulzer, Shir Zion, No. 148; Baer, Ba'al Te-
fiUah. No. 213 ; Marksohn and Wolf, Sunagogale-Melodien,
No. 16 ; Cohen, In Yoxtiiq Israel. 1. 192. On the hymn as a
" representative theme," compare Baer, I.e. No. 327 ; Hast, The
Divine Service, 1. 29, 152; Cohen and Davis, Voice of Prayer
and Praise, p. 19.
A. F. L. C.
ELIAB (nx'^K : " God, " or « my God is Father ") :
1. Son of Helon and leader of the tribe of Zebulun
at the time when the census was taken in the wil-
derness (Num. i. 9; ii. 7; vii. 24, 29; x. 16).
Eliada
£liakiiu
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
108
2. A Reubenite, the son of Pallu or Phallu, father
of Nemuel, Dathan, and Abiram (Num. xvi. 1, 12;
XX vi. 8; Deut. xi. 6).
3. One of David's brothers, the eldest of the fam-
ily (I Chron. ii. 13; I Sam. xvi. 6; xvii. 13, 28). In
I Chron. xxvii. 18 mention is made of a certain
Elihu as one of the brothers of David. But " Elihu "
is probably a variant for " Eliab " (comp. Jerome,
"Quaestiones Hebraicae," ad loc).
4. A Levite in the time of David who was both a
porter and musician (I Chron. xv. 18, 20; xvi. 5).
5. One of the warlike Gadite leaders who came
to David when he was in the wilderness (I Chron.
xii. 9).
6. An ancestor of Samuel the Prophet; a Kohath-
ite, son of Nahath (I Chron. vi. 12 [27]). In I Sam.
i. 1 the name appears as " Elihu," and in I Chron. vi.
19(34)as"Eliel."
7. Son of Nathanael, an ancestor of Judith
(Judges viii. 1).
E. G. H. B. P.
ELIADA. See Be eliada.
ELIAKIM (D"'p''f'S = "El [God] sets up," corre-
predecessor was a "sensuous" man (nNJn ^y3:
Sanh. 26b). At the invasion of Sennacherib (II
Kings xviii. 18 = Isa. xxxii. 3) Eliakim appears as
the chief diplomatic emissary of Hezekiah, while
Shebna is mentioned as his secretary. Eliakim
sprang from a family of no social standing : his ele-
vation to dignity conferred distinction on his
"father's house " (Isa. xxii. 23, 24). Some commen-
tators have construed the words of the prophet to
implj' a resentment of Eliakim's nepotism as bound
to end in the downfall of the family. But nepotism
is so common at Eastern courts that it would be
strange for Isaiah to advert to it specifically. The
whole matter hinges on the interpretation given to
verses 24 and 25 ; the prediction may refer to Elia-
kim or to Shebna, or the verses may be an in-
terpolation. Certain it is, that the Biblical docu-
ments nowhere mention the deposition of Eliakim
from office.
2. The second son of King Josiah, who, upon his
elevation to the throne by Pharaoh-nechoh, was com-
pelled to take the name of Jehoiakim (II Kings xxiii.
34; II Chron. xxvi. 4).
3. A priest at the time of Nehemiah (Neh. xii. 41).
ELI ZIYYON
Andante moderato.
2^=1;
3
:S=JtL
-iS^
:^:
■t-
i — r
:22:
E - li Ziy-yon we - 'o - re - ha, ke - mo ish - sbab be - zi - re - ha, we
Let Zi - on weep, and all her towns, as sheds a moth - er pain - drawn tears, or
i^
-is'-
122:
-<s>-
1—
ki - betu - lah ha - gu - rat sak
as a maid in sack - cloth clad
spending to Sabean ^Kopn, and ^JNDpV 'EAm/cf//z):
Name borne by three Biblical personages. 1 . Son of
Hilkiah ; appointed successor of Shebna, the " treas-
urer" (R.V. "scribe," margin "secretary") of Heze-
kiah (Isa. xxii. 20 eiseg.). Tiie office to which he suc-
ceeded is described as TV2r[ hv (= "over the house-
hold "), according to Delitzsch and others a "major
domus" (comp. I Kings iv. 6, xvi. 8, xviii. 3; II
Kings x. 5, XV. 5), the incumbent carrying the title
pD, connected with the Assyrian "saknu" (a high
officer: Cheyne, "The Prophecies of Isaiah," ii.l53).
This designation occurs also in the feminine form
n33D (= "caretaker"), used of Abishag (I Kings i.
2, 4), and it is met with on a Phenician inscription
("The Soken of the New City": "C. I. S." I. i. 5;
Hastings, "Diet. Bible," p. 685b).
Eliakim is clothed with long tunic and girdle: the
key of the house of David is laid on his shoulder
(comp. Rev. iii. 7), and he is proclaimed "father
of the people." According to R. Eleazar ben Pedat,
"tunic and girdle" were the insignia of the high
priest's office (Lev. R. to v.). But R. Eleazar does
not regard " soken " as a title. From the double form
"soken" (masculine, Isa. xxii. 15) and "sokenet"
(feminine, I Kings i. 2) he concludes that Eliakim's
4=
^— I 1
I
'al ba - 'al
for the part
ne - 'u - re - ha.
ner of her youth.
BiBLiooRAPHY : Maitl, Kurzer Hatidkommentar zum Buche
Jesaja {1900); Ad. Kamph&usen, Isaiah''s Prophecy Concerii-
ina the Major-Dnmo o/ King Hezekiah, in Am. Jour. The-
ology, 1901, pp. 43 ef seq.; Duhm, Das Bnch Je,'<aiah, 2d ed.,
Gottlngen, 1902 ; the commentaries of Dillmann, Delitzsch,
and Cheyne.
E. G. H. E. K.
ELIAKIM : A Palestinian scholar of the third
century. His name is connected with no hala-
kot, and with a single haggadah only. He con-
strues the Psalmist's saying (Ps. 1. 6), "The Lord
knoweth the way of the righteous ; but the way of
the ungodly shall perish," as teaching that God
causes the ways of the wicked to be lost out of sight
for the sake of the righteous, that the latter be not
misled by them (Midr. Teh. I.e., ed. Ruber, p. 22;
comp. BEREcniAii II. on same verse). Eliakim is
probably identical with the better-known Jakim
(the first syllable being dropped to avoid the fre-
quent and unnecessary repetition of "El" [God],
as in 'Anani from 'Ananicl ). Jakim was father of
Ashian b. Jakim, who once applied to R. Jesa (Assi
II.) for a ritualistic decision (Yer. Yeb. xi. 12a). He
was senior to Ammi, the latter explaining an ob-
servation of the former.
Eliakim classes the Jewish people among the
109
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Eliada
Eliakim
most stubborn of the animal kingdom, which Ammi
e: plains as referring to Jewish pertinacity in relig-
ion ; that the Jew would submit to crucifixion rather
than live as an apostate (Ex. li. xlii. 9; in Bezah 25b
Simeon ben Lakish makes a remark very similar to
Jakim's). Elsewhere (Pesik. R. xxi. 107a) Eliakim
is found to differ with Judah (b. Shalom) in sur-
veying the scope of the prohibition (Ex. xx. 17),
"Thou shalt not covet." Judah argues that its
transgression leads to the violation of the seven pro-
hibitions contained in the Decalogue; viz., in the
second, third, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, and
tenth commandments. Eliakim asserts that he who
violates the prohibition, " Thou shalt not covet thy
neighbor's wife," is as if he had violated all the ten
commandments. This declaration is followed in the
Pesikta (I.e.) by citations illustrating Eliakim's doc-
trine.
8. s. S. M.
ELIAKIM BEN ABRAHAM : Cabalist and
grammarian ; lived at London in the eighteenth and
nineteenth centuries. His works are: "'Asarah
Ma'amarot," a collection of ten essays; "Milhamot
Adonai," on philosophy and religion; "Binah la-
'Ittim," on the computations of the periods enumer-
ated in Daniel; "Zuf Nobelot," an abridgment of
Joseph Delmedigo's cabalistic " Nobelot Hokmah " ;
"Ma'yan Gannim," an abridgment of Joseph Gika-
tilla's cabalistic " Ginnat Egoz " ; " 'En ha-Kore," on
Hebrew vocalization, an endeavor to justify the
German pronunciation; "Be'er Mayim Hayyim," a
treatise on "Azilut"; "Ma'yan Hatum," Luria's
notes on the " Sefer Yezirah" ; "Dibre Emet," on
Cabala; "Sha'ar Heshbon," on cabalistic computa-
tions; " Arzotha-Hayyim," Biblical and Talmudical
annotations. Of <hesethe first three were published
in London (1794-99), and the essay on Hebrew vocali-
zation in Berlin (1803). In addition to these works
he published a Hebrew grammar, entitled " 'En
Mishpat" (Rodelheim, 1803).
Eliakim was a cabalist of vast erudition, and was
endowed with a fine critical sense. In the "Zuf
Nobelot," not content with giving Delmedigo's text
in abridged form, he frequently emended it. He is
chiefly noted among the modern cabalists for the
development of the theory of pKD K^^ ("creatio ex
nihilo") — the stumbling-block of many religious
thinkers. Through God's self -concentration (D1V0V),
says Eliakim in the first chapter of the "Zuf Nobe-
lot," originated space or the primal air, which,
though considered as nothing (px) in regard to the
"En Sof " (God), is the foundation of the world.
Bibliography: Steinschneider, Cat. Bodl. co\. 969; Zedner,
Cat. Hehr. Bunks Brit. Mus. p. 219; Fuenn, Keneset Yis-
raeU p. 135; Joel, Die Religionsphilosophie des Sohar, p.
150. note 2.
K. I. Br.
ELIAKIM BEN ASHER SELIG : Polish
Talniudic scholar; lived at Yampol in the eighteenth
century. He was sent by the Polish Jews (1757) to
Rome to defend them against the blood accusation,
and presented a petition to Pope Benedict XIV.,
who commissioned Cardinal Ganganelli (later Pope
Clement XIV.) to examine the case. The latter con-
cluded in his report that tlie blood accusation was
frivolous. Clement XIII. , who had in the meantime
succeeded Benedict XIV., dismissed Eliakim b.
Asher with honor, and ordered Cardinal Corsini to
recommend him in his name to Bishop Visconti of
Warsaw. August III., King of Poland, issued in
consequence a decree exculpating the Jews, stating
that inability to prove the truth of the accusation
rendered the accuser liable to capital punishment.
In Ganganelli's memoir, as well as in Corsini's
letter of recommendation, the Jewish deputy is
called " Jacob Selech " or "Selek " (Gratz, Flirst, and
Levisohn have "Jacob Jelek "). He probably sim-
plified his name designedly; but in a long letter
which he wrote from Rome to Samuel Gallicbi
(probably the chief of the community) he calls him-
self "Eliakim b. Asher Selig of Yampol." In the
same letter he stated that he met at Rome Rabbi
Shabbethai Plana, with whom he discussed several
rabbinical laws.
Bibliography: Gratz, Gesch. 3d ed., x. 391; Isidore Loeb, In
R. E. J. xvill. 179 ; Mortara, In Educatore Israelita. x. 257-
270 ; Vogelstein and RiCKer, Oesch. der Juden in Rom, il.
246-247; Berliner's Magazin, xv. (Hebr. part) 9-14 ; Furst, In
Orient, Lit. 1840, p. 38; Levisohn, Efea Damim, p. 91, War-
saw, 1890.
H. R. M. Sei,.
ELIAKIM GOTTSCHALK OF ROTHEN-
BURG : German Talmudist; lived in the sixteenth
and seventeenth centuries. He was a descendant of
Meir of Rothenburg, and, according to Michael, the
son of Raphael ben Eliakim of Rothenburg. If
Michael is correct, Eliakim was identical with the
Swabian rabbi of the same name who with Isaiah
Horwitz (SheLaH) and AzrielMlihlhausen signed in
1611 the halakic decision incorporated in Horwitz's
Responsa (§ 118). Eliakim was the author of a
commentary to the Targum on the Megillot, entitled
" Ge'ullat ha-Ger, "published anonymously at Prague
in 1618. The author says in the introduction that
he composed a commentary to the Targum on the
Pentateuch.
Bibliography : Wolf. BiW. Hehr. 111. 677 ; Zunz, Z. O. p. 293 ;
Steinschneider. Cat. Bodl. col. 968 ; Michael. Or ha-Hauvim,
No. 470.
K. I Br.
ELIAKIM (GOTZ) BEN JACOB: Galician
cantor, teacher, and translator; bom at Komarno;
died at Amsterdam before 1709. He was the au-
thor of "Leshon Limmudim," a guide to letter
writing in Hebrew (Amsterdam, 1686) ; " Selihot," in
Juda^o-German, recited by the community of -Frank-
fort-onthe-Main (ib. 1688); "Refu'ot ha Nefesh."
precepts, devotional prayers for the sick, and regu-
lations in regard to funerals {ib. 1692) He translated
into Judfeo-German Manasseh b. Israel's "Mikweh
Yisra'el " (ib. 1691) ; Ibn Verga's " Shebet Yehudah "
(lb. 1700); the daily prayers (ib. 1703); the Tehinnot
(lb. 1703); the selihot of the Lithuanian rite (ib.
1706); "Melammed Siah," Judaeo-German vocabu
lary to the Pentateuch and the Five Scrolls (ib 1710),
and the German selihot (ib. 1720) Eliakim also
edited Benjamin's "Massa'ot" (ib 1697) and Samuel
Auerbach's "Hesed Shemu'el" (ib. 1699)
Bibliography : Fiirst. Bihi. Jud. I. 340 ; Steinschneider. Cat.
Bodl. col. 969; Zedner, Cat. Hebr. Books Brit. Mus. p. 219.
K. M. Sel.
ELIAKIM (GOTZ) BEN MEIR: Polish Tal-
mudist ; flourished in the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries. In his youth, at Posen, he devoted him
Eliakim ben Meshullam
Eliezer
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
110
self to the study of the Talmud, afterward accepting
the position of rabbi in the neighboring community
of Schwersenz, where about 1679 he wrote his hag-
gadic commentary. From there he was called to
Hildesheim, but maintained close relations with the
congregation of Posen. In the closing years of the
century, passing through Posen on his way, prob-
ably, to Palestine, he joined a delegation to Prague
to collect money for the support of the congregation.
In 1701 he went to Posen as dayyan, but according to
Michael he left Hildesheim to take the post of rabbi
at Luzk. He wrote: "Rappeduni be-Tappuhim,"
on the stories of Rabba bar bar Hana, published by
his son Samuel, Berlin, 1712; "Eben ha-Shoham"
and "Me'irat 'Enayim," responsa, published by his
son Meir, Dyhernfurth, 1733. His novelise on Tal-
mud and Bible are not published.
Bibliography : Walden, Shem ha-Oedolim he-Hadash, p. 25 ;
Michael, Or ha-Hayyim, p. 220 ; Perles, In Monatsschrift,
xiv. 127, 133 ; Steinschneider, Cat. Bodl. s.v.
L. G. A. Pe.
ELIAKIM BEN MESHULLAM (HA-
LEVI) : German Talmudist and payyetan ; born
about 1030; died at the end of the eleventh century
in Speyer, Rhenish Bavaria. He studied at the yeshi-
bot in Mayence and Worms, having Rashi as a fel-
low student. Eliakim himself founded a famous
Talmudical school in Speyer. He wrote a com-
mentary on all the tractates of the Talmud except
Berakot and Niddah (see Solomon Luria, Responsa,
No. 29, and Asher ben Jehiel, Responsa, Rule 1, § 8),
which was used by scholars as late as the four-
teenth century. At present there exists only the
commentary on Yoma, in manuscript (Codex Mu-
nich, No. 216). Ritual decisions by Eliakim are
mentioned by Rashi ("Pardes," 42a, 44c, 48a). He
was the composer of a piyyut commencing n'"l3 niN,
to be read when a circumcision takes place in the
synagogue on a Saturday.
Bibliography: Azulal, Shem ha-Gedolim,i. 28; Michael, Or
ba-Hayyim, No. 221 ; Landshuth, ^Ammiule ha^''Abodah, p.
24 ; Berliner, in Mnnatsschrift, 18(W, p. 182 ; Gratz, Gesch. vl.
364; Epstein, in Steinschneider FeMschrift, pp. 125 et seq.;
idem, JUdische AlterthUmer in Worms und Speyer, pp. 4,
27.
L. G. I. BeR.
ELIAKIM BEN NAPHTALI : Italian ethical
writer; lived in the fifteenth century; author of
"Tob Shem Tob," selections from the Talmud and
Midrashim, treating of the retribution, the suffering
in the tomb, and the resurrection. The work, di-
vided into 11 chapters, was published by the son
of the author, Venice, 1606. Eliakim mentions
another of his works, entitled "Eben Shetiyyah,"
which is no longer extant.
Bibliography : Nepi, Zeker Zaddikim, p. 19 ; Steinschneider,
Cat. Bodl. col. 970 ; Michael,' Or ha-Hayyim, p. 221.
K. I. Br.
ELIAM: 1. One of David's heroes (II Sam.
xxiii. 34); son of Ahithophel the Gilonite (comp.
I Chron. xi. 36).
2. Father of Bath-sheba (II Sam. xi. 3). In I
Chron. iii. 5 the name occurs transposed as "Am-
miel " Dy?K is found in the Phenician inscription
"C. I. S." 147, 6 (Lidzbarski, "Handbuch der Nord-
semitischen Epigraphik ").
E. G. H. G. B. L.
ELIANO, VITTOKIO : Jewish convert to Chris-
tianity ; grandson of Elijah Levita ; lived in Italy in
the sixteenth century; became priest and canon.
Well versed in Hebrew literature, he was appointed
censor of Hebrew books, first at Cremona, afterward
(1567) at Venice. In this capacity he permitted
(1557) the publication of the Zohar, and edited (1558)
the Tur. Elijah was prominent in the denunciation
of the Talmud, which was publicly burned April 17,
1559.
Bibliography: Gratz, Gesch. der Jtiden, ix. 326, 335, 360;
Wolf. Bibl. Hebr. i. 131 ; Neubauer, Cat. Bodl. Hebr. MSS.
No. 1547 ; Vogelstein and Rieger, Gesch. der Juden in Rom,
11.284.
D. I. Br.
ELIAS CBETENSIS. See Delmedigo, Elijah.
ELIAS, JULIUS: German author; born at
Hoya, Hanover, June 21, 1861. He was educated at
Dorotheenstadt industrial school, Friedrich Werder
gymnasium, and Munich University, taking his
Ph. D. degree in 1888. He is the author of " Chris-
tian Wernicke," 1888, and has edited the following
works: " Brief e der Elisabeth Charlotte," 1889;
"Johann Gottlieb Regis' 'Fragmente einer Shake-
speareilbersetzung, ' " 1893; and, with G. Brandes
and P. Schlenther, the collected works of Ibsen.
Since 1891 Eiias has been editor-in-chief of the
" Jahresberichte f lir Neuere Deutsche Litteraturge-
schichte."
Bibliography : Eisenberg, Dns Geistige Berlin, i. 94-95.
8. N. D.
ELIAS LEVITA. See Levita, Elijah.
ELIAS, NET : British consul-general at Meshed,
Persia, and explorer; died in London May 31, 1897.
At an early age he found his way to China, and in
1871 conceived the daring project of returning to
Europe overland, across the entire continent of Asia.
The report of this journey was recorded in the
" Journal " of the Roj'al Geographical Society, from
which it appears that he crossed the desert of Gobi
by a hitherto unexplored route, traveled amid the
opposing factions of the great Mohammedan rebel-
lion of that time, and traversed the breadth of Sibe-
ria to Russia.
After this, Elias accepted service under the In-
dian government and was sent to Yunan, and after-
ward to Ladak. Later he was despatched on a
political mission to Chinese Turkestan.
In 1885 he traversed the entire length of the
Pamirs, traveled through Badakhshan and Afghan
Turkestan to the neighborhood of Herat, and re-
turned to India by way of Chitral and Gilgit. For
this he was made a C.I.E. In 1889-90 Elias demar-
cated the frontier between Siam and the Shan States
of Burma; and in 1891 he was appointed consul-
general at Meshed, in Persia.
Bibliography : Times (London), June 2, 1897 ; Jew. Chronicle
(London), June 4, 1897.
J. G. L.
ELIAS PASHA. See Cohen, Elias.
ELIAS SAMUEL : English pugilist, popularly
known as " Dutch Sam" ; born April 4, 1775, in Lon-
don; died July 3, 1816. After successful contests
with Tom Jones (.July 3, 1801), Caleb Baldwin (Aug.
7, 1804), and Britton of Bristol (April 27, 1805), Elias
was easily beaten by James Brown (June, 1805).
Ill
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Eliakim ben Meshullam
Eliezer
Of three fights with Tom Belcher of Bristol, Elias
lost the first (Feb. 8, 1806); the second (July 28, 1807)
was declared off ; and the third (Aug. 21, 1807) Elias
won in 36 rounds.
Elias followed these encounters with two other
victories, defeating William Cropley, May 10, 1808,
and Benjamin Medley, May 31, 1810; then he rested
for four years; but he reentered the prize-ring Dec. 8,
1814. when he was defeated by William Nosworthy,
of Moulsey, in 38 rounds. By his contemporaries
Elias was considered the hardest hitter the prize-ring
had ever seen; he originated what in pugilism is
technically known as "the upper cut," which he in-
troduced in his fight against Caleb Baldwin. Elias
retired from the ring with a ruined constitution, and
died in abject poverty.
Bibliography : J. B. Pancratia, A Histxyru of Pugilism, pp.
136, 144, Londou, 1811 ; Boxiana : Sketches of Ancient and
Modem Pugilism, London, 1812 ; Miles, Pugilistica, vol. i.
193, 194, 202, London, 1880.
J. F. H. V.
ELIASBERG, BEZALEEL JTJDAH: Rus-
sian Hebraist ; born at Ivenitz 1800; died at Minsk
1847. Under the title " Marpe le-' Am, " with a sup-
plement entitled "Kontres Reshit Da* at," he trans-
lated from the Polish into Hebrew the medical work
of Friedrich Pauliczki (2 vols., Wilna, 1834; 2d ed.,
Jitomir, 1868).
Bibliography: Fuenn, Keneset Yisrael^p. 190; Zeitlin, Bibl.
Post-Mendels. p. 77.
H. R.
ELIASBERG, JONATHAN B. MOBDE-
CAI : Russian rabbi ; born in Kovno 1850 ; died in
Volkovisk, government of Grodno, Nov. 20, 1898.
His first rabbinate was in Pumpian, government of
Wilna, and he afterward became rabbi of Mariam-
pol, government of Suwalki. Like his father he be-
came one of the leaders of the Zionist movement in
Russia; and Samuel Mohilever, who found in him
a very able lieutenant, was instrumental in securing
for him the rabbinate of Volkovisk, in order to have
him nearer to himself. Eliasberg was the author of
a rabbinical work entitled "Darke Hora'ah," Wilna,
1884, of which a part is devoted to Talmudic weights,
measures, and coinage. He was also the author of
novelise, which were appended to his father's work
" Terumat Yad," and of " Toledot Mordekai," a biog-
raphy of his father, which he published in the lat-
ter "s "Shebil ha-Zahab," Warsaw, 1897.
Bibliography : Ahiasaf, 5660, p. 381 ; Abad ha-'Am (= Asher
Ginzberg), 'Al Parashat Derakim, 2d ed., pp. 103-114,
BerUn, 1902.
L. G. P. Wl
ELIASBERG, MORDECAI B. JOSEPH:
Russian rabbi ; born in Chaikishok, government of
Grodno, Feb., 1817; died in Bausk, Courland, Dec.
11, 1889. His father-in-law, who had settled in
Kovno as soon as Jews were permitted to dwell
there, established him in that city as a dealer in
grain and spices. Eliasberg acquired a knowl-
edge of German, and made several business jour-
neys to Riga. He there made the acquaintance of
Max LiLiENTHAL, and became interested in his edu-
cational schemes, the two corresponding for some
time afterward. Following the advice of his erst-
while teacher, Kalischer, Eliasberg retired from busi-
ness and devoted himself exclusively to rabbinical
studies. In 1852 he became rabbi of Zezmer, gov-
ernment of Wilna, and remained there for six years,
until his wife's illness forced him to return to
Kovno. About 1861 he became rabbi of Bausk,
where he officiated until his death, having declined
the more important rabbinate of Suwalki, which had
been offered to him in 1876.
When the Zionist movement began to spread in
Russia, Eliasberg became one of its most ardent ad-
vocates. He gave his decision, as a rabbinical au-
thority, permitting the colonists in Palestine to
sow their fields in " shemittah " (fahow year), which
gave rise to a heated controversy with the rabbis of
Palestine and other opponents of colonization. Elias-
berg's part in the discussion was conducted with
mildness and broad-mindedness.
Of the twenty-four works which Eliasberg wrote
on various subjects, only one, "Terumat Yad," a
collection of responsa, was published during his life-
time (Wilna, 1875). His "Shebil ha-Zahab," which
was published posthumously (Warsaw, 1897), deals
with questions of the day in a highly interesting
manner, giving the truly Orthodox view on many
important subjects. Besides being an eminent Tal-
mudist, he was also a profound thinker and a dili-
gent student of history. Eliasberg contributed to
Hebrew periodicals, especially to "Ha-Maggid,"
usually signing his articles y"'2D (Mordecai b.
Joseph Eliasberg).
Bibliography: Jonathan Eliasberg, Toledot Mordekai, pre-
fixed to the Shebil ha-Zahab ; Ahad ha-*Am (= Asher Ginz-
berg), 'Al Parashat Derakim, 2d ed.. pp. 68-73, Berlin. 1903.
L. G. P. Wl.
ELIEZER (" God is help ") : 1. Servant of Abra-
ham; mentioned by name only in Gen. xv. 2, a pas-
sage which presents some difficulties. Eliezer is
described by Abraham as pB'D p (R. V. " possessor
of my house ") and as pjJ'Ol (R. V. " Dammesek-
Eliezer "). According to Eduard Konig (" Syntax,"
§ 306h) p here, as frequently, has the force of an
adjective or participle, and the phrase " ben meshek "
(steward ; comp. ptJ^D, Zeph. xi. 9, and -\\i^, Job
xxviii. 18) is the subject of the sentence, which reads
" and the steward of my house is this Damascene
[Onk. and Pesh.] Eliezer," "Damashek " being used
intentionally for the adjective " Damashki " on ac-
count of the assonance with " meshek " (KSnig, " Sti-
listik," 1900, p. 291). Holzinger ("Genesis") and
Gunkel (" Genesis ") think the Masoretic text of xv.
2 has no meaning, and Cheyne and Black ("Encyc.
Bibl." col. 1269) condemn it as absurd and incorrect,
but no satisfactory emendation has been suggested.
That Abraham, on his way from Haran, passed
through Damascus is certainly not improbable. Nah-
manides connects him with that city, as do various
traditions (Justinus, "Histdriae," xxvi. 2; Judith v.
6 et seq. ; Josephus, "Ant." vii. 1, viii. 2; Eusebius,
"Prseparatio Evangelica," ix. 7 et seq.). He may
there have acquired this servant, who is also spoken
of in Gen. xxiv., though the name is not given, in
connection with the commission to choose a wife for
Isaac. Still, even the Rabbis felt the difficulties
of the present text, as their various interpretations
of ptJ'OT show. According to Eleazar b. Pedath,
it denotes Elieier as one "that draws and gives
others to drink" (npti^l n^n)— that is, imparts to
Eliezer
Eliezer ben Hyrcanus
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
113
others the teachings of his master (Yoma 18b; comp.
Rashi ad loc). Others found in the word " meshek "
an allusion to his coveting (pplB') Abraham's pos-
sessions. In pK'OT lies the indication that Abraham
pursued the kings (Gen. xiv.) to Damascus, and
the Targum Pseudo-Jonathan and Yerushalmi read :
"through whom many miracles were wrought for
me in Damascus" (comp. Gen. R. xliv.).
That Eliezer took part in that battle, or was, per-
haps, the only combatant at Abraham's side, the
Rabbis find indicated in the number (318) of the sol-
diers (Gen. xiv. 14), the numerical value of the let-
ters in irr^K being 1 + 30 + 10 + 70 + 7 + 200 =
318 (Gen. R. xliii., xliv.; Pesik. 70a, b; Ned. 32a;
Shoher Tob to Ps. ex. ; compare Ep. Barnabas ix. ;
it is the classical illustration of Gematria under the
twenty-ninth Exegetical Rule of Eliezer, the son of
Jose the Galilean). Modern critics (Hugo Winck-
ler and Gunkel) have held this "318" to refer to the
number of days in the year that the moon is visible.
The rabbinical cryptogram for "Eliezer" rests cer-
tainly on as solid grounds.
Bibliography : Kittel, Gesch. der HebrUer^ il. 134 ; Holzinger,
Kurzer Handkommentar zur Genesis, p. 144 ; H. Winckler,
Oesch. des Volkes Israel, 1900, il. 27 ; Gunkel, Handkom-
mentar zur Genesis, pp. 164, 231, 259.
E. G. H.
In Rabbinical Literature : Eliezer was pre-
sented to Abraham by Nimrod. Once Eliezer saved
Abraham's life by disclosing to him the devices for
his destruction prepared by Nimrod (Pirke R. El.
xvi.). At Sodom Eliezer saw a native maltreating
a stranger: taking the part of the wronged man, he
was himself severely wounded. He brought suit
against his aggressor, but the judge condemned
Eliezer to pay to the native of Sodom a certain
amount of money for having been bled. Thereupon
Eliezer inflicted a severe wound upon the judge,
saying: "Pay to the man who bled me the amount
you owe me for having bled you." The men of
Sodom used to place a guest on a bed, and if his
length exceeded that of the bed they cut off the ex-
cess, but if the man was shorter than the bed he was
stretched (comp. the Greek legend of Procrustes).
Asked to lie in the bed, Eliezer replied that at the
death of his mother he had vowed never to sleep in
a bed. Another custom in Sodom was that he who
invited a stranger to a wedding should forfeit his
coat. Once Eliezer, being very hungry, entered a
house where a wedding was being celebrated, but
could get nothing to eat. He then sat down next
one of the wedding guests; on being asked by him
who had invited him, he replied: "By you." The
latter, fearing to lose his coat, left the house precip-
itately. Eliezer then sat near another, on whom he
played the same trick, with the same result, until
at last he had succeeded in driving all the guests
out of the house. He then secured the meal for
himself (Sanh. 109b).
Eliezer is credited with having acquired all the
virtues and learning of his master (Yoma 28b). It
is even said that his features resem-
Eliezer and bled so closely those of Abraham that
Abraham. Laban mistook him for his kinsman.
When Abraham led Isaac to Mount Mo-
riah to offer him as a sacrifice, Eliezer cherished the
hope of becoming Abraham's heir, and a discussion
on this subject arose between him and Ishmael
(Pir^e R. El. xxxi.). On completing the mission of
selecting a wife for Isaac he was freed, and God re-
warded him with the kingdom of Bashan, over
which he reigned under the name of " Og." It was
he who refused to allow the Israelites to go through
his territory on their way to Palestine (Masseket
Soferim, end). His size was so vast that from one
of his teeth, which he had lost through fright when
scolded by Abraham, the latter made a chair on
which he used to sit. In the treatise Derek Erez
Zuta (i. 9) Eliezer is counted among the nine who
entered paradise while still living.
s. s. I. Br.
2. The second son of Moses; mentioned in Ex.
xviii. 4; I Chron. xxiii. 15, 17. The name is ex-
plained (Ex. I.e.) to mean "the God of my father
was mine help" (the 2 of the predicate; see Koe-
nig, "Syntax," § 338). Rashi, quoting theMekilta,
relates a miraculous incident to account for the
choice of the name, while Ibn Ezra makes it express-
ive of the joy of Moses upon hearing of the death
of the Pharaoh who had proscribed him. The his-
torical existence of this son has been doubted. Ex.
ii. 23 and iv. 25 mention only one son — Gershom.
Ibn Ezra felt the difficulty, but concluded that the
one son mentioned in iv. 25 is Eliezer; while Nah-
manides argues that there was another son, but that
there had been no occasion to mention him before.
Ex. iv. 20 indicates that Moses, before leaving for
Egypt, whether with his family (Ex. iv. 20) or with-
out it (Ex. xviii. 2), had more than one son; and the
reading nj3 = " her son " (iv. 25) may be a miswriting
for n'J3 = "her sons," agreeing with xviii. 8.
Baentsch ( " Exodus-Leviticus ") holds that " Eliezer "
is a double for " Eleazar, " the son of Aaron, while
Holzinger ("Exodus," p. 7) accounts for the uncer-
tainty by arguing that in view of Judges xviii. 30
P intentionally omitted all reference to the sons.
E. G. H. E. K.
3. A prophet, the son of Dodavah of Mareshah,
who opposed the alliance of Jehoshaphat with Aha-
ziah (II Chron. xx. 37).
4. Son of Zichri, made captain of the Reubenites
by King David (I Chron. xxvii. 16).
5. A priest who acted as trumpeter before the
Ark when it was conveyed to Jerusalem by King
David (I Chron. xv. 24).'
6. One of the chief men sent by Ezra (Ezra viii.
16) to secure ministers for the Temple at Jerusalem.
E. G. H. E. I. N.
ELIEZER : Palestinian amora of the fifth cen-
tury; contemporary of Abdimi (Yer. 'Er, x. 26a)
and of Berechiah II. (Gen. R. Ixxvii. 3; Yalk., Gen.
132). Conjointly with Abba Mari and Mattaniah,
he permitted Jews to bake bread on the Sabbath for
the Roman soldiers under Ursicinus (Yer. Bezah
i. 60c; compare Jastrow, "Diet." 124b, s.«. DrpD"lK;
Frankel, "Mebo," 55b et seq.). He was more of a
halakist than a haggadist (see, in addition to pas-
sages cited, Yer. 'Orlah ii. 62b; Yer. Pes. viii. 36a).
s. 8. S. M.
ELIEZER THE ASTRONOMER (nnnn) :
German scholar of the sixteenth century ; author of
"Ge Hizzayon," an astrological compilation from
113
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Eliezer
Eliezer ben Hyrcanus
Hebrew, Arabic, and Latin sources (Neubauer, "Cat.
Bodl. Hebr. MSS." No. 2066). He quotes Abra-
ham bar Hiyya ha-Nasi, Ibn Ezra, Andruzagar, Al-
bumazar, 'Ali ibn Ridwan, 'Ali ibn Rajil, Leopold
of Austria, Johannes, Guido Bonatti, and, according
to Dukes, Copernicus. In the introduction Eliezer
says he began a great work on astrology, a chapter
of which, entitled "Reshit Hokinah " (quoted by
Neubauer, I.e.), is devoted to Ibn Ezra. Whether the
" Sefer ha-Goralot " (Vatican MS. No. 216), bearing
the name "Eliezer nnnn," is by the same author is
not known. The same uncertainty prevails regard-
ing Vatican MS. No. 477, which contains a com-
mentary on Ptolemy's "Centiloquium," and which
also bears the name "Eliezer."
Bibliography : Furst, In Orient, Lit. xi. 81 ; Dukes, ib. p. 318 ;
Steinsclmeider, in Z. D. M. G. xxv. 383 ; idem, Hebr. Uebers.
p. 531.
G. I. Br.
ELIEZER OF BEAUGENCY: French exe-
gete of the twelfth century ; born at Beaugency,
capital of a canton in the department of Loiret;
pupil of Samuel ben Meir, the eminent grandson of
Rashi. Eliezer was one of the most distinguished rep-
resentatives of his master's school and of the exege-
sis of northern France. His chief concern was to find
the connection between successive verses and the
sequence of thought, a method that is also charac-
teristic of the system of interpretation employed
hy Samuel as well as Joseph Caro. Not concerned
with grammatical observations or daring criticisms,
he reached very happy results in explaining certain
figurative passages in accordance with the meta-
phors employed in the context. He often used
French terms to express his thoughts more clearly.
His interpretation is entirely free from midrashic
admixture. Of his works there have so far been
published only the commentaries on Isaiah (ed.
Nutt, 1879) and Hosea (ed. S. Poznanski, in " Ha-
Goren, " iii. 98-127). There still exists in manuscript
a commentary on the other Minor Prophets and on
Ezekiel (Neubauer, "Cat. Bodl. Hebr. MSS." No.
1465). Extracts from his commentary on Job are
also extant; and he himself refers to his commentary
on Genesis.
Bibliography: Gross, Gallia Judaica, p. 115; Poznanski,
HorGoren, iu., 98; Zunz, Z. G., p. 82.
T. I. L.
ELIEZER OF BOURGOGNE: French Tal-
mudist of the thirteenth century. Gross identifies
him with Eliezer ben Aaron of Bourgogne, one of
the six rabbis to whom Mei'r Abulafia sent his letter
on the doctrine of the resurrection. Eliezer was the
author of a Talmudic work no longer extant, entitled
"Sha'ar ha-Penim," mentioned by Aaron ha-Kohen
of Lunel in his "Orhot Hayyim."
Bibliography : Gross, Gallia Judaica, p. 109.
L. G. A. Pe.
ELIEZER BEN FARITH : Jewish mathemati-
cian, said by certain Mohammedan authors to have
first established the Jewish calendar. He is men-
tioned by Al-Biruni (972-1048) in his " Chronology
of Ancient Nations"; and this account is repeated,
almost word for word, in Al-Makrizi's (1364-1442)
topographical history of Egypt. Steinschneider
has connected him with a certain Audrazzur ibn
v.— 8
Zadi Faruh, a famous Jewisli astronomer mentioned
by Al-Kabisi, the tenth-century Moslem astrologer,
and by Abraham ibn Ezra in his "Sefer ha-Te'a-
mim." The first name seems to indicate that he was
a Persian by birth; and it occurs in such varying
forms as "Andruzagar," "Alezdegoz," "Alendruz-
gar." It has been suggested that there is a confu-
sion here either with Eliezer ben Hyrcanus or Elea-
zar ben 'Arak. Sachau reads riTID (I Kings iv. 17).
Bibliography : Sachau, The Chrnnnlngi/ of Ancient Nations,
p. 68 (Arabic text, p. 58); De Sacy, Chrestnmathie Arahe, 1.
91 (for Al-Makrizi); Delitzsch, Auehdotazur Ge.sch.der Mit-
telalt. Scliolrixtik, p. 375 (for Ibn Ezra); compare Steinschnei-
der in Berliner's Mauiizin, iii. Ilt9; 3/o?)afssc^ri/t, xxxiii.
479; Ha^Ynnah, p. 18; Steinschneider, Hebr. Uebers. pp.
531, 854 ; idem, Arab. Lit. der Juden, p. 307.
G.
ELIEZER B. i^ISMA. See Eleazar b.
HiSMA.
ELIEZER (LIEZER) BEN HYRCANUS:
One of the most prominent tannaim of the first and
second centuries; disciple of R. Johanan ben Zak-
kai (Ab. ii. 8; Ab. R. N. vi. 3, xiv. 5) and col-
league of Gamaliel II., whose sister he married (see
Imma Shalom), and of Joshua b. Hananiah (Ab.
I.e. ; Ab. R. N. I.e. ; B. B. 10b). His earlier years
are wrapped in mj-ths ; but from these latter it may
be inferred that he was somewhat advanced in life
when a desire for learning first seized him, and im-
pelled him, contrary to the wishes of his father, to
desert his regular occupation and to repair to Jeru-
salem to devote himself to the study of the Torah.
Here he entered Johanan's academy and for years
studied diligently, notwithstanding the fact that he
had to cope with great privations. It is said that
sometimes many days elapsed during which he did
not have a single meal. Johanan, recognizing Elie-
zer's receptive and retentive mind, styled him "a
cemented cistern that loses not a drop" (Ab. I.e.).
These endowments were so pronounced in him that
in later years he could declare, "I have never taught
anything which I had not learned from my masters "
(Suk. 28a).
His father in the meantime determined to disin-
herit him, and with that purpose in view went to
Jerusalem, there to declare his will before Johanan
ben Zakkai. The great teacher, having heard of
Hyrcanus' arrival and of tlie object of his visit, in-
structed the usher to reserve for the expected visitor
a seat among those to be occupied by the elite of the
city, and appointed Eliezer lecturer for that daj'.
At first the latter hesitated to venture on Johanan's
place, but, pressed bj' the master and encouraged
by his friends, delivered a discourse, gradually dis-
playing wonderful knowledge. Hyrcanus having
recognized in the lecturer his truant son, and hear-
ing the encomiums which Johanan showered on him,
now desired to transfer all his earthly possessions to
Eliezer; but the scholar, overjoyed at the reconcili-
ation, declined to take advantage of his brothers,
and requested to be allowed to have only his pro-
portionate share (Ab. R. N. vi. 3 ; Pirke R. El. 1. et
seq.). He continued his attendance at Johanan's col-
lege until near the close of the siege of Jerusalem,
when he and Joshua assisted in snmggling their
master out of the city and into the Roman camp
(see Johanan ben Zakkai).
Subsequently Eliezer proceeded to Jabneh (Ab.
Sliezer ben Hyrcauus
Sliezer b. Jacob
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
114
R. N. iv. 5; Git. 56), where be later became a mem-
ber of the Sanhedrin under the presidency of Gama-
liel II. (Ab. R. N. xiv. 6; Sanh. 17b), though he had
established, and for many years afterward conducted,
his own academy at Lydda (Sanh. 36b). His fame
as a great scholar had in the meantime spread, R.
Johanan himself declaring that Eliezer was un-
equaled as an expositor of traditional law (Ab. R.
N. vi. 3) ; and many promising students, among
them Akiba {ib. ; Yer. Pes. vi. 33b), attached them-
selves to his school.
Eliezer became known as "Eliezer ha-Gadol" ( =
"the Great"; Tosef., 'Orlah, 8; Ber. 6a, 32a; Sotah
13b, 48b, 49a ; generally, however, he is styled simply
" R. Eliezer "), and with reference to his legal acumen
and judicial impartiality, the Scriptural saying
(Deut. xvi. 20), "That which is altogether just [lit.
"Justice, justice "] shalt thou follow," was thus ex-
plained : " Seek a reliable court : go after R. Eliezer
to Lydda, or after Johanan ben Zakkai to Beror Hel, "
etc. (Sanh. 32b). Once he accompanied Gamaliel and
Joshua on an embassy to Rome (Yer. Sanh. vii. 25d;
Deut. R. ii. 24).
Rabbi Eliezer was very severe and somewhat
domineering with his pupils and colleagues (see
Sifra, Shemini, i. 33; 'Er. 63a; Hag. 3b; Meg. 25b),
a characteristic which led occasionally to unpleas-
ant encounters. The main feature of his teach-
ing was a strict devotion to tradition :
Eliezer's he objected to allowing the Midrash
Conserva- or the paraphrastic interpretation to
tism. pass as authority for religious practise.
In this respect he sympathized with
the conservative school of Shammai, which was
also opposed to giving too much scope to the inter-
pretation. Hence the assertion that he was a Sham-
maite, though he was a disciple of R. Johanan ben
Zakkai, who was one of Hillel's most prominent
pupils. This brought Eliezer into conflict with his
colleagues and contemporaries, who realized that
such conservatism must be fatal to a proper develop-
ment of the oral law. It was also felt that the
new circumstances, such as the destruction of the
Temple and the disappearance of the national inde-
pendence, required a strong religious central au-
thority, to which individual opinion must yield.
At last the rupture came. The Sanhedrin deliber-
ated on the susceptibility to Levitical uncleanness
of an 'aknai-oven (an oven consisting of tiles sepa-
rated from one another by sand, but externally plas-
tered over with cement). The majority decided that
such an oven was capable of becoming unclean, but
Eliezer dissented. As he thus acted in direct oppo-
sition to the decision of the majority, it was deemed
necessary to make an example of him, and he was
excommunicated. Still, even under these circum-
stances great respect was manifested toward him,
and the sentence was communicated to him in a
very considerate manner. Akiba, dressed in mourn-
ing, appeared before him and, seated at some dis-
tance from him, respectfully addressed him with
"My master, it appears to me that thy colleagues
keep aloof from thee." Eliezer readily took in the
situation and submitted to the sentence (B. M. 59b ;
Yer. M. K. iii. 81a et seq.). Thenceforth Eliezer lived
in retirement, removed from the center of Jewish
learning; though occasionally some of his disciples
visited him and informed him of the transactions of
the Sanhedrin (Yad. iv. 3).
During the persecutions of the Jewish Christians
in Palestine, Eliezer was charged with being a mem-
ber of that sect, and was summoned before the penal
tribunal. Being asked by the governor, " How can
a great man like thee engage in such idle things? " he
simply replied, "The judge is right." The judge,
understanding thereby Eliezer's denial of all connec-
tion with Christianity, released him, while Rabbi
Eliezer understood by "judge" God, justifying the
judgment of God which had brought
Relations this trial upon him. That he should
with Chris- be suspected of apostasy grieved him
tianity. sorely; and though some of his pupils
tried to comfort him, he remained for
some time inconsolable. At last he remembered that
once, while at Sepphoris, he had met a sectary who
communicated to him a singular halakah in the
name of Jesus; that he had approved of the halakah
and had really enjoyed hearing it, and, he added,
"Thereby I transgressed the injunction (Prov. v. 8),
'Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh
the door of her house, ' which the Rabbis apply to
sectarianism as well as to heresy " ('Ab. Zarah 16b;
Eccl. R. i. 8). The suspicion of apostasy and the
summons before the dreaded tribunal came, there-
fore, as just punishment. This event in his life
may have suggested to him the ethical rule, " Keep
away from what is indecent and from that which
appears to be indecent" (Tosef., Hul. ii. 24). It is
suggested that his sayings, " Instructing a woman
in the Law is like teaching her blasphemy " (Sotah
iii. 4) ; " Let the Law be burned rather than entrusted
to a woman" {ib.); and "A woman's wisdom is
limited to the handling of the distaff " (Yoma 66b),
also date from that time, he having noticed that
women were easily swayed in matters of faith.
Separated from his colleagues and excluded from
the deliberations of the Sanhedrin, Eliezer passed
his last years of life unnoticed and in comparative
solitude. It is probably from this melancholy period
that his aphorism dates : " Let the honor of thy col-
league [variant, "pupils"] be as dear to thee as thine
own, and be not easily moved to anger. Repent
one day before thy death. Warm thyself by the
fire of the wise men, but be cautious of their burn-
ing coals [= "slight them not"], that thou be not
burned ; for their bite is the bite of a jackal, their
sting is that of a scorpion, their hissing is that of a
snake, and all their words are fiery coals " (Ab. ii.
10; Ab. R. N. xv. 1). When asked how one can de-
termine the one day before his death, he answered :
"So much the more must one repent daily, lest he
die to-morrow ; and it follows that he must spend
all his days in piety " (Ab. R. N. ^.c. 4; Shab. 153a).
When his former colleagues heard of his approach-
ing dissolution, the most prominent of them hastened
to his bedside at Csesarea. When they appeared
before him he began to complain about
His Death, his long isolation. They tried to mol-
lify him by professing great and un-
abated respect for him, and by averring that it was
only the lack of opportunity that had kept them
away. He felt that they might have profited by his
115
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Eliezer ben Hyrcanus
Eliezer b. Jacob
teaching. Thereupon they besought him to com-
municate to them traditions concerning certain moot
points, particularly touching Levitical purity and
impurity. He consented, and answered question
after question until all breath left him. The last word
he uttered was "'tahor" (=" pure"), and this the
sages considered as an auspicious omen of his purity ;
whereupon they all rent their garments in token of
mourning, and R. Joshua revoked the sentence of
excommunication.
Eliezer died on a Friday, and after the following
Sabbath his remains were solemnly conveyed to
Lydda, where he had formerly conducted his acad-
emy, and there he was buried. Many and earnest
were the eulogies pronounced over his bier. R.
Joshua is said to have kissed the stone on which
Eliezer used to sit w^hile instructing his pupils, and
to have remarked, "This stone represents Sinai
[whence the Law was revealed] ; and he who sat on
it represented the Ark of the Covenant " (Cant. R.
i. 3). R. Akiba applied to Eliezer the terms which
Elisha had applied to Elijah (II Kings ii. 12), and
which Joash subsequently applied to Elisha himself
{ib. xiii. 14), "O my father, my father, the chariot
of Israel, and the horsemen thereof " (Ab. R. N.
XXV. 3).
Though excommunicated, Eliezer is quoted in the
Mishnah, the Baraita, and the Talmudim more fre-
quently than any one of his colleagues. He is also
made the putative author of Pirke de-R. Eliezer or
Baraita opR. Eliezer, though internal evidence
conclusively proves the late origin of the work.
Bibliography : Bacher, Ag. Tan. 1. 100-160 ; Briill, Mebo ha-
MUhnah, 1. 75-85J ; Frankel, Darke ha-Mishnah, pp. 75-83 ;
Gratz, Oesch. 2d ed., iv. 43 et seq.; Hamburger, B. B. T. 11.
162-168; Hellprin, Seder ha-DoroU 11., s.v.; Oppenheim, Bet
Talmud, Iv. 311, 332, 360 ; Weiss, Dor, 11. 81 et seq.; Wlesner,
Oibc^at Terushalayim, pp. 61 et seq.; Zacuto, Yuljxisin, ed.
FlUpowskl, pp. 50a et seq.; G. Deutsch, The Theory of Oral
TradUion, pp. 30, 34, Cinclimatl, 1896.
8. 8. S. M.
ELIEZER (ELEAZAB) BEN IMMANX7EL
OF TABASCON : Member of a family of scholars
established in that city since the first half of the
thirteenth century. Although he wrote several
works, only his correspondence with R. Samuel of
Agde (France) is now extant. He was the teacher of
the Dominican convert Pablo Christiani.
Bibliography ; Renan-Neubauer, Les Rabbins Franqais, pp.
516, 563 ; Gratz, Oesch. vil. 143 ; Gross, Oallia Judaica, p.
249.
fl.
S. K.
ELIEZEB B. ISAAC. See Del Bene, David.
ELIEZEB. BEN ISAAC OF BOHEMIA. See
TOSAFISTS.
ELIEZEB. ISAAC COHEN BEN ABBA-
HAM ASHKENAZI OF VITEBBO : Italian
physician and Talmudic authority; born at Rome at
the beginning of the sixteenth century ; died, prob-
ably at Sienna, Oct. 16, 1590. He was a brother-
in-law of the physician and Talmudist David de
Pomis, and, like him, distinguished in both medicine
and rabbinical literature. A halakic decision of his
on " Halizah " is quoted by Isaac Lampronti (" Pahad
Yizhak," «.«. nV^^n); and Moses Provencal, in his
responsa, cites him as an authority and gives him
the title "Ha-Kohen ha-Gadol." In 1587 the com-
munity of Bologna consulted Eliezer regarding an
ignorant shohet-
Eliezer is believed to be identical with Theodoro
de Sacerdotibus, the physician of Pope Julius III.
It is probable that the " Librum de Duello, " credited
to Isaac Viterbo by Bartolocci("Bibl. Rabb." iii. 891)
followed by Wolf ("Bibl. Hebr." i. 651, No. 1176),
was the work of Eliezer. Late in life Eliezer settled
at Sienna. The high esteem in which he was held is
shown by the elegy composed at his death by Jacob
of Tivoli (Neubauer, "Cat. Bodl. Hebr. MSS." No.
1998).
Bibliography: Marlni, Degli Archiatri Pcmtificti, 1. 4U;
Carmoly, Histoire des Medecins Juifs, In Revue Orienlale,
il. 134; R. E. J. x. 185; Allg. Zeit. des Jud. 1842. p. 631;
Vogelsteln and Rleger, Oesch. der Juden in Rom, U. 144,
259, 262.
K. I. Br.
ELIEZEB BEN ISAAC HA-GADOL ("The
Great ") : German rabbi of the eleventh century. He
was a pupil of his cousin R. Simon ha-Gadol of
Mayence and of R. Gershom Me'or ha-Golah. David
Conforte, relying on the statement in the tosefta
to Shab. 54b, says that Eliezer ha-Gadol was the
teacher of Rashi (" Kore ha-Dorot," p. 8a) ; but Rashi
himself, in citing Eliezer (Pes. 76b), does not say so.
In Rashi's quotation he is sometimes called Eliezer
ha-Gadol and sometimes Eliezer Gaon, which in-
duced Azulai ("Shem ha-Gedolim," p. 12a) to con-
sider them as two separate persons. According to
Menahem di Lonsano ("Shete Yadot," p. 122a),
Eliezer ha-Gadol was the author of the well-known
"Orhot Hayyim" or "Zawwa'at R. Eliezer ha-
Gadol," generally attributed to Eliezer b. Hyrcanus.
As to the authorship of the selihah " Elohai Basser
'Ammeka," recited in the service of Yom Kippur
Katonand attributed to Eliezer by Michael ("Or ha-
Hayyim," pp. 205-207), see Landshuth, " 'Ammude
ha-'Abodah," p. 20.
Bibliography : Azulai, Shem hOr-Oedolim. 1. 12a, 11., s.v.
Q"n mmN; Zunz, Z. O. pp. 47 et seq.; Jelllnek, B. H. 111.
27, 28 of the Preface ; Fuenn, Keneset Yisrael, p. 134 ; Stein-
schnelder, Cat. Bodl. cols. 957-958 ; Furst, Bibl. Jud. I. 233.
G. M. Sel.
ELIEZEB D'lTALIA : Printer of Mantua at
the beginning of the seventeenth century; estab-
lished a printing-office in Mantua in 1612 after
an interval of fifteen years during which no He-
brew printing-establishment had existed there. In
that year he issued the " Ayyelet haShahar," a col-
lection of liturgies by Mordecai Yare; "Yashir
Mosheh," a Purim poem by Moses of Corfu; and
Abraham Portaleone's "Shilte ha-Gibborim. "
Bibliography: Filrst, Bibl. Jud. 11. 156; Zunz. Z. G. p. 259;
Stelnschnelder and Cassel, JUdische Typographie, in Ersch
and Gruber, Encyc. section ii., part 28, p. 47.
J. M. Sel.
ELIEZEB (LIEZEB-ELEAZAB) B. JACOB:
1. Tanna of the first centur}'; contemporary of
Eleazar b. Hisraa and Eliezer b. Hyrcanus, and
senior of 'Illai (Pes. 32a. 39b; Yalk., Lev. 638). Of
his personal history nothing is known, except that he
had seen the Temple at Jerusalem and was familiar
with the specific purposes of its many apartments,
a subject on which he was considered an authority
(Yoma 16b; see Middot). Some of the details,
however, he eventually forgot, and was reminded
of them by Abba Saul b. Batnit (Mid. ii. 5, v. 4).
£liezer b. Jacob
Eliezer ben Joseph
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
116
Simon b. 'Azzai, Akiba's contemporary, relates that
he liad discovered a genealogical roll wherein was
stated, "The Mishnah of R. Eliezer b. Jacob is onlj' a
■kab' [small in proportion], but clear" (^"3K"I nJt^'0
'PJI 2p, Yeb. 49b), wherefore subsequent genera-
tions generally adopted Eliezer's views as law (Yeb.
GOa; Bek. 23b).
In the Ilaggadah, too, he is mentioned. Accord-
ing to him, what the Bible says (Deut. xi. 13), "To
serve him with all your heart and with all your
soul," is an admonition to the priests that, when
officiating, they shall entertain no thought foreign
to their duty (Sifre, Deut. 41).
2. Tanna of the second century, quoted among
Akiba's younger disciples who survived the fall of
Bethar and the subsequent Hadrianic persecutions:
Judah b. 'Illai, Meir, Simon b. Yohai, Eliezer b. Jose
ha-Gelili (Gen. R. Ixi. 8; Cant. R. ii. 5; compare
Ber. 63b; Yeb. 62b). With most of them he main-
tained halakic disputations (Neg. x. 4; To.sef., Yeb.
X. 5; ib. B. K. v. 7, ib. Ker. i. 11 ; ib. Parah, iii. 10).
He was the founder of a school known in the Talmud
after his name, Debe R. Eliezer b. Jacob, which
sometimes opposed the Debe R. Ishmael (Sanh. 90b;
Hul. 132a; Yoma 45b; see Hanina b. Minyomi).
Like his older namesake, Eliezer is quoted in both
the Halakah and the Haggadah. From the Penta-
teuchal injunction (Deut. xxii. 5), "The woman shall
not wear that which pertaineth to man, neither shall
a man put on a woman's garment," he maintains
that a woman must never handle arms or go to war,
and that man must not use ornaments which women
usually wear (Sifre, Deut. 226; Nazir 59a). Eliezer
taught: "Whoso performs a pious deed gains for
himself an advocate [before heaven], and whoso
commits a sin creates an accuser against himself.
Penitence and pious deeds constitute a shield against
heavenly visitations" (Ab. iv. 11).
It is related of him that he once gave up the seat
of honor to a poor blind man. The distinction thus
conferred on the visitor by so eminent a man induced
the people thereafter bounteously to provide for
the needy one, who, when he realized the cause of
his good fortune, thanked its author. He said,
" Thou hast shown kindness unto one who is seen,
but can not see : may He who sees, but can not be
seen, barken to thy prayers and show thee kind-
ness " (Yer. Peah viii. 21b).
Bibliography: Bacher, Ag. Tan. i. 67-72. li. 283-291 ; Brflll,
Afebo ha-Mishnah, i. 71 et seq.; Frankel, Darke /lo-Afus/i-
nah, pp. 73 et seq.; Heilprin, Seder ha-Dorot, ed. Warsaw,
1897, ii. .57b et .seq.; Weiss, Dor, ii. 41 et seq., 166 et seq.; Zacuto,
Yuhasin, ed. Filipowski, pp. 31b et seq., 51a.
8- 8- S. M.
ELIEZER BEN JACOB BELLIN ASH-
KENAZI : German scholar of the seventeenth cen-
tury. He prepared a calendar (" 'Ibronot," Lublin,
1615) based upon the work of Jacob Marcaria (Riva
di Trento, 1561), and improved by the addition of
a circular table, which facilitated the determination
of holidays and other important dates. It was re-
printed at Lublin (1640) and Frankfort-on-the-Oder
(1691).
r,fBLiOGRAPHT: Michael, O /lo-Haiwim. p. 204 ; Fuenn,Kene-
net Yvtrael, p. 122 ; Zarf ati, in Jost's Annalen, 1840, p. 344 ;
Steinschnelder, Cat. Bodl. col. 958.
«. M. Sel.
ELIEZER B. JACOB NAHTJM. See Nahum.
ELIEZER BEN JOEL HA-LEVI (n "aNl) :
German Talmudist; born probably at Bonn 1160-65;
died about 1235. He belonged to a German family
of scholars; his father, Joel ben Isaac ha-Levi, was
a prominent teacher of the Talmud, and his mater-
nal grandfather was Eliezer b. Nathan, perhaps the
greatest Talmudist of Germany in the early part of
the twelfth century. Eliezer's tirst teacher was his
father; he then attended the yeshibot of Metz, Ma-
yence, and Speyer. His teachers in ]\Iayence and
Speyer were Eliezer b. Samuel and Moses b. Sol-
omon ha-Kohen, two pupils of Jacob Tam. Isaac b.
AsHER II. of the yeshibah at Speyer is often desig-
nated by him as his teacher. Eliezer settled first at
Bonn, whence he went to Bingen, where he and his
family barely escaped a massa(;re at New-Year. On
this occasion he lost all his property, including his
books and manuscripts.
In 1200 he succeeded his father as chief rabbi of
Cologne, his assistants being Menahem b. David and
Shealtiel b. Menahem; he conducted at the same
time a large yeshibah. He took part in the Synod
of Mayence (1220 or 1223), which had for its object
the amelioration of the moral, religious, and social
condition of the comnmnities. His daughter's son
Hillel was the father of Mordecai b. Hillel, and
among his pupils may be mentioned Isaac b. Moses,
Avho frequently quotes his teacher in his " Or Zarua*. "
Eliezer displayed a many-sided literary activity.
His comments on the Bible and his glosses show
that he was influenced by the German mysticism of
his time. Like his colleague Eleazar of Worms, he
attached great importance to gematria, though many
of his glosses are grammatical and lexicographical.
The four liturgical poems by Eliezer
His Works, that have been preserved voice the
sorrows of Israel, of which he himself
had ample experience. They are distinguished by
wealth of thought and perfection of form, and are
among the best German piyyutim. He, however,
devoted himself chiefly to the Talmud and the Hala-
kah. He wrote tosafot to various Talmudic trea-
tises, those to Baba Kamma, Ketubot, Yebamot, and
Nedarim being quoted by later authorities; but they
are little known, as he lost the manuscripts at
Bingen. His chief productions, " Abi ha-'Ezri " and
"Abi Asaf," deal with ritualistic problems and ac-
quired great authority in Germany. Both follow
mostly the arrangement of the treatises of the Tal-
mud, the author first explaining the several passages
of the Talmud with especial reference to the halakic
Midrashim Sifraand Sifre, and to the Jerusalem Tal-
mud, and then laying down the rules for religious
observances, adding his own or other responsa rela-
ting to the subject.
Eliezer, like most German scholars, lacked skill in
presentation, and the works in which he attempted
to codify the laws regulating daily life are more or
less chaotic in arrangement. The "Abi ha-'Ezri"
contains most of the material discussed in Berakot,
in Seder Mo'ed, in Hullin, and in Niddah, and also
treats of " issur we-hetter " (that which is forbidden
and permitted), and some parts of the marriage laws.
The "Abi Asaf" contains the material referring to
117
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Eliezer b. Jacob
£liezer ben Joseph
the orders Nashim and Nezikin, hence the larger part
of the marriage laws, and the Talmiidic-rabbinical
law. Notwithstanding these methodological defects,
Eliezer's works enjoyed the highest reputation dur-
ing the Middle Ages, and are abundantly praised by
his contemporaries. So far only a small fragment of
tlie "Abi ha-'Ezri," under the title n'^DNI 1DD
(Cracow, 1883), has been published, while the whole
work is preserved in manuscript in the Bodleian
Library (Neubauer, Nos. 637-639) and in several
other libraries. Azulai saw part of the " Abi Asaf "
in manuscript, and the work may still be extant. A
treatise by Eliezer on the legal ordinance of Ketubah
is also extant (MS. De Rossi, No. 563). Long e.\-
tractsfrom "Abi Asaf" are found in Isaac b. Moses'
"Or Zarua'," in Meir of Rothenburg's responsa,
in "Mordecai," in Haggahot Maimuuiyyot, and in
Asher b. Jehiel's Halakot. They are not only of
great value for the study of the Halakah, but are
also of great interest for the history of Jewish liter-
ature. Eliezer's responsa give information on au-
thorities and works otherwise little or not at all
known. These extracts also give an adequate idea
of Eliezer's personality. He himself rigorously
observed the religious practises, even keeping the
Day of Atonement two days in succession, while at
the same time he was lenient toward others. He
permitted, for instance, non-Jewish musicians at
weddings on the Sabbath. But he was inflexible in
disputes relating to morals. He enforced rigorously
Rabbenu Gershon's decree against polygamy, not
even permitting a husband to marry again in the
case of the wife's incurable insanity.
Bibliography : Dembltzer, in the introduction to his edition
of the n'oNT; Gross, in Monatsschrift, xxxiv.-xxxv.; Mi-
chael, OrhOrlfauvim, s.v.; Zunz, ,S. P. pp. 326-327.
L. G.
ELIEZER B. JOSE HA-GELILI: Tanna
of the fourth generation (.second century); one of
Akiba's later disciples (Ber. 63b; Cant. R. ii. 5;
Eccl. R. xi. 6: see Emezer b. Jacob). While he
cultivated both the Halakah (Sotah v. 3; Tosef.,
Sanli. i. 2; Sanh. 3b) and the Haggadah, his fame
rests mainly on his work in the latter field. Indeed,
with reference to his homiletics, later generations
said, " Wherever thou meetest a word of R. Eliezer
b. R. Jose ha-Gelili in the Haggadah, make thine
ear as a funnel (Hul. 89a; Yer. Kid. i. 61d; Pesik.
R. X. 38b; compare Jastrow, "Diet." s.i\ nD2"lDN)-
For, even where he touched on the Halakah, he al-
ways brought exegesis to bear upon the matter.
Thus, arguing that after legal proceedings are closed
the court may not propose a compromise, he says,
"The judge who then brings about a settlement is a
sinner; and he who blesses him is a blasphemer, of
whom it may be said (Ps. x. 3) 'n |*NJ "I"I2 yVUI
["The compromiser he bles.seth: the Lord he con-
temneth"; A. V. "Blesseth the covetous, whom the
Lord abhorreth "]. The Law must perforate the
mountain (i.e., must not be set aside under any con-
siderations) ; for thus the Bible says (Dent. i. 17), ' Y'e
shall not be afraid of the face of man ; for the judg-
ment is God's' " (Tosef., Sanh. I.e.. ; Sanh. 6b; Yer.
Sanh. i. 18b). He compiled a set of hermeneiitic
rules as guides in interpreting the Scriptures (see
Barait.\ op the Thirty-two Rules), some of
which are adaptations of those of his predecessors,
and in so far applicable to Halakah as well as to
Haggadah. Those specifically homiletical are based
on syntactical or phraseological or similar peculiari-
ties of the Biblical texts which constitute the sub-
stance of the ]\Iidrashim.
Like his colleagues, at the close of the first aca-
demic session after the Bar Kokba insurrection,
Eliezer publicly thanked the people of Usha. He
said, "The Bible relates (II Sam. vi. 12), 'The Lord
hath blessed the house of Obed-edom, and all that
pertaineth unto him, because of the ark of God. '
Is this not very significant? If, for merely dusting
and cleaning the Ark, which neither ate nor drank,
Obed-edom was blessed, how much more deserving
of blessings are they who have housed the scholars,
have furnished them with meat and drink, and have
otherwise shared with them their goods!" (Ber.
63b). Elsewhere (Cant. R. ii. 5) this is attributed
to another speaker, while Eliezer is credited with
the following: "It is recorded (II Sam. xv. 6), ' Saul
said unto the Kenites . . . Ye showed kindness unto
all the children of Israel, when they came up out of
Egypt. ' Was it not to Moses alone to whom Jethro
[" the Kenite" ; see Judges i. 16, iv. 11] had shown
kindness? But the Bible here implies the rule that
whoso deals kindly with any one of the spiritual
heads of Israel, to him it is accounted as if he had
done so to the Avhole people" (compare Lev. R.
xxxiv. 8). With reference to the Biblicttl statement
(Josh. xxiv. 32), "The bones of Joseph, which the
children of Israel brought up out of Egypt, buried
they in Shechem," he remarks, "Was it not Moses
who brought up those bones (Ex. xiii. 19)? But
this teaches that where one starts a good deed and
fails to bring it to a finish, another party performing
the unfinished part, the whole deed is credited to the
latter" (Gen. R. Ixxxv. 3; compare Sotah 13b;
Tan., 'Ekeb. 6). He counsels that one should ad-
vance or postpone a journey in order to enjoy the
company of a good man ; and likewise to avoid the
company of a bad one (Tosef., Shab. xvii. [xviii.]
2, 3; ib. *Ab. Zarah i. 17, 18).
Bibliography : Bacher, Ag. Tan. Ii. 292 et seq.; BrQU, Mebo
ha-Mish7iah, 1. 212; Frankel, Darke ha-Mishnah, p. 186;
Heilprin, Seder ha-Dorot, ii., s.r.; Wel&s, Dor, ii. 167 ; Zacuto,
YuljtasUi, ed. Filipowski, p. 57a.
s. s. S. M.
ELIEZER BEN JOSEPH OF CHINON :
French Talmudist; born about 1255; martyred on
the Jewish New-Year, Sept. 25, 1321 ; a pupil of
Perez ben Elijah of Corbeil, whose sister he mar-
ried. Estori Farhi, Eliezer's pupil, in his "Kaftor
wa-Ferah." mentions a work by his teacher, entitled
" Halakot," which, however, has not been preserved.
Eliezer is known chiefly by his correspondence and
controversies. One of the latter refers to the Tal-
mudic law that a document predated is void. The
question arose whether this law was applicable to a
deed of gift; after a good deal of correspondence it
was decided in Eliezer's favor by Solomon ben
Adret. Eliezer sulfered death during the terrible^
persecutions of the lepers. Joseph, the father of
Eliezer, was a prominent rabbi and scholar; accord-
ing to Zunz, Nathanel ok Chinon was the father
of Joseph ; this, however, is doubtful.
Eliezer ben Judah
Eliezer of Toulouse
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
118
Bibliography: Gross, OalliaJudaica,p.5Si; Zunz, Litera-
turgesch. p. 363 ; Renan-Neubauer, Les RabbiTis Francis,
p. 447.
L. G. A. Pe.
ELIEZEB BEN JTJDAH. See Eleazar ben
Judah of Bartota.
ELIEZER LIEPMANN BEN JTJDAH L6B
LEVI BRODY: Cabalist of Galicia in the eight-
eenth century; author of two cabalistic commen-
taries: one on the Psalms, "Migdal Dawid," with a
general introduction under the title " Tal Orot," pub-
lished together with the text, Vienna, 1792: and one
on the Proverbs, " Bet Shelomoh," with an introduc-
tion entitled "Petahha-Bayit," Zolkiev, 1788.
Bibliography: Fiirst, Bihl. Jud. i. 133; Stelnschnelder, Cat.
Bodl. col. 959 ; Walden, Shem ha-Oedolim he-Hadash, 11. 13.
K. I. Br.
ELIEZER BEN MEIR HA-LEVI : Rabbi of
Pinsk, Russia; flourished iu the second half of the
eighteenth century. He wrote : " Siah ha-Sadeh, " Pen-
tateuchal homilies arranged in the order of the para-
shiyyot (Sklow, 1786) ; " Reah ha-Sadeh," a continua-
tion of the preceding, with the same arrangement,
and with two homilies for each parashah {ib. 1795).
Bibliography: Fiienn, iiTenesct YisraeUp. 126; Fiirst, Bib?.
Jud. 1. 233.
L. G. M. Sel.
ELIEZER BEN MENAHEM MANNES
STERNBURG : Talmudist of the seventeenth cen-
tury. He was the author of "Petah 'Enayim," an
index to Biblical passages found in the Zohar and
Til^kunim (Cracow, 1647); republished with the Zo-
har (Sulzbach, 1684). He also revised (1619) the
" 'En Ya'akob " of Jacob b. Habib.
Bibliography : Stelnschnelder, Cat. Bodl. col. 962.
L. G. M. Sel.
ELIEZER B. NAPHTALI OF FRANK-
FORT. See Treves, Eliezer b. Naphtali.
ELIEZER B. NATHAN OF MAYENCE
(pN") = RABaN) : Halakist and liturgical poet;
flourished in the first half of the twelfth century.
He was the son-in-law of Rabbi Eliakim b. Joseph
of Maj'ence, a fellow student of Rashi. Through
his four daughters Eliezer became the ancestor of
several learned families which exerted a great influ-
ence upon religious life in the subsequent centuries.
One of his great-grandsons was R. Asher b. Jehiel
(ROSH), father of R. Jacob, author of the "Turim."
The following table represents the genealogy of
the family :
EUezer b. Nathan— m. daughter
of Eliakim ben Joseph
Ist daughter—
m. R. Samuel b.
Natronai, one of
the authors
of " Tosafot "
2d daughter-- 3d daughter
m. R. Joel b. m. R. Url
Isaac ha-Levl
I
R. Eliezer ha-Levi
(RABIAH), rabbi
in Bonn and Cologne
Url
(martyred
1216)
one daughter Joel
I
R. Hillel, grand-
father of R. Mordecai
4th daughter—
m. R. Eliakim
I
R. Url
I
R. Jehiel
(1210-1264)
i
R. Asher
in Toledo
(ROSH)
I
B. Jacob, au-
thor of the
" Turim "
Eliezer maintained a scliolarly correspondence
with his noted contemporaries, R. Tarn and Rash-
bam (Jacob and Samuel b. MeYr), who esteemed him
very highly, and in conjunction with whom, at tlie
head of a synod of 150 rabbis from France and Ger-
many, he had directed important measures. His
ritual and juridical decisi(ms were eagerly sought.
The most important of his responsa he included
in his principal halakic work. This book, which,
playing upon the initials of his name, he terms
"EBeN ha-'Ezer," is cited by his great-grandson
Rosh, and by R. Solomon Luria, under
"Eben the title of "Zofnat Pa'aneah." The
ha-'Ezer." author attempts in this work to ac-
count for certain traditional customs,
to offer solutions of complicated legal questions, and
to throw light on the significance of ritual observ-
ances. The work is therefore necessarily lacking
in unit}'. The first and smaller part, mainly in
short chapters of varied contents (in the printed text
extending up to No. 385), contains answers to ques-
tions from pupils and contemporaries; while the
second and larger section presents elaborate halakic
discussions arranged according to subjects, corre-
sponding to the Talmudic tractates. Since the de-
cisions as well as the scholarly treatises often con-
tain personal reminiscences, observations regarding
customs and usages, names of scholars, and miscel-
laneous literary data, the work is a storehouse for
the student of Jewish history in that century. The
various Hebrew paraphrases of German and French
words which occur in the work are of importance
for linguistic research.
Eliezer proves himself conscientious and careful
in his decisions. Unlike R. Tam, he possessed little
self-confidence, and in his humility and reverence
for tradition he is inclined to extremely rigid inter-
pretations of the Law. Solomon's injunction (Prov.
i. 8), "Forsake not the teaching of thy mother," he
interprets as meaning, " What the older rabbis have
prohibited we must not permit" (No. 10). The
chapters on civil law contain many an interesting doc-
ument, and also a statement of commercial relations
occasioned by various trials. They contain precise
statements of the prices of goods and accurate infor-
mation concerning commercial usages in the Rhine-
land and in distant Slavic countries; e.g., concern-
ing the gold trade in Strasburg and Speyer (fol.
145b); the coinage of the time (Zunz, "Z. G." p.
5b); and the export trade with Galicia and southern
Russia (No. 5). Slavic customs and character are
also discussed in connection with ritual matters.
Among the decisions are some containing interpreta-
tions of Biblical and Talmudic sayings; one of them
(No. 119) even presenting a connected commentary
on Prov. XXX. 1-6, in which R. Saadia's view is cited
— namely, that Ithiel and Ucal were the names of
two men who addressed philosophical questions to
Agur ben Jakeh.
The work mentions the year 1152, and must there-
fore have been completed after that date. The year
1247, which occurs on two copies, may be credited
to later transcribers. In the subsequent centuries
Eliezer came to be regarded as a great authority,
but his work was little known. Not until its im-
portance had been specially urged by the most in-
fluential rabbis of Poland — Mordecai Jafe, Samuel
Eliezer Edels (Maharsha), Solomon Ephraim Luat-
119
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Elierer ben Judah
Eliezer of Toulouse
schitz, among others, in a formal appeal issued from
Posen in 1609— was its publication undertaken. The
first edition, Prague, 1610, has, up to the present
time, remained the only one.
Eliezer wrote numerous yozerot, selihot, and other
piyyu^im; very few of them, however, have been
incorporated in the German and Polish
As liturgy. The " Akapperah PeneMelek"
liiturgical in the selihot to the musaf of the Day
Poet. of Atonement is an example. His
poetical productions are valuable only
as an index to his devout nature and to his estimate
of the importance of the liturgy. They are distin-
guished for neither originality, elevation of thought,
nor elegance of diction. With their allusions to
haggadic interpretations, their employment of pay-
yetan phraseology, acrostics, rimes, and similar me-
chanical devices, they differ little from many other
liturgical productions. Some of these poems he
seems to have written on special occasions. Thus,
one piyyut composed for a circumcision occurring
on the Sabbath bears at the close the cipher " ABN,"
and the words "Long live my child Eliakim."
Altogether twenty-five piyyutim of his are known.
One of his selihot depicts the persecutions of the
First Crusade (1096) ; another, those of 1146.
To Eliezer is attributed the commentary on the
Mahzor published in Ostroh in 1830. Some of Elie-
zer's expositions are mentioned in a
As Com- commentary on the festal prayers
mentator. called " Korban Aharon. " Mention is
also made of a commentary on Abot,
from which Jehiel Morawtschik, in his "Minhah
Hadashah," written in 1576 after a manuscript of
the year 1145, makes quotations.
Eliezer is also supposed to be the author of a his-
tory of the terrible events of 1096, the year of the
First Crusade. The persecutions of
As the Jewish communities in the towns
Chxoiiicler. along the Rhine, the horrible butch-
eries that were perpetrated, are faith-
fully depicted here in chronological order. In this
work various acrostic verses contain the name
"Eliezer b. Nathan." In deference to a passage in
Joseph ha-Kohen's " 'Emck ha-Baka," p. 31, which
makes a certain Eleazar ha-Levi the author, some
writers (as Landshuth and Grfttz) have denied Elie-
zer's authorship of this chronicle. This view, how-
ever, has recently been refuted. The chronicle was
first edited by Adolph Jellinek (" Zur Geschichte der
Kreuzzlige," Leipsic, 1854); and was republished as
"Hebraische Berichte ilber die Judenverfolgungen
Wahrend der Kreuzziige," by Neubauer and Stern,
togetherwitha German translation, in the "Quellen
zur GescJiichte der Juden in Deutschland," ii., Ber-
lin, 1892.
BiHLTOGRAPHY : Laudshuth, 'Ammude ha-''Abodah,m. 30-22 ;
Michael, Or ha-I^ayyim, pp. 211-215; Giidemann, Ge.sc/i. des
Krziehungnwesen nnd der CuJttir, 1., pasinm; Zunz, Li-
teraUirgcach. pp. 259-262; Gross, In Monatsschrift, 1885, p.
310; H. Bresslau, in Neubauer and Stern, Quellen, ii., xv.-xvii.
L. G. A. K.
ELIEZEB BEN REUBEN. See Kahana, Eli-
EZKR BEN Reuben.
ELIEZER BEN SAMSON : Rabbi and liturgist
of Cologne, of the twelfth century ; a relative of the
tosafist R. Eliezer h. Nathan; studied at Speyer
under R. Isaac b. Elhanan, and at Mayence. He
was one of the leaders of tlie "great synod " in which
one Jiundred and fifty rabbis took part under the
guidance of K. Jacob Tam and his brother Samuel
(Rashbam). lie is mentioned, and one of his re-
sponsa is cited, by Mordecai (Kct. 219; Shebu. 761;
Kid. 515); another responsum is cited in " Or Zaro'a "
(Shab. 45). Two of his piyyutim are extant: (1)
for the second evening of the Feast of Tabernacles,
a pizmon of seven stanzas, six verses in each; (2)
"Reshut" to the "Haftarah," in Aramaic, consist-
ing of thirty-two verses which rime in "raya." Both
piyyutim give the acrostic of the author's name.
Bibliography : Michael, Or ha-Hayyim, p. 218 ; Zunz, Litera-
turgesch. p. 176 ; Fuenn, Keneisct Yisrael, p. 133.
I-. G. M. Sel.
ELIEZER B. SAMUEL. See Treves, Elie-
zer B. Samttet,.
ELIEZER BEN SAMUEL OF VERONA:
Italian tosafist; lived about the beginning of the
thirteenth century. He was a disciple of Rabbi
Isaac the elder, of Dampierre, and grandfather of
the philosopher and physician Hillel of Forli. He
had sanctioned the second marriage of a young
woman whose husband had probably, though not
certainly, perished by shipwreck. But Eliezer ben
Joel ha-Levi refused to indorse the permission, and
a protracted controversy resulted, into which other
rabbis were drawn. Eliezer ben Samuel is often
quoted on Biblical and halakic questions. Mordecai,
in speaking of Eliezer, calls him "Eliezer of Ver-
dun," though undoubtedly meaning "Verona."
Bibliography : Azulai, Shem ha-OedoUm, 1. 28; Zunz, O. S.
iii. 250 ; MnnatsschrifU xxxiv. 520 ; Gross, Gallia Judaica,
p. 2m.
I-. G. A. Pe.
ELIEZER B. TADDAI : Tanna of the sec-
ond century ; contemporary of Simon b. Eleazar
(Tosef., 'Er. vii. [v.] 9); and quoted in some barai-
tot in connection with halakot and with haggadot
(Tosef., Shab. xvi. fxvii.] 10; Mek., Beshallah,
Shirah, i. ; Tan., Beshallah, 11). Nothing is known
of his history, and, as is the case with many others,
the exact version of his praenomen can not be ascer-
tained. The Tosefta (Z.c.) reads "Eleazar," and so
does Yerushalmi (Shab. iii. 5d. ; 'Er. vi. 33c): while
the Babylonian Talmud (Shab. 123a; 'Er. 71b) and
the Midrashim (I.e.) read " Eliezer." See also Tosef.,
Shab. I.e.; Rabbinowicz, "Dikdu^e Soferim" to
Shab. and 'Er. I.e.
s. s. S. M.
ELIEZER OF TOLEDO : Rabbi in Constanti-
nople in the first half of the nineteenth century and
a contemporary of Hiyya Pontremoli. He was the
author of "Mishnat de-Rabbi Eli'ezer," a collection
of one hundred and thirty-four responsaon the civil
laws of Hoshen Mishpat (Salonica, 1858).
Bibliography: Fuenn, Keneset Yisrael, p. 134; Walden,
Shem harOednlim he-Hadash, 1. 24.
K. M. Sel.
ELIEZER OF TOULOUSE: French tosafist;
died about 1234. In his youth Eliezer was a tutor
in the house of the wealthy scholar Hezekiah ben
Reuben of Boppard. His tosafot on Bezah are
quoted by Zedekiah Anaw in his "Shibbole ha-
Eliezer of Touques
Elijah
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
120
Leket," and other quotatiolis of ten made in his name
may also have been taken tlierefrora.
Bibliography: Gross, Gallia Jxcdaica, p. 211; Zunz, Z. G.
p. 39.
L. G. A. Pe.
ELIEZER OF TOUaUES (llt3)0) : French
tosafist; lived at Touques in the second lialf of the
thirteenth century. He abridged the tosafot of Sam-
son of Sens, Samuel of Evreux, and many others,
and added thereto marginal notes of his own, enti-
tled " Gilyon Tosafot, " or " Tosafot Gillayon. " This
abridgment, together with the notes, after under-
going many alterations and receiving several addi-
tions from later authorities, was called "Tosafot
Tuk " ; it forms the foundation of the Tosafot now
printed with the Talmud (see Hillel ben Mordecai,
'Ab. Zarah, § 1295; Judah ben Eliezer, "Minhat
Yehudah," 58a; R. Nissim to Alfasi, Git. viii.; and
Bezalel Ashkenazi, " Shittah, " pp. 47-49). Gershon
Soncino, who printed Eliezer's tosafot for the first
time, says, in the preface to Kimhi's " Miklol " edited
by him (Constantinople, 1532-34), that he collected
them in various places in France, especially in
Chambery, Savoy. Eliezer was also the author of a
commentary on the Pentateuch, mentioned in a list
of works appended to the manuscript of Ibn Janah's
"Sefer ha-Rikmah," now in the Biblioth^que Ra-
tionale, Paris (No. 1216).
Bibliography : Azulai, Shem ha-GedoUm, il., s.v. mcDV ;
Zunz, Z. G. p. 39 ; Gross, Gallia Judaica, p. 209 ; Rabhlno-
wlcz, Ma''amar 'al Hadfasat fia-Tnlm ud, p. 23, Municb, 1877 ;
Michael, Or ha^Haiiyim, No. 424.
K. I Br.
ELIEZEB (ELEAZAK) B. ZADOK : 1.
Tanna of the first century ; disciple of Johanan the
Hoionite (Tosef., Suk. ii. 8; Yeb. lob). He traced
his descent from Shinhab or Senaah of the tribe of
Benjamin ('Er. 41a; Ta'an. 12a). In his youth he
saw the Temple in its glory (Mid. iii. 8; Suk. 49a;
Sanh. 52b; Men. 88b), and later witnessed its de-
struction by the Romans (Tosef., Ket. v. 9; Lam.
R. i. 5). During his residence in Jerusalem he, in
partnership with Abba Saul b. Batnit, conducted a
wine and oil business (Tosef., Bezah, iii. 8). He is
reported to have acquired from some Alexandrian
Jews a building formerly used as a private syna-
gogue (Tosef., Meg. iii. [ii.] 6; Yer. Meg. iii. 72d).
The partners were generally applauded for their
fairness and piety (Tosef., Bezah, I.e.).
After the destruction of Jerusalem, Eliezer is
found at Acco (Acre), where, as he himself relates,
he witnessed the distress of his vanquished people.
There he saw the daughter of the once fabulously
rich Nicodemus b. Gorion of Jerusalem risking her
life at the hoofs of horses to pick up the grains
which they had dropped (Ket. 67a ; Lam. R. i. 16 ;
compare Yer. Ket. v. 30b et seq.). Another promi-
nent Jewish woman, Miriam, the daughter of Simon
b. Gorion (perhaps Giora, the leader of the Zealots,
who surrendered to Titus; see Josephus, "B. J." vii.
2), Eliezer saw tied by her tresses to the tail of a
horse, and thus dragged behind the Roman horse-
men (Yer. Ket. v. 30c; compare Lam. R. I.e.).
Later he is found at Jabneh, a frequent visitor at the
residence of Patriarch Gamaliel II. (Tosef., Bezah,
ii. 13 et seq. ; Pes. 37a; Bezah 22b), and a member of
the Sanhedrin (Shab. 11a; Niddah 48b), where he
frequently related personal observations which he
had made in the days of Judea's independence
(Tosef., Pes. vii. 13; compare Yer. Pes. viii. 36b;
Tosef., Suk. ii. 10; Tosef., Meg. iii. 15; Tosef.,
Sanh. ix. 11 ; Tosef., Kelim, B. B. ii. 2); and on some
of his reports the Sanhedrin founded halakot (Pes.
X. 3, 116b; B. B. 14a; Men. 40a).
The frequency of his reminiscences in Talmudic
literature forms the strongest argument for the as-
sumption tiiat he was the first compiler of a now lost
treatise on mourning called "Ebel Zutarta " (see
Brlill, "Jahrb." i. 16-26; Klotz, "Ebel Rabbati."
pp. 3 et seq.). How long he remained in Jabneh is
not stated ; but he did not end his days there. Ac-
cording to a Talmudic notice (M. K. 20a; Sem. xii.),
he died at Ginzak (Gazaca) in Media, far away from
his family; and his son, Zadok II., learned of his
death only after the lapse of three years.
2. Grandson of the preceding; flourished in the
fourth tannaitic generation (second century). He is
often met with in halakic controversies with the later
disciples of Akiba (Kil. vii. 2; Kelim xxvi. 9; Mik.
vi. 10). Like his grandfather, he spent many years
in Babjionia, where Abba Arika's father studied
under him (Suk. 44b; see Aibu, 1). Unlike his
grandfather, in whose name no practical decisions
are on record, he decided questions submitted to him
(Suk. ^.c); and his own acts are cited as illustra-
tions in ritualistic law {ib. ; Tosef., Suk. ii. 2; Yer.
Sanh. vii. 24b; the illustration of the Tosef ta is
anachronistically ascribed to the elder Eliezer b.
Zadok).
Bibliography: Bucher^ Ag. Tan. i. 50-5.5; BruU, ^febo h<v-
Mishnah, 1. 91-93; Frankel, Darfce /ia-3/is/ina/i, pp. 97-99,
178; Heilprin. Se<ler ha-Dnrot, ed. Maskilelson. 11. 59a,
68b ; Weiss, Do?', Ii. 121 ; Zacuto, Yxihat^in, ed. Fllipowskl,
pp. 26a, 'jHa.
s. s. S. M;
ElilEZER BEN ZEEB WOLF : Russian rab-
bi; lived about the middle of the eighteenth century.
He was the author of two works: (1) "Imre Shefer,"
containing sermons, Poryck, 1786; and (2)"Damnie-
sek Eli'ezer," containing novelise on Talmud and
Tosafot, ethical sermons, a commentary on Ps. cxx.-
cxxxiv., and various other explanations and homi-
lies, ib. 1790.
Bibliography: Fuerni, JTerieset l-fero*/, p. 123 ; VanStraalen,
Cat. Hehr. Bniik.-< Brit, itftw. p. 70.
I,. G. L Bk.
ELIHXJ : Name of several Biblical personages.
It has two forms— Nin'^X and in'^i<— and its meaning
is " He is my God," i.e., "He remains my God and
does not change, "not as G. Hoffmann ("Hiob," 1891,
p. 23) renders it: "He is my God," i.e., "My God is
the only true God." The most famous bearer of
this name is found in the Book of Job (xxxii. 2-6,
xxxiv. 1, x.xxv. 1, xxxvi. 1), where he is described
as the son of Barachel (^NDn3), and a descendant of
Buz (T"13). Since the latter, according to Gen. xxii.
21, was a son of Abraham's brother Nachor and a
brother of Huz (yiy), the ancestor of Job, it follows
that Elihu, the Buzite, was a distant relative of Job.
The Assyrian equivalent of the land of Buz is
" Bazu, "designating a region probably east of Damas-
cus (Friedrich Delitzsch, "Assyrische LesestQcke,"
4th ed., 1901, p. 192). Elihu is therefore described as
121
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Eliezer of Touques
Elijah
a non-Israelite living during the patriarchal period,
like Job and other personages of the book named
after him. Elihu is the speaker in eh. xxxii.-xxxvii.,
and his argument is as follows: God is the educator
of mankind, who punishes only until the sinner has
atoned for his sin and recognizes Ins wrong-doing.
Then God has attained His object, to "bring back
his soul from the pit, to be enlightened with the
light of the living " (xxxiii. 17-30). Elihu, there-
fore, holds a middle ground, maintaining that God
neither "takes away judgment," nor sends suffering
merely as a punishment, but acts as tfie educator
and teacher of mankind (xxxiv. 5; xxxv. 1, 14;
xxxvi. 10, 22). As regards the relation of Elihu's
speeches to the Book of Job, see Job, Book op.
Among the Israelites the following bore the name
of Elihu: (1) Samuel's great-grandfather (I Sam.
i. 1); (2) a brother of David (I Chron. xxvii. 18);
(3) a chief of the tribe of Manasseh, who joined
David when the latter fled to Ziklag (I Chron. xii.
20); (4) one of the Korhites (I Chron. xxvi. 7).
E. G. H. E. K.
ELIJAH (irT'^N).— Biblical Data: The name
irivN means " Yhwh is (my) God," and is a confes-
sion that its bearer defended Yhwh against the wor-
shipers of Baal
and of other
gods. It has
therefore been
assumed that the
prophet took
this name him-
self (Thenius, in
"Kurzgefasstes
Exegetisches
Handbuch zu I
Konige," xvii.
1). Elijah was
a prophet in Is-
rael in the first half of
the ninth pre-Christian cen
tury, under King Ahab. In I
Kings xvii. 1 and xxi. 17, etc., Eli-
jah is called " the Tishbite " dt^TlH),
probably because he came from a place
(or a family) by the name of " Tishbe. " A
place of that name lay within the bound-
aries of Naphtali (comp. Tobit i. 2). But
the Hebrew words ny^J 'a^iTID must refer to
a place in Gilead (see, however, Targum;
Masoretes and David Kimhi ad loc).
Elijah, therefore, came from the land east of
the Jordan, to wage war, in the name of the God of
his fathers, against the worship of Baal. He was
marked as an adherent of the old customs by his
simple dress, consisting of a mantle of skins girt
about the loins with a leather belt (II Kings i. 8).
He began his activities with the announcement that
the drought then afflicting the land should not cease
until he gave the word (comp. Josephus, "Ant."
viii. 13, I 2).
This announcement, addressed to Ahab and his
wife, marked the beginning of a life of wandering
and privation for the prophet. lie fled from hiding-
place to hiding-place, the first being by the brook
Cherith (n^")3). Since Robinson's explorations in
Palestine (ii. 533 et seq.) this brook has been identified
with the Wadi el-Kelt, which dis-
Ahab and charges into the Jordan near Jericho.
Elijah. But the resemblance between the two
names is really less close than ap-
pears, for it must be remembered that "Kelt" is
pronounced with the emphatic " k. " Moreo ver.since
the expressions DDTp and p-|\T 'JS'^y refer to the
land east of the Jordan, the brook Cherith must have
been there, even if there is no modern river-name
with which to identify it. After the brook Cherith
had dried up, the prophet was forced to seek refuge
beyond the boundaries of Israel, and found it in the
Phenician Zarephath, about four hours' journey
south of Sidon, where a widow sustained him. She
was rewarded by the prophet's miraculous benefits
(I Kings xvii. 9-24).
The greatest achievement of Elijah's life was his
victory over the priests of Baal at Mt. Carmel.
Having heard that the other prophets of Yhwh
were also persecuted, he requested King Ahab to
gather the people of Israel, the 4o0 priests of Baal,
and the 400 prophets of Ashtaroth on Mt. Carmel.
Then he asked Israel the famous question : " How
long do ye halt on both knees? " (A. V. : " How long
halt ye between
The Ascension of Elijah.
From an illuminated ketubab of tbe early nineteenth century,
(In the U. S. National Museum, Washington, D. C.)
two opinions?"),
meaning, "How
long will ye be
undecided as to
whether ye shall
follow Yhwh or
Baal?" The peo-
ple remaining si-
lent, he invited
the priests of
Baal to a con-
test, proposing
that he and they
should each build an
altar and lay a burnt of-
fering thereon, and that the
God who should send down
fire from heaven to consume the
offering should be accepted as the
true God. After various unsuccess-
ful attempts to get a favorable answer
had been made by the prophets of Baal,
while they were ridiculed with subtle irony
by Elijah, Yhwh sent fire from heaven to
consume his offering. Yhwh was recognized
by Israel, and the priests of Baal were slain near
the brook Kishon (I Kings xviii. 40).
But this victory brought no rest to Elijah. He
had to leave Israel in order to escape the vengeance of
Jezebel {ib. xix. 3 et seq.), and fled to the place where
Israel's Law had been promulgated by Moses. As
he lay under a juniper-tree, exhausted
Elijah by his journej-, he was miraculously
at Mount provided with food ; and on reaching
Horeb. Horeb, the mountain of God, he heaid
the voice of the Lord exhorting him
to patience. This is the sense of the famous pas-
sage {ib. xix. 11-13). God manifested Himself
neither in the great wind that rent the mountains.
JBlijah
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
122
nor in the earthquake, nor in the fire, but in the
"still small voice." The three following measures
were suggested: the appointing of a foreign enemy
of Israel ; the anointing of an Israelitic rival king
to Ahab's dynasty ; and the anointing of Elisha to
continue the spiritual work of the prophet. This,
the chief work of the prophet, Elijali himself car-
ried on to the end of his life. After the election of
Elisha (xix. 19-21), he prophesied both punishments
and promises (xxi. 17-28; II Kings i. 3 et scq.), and
left the field of his activities as suddenly as he had
appeared (II Kings ii. 11).
Elijah is also mentioned in later Biblical and apoc-
ryphal passages as follows: II Chron. xxi. 12 et
uq. ; Mai. iii. 24; Ecclus. (Sirach) xlviii. 1; I Mace,
ii. 58; Isaiah's Martyrdom, ii. 14 (in Kautzsch, "Die
Apokryphen und Pseudepigraphen des Alten Test-
aments," 1898, ii. 135).
E. G. H. E. K.
In Rabbinical liiterature : Elijah, " let him
be remembered for good," or "he who is remem-
bered for good" (Yer. Sheb. iii., end); or, as he is
commonly called among the Jews, "the prophet
Elijah " (Eliyahu ha-nabi'), has been glorified in
Jewish legend more than any other Biblical per-
sonage. The Haggadah which makes this prophet
the hero of its description has not been content, as in
the case of others, to describe merely his earthly life
and to elaborate it in its own way, but has created a
new history of him, which, beginning with his death
or "translation," ends only with the close of the
liistory of the human race. From the day of the
prophet Malachi, wiio says of Elijah that God will
send him before " the great and dreadful day " (Mai.
iii. 23 [A. V. iv. 5]), down to the later marvelous
stories of the Hasidic rabbis, reverence and love, ex-
pectation and hope, were always connected in the
Jewish consciousness with the person of Elijah.
As in the case of most figures of Jewish legend, so
in the case of Elijah the Biblical account became
the basis of later legend. Elijah the precursor of
the Messiah, Elijah zealous in the cause of God,
Elijah the helper in distress — these are the three
leading notes struck by the Haggadah, endeavoring
to complete the Biblical picture with the Elijah
legends. Since, according to the Bible, Elijah lived
a mysterious life, the Haggadah naturall}' did not
fail to supply the Biblical gaps in its own way. In
the first place, it was its aim to describe more pre-
cisely Elijah's origin, since the Biblical (I Kings
xvii. 1) "Elijah, who was of the inhabitants of
Gilead," was too vague.
Three different theories regarding Elijah's origin
are presented in the Haggadah: (1) he belonged to
the tribe of Gad (Gen. R. Ixxi.); (2) he was a Ben-
jamite from Jerusalem, identical with the Elijah
mentioned in I Chron. viii. 27; (3) he was a priest.
That Elijah was a priest is a statement which is
made by many Church fathers also (Aphraates,
"Homilies," ed. Wright, p. 314; Epiphanius,
"Hseres." Iv. 3, passiin), and which was afterward
generally accepted, the prophet being further iden-
tified with Phinelias (Pirke R. El. xlvii. ; Targ. Yer.
on Num. xxv. 12; Origen. ed. Migne, xiv. 225).
Mention must also be made of a .statement which,
though foxind only in the later cabalistic literature
(Yalkut Reubeni, Bereshit, 9a, ed. Amsterdam),
seems nevertheless to be very old (see Epiphanius,
I.e.), and according to which Elijah was an angel in
human form, so that he had neither parents nor
offspring. See Melchizedek.
If the deeds which the Scripture records of Phine-
has be disregarded, Elijah is first met with in the
time of Ahab, and on the following occasion: God
bade the prophet pay a visit of condolence to Hiel,
who had suffered the loss of his sons because of his
impiety. Elijah was unwilling to go, because pro-
fane words always angered and excited him. Only
after God had promised to fulfil what-
In ever words the prophet might utter
the Times in his righteousindignation did Elijah
of Ahab. go to Hiel. Here the prophet met
Ahab and warned him that God fulfils
the maledictions of the godly, and that Hiel had
been deprived of his sons because Joshua had anath-
ematized the rebuilding of Jericho. The king de-
risively asked : Is Joshua greater than his teacher
Moses? For Moses threatened all idolaters with
hunger and distress, and yet he — Ahab — was faring
very well. At this Elijah said (I Kings xvii. 1): "As
the Lord God of Israel liveth," etc. ; thereupon God
had to fulfil His promise, and a famine came in con-
sequence of the want of rain (Sanh. 113a; Yer.
Sanh. x.). God sent ravens to supply the wants of
the prophet during the famine. Some think " 'ore-
bim " (ravens) refers to the inhabitants of Oreb (Gen.
R. xxxviii. 5; Hul. 5a; so, also the Jewish teacher
of Jerome in his commentary on Isa. xv. 7). The
ravens brought meat to Elijah from the kitchen of
the pious Jehoshaphat (Tan., ed. Buber, iv. 165;
Aphraates, I.e. p. 3^14; different in Sanh. 113). God,
however, who is merciful even toward the impious,
sought to induce Elijah to absolve Him from His
promise, so that He might send rain. He according-
ly caused the brook from which the prophet drew
water to dry up, but this was of no avail. God
finally caused the death of the son of the widow in
whose house the prophet lived, hoping thereby to
overcome the latter's relentless severity. When
Elijah implored God to revive the boy (compare
Jonah in Rabbinical Literature), God answered
that this could only be accomplished by means of
"the heavenly dew," and that before He could send
the dew it would be necessary for the prophet to
absolve Him from His promise (Yer. Ber. iv. 9b;
different in Sanh. 113a). Elijah now saw that it
would be necessary to yield, and took the opportu-
nity to prove before Ahab, by a second miracle, the
almighty power of God. He arranged with the
king to offer sacrifices to God and Baal at one and
the same time, and to see which would turn out to
be the true God.
The bulls, which were selected for sacrifice by
lot, were twins which had grown up together. But
while Elijah brought his bull quickly to the place
of sacrifice, the 450 priests of Baal labored in vain
to induce the other to move a step. The animal
even began to speak, complaining that while it was
his twin brother's glorious privilege to be offered
upon the altar of God, he was to be offered to Baal.
Only after the prophet had convinced him that his
sacrifice would also be for the glorification of God
128
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Elijah
could the priests of Baal lead him to the altar (Tan.,
ed. Buber, iv. 165). They then commenced to cry
•' Baal ! Baal ! " but there was no response. In order
to confound them utterly, "God made the whole
world keep silent as if it were void and waste " ; so
that the priests of Baal might not claim that the
voice of Baal had been heard (Ex. R. xxix., end).
These proceedings consumed much time, and Elijah
found it necessary to make the sun stand still : " Un-
der Joshua thou stoodst still for Israel's sake; do it
now that God's name be glorified! " (Aggadat Be-
reshit, Ixxvi.). Toward evening Elijah called his
disciple Elisha and made him pour water over his
hands. Then a miracle took place : water commenced
to flow from the fingers of Elijah as from a fountain,
so that the ditch around the altar became full
(Tanna debe Eliyahu R. xvii.). The prophet prayed
to God that He would send fire down upon the
altar, and that tlie people might see the miracle in
its proper light and not regard it as sorcery (Ber.
9b). In his prayer he spoke of his mission as the
precursor of the Messiah, and petitioned God to
grant his request that he might be believed in future
(Midr. Shirha-Shirim, ed. Grilnhuth, 25a; Aggadat
Bereshit, Ixxvi.).
In spite of Elijah's many miracles the great mass
of the Jewish people remained as godless as before ;
they even abolished the sign of the covenant, and
the prophet had to appear as Israel's accuser before
God (Pirke R. El. xxix.). In the same cave where
God once appeared to Moses and revealed Himself as
gracious and merciful, Elijah was summoned to ap-
pear before God. By this summons he perceived that
he should have appealed to God's mercy instead of be-
coming Israel's accuser. The prophet,
Elijah's however, remained relentless in his
Zeal zeal and severity, so that God com-
for God. manded him to appoint his successor
(Tanna debe Eliyahu Zuta viii.).
The vision in which God revealed Himself to Elijah
gave him at the same time a picture of the destinies
of man, who has to pass through "four worlds."
This world was shown to the prophet in the form
of the wind, since it disappears as the wind ; storm
(t^jn) is the day of death, before which man trem-
bles (cyi) ; fire is the judgment in Gehenna, and the
stillness is the last day (Tan., Pekude, p. 128, Vienna
ed.). Three years after this vision (Seder '01am R.
xvii.) Elijah was "translated." Concerning the
place to which Elijah was transferred, opinions
differ among Jews and Christians, but the old view
was that Elijah Avas received among the heavenly
inhabitants, where he records the deeds of men (Kid.
70; Ber. R. xxxiv. 8), a task which according to
the apocalyptic literature is entrusted to Enoch.
But as early as the middle of the second century,
when the notion of translation to heaven was abused
by Christian theologians, the assertion was made
tiiat Elijah never entered into heaven proper (Suk.
5a; compare also Ratner on Seder '01am R. xvii.);
in later literature paradise is generally designated as
the abode of Elijah (compare Pirke R. El. xvi.),
but since the location of paradise is itself uncertain,
the last two statements may be identical.
It is one of the duties of Elijah to stand at the
cross roads of paradise and to lead the pious to their
proper places, to bring the souls of the impious out
of hell at the beginning of the Sabbath, to lead them
back again at the end of the Sabbath, and after
they have suffered for their sins, to bring them to
paradise forever (Pirke R. El. I.e.). In mystic liter-
ature Elijah is an angel, whose life on earth is con-
ceived of as a merely apparitional one, and who is
identified with Sandalfon. The cabalists speak
also of the struggle between Elijah and the Angel
of Death, who asserts his right to all children of men,
and who endeavored to prevent Elijah from enter-
ing heaven (Zohar Ruth, beginning, ed. Warsaw,
1885, 76a). The taking of Elijah into heaven or
supramundane regions did not mean his severance
from this world ; on the contrary, his real activity
then began. From Biblical times there is his let-
ter to Jehoram, written seven years after his trans-
lation (Seder '01am R. xvii. ; compare, however,
Josephus, "Ant." ix. 5, §2), and his interference
in favor of the Jews after Ilaman had planned their
extinction (see Harbona; Mokdecai). But it is
mainly in post-Biblical times that Elijah's inter-
est in earthly events was most frequently mani-
fested, and to such an extent that the Haggadah calls
him " the bird of heaven " (Ps. viii. 9, Hebr.), because
like a bird he flies through the world and appears
where a sudden divine interference is necessary
(Midr. Teh. ad loc. ; see also Ber. 4b; Targ. onEccles.
X. 20). His appearing among men is so frequent
that even the irrational animals feel it: the joyous
barking of the dogs is nothing else than an indica-
tion that Elijah is in the neighborhood (B. K. 60b).
To men he appears in different forms, sometimes
while they are dreaming, sometimes while they are
awake, and this in such a way that the pious fre-
quently know who is before them. Thus he once
appeared to a Roman officer in a dream and admon-
ished him not to be lavish of his inherited riches
(Gen. R. Ixxxiii.). Once a man came into a strange
city shortly before the beginning of the Sabbath,
and not knowing to whom to entrust his money
(which he w^as not allowed to carry on the Sabbath),
he went to the synagogue, where he saw some one
with phylacteries on his forehead, praying. To this
man he gave all that he had for keeping, but when
he asked for its return at the end of the Sabbath, he
foimd that he had to deal with a hypocrite and im-
postor. When the poor man fell asleep Elijah ap-
peared to him, and showed him how to obtain his
money from the wife of the swindler. When he
awoke he followed the advice of Elijah, and not only
received his money back, but also unmasked the
hypocrite (Pesik. R. xxii. ; Yer. Ber. ii.).
Elijah appeared to many while they were awake,
and this in various ways. He often elected to ap-
pear in the guise of an Arab ('2"iy) or, more exactly,
in that of an Arab of the desert K"yC3 (see Arabia in
Raj3binical Liteu.\ture). In this manner he once
appeared to a poor but pious man, and asked him
whether he wished to enjoy the six good years which
were appointed him now or at the end of his life.
The pious man took him for a sorcerer, and made no
reply. But when Elijah came the third time, the
man consulted his wife as to Avhat he should do.
They concluded to tell the Arab that they wished
to enjoy the good years at once; they had hardly
Elijah
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
124
expressed their wish when tlieir children found a
great treasure. The pious couple made good use
of their riches, and spent much money
Elijah in for benevolent purposes. After six
the Guise of years the Arab returned and told them
an Arab, that the end of their prosperity had
come. The woman, however, said to
him : " If you can find people who will use with more
conscientiousness what you give unto them, then
take it from us and give it to them. " God, who well
knew what use this pious couple had made of their
wealth, left it in their hands as long as they lived
(Midr. Ruth Zuta, ed. Buber, near end).
To the pious, Elijah is in many cases a guardian
angel, for whom no place is too remote, and who
leaves nothing undone to help them in their distress
or to save them from misery. Thus, Nahum of Gim-
zo was once sent on a political mission to Rome and
given certain gifts to carry to the emperor; on the
way he was robbed of these, but Elijah replaced
them, and procured for Nahum riches and honor
(Sanh. 109a). He saved the tanna Meir from the
persecuting bailiffs. During the religious persecu-
tions under Hadrian he saved another tanna, Eleazar
ben Prata, from the Roman government, which
wished to sentence him to death, by removing those
who were to testify against him and by bringing
him to a place 400 miles distant ('Ab. Zarah 17b).
He acted as witness for the amora Shila, when he
was accused of exercising jurisdiction according to
Jewish law (Ber. 58a), and appeared as comforter to
Akiba when the latter was in distress (Ned. 50a). As
physician he helped Simi b. Ashi (Shab. 109b), and
R. Judah I., whose awful and incessant pains he
stopped by laying his hand upon him. This healing
had at the same time the effect of reconciling Rabbi
with Hiyyah, for Elijah appeared to Rabbi in the
form of Hiyyah, and caused him thereby to hold Hiy-
yah in great respect (Yer. Kil. ix. 32b). Elijah was
a daily guest in the academy of Rabbi, and on one
occasion he even disclosed a great celestial mystery,
for which he was severely punished in heaven (B.
M. 85b). Elijah, however, is not only the helper
in distress and the peacemaker, but he acted also as
teacher of Eleazar ben Simon, whom he taught for
thirteen years (Pesik., ed. Buber, x. 92b; see Akiba
BEN Joseph in Legend).
The following is an Elijah story which was very
widely circulated, and which was even given a place
in the liturgy: To a pious but very poor man Eli-
jah once appeared and offered himself as servant.
The man, at first refusing, finally took him. He
did not keep him long, however, for the king
needed a skilful builder for a palace which he was
about to build ; Elijah offered his services, and the
pious man received a high price for his servant.
Elijah did not disappoint his new master, but prayed
to God, whereupon suddenly the palace of the
king stood there in readiness. Elijah disappeared
(Rabb. Nissim, "Hibbur Yafeh meha-Yeshu'ah,"
near end). This story has been beautifully worked
over in the piyyut"Ish Hasid," which is sung, ac-
cording to the German-Polish ritual, on Sabbath
evening.
In olden times there were a number of select ones
with whom Elijah had intercourse as with his
equals, they being at the time aware of his identity.
In Talmudic-Midrashic literature are the following
stories: Eliezer ben Hyrcauus was brought by Eli-
jah to Jerusalem to receive instruction
Elijah the there from Johanan ben Zakkai (Pirke
Friend of K. El. i.). In the great controversy
the Pious, between this teacher and his col-
leagues, Elijah communicated to
Rabbi Nathan what the opinion concerning this con-
troversy was in heaven (B. M. 59b). The same
Nathan was also instructed by him with reference to
the right measure in eating and drinking (Git. 70a).
A special pet of Elijah seems to have been Nehorai,
whom he instructed with reference to Biblical pas-
sages, and explained to him also some of the phe-
nomena of nature (Y^er. Ber. ix. 13c; Ruth R. iv.).
Another teacher, called "Jose" (probably not Jose b.
Halafta), was so familiar with Elijah that he was not
afraid to declare openly that Elijah had a rough
temper (Sanh. 113a). The words of Elijah to Judah,
the brother of Salla the Pious, read : " Be not angry,
and you will not sin • drink not, and you will not
sin" (Ber. 29b). Besides this friendly advice the
pious Judah received important instructions from
Elijah (Yomal9b; Sanh. 9Tb). Rabbah ben Shila
(Hag. 15b), Rabbah ben Abbahu (Hag. 15b; B. M.
li4b), Abiathar (Git. 6b), Kahana (Kid. 41a), Bar He
He (Hag. 9b), are also mentioned as among the pious
who personally communicated with Elijah. Besides
these, some others whose names are not given are
mentioned as having been in friendly relations with
Elijah (B. B. 7b ; Yer. Ter. i. 40d ; see also Ket. 61a).
What kind of people Elijah selected may be seen
from the following: Of two pious brothers, one al-
lowed his servants to partake only of the first course
at meals, whereas the other allowed them to partake
of every course. Elijah did not visit the first,
whereas he frequently visited the latter. In like
manner he treated two brothers, one of whom served
himself first, and then his guests, whereas the other
cared for his guests first (Ket. l.r.). The demands
of Elijah upon his friends were verj' strict, and the
least mistake alienated him. One of his friends
built a vestibule, whereby the poor were at a disad-
vantage in that their petitioning voices could be
heard in the house only with great difficulty; as a
result Elijah never came to him again (B. B. 7b).
Very characteristic of Elijah is his relation to the
Babylonian amora Anan. A man brought Anan some
small fish as a present, which he would not accept,
because the man wished to submit to him a law case
for decision. The petitioner, however, sooner than
have the rabbi refuse his gift, decided to take his
case elsewhere, and requested Anan to direct him
to another rabbi ; this Anan did. The rabbi before
whom the case was tried showed himself very
friendly toward the man because he had been recom-
mended to him by Anan, and decided in his favor.
Elijah, till then Auan's teacher and friend, deserted
him from that moment, because, through his care-
lessness, judgmenthad been biased (Ket. 105b). The
Midrash Tanna debe Eliyahu, in which Elijah often
speaks of himself in the first person, recounting his
experiences and teaching many lessons, is likewise
associated with Anan, who is said to have compiled
the work from Elijah's own discourses.
126
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Elijah
None of the pious could boast of such a cIosl" rela-
tion to Elijah as could Joshua b. Levi, to fulfil whose
wishes Elijah was always ready, although he some-
times showed himself very severe toward him (Yer.
Ter. viii. 4b; Y'er. Sheb. ix. 31a; Mak. 11a). Elijah
once brought about an interview between Joshua and
the Messiah (Sanh. 98a), and he also showed Joshua
the precious stones which, according to the words
of the prophet (Isa. liv. 11, 12), shall replace the
sun in giving light to Jerusalem (Pcsik. xviii. 136a).
But more precious than these sacred
Joshua revelations were the lessons which
l3. Levi and Joshua received from Elijah, espe-
Elijah. cially the doctrine of the theodicy,
which Elijah tried to explain to his
friend by means of illustrations. Joshua once asked
Elijah to take him along on his journeys through
the world. To this the prophet yielded on condition
that Joshua should never question him concerning
the causes of his actions, strange as they might ap-
pear; should this condition be violated, the prophet
would be obliged to part from him. Both set out
upon their journey. The first halt was at the house
of a poor man who owned only a cow, but who,
with his wife, received the strangers most kindly,
and entertained them to the best of his ability.
Before they continued their journey next morning,
the rabbi heard Elijah pray that God might destroy
the poor man's cow, and before they had left the
hospitable bouse the cow was dead. Joshua could
not contain himself, but in great excitement said to
Elijah: "Is this the reward which the poor man re-
ceives for his hospitality toward us ? " The prophet
reminded him of the condition upon which they had
undertaken the journey, and silently they continued
on their way. Toward evening they came to the
house of a rich man who did not even look at them,
so that they had to pass the night without food and
drink. In the morning when they left the inhos-
pitable house, Joshua heard Elijah pray that God
would build up a wall which had fallen in one of
the rich man's houses. At once the wall stood erect.
This increased the agitation of the rabbi still more ;
but remembering the condition which had been im-
posed upon him, he kept silent. On the next evening
they came to a synagogue adorned with silver and
gold, none of whose rich members showed any con-
cern for the poor travelers, but dismissed them with
bread and water. Upon leaving the place Joshua
heard Elijah pray that God would make them all
leaders ("heads"). Joshua was about to break his
promise, but forced himself to goon in silence again.
In the next city they met very generous people who
vied witli one another in performing acts of kindness
toward the strangers. Great, then, was the surprise
of Joshua when, upon leaving the place, he heard
the prophet pray that God might give them only
"one head."
Joshua could not refrain any longer, and asked
Elijah to explain to him his strange actions, al-
though he knew that by asking he would forfeit
the prophet's companionship. Elijah answered:
"The poor but generous man lost his cow because of
my prayer, for I knew that his wife was about to
die, and I asked God to take the life of the cow in-
stead of that of the wife. My prayer for the heart-
less rich man was because under tlie fallen wall was
a great treasure which would have come into the
hands of this unworthy man had he
Elijah Ex- undertaken to rebuild it. It was also
plains His no blessing which I pronounced upon
Actions, the unfriendly synagogue, for a 'place
which has many heads will not be of
long duration ' ; on the other hand, I wished for the
others, the good people, 'one head,' that union and
peace may always be among them. " This is a widely
circulated legend, first found in Nissim ben Jacob's
"Hibbur Y'afeh," 1886, pp. 9-12, and reprinted in
Jeilinek's "Bet ha-Midrash," v. 133-135 (vi. 131-133
gives another version). For Judaeo-German and
other renderings of this legend see Zunz, "G. V."
2ded.,p. 138. The an-
tiquity of the legend
may be seen from the
fact that Mohammed
mentions it in the Ko-
ran, sura xviii. 59-82;
compare also " R. E. J. "
viii. 69-73.
Besides Joshua ben
Levi, Elijah showed
another rabbi, Baroka
by name, that things
must not be judged
from outward appear-
ances. Once they were
in a lively street of a
great city, when the
rabbi asked Elijah
whether there were any
in the multitude who
would have a place in
theworldtocome. The
prophet could give an
aflSrmative answer in
regard to three men
only : a jailer and two
jesters — the first, be-
cause he saw to it that
chastity and morality
prevailed among the inmates of the prison ; the lat-
ter, because they tried by their jests to banish all
anxious thoughts from the people (Ta'an. 22a).
The Tannaim and Amoraim are not the only ones
who could boast of the special favor of Elijah. The
mystics and cabalists of all times frequently ap-
pealed to Elijah as their patron. Among them was
the gaon Joseph, of whom it was said that Elijah
Avas a daily visitor at his academy (First Epistle of
Sherira, ed. Neubauer, p. 32). The introduction of
the Cabala to Provence is traced directly to Elijah,
who revealed the secret doctrine to Jacob ha-Nozer.
Similarly Abraham b. Isaac and Abraham ben David
of Posqui^res are mentioned as privileged ones, to
whom Elijah appeared (see Jellinek, "Auswahl
Kabbalistischer Mystik," pp. 4, 5). The pseudon-
ymous author of the " Kanah " asserted that he had
received his teachings directly from Elijah. In the
Zohar, Simon ben Yohai and his son Eleazar are
mentioned as among those who enjoyed the special
friendship of Elijah. This work, as well as the
Tikkun Zohar and the Zohar Hadash, contains much
(From
The Prophet Elijah.
printed Passover Hae;^dali,
Prague, 1526.)
Elijah
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
126
that is ascribed to Elijah (compare Friedmann, "Se-
der Eliyahu Rabba we-Seder Eliyahu Zuta," pp. 38-
41). When, toward the middle of the fourteenth
century, the Cabala received new prominence in Pal-
estine, Elijah again took a leading part. Joseph de
la Regna asks Elijah's advice in his combat with
Satan. The father of the new cabalistic school, Isaac
Luria, was visited by Elijah before his son was born.
In like manner, the father of Israel Ba'al Shem-Tob
received the good news from Elijah that a son would
be born unto him, " who would be a light in Israel "
("Ma'asiyyotPeliot," pp. 24, 25, Cracow, 1896, which
notion prevailed that Elijah's ofHce was "to bring
peace and adjust all differences" (ib.). It was ex-
pected that all controversies and legal
Elijah as disputes which had accumulated in the
the course of time would be adjusted by
Forerunner him, and that difficult ritual questions
of the and passages of Scripture seemingly
Messiah, conflicting with each other would be
explained, so that no difference of
opinion would exist concerning anything (Men.
45b; Ab. K. N. xxxiv. ; Num. R. iii., near the end;
compare also Jew. Enctc. i. 637a). The office of
Elijah Announcing the Coming of the Messiah.
(Frem sn illuminated Mahzor in the town hsU of Frsnkfort-on-tbe-Main.)
contains an interesting narrative of Elijah's meeting
with the father of Ba'al Shem-Tob).
The cHmax of Elijah's activity is his appearance
shortly before the Messianic time. " He is appointed
to lead aright the coming ages, to restore the tribes
of Jacob," says Ben Sira of him (Ecclus. [Sirach]
xlviii. 10, 11). In the second half of the first Chris-
tian century it was expected that Elijah would ap-
pear shortly before the coming of the Messiah, to
restore to families the purity which in the course of
time had become doubtful ('Eduy. viii. 7; this is the
opinion of Johanan b. Zakkai). A century later the
interpreter of the Law he will retain forever, and
in the world to come his relation to Moses will be
the same as Aaron's once was (Zohar, Zaw, iii. 27,
bottom). But the notion which prevailed at the time
of the origin of Christianity, that Elijah's mission
as forerunner of the Messiah consisted mainly in
changing the mind of the people and leading them
to repentance, is not unknown to rabbinical litera-
ture (Pirke R. El. xliii., xlvii.). His real Messianic
activity — in some passages he is even called " go 'el"
(=" redeemer"; compare Friedmann, I.e. pp. 25, 26)
— will commence three days before the coming of
127
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Elijah.
the Messiah. On the first day he will lament over
the devastation of Palestine, but will close with the
words: " Peace will now come over the earth "; on
the second and third days he will speak words of
comfort (Pesik. R. xxxv. 161; Elijah as the "good
messenger of salvation" is a frequent figure in
the apocalyptic midrashim). When the archangel
Michael blows the trumpet, Elijah will appear with
the Messiah, whom he will present to the Jews
("Otot ha-Mashiah," in Jellinek, "B. H." li. 62, 125;
see Eschatology). They will ask of Elijah, as an
attestation of his mission, that he raise the dead
before their eyes and revive such of the dead as
they personally knew (Shir ha-Shirim Zuta, ed.
Buber, 38, end ; compare also Syriac Apocalypse of
Baruch ; Bousset, " The Antichrist Legend," p. 203).
But he will do more than this, in that he will per-
form seven miracles before the eyes of the people :
(1) He will bring before them Moses and the gener-
ation of the wilderness; (2) he will cause Korah and
his company to rise out of the earth ; (3) he will re-
vive the Messiah, the son of Joseph ; (4) he will show
them again the three mysteriously lost sacred utensils
of the Temple, namely, the Ark, the vessel of manna,
and the vessel of sacred oil (see Antichrist) ; (5) he
will show the scepter which he received
The Seven from God ; (6) he will crush mountains
l£iracles. like straw ; (7) he will reveal the great
mystery (Jellinek, I.e. iii. 72). At the
bidding of the Messiah, Elijah will sound the trump-
et, and at the first blast the prin:iitive light will ap-
pear; at the second, the dead will rise; and at the
third, the Divine Majesty will appear (Jellinek, I.e.
v. 128). During the Messianic reign Elijah will be
one of the eight princes (Micah v. 4), and even on the
Last Day he will not give up his activity. He will
implore God's mercy for the wicked who are in hell,
while their innocent children who died in infancy on
account of the sins of their fathers, are in paradise.
Thus he will complete his mission, in that God,
moved by his prayer, will bring the sinful fathers
to their children in paradise (Eccl. R. iv. 1). He will
bring to an end his glorious career by killing Sam-
ael at the behest of God, and thus destroy all evil
(Yalkut Hadash, ed. Radawil, 58a). Compare Eli-
jah's Chair.
Bibliography : Boasset, The Antichrist Legend, s.v.; Fried-
mann. Seder Eliyahu Rabba we-Seder Eliyahu Zt/fa, pp.
1-44, Warsaw, 1902; S[amuel] K[ohn], Der Pn/phet Elia in
der Legende, in Monatsschrift, xll. 241 et seq., 361 et seq.;
Ginzberg, Die Haggada bei den Kirchenvdtern, i. 76-80.
8. B. L. G.
In Mohammedan Literature : Elijah is men-
tioned in the Koran as a prophet together with Zech-
ariah. John, and Jesus (sura vi. 85) ; while in sura
xxxvii. 123-130 it is said: "Verily, Elijah [Ilyas]
was of the prophets, when he said to his people,
' Will ye call upon Baal and leave the best of crea-
tors, Grod, your Lord? ' " In verse 130 he is called
" Ilyasin " : " Peace upon Ilyasin, thus do we reward
those who do well."
According to Baidawi, the people to whom Elijah
was sent were the inhabitants of Baalbek in Coele-
Syria. When Elijah made his appearance as a
prophet the king (Ibn al-Athir says that the king's
name was Ahab, but places him after Ezekiel) be-
lieved in him, though the people did not. The king
made Elijah his vizier, and both worshiped God.
But the king soon apostatized, and Elijah separated
from him. The prophet then afflicted the country
with famine, and no one save himself had bread to
eat ; so that if one noticed the odor of bread he said :
"Elijah must have passed this way."
One day Elijah came into the house of an old
woman wlio had a paralytic child named Elisha ibn
Ukhtub. Elijah cured the child, who remained
with the prophet, and, after Elijah's translation, be-
came his successor.
The Jewish tradition that Elijah is identical with
Phinehas is current among the Moslems also. They
have, moreover, another tradition borrowed from the
Jews. Elijah, they say, will appear on the last day,
and either he or one of his descendants will await,
in the interior of a mountain, the second coming of
the Messiah.
Certain Islamic authorities confound Elijah with
Al-Khidr (= " the green " or " fresh one "), famous in
Mohammedan literature on account of his having
discovered the fountain of perpetual youth. Even
their names have been combined in " Khidr-Ilyas " or
"Khidralas." Other authorities, among them the
author of the "Ta'rikh Muntahab," distinguish Eli-
jah from Al-Khidr, whom they identify with Elisha.
They believe that, while the latter is the guardian of
the sea, Elijah is the guardian of the desert (the
idea originating, doubtless, in the fact that Elijah
hid himself in the desert; I Kings xix. 4).
Elijah's translation is thus described by the Mos-
lems: God had told Elijah in a vision to go out of
the town and to mount anything which he might
see before him. He departed with his disciple
Elisha, and, seeing a horse, mounted it. God cov-
ered him with feathers, enveloped him with fire,
took away from him the desire of eating and drink-
ing, and joined him to His angels. According to
Ibn al-Athir, God made Elijah of a twofold nature :
man and angel, earthly and heavenly.
Bibliography: Ibn al-Athlr, AJ^Ta'rikh aUKamihi. 90,
91, Cairo, 1891-92; Tabari, Chroniques (Frencb transl. of
Zotenberg), 1. 374, 381, 409-tll ; Rampoldi. Annali Mwsul-
manU iv. 491, vi. 549, Milan, 1823-25 ; E. Rodiger, in Ersch
and Gruber. Encuc. section 1., part 33, p. 324 ; D'Herbelot,
Bibliotheque Oiientale, ill. 345, s.v. Ilia,; Hughes, Diet, of
Islam, s.v.
E. G. H. M. Sel.
In Medieval Folk-Lore: Owing to his
ubiquitousness and to the universal belief that he
remained after his departure from the earth the
ever-ready helper of the Jew, Elijah the prophet be-
came the prototype of the Wandering Jew. Many
characteristics of wandering deities and heroes like
those of Buddha, of Zeus, and of Thor and Wodan
who were believed to wander about the earth to test
the piety and hospitality of the people, hence also
those of Kliidr, the Arabic legendary hero, were in-
corporated in the history of Elijah. He was accord-
ingly expected to appear from time to time, espe-
cially on solemn occasions, as "the angel of the
covenant," the genius of Jewish home sanctity who
keeps a record of every mesalliance (Kid. 70a). He
was believed to be present as the angel of the cove-
nant at the circumcision (see Elijah's Chair), or to
appear as a guest at the Seder and as protector of
the Jewish household whenever the door was opened
on that night. Every Saturday evening his blessed
Elijah
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
128
intervention was invoked for the work of the new
week; hence the many mystic formuhis in the caba-
listic liturgy for the close of the Sabbath.
He was often ideutiiied with other heroes of Jew-
ish legend to whom immortality was attributed,
such as Melchizedek, who had no father or moth-
er, and Enoch-Metatron, who is said to have been a
shoemaker by profession (Yalk. Reubeni, Bereshit,
27a and 9d), and this seems to explain the original
story of the Wandering Jew.
Bibliography: A. Tendlau, SprichwOrter iind Rcdensarten
UeuUdt-J MdUchcr VorzeiU PP. 14-16, Frankfort-on-the-Main,
1860; idem. Das Biich der Sagen und Legenden Jildischer
Voj-zeif, notes to Nos. 3, 28, Frankfort, 1873 ; L. Geiger, Zeit-
schrift filr die GescMchte der Juden in Deutschland. iii.
297; Mannhardt, Germanlfche Mythen, pp. 118, 725, Berlin,
1858; Nork, EtymologUtc.lies Mythologisches WOrterbuch,
8.V. Elias.
K.
Critical View : The stories of Elijah are not
all derived from the same author. This is evident,
first, from the fact that the longer form of the name
(irivN) is used (about sixty times) everywhere ex-
cept in II Kings i. 3-13 and (in reference to other
persons of the name) in I Chron. viii. 27; Ezra x.
21, 26. Then, too, there is a signifi-
Sources. cant disagreement between I Kings
xix. 15 et seq., where Elijah is com-
missioned to anoint Kings Hazael and Jehu, and II
Kings viii. 7 et seq., ix. 1 et seq., where it is said that
these two kings were appointed by Elisha. Neither
of these stories, however, bears marks of exilic or
post-exilic origin, for the compound prepositions
'h ^J? (I Kings xviii. 19) or ^JsfjD (xxi. 29) are not a
proof of such origin, although the latter preposition
is often used by preference in the post-exilic period.
It is also obvious that the mention of the sacrifice
(I Kings xviii. 36) does not stamp the story as post-
exilic (contrary to G. Rosch, "Der Prophet Elia,"
in " Theologische Studien imd Kritiken," 1892, pp.
557 et seq. ; comp. Ed. Konig, " Einleitung ins Alte
Testament," p. 264).
Many scholars, nevertheless, consider the stories
legendary ; and, although something extraordinary
must have happened at Mt. Carmel, it can not be
denied that the miraculous incidents of the prophet's
career may have been magnified as they passed on
from generation to generation. The account of the
destruction of the two captains and their soldiers
may be taken as an example of this; and, indeed,
the fact that the shorter form of the prophet's name
is used proves the account to be undoubtedly of later
origin.
Some modern scholars regard the stories as mytli-
ological — Hugo Winckler, for instance, in his " Ge-
schichte Israels " (1900, ii. 273).
Three other persons by the name of Elijah are
mentioned in the Old Testament: a Benjamite who
lived before the time of Saul (I Chron. viii. 27), and
two persons of the post-exilic period (Ezra x. 21, 26).
Bibliography : The various histories of Israel, Including those
of Guthe (1899) and Winckler (1900); H. Gunkel, Der Prophet
Elia, la Preusaische Jahihllcher, 1897, pp. 18 et seq.
E. G. H. E. K.
ELIJAH, APOCALYPSE OF. See Apoca-
lyptic LiTEUATUKE.
ELIJAH'S CHAIR: At every circumcision
Elijah, "the angel of the covenant," as he is called
in Malaclii (iii. 1), is supposed to ho seated at the
right hand of the sandek, upon a chair richly carved
and ornamented with embroideries ("kisse sliel Eli-
yahu "). Even in the salutation to the child to be
circumcised (N3n "I1"l3) is read the invitation to
Elijah (N3n = in''^X N3 HJn).
When, under the influence of Jezebel, circumci-
sion in the northern kingdom was about to be abol-
ished, Elijah is said to have retired to a cave.
There he prayed to God (I Kings xix. 10), and com-
plained that Israel had forsaken the covenant of the
Lord ; whereupon God ordained that no circumcision
should take place except in the presence of Elijah.
Some consider this to be a commendation of Elijah
for his zeal; others, again, take it to be a measure
of protection for Israel, in that Elijah is in every
Elijah's Chair.
(After Leusden, " Philologus Hebrieo Miitos," 16S7.)
instance to be satisfied that the covenant is not be-
ing broken. Accordingly, the Shulhan 'Aruk, Milali,
265, 11 (comp. Kol Bo, 73), orders that a distinct
seat upon the bench, or a separate chair, be reserved
for Elijah. To this the circumciser (mohel) refers
in the prayer preceding the circumcision, as well
as in the piyyut for the Sabbath on which a cir-
cumcision occurs. When the chair of Elijah is
made ready, the words "This is the chair of Elijah"
(in^PX ND3 inT) must be said in a loud voice. Be-
fore the circumcision takes place the child is placed
upon the chair. The chair is left in position for
three days, not, as said by some, to give Elijah, the
wanderer, time for rest, but because the first three
days after circumcision are a period of danger for
the child.
Elijah being the guardian of the little ones, is
represented as such in the amulet for the lying-in
129
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Elijah
chamber, and, indeed, it is in this capacity that he
is invited to the circumcision.
In Regcnsburg R. Judah the Pious was once en-
trusted with the office of sandek. The child was
brought in and greeted by all with the custom-
ary formula, but Judah remained silent. Being
questioned, he said: "I do not see Elijah seated at
my side." As he said this a venerable old man ap-
peared at the window, and to him he referred the
qiiostioners. To them the old man declared that
le-tob " must be cried aloud (Meir ben Gabbai, " Tola-
'at Ya'akob ") is also found in the Zohar(Lek Leka;
comp. Wayiggash, and Terumah, 169a).
In some of the representations of the circumcision
ceremony (as in Kirchner and Leusden) Elijah's chair
is incorrectly placed at the left of the sandek ; in
others (as in Buxtorf's "Synagoga," the Amsterdam
Pesah Haggadah, etc.), it is not pictured at all. See
Godfather.
Bibliography: A. Lewysohn, Mekore Minhagim, Berlin.
ELIJAH'S Chair, as used in the Ceremony of Circumcision in Holland.
(Aftyr Leo dc Modena's •' Riti," Amsterdam, 1725.)
Elijah refused to come because the child would one
day abandon the faith of liis forefathers. The proph-
ecy was fulfilled.
Lipman of Milhlhausen, in his "Nizzahon," deals
with the objection that Elijah could not possibly
be present at different circumcisions at the same
time. As the sunlight and the Angel of Death are
omnipresent, so can Elijah be. The precept that
the formula "Zeh ha-kisse' shel Eliyahu zakur le-
^ob " or "zeh ha-kisse' shel Eliyahu ha-nabi' zakur
V.-9
1846; F. L6wln. Hntam Kndesh, Cracow, 1892; Joh. Buxtorf.
Synagoga Judaica, Basel, 1601 ; a complete literature on the
subject Is given in A. T. Ghissberi!. ZikroJi Berit la^Risho-
nim, pp. 176, 178, 180, 231, 230, Berlin. 1892.
S. S. M. Gr.
ELIJAH BEN ABRAHAM : Karaite scholar
of the twelfth, century. He was the author of a
work entitled "Halukkot ha-Kara'im weha-Rabba-
nim," on the controversy between Karaites and Rab-
binites (published by Pinskcr in his "Likkute Kad-
moniyyot," Supplement, pp. 99-106). Elijah was
Elijah b. Abraham ha-Iievi
Elijah ben Meuahem.
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
130
the only Karaite who quoted a work of Saadia's —
the " Kitab al-Rudd 'ala 'Anan," according to Pins-
ker {ib. p. 19). That Elijah lived not later than the
twelfth century is shown by the fact that the last
Karaite scholar quoted by him was Japheth ben ha-
Maskil, a contemporary of Judah Hadassi. Pinsker
identifies Elijah ben Abraham with Elijah b.
Judah Tishbi, supposing that he was only the
copyist, not the author, of the " Halukkot. "
Bibliography : Pinsker, Likkute ^admoniyuoty pp. 19, 225 ;
Stelnschnelder, Jevnsh Literature, p. 312, note 21 ; Idem,
Hebr. Bibl. v. 52-53 ; Gottlober, Biffkoret le-Toledot hn-Ijia-
ra'i»n, p. 157.
K. M. Sel.
ELIJAH B. ABRAHAM HA-LEVI. See
Ottingen.
ELIJAH HA- < ADENI : Rabbi and payyetau of
Cochin, India; dates of birth and death unknown.
He was a native of Aden, and was therefore called
"Ha-'Adeni," that is to say, "the man of Aden."
He wrote "Azharot," a piyyut on the 613 com-
mandments, which is read by the Jews of India and
chiefly by those of Cochin on Sliemini 'Azeret, or
the eighth day of Sukkot (Amsterdam, 1688).
Bibliography: Wolf, BiU. Hebr. 11., p. 1306, Hi., No. 239b;
Stelnschnelder, Cat. Bodl. col. 925 ; Dukes, Zur Kenntniss
der Neuhebr. Relig. Poes. p. 141; Orient, Lit. vU., col.
677 ; Michael, Or ha^Hayyim, p. 174, No. 373.
L. G. M. Sel.
ELIJAH ALAMANNUS : Spanish physician
and diplomat of the fifteenth century, and court
physician of the Duke of Bourbon (probably Louis
II. of France). Alfonso V. , King of Aragon, con-
fided to him a mission to Pope Martin V. He went
to Rome in charge of a letter to the pope (Sept.
8, 1420), under safe-conduct for a year. A few years
later "Magister Elijah," while at Avignon, had a
bull, issued in favor of the Spanish Jews, legalized
by the notary of the Curia.
Bibliography: Vogelstein and Rleger, Gescfi. derJuden in
Rom, 11. 6, 7.
G. M. Sel.
ELIJAH B. AZRIEL OF WILNA : Gram-
marian and author, died after 1748. He wrote:
"Ma'aneh Eliyahu," rules for Hebrew reading,
Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1704 ; " Miljra Kodesh," rules
of Hebrew grammar, Berlin, 1713; "Miktab me-
Eliyahu," a commentary on the "Or Torah" of R.
Menahem di Lonsano, Hamburg, 1738 ; " Zori Gilead, "
a tale in verse, RSdelheim, 1748; and "Kine'uteh
de-Eliyahu," novellae on "Torat Hatta'ot, "Amster-
dam, 1711.
Bibliography: Fuenn, Kiryah Ne'emandh, pp. 103, 104;
Stelnschnelder, Cat. Bodl. No, 4942,
G. N. T. L.
ELIJAH BA'AL SHEM OF CHELM : Polish
rabbi; born in 1550; died at Chelm. About 1565
he entered the yeshibah of Rabbi Solomon Luria of
Lublin, and, after receiving the rabbinical ordina-
tion, became rabbi of Chelm, which position he held
until his death. Elijah Ba'al Shem was one of the
most eminent Talmudists of his generation. To-
gether with his teacher he signed the " piske dinim "
(laws) relative to the 'Agunah. He also studied
Cabala, and, according to his grandson Zebi Ash-
kenazi, he was able to create a golem by means of
Cabalistic agencies.
Bibliography : Friedberg, Luhnt Zikkaron, p. 33, Drohobycz,
1897 ; Emden, Meoillat Sefe'r, p. 4, Warsaw, 1896 ; Horodet-
zky, Kereni Shelomoh, p. 33, Drohobycz, 1896 ; Ha-Meassef,
- " ?, 1903.
p. 157, St. Petersburg,
K.
B. Fr.
ELIJAH HA-BABLI. See Tanna debe
Eliyahu R.
ELIJAH BAHTJR. See Levita, Elijah.
ELIJAH BE'ER (FONTE) B. SHABBE-
THAI (Elijah di Sabbato ; also known as Elilie
Saby and Ella Giudeo) : Italian physician ; born
in Germany at the end of the fourteenth century.
He settled in Italy, where the Senate accorded him
citizen's rights in Viterbo, and, in 1405, in Rome;
confirmed by Pope Innocent VII. Feb. 6, 1406. He
was exempted from toll, from forced service, and
from wearing the Jewish garb, and was allowed to
carry arms. Pope Martin V. made him his private
physician, which position he jetained under Mar-
tin's successor, Eugene IV., who (1433) confirmed
his citizenship and pension. Elijah was among
those who signed (Dec, 1443) an agreement between
the pope and the Italian Jews concerning their re-
ligious freedom.
Bibi.iography : Vogelstein and Rleger, Oesch. der Juden in
Rom,i.320 et seq., 11. 6 ef seq.; Zunz, O. S. Ul. 92, 173; Stem,
Urkundliche Beitraqe, pp. 25, 45 ; Berliner, Gesch. der Ju-
den ill Rom, 11., part 1., p. 121.
G. M. Sel.
ELIJAH BEN BENJAMIN HA-LEVI:
Turkish rabbi ; flourished in Constantinople in the
sixteenth century. He succeeded one of his teach-
ers, Elijah Mizrahi, as rabbi in Constantinople
(1526). Elijah made the first collection of prayers
for the Mahzor Romania (editio princeps, Constanti-
nople, 1510), to which he added many poems of his
own. He wrote: "Tanna debe Eliyahu," contain-
ing 451 responsa, of which only a part have been
published, under the title "Zekan Aharon" (Con-
stantinople, 1734); "Ma'amar Kol Dai," an asmak-
ta, published in Benjamin Motal's "Tummat Yesha-
rim" (Venice, 1622); "Liwyat Hen," "Me Zahab,"
"Shebet Musar," "Tokahat Megullah," still unpub-
lished ; and a collection of poems. Berliner ascribes
to him a commentary which accompanies various
piyyutim in the Mahzor Romania.
Bibliography : Benjamin Metal, Introductionto Zekan Aha-
ron; Stelnsehneider, Cat, Bodl. col. 933; Znnz, I^iteratur-
gesch. pp. 388 et neq.; Berliner, Aus Meiner Bibliothek, pp.
3 et seq.
L. G. H. B.
ELIJAH COHEN BEN MOSES BEN NIS-
SIM : Oriental scholar of the second half of the thir-
teenth century. He translated an Arabic makamah,
similar to the "Assemblies" of Hariri, into Hebrew
under the title "Megillat ha-'Ofer." A manuscript
copy is in the Bodleian Library. The beginning of
this work was published by Steinschneider in "Ha-
Karmel."
Bibliography : Steinschneider, JewvOi Literature, p. 349 ;
Idem, Hebr. Uebers. p. 884 ; idem, in Ha^Karmel, vi. 3:i0-
321.
G. M. Sel.
ELIJAH B. ELIEZER. See Delmedigo,
Elijah J5. Emezer.
ELIJAH BEN EZEKIEL : Rabbi of Byel-
gorai, Poland, in the eighteenth century. His father,
Ezekiel, was rabbi of Ostrovtsi, Galicia, and he was
181
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Elijah b. Abraham ha-Levi
Elijah ben Menahem
himself a friend of Hayyim Rapoport, rabbi of
Lemberg. He wrote: "Har ha-Kai-mel," responsa,
arranged in the order of the four parts of the Shul-
han 'Aruk (Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1782); "Rosh
ha-Karmel," novellae on Pcsahim and other Tal-
mudic treatises; "Eshel ha-Nehalim," a kind of
index to the Shulhan Aruk, Hoshen Mishpa^ ; Re-
sponsa. The first three works are mentioned in his
preface to "Har ha-Karmel."
Bibliography : Michael, Or ha-Hayyim, p. 178 ; Azulai, Shem
hOrOedolim, s.v. Har ha-Karmel ; Walden, Shem ha-Gedo-
Um tie-Ifadash, U. 35.
L. G. M. Sel.
ELIJAH OF FERRAHA : Italian Talmudist
and traveler of the earlier part of the fifteenth cen-
tury. He was engaged in 1437 as lecturer and
teacher in Jerusalem, where he arrived after a
stormy voyage, during which he lost his son and
grandson. He wrote several letters to his wife and
children, whom he had left behind in Ferrara; only
one of these epistles, dated 1438, has been preserved.
This "Iggeret," written in rimed prose, has been
published in the collection " Dibre Hakamim," Metz,
1853, and translated by Carmoly ("Itineraires,"
pp. 331-337) under the title "Ahabat Ziyyon." In
this he gives a description of Jerusalem, recounts
the legends current about the " children of Israel, "
the Ten Tribes, and the River Saaibation, and states
his intention to visit other parts of Palestine and to
send a description of what he sees there. A frag-
ment of another letter has survived, published by
Isaac Akrish in his " Kol Mebasser " (Constantinople,
1577). From remarks contained in the latter in ref-
erence to medical practise in Jerusalem it may be
inferred that Elijah was also a physician.
Bibliography: Stelnschneider, Cat. Bodl. col. 929; Luncz,
Jerusalem, lil. 48; Munk, Palestine, p. 643; Carmoly, Itine-
raires, pp. 329-337 ; Griitz, Gesch. 2d ed., vlll. 277.
G. M. Sel.
ELIJAH GAON. See Elijah b. Solomon.
ELIJAH HAYYIM B. BENJAMIN. See
Genazzano, Elijah Hayyim.
EX<I JAH BEN ISAAC OF CARCASSONNE :
French Talmudist; flourished in the first half of the
thirteenth century ; progenitor of the De Latas, or
Lattes, family. He took the name of the city in
which he was living, his son Jacob afterward adopt-
ing the name of "Lattes." Isaac b. Jacob Lattes,
the author of "Sha'are Ziyyon," speaks of these two
ancestors of his, and ascribes to one of them, in a
somewhat obscure reference, the authorship of sev-
eral works. Michael and Zunz think that Isaac in-
tended to designate Elijah as the author, while
Gross says that he meant Jacob.
Bibliography : Michael, Or ha-Hayyim, p. 178 ; Zunz, Z. G.
p. 478 ; Gross, Gallia Judaica, pp. 264, 615.
li. G.
A. Pe.
ELIJAH BEN JACOB : Rabbi and cabalist of
Ulianov, Galicia; lived in the eighteenth century.
He was a contemporary of Jonathan Eybeschiitz,
and sided with him in his quarrel with R. Jacob
Emden. Elijah, obliged to flee, took a long voyage
and passed through Italy and Turkey. Toward the
end of his life he settled at Amsterdam. He was
the author of "Birkat Eliyahu," novellae on several
treatises of the Talmud (Wandsbeck, 1728). At the
end of this book there are some passages in defense
of the customs of the Ashkenazic Jews. It was pref-
aced and published by Moses Hagis.
Bibliography : Nepl-Ghirondl, Toledot Gedole Tisrael, p. 11 ;
Steinschnelder, Cat. Bodl. col. 930 ; Fuenn, Keneset Yierael,
p. 112: Walden, Shem ha-Gedolim he-Jfadash, L 22.
L. G. M. Bel,
ELIJAH B. JOSEPH. See Nola, Elijah b.
Joseph.
ELIJAH BEN JOSEPH : Turkish Talmudist
and commentator; lived at Salonica in the sixteenth
century. He wrote: " ?ol Teru'ah," homilies on
the Pentateuch, Salonica, 1562; and an unpublished
commentary on Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Daniel, Ezra,
and Chronicles, entitled "Sefer ha-Tikkunim."
Bibliography : Michael, Or ha^Ifayjjim, No. 383 ; stein-
schnelder. Cat. Bodl. col. 930.
K. M. Sel.
ELIJAH B. JOSEPH (YOSKE). See Spira,
Elijah b. Joseph.
ELIJAH B. JUDAH LOB OF WISCH-
NITZ : Polish rabbi and author; died in 1715. At
an early age he left Poland and went to Fulda,
Germany, where he became rabbi. He wrote: a
commentary on Shekalim (Yer.), with quotations of
parallel passages, Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1710; a
commentary on Berakot (Yer.) and part of Zera'im,
with notes, published with the second edition of
Shekalim, Amsterdam, 1710; a commentary on
Baba Kamma and Baba Mezi'a (Yer.), Offenbach,
1729. This last work, with a commentary on Baba
Batra (Yer.), was republished at Frankfort-on-the-
Main in 1742.
Bibliography : Michael, Or ha^Hayyim, p. 176 ; Zedner, Cat.
Hebr. Books Brit. Mus. p. 2St9 ; Levensteln, Dor Dor ue-
Dorshaw, p. 16.
K. N. T. L.
ELIJAH BEN JTHJAH OF PARIS : French
Talmudist of the twelfth century, often quoted by
later Talmudistsas an important authority. He be-
came well known through his controversy with R.
Tarn as to whether the tefillin-knot should be re-
newed every day. A legend arose in connection with
this controversy to the effect that Elijah left his
grave in order to assert himself once more against
R. Tarn. Elijah is the author of two piyyu^im writ-
ten for the Feast of Weeks, DniDnn DV pDIK and
Bibliography : Gross, GaUia Jitdaica, p. 515 ; Zunz, Litera^
turgesch. p. 458.
l. g. a. Pe.
ELIJAH BEN KALONYMUS : Talmudical
scholar ; lived at Lublin in the seventeenth century.
He was the author of a commentary on the Penta-
teuch, entitled "Adderet Eliyahu," published at
Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1649.
Bibliography : Steinschnelder. Cat. Bodl. col. 981 ; Michael.
Or ha-Hat/yim, p. 188; Zedner, Cat. Bebr. Books Brit.
Mus. p. 229.
L. G. I. Br.
ELIJAH MAGISTRATUS. See Genazzano,
Elijah Hayyim.
ELIJAH BEN MENAHEM HA-ZAKEN:
French liturgical poet; flourished at Le Mans in the
eleventh century. According to Solomon Luria
(Responsa, No. 29), he was the son-in-law of Sherira
Gaon. Furst doubts that Elijah was of Le Mans, ta-
Elijah Mizrahi
Elijah ben Solomon
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
132
king the name {J'JO to be the popular name of his fa-
ther, Menahem. Elijah was the pupil of Rabbenu
Gershon, and companion of Joseph Tob-'Elem (Bon-
fils), with whom he discussed the recitation of the
" Kerobah " between the first three of the eighteen
benedictions ("Shibbole ha-Loket," No. 11). He
wrote: (1) " Azharot,"apoem on the 613 command-
ments, containing 176 four-line strophes. This poem
may be divided into several smaller poems, giving to-
gether with the acrostic "Eliyahu Hazak,"in one in-
stance an acrostic of nj"3K, in another one of pl'KTl.
These "azharot" were known to the Tosafists and
are quoted in several places (Suk. 49a; Yoma 8a;
B. B. 145b; Mak. 3b; Niddah 30a). (2) "Seder ha-
Ma'arakah," Biblical passages arranged for recita-
tion on each day of the week in the same manner as
the " Ma'amadot " (MSS. Offenbach, No. 38). Jelli-
nek ("Orient, Lit." xii. 546) identifies the author of
the " Azharot " with the cabalist Elijah ha-Zaken,
who is frequently quoted by Moses Botarel in his
commentary to the "Sefer Yezirah."
Bibliographt: Zunz, Literaturgesch. pp. 12&-i29; idem, S. P.
p. 97; idem, Z. O. pp. 47, 192; OricuL Lit. Ix. 51, note;
xi. 49 et seq. ; Landshuth, 'Ammude ha-''Abndah, pp.
13-15; Azulai, Shem ha-Oedolim, 1., s.i'.; 11., s.u. nnnrs ;
Gross, Oallia Judaica, p. 363; Steinschneider, Cat. Bodl.
col. 949.
K. M. Sel.
ELIJAH MIZRAHI. See Mizrahi, Eli.jah.
ELIJAH BEN MORDECAI : Payyetan of the
eleventh century, possibly a native of Italy. Of his
poetic productions a " kerobah " for the Minhah of the
Day of Atonement ("inJIDX t^Dn |n''N) is extant in
the German-Polish liturgy. Eliezer ben Nathan wrote
a commentary on Elijah's piyyutim.
Bibliography : Zunz, Literaturgesch. p. 142 ; Landshuth,
'^Ammude ha-''Abodah, p. 15 ; Michael, Or ha-Hayuim, P- lb~.
G. ■ H. B.
ELIJAH BEN MOSES GERSHON : Eight-
eenth-century Polish physician, mathematician, and
Talmudist; lived at Pinczow, government of Kielcc,
Russian Poland. He wrote: "Meleket Mahshebet,"
in two parts: the first called " 'Ir Heshbon," on arith-
metic and algebra; the second, "Berure Middot,"
on geometry (Zolkiev, 1758; Frankfort-on-the-Oder,
part 1., and Berlin, part ii., 1765; Ostrog, 1806)-;
" Ma'aneh Eliyahu," novelise on Baba Mezi'a and Be-
?ah, decisions, and responsa (Zolkiev, 1758); "Had-
rat Eliyahu," ten homilies on Talmudic subjects
(Prague, 1786) ; " Nibhar me-Haruz," a compendium
of Joseph Albo's "'Ikkarim," in the form of dia-
logues. He edited " She'elot u-Teshubot Geone Bat-
ra'e," a collection of responsa of R. Vom-Tob Lipp-
mann Heller, Joel Sirkes, Joshua Falk, and others
(Sudilkov, 1795).
Bibliography : Fiirst, Bibl. Jud. 1. 237 ; Fuenn, Keneset Yis-
rael pp. 118-119 ; Zeitlin, Bibl. Post-Mendels. p. 11.
G. M. Sel.
ELIJAH BEN MOSES ISRAEL : Palestin-
ian rabbi; born at Jerusalem; died at Alexandria
Jan. 7, 1786. In 1763 he became rabbi of Rhodes,
and was later offered the chief rabbinate of Alexan-
dria. Though a prolific writer, few of his works
have been published. Among these are : " Kol Eli-
yahu," responsa, arranged in the order of the four
Turim, and containing some responsa of his brother
Abraham Israel and of his son Moses Israel (Leg-
horn, 1792); "Kisse Eliyahu." glosses and novellae
on the Shulhan 'Aruk, Orah Hayyim, fragments of
which appear at the end of Azulai's "Wa'ad la-
Hakamim " ; " 'Uggat Eliyahu," responsa (Leghorn,
1830); "Shene Eliyahu," twenty-five homilies (ib.
1806) ; " Ar'a de-Yisrael, " on the methodology of the
Talmud, printed, together with "Debar ha-Melek,"
a commentary on Maimonides, at the end of the
" Sha'ar Asher " of Asher Covo (Vienna, 1821). Be-
sides these Elijah left in manuscript eight other
works on Talmudic-rabbinic literature.
Bibliography: Michael, Or ha^Hayyim, pp. 185-186; ^azan,
Ha-Ma'alot li-Shelomoh, p. 4b. '
L. G.
M. Sel.
ELIJAH B. MOSES DE VIDAS : Cabalist
at Safed in the sixteenth century ; pupil of R.
Moses Cordovero. He went to Poland, but returned
to Palestine, and died at Hebron. He is the author
of " Resliit Hokmah," a book on morals divided into
five parts ("she'arim "): fear of God; love for God;
repentance; holiness; humbleness (Venice, 1578,
1593; Cracow, 1593; Beriin, 1703, etc.). In this
book are gathered all the moral sentences scattered
through the Talmud, Midrasbim, andZohar ; to these
he added five chapters of the "Menoratha-Ma'or" of
Israel ben Joseph Alnaqua; "Huppat Eliyahu
Rabbah," and "Seder Eliyahu Rabbah," moral say-
ings and admonitions; "Or '01am," the first chapter
containing all the moral sayings of the Talmud be-
ginning with the word "le'olam," the second those
beginning with "gadol" or "gedolah." He later
abridged the " Reshit Hokmah " under the title of
"Toze'ot Hayyim" (Prague, Cracow [n. d.]; Am-
sterdam, 1650). Another abridgment was made by
Jacob b. Mordecai Pavieti ("Kizzur Reshit Hok-
mah," Venice, 1600). David de Lara translated into
Spanish the "Sha'ar ha-Yir'ah," treating of the fear
of God (Amsterdam, 1633).
Bibliography: Fiirst, Bibl. Jud. ill. 477; Steinschneider,
Cat. Bodl. col. 950 ; Fuenn, Keneset Tisrael, p. 106 ; Azulai,
Shem ha-Oedolim, p. 11 ; Zedner, Cat. Hebr. Books Brit.
Mus. pp. 230, 231 ; Michael, Or ha-J^ayyim, p. 184.
G. M. Sel.
ELIJAH OF PESARO : Italian Talmudist and
philosopher of the sixteenth century. After a long
residence in Venice as Talmudic teacher, he started
for Palestine (1563). Arrived at Famagusta, in Cy-
prus, he heard that the cholera was devastating the
Holy Land and decided to go no farther. He wrote
a number of works which are preserved in the Bib-
liothgque Nationale at Paris (MS. No. 24). They
comprise a commentary on Job, an allegorical expla-
nation of the Song of Songs, a philosophical treatise
on the Talmud and Midrashim, a funeral oration on
the death of R. Mordecai Kunavoti, a fragment of
his commentary on Jonah, a number of sermons, and
a letter written from Famagusta to his relatives at
Venice in which he described his journey to the for-
mer place. It has been translated into German by
Jost(" Jahrbuch fur die Geschichteder Juden," 1861)
and into French by Moise Schwab (" Revue de Geo-
graphic," 1877).
Bibliography: S. J. Fuenn.JTene.set Fforoe/, p. 118; Carmoly,
in Revue Orientate, i. 92; Steinschneider, Jewish Litera-
ture, p. 257 : Orient, Lit. 11. 444.
L. G. M. Sel.
133
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Elijah Mizrahi
Elijah ben Solomon
ELIJAH RABBENU (BEN JTJDAH
TISHBI) : Karaite scholar ; died about 1584. He
wrote in 1579 at Constantinople a worli called
"Pe'er" (=:"Perush Eliyahu Rabbenu"), a super-
commentary on the first part of Aaron ben Joseph's
Biblical commentary "Ha-Mibhar." Moses of Zu-
rudi, Elijah's son-in-law, revised this work in 1585.
One copy is found in Leyden (No. 54) and another
In Oxford (Ncubauer, "Cat. Bodl. Hebr. MSS." No.
2352).
Bibliography : Pinsker, Likkute Kadmnniyynt, p. 199 ; Gott-
lober, Bikjjinret le-TnletiotyxuKdraHm, p. 156; Steinschnei-
der, Jewish Literature, p. 121 ; Idem, Hear. Bibl. xl. 9.
K. M. Sel.
ELIJAH B. SAMUEL OF LUBLIN : Polish
rabbi ; died at Hebron, Palestine, 1735. He became
rabbi of Byala, and later, after residing for some
time at Brest-Litovsk, of Eibenschiltz, Moravia. In
old age he removed to Hebron. Elijah was the
author of "Yad Eliyahu," responsa, Amsterdam,
1712.
Bibliography: Michael, Or ho-Haj/wim, p. 196; Azulal, S?iem
tia-Ged(jlim, 1. 23, ii. 59, 127; Levenstein, Dor Dor we-Dor-
ahaw, p. 17 ; E. L. Rabblnowicz, '7r Tehillah, pp. 32, 186.
L. G. N. T. L.
ELIJAH BEN SAMUEL BEN PABNES
OF STEPHANOW : Bulgarian exegete and poet ;
lived in the second half of the fifteenth century,
probably first at Widdin, and later at Constanti-
nople. He maintained a correspondence on scientific
subjects with Moses Capsali, Elijah Mizrahi, and
other Talmudical authorities. Joseph Colon men-
tions him as having lived at Constantinople (Re-
sponsa, No. 83). Elijah wrote in 1469 a grammat-
ical and allegorical commentary on the Pentateuch,
entitled " Sefer ha-Zikkaron " (Book of Memory)
(Neubauer, " Cat. Bodl. Hebr. MSS. " No. 251). The
commentary is followed by poetical pieces com-
posed by the author, twelve of which are liturgical
poems.
Bibliography : Zunz, Literaturgesch. p. 387 ; Michael, Or ha-
Hayyim, No. 411.
G. I. Br.
ELIJAH BEN SHEMAIAH : Italian rabbi
and liturgical poet ; lived at Bari in the twelfth cen-
tury. He was one of the teachers of Samuel b.
Natronai ; and his signature, with those of many
other rabbis, is appended to a responsum found in
Samuel's novellae on Maimonides ("Yad," Ishut,
xxiii. 14). Elijah b. Shemaiah is especially known
as a composer of hymns. Besides a "reshut" to
Johanan's "Kerobot" for Yom Kippiir, Elijah com-
posed a great number of selihot. Zunz (" Litera-
turgesch." pp. 244-246) enumerates no less than
thirty -six, arranged either in the alphabetical or in
the reversed alphabetical order, and giving the
acrostic of his name.
Bibliography: Zunz, Literaturqesch. pp. 139,244-246; icleiii,
G. V. p. 393; idem, S. P. p. 206; Michael, Or ha-Hanyim,
No. 412 ; Landshuth, "Ammude fiOr-'Abodah, p. 17.
K. M. Sel.
ELIJAH BEN SOLOMON (also called Elijah
Wilna, Elijah Gaon, and Der Wilner Gaon) :
Lithuanian Talmudist, cabalist, grammaiiiin, and
mathematician; born at Wilna April 23, 1720; died
there Oct. 9, 1797. He gave evidence of the posses-
sion of extraordinary talents while still a child. At
the age of seven he was taught Talmud by Moses
Margalit, rabbi of Kaidan and the author of a com-
mentary to the Jerusalem Talmud, and was supposed
to know several of the treatises by heart. From the
age of ten he continued his studies without the aid of a
teacher. When he reached a more mature age Elijah
wandered in various parts of Poland and Germany,
as was the custom of tlie Tulmudists of the time. He
returned to his native town in 1748, having even
then acquired con.siderable renown ; for when he was
hardly twenty years old many rabbis submitted their
hidakic difficulties to him for decision. Since Elijah
had never studied at any ycshibah, he had this ad-
vantage, tliat his mind was never biased by preju-
dice or by the perverted methods of study then in
vogue. He thus escaped casuistry, his mind re-
maining open to the plain and simple peshat.
Elijah's chief merit consisted in this fact, that he
applied to the Talmud and the cognate literature
proper philological methods. He even
His made an attempt toward a critical ex-
Methods of aminationof the text; and thus, very
Study. often with a single reference to a paral-
lel passage, or with a textual emenda-
tion, he overthrew all the castles in the air erected by
his predecessors. But, besides the two Talmuds and
the other branches of rabbinic literature which he
had very soon committed to memory, he devoted
much time to the study of the Bible and Hebrew
grammar, as well as to the secular sciences, enrich-
ing the latter by his original contributions. His
pupils and friends had to pursue the same plain and
simple methods of study that he followed. He also
exhorted them not to neglect the secular sciences,
maintaining that Judaism could only gain Iw study-
ing them. Elijah was also attracted to the study
of the Cabala; but from his controversy with the
Hasidim it would seem that he was not prepared to
follow the mystics to the full extent of their teach-
ings.
Elijah was very modest and disinterested ; and he
declined to accept the office of rabbi, though it was
often offered to him on the most flattering terms.
In his later years he also refused to give approba-
tions, though this was the privilege of great rabbis;
he thought too humbly of himself to assume such
authority. He led a retired life, only lecturing from
time to time to a few chosen pupils. But in spite
of his desire to avoid publicity his fame was soon
widely spread, and in 1755, when Elijah was only
thirty-five, Jonathan Eybeschiitz, then sixty-five
years old, applied to Elijah for an examination of
and decision concerning his amulets, which were
a subject of discord between himself and Jacob
Emden. Elijah, in a letter to Ej'beschutz, stated
that, while in full sympathy with him, he did not
believe that words coming from a stranger like
himself, who had not even the advantage of old
age, would be of any weight with the contending
parties.
The only occasion upon wliich Elijah threw off his
reserve and made his authority felt was the appear-
ance of the Hasidim on the stage of Jewish history.
When the latter became more audacious, and even
began to make proselytes in his native town, which
had always remained proof against ail kinds of in-
novation, Elijah, joining the rabbis and heads of
Elijah ben Solomon
Elimeleoh
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
134
the Polish communities, took the necessary steps to
check the Hasidic influence. In 1777 the first excom-
munication was launched at Wilna
His An- against the Hasidim, while a letter was
tag-onism also addressed to all the large com-
to the munities, exhorting them to deal with
Hasidim. the Hasidim after the example of
Wilna, and to watch them until they
had recanted. The letter Avas acted upon by several
communities; and in Brody, during the fair, the ex-
communication was pronounced against the Hasidim.
In 1781, when the Hasidim renewed their prosely-
tizing work under the leadership of their rabbi,
Shneor Salman of Liadi, Elijah excommunicated
them again, declaring them to be heretics with
whom no pious Jew might intermarry. Elijah also
accused Shneor Salman
and his adherents of hav-
ing accepted a pantheistic
system. After this, Elijah
went intoretirementagain,
and the Hasidim seized the
opportunity to spread a ru-
mor that Elijah sided with
them and that he repented
of having persecuted
them. Elijah then sent
two of his pupils (1796)
with letters to all the com-
munities of Poland, declar-
ing that he had not
changed his attitude in the
matter, and that the asser-
tions of the Hasidim were
pure inventions. Still, Eli-
jah had seen beforehand
that all the excommunica-
tions would be of no avail,
and that they would not
stop the tide of Hasidism.
Except in this instance,
Elijah never took part in
public affairs; and, so far
as is known, he did not pre-
side over any great school
in Wilna. He was satis-
fied, as has been already stated, with lecturing in
his bet ha-midrash to a few chosen pupils, whom
he initiated into his scientific methods. He taught
them Hebrew grammar, Bible, and Mishnah — sub-
jects which were largely neglected by the Talmud-
ists of that time. He was especially anxious to in-
troduce them to the study of the pre-Talmudic
literature— the Sifra, Sifre, Mekilta, Tosefta, Seder
*01am, and the minor treatises — which were very lit-
tle known by the scholars of his time. He laid special
stress on the study of the Jerusalem Talmud, which
had been almost entirely neglected for centuries.
Being convinced that the study of the Torah is the
very life of Judaism, and that this study must be
conducted in a scientific and not in a merely scholas-
tic manner, he encouraged his chief pupil. Rabbi
Hayyim, to fouad a college in which rabbinic litera-
ture should be taught according to his master's
method. Hayyim did not carry out the injimction
of his master until some years after the death of
Elijah ben Solomon of Wilna.
(From a traditional portrait.)
the latter. The college was opened at Volozhin in
1803 (see Hayyim b. Solomon and Volozhin).
Elijah led an ascetic life. He interpreted literally
the words of the ancient rabbis, that the Torah can
be acquired only by abandoning all pleasures and
by cheerfully accepting suffering ; and
His Ascetic as he lived up to this principle, he was
Life. revered by his countrymen as a saint,
being called by some of his contempo-
raries " the Hasid." Elijah once started on a trip to
the Holy Land, but did not get beyond Germany.
While at K5nigsberg he wrote to his family a letter
which was published under the title " 'Alim li-Te-
rufah," Minsk, 1836. Various reasons were assigned
for his change of mind, the most probable one being
the impossibility on board ship of observing strictly
the dietary laws. Elijah
was a voluminous author;
and there is hardly an an
cient Hebrew book of any
importance to which he
did not write a commen-
tar}', or at least provide
marginal glosses and
notes, which were mostly
dictated to his pupils; but
nothing of his was pub-
lished in his lifetime. His
works may be best classi-
fied according to the dif-
ferent branches:
Biblical.
Adderet Ellyahu, a commen-
tary on the Pentateuch, in which
he endeavored to ^ve the exact
meaning of the verses, showinK
that there is not a single super-
fluous letter. Dubrovna, 18(M.
Commentary to the Prophets
and Hagiographa. The only
parts published were Proverbs
(Sklow, 1798); the portion of
Joshua containing the descrip-
tion of Palestine and that of
Ezekiel containing the descrip-
tion of the Temple, under the
title of "Zurat ha-Arez" Ub.
1802) ; Jonaii (Wilna, 1800)'; Isaiah
l.-xiii.; Habakkuk and Chronl-
Song of Songs (Warsaw, 1842); and Job
cles (if). 1820); the
i.-vil. (lb. 1854).
MiSHNAIC.
Shenot Eliyahu, long and short commentaries on Zera'im, re-
vised by his pupil Hayyim of Volozhin. Lemberg, 1799.
Eliyahu Rabbah, on Tohorot, complied by his pupil Meir of
Wilna. Briinn, 1802.
Commentary on Abot. Sklow, 1804.
Commentary on Kodashim and a mystical commentary on the
Biblical passages quoted in the Mishnah, both extant in manu-
script.
Efat Zedek, glosses to the Mekilta. Wilna, 1844.
Commentary and glosses to the Sifra.
GIos.ses to the Sifre.
Tohorat ha-Kodesh (also called " Zer Zohab "), commentary
onTosef., Tohorot. Zolkiev, 1804.
Glosses to Tosef., Zera'im, Mo'ed, and Nashlm. Wilna, 1837.
Yerushalmi.
Commentary on the order Zera'im.
Mishnat Eliyahu, glosses to the treatise Shekallm, printed in
the " Taklln Hadtln " of his pupil Israel of Sklow. Minsk, 1812.
Hagahot ba-GeRA
Babli.
(ha-Gaon Rabbenu
Eliyahu), being a s©-
135
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Elijah ben Solomon
Elimelech
lection from glosses to the whole Talmud written by Elijah ;
published in the Vienna edition of the Talmud. 1806.
Glosses to Abot de-Rabbi Natan and to the small treatises;
printed with his commentary to Abot. Sklow, 1804.
Novellae on eight treatises of the Talmud.
Halakic
Commentary on the four parts of the Shulhan 'Aruk, namely :
Orah Hayyim, Sklow, 1803; Yoreh De 'ah, Grodno, 1806; Eben
ha-'Ezer, Wilna, 1819; Hoshen MIshpat, KOnigsberg, 1856-58.
Collectanea on Malmonides.
Novelise on Asheri.
Haggadic.
Glosses to Pirke Rabbi Eliezer. Warsaw, 1832.
Commentary and glosses to the Seder '01am Rabbah and Seder
*01am Zuta. Sklow, 1801.
Glosses to the Peslkta.
Cabalistic.
Commentary to the Sefer Yezirah. Grodno, 1806.
Commentary to the Slfra di-z'enl*uta. Wilna, 1820.
Commentary to the Zohar in eleven volumes, of which only a
small part was published. lb. 1810. This commentary is a crit-
ical one ; he made many corrections in the text and indicated
the sources which served the later cabalists.
Commentary on the Tikkune Zohar. 5 vols.
Commentary on the Hekalot. 2 vols.
Commentary on Ra'ya Mehemna. 4 vols.
Commentary on both Idrot.
Commentary on the Midrash ha-Ne'elam.
Commentary on the Zohar IJadash.
Hadrat Kodesh, cabalistic collectanea.
Cabalistic commentary to the Pesah Haggadah. Grodno, 1806.
Science and Grammar.
Ayil Meshullash, a treatise on trigonometry, geometry, and
some principles of astronomy and algebra ; containing 400 rules.
Wilnii, 1834.
Treatise on astronomy.
Treatises on the tekufot and moladot.
Dikduk Ellyahu, a short Hebrew grammar. lb. 1833.
Ma'aseh Toreh, a collection of notes on dlfTerent subjects.
Bibliography: Joshua Heshel Levin and Nahman of Grodno,
"AHiiuot Eliyahu^a biography of Elijah Wilna), Wilna, 1856;
Fuerin, Kiryah Ne'emaiiah, pp. 133-155 ; Gratz, Gesch. 2d ed.,
xi. 108-li5; Zunz's notes in Be njami mo/ Tudeia, ii. 291; L. A.
Frankl, in Wertheimer's Ja/jrhwc/i, xl. 357 ; S. Scheehter, Shici-
ies in JudaUm, pp. 73-77, 81-92, 96, 97; idem, in JUd. LitU-
raturblatt, xix. 42; S. Nascher, ib. xxii. 56, 73, 81, 100.
8. e. M. Sel.
ELIJAH BEN SOLOMON ABRAHAM
HA-KOHEN : Dayyan of Smyrna; almoner and
preacher; died 1729. Elijah produced over thirty
works, of which the principal, according to Wun-
derbar ("Orient, Lit." p. 579), are as follows: "Mid-
rash Eliyahu," eleven funeral sermons and a com-
mentary on the Talmudic sayings relative to the
Roll of Esther (Constantinople, 1693); "Midrash ha-
Izmiri," homilies (ib. 1695); "Midrash Talpiyyot,"
glosses and comments taken from three hundred
woiks and containing 926 (the numerical value of
the word " Talpiyyot ") paragraphs in alphabetical
order: only the first part, from "alef " to "kaf," was
published (Amsterdam, 1698); "Me'il Zedakah," a
treatise on charity {ib.llOi); "Shebet Musar," on
ethics, the best known of his works, divided into
fifty -two chapters corresponding to the weeks of the
year, and taken for the most part from the " Or Kad-
mon " of Moses Hagis, the " Tokahot " of the Span-
ish poets, the "Orhot Hayyim," and the "Rokeah "
of Eleazar of Worms (Constantinople, 1712) ; " Megal-
leh Zefunot," cabalistic treatises (Porizk, 1785),
"She'elot u-Teshubot," responsa (Sudilkov, 1796),
"Minhat Eliyahu," sermons (Salonica, 1834); "Se-
mukimle-'Ad," homiletic treatise on the parashiyyot
(ib. 1836); "We Lo 'Od Ella," a treatise on the Tal-
mudic and Midrashic passages beginning with these
words (Smyrna, 1853).
Elijah's other works are not yet published. They
include: a commentary to the Psalms; "Ezor Eli-
yahu," a commentary to Abot and to the Pesalj
Haggadah; "Ta'ame ha-Mizwot," a treatise on the
613 commandments ; " Sheloshah Mahadurot, " a com-
mentary to the Pentateuch; "Shittah,"on the'Abo-
dah Zarali ; a commentary to the difficult passages
in the Ta'anit, a commentary to the Haffarot;
"Hiddushim Nifradim", "Yado ba-Kol," compri-
sing commentaries to the Song of Songs, Ruth, and
Esther, each under a different title; mystical glosses
to the Song of Songs and Esther ; a commentary to
Lamentations; commentaries to Pirke Rabbi Elie-
zer, Otiyyot de Rabbi Akiba, Kallah, Semahot,
Derek. Erez Rabbah and Zu^a, Tanna debe Eliyahu,
and Tikkune ha-'Aberot; one treatise and three
sermons on repentance; a commentary to various
prayers; a commentary to the Haggadah of the
Jerusalem Talmud.
Bibliography: Azulai, Shem ha-Oedolim, i. 22; Michael, Or
ha-Hayyim, No. 407 Jellinek, B. H. i. 16, Preface; Stein-
schneider. Cat. Bndl. col. 932; Ftirst, Bibl. Jud. 1. 238; Frte-
denstein, 'Ir OibboTim.
K M. Sel.
ELIJAH WILNA. See Elijah b. Solomon.
ELIJAH OF YORK (also known as Babbenu
Elijah the Saint) : Tosafist ; supposed to have been
killed in the York massacre of 1190. In Tosef.,
Yoma, 37a, he is called Elijah of pV"l3'K, and in
Tosef., Zeb. 14b, of NP''1'n3K. which Gross ("Gallia
Judaica," p. 32) identifies with "Everwic" (Latin,
"Eboracum"), the medieval name of York. The
word "ha-Kadosh" (the Saint), which follows his
name (Tosef., Zeb. 14b), being generally the desig-
nation of a martjT, the supposition is that he was
one of those who were killed in 1190. Elijah was a
pupil of the tosafist R. Isaac ha-Zaken, and, accord-
ing to Zunz ("Z. G." p. 49), also of R. Samuel b.
Solomon, known as Sir Morel of Falaise.
Bibliography : Michael, Or ha-Havyim, p. 159; Jacobs, Jew»
nf Angevin England, p. 116 ; Renan-Neubauer, Les Rabbina
Fran<;ais, pp. 446, 736.
J. M. Sel.
ELIM : The second camping-place of the Israel-
ites on the march from Egypt. It had twelve
springs and seventy palm-trees (Ex. xv. 27, xvi. 1;
Num. xxxili. 9, 10). It is usually, but by no means
with certainty, located in Wadi Gharandal.
Bibliography: Dillmann-Ryssel, Commentary to Ex. tv. 97;
Gall, AltisraeUtische Cultstatten, p. 23; Hommel, AufsUtze
und Abhandlungen, p. 293.
E. G. H. F. Bu.
ELIMELECH ("I^O^^N = [my] " God is King ") ;
A man of the tribe of Judah, living in Bethlehem-
judah at the time of the Judges (Ruth i. 2). Scar-
city of food compelled him to emigrate with his
family to Moab, where he died, and where one of
his sons married Ruth (ib. i. 3, 4). As a relative of
Boaz (ib. ii. 1, iv. 3), he was of the family of the
Hezronites. But according to Rab (B. B. 91a), Elim-
elech, Salmon (the father of Boaz), Peloni-Almoni,
and the father of Naomi were the sons of Nahshon
ben Aminadab. R. Simon b Yohai contends (ib.)
that Elimelech was one of the chiefs of Israel, and
Eliphaz
Elisha
THE JEWISH EXCYCLOPEDIA
136
that his premature death was his punishment for
having left the Holy Land and having settled in the
land of Moab.
E. G. H. M. Sel.
ELIPHAZ : Tlie first of the three visitors of Job
(Job ii. 11), surnamed "the Temanite"; supposed
to have come from Teman, an important city of
Edom (Amos i. 12; Obad. 9; Jer. xlix. 20). Thus
Eliphaz appears as the representative of the vris-
dom of the Edomites, which, according to Obad.
8, Jer. xlix. 7, and Baruch iii. 22, was famous in
antiquity.
The name " Eliphaz" for the spokesman of Edomite
■wisdom may have been suggested to the author of
Job by the tradition which gave this name to Esau's
son, the fatherof Theraan (Gen. xxxvi. 11; I Chron.
i. 35, 36). In the arguments that pass between Job
and his friends, it is Eliphaz that opens each of the
three series of discussions. His one thought is that
the righteous can not perish ; the wicked alone suf-
fer, and in measure as they have sinned (Job iv. 7-9).
See Job.
Later tradition makes Eliphaz King of Yemen ;
e.g., the additions to the Arabic translation of the
Book of Job (comp. Michaelis, "Einleitung in die
GOttliche Schrift des Alten Testaments," p. 18).
E. K.— E. G. H.
ELIPHELET ("God is deliverance"): 1. The
last of the eleven sons born to David in Jerusalem
(II Sam. V. 16). In I Chron. iii. 6, 8; xiv. 5, 7, two
Bousof this name (A. V. "Elpalet" and "Eliphalet " ;
R. V. "Elpelet" and "Eliphelet") are mentioned,
together with a son named Nogah, making the total
thirteen.
2. The son of Ahasbai (II Sam., xxiii. 34), iden-
tical with Eliphal, the son of Ur (I Chron. xi. 35),
one of David's "thirty " warriors.
3. The third son of Eshek, a descendant of Jona-
than (I Chron. viii. 39).
4. One of the clan of Adonikam, who returned
from the Exile (Ezra viii. 13 = "Eliphalet," I Esd.
viii. 39).
5. A Hashumite, married to a foreign woman
(Ezrax. 33; I Esd. ix. 33).
E. G. H. E. I. N.
ELISEUS or ELISSEUS ('EA^CTo-aZof) :
Learned Jew at the court of Murad I. at Brusa and
Adrianople during the second half of the fourteenth
century. After a time he lost favor with the sultan,
and was disgraced and exiled. He is identified by
Franz Delitzsch with the author of the "Graecus
Venetus " (see Jew. Encyc. iii. 188). His contem-
porary, Gennadius, complains that he was an unbe-
liever (Zoroastrian), probably because of his philo-
sophical bent. Eliseus was the teacher of Georgios
Gemistus Pletho (b. 1355), the teacher of Cardinal
Bessarion, who presented the manuscript of the
"Graecus Venetus " to the city of Venice.
Bibliography : Delitzsch, in prefMce to Oroecus Vcnetu,% ed.
Gebhardt, Lelpslc, 187.5; Swete. Introduction to the Septu-
(Wint, p. .56 ; P. F. Frankl, In Monatsschrift, xxlv. 424, sug-
jrests that the iiuthor was a Christian.
G.
ELISHA.— Biblical Data: Successor to the
prophet Elijah. The name (in the LXX. 'EXiaa,
'E?.iann- in Luke iv. 27 'EAta[a]aioc) seems to denote
"God is salvation," corresponding to the Sabean
xi^yn, and thus be in meaning identical with " Eli-
shua " (II Sam. v. 15) ; though the latter name may
also be interpreted as "God is opulence," which sig-
nificance Konig prefers for "Elisha."
The son of Sliaphat, a wealthy landowner in Abel-
meholah, Elisha grew up on the farm until he,
though not one of the "sons of the Prophets," was
summoned from the plow by Elijah. Thereupon,
after kissing his father and mother, and making a
sacrificial feast of his oxen for the people, he fol-
lowed Elijah, his "master" and "father," upon
whose hands he poured water (I Kings xix. in,
19-21 ; II Kings iii. 11), i.e., as a servant.
By the other followers or disciples of Elijah he
was soon acknowledged as the successor of the de-
parted master, who in fact had designated Elisha as
such by leaving his mantle with him (II Kings ii.
13-15), so that his wish for "a double
Succeeds portion " of the older prophet's spirit
Elijah. {ib. ii. 9), in allusion to the preference
shown the first-born son in the divi-
sion of the father's estate (Deut. xxi. 17), had been
fulfilled. Elisha's activity was exhibited in polit-
ical matters as well as in private life, as the follow-
ing facts show :
In the expedition against Mesha, King of Moab (II Kings iii.
4), the Israelitish army was saved through Elisha's advice from
perishing by thirst ; and Moab, mistaking, under the glare of
the sun, the water in the trenches for blood, was lured to an
ill-conceived attack and defeated.
During the Syrian war (ih. vi. 8 et seq.), Elisha's counsel de-
feated the strategy of the hostile king, who, desirous to capture
the prophet, sent out horse and foot against him, only to find
thatthe would-be captors were themselves tricked to accompany
their expected captive into Samaria.
Samaria, besieged by the Syrians and In dire distress from
famine, was cheered by his prediction of the raising of the siege
{ib. vii. 1-2). Elisha, by announcing to Hazael his impending
succession to the throne, was perhaps the Innocent cause of
Benhadad's assassination {ib. vlli. 7 et Req.). By his direction
one of the sons of the prophets anointed Jehu as king, with the
purpose of dethroning Joram and of destroying Ahab's dynasty.
His last act was his prediction to King Joash, who visited him
when on his deathbed, that he would be victorious over the
Syrians (ib. xlll. 14-19).
Of miracles which he performed by virtue of his
prophetic power, the following are recorded :
The healing of the waters at Jericho {ib. il. 19); the cursing
of the little children at Beth-el because they had mockingly
called after him " Baldhead ! " whereupon two
Miracles, she-bears fell upon the little ones and tore
forty-two of them {ib. ii. 23); the Hlling of the
poor widow's vessels with oil {ih. iv. 4); the reviving of the Shu-
namraite woman's son whose birth he had predicted as a reward
for her hospitality to him (ib. iv. 8); the rendering innocuous
of the wild gourds {ib. Iv. 38); the feeding of a multitude on an
Insufficient quantity of food, much being left over after their
hunger had been satisfied {ib. iv. 42); the healing of Naaman,
the Syrian captain, of leprosy {ib. v.); the punishing of Gehazl
for covetousness ; and the raising of the iron ax which had
fallen into the water {ib. vl. 1-7). After his death the very
touch of his bones revived a man buried by accident in the
prophet's sepulcher (II Kings xiii. 20, 21 ; compare Ecclesias-
ticus [Slrach] xlviii. 13-15).
Elisha resided for the most part in Samaria, pay-
ing Jericho and Bethel, where the prophetic settle-
ments were, an occasional visit (ib. ii. 25, v. 3).
In Rabbinical liiterature : Elisha having
received a double portion of the prophetic spirit, is
held to have worked twice as many miracles (16) as
Elijah (Kiml?i to II Kings ii. 14). While Ehjah
137
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Eliphaz
Elisba
restored one person from deatli, Elislia restored
two — the son of the Shunammite woman, and Naa-
man, wlio, being a h-per, was considered as one dead
(Hul. 7b; Sanh. 46a). From the incidents of Eli-
sha's life a number of halakic precepts are derived.
Indeed, both Elijah and Elisha are considered great
rabbinical masters. Thus, on their last journey to-
gether they held converse, according to one rabbi,
on the Shema' ; according to another rabbi, on the
consolations for Jerusalem. Others assert that their
conversation concerned the mysteries of creation ;
the majority maintain that they were discussing
the mysteries of the chariot (Yer. Ber. 8d; comp.
Sotah 49a). This was in due observance of the rab-
binical dictum that "two students who walk to-
gether without discussing the Torah deserve to be
burned " (Sotah 49a). Indeed, an angel had been sent
to destroy master and pupil, but finding them oc-
cupied in the study of the Torah, the Prophets, the
Hagiographa, the Mishnah, the Halakah, and the
Haggadah, he lost his mastery over them (Tanna debe
Eliyahu, v.
Anger deprives a prophet of his divine gift, as
Elisha experienced (II Kings iii. 14, 15). God's
spirit rests only upon those who are in a peaceful and
joyful mood (Pes. 6Ga, 117a; "Yer. Suk. 55a, bottom).
The harp that induced Elisha's inspiration played,
it would seem, without the touch of the musician
(Pesik. R., ed. Friedmann, p. 86a). From Elisha's
refusal to receive the King of Israel it is deduced
that one should not look upon the face of a wicked
man (Yalk. to II Kings iii. ; Meg. 28b). His having
"poured water upon Elijah's hands "is made the
text for enlarging on the benefits derived by disci-
ples from ministering to great masters (Ber. 7b).
The hospitality of the Shunammite woman is re-
ferred to as typical (Cant. R. ii. 5), and as showing
that a woman always knows the character of a
guest better than a man does (Ber. 10b). The Rab-
bis take pains to account for his calling the bears
to devour the children, by ascribing the coming of
the bears and the appearance of the woods which
had not been seen before to his miracle-working
power (Sotah 46b, 47a, Yalk. to II Kings ii. 21). The
offenders were not children, but were called so
("ne'arim") because they lacked (" meno'arin ") all
religion (Sotah 46b). The number (42) rent by the
bears corresponds to the number of the sacrifices
(42) offered by Balak. Had theBethlehemites shown
him due courtesy by sending him on his way attend-
ed in a manner befitting his dignity, this incident
would not have occurred (Sotah 46a). Yet Elisha
was punished for this act as well as for his rude
treatment of Gehazi (Sanh. 107b). The man whom
he revived from death, according to some, did not
live for more than one hour; this was to show that
the wicked should not be buried with the righteous
(Sanh. 47b; Pirke R. El. xxxiii.). Shalom ben Tik-
wah was the name of the man revived by Elisha's
bones ; according to some he did not die immediately
after, but lived (II Kings xxii. 14) and begot a son,
Hanameel (Jer. xxii. 7). Elisha was a prophet for
over sixty years, according to Seder '01am xix. and
Yalk. to II Kings xiii. 20.
Pirke R. El. (^.c.) reports, in the name of R. Joshua
ben Karliah, that any woman who saw Elisha would
die. The Shunammite was the sister of Abishag,
the wife of Iddo, the prophet. When she repaired
to Mount Carmel to seek the intervention of the
prophet in behalf of her son, Gehazi, struck by her
beauty, took undue liberties with her. Elisha sent
his servant with his staff bidding him not to speak
with any one; but Gehazi, being a skeptic and a
scoffer, disobeyed the injunction.
8. 8. E. G. H.
Critical View : As in the case of Elijah, the
critical school holds that the account of Elisha's life
and activity is taken from an old cycle of Elisha
stories current in various versions before incorpo-
rated into the Books of Samuel-Kings. The con-
tents are characteristic not of a book of history, but
of one of legends, miracles being the main preoccu-
pation of the prophet. The purpose of some of the
accounts is clearly that of exalting the authority of
the prophetic order and of inculcating obedience to
and respect for it. The Elisha cycle is a clear imi-
tation of the Elijah book. The miracles performed
by Elisha have the appearance of being duplicates
of those which are credited to his master, with obvi-
ous efforts at heightening them. Of this kind are
the widow's oil, the revival of the child, and the
anointing of Hazaeland Jehu. Even from a literary
point of view the Elisha biography reveals the hands
of imitators. Each of the prophets is ostentatiously
designated as the " man of God " ; the names of the
kings are mentioned only incidentally ; and in the
few cases where they are found, it is probable that
they were inserted later. This is characteristic of
legends ; names are al ways secondary considerations.
The Elisha cycle is a bundle of anecdotes loosely
strung together. Contradictions therefore occur, as
might be expected ; e.g. , II Kings v. 1 contradicts ib.
vi. 8. Peace is said to be between Israel and Damas-
cus in the former, war in the latter passage ; v. 27
makes Gehazi a leper; nevertheless in viii. 1 he ap-
pears without any further ado before the king. The
shifting of Elisha's places of residence points in the
same direction, and so does the cir-
Incon- cumstance that Gehazi is now a very
sistencies important personage (iv. 8, viii. 1),
of Elisha and now of little consequence (iv. 8,
Cycle. V. 1). Again, some of the stories are
altogether without historical material,
while others, notwithstanding their legendary char-
acter, give historical notes of value (iii. 1, vi. 24,
viii. 7, ix. 1). This Elisha cycle, therefore, can not
be considered as a coherent production of one au-
thor. Such anecdotes arise spontaneously among
the people, and are later compiled, without great
care to harmonize the discrepancies. Further, the
redactor of Kings may have drawn from two or more
versions of Elisha's doings.
To regard them as historical is chronologically
impossible also. The events almost all take place
under Joram. But between II Kings iv. 16 and iv.
18 an interval of at least seven to eight years is pre-
supposed ; then follows the famine, continuing for
another seven years. Joram, however, reigned only
twelve years (iii. 1). To distribute the happenings
over the reigns of Joram, Jehu, Jehoahaz, and Joash
might be admissible, but the story itself nowhere
gives a definite clue as to time, legend being as
Slisha ben Abraham
Elizapban
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
138
indiflFerent to accuracy in dates as it is to delinite-
ness of places and names.
Bibliography : The commentaries of Klostermann, Thenlus,
and Benzlnger ; the histories of Ewald, Klttel, and Stade ;
the Bible dictionaries by Cheyne, Hastings, Schenlfel, Rlehm,
and Vigouroux : Uerzog-H&uck, ReaUEncyc. s.v.; the Intro-
ductions and Einleltungen by Driver, De Wette, Schrader,
Strack, Zftckler, Kftnig, Baudissin, Bleek-Wellhausen, and
Coruill ; P. Cassel, Der Prophet ElisJM, Berlin, 1860.
E. K.— E. G. H.
ELISHA BEN ABRAHAM: Hebraist and
Talmudist; flourished at the end of tlie fifteenth
century. He was the author of "Magen Dawid,"
a vindication of David Kimhi's grammar against
the strictures of Efodi and David ben Yahya (Con-
stantinople, 1517). The book is prefaced by an
acrostic poem, giving the author's name.
Bibliography: Michael. Or ha-Hayyim, p. 233; Steinschnei-
der, Cat. Bodl. col. 968 ; Dukes, in Orient, viil. 482.
L. G. M. Sel.
ELISHA BEN ABBAHAlil BEN JTJDAH :
Russian rabbi; died at Grodno July 1, 1749. He
was rabbi and chief of the yeshibah of Lucicz, Vol-
hynia, Russia. Elisha was the author of "Kab we-
Naki," a short commentary on the Mishnah (Am-
sterdam, 1697), and he annotated and published,
under the title " Pi Shenayim " (Altona, 1735), Ashe-
ri's commentary on the Mishnah of Zera'im. Ac-
cording to Benjacob ("Ozar ha-Sefarim," p. 382,
No. 2489), the first edition of the "Kab we-Naki "
was published in 1664; from this fact it may be con-
cluded that Elisha lived to be more than a hundred
years old.
Bibliography : Nepl-Ghirondl, Toledot Gedole Tisrael, p. 7 ;
Steinschneider, Cat. Bodl. col. 967 ; Fiirst, Bibl. Jud. i. 239.
K. M. Sel.
ELISHA BEN ABTJYAH (called also by the
Rabbis Aher, " the other ") Born in Jerusalem be-
fore 70; flourished in Palestine at the end of the
first century and the beginning of the second. At one
time the Rabbis were proud to recognize him as of
their number ; but later their opposition to him grew
so intense that they even refrained from pronouncing
his name, and referred to him in terms used to desig-
nate some vile object ("dabar aher," lit. "another
thing "). For this reason it is almost impossible to de-
rive from rabbinical sources a clear picture of his per-
sonality, and modern historians have differed greatly
in their estimate of him. According to Gratz, he
was a Karpotian Gnostic; according to Siegfried, a
follower of Philo; according to Dubsch, a Christian;
according to Smolenskin and Weiss, a victim of the
inquisitor Akiba.
Of Elisha's youth and of his activity as a teacher
of the Law very little is known. He was the son of
an esteemed and rich citizen of Jerusalem, and was
trained for the career of a scholar. His praise of
this method of education is the only saying that the
Mishnah has found worth perpetuating. Accord-
ing to Abot iv. 25, his favorite say-
Youth and ing was, "Learning in youth is like
Activity, writing upon new paper, but learning
in old age is like writing upon paper
which has already been used. " Elisha was a student
of Greek ; as the Talmud expresses it, " Aher's tongue
was never tired of singing Greek songs " (Yer. Meg.
i. 9), which, according to some, caused his apostasy
(Hag. 16b, below). Bacher has very properly re-
marked that the similes which Elisha is reported to
have used (Ab. R. N. xxix.) show that he was a man
of the world, acquainted with wine, horses, and ar-
chitecture. He must have acquired a reputation
as an authority in questions of religious practise,
since in Mo'ed Katan 20b one of his halakic decisions
is recorded — the only one in his name, though there
may be others under the names of different teachers.
The Babylonian Talmud asserts that Elisha, while a
teacher in the bet ha-midrash, kept forbidden books
(" sifre minim") hidden in his clothes. This statement
is not found in the Jerusalem Talmud, and if at all
historical, may possibly mean that he also studied the
writings of the Sadducees, who, owing to changes
made by the censors, are sometimes called "minim."
The oldest and most striking reference to the
views of Elisha is found in the following baraita
(Hag. 14b; Yer. ii. 1):
" Four [sages] entered paradise— Ben 'Azzal, Ben Zoma, Aher,
and Akibiv. Ben 'Azzai looked and died ; Ben Zoma went mad ;
Aher destroyed the plants; Akiba alone came out unhurt."
There can be no doubt that the journey of the
"four" to paradise, like the ascension of Enoch
(in the pre-Christian books of Enoch) and of so
many other pious men, is to be taken literally and
not allegorically. This conception of the baraita is
supported by the use of the phrase DTIS? DJ3J
("entered paradise"), since y"j? DJ33
The Four ("entered the Garden of Eden " = par-
Who adise) was a common expression (Derek
Entered Erez Zuta i. ; Ab. R. N. xxv.). It
Paradise, means that Elisha, like Paul, in a mo-
ment of ecstasy beheld the interior of
heaven — in the former's case, however, with the effect
that he destroyed the plants of the heavenly garden.
The Talmud gives two different interpretations of
this last phrase. The Babylonian Talmud says :
"What is the meaning of 'Aher destroyed the plants'?
Scripture refers to him (Eccl. v. 5 [A. V. 6]) when it says: 'Suf-
fer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin.' What does this sig-
nify ? In heaven Aher saw Metatron seated while he wrote
down the merits of Israel. Whereupon Aher said : ' We hare
been taught to believe that no one sits in heaven, ... or are
there perhaps two supreme powers ? ' Then a heavenly voice
was heard : ' Turn, O backsliding children (Jer. lii. 14), with the
exception of Aher.' "
The dualism with which the Talmud charges
him has led some scholars to see here Persian,
Gnostic, or even Philonian dualism. They forget
that the reference here to Metatron — a specifically
Babylonian idea, which would prob-
The Tal- ably be unknown to Palestinian rab-
mudic Ex- bis even five hundred years after Elisha
planation. — robs the passage of all historical
worth. The story is of late origin, as
is seen from the introductory words, which stand in
no connection with the context, as they do in the
parallel passage in the Jerusalem Talmud. This
latter makes no mention of Elisha's dualism; but it
relates that in the critical period following the re-
bellion of Bar Kokba, Elisha visited the schools and
attempted to entice the students from the study of
the Torah, in order to direct tiieir energies to some
more practical occupation ; and it is to him, there-
fore, that the verse " Suffer not thy mouth to cause
thy flesh to sin" (Eccl. v. 5) is to be applied. In
connection with this the Biblical quotation is quite
139
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Elisha ben Abraham
Elizaphan
intelligible, as according to another liaggadah (Shab.
34b; Eccl. R. v. 5) "flesh" here means children —
spiritual children, pupils — whom Elisha killed with
his mouth by luring them from the study of the
Torah. The Babylonia amoraim must have known
this story, from which they took the concluding part
and attached it to another legend. The Jerusalem
Talmud is also the authority for the statement that
Elisha played the part of an informer during the Ha
drianic persecutions, when the Jews were ordered to
violate the laws of the Torah. As evidence of this
it is related that when the Jews were ordered to do
work on the Sabbath, they tried to perform it in a
way which could be considered as not profaning the
Sabbath. But Elisha betrayed the Pharisees to the
Roman authorities. Thus it is probable that the
antipathy of Elisha was not directed against Judaism
in general, but only against Pharisaism. The rea-
son given for his apostasy is also characteristic.
He saw how one man had lost his life while fulfill-
ing a law for the observance of which the Torah
promised a long life (Deut. xxii. 7), whereas another
man who broke the same law was not hurt in the
least. This practical demonstration, as well as the
fiightful sufferings of the martyrs during the Hadri-
anic persecutions, strengthened his conviction that
there was no reward for virtue in this life or the
next. These statements of the Jerusalem Talmud
are no doubt based on reliable tradition, as they are
also confirmed by the Babylonian Talmud (Kid. 39b).
Bearing in mind what is said about Elisha, there can
be little doubt that he was a Sadducee.
The harsh treatment he received from the Phari-
sees was due to his having deserted their ranks at
such a critical time. Quite in har-
Elisha an mony with this supposition are the
" Epicu- other sins laid to his charge; namely,
rean " that he rode in an ostentatious manner
through the streets of Jerusalem on a
Day of Atonement which fell 'upon a Sabbath, and
that he was bold enough to overstep the " tehum "
(the limits of the Sabbath-day journey). Both the
Jerusalem and the Babylonian Talmuds agree here,
and cite this as proof that Elisha turned from Phar-
isaism to heresy. It was just such non-observance of
■customs that excited the anger of Akiba (So^ah 27b).
The mention of the " Holy of Holies " in this passage
is not an anachronism, as Gratz thinks. For while
it is true that Eliezer and Joshua were present as the
geonim par excellence at Elisha's circumcision —
which must, therefore, have occurred after the death
of Johanan ben Zakkai (80 c.E.) — it is also true
that the " Holy of Holies " is likewise mentioned in
connection with Rabbi Akiba (Mak., end); indeed,
the use of this expression is due to the fact that the
Rabbis held holiness to be inherent in the place, not
in the building (Yeb. 6b).
The same passage from the Jerusalem Talmud re-
fers to Elisha as being alive when his pupil R. Meir
had become a renowned teacher. According to the
assumption made above, he must have reached his
seventieth year at that time. If Elisha were a Sad-
ducee, the friendship constantly shown him by R.
MeTr could be understood. This friendship would
have been impossible had Elisha been an apostate or
a man of loose morals, as has been asserted. Sad-
ducees and Pharisees, however, lived in friendly in-
tercourse with one another (for example, Rabban
Gamaliel with Sadducees; 'Er. 77b), For legends
concerning Elisha see Johanan ben Nappaha;
MEifR; compare also Gnosticism.
Bibliography: Gratz, Gnoxticismus und Judenthum. pp-
56-71; P. Smolenskl. SdmmUiche Werke, 11. 287-278; A. Jel-
llnek, Ellscha b. Ahuja. Leipsic. 1847; I. H. Weiss, Dor, 11.
140-143; M. Dubsch. In He-Halui, v. 6&-72; Siegfried, Philo
von Alexandrien, pp. 285-2^7 ; Bacher, Ag. Tan. 1. 432436 ;
Hoffmann, Toledot Elischab. Abnja, Vienna, 1880; 8.
Rubin, Yalk., Shelomoh, pp. 17-28, Cracow, 18.% ; M. Frled-
lander, Vorchristlich. Jila. Onoxticiimius, 1898, pp. 100 et
seq. ; B§.ck, Elischa b. Abuja-Acher, Frankfort-on-the-Maln,
1891. Compare also M. Letterls' Hebrew drama Ben Abuja,
an adaptation of Goetbe'a Faust, Vienna, 1865 ; B. Kaplan, la
Open Court, Aug., 1902.
L. G.
ELISHAH : Name occurring in the so-called table
of generations, Gen. x. 4 (comp. I Chron. i. 7) and in
Ezek. xxvii. 7. In Gen. x. 4 Elishah is one of the
four sons of Javan ; therefore a people, or a country
related to the lonians. In Ez!ek. xxvii. 7 the name
designates a region in the Mediterranean Sea, whence
Tyre is reported to have imported purple. Various
explanations and identifications have been proposed.
Halevy ("R. E. J." xiii. 14) and others regard it as
the Peloponnesus, which in fact was celebrated for
its purple murex, the name being an echo of " Elis," if
not of " Hellas. " An old tradition ( Josephus, " Ant. "
i. 6, § 2) regards Elishah as ^olis (see Yer.Targ. to
Gen. x. 4). H. Derenbourg (" Nouveaux Melanges
Orientaux," pp. 236 et seq. ; English transl. in "He-
braica," Oct., 1897, p. 7), LenormantC'LesOrigines
de I'Histoire d'aprSs la Bible," etc., ii. 2. 34), Dill-
mann (Commentary, Gen. x. 4), and Lagarde ("Mit-
theilungen," ii. 261) regard it as denoting Sicily or
the lower part of Italy, which view is supported by
the Targum to Ezek. (K^f)t3^K 03^0). Carthage, the
city founded by Princess Elissa, has been suggested
as identical with this Biblical Elishah (Ed. Meyer,
"Geschichte des Altertums," i. 282; Stade, "De
Populo Javano," pp. 8 et seq.). This latter view,
declared to be very attractive in Gesenius, "Th."
S.V., is exposed to the objection that the Carthagin-
ians never called their city by the name of the
Princess Elissa. Of all these suggestions, that which
identifies it with Sicily has the strongest element of
probability. "Javan" in the table, and elsewhere
in the Old Testament, stands for the mainland of
Greece. His "sons," therefore, are Greek colonies.
Elishah is named with Tarshish (southwest coast of
Spain), Kittim, and Dodanim (Cyprus and Rhodes),
and thus must have been another Greek colony,
that namely, in the south of Italy or Sicily. The
Hebrews, through Phenician sources, had certainly
heard of this region, as they had heard of the much
more remote Tarshish.
E. G. H.
ELIZABETHGRAD. See Yelisavetgrad.
ELIZABETHPOL. See Yelisavetpol.
ELIZAPHAN ("God has protected"): Son of
Uzziel ; prince of the Kohathites who bore the sanc-
tuary and its furniture during the wandering in the
wilderness (Num. iii. 30, 31). His descendants
helped to bring the Ark to the city of David (I
Chron. xv. 8), and aided in the cleansing of the
Temple for Hezekiah (II Chron. xxix. 13).
E. G. H. E. I. N.
Blkan
Elmira
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
140
EliEAX, MEIR, See FtJRTH, Mkih b. Eliia-
NAN.
ELEAN, MOSES : Russian physician and He-
brew scholar; born at Tulchin, government of Po-
dolsk ; died at St. Petersburg Jan. 81, 1822. He
wrote : a " shir, " a h3nm in Hebrew and French,
addressed to Czar Alexander I., Munich, 1811; and
a manual, in German, of the historj^ of the Jews,
accompanied by a geographical sketch of Palestine,
for the use of Jewish schools, later translated into
Russian by Z. Minor, Moscow, 1880.
Bibliography: Vnskhod, 1881, 11. 41; Zeltlln, Bibl. Post-
MencUls. p. 77.
H. R. M. Sel.
ELEANAH : Father of Samuel, 11 ving at Ramah
(I Sam. i. 19, ii. 11; comp. xxviii. 3), in the district
of Zuph. Hence in I Sam. 1. 1 his ancestral line is
carried back to Zuph (comp. I Sam. ix. 5 et seq.).
The word WZXi in I Sam. i. 1 should be emended to
■•SlXn ("the Zuphite"), the final mem being a ditto-
gram of that with which the next word, ino, be
gins; as the LXX. has it, Xc^^d. Elkanah is also rep
resented in I Sam. i. 1 as hailing from the mountains
of Ephraim, the word 'mSX here denoting this
(comp. Judges xii. 5 ; IKings xi. 26) — if indeed ^niDX
is not a corruption for "Ephraimite" — and not,
as in Judges i. 2 and I Sam. xvii. 12, an inhabitant
of Ephrata (see LXX.). His genealogy is also
found in a pedigree of the Kohathites (I Chron. vi.
3-15) and in that of Heman, his great-grandson (ih.
vi. 18-22). According to the genealogical tables,
Elkanah was a Levite, a fact otherwise not men-
tioned in the books of Samuel. The fact that Elka-
nah, a Levite, was denominated an Ephraimite is
analogous to the designation of a Levite belonging
to Judah (Judges xvii. 7).
E. G. H. E. K.
ELKIN, BENJAMIN" : Prominent reformer in
the London community ; born at Portsea, England,
Jan. 9, 1783; died in London Jan., 1848. At the
age of twenty-one he emigrated to Barbados, where
he plied his trade as a watchmaker.
After a visit to England in 1810, he abandoned
his occupation for that of a general merchant. In a
few years he became one of the most opulent mer-
chants in Barbados. Elkin then devoted himself
to the improvement of the internal affairs of the
Barbados congregation.
In 1830 Elkin returned with his family to Eng-
land, and joined the Great Synagogue. He joined
heartilj' in the movement for the establishment of
a new synagogue in the metropolis, with new fea
tures tending toward greater decorum in the service,
and wrote some able pamphlets in its defense; and
his " Rejected Letters " had considerable influence on
the Reform movement. His action, however, in pub-
lishing a translation of " Eighteen Treatises of the
Mishnah " without revision or consent of the transla
tors was repudiated by them. Elkin published a
pamphlet on the subject, disclaiming any intention
of offense.
The synagogue was consecrated in Jan., 1842; but
Elkin was not excluded from his membership of the
Great Synagogue, in spite of the decree of excom-
munication which had been issued against the Re-
formers.
Bibliography: Jewixh Chrnnicle (London), Jan. 1 and 14,
1848 : Jacobs and Wolf, Bibliotheca Angln-Judaica, Nos. 764,
765, London, 1888.
J. G. L.
ELKIND, ARKADI DANILOWICH : Rus
sian physician and anthropologist; born in Mohilev-
on-the-Dnieper in 1869 ; graduated (M.D.) from Mos-
cow University in 1893. Having paid particular at-
tention to anthropology, the Society of Friends of
Natural Science, Anthropology, and Ethnography
delegated him to investigate the physical anthro-
pology of the inhabitants of Russian Poland, and he
has produced the following works as a result of his
investigations: " Privislyanskie Polyaki. Antropolo-
gicheski i Kraniologicheski Ocherk," in " Trudy An-
tropologicheskavo Otdyela," xviii., 1896 ; " Yevrei,"
ib. xxi., Moscow, 1903. The latter is the largest
and most comprehensive work ever published on the
anthropology of any section of Jews.
H. R. M. Fl.
ELKOSHITE ("'E»^p^xn) : Obscure ethnic or
patronymic name of the prophet Nahum (Nahum
i. 1). According to Jerome, Elkosh, the birthplace
of the prophet, was the name of a village in Galilee ;
according to others, of a village to the east of the
Jordan. Reiser ("Zeitschrift fiir die Alttestament-
liche Wissenschaft," vii. 349) thinks the name is de-
rived from "Kosh," name of an Assyrian divinity.
Kimhi and Ibn Ezra explained it as being either
ethnic or patronymic ; in the latter case "Elkosh"
may bo compared with " Kish," the father of Saul (I
Sam. ix. 1).
E. G. n. M. Sel.
ELLES (ELIS), ISAAC BEN MOSES:
Polish rabbi of the sixteenth century; autlior of
"Yesod Emunah,"a treatise on the dogmas of Ju-
daism, Cracow, 1582. He also wrote "Yesod ha-
Teshubah," on repentance, extracts from other
works, and chiefly from the " Yoreh Hatta'im " of
Eleazar b. Judah of Worms, ib. 1582.
Bibliography : Nepl-Ghlrondi, Tnledot Oedole Tisrnel, p. 247;
Steinschneider, Cat. Bodl. coK 1139 ; Furst, Bibl. Jud. 1. 38.
K. M. Sel.
ELLINGER, MORITZ : American journalist;
born in Flirth, Bavaria, Oct. 17, 1830. Emigrating
to the United States in 1854, he became interested in
in American municipal and communal affairs. In
1866 he received a congressional nomination. From
1873 to 1876 he was appointment clerk in the finance
department of the city of New York; from 1876 to
1881 he held the office of coroner; and from 18S8 to
the present time (1903) has been record clerk and
interpreter.
EUinger has been prominently identified with the
I.O.B.B. ; he has held the position of secretary of its
executive committee (1869-79), and for many years
he edited its organ, " The Menorah. " He also edited
"The Jewish Times." Ellinger is a member of the
Society of American Authors. A.
ELLINGER (ELLINGEN), NATHAN (yoj
or |nJ) BAR YOSPA (V]DV) : German rabbi; born
1772; died July 4, 1839, at Bingen-on-the-Rhine.
According to the archives of Mayence, he and his
brother Lob were rabbis of Mayence in 1808. From
1809 to 1821 Nathan was director of the Talmud
school at Hamburg; and from 1821 till his death.
141
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Elkan
Elzuira
rabbi at Bingen (see L5wensteiu, "Gescbichte der
Juden in der Kurpfalz," p. 172, note 2). Several
Talmudic manuscripts written by Ellinger are in the
Bodleian Library, Oxford (Neubauer, "Cat. Bodl.
Hebr. MSS." Nos. 528-532, 862, 966). In the Me-
morbucb of the community of Bingen (No. 673) he
is called "ha-kadosh weha-tahor," although other-
wise only martyrs are mentioned as kadosh.
Ellinger's brother. Lob Ellinger, rabbi of Ma-
yence, was born in 1770; he died 9th Ab, 1847. He is
called " Lob Schnadig " (from " Schneittach ") in the
obituary of the Memorbuch of Mayence. Carmoly
has written his biography.
There are also Ellingers in Frankfort-ou-the-Main,
who came originally from Filrth (see Horowitz,
"Inschriften," Nos. 1884, 2934, 3041, 5648). The
Mayence register of 1763 mentions a Moj'ses Low
Ellinger, designating hira as "neuer anganger [i.e.,
a newcomer] who was placed under protection."
The "Guide de la Ville de Mayence " of the year IX.
of the French Republic mentions various members
of the Ellinger family.
B. M. Gr.
ELLIS, SIR BARROW HELBERT : Indian
statesman; born- in London Jan. 24, 1823; died at
Savoy June 20, 1887; son of S. H. Ellis, for some time
treasurer of the Great Synagogue, London. After
matriculating at the University of London in 1839,
he had a distinguished career at Haileybury College,
and then entered the civil service of the Bombay
presidency, in which he remained for thirty-three
years, being employed mainly in the revenue branch
of the administration.
His various appointments culminated in his being
nominated in 1862 an additional member, and in 1865
an ordinary member, of the Bombay council. Five
years later he was promoted to the viceroy's coun-
cil. In 1875 Ellis returned to England and was made
K. C.S.I, and a member of the Indian council in Lon-
don, from which he retired in 1885. On his return
he was likewise elected a vice-president of the
Anglo-Jewish Association, chairman and later vice-
president of the council of Jews' College, and vice-
president of the United Synagogue.
Bibliography : Voice of Jacob, July, 1843 ; Times (London),
June 24, 1887 ; Times of India, June 27, 1887.
J. Q. L.
ELLOJI SHAHTR ("Elijah, the Ballad-Sing-
er'')-. Beni-Israel poet of the eighteenth century;
born and lived at Bombay, British India ; his natal
name was "Elloji Nagawkar." He was of the class
of the Kalgiwallas, which is privileged to carry a
plume or crest in the turban. It is said that he im-
provised many religious and moral poems, both in
Mahratiand Hindustani, in the form of ballads, some
of which are still extant, and that he was invited
to the court of the Peshwa at Poona to exhibit his
talents.
J. J. Hy.
ELLSTATTER, MORITZ: Minister of finance
of the grand duchy of Baden; born March 11, 1827,
at Carlsruhe, where his father was a furniture-
manufacturer. From 1845 to 1850 he studied at
Heidelberg and Bonn, devoting himself mainly to
law. In 1854 he was made " Referendar, " and after
preparing for the position of "Anwalt" (counselor
at law) went to Berlin (1856) and entered a banking-
house. Here he became known to Mathy, subse-
quently minister of finance. In 1859 he began to
practise law in Durlach, and soon came to the front.
The last barriers which had kept Jews from the
higher public offices being removed (1862), he waa
appointed district court assessor in Mannheim (1864).
In the following year he was made counselor of the
district court (" Kreisgerichtsrath "). In 1866 Mathy
became minister of finance, and at once appointed
Ellstatter as legal referee, entrusting him with the
control of important financial matters. On Feb. 12,
1868, after the death of Mathy, Ellstatter was en-
trusted with the affairs of the ministry of finance,
despite the racial prejudice which still existed. He
controlled Baden's financial policy during the diffi-
cult years that followed the Franco-German war,
and his wise system of taxation is still followed.
In 1871 Ellstatter became a member of the Bundes-
rath, in which position he drew up the reports of
the committee on the proposed legislation of the
coinage system. He became councilor of state in
1872; privy councilor of the first rank in 1876; and
director of railways in 1881, when the railroads came
under the supervision of the finance department;
and received the title of minister of finance in 1888.
As director of railways he rejected many useless
schemes originated by interested deputies. He re-
tired from public life in 1893 on account of illness.
Ellstatter has taken little interest in Jewish affairs.
8. A. Blum.
ELMALEH, JOSEPH DE AARON : Honor-
ary chief rabbi of Mogador. Morocco ; born at Rabat
in 1809; died in London Jan. 9, 1886. He removed
to Mogador at the age of seventeen, and, devoting
himself to theological study, was elected in 1840
chief rabbi of the community. In 1881 he added
to his clerical functions the calling of a merchant.
He also held the honorary post of Austrian vice-
consul, and in 1873 was decorated by the Emperor
of Austria with the Order of Francis Joseph. His
influential position enabled him to render valuable
services in mitigating the persecution endured by
the Jews. Elmaleh was a valued correspondent
of the Anglo-Jewish Association, and the establish-
ment of a Jewish girls' school at Mogador was due
to his perseverance.
Elmaleh was the author of "Tokpo shel Yosef,"
a treatise on Jewish legislation. He introduced into
Gibraltar the "Importa Nacional," an annual tax
paid by Jews for the benefit of the poor, and levied
on trade at the rate of 1 per cent.
Bibliography : Jevyish Chronicle and Jetviah World (Lon-
don), Jan. 15, 1886.
J. G. L.
ELMIRA : City in the state of New York. The
first settlement of Jews dates from about 1851. In
1860 twelve families organized a congregation under
the name "Children of Israel." the services being
conducted by Jacob Stahl. In 1885 Dr. Adolph
M. Radin became rabbi, and introduced the Jastrow
prayer-book. In 1886 a new synagogue was dedi-
cated. The successors of Dr. Radin were Rabbis
Kopfstein, Poseman, and Jacob Marcus: the last-
named is the present (1902) incumbent. The congre-
Elnathan
Elohist
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
142
gation now includes about sixty families. Since
1881 Russian Jews have settled in Elmira and have
formed two Orthodox congregations: Shomre Ha-
dath, founded 1883, and the Chevra Talmud Torah,
organized 1888. Elmira has a branch of the Council
of Jewish Women, lodges of the Order of the B'nai
B'rith and B'rith Abraham, and several benevolent
societies. The Jewish population is about 1,200.
Jacob Schwartz, who died in 1891, aged 38, was the
leading lawyer of the city. A. Anhalt is the overseer
of the poor, and Dr. Jonas Jacobs the city physician.
The New York State Reformatory at Elmira hai
(1902) 180 Jewish inmates. They are between the
ages of 16 and 29, are taught trades, reading, and
writing, and may regain their liberty in twelve
months by good behavior. A small Jewish library
is provided for them, and Jewish services are con-
ducted at the Reformatory every other Sunday and
on Jewish holidays. Twenty-four Jewish Confed-
erate prisoners are buried in Woodlawn Cemetery.
A. J. M.
ELNATHAN ("God has given"): 1. An inhab-
itant of Jerusalem, and the maternal grandfather of
Jehoiachin (II Kings xxiv. 8), probably identical
with the son of Achbor, who was sent to conduct
the offending prophet Urijah back from Egypt, and
who entreated Jehoiachin not to " burn the roll "
(Jer. xxvi. 22; xxxvi. 12,25).
2. Three men of this name are mentioned in the
list of those sent for by Ezra (Ezra viii. 16) when
he encamped near Ahava on his journey to Jerusa-
lem. Two are " chieftains " (D''K'X1), and the third
isone of the D'JUO ("teachers"); I Esd. viii. 44
names only two.
E. G. H. E. I. N.
ELOHIM. See God.
ELOHIST : Assumed author of those parts of
the Hexateuch characterized by the use of the He-
brew word " Elohim " (= " God "). The term is em-
ployed by the critical school to designate one (or
two) of the component parts of the Hexateuch.
Jean Astruc (d. 1766), in his " Conjectures sur les
Memoires Originaux " (Brussels, 1753), was the first
to call attention to the occurrence in Genesis and in
Ex. i. and ii. of two names for the Deity, "Elohim"
and " Yhwh," and to base upon this fact a theory
concerning the composite character of the first
Mosaic book. His hypothesis was developed by
Johannes Gottfried Eichhorn ("Einleitung in das
Alte Testament," 1780-83), and again elaborated by
Karl David Ilgen (" Die Urkunden des Jerusalem-
ischen Tempelarchivs," 1798), who coined the term
"Elohist," applying it to two sources in which the
Deity was consistently designated by "Elohim,"
distinct from a third in which " Yhwh " was used.
This theory was adopted by Hupfeld (" Die Quellen
der Genesis," 1853), whose acceptance of "Elohist"
as a recognized term was followed by almost all
subsequent writers on the Hexateuch from the
critical point of view, though the connotation of
the term was not definitely fixed at first. In earlier
Hexateuchal analysis "Elohist " appears for the
" Grundschrift " attributed to the first Elohist, and
subsequently called the " Priestly Code " (Riehm,
"Die Gesetzgebung Mosis im Lande Moab," 1854;
NOldeke, " Untersuchungen zur Kritik des Alten
Testaments," 1869; Dillmann, "Hexateuch Kom-
mentar," 1875); but after Graf (taking up the sug-
gestions of De Wette, Ed. Reuss, Wilhelm Vatke,
and J. F. George), Julius WelLhausen and Kuenen,
the symbol E (Elohist) has come to designate cer-
tain historical portions of the Hexateuch, while the
so-called " Grundschrift " is referred to by the symbol
P (Priestly Code).
In the views of the critical school E forms part of
the " prophetic strata " (Kuenen) of the Hexateuch,
which, known collectively as JE, are held to be de-
rived from two originally independent histories,
with only occasional references to legal matters; the
symbol J (= Jahvist) applying to passages in which
the name "Yhwh" is predominant.
Pe- The work of E has not been preserved
culiarities as extensively as that of J ; in many
of E. parts of JE only fragments of E are
extant, while J on the whole presents
a well-connected narrative. It is a moot point
whether E originally contained the story of Creation ;
but it seems certain that a goodly portion of the
Elohistic patriarchal history has been lost, the first
large section from E being Gen. xx., which clearly
supposes some preceding account of Abraham's
career. In the biography of Moses, E again is used
very sparsely. It is apparent from Ex. xxxiii. 6-11
that E must have given an account of the events at
Horeb, though Josh, xxiv., which seems to be a sum-
mary of E, makes no allusion to them. E names
Aaron and Miriam along with Moses, and to a cer-
tain extent assigns to the two former the position of
opponents. Joshua in E is preeminently the servant
of Moses. As such he commands the military
forces, and is also Moses' house-mate (Ex. xvii.,
xxiv.). It is clear that E regards Moses as the
priest of the oracle and Joshua as his predestined
successor. Aaron plays a subsidiary part through-
out. Whether E regards Moses as the lawgiver
depends upon whether the Book of the Covenant
(Ex. XX. -xxiv.) formed a part of E or not. The
more recent critics incline to the opinion that it did
not (see Holzinger, "Der Hexateuch," pp. 176-177,
Leipsic, 1893).
The use of " Elohim " for " God " is the most nota-
ble characteristic of E. " Adonai " and " El "occur oc-
casionally (Gen. XX. 4, xxx. 20, xxxv.
Lin- 7, xliii. 14). "Yhwh" was unknown
g'uistic before Moses (Ex. vi.). E loves such
Character- combinations as "Eloheabi," "Elohe
istics. abika," and also employs "ha-Elo-
him " and " Elohim " as a nomen pro-
prium even after, according to its own theory,
" Yhwh " had been revealed as the proper appellation
(comp. Gen. xxxi. 5, 29, 42; xlvi. 1, 3; Ex. xviii. 4).
The aboriginal population of Canaan is designated
as "Emori" (Gen. xlviii. 22; Num. xiii. 29). "Ke-
na'ani " never occurs in E (see E. Meyer in Stade's
" Zeitschrift," i. 139). " Horeb " is the name for the
" mountain of God " (Ex. iii. 1, xviii. 5). Jacob, not
Israel, stands for the third patriarch; " Jethro" and
" Jether" for Moses' father-in-law. " Ha-ish Mosheh"
is peculiar to E. Other linguistic peculiarities are:
the use of "amah " (maid) where J has "shifhah";
"ba'al"in its various significations; "gadol" and
143
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Elnathan
Elohist
" i^atoQ " in the meaniug " older " and " younger " re-
spectively; "dibber" with the preposition 2 (to
talk against: Num. xii. 1, 8; xxi. 5, 7); "dabar" as
object of dispute (Ex. xviii. 16-19, 26; xxii. 8); "dor
dor" (Ex. iii. 15); "derek nashim" where J has
" orah nashim " ; " hennah " (hither) ; "zud"(toact
arrogantly) ; " hizzak leb " ; " hokiah" and " nokah "
as a judicial procedure; "yeled"(boy, child); "le-
bab " ; " iuhat ha-eben " ; "mush"; "mahaneh"for
temporary camp ; " maza' " (to meet, to encounter) ;
" nizme zahab " ; " nokri " for stranger ; " nissah " ;
"nizzel" (to take away and injure); "natan" (to
allow); "ha'aleh" (to bring the people out [of
Egypt]); "paga'" (to meet one); "hitpallel";
"panim el panim"; "pahad Yizhak." Other ex-
pressions in addition to these have been urged as
distinctive of E's vocabulary. For a complete list
see Holzinger, Lc. pp. 183-190. Certain grammat-
ical peculiarities are also ascribed to E, e.g., the in-
finitives ■'halok"; "de'ah"; "redah" (nm for riTl);
" re'oh " ; full forms of the suffixes, e.g., " kullanah "
(Gen. xlii. 36); "lebaddanah" (Gen, xxi. 29). The
style of E is loose, disjointed ; such forms as " wa-
yehi ba'et ha-hi' " (Gen. xxi. 22), "wa-yehi ahar
(ahare) ha-debarim ha-elleh " (often), indicate this. E
also indulges in long formulas of address. The
name of the person addressed is repeated (Gen. xxii.
11, xlvi. 2; Ex. iii. 4). Stereotyped introductions
of dreams occur rather frequently ("ba-halomi wc-
hinneh"; Gen. xl. 9, 16; xli. 17, 22). E compared
with J is prosaic ; but he introduces poetic quota-
tions (Ex. XV. ; Num. xxi. 14, 27). Secondary de-
tails mark his descriptions; for example, he uses
names of no particular consequence to the narrative
(Gen. XV. 2, xxxv. 8; Ex. i. 15); likewise learned
glosses (e.g., in Gen. xxxi. 20, 24, "the Aramean" ;
in Ex. i. 11, " Pithom and Rameses ") ; and fragments
of Egyptian speech ("'Abrek," '"Zofnat Pa'neah,"
Gen. xli. 43, 45). Chronological schemes are affected
by E: "three days," (Gen. xl. 12-19; Josh. i. 11, ix.
16; Ex. iii. 18, v. 3, viii. 23, x. 22, xv. 22). E also
displays a certain theological bias, in illustration of
which may be noted the consistency with which
" YnwH " is avoided before "Moses."
The work of E is popular in character. It takes
no exception to the popular notion that the localities
involved in the patriarchal biographies are places
of worship. "Ha-makom" is one of E's special
terms for such sacred places (Gen. xxviii. 11). God
is without hesitation anthropomorphized (Ex. xxv.
1, 9-11; xxxi. 18; xxxii. 16; xxxiii.
General 7-11; Num. xii. 8; Ex. iv. 17-20; vii.
Character- 17; ix. 22; x. 12; xiv. 16; xvii. 5, 9;
istics of E. Num. xx. 8, 11). E speaks of matters
pertaining to the cultus in a very naive
way (sacrificial meals with non-Israelites : Gen. xxxi.
54; Ex. xviii. 12, xxiv. 11). "Mazebot" are very
frequently mentioned as though legitimate. Idols
are known, and Rachel steals those of her father.
Holy trees are recognized (Gen. xxxv. 4; Josh.
xxiv. 26). The "nehushtan" (brazen serpent) is
connected with Moses (Num. xxi. 4-9). E maintains
a sympathetic attitude toward popular religion.
Still the making of the golden calf is clearly re-
proved (Ex. xxxii.). Human sacrifice is condemned
(Gen. xxii.). Notwithstanding these leanings to-
ward popular conceptions, the Elohist takes the
view of the early (literary) prophets. Yhwii is
explained as "ehyeh asher ehyeh" (Ex. iii. 14).
Providential purpose is assumed in the course of
human affairs, as happenings, for instance, in Jo-
seph's experience (Gen. xlv. 0-8, 1. 20). God is with
the fathers even in a strange land (Gen. xxxi. 13).
In the miracles as related by E a certain super
naturalism is unmistakable. The plagues are signs
to accredit Moses as God's agent. They are to a
large extent wrought by the staff of Moses, without
the intervention of natural forces as in J (Ex. xvii.
9 et seg). The role ascribed to the Ark in E par-
takes also of the miraculous (Num. xi. 33), and the
conquest of the land is accomplished not so much
by the bravery of the tribes as by the miraculous
designs and devices of God (Josh. xxiv. 12; Ex.
xxiii. 28; comp. Josh. x.). The relations between
Israel and God are of a moral character. The sinful
nation forfeits God's good will (Ex. xxxiii. 3b).
God's revelations are in E transmitted in dreams and
visions (Gen. xv. 1 ; Num. xii. 6). God's angel, the
usual medium in J, speaks, in E, from heaven (Gen.
xxi. 17, xxii. 11). The superhuman conception of
the Deity is thus accentuated. Moses alone was
dignified by direct divine communications (Num. xii.
6 et seq.). The chiefs of Israel in E are pictured
by preference as prophets. Abraham is a " nabi "
(Gen. XX. 7). Moses is the " 'ebed Adonai " par ex-
cellence (Num. xii. 7) ; he is the " man of God " (Josh,
xiv. 6). He mediates between the people and God
(Num. xi. 2, xxi. 7). Justice and moralitj^ are highly
valued in E (see the Decalogue and the Book of the
Covenant). The elders are repeatedly mentioned
as guardians of the right (Ex. iii. 16, 18; iv. 29;
xvii. 5; xviii. 12; xix. 7; xxiv. 1-14). In E, how-
ever, sympathetic interest in sacerdotal institutions
is also manifest (Ex. xxxiii. 7-11; Num. xii. 4).
Tithes are historically accredited (Gen. xxviii. 22).
E belongs to the Northern Kingdom. Patriarchal
biography is localized in the northern districts.
Reuben is the magnanimous brother of
Locality Joseph (Gen. xxxvii. 22, 29; xlii. 37).
and Epoch. Shechem plays a prominent role (Gen.
of E. xxxv. 4; Josh. xxiv.). Beth-el is rec-
ognized as a sanctuary (Gen. xxviii.
22). Some Aramaic expressions (min, Ex. xxxii.
16; mn, Ex. xviii. 9; XDI, comp. Hosea v. 13, vi. 1,
vii. 1) confirm the impression. Kuenen and Corniil
distinguish a Nortli-Israelitish Elohist and another
of Judaic tendencies (E ' and E ' ; see Kuenen, " His-
torisch-Critisch Onderzoek," etc., § 13; Holzinger,
I.e. p. 214; Corniil, "Einleitung in das Alte Testa-
ment," pp. 47-49).
By the earlier critics E was considered to antedate
J; but after Wellhausen (" Gesch. Israels," i. 310 et
seq.) had pleaded for the contrary view, his opinion
was accepted by E. Meyer, Stade, and Holzinger,
while Dillmann and Kittel continued to defend the
former position. The date of E is thus variously
given. E. Schrader makes him older than Hosea
and later than Solomon and the building of the
Temple. Dillmann assigns him to a period prior to
tlie decline of the Northern Kingdom, that is, to the
first half of the ninth century B.C. Kjttel is virtu-
all}' of the same opinion.
Slon
Emanation
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
144
Kuenen assigns what he calls E ' to 750 B.C. ; E'
to 650 B.C. Stade ("Geschichte des Volkes IsraL4,"
i. 58, 583) holds that E can not be older than 750
B.C. Lagarde regards 732 B.C. as the earliest possi-
ble date; but, following Steindorff's arguments
based upon the Egyptian phrase "Zofnat Pa'neah "
(forms not occurring in Egyptian before the twenty-
second dynasty, and becoming usual only after 663
and 609 B.C.), suggests 650 as the more nearly cor-
rect date. Cornill gives for E '^ 650 B.C., and for E '
750 B.C., the same as Kuenen.
Bibliography: Holzinger, Der Hexateuch, Lelpslc, 1899;
Steuernagel, AUgemeine Ei7ileitu7ia in den HexatcucK (jot-
tlngen, 1900; Dillmann, Numeri, Deutcro)i(iinium, 2d ed..
Leipsic, 1886; Driver, Introduction to the Literature of the
Oldl^stament, 9ih ed.. New York, 190^!; Cornill, Einleituny
in das A.lte Testament, FreiburR, 181)1; the commentaries,
etc., of Kuenen, Kittel, Schrader. Bantsch, Budde, Reuss, and
others; Wellhausen, iLortiposi(io)i des Hexateuchs, Berlin,
1889; Ryssel, De Elohi^tai Pentateuchici Sermone; Carpen-
ter and Battersby, The Hexateuch, pp. 42-48, London, 1901).
J. E. G. II.
ELON. 1.— Biblical Data: The tenth judge
of Israel. He was a Zebulonite, and succeeded
Ibzan as judge. He judged Israel for ten years,
when he died and was buried in Aijalon in the coun-
try of Zebulun (Judges xii. 11, 12). "Elon" (|i^ix)
and " Aijalon " (jiis^K) differ merely in their vowels,
and it is generally thought that they should be con-
sidered the same. The Septuagint renders both
A'tAufi.
J. JR. C. J. M.
Critical View : Elon is one of the five minor
judges whose names are given together with a few
statistics about them, but who are connected with
no historical exploits. The others are Tola, Jair,
Ibzan, and Abdon. Elon is, in Gen. xlvi. 14 and
Num. xxvi. 26, a clan of the tribe of Zebulun. Since
Tola and Jair are also clans ; since Ibzan and Abdon,
from the number of their posterity, are probably
likewise; and since the narratives of the minor
judges are late additions to the Book of Judges, it
is probable that Elon is a personified clan and never
had historical existence as a judge (compare Moore,
"Commentary on Judges," pp. 270 et seq., 310 et
neq., and Budde 's Commentary to Judges, p. 78).
J. JR. G. A. B.
2. AHittite; father of Esau's wife, Bashemath
or Adah (Gen. xxvi. 34, xxxvi. 2).
3. One of the three sous of Zebulun ; he was the an-
cestor of the Elonites (Gen. xlvi. 14; Num. xxvi. 26).
4. A city on the border of Dan (Josh. xix. 43).
The place has not yet been positively Identified.
Some consider it the same as Elon-beth-hanan (I
Kings iv. 9), which is mentioned as belonging to the
second taxing district of Solomon, and according to
Schick (in "Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palastina
Vereins," x. 137), is identical with Khirbat Wadi
Alin, east of 'Ain Shams. Elon-beth-hanan, on the
other hand, is sometimes taken as representing two
places (compare LXX. and Vulgate : the former has
Kal 'EXwv fwf Bj]davdv ; the latter, " et in Elon et in
Bethanan"). In Josh. xix. 42 "Aijalon" (A. V.
"Ajalon") occurs, and perhaps "Elon" in the next
^'erse is a dittography, the two words having the
same consonants (compare Elon, 1).
J. JR. C. J. M.
EL-PARAN. See Elath.
ELSENBERG, JACOB: Polish teacher; born
in 1817; died at Warsaw July 10, 1886. He was
educated at the rabbinical seminary of Warsaw.
Elsenberg devoted all of his time to the education
of Jewish children, and he published many text-
books for beginners, which were introduced into
the public and private schools of Warsaw. He was
the first one to write in Polish a catechism of the
Jewish religion and a prayer-book. He held the
positions of secretary of the curator of the Warsaw
public schools and of the trustees of the Reform
synagogue of Warsaw.
Bibliography : Ha-Afiif, p. 118, Warsaw, 1886.
H. R.
ELTEKEH or ELTEKE : One of the towns
allotted to Dan, mentioned twice in Joshua — npnPX
(xix. 44) and NpJl^X (xxi. 23). Eltekeh with its
suburbs was given as a residence to the Kohathite
Levites. This town, called in Assyrian "Al-ta-
ku-u," was destroyed by Sennacherib on his way to
Timnah and Ekron, after his defeat of the Egyp-
tians (see Prism Inscription inSchrader's "K. A. T."
2ded., pp. 171, 289, 292).
E. G. H. M. SeL.
ELVIRA: The ancient lUiberis; capital of the
province of the same name, situated on a hill north-
west of Granada, Spain, and now in ruins. It was
the cradle of Spanish Christianity, and the seat of
the celebrated Illiberian Council which first raised a
barrier between Jew and Christian. This council,
held not about 320, as Gratz thinks, but at the time
of the persecutions under Diocletian, in 303 or 304,
forbade Christians, on pain of excommunication, to
intermarry with Jews or to have the produce of their
fields blessed by Jews, to the end " tiiat the blessing
of the Church might not seem void or useless."
They were also forbidden to eat or have any inter-
course with Jews.
Bibliography : CollectU) Canonum EcclesifB HispanicE, part
i.: Cone. Eliberitanum, 1808; De los Rios, Hist, delos Ju-
dios, i. 72 et seq.; Gratz, Gesch. v. 70 et seq.
G. M. K.
ELYAS OF LONDON (also known as Elyas
le Evesk) : Presbyter of the Jews of England 1237-
1257 ; died in London 1284. He succeeded Aaron ok
York, represented London at the so-called "Jewish
Parliament" at Worcester in 1240, and in 1249 was
allowed to have Abraham fil Aaron as his assistant.
Henry III. exacted from him no less a sum than
£10,000, besides £100 a year for a period of four
years.
Elyas headed the deputation which asked the
king's permission to leave the country in 1253. In
1255 he was imprisoned as a surety for the tallage
of the Jews, and two years later he was deposed
from office, being succeeded by his brother Hagin
(Hayyira). In 1259, according to Matthew Paris, he
was said to have been converted, and confessed to
having prepared poison for certain of the English
nobles; but in 1266 he was again treated as a Jew,
and compensation to the amount of £50 was granted
him for losses he had incurred during the Barons'
war. He still remained one of the most important
145
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Elon
Kiuanation.
Jews of London in 1277, being one of the few who
were granted permission to trade as merchants
though they were not members of the Gild Mer-
chant. He appears to have been a physician of
some note, for his aid was invoked by Jean d'Aresnes,
Count of Hainault, in 1280, and he obtained permis-
sion to visit the count in tliat year (" K. E. J." xviii.
256 ctseg.).
At Elyas' death an inquest made upon his estate
declared him to be possessed of personal property to
the vahie of 400 marks, and of houses of the yearly
rental of 100 shillings. These his widow, Fluria, was
permitted to retain on payment to the king of 400
marks. One of his houses appears to have been lo-
cated on Sporier street, near the Tower, and at the
expulsion in 1290 was granted to the prior of Chick-
sand.
Elj-as was an expert in Jewish law, being sum-
moned before the king to decide questions ("Select
Pleas," etc., p. 86). A responsum of his is quoted
in one of the manuscripts of the " Mordekai " (see A.
Berliner, " Hebraische Poesien Meirs aus Norwich,"
p. 3, London, 1887).
Bibliography : Prynne, Short Demurrer, part il., sub annis ;
Jacobs, in Papers of the Anglo-Jew. Hist. Exh. pp. '22, 45,
49-51; M. Paris, Chronica Majora, v. 398, 441,730; Select
PUas of the Jexiyiah Exchequer, ed. Rlgg, pp. xxxiil., 86, 88,
130, London, 1903 ; Jacobs, in R. E. J. xvui. 259.
G. J.
EliYMAIS {'Elvfiaig) : Generally denoting the
Persian province of Elam (DTJ?)- It occurs in two
places (I Mace. vi. 1; Josephus, "Ant." xii. 9, § 1)
as the name of a rich city besieged by Antiochus
Epipliaucs. But the other historians who relate
this event do not mention any town of tjiis name.
The existence of sucli a town has been denied, the
name in I Mace. vi. 1 being explained (see Vaihinger
in Herzog's "Real-Encyc." iii. 749) as a mistransla-
tion of an original "be-'Elam ha-Medinah" (comp.
Syriac and Arabic versions). On the Talmudical
VD?y, identified with Elymais, see Neubauer, " Geo-
graphic du Talmud," p. 381.
E. G. n. M. Sei..
' EL YON, See God.
ELZ AS, ABRAHAM : Minister and author;
born in Elbergen, Holland, in 1835; died at Hull,
England, 1880. He was educated in Holland, and
went to England from Russia about 1867. He trav-
eled extensively, visiting for scholastic purposes
many parts of the world. In 1871 he removed from
Leeds to Hull, and there became master of the He-
brew school, and for some years filled the post of
minister to the congregation. Owing to failing
health he was obliged to resign his positions in 1877.
For some years previous to his death he was occu-
pied in literary as well as scholastic pursuits; and
he published translations of several books of the
Bible, including "Proverbs," 1871; "The Book of
Job." 1872; "Minor Prophets," 1873-80, with crit-
ical notes.
Bibliography: Jewish World (London), Aug. 6, 1880; UtiU
and Lincolnshire Times, Aug., 1880 ; Jacobs and Wolf, Bihli-
oiheca Anglo- Judaica, Nos. 1957, 1960, 1963, London. 1888.
J. G. L.
ELZAS, BARNETT ABRAHAM : American
rabbi; born at Eydtkuhnen, Germany, 1867; edu-
V.— 10
cated at Jews' College (1880-90), University Col-
lege, London ("Hollier Scholar," 1886), and at Lon-
don University (B.A., 1885). Elzas moved to To-
ronto, Canada (1890), where he entered the univer-
sity and graduated (1893). He entered the Medical
College of the Slate of Soutli Carolina (1896), and
graduated in medicine and pharmacy (1900-01).
His first ministerial charge was over the Holy
Blossom synagogue, Toronto, Canada (1890); thence
he went to Sacramento, Cal. (1893). In 1894 he ac-
cepted the call of the Beth Elohim congregation of
Charleston, S. C, of which he is still the incumbent.
Elzas published "The Sabbath-School Companion"
(1895-96), to which lie contributed a number of arti-
cles, which have been collected and reprinted under
the title "Judaism: an Exposition," Charleston,
1896. He has recentlj' (1903) printed pamphlets on
" The History of K. K. Beth Elohim of Charleston "
and "The Jews of South Carolina."
A. F. H. V.
EMADABUN (A. V. Madiabun) : A Levite,
and one of the overseers at the restoration of the
Temple (I Esd. v. 58). Probably a mere doublet of
"Eliadun," the name is omitted in the Vulgate and
in the parallel passage (Ezra iii. 9).
E. G. H. E. I. N.
EMANATION (Hebrew, ysjj;, ni'DKTI; in caba-
listic literature, mp^i'N) • The doctrine that all exist-
ing things have been produced not by any creative
power, but as successive outtiowings from the God-
head, so that all finite creatures are part and parcel
of the Divine Being. Tliis pantheistic doctrine,
which was the basis of many Oriental religions and
was professed by the Gnostics, attained its highest
development in the Alexandrian Neoplatonic schools.
By it the Neoplatonists endeavored to surmount the
threefold difficulties involved in the idea of creation:
(1) the act of creation involves the assumption of a
change in the unchangeable being of God ; (2) it is
incomprehensible that the absolutely infinite and
perfect could have produced imperfect and finite
beings; (3) "creatio ex nihilo" is unimaginable.
Avicenna introduced the doctrine of emanation into
Arabic philosophy, and Jewish thinkers of the elev-
enth century, of whom the most authoritative repre-
sentative was Ibn Gabirol, made it the basis of tlieir
speculations (see Ibn Gabikol).
Bahya, in his "Ma'ani al-Nafs," adopts a scale of
emanation : the creating spirit ; the universal soul,
which moves the heavenly sphere;
According' nature; darkness, which at the begin-
to Bahya. uing was but a capacity for receiving
form; the celestial spheres; the heav-
enly bodies; fire; air; water; earth ("Torat ha-
Nefesh," ed. Broyde, pp. 70, 75; see Jew. Encyc.
ii. 454, s.r. Bahya ben Joseph.
With the development in the twelfth century of
the pure Aristotelian Peripateticisra the doctrine of
emanation was abandoned by the Jewish philoso-
phers. It was opposed not only by Judah ha-Levi,
who was adverse to all philosophical speculations
("Cuzari," v. 14), but also by Abraham ibn Da'ud,
who professed an unbounded admiration for the
theories of Avicenna ("Emunah Ramah," p. 62).
Maimonides, too, though attributing it to Aristotle,
Emanation
Embroidery
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
146
set forth many objcclions to it, and showed that it
does not solve the difficulties inherent in the idea of
creation.
" Aristotle holds that the Hrst Intelligence is the cause of the
second, the second of the third, and so on to the thousandth, if
we assume a series of that number. Now, the
Views of first Intelligence is undoubtedly simple. How
Maimonides. then can the complexity of existing things
come from such an Intelligence by fixed laws
of nature, as Aristotle assumes? We admit all he said concern-
ing the Intelligences, that the farther they are away from the
first the greater is their complexity, in consequence of the
greater number of the things comprehended by each successive
Intelligence ; but even after admitting this, the question re-
mains : By what law of nature did the spheres emanate from
them?" ("Moreh," 11.22).
But while rejected by Jewish philosophy, the
doctrine of emanation became the corner-stone of
the Cabala. The motive which led the cabalists to
adopt it seems to have been, in addition to that fur-
nished by the Neoplatonic conception of God, the
necessity of assigning a definite place for the Sefirot
in the production of the world, for in the " creatio
ex nihilo " hypothesis they are superfluous. As early
as the twelfth century appeared the cabalistic " Mas-
seket Azilut," in which the doctrine was outlined. It
was considerably developed in tlie thirteenth century
by the Bahirists, especially by Azriel. After having
given the Neoplatonic reasons why the world could
not have proceeded directly from God but must
have been produced by intermediary agents, he ex-
pounds his doctrine of emanation, which differs from
that of the Neoplatonists in that, instead of Intelli-
gences, the Sefirot are the intermediaries between
the intellectual and material world. The first Sefi-
rah was latent in the En Sof (cabalistic term for
" God ") as a dynamic force ; then the second Sefirah
emanated as a substratum for the intellectual world ;
afterward the other Sefirot emanated, forming the in-
tellectual, material, and natural worlds. The Sefirot
are thus divided, according to their order of emana-
tion, into three groups: the first three formed the
world of thought; the next three the world of the
soul ; the last four the world of corporeality.
Isaac ibn Latif, although upholding the principle
of the beginning of the world, still professes the
doctrine of emanation of the Sefirot. The first im-
mediate divine emanation is, according to him, the
"first created," an absolutely simple Being, the all-
containing substance of everything that is. A new
element was introduced into the doctrine of emana-
tion by the Ma'areket group. It was the principle
of a double emanation. From the three superior
spiritual Sefirot, which mark the transition from
the purely spiritual to the material, proceed a posi-
tive and a negative emanation. All that is good
comes from the positive; all that is evil has its
source in the negative. This theory is highly de-
veloped in the Zohar.
Bibliography, Munk, Melanges de Philosophic Arahe et
Juive, p. 227 ; Guttmann, Die Philosophic des Ihn Gabirol,
1889; idem. Die Philosophic des Abraham ibn Daud; Joel,
Ibn QabiroVs Bedeutung fUr die Oesch. der Philnsophie;
Worms, Die Lchre von der Anfangslomgkcit der Welt hei
den Arabischen Philosophen, In BeitrOge zur Oesch. der
Philosophie des Mittelaltcrs, vol. ill., part 4 ; Franck, La
Kabbale; Karppe, Etude sur Ics Origines ci la Nature riw
Zohar, p. 344; Chr. D. Ginzburg, The Kabbakih, London,
186.5; Myer. Qabbalah, Philadelphia, 1888; Ehrenprels, Die
Entwickelung der Emanationslehrc in der Kabbalah des
Xlll. Jahrhunderts.
K. I. Br.
EMANCIPATION OF SLAVES. See Slaves.
EMANU-EL : A weekly journal published in
San Francisco, Cal. The first number was issued in
May, 1895. Jacob Voorsanger is the editor. It is
devoted especially to the interests of Jews and Juda-
ism on the Pacific coast.
G. A. M. F.
EMANUEL, LEWIS : Secretary and solicitor
to the Board of Deputies of British Jews; born at
Portsmouth May 14, 1832 ; died in London June 19,
1898. He was educated at Ramsgate, and in 1853
was admitted to practise as a solicitor. He was a
commissioner for oaths and affidavits for South Aus-
tralia, New Zealand, and British Columbia, and in
1881 published a pamphlet on " Corrupt Practises at
Parliamentary Elections."
His legal ability and communal zeal secured his
election as secretary to the Board of Deputies in
Jan. , 1869. In the course of the thirty years during
which he served the board he came to be completely
identified with its interests. For nearly twenty
years he took an active part in the work of the
Jewish Board of Guardians, and was a member of
the council of the Anglo-Jewish Association and of
the committee of the Maccabaeans' Club.
In politics Emanuel was a Liberal, was a mem-
ber of the council of the Liberal Unionist Associa-
tion, and took a leading part in the London Munici-
pal Reform League.
Bibliography : Jewish Chronicle and Jewish World (Lon-
don), June 24, 1898.
J. ^- ^
EMBDEN (EMDEN) : A family deriving its
name, perhaps, from Emden, Germany. Carl Adam
Emden, privy councilor and high bailiff of Prince
SalmSalm. was ennobled in 1791. It is probable
that Eleazar Solomon von Embden (who lived in
London about 1817) was a descendant of this family.
Henry (Hertz) Heine (1774-1855) married Henriette
Embden(1787-1868). See Heine; Schifp. There-
cent descendants of the family are as follows:
Moritz Embden = in 1822 Charlotte Heine (1800-99) , sister
(1790-1866) of the poet, daughter of Samson Heine
(1764-1828) and Bette Heine, nee van
Geldern (1771-1859)
r
Marie Embden
(b. 1834)
in 1854 Michael Hirsch = Helen Ludwlg,
Prince de la Rocca Embden Freiherr
d'Aspro (1827-89) von
I Embden
Carlo Maria, Prince _ 1890 Ida de le
de la Rocca (b. 1856) Torre-Lombardinl
f
Michael Chrlstoforo
(b. 1891)
Maria Yvonne
(b. 1896)
In Paris there lives at present Louis K. Emden,
who married Miss Van der Heym. There are also
Von, or Van, Embdens to be found in Surinam,
lieirs of J. G. van Embden (E. and A. J. van
Embden, wealthy planters: " Surinaamsche Alma-
nak," 1899, 1900). The following were students at
Leyden, Holland:
1609. Philip ab Embden, 25 years, jurispru-
dence.
Johannes Leevinus ab Embden, 21 years,
jurisprudence.
147
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Emailation
Embroidery
1771. Solomon von Embden, 25 years, medi-
cine. This is undoubtedly the above-mentioned
Eleazar Solomon von Embden, who, therefore, must
have been born in 1746.
There is also a family of the name of Emdin in
Frankfort-on-the-Main.
BiBLioORAPHY : Horowitz, Inschriften, pp. 704 etscq., Frank-
fort-on-the-Main ; Album Studiosorum Acad. Lugd. Bat.
pp.95, 1105, 1218, 1398, 1402: Almanach de Ootha, 1SC0, p.
434; Gratz, Oench. 1897, p. 357; Kneschke, Adels-Lexikon,
ill. 102; Karpeles, Heinrich Heine, 1899, p. 43; Bettemelm,
Deutscher Nekrol. 1900, p. 138.
J. H. Gut.
EMBDEN, CHARLOTTE. See Heine,
Heikrich.
EMBDEN, ELEAZAR SOLOMON VON
(Eliezer Leser Levi) : German physician and trav-
eler; born at Emrich, near Cleves, between 1770 and
1780; graduated at Frankfort-on-the-Oder in 1800.
From 1804 to 1816 he lived in England ; he then set-
tled in Hamburg, and in 1838 returned to England.
After amassing considerable wealth in Brazil he re-
turned to Europe, and took up his residence in Al-
tona. He was a contributor to Hufeland's " Journal
of Practical Medicine," and published "The Conti-
nental Medical Repository " (Hamburg, 1817). With
Isaac Metz he compiled a catalogue in Latin and
Hebrew of the celebrated Oppenheira collection,
under the title " Collectio Davidis " (Hamburg, 1826),
to which Embden contributed the Latin part.
Bibliography : Jew. Chron. Jan., 1900 ; Stelnschnelder, Cat.
Bodl. col. 971 ; idem, Hebr. Bibl. vlil. 44.
J. G. L.
EMBEZZLEMENT: The fraudulent conver-
sion to one's own use of goods or money entrusted
to o.ie's care and control. The offense differs from
theft in that in the latter the possession itself is
unlawful.
The Mosaic law provides a penalty for embezzle-
ment in a very restricted case. Lev. v. 20-26 (A.
V. vi. 2-7) deals with several forms of dishonesty ;
e.g., where a man denies to his neighbor goods or
money entrusted to him, or something robbed or
wrongfully withheld, or goods lost by his neighbor
and found by him, and where he has, moreover,
taken an oath to his false denial. He is then required
to make restoration in full, to add one-fifth in value
to the principal, and to bring, moreover, a ram
without blemish as a guilt-offering to the priest,
who thereupon shall make atonement, and the sin
shall be forgiven.
The Mishnah treats this subject in Shebu. viii. It
lays down these principles : (1) That where the vol-
untary or hired keeper, hirer, or borrower swears to
an untrue statement as to the loss of the article, but
is not liable on other grounds, he can not be pun-
ished in this way for the false oath. (2) That where
he swears to a mode of loss which would exonerate
hira, but he has consumed the deposit (e.g., eaten an
ox), and this is established by witnesses, he is liable
for the single value ; but if he confesses, he pays the
principal, with one-fifth in addition, and brings his
guilt-offering. It is supposed that he confesses will-
ingly, although it costs him more, in order to gain
the promised forgiveness of his sin. (3) When the
voluntary keeper swears to a cause of loss which
would excuse him, and witnesses show that he stole
the thing himself, he pays double as a thief; but if
he confesses, he pays only the principal, with one-
fifth in addition, and makes the guilt-offering. It
must here be remarked that when the voluntary
keeper seeks to excuse himself on the ground that
the deposit has been stolen from him, and he is
shown to have kept it for himself, he is treated as
the thief, and is held to double payment, under Ex.
xxii. 6. This is a case in which embezzlement is
punished like theft. (4) When he swears to a cause
of loss which would excuse him, and the loss arose
from a cause which makes him liable, he pays the
principal and one-fifth in addition, and makes the
guilt-offering. (5) If he denies outright the loan or
deposit under oath, he pays in like manner, though
the loss may have arisen from a justifying cause.
The matter is finally condensed in this form: He who
changes (in his oath) from liability to liabilit}', from
excuse to excuse, or from excuse to liability, is free ;
but he who changes from liability to excuse is pun-
ishable. See Bailments, for the modes of loss
which excuse a bailee of one or the other kind, and
for what losses he is liable.
8. 8. L. N. D.
EMBROIDERY: Ornamental needlework on
cloth, more frequently on linen, often executed in
variegated colors and designs. Among the Egyp-
tians and Assyro-Babylonians this art was highly
developed, and Biblical texts make mention of the
fact. The mantle that tempted Achan (Josh. vii.
21, 24) was of Babylonian make, i.e., according to
Josephus ("Ant." v. 1, § 10), embroidered in gold.
lEzekiel speaks of embroidered byssus from Egypt
(Ezek. xxvii. 7). If the chapters of Exodus relating
the preparations for the Tabernacle and its erection
are contemporaneous with the events narrated, proof
is established that the Hebrews at an early period
of their history had attained a high degree of skill
in the embroiderer's craft. Wilkinson ("Manners
and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians," ii. 166) sees
adaptations of Egyptian models in the hangings of
the Tabernacle (Ex. xxvi. 36, xxvii. 16, xxxvi. 37,
xxxviii. 18) and in Aaron's coat and girdle (Ex.
xxviii. 39, xxxix. 29). On the other hand, Delitzsch
("Babel und Bibel "), among others, assumes that in
this and many other things the Babylonians must
be regarded as the teachers of the Hebrews. At all
events, in the early days of the Israelitish invasion
and occupation of Canaan, embroidered cloth was
valuable because rare enough to be coveted as booty
in war (Judges v. 30).
In Hebrew three words are employed to connote
the craft and the finished product: (1) "Tashbez"
and its derivative forms are used exclusively in
Exodus (xxviii. 4) in connection with sacerdotal
garments (A. V. "broidered"; R. V. "checkered").
The root also occurs in the description of the
princess' dress, Ps. xlv. 14, where the R. V. has
" inwrought with gold. " In the Mishnah the root
stands for smoothing and ornamenting wood or
metal (Hul. 25a, b). (2) "Rakam" (whence "rik-
mah " and " rokem ") means to embroider in colors
with the needle ; to variegate (Judges v. 30 ; Ezek.
xvi. 10, 13, 18; xxvi. 16; xxvii. 7, 16 [comp. Cornill.
"Ezekiel," text]; Ps. xlv. 15). It is used also of
the colors of feathers (Ezek. xvii. 3) and of stones
Bmbroix
Smden
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
148
(I Chron. xxix. 2). In the Taigum the derivative
noua Nnop"! stands for colored dots; while in
Syriac XflDpin means " freckles." " Rokem " is the
name of the craftsman (Ex. xxvi. 36), generally as-
sociated with (3) "hashab" (whence "hosheb"; R.
V. " the cunning workman "). According to Yoma
72b, "hosheb" designates the designer of the colored
pattern, which the rokem followed and executed
with the needle. But R. Nehemiah is probably
more exact in saying that the rokem works with the
needle, and hence variegates only one side of the
fabric; while the hosheb is a weaver who works his
pattern on both sides (see Kimhi to Judges v. 30 ;
idem, in "Sefer lia-Shorashim," s.v. HDp"); Moore,
"Judges," p. 171, with reference to Judges v. 30).
Figuratively, "rakam" is used both in the Bible
(Ps. cxxxix. 15) and in later Hebrew (Yer. Bezah i.
60a; Lev. R. xxix. ; Niddah 24b) for the forming of
the embr^^o, undoubtedly because the veinsand arte-
ries give it the appearance of an embroidered pattern.
E. G. H.
EMBRON FAMILY, THE. See Ambron.
EMBRYO (imy) : The young of a mammal while
slill connected with the body of its mother. The
child " en ventre sa mere " of English law was a sub-
ject of dispute between the ancient and the new Hala-
kah, the former considering it a separate living being,
and the latter as only a part or a limb of its mother.
The view of the ancient Halakah was subsequently
followed by the Samaritans and Karaites, while the
new Halakah was represented mostly by the Phari-
sees and Rabbinites, though there is reason to be-
lieve that the school of Shammai, known for its con-
servative tendencies, tried to carry out the tradition
of the old Halakah. But apparently even the Rab-
binites were not always consistent. This contro-
versy concerned mostly ritual questions, as, for in-
stance, whether the embryo is qualified as permitted
food in the slaughtering of the cow. According to
the ancient Halakah, which considers it as an inde-
pendent being by itself, it would require special
slaughtering, and, as this is impossible, all embryos
are therefore forbidden for food. The point would
also concern the criminal law, as in the case of a man
causing the death of the embryo by injuring its
mother. According to the old Halakah he would be
considered as a murderer; according to the new he
would only be treated as a man injuring a limb.
Another instance would be the execution of a preg-
nant woman condemned to death by the court. Ac-
cording to the first view the execution could not take
place until the child was born ; according to the lat-
ter, the embrj-o, as part of her being, has to suffer by
the death of the mother. With regard to civil ques-
tions it is considered as a living child in some cases,
but not in all.
Tlie still-born child does not inherit from its
mother, so as to transmit lier inheritance to its
brothers on the father's side. But if the child lives
but an hour after the mother, it does transmit her
inheritance.
It is doubtful whether a gift or legacy to an un-
born child can be made valid at all. It is admitted
that if the words of the gift or legacy are "in pra?-
senti " it does not take effect, as the child " en ventre "
is incapable of receiving a benefit; if the words are:
" When such a woman gives birth, I give to the
child," it is still disputable, unless the embryo is the
child of the giver himself, in which case the gift or
legacy is valid.
The child unborn at the father's death, but com-
ing to life afterward, does not diminish the share of
the first-born son. This position of the Talmud
(B. B. 142a, b) is illustrated by Rashbam (who here
takes Rashi's place) thus: If Jacob, dying, leaves
120 minas of silver and two sons — Reuben (first)
and Simeon (second) — and his wife is afterward de-
livered of a third son, Levi, Reuben gets one-third
of the whole (=40 minas) and one-third of the re-
mainder ; that is, he receives altogether 66f minas ;
the remaining 53^^ minas are divided equally between
Simeon and Levi, w^ho each receive 26| minas.
Should Levi die afterward, Reuben would get one,
third of the Avhole(=40 minas) plus one-half the
remainder ; that is, Reuben and Simeon would have
respectively 80 and 40 minas, just as if Levi had not
been born.
As has been mentioned under Agnates, a pos-
thumous first-born son does not receive a double
share.
Bibliography : Maimonides, Yad, Zekiyyah. vlii. 5 ; ib. Naha-
lot, il. 3; Hoshen MUshpat, 276, 5; 277, 3, 5; Geisjer, Ur-
»chrift, p. '336; idem, Ndchgelaasene Schriften, v. (1st
Abtheilung, Hebrew, pp. 112, 115-120); Monatsachrift, 1839,
p. 400.
8. 8. L. N. D.
EMDEN : Prussian maritime town in the prov-
ince of Hanover. It is not known when Jews first
settled there. In the sixteenth century David Gans
mentions ("Zemah Dawid," 1581, ii.) Jews at Em-
den. In the letter of complaints (March 9, 1590)
against Count Edzard I. and "the magistrate," ad-
dressed by the citizens of Emden to the imperial com-
missioners, who had come to Emden to settle the
difficulties between the sovereign and his subjects,
the citizens included as a grievance the fact that the
Jews were permitted the public exercise of their re-
ligion, and that they wore no distinctive badge.
The commissioners dismissed this complaint, and
the Jews continued in the city as heretofore. En-
no's son, Ulrich II., received Jews at his court; and
once a Jewish couple was married by a rabbi in the
presence of the whole court. This aroused the ire
of a zealous Lutheran clergyman, Walther, who ex-
pressed himself as follows: "In the presence of 100
devils one pair of devils has been coupled by an
elderly devil; people have no regard either for God
or for myself." In the memoirs of Glilckel of Ha-
MELN (1645-1719) mention is made of a rabbi of
Frisia, of David Hanau, and of other Jews of
Emden. In 1744 Emden, with East Friesland, be-
came part of Prussia, and the Jews in these districts
came \inder Prussian regulations. At that time the
yearly sum paid for protection by the Jews of East
Friesland amounted to 776 thalers ; in Emden itself
the regularlj^ protected Jew had the right to be-
queath this protection to one son, on payment of
80 thalers.
On May 30, 1762, there was an uprising against
the Jews of Emden, who were accused of having
caused the depreciation of the coinage; and the
magistrate did not succeed in dispersing the mob
149
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Embron
Emden
until the houses of four of the most wealthy Jews
had been destroyed, though not sacked. After the
peace of Tilsit, in 1807, Napoleon incorporated East
Friesland with the kingdom of Holland, under his
brother Louis Bonaparte, who freed the Jews from
their restrictions and granted them (Feb. 23, 1808)
the same rights and privileges as the Jews of France
— that is, equal citizenship. Heavy payments for
protection were no longer exacted.
XJnder At that time there were about 1,364
French Jews in the Emden arrondissement.
Protection. Of that number there were not more
than 500 in the city of Emden, and of
these about 100 were in indigent circumstances.
After the consistorial organization of the six new
districts under the central consistory of Paris in 1811,
Emden became the seat of the synagogue for the
departmental localities of Oester-Ems (1,500 Jews),
Wesernuuidungen (1,129), and Oberems (1,076).
After the wars of liberation, Emden came under
the dominion of the kings of Hanover, and the Jews
were thrown back under former conditions, from
which they were not liberated until 1842. Since
1866 Emden, with Hanover, has belonged to Prussia.
The community of Emden numbered in 1902 about
900.
Emden has been for centuries the home of famous
rabbis. The following maybe mentioned: Mena-
hem b. Jacob ha-Kohen; Moses Simon b. Nathan
ha-Kohen (d. 1668); Simon ha-Kohen (d. 1725);
Jacob Emden; Abraham b. Jacob (d. 1758); Abra-
ham Moses Kelmy ha-Levi ; Baruch Koslin ; Meir
Glogau b. Aaron (d. 1809) ; Abraham b. Aryeli Lob
b. Hayyim Lowenstamm; Samson Raphael Hirscli
(1841-47); Hermann Hamburger (d. 1870); P. Buch-
holz (d. 1892); Dr. Lob, district rabbi of Emden, in
1902.
A magistrate of Emden is credited with granting,
in 1649, privileges to Portuguese Jews, which were
renewed in 1703, and in virtue of which they be-
came full citizens. Among the Portuguese at
Emden may be mentioned the physician Abraham
German (1752), formerly living at Amsterdam; Isaac
van der Hock (1758); Isaac de Lemos (1765); and
Isaac Aletrino (1782). They were favorably re-
ceived in the town, because, as the magistrate de-
clared, "People of this kind are useful, and even in-
dispensable, for carrying on the West-Indian trade."
Four Jews of Emden are mentioned among those
who attended the fair at Leipsic in 1690, and a larger
number are mentioned in the responsa of Jacob
Emden (Responsa, ii., Nos. 24 et scq.) and in his
autobiography ("Megillat Sefer," ed. Kahana, pji.
2\^etscq.).
Bibliography : Losing, Gesch. derStadt Kmden hiszum Ver-
tra(j von Delfsyld, 1.^95. pp. 6, note a, 203, Emden, 1843 ; Schndt,
Jllilijiclie McrchicUrdiokeitcii, 1. 31.5; Jlid. LderaturbUttt.
l.'WKNo. ;i',t, p. 1.5:J; Lowenstein, Bfutftr/iir JU(f. Gesch.urid
Literatur, 19(12, ill., No. 4, pp. 39 ct seq.; Lewin, Dns Knidrurr
Memnrhiir}!, in TI'eis.o/idHJi's Mnnatxachrift, Jan., 1890, p.
27 ; Feb., 1S90, p. dS; (iriitz, Gcsch. 3d ed., i.\. 479, and note 11 ;
Grunwald, Portutiiesen0'<il)rr nvf Dcnt.scher Erilr, Ham-
burg, 1902, pp. 142-151, and A. Lewinsky's review of this work
in AUa. Zeit. desJvd. 1902, No. 45, p. 540: Moixttx^chrift,
1901 p. 477 ; Roest, Cat. Roseidhal. BdiL 1. 723, s.v. LUinyic,
and Supplement, p. 197, No. 1026; Benjaoob, Uzar Iia-Sefarint,
p. 312.
D. A. Lew.
EMDEN, HERMANN SELIGMANN : Ger
man engraver and photographer; born at Frankfort-
on-the-Main Oct. 18, 1815; died there Sept. 6, 1875.
Early evincing a love for art and unable to afford an
academic education, he entered an engraving and
lithographic establishment as an apprentice, endeav-
oring especially to perfect himself in the artistic side
of his work. In 1833 he left Frankfort and went
to Hersfeld, Darmstadt, and Bonn. His portrait-
engraving of Pope Pius IX. and his views of Caub,
Bornhofen, and the Maxburg belong to this period.
He also turned his attention to photography, then
in its infancy, and was one of the first to establish a
studio at Frankfort-on-the-Main. He made his rep-
utation as photographer by the work " Der Dom zu
Mainz und Seine Denkmiiler in 36 Originalphoto-
graphien," to which Liibke refers several times in
his "History of Art." Emden was the first to com-
pose artistic photographic groups ("Die Rastatter
Dragoner," "Die Saarbrlicker Ulanen," etc.), and
was also among tlie first to utilize photography for
the study of natural science.
8. A. W,
EMDEN, JACOB ISRAEL. BEN ZEBI
ASHKENAZI ( Ya'ABeZ) ; officially called JACOB
HERSCHEL) : German Talmudist and anti-Shab-
bethaian ; born at Altona June 4, 1697 ; died there
April 19, 1776. Until seventeen Emden studied Tal-
mud under his father, known as "Hakam Zebi,"
first at Altona, then (1710-14) at Amsterdam. In
1715 he married the daughter of IVIordecaiben Naph-
tali Kohen, rabbi of Ungarish-Brod, ]\Ioiavia, and
continued his studies in his father-in-law 'syeshibah.
Emden became well versed in all branches of Tal-
mudic literature; later he studied philosophy.
Cabala, and grammar, and made an elfort to acquire
the Latin and Dutch languages, in which, however,
lie was seriously hindered by his belief that a Jew
should occupy himself with secular sciences only
during the hour of twilight. He was also opposed
to philosophy, and maintained that the " Moreh "
could not have been written by Maimonides ("Mit-
pahat Sefarim"). Hespent three years at Ungarisli-
Brod, where he held the office of private lecturer
in Talmud. Then be became a dealer in jewelry
and other articles, Avhich occupation compelled him
to travel. lie generally declined to accept the office
of rabbi, though in 1728 he was induced to accept
the rabbinate of Emden, from whirh place he took
his name.
In 1733 he returneil to Altona, where he obtained
the permission of the Jewish community to possess
a private synagogue. Emden was at first on friendly
terms with I\Ioses Hagis, the head of the Portuguese
community at Altona, who was afterward turnwl
against Emden by some calumny. His relations with
Ezekiel Katzenellcnboircn, the chief rabbi of the
German community, were strained from the very
beginning. Emden seems to have considered every
successor of his father as an intruder. A few years
later Emden obtained from the King of Denmark
the privilege of establishing at Altona a printing-
press. He was soon attacked for his ])iiblication of
the "Siddur 'Animude Sliamayiin," being accused
of having dealt arbitrarily with the text. His op-
ponents (lid not cease denouncing him even after he
liad obtained for his work the approbation of the
chief rabbi of the German communities.
iEmden
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
150
Emden is especially known for his controversial
activities, bis attacks being generally directed
against tbe adherents, or those lie supposed to be
adherents, of Shabbethai Zebi. Of these controver-
sies the most celebrated was that with Jonathan
Eybeschiitz, who in Emden 's ej-es was a convicted
Shabbethaian. The controversy lasted several years,
continuing even after Eybeschiitz 's death. Emden 's
assertion of the lieresy of his antagonist was chiefly
based on the interpretation of some
Emden- amulets prepared by Eybeschiitz, in
Eybe- whicli Emden professed to see Shab-
schiitz bethaian allusions (see Eybeschutz,
Con- Jonathan). Hostilities began before
troversy. Eybeschiitz left Prague; when Eybe-
schiitz was named chief rabbi of the
three communities of Altona, Hamburg, and Wands-
beck (1751), the controversy reached the stage of
intense and bitter antagonism. Emden maintained
that he was at first prevented by threats from pub-
lishing anything against Eybeschutz. He solemnly
declared in his synagogue the writer of the amulets
to be a Shabbethaian heretic and deserving of ex-
communication.
The majority of the community favoring Eybe-
schiitz, the council condemned Emden as a calumnia-
tor. People were ordered, vmder pain of excommun-
ication, not to attend Emden's synagogue, and he
himself was forbidden to issue anything from his
press. As Emden still continued his philippics
against Eybeschiitz, he was ordered by the council
of the three communities to leave Altona. This he
refused to do, relying on the strength of the king's
charter, and he was, as he maintained, relentlessly
persecuted. His life seeming to be in actual danger,
he left the town and took refuge in Amsterdam
(May, 1751), where he had many friends and where
he joined the household of his brother-in-law, Aryeh
L5b b. Saul, rabbi of the Ashkenazic community.
Emden's cause was subsequently taken up by the
court of King Frederick of Denmark, and on June
8, 1752, a judgment was given in favor of Emden,
severely censuring the council of the three commu-
nities and condemning them to a fine of one hundred
thalers. Emden then returned to Altona and took
possession of his synagogue and printing-establish-
ment, though he was forbidden to continue his agi-
tation against Eybeschiitz. The lattcr's partizans,
however, did not desist from their warfare against
Emden. They accused him before the authorities of
continuing to publish denunciations against his op-
ponent. One Friday evening {'hi\y 8, 1755) his
house was broken into and his papers seized and
turned over to the "Ober-Prasident," Von Kwalen.
Six months later Von Kwalen appointed a conunis-
sion of three scholars, who, after a close examina-
tion, found nothing which could inculpate Emden.
Emden was undoubtedly very quick-tempered
and of a jealous disposition. Tlie truth or falsity
of his denunciations against Eybeschiitz can not be
proved, but the fact remains that he quarreled with
almost all his contemporaries. He considered that
every man who was not for him was against hini,
and attacked him accordingl)'. Still, he seems to
have enjoyed a certain autliority, even among the
Polish rabbis, the majority of whom sided with
Eybeschiitz, and had once even excommunicated
Emden upon the initiative of Hayyim of Lublin
(1751). Thus in 1756 the members of the Synod of
Constantinov applied to Emden to aid in repressing
the Shabbethaian movement. As the Shabbethaians
referred much to the Zohar, Emden thought it wise
to examine that book, and after a careful study he
concluded that a great part of the Zohar was the
production of an impostor (see " Mitpahat Sefarim ").
Emden's works show him to have been possessed
of critical powers rarely found among his contem-
poraries, wlio generally took things for granted. He
was strictly Orthodox, never deviating the least
from tradition, even when the difference in time and
circumstance might have faiily been regarded as
warranting a deviation from the old custom.' In 1772
the Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin having issued a
deci'ee forbidding burial on the day of death, the
Jews in his territories approached Emden with the
request that he demonstrate from the Talmud that
a longer exposure of a corpse would be against the
Law. Emden referred them to Mendelssohn, who
had great influence with Christian authorities; but
as Mendelssohn agreed with the ducal order, Emden
wrote to hira and \irged the desirability of opposing
the duke if only to remove the suspicion of irrelig-
iousness he (Mendelssohn) had aroused by his asso-
ciations.
Emden was a very prolific writer; his works fall
into two classes, polemical and rabbinical. Among
the former are :
Torat ha-Kena'ot, a biography of Shabbethai Zebl, and criti-
cisms of Nehemlah Hayyon, Jonathan Eybeschutz, and others.
Amsterdam, 1752.
'Edut be-Ya'akob, on the supposed heresy of Eybeschiitz, and
including Iggeret Shum, a letter to the rabbis
His Works, of the " Four Lands." Altona. 1756.
Shimmush, comprising three smaller works:
Shot la-Sus and Meteg la-Hamor. on the growing influence of
the Shabbethaians, and Shebet le-Gew Kesilim. a refutation of
heretical demonstrations. Amsterdam, 1758-62.
Shebirat Luhot lia-Awen, a refutation of Eybeschutz's " Lubot
'Edut." Altona, 1759.
Sehok ha-Kesil, Yekeb Ze'eb, and Gat Derukah, three polemical
works published in tlie " Hit'abbekut " of one of his pupils. Al-
tona, 1762.
Hereb Pitlyycit, Ifrgeret Piirim, Teshubot ha-Minim, and Zlk-
karon be-Sefer, on money-changers and bankers (unpublished).
His rabbinical works include :
Lehem Shamayim, a commentary on the Mishnah, with a
treatise in two parts, on Maimonides' "Yad," Bet ha-Beliirah.
Altona. 1728 ; Wandsbeck, 1733.
Iggeret Bikkoret, responsa. Altona, 1733.
She'elat Ya'abez, a collection of 372 responsa. Altona, 1739-59.
Siddur Teflllah, an edition of the ritual with a commentary,
grammatical notes, ritual laws, and various treatises, in three
parts: Bet-El. Sha'ar ha-Shamayim, and Migdal 'Oz. It also
includes a treatise entitled Eben Bohan, and a criticism on
Menahem di Lonzano's " 'Abodat Mikdash," entitled Seder
Ahodah. Altona, 1745-48.
'Ez Abot, a (commentary to Abot, with Lehem Nekudim, gram-
matical notes. Amsterdatn, 1751.
Slia'agat Aryeh, a sermon, also included in his Kishshurlm
le-Ya'akob. Amsterdam, 1755.
Seder '01am Rabbah we-Ziita, the two Seder 'Olara and
the Megillat Ta'anlt, edited witli critical notes. Hamburg. 1757.
Mor u-Kezi'ah. novellas on the Orah Hayyim, in two parts:
the first part, Mitpahat Sefarim, being an expurgation of the
Zohar ; the second, a criticism on '" Emunat Hakamim " and
"Mishnat Hakamim." and polemical letters addressed to the
rabbi of KOnigsherg. Altona, 1761-68.
Zlzim u-Ferahim, a collection of cabalistic articles arranged
in alphabetical order. A Itona, 1768.
Luah Eresh, grammatical notes on the prayers, and a criticism
of Solomon Hena's " Sha'are TeUUah." Altona, 17t)9.
nop n-i^i^Dn:::? non^ mD*7"n crn mix
PA(iE FKOM I'l K UKAIl HAYYIM, Bt4RlN(i AI;T0(;RAIM1 ANNOTATIONS OK JACOB EMDEN. PKINTEU AT BEKLIN, 1702.
(1q the Columbia Uuiversity Library, New York.)
Emerald
Empedocles
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
152
Shemesh Zedakah. Altona, 1773.
Pesah Gadol, TeHUat Yesbarim, and Holl Ketem. Altona,
1775.
Sha'are 'Azarah. Altona, 1776.
Dibre Emet u-Mlsbpat Sbalom (n. d. and n. p.).
His unpublished rabbinical writings are tlie fol-
lowing :
Kishsburim le-Ya'akob, collection of sermons.
Za'akat Damlm, refutation of the blood accusation In Poland.
Halakab Pesukab.
Hllketa li-Mesbiha, responsum to R. Israel Lipschiitz.
Mada'ab Kabbah.
Gal-'Ed, commentary to Rashl and to the Targuin of tbe Pen-
tateuch.
Em la-Binah, commentary to the whole Bible.
Em la-Mikra we la-Masoret, also a commentary to tbe Bible.
Marginal novellae on the Talmud of Babylon.
Megillat Sefer, containing biographies of himself and of his
father.
Emden also annotated the following works:
Saadia Gaon's "Sefer ha-Pedut we haPurkan " ;
Elijah Levita's " Meturgeman " ; Estori Farhi's
" Kaf tor u-Ferah " ; Caro's " Kereti u-Feleti " ; Isaac
b. Judali ha-Levi's " Pa'aneah Raza " ; Isaac Abra-
vancl's " Posh Amanah " ; Maimonides' " Iggerot " ;
Moses Graf's " Wayakhel Mosheh " ; Benjamin Musa-
fia's "Musaf he-'Aruk." Wagenaar, in his "Tole-
dot Ya'abez " attributes to Emden the cabalistic
"Mahnayim."
Bibliography: Gratz, Gesch. 3d ed., x. 343-388; Meaillat Se-
fer (Emden's autobiography), Warsaw, 189t) ; Wagenaar, To-
lednt Ya'ahez, Amsterdam, 1868; Azulai. Shemha-GedolimA.
96; Fiirst, in Orient, I/it.vii. 443; Halberstjimm, In Berliner's
Magazin, v. 203, Ix. 173; D. Kaufmann, in Monatsschrift^
xl. 330-:331, xli. 33.3-336, 363-369, 436-43',); Furst, Bihl. Jud. i.
240-244. On the controversy between Emden and Evbeschutz
see Ha-Shahnr, vi. 343 et seq., xli. 181-192, 548-552, 603-610,
648-653, 686-693.
s. s. M. Skl.
EMERALD. See Gems.
EMET WE-YAZZIB : The initial words of the
morning benediction following the Shema' and clo-
sing with the Ge'ullah ('Redemption"). Recited
by the priests after the Shema' in the morning serv-
ice in the Temple hall, " lishkat ha-gazit " (Tamid v.
1), it has retained its place in the service ever since,
and the rule afterward was made not to interrupt
the connection between the last two words of the
third portion of the Shema', the chapter on zizit,
and " emet, " as if the words, " the Lord your God " —
"is true," formed one sentence (comp. Jer. x. 10;
Ber. ii. 2 ; 14a, b). Zunz (" G. V. " p. 383) thinks the
original benediction contained only forty-five words,
but the fact that it had the name " Emet we-Yazzib "
in the earliest times upsets his theory of the original
simplicity of tlie benediction. The first sentence,
"True and firm, established and enduring, right and
faithful, beloved and precious, desirable and pleas-
ant, revered and mighty, well ordered and accepta-
ble, good and beautiful [a strange mixture of He-
brew and Arameau words], is Thy word unto us
forever and ever," refers to the Shema' as a solenm
profession of the unity of God. This is followed by
two other sentences, begiiming with "Emet," refer-
ring possibly to the two other sections of tlie
Sliema', wliile the otlier sentences beginning with
"Emet" — the German liturgy lias three, the Sephar-
dic five — are addressed to God, and lead on to the
idea of God as Redeemer.
That the " Emet we-Yazzib " should contain refer-
ences to God's kingdom, to the redemption of Israel
from Egypt, and to the wonders of the Red Sea, is
a rule made as early as the tannaitic time (Tosef.,
Ber. ii. 1 ; Yer. Ber. i. 3d). Zunz {I.e.) assigns the
latter part, describing in poetic and partly alpha-
betic-acrostic form the wonders of divine redemp-
tion, to payyetanim of the geonic age. The tone,
however, of exuberant joy at Israel's redemption,
the accentuation of the " humble, " and the special
reference to the Song of Moses as the hymn of
"great rejoicing," indicate a Hasidean origin (comp.
Philo, " De Vita Contemplativa " ; Rev. x v. 3). Still,
the concluding formula was not fixed before the
geonic time (see Zunz, I.e.; Rapoport. "Kalir," p.
14G; Litukuy).
Bibliography: Abudraham, ySiddur Shaharit; Landshut,ln
Edelman's Hegyoti Leb, p. 50. Konigsberg, 1845; Beer, Abo-
dat Yisrael, P- 84, Rodelsheim, 1868 ; Herzfeld, Gcsch. des
Volkes Ii>rael, iii. 196, note 1.
A. K.
EMIGRATION. See Migration.
EMIM ("terrible ones"): A name applied (Deut.
ii. 10) to the original inhabitants of Moab, though
the Septuagint reads for it 'Ofifiiv. The name is used
(Gen. xiv. 5) to designate also the inhabitants of the
plain of Kirjathaim. Here the Septuagint calls them
'Ofifxaioi, but in both passages the Vulgate supports
the Hebrew text.
They are described (Deut. I.e.) as the former pos-
sessors of the land, and are said to be "a people
great, and many, and tall, as the Anakim, which also
were accounted Rephaim " (A. V. " giants ").
Kirjathaim, with which they are connected in
Gen. I.e., was north of the Arnon, among the towns
taken by the tribe of Reuben (Num. xxxii. 37;
Josh. xiii. 19; and G. A. Smith, "Historical Geog-
raphy of the Holy Land," pp. 567, note 1 ; 568, note
1). It is now called " Kureyat."
The name "Emim" was probably given in conse-
quence of the terror inspired by these better-nour-
ished inhabitants, who, to the underfed, undersized
men of the desert, seemed giants.
.J. JH. G. A. B.
EMIN PASHA (EDUARD CARL OSCAR
THEODOR SCHNITZER): German explorer;
born at Oppeln, Prussian Silesia, March 28, 1840;
killed at Kinena Station, Kongo Free State, Oct. 23
or 24, 1892. When he was only two years old Lis
parents moved to Neisse, where in 1846 the boy was
baptized into the Protestant Church. After finish-
ing his studies at the Neisse gymnasium, he studied
medicine at Breslau, Konigsberg, and Berlin, pass-
ing the M.D. examination in 1864. From childhood
it was his ambition to travel. This desire had such
a strong hold on him that he left the university in
1864 before passing his state examination, and went
to England, then to Italy, and finally to Turkey.
In 1865 he was appointed quarantine medical offi-
cer at Antivari near Constantinople, which posi-
tion he held for four years. In 1870 he became
physician to Hakki Ismail Pasha, after whose death
he paid (1874) a brief visit to his home, and, trav-
eling through Germany, Austria, and Italy, went
to Egypt. He arrived in Khartum Dec. 3, 1875.
joined Gordon Pasha, then governor of the Equa-
torial Provinces, at Lado, became his physician,
taking the name of "Emin," and Avas often entrusted
153
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Emerald
Empedocles
with responsible political and administrative duties.
When Gordon became governor-general of the Su-
dan, he appointed Emin Eey governor of the Equa-
torial Provinces (1878).
Emin explored and inspected his province with
indefatigable zeal. In the meantime the Mahdi
uprising had begun, and Rauf Pasha, the successor
of Gordon, had himself been succeeded by Abd el-
Kader in 1882. In the spring of that year Emin
Bey went to Khartum. Returning to Lado, he found
that the rebellion had spread to his province. He
had endeavored to keep control of Equatoria, but
the successes of the Mahdi made it increasingly dif-
ficult. In 1883 the last steamer with merchandise
and news arrived
from Khartum. In
1885 Khartum fell
and Gordon was slain.
Emin was forced to
retire to Wadelai. Re-
bellion broke out iu
his own camp, and in
1886 he received the
news officially that
the Egyptian govern-
ment had abandoned
the Sudan. Emin Pa-
sha was given "un-
limited freedom of ac-
tion, and permission
to retreat upon Eng-
lish territory, if nec-
essary. " For the f ol -
lowing two years news from Emin was scanty, but
he still held his province and cared for it as best he
could.
After Gordon's death, interest in the Mahdi up-
rising centered around Emin Pasha, and men like
Wilhelm Junker, Karl Peters, Dr. Schweinfurth,
and Stanley projected relief expeditions. In 1887
Stanley was sent out from England. After many
dangerous adventures he met Emin Pasha at the
southwest corner of the Albert Nyanza on April 29,
1888. A German relief expedition under Karl
Peters had been started, but was abandoned when
the news from Stanley was received. Stanley's ar-
rival in Africa had changed Emin Pasha's position
greatly. Emin himself had no intention of leaving
his province and being relieved. When the news of
Stanley reached Emin's soldiers, an uprising took
place, and tlie pasha was made a prisoner by his own
men, who did not wish to leave Equatoria, or to be
left without their chief. Finally, Emin consented
to follow Stanley. On Dec. 4, 1889, he arrived at
Bagamoyo and was received with great lienor, but
had the misfortune to meet with an accident which
changed his plans entirely. In March, 1890, he en-
tered the German service to conduct an exploring
expedition to the Victoria Nyanza. The expedition
was not very successful. Emin Pasha disobeyed
instructions, and was therefore recalled by the Ger-
man governor Wissmann. Emin, liowever, pushed
onward, leaving German territory and marcliing
upon the territory of the Kongo Free State. He en-
tered his old province, but, turning southwest,
marched through the Kongo Free State toward the
Kongo. Again the news from Emin became scanty,
till in October, 1892, Arabs brought information to
the coast that the pasha had been assassinated.
Emin was an accomplished linguist, a scientific
explorer, and an able organizer and diplomat. He
added greatly to the knowledge then existing of
the ornithology, ethnography, and meteorology of
equatorial Africa.
Emin has left several well-kept diaries, and he
contributed to various journals and periodicals.
Bibliography : Georg Schweitzer, Briefe und WifiseriKChaft-
Udie A-ufzeichiiu7}gen Emin l'asha.\% Eng. ed., Mew York,
1898 (iJ. 313-314 gives a full bibliography) .
s. F. T. H.
EMISSARY. See Agency, Law of ; Attorney.
EMMANUEL, See Immanuel.
EMMAUS {'Efijuai'c, 'AnfiavQ, ''Efifiavfj.; probably
transcriptions of nOPl = " warm [springs] ") : Name of
three places in Palestine. 1. A town, or place,
memorable for the defeat of Gorgias by Judas Mac-
cabeus (I Mace. iii. 40), situated in southern Judea,
23 miles, or 176 stadia, from Jerusalem. Its inhab-
itants were sold as slaves by Cassius (Josephus,
"Ant."xiv. 11, §2; "B. J."i. 11, § 2) ; but, through
the exertions of Hyreanus, they were freed by Mar-
cus Antonius (" Ant. " xiv. 12, § 2). Afterward Em-
maus became a Jewish toparchy, the general of
which was John the Essene ("B. J." ii. 20, §4).
Burned {c. 4c.E.)by the Roman general Varus, it
was rebuilt about 220 by Julius Africanus, receiv-
ing the name of "Nicopolis." It is known at pres-
ent as "Amwas," south-southeast from Lydda.
Emmaus is frequently mentioned in the Talmud and
Midrash. The spelling varies— DINDN, DINOy, D''Oy,
DIXOy, and DIKON- It is stated (Eccl. R. vii. 7) that
after the death of R. Johanan b. Zakkai all his dis-
ciples remained at Jabneh, with the exception of
Eleazar b. 'Arak, who went to Emmaus because it
was a healthful place with fresh water. Certain Tal-
mudic doctors held discussions there (Mak. 13a;
Ker. 15a). Two noble families are mentioned at
Emmaus, whose daughters were married to priest*
('Ar. ii. 5).
2. A small place iu Galilee, between Tiberias and
Gadara, the Taimudic non, nnon, nnam |non,
and -nJT jnOPI, once written jnoy (Yer. 'Er. v. 22d ;
Tosef., 'Er. p. 146, 5; M. K. iii. 82; Sheb. ix. 38).
It is spoken of by Josephus ("Ant." xviii. 2, § 3) as
'Aixfia-&vq, and ("B. J." iv. 1, § 3) as being colonized
by Vespasian.
3. A village 1^ miles, or 60 stadia, from Jerusa-
lem ; mentioned by Luke (xxiv. 13) ; it has been identi-
fied byEusebius and Jeromewith Emmaus-Nicopolis.
Bibliography: Gratz, in MonatXfichrifU ii- 112, 113; Rapo-
port, 'Erek MiUi)i, pp. 110-118; Neubauer, G. T. pp. 100-102;
Schurer, Gettcli. 'M ed., i. 206, il. 170.
E. G. II. M. Sel.
EMMERICH FAMILY. See (n).MPEHZ.
EMPEDOCLES OF AGRIGENTUM : Greek
philosopher and disciple of Pythagoras; flourished
in the fifth century u.c.
Empedocles' system, modified by the Neoplatonic
school, entered into Arabic philosophy, and found
exponents among the Jewish philosophers of Spain
of the eleventh and twelfth centuries. A certain
Mohammed ben Aljdallah ibn ^Fasarrah, at the
Emperear
En Sof
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
164
beginning of the tenth century, brought from the
Orient to Spain divers works wrongly attributed to
Empedocles.
The most renowned representative of the pseudo-
Empedocles' system among Jewish philosophers was
Ibn Gabirol. Universal matter, embracing all sim-
l)le and composite substances, to which the immediate
action of the will of God was confined, forms the
basis of his " Mekor Hayyira " ; and Shem-Tob, its
Hebrew translator, expressly says that Gabirol ex-
]iounded therein the theories contained in Emped-
ocles' "On the Quintessence" (Munk, "Melanges
de Phiiosophie Juive et Arabe," p. 3). Moses ibn
Ezra, in his " 'Arugat ha-Bosem" ("Zion,"ii. 134),
cites the opinion of Empedocles to the effect that
attributes can not be ascribed to God. Judah ha-
Levi, in the "Cuzari" (iv. 358, v. 406), mentions
several times the school of Empedocles, which he
criticizes, as he does also those of the other philoso-
phers. Joseph ibn Zaddik ("'01am Katan," p. 52)
recommends the works of Empedocles on the primal
will; while Maimonides ("Pe'erha-Dor," p. 28b), as
a pure Aristotelian, advises Ibn Tibbon not to waste
his time on the works of Empedocles.
Many traces of Empedocles' teachings are found
in the Cabala. The divine principle of love, which
plays so great a part in his system, is emphasized in
the Zohar. "In love," says the Zohar, "is found
the secret of divine unit}- ; it is love that unites the
higher and lower stages, raising the lower to the
level of the higher, wiicre all must be one" (Zohar,
Wayakhel, ii. 216a; see Jew. Encyc. iii. 476, s.v.
Cabala).
Bibliography : Shahrastani, Kltah al-Milal, PP- 261 et seq.;
Munk, Melanqes de Phiiosophie Juive et Arahe, p. 241 ;
Steinschnelder, Hehr. Bihl. xiii. 16; Kaufmann, Die AUt^-
butenlehre in der JUdischen ReligU^ngphilosnphie des Mit-
telalters, pp. 125, 128, 309 ; idem, Studien Uber Salomn Ihn
Oabirol, 1899.
K. I. Bk.
EMPEREXm, CONST ANTIN L', OF OP-
PUCK : Professor of theology and Oriental lan-
guages; born at Bremen July, 1591 ; died at Leyden
July 1, 1648. His father, Antonius Coesar, driven
from his native country by religious persecution,
went to Holland. Constantin graduated in 1619,
and in the same year became professor of theology
and Oriental languages at the University of Hard-
erwijk, where he remained for eight years.
In 1627 he was called to the University of Leyden,
where a chair of Christian polemics had been estab-
lished under the title "controversarium Judaicarum
professor." In instituting this chair the university
had two aims in view: to defend the Christian
religion against the attacks of the Jews, and to con-
vert Jews to Christianity. Constantin discharged
his duties, which were rather those of a missionary
than of a professor, with much tact and moderation,
always avoiding aggressiveness.
Constantin published the following works: "Er-
penii Grammatica ('haldfcica, Syra et ^thiopica;
Talmudis Babylonici Codex IVIiddoth," Amsterdam,
1628; "Sjomari Lyra Davidis," Leyden, 1628;
"Tractatus Middoc, sive de Mesura Tcmpli," ih.
1630; "Abrabanelis et Aliorum Commentatio in
Jesaicum" (Hebrew and Latin), ib. 1631; "Moses
Kiinchi-Introductio ad Scientiam," etc., ih. 1631;
" Josephi JachiadfE Paraphrasis in Danielem," Am-
sterdam, 1633; "Itinerarium Benjaminis a Tudela"
(Hebrew and Latin), Leyden, 1633; "Clavis Tal-
mudica, Completens Formulas, Loca Dialectica et
Rhetorica Priscorum Judseorum, " ib. 1634 ; " De Legi-
busEbr8eorumForensibus,"z6. 1637; "Disputationes
Theologicae Hardervicense sive Systema Theologi-
cum," lb. 1648; "B. C. Bertramus, de Republica
Ebrseorum," ib. 1651.
Bibliography : Kuenen, Geschiedenis der Jnden in Neder-
!a?id, pp. 259,260; Siegenbeck, GescWedenis der Leidsche
Hoogeschnole, i. 136, 1.57, 166; Muller. Cat. van Porter, p. 78 ;
Paquet, iTixtoire Litteraire des Pays-Bos, iil. 411 et seq.;
Steinschneider, in Zeit. fUr Hehr. Bihl. ii. 149.
G. I. Br.
EMPLOYER AND EMPLOYEE. See Mas-
ter AND Servant.
EMRICH, SOLOMON BEN GTJMPEL:
Dayyan of Prague in the second half of the eight-
eenth century. He was the author of a work called
"Shishshah Zir'one 'Arugah," six discussions in re-
gard to ritual laws, one of them being with Ezekiel
Landau about the law of "halizah" (Prague, 1789).
The three initials of the title of this work, ]}"W,
are also the initials of the author's name, " Shelomoh
Zalman Emrich."
Bibliography: Benjacob, Ozar ha-Sefarim, p. 612; Filrst,
Bihl. J ltd. i. 245.
K. M. Sel.
EN KELOHENU (U^ni^NS px) : Ancient hymn,
familiar from its occurrence in immediate succession
to the Additional Service (Musaf) at festivals, and
in many liturgies On Sabbaths also. To the four
titles, "our God," "our Lord," "our King," "our
Savior," are successively prefixed, with the neces-
sary particles, words the initials of which spell out
the acrostic pK (" Amen "). Two succeeding verses
commence similarly with the words "Baruk"
(Blessed) and " Attah " (Thou), which are the begin-
ning of the formtila of every benediction (compare
Jewish Encyclopedia, iii. 10). To make up an
even number of verses there is added by the Sephar-
dim a Biblical reference to desolate Zion; by the
Ashkenazim, a reference to the incense, which is the
subject of the Talmudical reading following the
hymn.
A parallel to the "En Kelohenu" is found in the
"Sefer Hekalot," whence it was probably taken
(compare Jellinek, "Bet ha-Midrash," Ii. 74 and iii.
86). It seems that originally the hymn began with
"Mi Kelohenu," as found in Siddur R. Amram. It
had its present form, however, as e.arly as the time
of Rashi, who pointed out the existence of the acros-
tics "Amen," "Baruk," "Attah" ("Shibbole ha-
Leket," pp. la and 31a, also "Rokeah," § 319).
For the reasons alluded to in the ca.se of the hymn
Adon 'Olam, every composer of synagogal melody
has prepared settings of "En Kelohenu." Among
the Ashkenazim, however, it is often read silentlv
by the congregation. The Sephardim employ the
traditional melody (A) given on p. 155; as in the
case of others of their old tunes, it is utilized also
for the Hali,el.
"En Kelohenu" was often employed as a table-
liyiiiii (Zemiraii) to be sung before the grace after
meals on the Sabbath and festivals. A quaint ex-
ample of this usage is preserved in "Der Jude "
155
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Empereur
En Sof
of the convert Gottfried Selig (1769). where (ii. 98)
it is given as "an instance of the Jewisii mode of
singing." Birnhanm concludes that tliis expression
can not be taken literally, since the melody as
EN SOF ("boundless"; "endless"): Cabalistic
term for the Deity prior to His self-manifestation in
tlie production of the world, probably derived from
Ibn Gabirol's term," the Endless One " (she-en lo tik-
EN KELOHENU (A)
m
Adagio.
i
En
None
ke
like
—I \^~
lo
onr
he
God,
nu,
en
None
ka
like
do
our
ne
Lord, .
nu,
¥=p:
It
i^i^t
S
en ke - mal - - ke
Nor\£ .... like oxtr King
nu.
en
ke -
mo -
sbi -
■ 'e -
nu.
is,
None
is
like
onr
Sa -
Vior
transcribed contains notes much too high for ac-
curate rendering in the average domestic circle. It
is here transposed to a more reasonable pitch. In
some Palestinian and other Oriental congregations
the hymn is similarly sung first in Hebrew and
afterward in Spanish.
lah). It was first used by Azriel hen Menahem,
who, sharing the Neoplatonic view that God can
have no desire, thought, word, or action, emphasized
by it the negation of any attribute. The Zohar ex-
plains the term "En Sof " as follows: "Before He
gave any shape to the world, before He produced
EN KELOHENU (B)
Moderaio.
:1=t
•-^-Tzy
:^2:
-*-^
-• iS-
-f-
r I ^*-^| mT ^—-\r
En ke - lo - he - nu, en ka - do - ne - -nu, en ke - mal - ke - nu,
be - nu! Es isl kein Ilerr als
ser Herr, en ka - do - ne - nu! Es
-\-
l^t-lt^
ist kein Ko - nig aU un - ser Ko - nig,
en
ke - mal - ke
nu! Es
D.o.
M—m--
-^s^
^i
ist kein Hel - fer als un
ser
Hel - fer, en ke - mo - shi
'e
nu!
Bibliography: Zunz, Literaturgesch. p. 14; Birnbauin, in
Der JihUsche Kant<n\ 1883, p. 342; Cohen, In j'owr. Folk.song
SocieUh 1900, 1., No. 2, p. 37 ; idem, in Israel, 1899, lii. 56; De
Sola and Aguilar, Ancient Melodies, Nos. 4t> and 46 bis ; Con-
jiolo. Libra dei Canti d'lsi-aele. No. l.W; Cohen and Davis,
Voice nf Prayer and Praise, No. 161 ; S. Scheehter, in
J. Q. R. iv. 253, note.
A. F. L. C.
EN-MISHPAT (tDS:rO py) : Another name for
Kadesh (Gen. xiv. 7, R. V.), probably Kadesh-
BARNEA, the place where Chedorlaomer with his
three companions slew the Amalekites and the
Amorites.
E. G. H. M. Sei..
any form, He was alone, without form and without
resemblance to anything else. Who then can com-
prehend how He was before the Creation ? Hence it
is forbidden to lend Him any form or similitude, or
even to call Him by His sacred name, or to indicate
Ilim by a single letter or a single point. . . . But
after He created the form of the Heavenly jNIan [DIX
nN^y]. He used him as a chariot [n3D~iO] wherein to
descend, and He wishes to be called after His form,
which is the sacred name ' Yhwh ' " (part ii., sec-
tion " Bo, " 42b). In other words, " En Sof " signifies
" the nameless being."
'Ena
Endingren
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
166
In another passage the Zohar reduces the term
to "En" (non-existent), because God so transcends
human understanding as to be practically non-
existent {ib. part iii. 288b). The three letters com-
posing tlie word "En " (px) indicate the first three
purely spiritual Sefirot (" Shoshan Sodot,"lb). Judah
Hayyat, in his commentary "INIinhat Yeliudah " on
tlie "Ma'areket Elahut," gives the following ex-
planation of the term " En Sof " : " Any name of God
which is found in the Bible can not be applied to the
Deity prior to His self-manifestation in the Creation,
because the letters of those names were produced
only after the emanation. . . . Moreover, a name
implies a limitation in its bearer; and this is im-
possible in connection with the ' En Sof. ' "
Bibliography: Franck, La Kabbale, p. 136, Paris, 1889:
Christian David Ginzburg, The ^ahbalah, p. 105, London,
1865; Joel, Die ReUawnspJiilnsophie des Sohar, passim,
Leipsic, 1849; Myer, Qahbalah, pp. 251 et seq., Philadelphia,
1888; Ehrenpreis, Die Entwickelung der Emanatimislehre
in der Kahbala des XIII. Jaltrhunderts, p. 26, Frankfort-
on-the-Maiu, 1895 ; Karppe, Etude sur les Ori^ines et la Na-
ture du Zohar, p. 344, Paris, 1901.
K. I. Br.
'ENA, RAB : Babylonian scholar of the third
amoraic generation (third century); contemporary
of Rab Judah b. Ezekiel. The two were known as
"sabe de Pumbedita " (elders of Pumbedita, Sanh.
17b; 'Er. IQh et seq.).
'Ena once pronounced at the house of the exilarch
a halakic discourse which greatly displeased his
younger contemporary Rabbah, and the latter de-
clared his statement to be astounding and himself to
deserve degradation by the removal of his " meturge-
man" (Hul. 84b; see Rashi ad loc).
Rab Nahman, however, had a better opinion of
'Ena's learning. Twice 'Ena opposed Nahman's
views (Pes. 88a; Meg. 14b); and both times Nah-
man, familiarly addressing him as "'Ena Saba"
(Old 'Ena) or, according to some versions, "'Anya
Saba" ( = " Poor Old Man"; a play on his name,
" 'Ena"), points out that 'Ena's views as well as his
own are right, their respective applications depend-
ing on circumstances. Both times he prefaces this
with the remark, " From me and from thee will the
tradition bear its name."
8. s. S. M.
ENCHANTMENT. See Divination.
ENCYCLOPEDIA : A work containing infor-
mation on all subjects, or exhaustive of one subject,
arranged in systematic, usually alphabetical, order.
Such works were not unknown in the Orient.
Among Greek and Syriac Christians they were based
upon homilies dealing with the six days of Creation.
Mohammedan writers developed in course of time a
large literature of both general and special encyclo-
pedias, the earliest of which .seems to be tlie " Mafa-
tih al-'Ulum" of Mohammed ibn Ahmad al-Khawa-
rizmi (975-997). The first Hebrew work of this kind
known to us is the mathematical encyclopedia of
Abraham bar Hiyyah of Barcelona (c. 1150); and it
is acknowledged that it was written upon Arabic
models. It was entitled " Yesode ha-Tebunah we-
Migdol ha-Emunah," and treated of arithmetic,
geometry, optics, astronomy, and music ; only frag-
ments of it are extant. A century later a more ex-
tensive encyclopedia was published by Gershon ben
Solomon Catalan of Aries, under the title "Sha'ar
lia-Shamayim " (Venice, 1547). It is divided into
three parts: (1) physics, meteorology, mineralogy,
natural history ; (2) astronomy ; (3) theology, or
metaphysics. Judah ben Solomon ha-Kohen ibn
npno (Toledo, 1247) wrote a similar work, but in
Arabic, which he translated into Hebrew ("Midrash
ha-Hokmah "). It treated of logic, physics, meta-
physics, mathematics, and the mystical sciences.
As in Mohammedan works, the first three divisions
closely followed Aristotle. The " Shebile Emunah "
of Me'ir ibn Aldabi (fourteenth century) went even
further, comprising more of Jewish theology and
practical ethics than other works of this class; but it
is largely a compilation, especially from the "Sha'ar
ha-Shamayim " of Gershon b. Solomon.
A Turkish scholar of the sixteenth century, Solo-
mon ben Jacob Almoli, undertook the publication
of an encyclopedia under the title " Me'assef le-Kol
ha-Mahanot," but nothing further than the plan
and prospectus appeared (Constantinople, 1530-32).
Jacob Zahalon, rabbi and physician at Ferrara in
the seventeenth century, produced an encyclopedia
under the title " Ozar ha-Hokmot." It was divided
into three volumes, of which only the third, entitled
"Ozar ha-Hayyim" (Venice, 1683), and treating of
medicine, has been preserved and published. A gen-
eral encj'clopedia was planned by Jair Hayyim
Bacharach {c. 1650), arranged according to subject-
matter. Only one volume, containing the index of
subjects, has come down to us. A work of the same
kind was published (Venice, 1707-08) by the physi-
cian Tobiah of Metz, under the title " Ma'aseh To-
biyyah." It also was divided into three parts, deal-
ing with : (1) metaphysics, theology, astronomy,
cosmography, elements; (2) medicine; (3) botany and
zoology. As was the case with their Arabic proto-
types, none of these works was arranged in alpha-
betical order.
The scarcity of secular encyclopedias is compen
sated by the abundance of those devoted to Tal-
mudic and Midrashic literature. To these belong
the " 'Aruk " of Nathan ben Jehiel of
Talmudic Rome (twelfth century), which is as
Ency- much a Talmudic encyclopedia as a
clopedias. lexicon. The various "Yalkutim,"
the " 'En Ya'akob " of Jacob Habib,
etc., are rather collections of Talmudic and Mid-
rashic lore. The first complete rabbinical encyclope-
dia was composed by Isaac Lampronti, rabbi at Fer-
rara (1679-1757). His "Pahad Yizhak " is arranged
in alphabetical order, and contains a large mass of
somewhat undigested material, covering the whole
ground of rabbinic literature down to the writer's
own day (12 vols., Venice, 1750-1813; the second
lialf was published by the Mekize Nirdamim Society
1864-88). Similar works, but of lesser imi)ortance,
covering certain departments only of Talmudic or
rabbinic literature, have been published at various
periods. Among these is the "Torah we- Hayyim"
of Hayyim Palagi (Salonica, 1846), dealing with the
ethical part of the Talmud ; the " Nifla'im Ma'aseka ''
of Abraham Shalom Hai ^"ijon (Leghorn, 1881),
embracing the iiaggadic portions of the Talmud;
the "Abl)i'ah Hidot," by the same author as the pre-
ceding (z'S.); the "Or 'Enayim" of Isaac Judah of
157
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
'Ena
Endin^en
Kamarna (KaniaiDa, 1882), an encyclopedia of the
Cabala; the "Kerub Mimshah " of Solomon Haz-
zan of Alexandria (Alexandria, 1895), on the hag-
gadic portions of the Talmud.
To the nineteenth century belong the first at-
tempts to produce an encyclopedia dealing with
Jewish life and literature. In 1840 an essay was
made in Russia which was voiced in Jost's "An-
nalen," and for which the editor promised to set
apart a separate column in his journal entitled "En-
cyclopadie der Tlieologischen Literarischen Ange-
legenheiten " ; but nothing further came of the at-
tempt ("Annalen," 18-40. pp. 161, 236,276, 378). In
1844 Steinschneider and Cassel planned a compre-
hensive work of this kind, and issued a " Plan der
Real-Encyclo-
padiedcs Juden-
thums Zuniichst
filr die Mitar-
beiter " ( Kroto-
schiu). Part of
this was an arti-
cle on abbrevia-
tions by Stein-
schneider("Heb.
Bibl." xxi. 103),
which was re-
published in the
"Archly filr
Stenogvaphie,"
1877, Nos. 466,
467, and in " Die
Neuzeit," Vien-
na, 1877 (comp.
Steinschneider's
" Brief e uber
eine Encyclopa-
die der Wissen-
schaft des Ju-
denthums," in
"Orient, Lit."
1843, pp. 465 et
seq.). Various ar-
ticles, originally
written for this
work, appeared
elsewhere ; that
on " Judensteuer," by SeHg(Paulus) Cassel, appeared
as "Juden" in Ersch and Gruber's "AUgemeine
Encyklopadie der Wissenschaft und
Modern Kunste" ("J. Q. R." ix. 233); "Ader-
Attempts. lass im Talmud, " by Alois Brecher, ap-
peared in " Prager Medicinische Wo-
chenschrift," 1876. March 22 and 29 ("Hebr. Bibl."
xviii. 94); Beer's "Abraham" was issued as a sepa-
rate book — "Das Leben Abrahams" (Leipsic, 1859;
see "Deutsche Lit. Zeitung," 1893, p. 1320). A
few years later S. L. Rapoport projected a He-
brew encyclopedia of Talmudic and rabbinic liter-
ature. One volume only appeared, covering the
letter "alef" (Prague, 1852), and entitled "Erech
Millin, Opus Encyclopedicum. Alphabetico Ordine
Dispositum, in Quo et Res et Voces ad Historiam,
Qeographiam, Archaeologiam, Dignitates, Sectas II-
lustresque Homines Spectantes, Quaj in Utroque
Talmude, Tosefta, Targumicis Midraschicisque Li-
Old Synagogue at Endlngen.
(From Ulrich, " SauimluDg Jiidiacher Geschlcbteo," 1768.)
bris Occurrunt, Necdum Satis Ex plicatae Sunt, Illus-
trantur."
Another encyclopedia in Hebrew, confined to sec-
ular science, and grouped according to subject-mat-
ter, was undertaken in 1844 by Julius Barasch, but
he did not get beyond the first volume, devoted to
philosophy. This was entitled " Ozar ha-Hokmot,
Liber Thesaurus Scientiaj in Lingua Hebraica Con-
tinens Fundamenta Omnium Scientiarum. Sectio
Philosophica " (Vienna, 1856). Ezekiel Lewy, rabbi
at Beuthen, followed Rapoport, but on a smaller
scale, and undertook the publication of an encyclo-
pedia, in Hebrew, of Halakah, Midrash, and Hag-
gadah ; but only the alef volume, under the title
"Bikkoret ha-Talmud," appeared (Vienna, 1863).
J. Hamburger,
rabbi of Meck-
lenburg-Strelitz,
was the first to
successfully
publish a Jewish
encyclopedia in
German, con-
fined, however,
to Biblical and
Talmudical sub-
jects: "Real-En-
cyclopadie f ii r
Bibel und Tal-
mud," in 2 vols.,
Leipsic, 1870-84,
the first dealing
with Biblical, the
second with Tal-
mudic, litera-
ture. From 1896
to 1901 the au-
thor added a
third volume,
containing six
supplementary
parts covering a
portion of the
literature, and
the most impor-
tant writers, of
the early INIiddle
" Real-Encyclopadie des Juden-
to the whole. Hamburger's
Ages. A new title,
thums," was given
work, despite its disjointed character and untrust
worthy citations, was a great step in advance, and is
praiseworthy as the work of one man.
A publishing firm in Warsaw, J. Goldman & Com-
pany, began in 1888 to publish "Ha-Eshkol," a com-
bined Jewish and secular encyclopedia in Hebrew ;
but it came to a standstill with the article DJ'mN-
Encyclopedias were also projected by the Central
Conference of American Rabbis (see " Year-Book of
Cen. Conf." 1898, p. 38; 1899, pp. 80, 97; 1900, p. 86)
and by Ahad ha-'Am in Russia, to which latter the
Maecenas Wisotzki of Moscow promised to contrib-
ute 20,000 rubles. For the history of the present
Jewish Encyclopedia see preface to volume I.
I. Br.— G.
ENDINGEN : Town of Baden, near Freiburg,
famous in Jewish history through the blood accusa-
Endingran-Leng'nau
Enemy
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
158
tion of 1470. In that year three Jews were burned
at the stake upon a charge of having murdered
eight years previously a Christian family of four
persons. The accused, subjected to torture, ac-
knowledged the crime. The bones of their sup-
posed victims are still preserved in the Church of
Saint Peter, and are believed to work miracles. In
consequence of this event Jews were banished from
Endingen; and it was not till the time of Emperor
Joseph II. that the decree of banishment was an-
nulled (1785).
A writer of the period made the incident the sub-
ject of a drama, which was represented for the first
time at Endingen April 24, 1616. Karl von Amira
recently published this drama with the records of
the trial under the title " Das Endinger Judenspiel. "
The editor in his preface proves the weakness of the
case for the prosecution.
Bibliography : Urhundenbuch der Stadt Freiburg, No. 699 ;
Karl von AmIra, Das Endinger Judenspiel, In the collection
Neudrucke Deutscher Litter aturwerke, Halle-on-the-Saale,
1883; Zeitschrift fUr die Oesch. dsr Judenin Deutschland,
li. 358; Bev. Etudes Juives, xvl. 236; Fellchenfeld, Josel
Roaheim, p. 5, Strasburg, 1898.
D. I. Br.
ENDINGEN-LENGNATT. See Aargau.
ENDLER, SAMUEL BENZIOX : Talmudist ;
lived at Prague (?) in the eighteenth and nineteenth
centuries. He was the author of " Emunat Yisrael, "
treating of morals and dogmas as dealt with by
Maimonides, Judah ha-Levi, Nahmanides, and others
(Prague, 1832).
Bibliography: Benjacob, 0?ar ha-Sefarim, p, 41, No. 773;
Fiirst, Bibl. Jud. i. 109.
K. M. Sel.
ENDOGAMY. See Marriage.
EXDOB ("spring of Dor"): Town in the terri-
tory of Issachar, allotted to Manasseh (Josh. xvii.
11). It is identified with the modern Endur, on
the northern decline of little Mt. Hermon (Nabi
Dahi), a hamlet now abandoned, but which had in
Roman days a large population. Cheyne, follow-
ing Graetz, reads " 'En Harod " (see Judges vii. 1 ;
Budde, "Richter und Samuel," p. 112).
According to the Hebrew text, the author of Ps.
Ixxxiii. considers Endor to have formed part of the
plain of Kishon and, as such, of the battle-field of
Megiddo. In I Sam. xxix. 1 the Septuagint (Manu-
script A) reads 'Aevdup, which is "Endor," not, as
Cheyne and Klostermann propose, " 'En Harod. " If
the second half of I Sam. xxix. 1 is not to be con-
sidered as a later addition (Budde, "Die Blicher
Samuel" [1902], inMarti's " Kurzer Hand-Commen-
tar zum Alten Testament "), Endor was the place of
Saul's encampment, as well as the residence of the
witch whom he consulted before the battle of Gilboa
(I Sam. xxviii. 7).
E. G. H.— E. I. N.
ENDOB, THE WITCH OF.— Biblical Data :
A necromancer consulted by Saul in his extremity
when forsaken by Yhwh, and whose ordinary oracles
(dreams, urim, and prophets) had failed him. The
story is found in I Sam. xxviii. 4-25. After Sam-
uel's death and burial with due mourning ceremo-
nies in Ramah, Saul had driven all necromancers and
adepts at witchcraft from the land. But" the Philis-
tines gathered their forces and encamped in Shunem,
and to meet them Saul mustered his army on Gilboa.
The Israelitish king, terrified at the sight of the
enemy's numbers, inquired of Yhwh, but received
no answer. In this strait the monarch inquires for
a woman 31K npy2, "who possesses a talisman"
(Smith, "Samuel," p. 240) wherewith to invoke the
dead, and is informed that one is staying at Endor.
Disguised, Saul repairs to the woman's lodgings at
night and bids her summon for him the one whom he
will name. The witch suspects a snare, and refuse?
to comply in view of the fate meted out to her class
by royal command. Assured, however, of immu-
nity, she summons Samuel at Saul's request. At
the sight of Samuel she cries out with a loud voice,
and charges the king, whom she immediately recog-
nizes, with having deceived her. Saul allays her
fears and makes her tell him what she has seen. She
saw " a god [" elohim "] coming up out of the earth " ;
"an old man . . . wrapped in a cloak." Before
the spirit (unseen) Saul prostrates
Apparition himself. Samuel complains at being
of Bamuel. disturbed, but Saul pleads the extrem-
ity of his danger and his abandonment
by Yhwh. Samuel, however, refuses to give any
counsel, but announces the impending downfall of
the king and his dynasty. Saul faints, partly from
physical exhaustion due to lack of food. The witch
attempts to comfort him, and invites him to partake
of her hospitality. Saul at first refuses, but is
finally prevailed upon by the combined entreaties
of the woman and his servants. He eats and de-
parts to his fate.
In Rabbinical Literature : While in the Bib-
lical account the woman remains anonymous, the
rabbinical Midrash maintains that she was Zepha-
niah, the mother of Abner (Yalk:., Sam. 140, from
Pirke R. El.). That a supernatural appearance is
here described is inferred from the repeated emphasis
laid on the statement that Samuel had died and had
been buried (I Sam. xxv. 1, xxviii. 3), by which the
assumption that Samuel was still living when sum-
moned, is discredited (Tosef., Sotah, xi. 5). Still
he was invoked (Juring the first twelve months after
his death, when, according to the Rabbis, the spirit
still hovers near the body (Shab. 152b). In connec-
tion with the incidents of the story the Rabbis have
developed the theory that the necromancer sees the
spirit but is unable to hear his speech, while the
person at whose instance the spirit is called hears
the voice but fails to see ; bystanders neither hear
nor see (Yalk., I.e. ; Redak and RaLBaG's commen-
taries). The outcry of the woman at the sight of
Samuel was due to his rising in an unusual way —
upright, not, as she expected, in a horizontal posi-
tion (comp. LXX. bp-&iov in verse 14).
Critical View : The story throws light on the
prevailing beliefs of primitive Israel concerning the
possibility of summoning the dead and consulting
them. Discussions concerning the historical veirac-
ity of this report, and attempts to reconcile its con-
tents with natural laws by assuming that the woman
palmed off some fraud on the excited king exhausted
by previous fasting, miss the point of the Biblical
account. The scene is really a satire on King Saul,
159
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Bnding'en-Lieiig'uau
Enemy
and the summoning of the dead is introduced only
incidentally. He, the destroyer of the necromancers,
forsaken by Yhwh, himself repairs to a witch's
house, but has only his pains for his trouble. Sam-
uel refuses to help, and reiterates what Saul's fears
had anticipated (Gruneisen, "Der Ahnenkultus und
die Urreligion Israels," pp. 152-154, Halle, 1900).
31K used to be interpreted as meaning the ghost
with which the witch was possessed, but this does
not appear to be the ancient conception.
Bibliography : Commentaries on Samuel by Smith, Kloster-
mann. Theuius, and others ; Stade. Gesch. des Volkes Ixrael,
1. 425, 504; K6nig, Offenbarungshegriff des Alten Testa-
ments, 1882, 11. 150; Wellhausen, Reste Arabischen Heiden-
thums, in his Skizzen und Vorarbeiten, ill. 126, 135 et seq.;
Schwally, Lkis Leben nach dem Tode, passim.
E. G. H.
ENEMY, TREATMENT OF AN : Hatred of
an enemy is a natural impulse of primitive peoples;
willingness to forgive an enemy is a mark of ad-
vanced moral development. Jewish teaching, in
Bible, Talmud, and other writings, gradually edu-
cates the people toward the latter stage. Where there
are indications in the Bible of a spirit of hatred and
vengeance toward the enemy (Ex. xxiii. 22; Lev.
xxvi. 7, 8; Deut. vi. 19, xx. 14, xxxi. 4; Josh. x.
13; Judges v. 31; I Sam. xiv. 24; Esth. viii. 13; ix.
1, 5, 16), they are for the most part purely national-
istic expressions — hatred of the national enemy
being quite compatible with an otherwise kindly
spirit.
In the earliest collection of laws, the so-called
Book of the Covenant, the command is given: "If
thou meet thine enemy's ox or his ass going astray,
thou shalt surely bring it back to him again. If
thou see the ass of him that hateth
Biblical thee lying under his burden, and thou
Commands wouldest forbear to help him, thou
and shalt surely help with him " (Ex. xxiii.
Precepts. 4, 5). The holiness chapter of Leviti-
cus contains the command: "Thou
shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart " (Lev. xix.
17). The teaching of the Book of Proverbs is : " Re-
joice not when thine enemy falleth and let not thy
heart be glad when he stumbleth " (xxiv. 17). This
injunction is repeated as the familiar utterance of
Samuel ha-Katon (Abot iv. 26). Again, the Book
of Proverbs says: "If thine enemy be hungry give
him bread to eat, and if he be thirsty give him
water to drink. For thus shalt thou heap coals of
fire upon his head, and the Lord shall reward thee "
(xxv. 21, 22). The prevailing opinion that the Jew-
ish Bible commands hatred of the enemy rests upon
the strangely misunderstood statement in the Ser-
mon on the Mount: "Ye have heard that it hath
been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate
thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your ene-
mies and pray for them that persecute you " (Matt.
V. 43, 44; see Jew. Encyc. iii. 398, s.v. Brotherly
Love).
Joseph's treatment of his brothers is exemplary :
" Fear not, for am I in the place of God ? and as for
you, ye meant evil against me ; but God meant it
for good. . . . Now therefore fear ye not ; I will
nourish you and your little ones ; and he comforted
them and spake kindly unto them" (Gen. 1. 19-21).
Similarly Iiloses prayed for the recovery of Miriam,
who had spoken rebelliously against him (Num.
xii. 13). Solomon is praised because, among other
things, he did not ask for the life of his enemies (I
Kings iii. 11; II Chron. i. 11). I Kings xx. 31 is
further evidence that a loftier ethical spirit prevailed
in Israel than among the surrounding nations; the
servants of the defeated King of Syria urged him to
throw himself upon the mercy of his triumphant
foe, the King of Israel, for " we have heard that the
kings of the house of Israel are merciful kings."
As a final instance from the Bible the words of Job
(xxxi. 29-30, R. V.) may be quoted: "If I rejoiced
at the destruction of him that hated me. Or lifted up
myself when evil found him; (Yea, I suffered not
my mouth to sin By asking his life with a curse)."
The author of Ecclesiasticus counsels: "Forgive
thy neighbor the hurt he hath done thee; and then
thy sins shall be pardoned when thou
In Apoe- prayest" (xxviii. 2). Talmudical and
rypha, Midrashic literature contains many fine
Talmud, teachings on this subject. MarZuJra
and prayed every evening upon retiring:
Midrash. " O my God, forgive all such as have
wronged me" (Meg. 28a; B. B. 15b).
"Be ever flexible as a reed [kindly toward all], never
as inflexible as a cedar [unforgiving toward such as
have harmed thee]" (Ta'an. 20b). "Even as God
forgives transgressions without harboring revenge,
so be it also with thee, harbor no hatred in thy heart "
(Yalk. Lev. 613). " Why is the ' Hallel ' [the psalms
of praise] recited only on the first day of Passover
and not on every day during the Passover week, as
it is recited every day during the week of the Feast
of Tabernacles? Because the Egyptians were sunk
in the sea, and I have caused it to be written — ' Re-
joice not when thine enemy falleth ' " (Yalk. Prov..
960). In a similar passage the angels are rebuked by
God for singing at the time of the catastrophe that
overtook the Egyptians: "The work of My hands
sinks into the sea, and you would sing before Mc? "
(Sanh. 39b). Again, " If a man finds both a friend
and an enemy requiring assistance he should assist
his enemy first in order to subdue his evil inclina-
tion " (B. M. 32b). In the Abot de-Rabbi Natan (23)
is found this passage: "Who is strong? He who
converts an enemy into a friend." Talmudical teach-
ers held that David's action in cutting off the skirt of
Saul's robe, in order to present it as an evidence of
magnanimity and as a reproach to Saul, was blame-
worthy, and robbed an otherwise noble deed of its
fine flavor (Ber. 62b).
Nor does Judaism, as is often claimed, inculcate
unfriendly sentiments toward non-Jews. Rabbi
Joshua taught: "An evil eye, the evil
Toward nature, and hatred of men put one out
Non-Jews, of the world" (Ab. ii. 15). "It is a
law of peace to support the i oor of all
peoples as well as the poor of Israel, to assist tiieir
sick, to bury their dead" (Git. 61a). "God judges
the nations by their righteous members " ('Ab. Zarah
3a). Of similar import are Joshua ben Hananiah's
words : " The pious ones of the nations of the world
have a share in the future life." "What is the sig-
nificance of the thirty coins (xi. 12) in the vi.sion of
the prophet Zechariah ? " Rabbi Judah answered :
"They indicate the thirty righteous men who are
Enemy
Eug-land
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
160
always to be found among the heathen, and whose
merits save their peoples " (Hul. 92a). Samuel says:
" It is forbidden to deceive any one, even a heathen "
{ib. 94a). " Cultivate peace with thy brethren, thy
neighbors, with all men, even the heathen" (Ber.
17a). Medieval teachers urged similar maxims.
" Deceive none, either Jew or non-Jew," wrote Rabbi
Lipman Muhlhausen in the fifteenth century (comp.
Gilderaann, " Geschichte des Erziehungswesens der
Juden in Deutschland," p. 243), and the " Sefer Hasi-
dim " enjoins: "Deceive no one intentionally, not
even the non-Jew ; quarrel with none, no matter
what his belief" (comp. Zunz, " Z. G." p. 135).
Bahya ibn Pakuda, in his "Hobot ha-Lebabot,"
mentions dislike of all that is hateful, as the third
you may prevent him, but you must not injure him
beyond the point of making him powerless to harm
you. If an opportunity offer of serving him thank
God for the chance, and though he has done you the
most fearful wrongs, forget the injuries you have
sustained at his hands. Make yourselves wings like
eagles to succor him, and refrain from reminding
him by a word of his former conduct" ("J. Q. R."
iii. 474). Joel Shamariah wrote in his last will and
testament: "If any one did aught to injure me, yet
I loved him in my heart. If I felt inclined to hate
him, I at once began to utter praises, so that grad-
ually I brought my heart to genuine love of the man
who had wronged me " ( ib.)
K. D. P.
»i?i>S-Si^S^^_-<
Mount Engedi i.n Judka.
(From a photograph by Bonfils.)
of the ten requirements of an exemplary life, and
quotes Shabbat 88b in support of his statement:
"Such as suffer ill but do it not, answer not insults,
and are actuated in their conduct by love only, are re-
ferred to in the Scriptural passage: ' They wiio love
Him are as the sun when he goeth forth in his might. ' "
Rabbi Israel Lipschlitz of Danzig bade his heirs:
" Do good to all men, evil to none; do good even to
the nonJew in the street, even to an
Modern enemy who has pursued j'ou with re-
Teachings, lentless hate. If you have an oppor-
tunity for revenge, do not avail your-
selves of it, but load your adversary with favors.
Never refuse a favor to any person, be he non-Jew
or even an enemy. If j'our foe is seeking your hurt
ENFRANCHISEMENT. See Slaves.
ENGADDI. See Engedi.
ENGAGEMENTS. See Betrothal.
ENGEDI (nj py) : A town in the wilderness of
Judah (Josh. xv. 62), on the western shore of the
Dead Sea (Ezek. xlvii. 10). It was the hiding-
place of David when he fled from Saul (I Sam.
xxiv. 1, 2). Engedi was celebrated for its vine-
yards (Cant. i. 14), for its balsam (Shab. 26a;
Josephus, "Ant." ix. 1, § 2), and for its palms
(Pliny, "Historia Naturalis," v. 17; see also Shab.
26a), whence it was called also " Hazazon-tamar "
(the priming of the palm-tree; II Chron. xx. 2).
According to Josephus ("B. J." iii. 3, § 5), Engedi
161
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Enemy
Engrland
was the center of a toparchy under the Romans ;
it was the chief seat of the Essenes, and in the fourth
century it was still a large village (Eusebius, " Ono-
masticon," s.v.). It is identified with the modern
'Ain Jidi (see Robinson, "Biblical Researches," ii.
209, 211, 214).
E. G. H. M. SeL.
ENGEL, GABOR (GABRIEL): Hungarian
physician and surgeon; born at Maros-Vasarhely,
Hungary, in 1852. After studying at Budapest and
Leipsic, he was appointed assistant surgeon at the
university hospital of Klausenburg (1880), privat-
docent in obstetrics (1881), director of the Landes-
spital (1887), and assistant professor at the univer-
sity at Klausenburg (1893). He has contributed es-
says to the " Centralblatt f (ir Gynakologie," the " Ar-
chiv fur Gynakologie," the "Wiener Medicinische
i*resse," and the Hungarian medical journals.
Bibliography
s.
Pallas Lexicon.
L. V.
ENGEL, JOSEPH : Hungarian sculptor ; born
1815; died in Budapest June 29, 1903. His father,
a poor merchant, destined him for the rabbinate, and
had him educated accordingly at the yeshibah of
Presburg. But he soon deserted his Talmudic
studies and went to Vienna, where he apprenticed
himself to a wood-carver. The latter was soon con-
vinced that the boy had great talent for wood- and
bone-carving, and he helped him to enter the Acad-
emy of Art, where he remained till 1838. While a
student he won two prizes. After having worked
for some time in Munich and Paris, Engel went to
London, where, from a simple stone-carver, he be-
came a distinguished sculptor. His busts of Queen
Victoria and Prince Consort Albert drew the at-
tention of the Austrian ambassador at the court of
St. James, Prince Paul Esterhazy, to the talented
young Hungarian; and through the prince's inter-
vention Engel entered the Academy of Sculpture,
where he passed several years and won many prizes.
His first work of importance was a group of statu-
ary, "Amazons Fighting," which was bought by
Prince Albert for £600. This group is now in the
royal residence, Osborne House, Isle of Wight.
In 1847 Engel went to Rome, where he worked
for fully twenty years. This was the most fruitful
and successful epoch of his activity, the sculptures
in the Vatican Museum exerting a great influence
upon his studies. During the first part of his
stay in Rome he modeled the " Captive Cupid "
and "Innocence, "-besides a great many other mytho-
logical and ideal figures distinguished by grace of
form and masterly execution. In 1897 he exhibited
in Manchester the "Parsee," executed for his core-
ligionist Sir David Salomon, lord mayor of London.
His "Eve Awakening to Life" won the great gold
medal at the Vienna Exhibition of 1873. While in
Rome he also finished the statue of the Austrian
general Count Franz Nadasdy, which is now in the
arsenal of Vienna. His atelier was one of the artis-
tic centers of the Italian capital, and was visited by
the King and Queen of Prussia, the Czarina of Rus-
sia, the then Prince of Wales, King Louis of Bava-
ria, and many other royalties whenever they came
to the Eternal City.
v.— 11
After a sojourn of nearly thirty years abroad
Engel returned in 1866 to his native country, and
was then entrusted with the execution of the famous
Szechenyi monument, which was unveiled in 1880.
Bibliography: Reich, Beth^El; B\och' s Oesterreichische Wo-
chenschrift, 1901, No. 23.
S.
ENGELBERT, HERMANN : German rabbi;
born in Gudensberg, Hessen, July 29, 1830; died at
St. Gall, Switzerland, Feb. 5, 1900. He attended the
Talmudic school in Wiirzburg and the University of
Berlin, and obtained his Ph.D. degree in Marburg.
He was appointed preacher to the congregation of
Elberfeld, and three years later to the congregation
of Munich. In 1866 he became rabbi to the newly
organized community in St. Gall, where he remained
until his death.
He wrote : " Das Negative Verdienst des Alten Tes-
taments um die Unsterblichkeitslehre" (Berlin, 1857) ;
"1st das Schlachten der Thiere nach Judischem
Ritus Wirklich Thierqualerei? " (reprinted from
the "St. Gallen Tageblatt," 1867); "Das Schachten
und die Bouterole : Denkschrift an den Grossen Rath
des Kantons St. Gallen" (St. Gall, 1876); "Statistik
des Judenthums iin Deutschen Reiche, Ausschliess-
lich Preussens, und in der Schweiz " (Frankfort-on-
the-Main, 1875).
Bibliography: Allg. Zeit. des Jud. Ixiv., No. 7.
s. M. K.
ENGLAND : The southern portion of the island
of Great Britain. Owing to the dominance of the
capital city in England, most of the episodes of Jew-
ish history connected with that country occurred at
London, and are narrated under that heading. In
the present article the more specifically historic
events, those affecting the relations of the Jews to
the state, will be treated, though events that affected
public opinion have also been included as influen-
cing those relations. The subject may be treated in
three periods : (a) pre-expulsion, (b) intermediate, (c)
resettlement.
Pre-Expulsiou Period : There is no evidence
of Jews residing in England before the Norman
Conquest. The few references in the Anglo-Saxon
Church laws either relate to Jewish practises about
Easter or apply to passing visitors.
The Jews the Gallo-Jewish slave-traders, who
Came imported English slaves to the Roman
in with the market and thus brought about the
Normans. Christianizing of England. William
of Malmesbury (" Gesta Rerum Anglo-
rum," ed. Duffy, p. 500) distinctly states that Will-
iam the Conqueror brought the Jews from Rouen
to England, and there is no reason to doubt his state-
ment. The Conqueror's object can easily be
guessed. From Domesday it is clear that his policy
was to get the feudal dues paid to the royal treas-
ury in coin rather than in kind, and for this purpose
it was necessary to have a body of men scattered
through the country that would supply quantities
of coin.
At first the status of the Jew was not strictly de-
termined. An attempt was made to introduce the
Continental principle that he and all that was his
were the king's property, and a clause to that effect
was inserted under Henry I. in some manuscripts of
Engrland
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
162
the so-called " Laws of Edward the Confessor " ; but
Henry granted a charter to Rabbi Joseph, the clnef
Jew of London, and all his followers, under which
they were permitted to move about the country with-
out paying tolls or customs, to buy whatever was
brought to them, to sell their pledges after holding
them a year and a day, to be tried by their peers,
and to be sworn on the Pentateuch. Special weight
was attributed to the Jew's oath, which was valid
against that of twelve Christians. The sixth clause
of the charter was specially important: it granted
to the Jews the right of moving whithersoever they
would, together with their chattels, as if these were
the king's own property (" sicut res propriae nostrse").
Whatever advantage accrued to the king or to the
Jews from their intimate relations was disturbed by
the complete disorganization of the state under
Stephen, who burned down the house of a Jew in
Oxford (some accounts say with a Jew in it) because
he refused to pay a contribution to the king's ex-
penses. The Jews were equally mulcted by Em-
press Maud and by King Stephen. It was during
the reign of the latter that the first recorded blood
accusation against the Jews of any country was
brought in the case of William of Norwich (1144).
This was followed later in the century by similar
charges brought in connection with the boys Harold
(at Gloucester, 1168) and Robert (at Bury St. Ed-
munds, 1181). In none of these cases was any trial
held.
While the crusaders in Germany were trying
their swords upon the Jews, outbursts against the
latter in England were, according to the Jewish
chroniclei-s, prevented by King Stephen ("Hebrai-
sche Berichte," p. 64).
With the restoration of order under Henry II, and
the withdrawal of the lawless Flemings, the Jews
renewed their activity. Within five years of his
accession Jews are found at London, Oxford, Cam-
bridge, Norwich, Thetford, Bungay, Canterbury,
Winchester, Newport, Stafford, Windsor, and Read-
ing. Yet they were not permitted to bury their dead
elsewhere than in London, a restriction which was not
removed till 1177. Their spread throughout the coun-
try enabled the king to draw upon them as occasion
demanded ; he repaid them by demand notes on the
sheriffs of the counties, who accounted for payments
thus made in the half-yearly accounts on the pipe-
rolls (see Aaron op Lincoln). But the king was
soon to find that others could make use of the Jews
for political purposes. Strongbow's conquest of
Ireland (1170) was financed by Josce, a Jew of
Gloucester; and the king accordingly fined Josce
for having lent money to those under his displeasure.
As a rule, however, Henry II. does not appear to
have limited in any way the financial activity of the
Jews ; and the chroniclers of the time noticed with
some dismay the favor shown to these aliens in faith
and country, who amassed sufficient riches to build
themselves houses of stone, a material thitherto used
only for palaces, though doubtless adopted by the
Jews for purposes of security. The favorable posi-
tion of the English Jews was shown, among other
things, bj' the visit of Abraham ibn Ezra in 1158,
by that of Isaac of Chernigov in 1181, and by the
resort to England of the Jews who were exiled from
France by Philip Augustus in 1182, among them
probably being Judah Sir Leon of Paris.
Yet Henry II. was only biding his time in permit-
ting so much liberty to his Jewish subjects. As
early as 1168, when concluding an alliance with
Frederick Barbarossa, he had seized the chief repre-
sentatives of the Jews and sent them over into Nor-
mandy, while tallaging the rest 5,000 marks (Ger-
vase of Canterbury, ed. Stubbs, 1. 205). When,
however, he asked the rest of the country to pay a
tithe for the crusade against Saladin in 1186, he de-
manded a quarter of the Jewish chattels. The tithe
was reckoned at £70,000, the quarter at £60,000. In
other words, the value of the personal property of
the Jews was regarded as one-fourth that of the
whole country. It is improbable, however, that the
whole amount was paid at once, as for many years
after the imposition of the tallage arrears were de-
manded from the recalcitrant Jews.
The king had probably been led to make this
large demand upon the English Jewry by the surpri-
sing windfall which came to his treasury at the
death of Aaron of Lincoln. All property obtained
by usury, whether by Jew or by Christian, fell into
the king's hands on the death of the usurer; and
Aaron of Lincoln's estate included no less than
£15,000 of debts owed to him by members of the
baronage throughout the country. Besides this, a
large treasure came into the king's hands, which,
however, was lost on being sent over to Normandy.
A special branch of the treasury, constituted in order
to deal with this large account, was known as
"Aaron's Exchequer " (see Aaron of Lincoln).
Apart from these exactions and a prohibition
against the carrying of arms in the Assize of Arms
in 1181, the English Jews had little to complain of
in their treatment by Henry II., who was indeed
accused by the contemporary chroniclers of unduly
favoring those "enemies of Christ." They lived on
excellent terms with their neighbors, including the
clergy ; they entered churches freely, and took refuge
in the abbeys in times of commotion. There is even
a record of two Cistercian monks having been con-
verted to Judaism; and there is evidence that the
Jews freely criticized the more assailable sides of
Catholicism, the performing of miracles and the wor-
ship of images. Meanwhile they themselves lived
in ostentatious opulence in houses resembling palaces,
and helped to build a large number of the abbej's and
monasteries of the country. By the end of Henry's
reign they had incurred the ill will of the upper
classes, with whom they mostly came in contact.
The rise of the crusading spirit in the latter part of
the reign of Henry spread the disaffection through-
out the nation, as was shown with disastrous results
at the accession of his son Richard.
Richard I. had taken the cross before his corona-
tion (Sept. 3, 1189). A number of the principal
Jews of England presented themselves
Massacres to do homage at Westminster; but
at London there appears to have been a super-
and York, stition against Hebrews being admitted
to such a holy ceremony, and they
were repulsed during the banquet which followed the
coronation. The rumor spread from Westminster to
London that the king had ordered a massacre of the
163
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Engrland
Jews ; and a mob in Old Jewry, after vainly attack-
ing throughout the day the strong stone houses of
the Jews, set them on fire at night, killing those
within who attempted to escape. The king was en-
raged at this insult to his royal dignity, but took no
steps to punish the offenders, owing to their large
numbers. After his departure on the crusade, riots
with loss of life occurred at Lynn, where the Jews
attempted to attack a baptized coreligionist who
had taken refuge in a church. The seafaring popu-
lation rose against them, fired their houses, and put
them to the sword. So, too, at Stamford fair, on
March 7, 1190, many were slain, and on March 18
fifty-seven were slaughtered at Bury St. Edmunds.
tower, and the rage of the mob was kept alive by
the exhortation of a Premonstrant monk, who cele-
brated mass every morning in his white robe before
the walls of the tower till, by accident or design, he
was struck by a stone as he approached too near and
was crushed. The death of the monk enraged the
mob to the highest degree, and the imprisoned Jews
saw no hopes of escaping death by hunger except by
baptism. Their religious leader. Rabbi Yom-Tob of
Joigny, exhorted them to slay themselves rather than
adopt either alternative, and the president, Josce,
began the self-immolation by slaying his wife Anna
and his two children. Finally Josce was slain by
Yom-Tob himself. The few who had refused to
Isiiw Wtt-'T '«>« « "^^ ^"=^
""•iv* ■ ■ - Ik..
Btarr of Aaron of Lincoln, 1181, Acknowledging Rkckipt of Part Payment from Richard Malebys, afterward
THE Leader in the York Massacre, 1190.
(In the British Maseum.)
The Jews of Lincoln saved themselves only by
taking refuge in a castle.
Isolated attacks on Jews occurred also at Col-
chester, Thetford, and Ospringe, but the most stri-
king incident occurred at York on the night of
March 16-17, 1190. Alarmed by the preceding mas-
sacres and by the setting on fire of several of their
houses by the mob of crusaders preparing to follow
the king, the Jews of York with their leader Josce
asked the warden of the king's castle at York to re-
ceive them with their wives and children. When,
however, the warden attempted to reenter Clifford
Tower, which he had handed over to the Jews, tlie
latter refused to receive him ; and he called in the
aid of the sheriff of the county, John Marshall, to
recover the tower. The county militia and a num-
ber of York nobles, headed by Richard Malebys,
who was deeply in debt to the Jews, besieged the
follow their example appealed in vain for pity to
the Christians, who entered at daybreak and slew
them. Finding that the deeds proving the indebt-
edness of the rioters to the Jews were not in the
tower, the mob rushed to the cathedral, and there
took possession of them and burned them. The
chancellor Longchamp attempted to punish the of-
fenders, mainly some of the smaller barons indebted
to the Jews, but these had fled to Scotland. Rich-
ard Malebys was deprived of many of his fiefs, but
they were soon afterward restored to him. Most
of the nobles mentioned in the records were con-
nected with various abbeys, and were influenced by
religious prejudice as well as by the desire to
free themselves from their indebtedness to the
Jews (see York).
During Richard's absence in the Holy Land and
during his captivity the lot of the Jews was aggra-
England
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
164
vated by the exactions of William de Longchamp ;
and they were called upon to contribute toward
the king's ransom 5,000 marks, or
** Ordi- more than three times as much as the
nance of contribution of the city of London. On
the his return Richard determined to or-
Jewry." ganize the Jewry in order to insure that
he should no longer be defrauded, by
any such outbreaks as those that occurred after his
coronation, of his just dues as universal legatee of
the Jewry. He accordingly decided, in 1194, that
records should be kept by royal officials of all the
transactions of the Jews, which without such record
should not be legal. Every debt was to be entered
upon a chirograph, one part of which was to be kept
by the Jewish creditor, and the other preserved in a
chest to which only special officials should have ac-
cess. By this means the king could at any time
ascertain the property of any Jew in the land ; and
no destruction of the bond held by the Jew could
release the creditor from his indebtedness. This
" Ordinance of the Jewry " was practically the begin-
ning of the Exchequer op the Jews, which made
all the transactions of the English Jewry liable to
taxation by the King of England, who thus became
a sleeping partner in all the transactions of Jewish
usury. The king besides demanded two bezants in
the pound, that is, 10 per cent, of all sums recovered
by the Jews with the aid of his courts.
It may perhaps be appropriate at this point to
determine as accurately as possible the exact status
which Jews had acquired in England at the end of
the twelfth century. They could not be regarded as
aliens any more than could the Norman nobles with
whom they had originally come over ; besides, alien-
age could not become hereditary (Maitland and Pol-
lock, " History of English Law "). They were not
heretics, since their right to exist was recognized
by the Church. They were usurers for the most
part, and their property, like that of all usurers,
escheated to the king at their demise. But, on the
other hand, their usurious debts could be recovered
at law, whereas the Christian usurer could not re-
cover more than his original loan. They were in
direct relation to the king and his courts ; but this
did not imply any arbitrary power of the king to
tax them or to take their money without repay-
ment, as is frequently exemplified in the pipe-rolls.
The aids, reliefs, fines, and amercements demanded
from them were no other than those asked from the
rest of the king's subjects, though the amount con-
tributed by the Jews may have been larger. They
were the king's "men," it is true, but no more than
the barons of the time; and they had the special
privilege of the baronial rank, and could move from
place to place and settle anywhere without restric-
tion. It will be seen how this privilege was after-
ward taken away from them. Altogether, the status
of the English Jews, who partook of the nature of
baron, alien, heretic, and usurer, was peculiar; but,
on the whole, their lot was not an unfavorable one.
These conditions, however, were not destined to last
long. As early as 1198 Pope Innocent III. had writ-
ten to all Christian princes, including Richard of Eng-
land, calling upon them to compel the remission of
all usury demanded by Jews from Christians. This
would of course render their very existence impossi-
ble. On July 15, 1205, the pope laid down the princi-
ple that Jews were doomed to perpet-
XJnder ual ser vi t ude because they had crucified
John. Jesus. In England the secular power
soon followed the initiative of the
Church. John, who had his own reasons for disliking
Jews, having become indebted to them while a lad in
Ireland, at first treated them with a show of forbear-
ance. For the comparatively small charge of 4,000
marks, he confirmed the charter of Rabbi Josce and
his sons, and made it apply to all the Jews of England ;
and he wrote a sharp remonstrance to the mayor of
London against the attacks that were continually
being made upon the Jews of that city, alone of all
the cities of England. He reappointed one Jacob
archpriestof all the English Jews (July 12, 1199).
But with the loss of Normandy in 1205 a new
spirit seems to have come over the attitude of John
to his Jews. In the height of his triumph over the
pope, he demanded the sum of no less than £100,000
from the religious houses of England, and 66,000
marks from the Jews (1210). One of the latter,
Abraham of Bristol, who refused to pay his quota of
10,000 marks, had, by order of the king, seven of his
teeth extracted, one a day, till he was willing to dis-
gorge (Roger of Wendover, ii. 232; but see Ramsay,
"Angevin Empire," p. 426, London, 1903). It is
scarcely to be wondered at that in 1211 many of the
English rabbis willingly joined in the Zionistic pil-
grimage of Joseph ben Baruch, who, it is said, was
accompanied by more than 800 English and French
rabbis in his journey to the Holy Land. Yet, though
John squeezed as much as he could out of the Jews,
they were an important element on his side in the
triangular struggle between king, barons, and muni-
cipalities which makes up the constitutional history
of England during his reign and that of his son.
Even in the Great Charter clauses were inserted pre-
venting the king or his Jewish subjects from obtain-
ing interest during the minority of an heir.
With the accession of Henry III. (1216) the posi-
tion of the Jews became somewhat easier, but only
for a short time. Innocent III. had in the preceding
year caused the Lateran Council to pass the law
enforcing the Badge upon the Jews; and in 1218
Stephen Langton, Archbishop of Canterbury,
brought it into operation in England, the badge ta-
king the form of an oblong white patch of two finger-
lengths by four. At first the Jews thought of eva-
ding the restriction by leaving the land altogether,
and directions were given to the wardens of the
Cinque Ports to prevent any Jew from passing out
of the country without the king's permission. The
changed position of the Jews was strikingly indi-
cated in 1222, when a deacon at Oxford was burned
for having become a proselyte to Judaism and for
having married a Jewess; "whereas in the twelfth
century several instances of such proselytism had
occurred in England, and no punishment had fol-
lowed the " crime " (Maitland, " Canon Law in Eng-
land," pp. 158-179). The action of the Church was
followed by similar opposition on the part of the
English boroughs. Henry at his accession had
found it necessary to appoint committees of twenty-
four burgesses who should be responsible for the
165
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
England
safety of the Jews of Gloucester and Hereford, while
he claimed jurisdiction for his own sheriffs or con-
stables in any causes between Jews
Jews and and Christians. This was a great
Municipal- source of annoyance to the towns,
ities. which were beginning to escape feu-
dal dues and exactions of the king by
compoundingfor alump sum known as the "fcrniof
the borough" (" tirma burgi "). This exempted them
from the king's jurisdiction ; but an exception was
made in matters relating to the Jewry, on pretext
of which the king's officials again and again invaded
the boroughs. Petitions Avere accordingly sent to
the king in many instances to remove his Jews from
the boroughs, and they were expelled from Bury
St. Edmunds in 1190, Newcastle in 1234, Wycombe
in 1235, Southampton in 1236, Berkhamsted in 1242,
Newbury in 1244; and at last it was enacted in 1253
that Jews could freely reside in such towns only as
had an Archa for the preservation of the Jews'
deeds and Starrs, from which the king could as-
certain their capacity for further taxation. Hence-
forth they were restricted to some twenty-five towns
in England, and they became in truth the king's
chattels. Any attempt to evade the provisions of
this enactment was rigidly met by expulsion, as
from Winchelsea in 1273, from Bridgnorth in 1274,
and from Windsor in 1283. By these restrictions it
became impossible for any Jew by change of resi-
dence to evade payment of the tallage, which became
the chief means of extortion under Henry HI. after
the beneficent rule of Hubert de Burgh had been
succeeded by that of the king's favorites (see Tal-
lage).
But there was probably another reason for limiting
Jewish business with the towns, for it is likely that
the king derived but very little profit from the loans
of the Jews to the burgesses of the towns, for it was
with the smaller barons, including the superior
clergy, that the Jews transacted most of their busi-
ness. The smaller barons, indeed, found themselves
between the upper and the nether millstone in their
borrowings from the Jews; their indebtedness to
whom fell in the last resort into the hands of the king
either by escheat on the death of the creditor or by
collection made through the king's officials when-
ever the Jews were tallaged. But besides this, the
higher baronage imitated the crown in making use
of the Jews as catspaws to get the lands of their
less powerful brethren into their possession; ad-
vancing money to the Jew, sharing with him the
usury, and claiming the lands if the debt failed to
be paid. Complaint was made of this as early as
the Synod of Worcester in 1240 (Wilkin?, "Concilia,"
i. 675-676), and nearly twenty years later (1259) the
lesser barons petitioned the king to find some remedy
for this danger of getting into the clutches of the
higher nobility (Stubbs, "Select Charters," p. 365).
With the outbreak of the Barons' war
Je-ws and violent measures were adopted to re-
th.e move all traces of indebtedness either
Baronage, to the king or to the higher barons.
The Jewries of London, Canterbury,
Northampton, Winchester, Cambridge, Worcester,
and Lincoln were looted (1263-65), and tlie archae
either destroyed or deposited at the headquarters
of the barons at Ely. Simon de Montfort, in-
deed, who had at an early stage expelled the Jews
from his town of Leicester, when at the height of
his power after the battle of Lewes annulled all in-
debtedness to the Jews. He had been accused of
sharing the plunder, but issued edicts for their pro-
tection after the battle (Kingsford, " Song of Lewes,"
pp. 59, 80, Oxford, 1890). Both the Jewry and the
king as its representative must have suffered incal-
culably by this general wiping out of indebtedness.
The value of the Jewry to the royal treasury had
in fact become considerably lessened during the
thirteenth century through two circumstances: the
king's income from other sources had continually
increased through the century from about £35,000
under Henry II. to £65,000 under Edward I. ; and
the contributions of the Jews had decreased both
absolutely and relatively, the average from tallages,
etc., being about £3,000 per annum in the twelfth
century, and only £2,000 in the thirteenth. Besides
this, the king had found other sources from which to
obtain loans. Italian merchants, "pope's usurers"
as they were called, supplied him with money, at
times on the security of the Jewry. By the contrac-
tion of the area in which Jews were permitted to
exercise their money-lending activity their means of
profit were lessened, while the king by his continu-
ous exactions prevented the automatic growth of
interest. On two occasions, in 1254 and 1255, the Jews
appealed vigorously to him or to his representative
to be allowed to leave Ihe kingdom before the very
last penny had been forced from them. Henry's re-
fusal only served to emphasize their entire depend-
ence upon the royal will. By the middle of the
thirteenth century the Jews of England, like those
of the Continent, had become chattels of the king.
There appeared to be no limit to the exactions he
could impose upon them, though it was obviously
against his own interest to deprive them entirely of
capital, without which they could not gain for him
usurious interest.
Further prejudice had been raised against the Jews
just about this time by the revival of the charge of
ritual murder. The king had sold the Jewry to his
brother Richard of Cornwall in Feb., 1255, for 5,000
marks, and had lost all rights over it for a year.
But in the following August a number Of the chief
Jews who had assembled at Lincoln to celebrate the
marriage of a daughter of Berechiah de Nicole were
seized on a charge of having murdered a boy named
Hugh. Ninety-one were sent to London to the
Tower, eighteen were executed for refusal to plead,
and the rest were kept in prison till the expiry of
Richard's control over their property (see Hugh of
Lincoln).
As soon as order was restored after the death of
Simon de Montfort, Edward, in whose hands was
the ruling power, though he was only Prince of
Wales at the time, took measuies to remedy the
chief complaints which had led the nobles to the
outburst against the Jews. In 1269 Walter de Mer-
ton, the king's counselor, who was himself indebted
to the Jews, drew up a measure denying to the lat-
ter all right to landed property which might fall
into their hands as a result of their money-lending.
They were not to lend on the security of landed
England
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
166
property ; all existing bonds on real estate were de-
clared null and void ; and any attempt to sell such
bonds to Christians was made a capital offense.
But, though the barons could no longer alienate
their property as security for loans, they could still
sell to the Jews; and with this sale there might
fall into Jewish hands the feudal right of tutelage
and the ecclesiastical right to advowson, both of
which were indissolubly connected with the seizin
of land in fief. In 1271 the Jews as a desperate
measure attempted to force from the king's council
explicit permission to hold land with all its privi-
leges; but a Franciscan friar made a protest against
the "impious insolence "of the Jews in claiming
such rights, and, he being supported by the bishops
present as well as by Prince Edward, who presided,
the demands of the Jews were repudiated, and they
were furthermore precluded from enjoying freehold
in tenures of any kind. They were even forbidden
to increase their holdings in London, as this might
diminish the tithes of tl)e Church ("De Antiquis
Legibus Liber," pp. 234 et seq.). Deprived thus of
all security for large loan, the Jews were almost au-
tomatically prevented from obtaining new business ;
and indeed, as soon as the eiiactment of 1271 was
passed, Henry III., or Edward acting in his name,
sold the whole revenue of the Jewry to Richard of
Cornwall for as small a sum as 2,000 marks (Rymer,
•'Foedera,"i. 489).
Shortly after his coronation Edward I., in 1275, de-
termined to solve by a bold experiment the Jewish
question as it then existed in England. The Church
laws against usury had recently been reiterated with
more than usual vehemence at the
The Council of Lyons (1274), and Edward
♦' Statutum in the "Statutum de Judaismo " abso-
de lutely forbade Jews to lend on usury,
Judaismo," but granted them permission to en-
1275. gage in commerce and handicrafts, and
even to take farms for a period not
exceeding ten years, though he expressly excluded
them from all the feudal advantages of the possession
of land. This permission, however, regarded as a
means by which Jews in general could gain a liveli-
hood, was illusory. Farming can not be taken up at
a moment's notice, nor can handicrafts be acquired
at once. Moreover, in England in the thirteenth
century the gilds were already securing a monopoly
of all skilled labor, and in the majority of markets
only those could buy and sell who were members of
the Gild Merchant. By depriving the Jews of a
resort to usury, Edward was practically preventing
them from earning a living at all under the condi-
tions of life then existing in feudal England; and in
principle the "Statute of Judaism" expelled them
fifteen years before the final expulsion. Some of
the Jews attempted to evade the law by resorting
to the tricks of the Caursines, wlio lent sums and
extorted bonds that included both principal and in-
terest. Some resorted to highway robbery ; others
joined the Domus Conversorum (see below) ; while
a considerable number appear to have resorted to
clipping the coin as a means of securing a precari-
ous existence. As a consequence, in 1278 the whole
English Jewry was imprisoned; and no less than
293 Jews were executed at London.
Edward, having found it impossible altogether to
prevent usury on the part of the Jews, was forced
to permit it in a restricted form in a new statute,
probably dated about 1280, allowing the Jews to
receive interest on their loans for three years, or at
most four. Provisions were made that all loans thus
negotiated should be duly registered, so that the
king might have his fair share of the usury of the
Jewry ("Papers of the Anglo- Jew. Hist. Exh." pp.
219, 229), Loans arranged on these conditions could
not be very secure or very lucrative, and the re-
turns to the king in particular would be reduced to
their lowest terms by the restricted form in which
usury was now permitted. From any removal of
these restrictions Edward was shortly afterward de-
barred by an act of the Church.
Ever since the fourth Lateran Council the papacy
had become more and more embittered against the
Jews, owing to the increased attract-
The Church iveness of Jewish rites. As an imme-
and diate result of the council Stephen
English. Langton had excommunicated all
Jews. Christians having anything to do with
Jews, and the king showed sufficient
sympathy with the Church policy against the Jews to
found in 1232 the Domus Conveksorum for the main-
tenance of Jews converted to Christianity, though
not until 1280 did the king cease to claim the
whole of the property of a Jew who became con-
verted. John of Peckham, Archbishop of Canter-
bury, closed all the synagogues in his diocese in
1282, and Edward I. issued a writ instructing his
officials to assist the Dominicans by forcing the
Jews to listen to their conversion sermons. The
Jews had throughout been careless in showing their
contempt for certain aspects of Christianity. One
had seized the cross carried in front of a procession
at the University of Oxford in 1268, and in 1274 a
Jew was burned for blasphemy at Norwich. Ed-
ward had accordingly issued a proclamation declar-
ing any Jew found guilty of blasphemy to be liable
to the death penalty. At the end of 1286 Pope
Honorius I V. addressed a special rescript to the arch-
bishops of York and Canterbury, pointing out the
evil effects on the religious life of England of free
intercourse with the perfidious Jews, who studied
the Talmud and its abominations, enticed the faith-
ful to apostasy, caused their Christian servants to
work on Sundays and holidays, and generally
brought the Christian faith into disrepute. On this
account he called upon the English state and
Church to do their utmost to prevent such pernicious
intercourse. The Church immediately attempted to
carry out the pope's demands in a series of enact-
ments passed by the Sj^nod of Exeter in 1287, repeat-
ing the ordinary Church laws against commensal-
ity between Jews and Christians, and against Jews
holding public office, or having Christian servants,
or appearing in public at Easter; forbidding Jewish
physicians to practise; and reenacting the ordinance
of the Synod of Oxford held in 1222, which forbade
the building of new synagogues, and denied to Jews
entrance into churches.
After the experience in Jewish legislation which
Edward I. had from 1269 onward, there was only one
answer he could give as a true son of the Church to
167
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
England
these demands: If the Jews were not to have inter-
course with their fellow citizens as artisans, mer-
chants, or farmers, and were not to be allowed to take
usury, the only alternative was for them to leave the
country. He immediately expelled the Jews from
Gascony, a province still held by England and in
which he was traveling at the time ; and on his return
to England (July 18, 1290) he issued writs to the sher-
Witsand; others were drowned on their way to
France. Of the 16,000 who left, about one-tenth
went to Flanders, their passage being paid by the
king; and a number are found a short time later in
the Paris Jewry. The king's booty was not of great
amount, for the total rental of the houses which fell
into his hands was not more than £130, and the
debtsowed tothe Jews, of which he could collect only
5' Longitude West 4* from Gregnwtch 3
0* Longitude But 1*
b^nuAi 4 ca.^tf or-
Map of England Showing Towns Where Jews Resided Before the Expulsion in 1290.
(Capitals iDdicate towns where archsB were deposited ; italics, towns from which Jews were expelled before 1290.)
iffs of all the English counties ordering them to en-
force a decree to the effect that all Jews should leave
England before All Saints' Day of that
The year. They were allowed to carry their
Expulsion, portable property; but their houses
escheated to the king, except in the
case of a few favored persons who were allowed to
sell theirs before they left. Some of them were robbed
by the captains who undertook to transport them to
the principal, did not exceed £9,000. Parliament
was said to have voted one-tenth of the tithes and
one-fifteenth of the personal property in gratitude
for the expulsion, but this merely represents contem-
porary prejudice. Edward's act was not an act of
grace to the nation ; as has been seen, no alternative
was left to him. The Church would not allow the
Jews to become an integral part of the English na
tion, and they therefore had to leave the country.
£ngrland
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
168
During the two hundred and twenty years of
their stay the position of the Jews had steadily
grown worse. At first, treated with special favor
and allowed to amass considerable wealth, they had
formed a necessary part of the royal organization.
Two or three of them are mentioned as physicians,
and several monks are said to have been converted
to Judaism. They collected books and built them-
selves palatial residences ; but after the massacres
under Richard I. and the exactions of John they
gradually became serfs of the king — mere chat-
tels which he from time to time sold to the highest
bidder. Their relations to their neighbors, which
were at first friendly, became more and more embit-
tered, though occasionally they are found joining
with Christians in hunting (see Colchester).
The increasing degradation of their political status
is paralleled by the scantiness of their literary out-
put in the thirteenth century as compared with that
of the twelfth. In the earlier century they were
visited by such eminent authorities as
Literature. Abraham ibn Ezra, Judah Sir Leon,
YoM-ToB OP JoiGNY, and Jacob op
Orleans. A whole school of grammarians appears
to have existed among them, including Moses b.
Yom-Tob, Moses b. Isaac, and Samuel ha-Nakdan
of Bristol. Berechiah b. Natronai ha-Nakdan
produced in England his "Fox Fables," one of the
most remarkable literary productions of the Middle
Ages. In the thirteenth century, however, only a
few authorities, like Moses of London, Berechiah
DE Nicole, Aaron of Canterbury, and Elyas of
London, are known, together with J.\cob b. Judaii
op London, author of a work on the ritual, " 'Ez
Hayyim," and Meir of Norwich, a liturgical poet.
Throughout they were a branch of the French Jewry,
speaking French and writing French glosses, and al-
most up to the eve of the expulsion they wrote French
in ordinary correspondence ("R. E. J." xviii. 256).
As has been mentioned above, the Jews were
allowed to have their own jurisdiction, and there is
evidence of their having a bet din with three " epis-
copi," ordayyanim; furthermore, ref-
Organiza- erence is made to the parnas, or presi-
tion ; Chief dent, and gabbai, or treasurer, of the
Rabbis. congregation, and to scribes and chi-
rographers. A complete system of
education seems to have been in vogue, with local
schools in the provinces, and the high school in
London in Ironmonger Lane. In the latter the " sep-
arated" ("perushim ") were trained from the age of
sixteen to twenty-three to act as masters of the
Jewish law (Jacobs, "Jews of Angevin England,"
pp. 243-257, 342-344).
At the head of the whole Jewry was placed a chief
rabbi, known as "the presbyter of all tlie Jews of
England " ; he appears to have been selected by the
Jews themselves, who were granted a conge d'elire
by the king. Tlie latter claimed, however, the right
of confirmation, as in the case of bishops. The
Jewish presbyter was indeed in a measure a royal
official, holding the position of adviser, as regards
Jewish law, to the Exchequer of the Jews. For
the English legal system admitted the validity of
the Halakah in its proper sphere as much as it did
that of the canon law. Six presbyters are known
through the thirteenth century : Jacob of London,
reappointed 1200 ; Josce, 1207 ; Aaron of York, 1237 ;
Elyas of London, 1243 ; Hagin fil Cresse, 1257 ; and
Cresse fil Mosse.
Intermediate Period: Between the expulsion
of the Jews in 1290 and their formal return in 1655
there is no official trace of Jews as such on English
soil except in connection with the Domus Conver-
sorum, which kept a considerable number of them
within its precincts up to 1551 and even later.
An attempt was made to obtain a revocation of the
edict of expulsion as early as 1310, but in vain. Not-
withstanding, a certain number of them appear
to have come back; for complaints were made to
the king in 1376 that some of those trading as Lom-
bards were Jews ("Rot. Pari." ii. 332a). Occasion-
ally permits were given to individuals to visit Eng-
land, as in the case of Dr. Elyas Sabot in 1410; but
it was not until the expulsion of the Jews from
Spain that any considerable number of Hebrews
found refuge in England. One of these as early as
1493 attempted to recover no less a sum than 428,000
maravedis which the refugees from Spain had en-
trusted to Diego de Soria. In 1542 many were ar-
rested on the suspicion of being Jews, and through-
out the sixteenth century a number of persons named
Lopez, possibly all of the same family, took refuge
in England, the best known of them being Rodrigo
Lopez, physician to Queen Elizabeth, and who is
said to have been the original of Shylock. Besides
certain distinguished converts like Tremellius and
Philip Ferdinand, the most remarkable visitor was
Joachim Gaunse, who introduced new methods of
mining into England. Occasional visitors, like Al-
onzo de Herrera and Simon Palache in 1614, are
recorded.
Resettlement Period : Toward the middle of
the seventeenth century a considerable number of
Marano merchants settled in London and formed
there a secret congregation, at the head of which
was Antonio Fernandez Carvajal.
Maranos in They conducted a large business with
England, the Levant, East and West Indies,
Canary Islands, and Brazil, and above
all with the Netherlands, Spain, and Portugal.
They formed an important link in the network of
trade spread especially throughout the Spanish and
Portuguese world by the Maranos or secret Jews
(see Commerce). Their position enabled them to
give Cromwell and his secretary, Thurloe, impor-
tant information as to the plans both of Charles
Stuart in Holland and of the Spaniards in the New
World (see L. Wolf, "Cromwell's Secret Intelli-
gencers"). Outwardly they passed as Spaniards
and Catholics; but they held prayer-meetings at
Cree Church Lane, and became known to the gov-
ernment as Jews by faith.
Meanwhile public opinion in England had been
prepared by the Puritan movement for a sympa-
thetic treatment of any proposal by the Judaizing
sects among the extremists of the Parliamentary
party for the readmission of the Jews into Eng-
land. Petitions favoring readmission had been pre-
sented to the army as early as 1649 by two Baptists
of Amsterdam, Johanna Cartwright and her son
Ebenezer (" The Petition of the Jews for the Repeal-
169
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Slng^land
ing of the Act of Parliament for Their Banishment
out of England"); and suggestions looking to that
end were made by men of the type of Roger Williams,
Hugh Peters, and by Independents generally. Many
were moved in the same direction by mystical Mes-
sianic reasons ; and their views attracted the enthu-
siasm of Manasseh ben Israel, who in 1650 published
Lis" Hope of Israel, " in which he advocated the return
as a preliminary to the appearance of the Messiah.
The Messiah could not appear till Jews existed in
all the lands of the earth. According to Antonio de
Montesinos, the Ten Tribes had been discovered in
the North-American Indians, and England was the
only country from which Jews were excluded. If
England admitted them, the Messianic age might
be expected.
Meanwhile the commercial policy which led to
the Navigation Act in Oct., 1651, made Cromwell
desirous of attracting the rich Jews of Amsterdam to
London so that they might transfer their important
trade interests with the Spanish main from Holland
to England. The mission of St. John to Amster-
dam, which had previously proposed, as an alterna-
tive to the Navigation Act, a coalition between Eng-
lish and Dutch commercial interests, had negotiated
with Manasseh ben Israel and the Amsterdam com-
munity. A pass was granted to Manasseh, but he was
unable to use it on account of the war between Eng-
land and Holland, which lasted from
Manasseh 1652 to 1654. As soon as the war
ben Israel's ceased, Manasseh ben Israel sent his
Mission, brother - in - law, David Abravanel
DoRMiDO, to London to present to the
council a petition for the readmission of Jews. The
council, however, refused to act. Cromwell there-
fore induced Manasseh himself to come over to Lon-
don, which he did at the end of Sept., 1655, and
there printed his " humble address " to Cromwell.
As a consequence a national conference was sum-
moned at Whitehall in the early part of December,
including some of the most eminent lawyers, divines,
and merchants in the kingdom. The lawyers de-
clared there was nothing against the Jews' residing
in England, but both the divines and merchants
were opposed to readmission, and Cromwell stopped
the discussion in order to prevent an adverse deci-
sion (see Cromwell, Oliver).
Early in the following year (1656) the question
came to a practical issue through the declaration of
war against Spain, which resulted in the arrest of
Antonio Rodrigues Robles, and forced the Maranos
of London to avow their Judaism as a means of avoid -
ing arrest as Spaniards and the confiscation of their
goods. As a final result, Cromwell appears to have
given informal permission to the Jews to reside and
trade in England on condition that they did not ob-
trude their worship on public notice and that they
refrained from making proselytes. Under cover of
this permission Carvajal and Simon de Caceres pur-
chased a piece of land for a Jewish cemetery in
1657, and Solomon Dormido, a nephew of Manasseh
ben Israel, was admitted to the Royal Excliange as
a duly licensed broker of the city of London with-
out taking the usual oaths involving faith in Chris-
tianity. Carvajal had previously been allowed to
take out letters of denization for himself and son.
This somewhat surreptitious method of solving
the Jewish question in England had the advantsige
of not raising anti-Semitic feeling too strongly ; and
it likewise enabled Charles II., on his return, to
avoid taking any action on the petition of the mer-
chants of London asking him to revoke Cromwell's
concession. He had been assisted by several Jews
of royalist sympathies, as Mendes da Costa and Au-
gustine Coronel-Chacon, during his exile. In 1664
a further attempt was made by the Earl of Berk-
shire and Mr. Ricaut to bring about the expulsion
of the Jews, but the king in council assured the
latter of the continuance of former favor. Similar ap-
peals to prejudice were made in 1673, when Jews,
for meeting in Duke's Place for a religious service,
were indicted on a charge of rioting, and in 1685,
when thirty-seven were arrested on the Royal Ex-
change; but the proceedings in both cases were
put a stop to by direction of the Privy Council.
The status of the Jews was still very indeterminate.
In 1684, in a case connected with the East India
Company, it was contended that they were alien
infidels, and perpetual enemies to the British crown ;
and even the attorney-general declared that they
resided in England only under an implied license.
As a matter of fact, the majority of them were still
aliens and liable to all the disabilities which that
condition carried with it.
William III., though it is reported that he was
assisted in his descent upon England by a loan of
2,000,000 gulden from Antonio Lopez Suasso, after-
ward Baron Avernesde Gras, did not interfere when
in 1689 some of the chief Jewish merchants of Lon-
don were forced to pay the duty levied on the goods
of aliens ; though he refused a petition from Jamaica
to expel the Jews. His tenure of the throne, how-
ever, brought about a closer connection between the
London and the Amsterdam communities, and thus
aided in the transfer of the center of European
finance from the Dutch to the English capital.
Early in the eighteenth century the Jewish com-
munity of London comprised representatives of the
chief Jewish financiers of northern Europe, inclu-
ding the Mendcz da Costas, Abudientes, Salvadors,
Lopezes, Fonsecas, and Seixas. A small German
contingent had arrived and established a synagogue
in 1692; but they were of little consequence, and did
not figure in the relations between the Jewsand the
government. The utility of the larger Jewish mer-
chants was recognized. Marlborough in particular
made great use of the services of Sir Solomon de
Medina, and indeed was publicly charged with
taking an annual subvention from him. These mer-
chants are estimated to have brought into the coun-
try a capital of £1,500,000, which had increased by
the middle of the century to £5,000,000. As early
as 1723 a special act of Parliament was passed which
permitted them to hold land on condition of their
taking oath when registering their title ; they were
allowed to omit the words " upon the faith of a
Christian." Some years later (1740) an act was
passed permitting Jews who had resided in the Brit-
ish colonies for a period exceeding seven years to
become naturaHzed (13 Geo. II., cap. 7). Shortly aft-
erward a similar bill was introduced" into the Irish
Parliament, where it passed the Commons in 1745
England
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
170
and 1746, but failed to pass the Irish Peers in 1747;
it was ultimately dropped. Meanwhile, during the
Jacobite insurrection of 1745 the Jews had shown
particular loyalty to the government. Their chief
financier, Samson Gideon, had strengthened the stock
market, and several of the younger members had
volunteered in the corps raised to defend London.
Possibly as a reward, Pelham in 1753 brought in
a bill allowing Jews to become naturalized by ap-
plication to Parliament. It passed the Lords with-
out much opposition, but on being
The brought down to the Commons the
Jew Bill of Tory party made a great outcry
1753. against this "abandonment of Chris-
tianity," as they called it. On the
other hand, it was contended that the Jews per-
formed a very valuable function in the commercial
economy of the nation, providing one-twelfth of
the nation's profits and one-twentieth of its for-
eign trade. The Whigs, however, persisted in carry-
ing out at least one part of their general policy of
religious toleration, and the bill was passed and
received the royal assent (26 Geo. II., cap. 26).
Nevertheless, a great clamor was raised against it,
and the lord mayor and the corporations of London
petitioned Parliament for its repeal. EflBgies of
Jews were carried about in derision, and placards
with the inscription " No Jews, no wooden shoes "
were pasted up in the most prominent public re-
sorts. The latter part of the popular cry referred to
foreign Protestants, chiefly Huguenots, whom the
Pelham ministry had also tried to naturalize as re-
cently as 1751, when the bill for their relief had
been petitioned against and dropped. A naturali-
zation bill for foreign Protestants had been passed
as early as 1709, but was repealed three years later;
and the precedent was now followed in the case of
the Jews (Lecky, " History of England in the Eight-
eenth Century," i. 283). In 1754 the Jew Bill was
repealed, and an attempt was even made to obtain
the repeal of the act of 1740 permitting the Jews in
the colonies to be naturalized. It is difficult to un-
derstand the intensity of the popular outburst at the
time, since the sons of the very persons whom the
populace refused to allow to be naturalized became
by mere place of birth subjects of the British crown.
The influence of the repeal of the bill on the
Sephardic Jews of England, who were chiefly af-
fected by it, was deplorable. Samson Gideon, the
head of the community, determined to bring up his
children as Christians, and his example was followed
by many of the chief families during the remainder
o^' the century. A general feeling of insecurity
came over the community. With the accession
of George III. a Committee of Deputados was
formed as a sequel to the Committee of Diligence
which had been appointed to supervise the passing
of the Jew bills through the Irish Parliament. By
this time the German Jews had become of sufficient
importance for a certain number of them to be asso-
ciated with the deputies in the address of congratu-
lation on the accession of George III., but they did
not form a regular part of the Board of Deputies,
the only repre.sentative body of English Jews. The
activity of the board, however, was mainly devoted
to helping coreligionists abroad, the wealth of the
London community attracting needy applicants from
both the Old World and the New. The deputies do
not appear to have made a protest
Tlie even against the Oath of Abjuration
Oath of Ab- Act (6 George III., cap. 52). This
juration, fixed the status of the Jews by declar-
ing an oath of abjuration, containing
the words "upon the faith of a Christian," to be
necessary for all officers, civil or military, under the
crown or in the universities, and for all lawyers,
voters, and members of Parliament.
At this time a number of the more prominent
members of the Sephardic community, as the Ber-
nals, Lopezes, Ricardos, Disraelis, Aguilars, Bas-
sevis, and Samudas, gradually severed their connec-
tion with the synagogue and allowed their children
to grow up either without any religion or in the
Established Church, which gave them an open
career in all the professions. Meanwhile the ranks
of the English Jewry were being recruited from the
downtrodden German and Polish communities of
the Continent. While the Sephardim chiefly con-
gregated in London as the center of international
commerce, the German Jews settled for the most
part in the seaports of the south and west, such as
Falmouth, Plymouth, Liverpool, Bristol, etc., as
pawnbrokers and small dealers. From these centers
it became their custom to send out hawkers every
Monday with packs to the neighboring villages;
and in this way connections were made with some
of the inland towns, in which they began to settle,
as Canterbury, Chatham, and Cambridge, not to
mention Manchester and Birmingham. Traders of
this type, while not of such prominence as the larger
merchants of the capital, came in closer touch with
English life; and they doubtless helped to allay
some of the prejudice which had been manifested so
strongly during 1753.
Another curious cause contributed to the same
end. Jews, mainly of the Sephardic branch, became
prominent in the national sport of boxing. Their
light physique made it necessary for them to sub-
stitute scientific defense for the brutal displays of
strength which had hitherto formed a staple of box-
ing-bouts. Daniel Mendoza by superior science de-
feated Humphreys in 1789, and be-
Influence came champion of England. A little
of Jewish later Samuel Elias, known as " Dutch
Pugilists. Sam," invented the "upper cut" and
made boxing fashionable among the
upper classes. When the Englishmen of the lower
classes found themselves beaten at their own
peculiar sport by the heretofore despised Jew,
a certain amount of sympathy was aroused; and
there can be no doubt that the changed attitude of
the populace toward Jews between 1753 and 1829
was due in some measure to the succession of cham-
pion Jewish boxers. Notwithstanding, there are
distinct signs of deterioration shown by the Jewish
population toward the end of the eighteenth cen-
tury, the picture given by Colquhoun in 1800 of the
London community being most unsatisfactory.
A further cause for kindlier feeling on the part of
at least the middle classes of Englishmen toward the
Jews was supplied by the revival of conversionist
hopes at the beginning of the nineteenth century.
171
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
England
Misled doubtless by the tendency to desertion shown
by not a few of the Sephardim, many evangelicals
anticipated the conversion en masse of the Jewish
population, and on the initiative of Lewis Way the
London Society for the Promotion of Christianity
Among the Jews was founded in 1807. This and
kindred societies wasted large sums of money with
indifferent results. But politically they helped to
increase sympathy for the Jews among the non-con-
formists, who formed the bulk of their contributors
and were at the same time becoming a leading fac-
tor in the formation of Liberal policy. Similarly,
at a much later period the craze of Anglo-Israel-
ism: made many of the narrower Bible Christians
more sympathetic toward the Jews. On the other
hand, the great influence of Dr. Thomas Arnold in
the Liberal ranks was ultimately directed against
the Jewish hopes. The more Erastian he was, the
more he desired to see the legislature exclusively
Christian.
In the meanwhile the lead among the English Jews
was passing from the Spanish to the German section
of the community. The bankers Goldsmid acquired
both influence and culture, and their efforts to raise
the community were soon to be supplemented by
those of Nathan Rothschild, the ablest of Mayer
Rothschild's sons, who had settled first in Manches-
ter and afterward in London. The times were in a
measure propitious for a new effort to remove the
civil disabilities of the Jews. The example of
France had not been without its effect. The rising
tide in favor of religious liberty, as applied to dis-
senters generally and to Roman Catholics in particu-
lar, might have been expected to carry with it more
favorable conditions for the Jews ; but a long
struggle was to intervene before "Englishmen of
the Jewish persuasion " were to have equal rights
with other Englishmen.
When in 1829 the Roman Catholics of England
were freed from all their civil disabilities, the hopes
of the Jews rose high; and the first step toward a
similar alleviation in their case was taken in 1830
when Mr. Huskisson presented a petition signed
by 2,000 merchants and others of Liverpool. This
was immediately followed by a bill presented by
R. Grant on April 15 of that year which was
destined to engage the English legislature in one
form or another for the next thirty
The years. At first the bill failed even to
Struggle get through the House of Commons,
for Eman- though it is true that, against the op-
cipation. position of Sir Robert Inglis, the first
reading was passed by 115 to 97 votes.
But the second reading, on May 17, notwithstanding
a monster petition in its favor from 14,000 citizens
of London, was rejected by 265 to 228 votes. The
next year (1833), however, it passed its third reading
in the Commons, July 22, by the large majority of
189 to 52. and was even read for the first time in the
Lords. But on the second reading (Aug. 1) it was
rejected by 104 to 54, though the Duke of Sussex, a
constant friend to the Jews, presented a petition in
its favor signed by 1,000 distinguished citizens of
Westminster. In 1834 the bill underwent the same
experience, being lost in the House of Lords by a
majority of 92 votes. The whole force of the Tory
party was against the bill, which had, besides, the
personal antagonism of the bluff sailor king, William
IV. In the following year it was deemed inadvisa-
ble to make the annual appeal to Parliament, as the
battle for religious liberty was going on in another
part of the field ; but by the passing of the Sheriffs*
Declaration Bill, Aug. 21, 1835, Jews were allowed
to hold the ancient and important office of sheriff.
In the following year the Jew Bill was introduced
late in the session, and succeeded so far as to pass the
first reading in the Lords on Aug. 19. It was then
dropped owing to the lateness of the session.
For a time the advocates of emancipation seem to
have lost heart. The chief supporters of the bill,
R. Grant in the Commons, and Lord Holland in the
Lords, died within a few months of each other in
1840, and during the next four years the political
activity of the English Jews was concentrated on
the attempt to obtain admission to municipal office.
A bill to that effect got as far as a first reading in
the Lords by one vote, in 1841, but was lost on a
second reading. It was not until July 31, 1845, that
the bill was carried. In the following year (Aug.
18, 1846) the Religious Opinions Relief Bill removed
a certain number of minor disabilities which affected
the Jews of England as well as other dissenters
from the Established Church, and the only portal
which still remained closed to the Jews was that of
Parliament.
The success with which the Jews of England had
induced Parliament to admit them to the shrievalty
and to municipal offices had been due to the fact
that Jews had been actual candidates, and had been
elected to those offices before any parliamentary re-
lief was asked. It was now decided to adopt the
same policy in regard to a seat in Parliament itself.
Baron Lionel de Rothschild was elected member of
Parliament for the city of London by a large major-
ity in 1847, and the bill that was introduced on Dec.
16 of that year was intended to carry out the wishes
of a definite English constituency. This passed its
third reading in the Commons on May 4, 1848, by a
majority of 62 votes,but was rejected in the Lords
by 163 non-contents to 128 contents. The same
thing happened in 1850 when Baron Lionel de Roths-
child was again elected, but in the following year
the struggle took on another and more
Action of dramatic form. David Salomons, who
Sir David had successfully fought the battle for
Salomons, the shrievalty and the aldermanic
chair, had been elected member for
Greenwich and insisted on taking his seat, refusing to
withdraw on being ordeied to do so by the speaker,
and adding to his seeming parliamentary offense by
voting in the division on the motion for adjourn-
ment which was made to still the uproar caused by
his bold course of action. The prime minister moved
that Salomons be ordered to withdraw, and on that
motion Salomons spoke in a dignified and forcible
manner, and won the sympathy of the House, which
nevertheless passed the premier's motion. The
matter was then referred to the law courts, which
decided that Salomons had no right to vote without
having taken the oath of abjuration in the form ap-
pointed by Parliament, and mulcted him in a fine of
£500 for each vote he had recorded in the Commons.
Engrland
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
172
The government then brought in another bill in 1853,
which was also rejected by the Lords. In 1855 the
hero of the parliamentary struggles, David Salo-
mons, was elected lord mayor of London. In the
following two years bills were introduced by the
government to modify the parliamentary oath, but
they failed to obtain the assent of the Lords. In
1858 when the Oath Bill reached the Lords they elimi-
nated the clause relating to Jews; but when the
bill was referred again to the Commons, the lower
house refused to accept it as amended, and appointed
a committee to formulate its reasons, upon which
committee, as if to show the absurdity of the situa-
tion, the member for the city of London, Baron
Lionel de Rothschild, was appointed to serve — which
he could legally do, even though he had not taken
his seat. A conference was appointed between the
two houses.and ultimately a compromise was reached
by which either house might admit Jews by resolu-
tion, allowing them to omit the words "on the true
faith of a Christian." As a consequence, on Mon-
day, July 26, 1858, Baron Lionel de Rothschild took
the oath with covered head, substituting "so help
me, Jehovah" for the ordinary form of oath, and
thereupon took his seat as the first Jewish member
of Parliament. Two years later a more general form
of oath for all members of Parliament was intro-
duced, which freed the Jews from all cause of exclu-
sion. In 1870 the University Test Act removed the
difficulties in the way of a Jew becoming a scholar
or a fellow in an English uuiversit}\ In 1885 Sir
Nathaniel de Rothschild was raised to the upper
house as Lord Rothschild, to be followed within a
few years -by Baron Henry de Worms as Lord Pir-
bright and Mr. Sydney Stern as Lord Wandsworth ;
while in 1890 all restrictions for every position in
the British empire, except that of monarch, were
removed, the offices of lord high chancellor and
of lord lieutenant of Ireland being thrown open
to every British subject without distinction of creed.
For some time after their admission to Parliament,
the Jewish M.P. 's belonged to the party that had
given them that privilege, and Sir George Jessel
acted as solicitor-general in Gladstone's first minis-
try. But from the time of the Conservative reac-
tion in 1874 Jewish voters and candidates showed
an increasing tendency toward the Tory party ; and
of recent years the majority of Jewish members of
the lower house have been of that political com-
plexion. The influence of Lord Beaconsfield may
have had some effect on this change, but it was in
the main due to the altered politics of the middle
and commeicial classes, to which the Jews chiefly
belonged. Baron Henry de Worms acted as under
secretary of state in one of Lord Salisbury's minis-
tries, while Sir Julian Goldsmid, a Liberal Unionist
after the Home Rule policy of Gladstone was de-
clared, made a marked impression as deputy speaker
of the House of Commons.
Altogether the struggle had lasted for sixty years,
though practically all that was contended for had
been gained in half that period. Yet it must be re-
membered that complete equality was not granted
to Roman Catholics and Jews until 1890. The very
length of the struggle shows how thoroughly the
opposition had been overcome. The many political
friendships made during the process had facilitated
social intercourse, which is nowhere so unrestricted
as in England. (See Acts ok Parliament.)
The pause which occurred between 1840 and 1847
in the emancipation struggle was due in large meas-
ure to an unfortunate schism which had split the
community in two and which prevented the members
acting in unison for the defense of their rights. The
Reform movement had reached England in a mild
form under the influence of the Goldsmid family,
which had been touched by the Men-
Org'aniza- delssohuian movement. In 1841 a Re-
tion. form congregation was established in
London, and was practically excom-
municated by both the Spanish liaham and the Ger-
man chief rabbi (see Reform). The effect of these
differences was to delay common action as regards
emancipation and other affairs; and itwas not until
1859 that the charity organization was put on a
firm footing by t4i© creation of the Jewish Board
of Guardians. Ten years later the congregations
were brought under one rule by the formation of
the United Synagogue (1870), in the charter of
which an attempt was made to give the chief rabbi
autocratic powers over the doctrines to be taught in
the Jewish communities throughout the British
empire. But Parliament, which had recently dis-
established the Irish Church, did not feel disposed
to establish the Jewish Synagogue, and the clause
was stricken out. The chief rabbi's salary is paid
partly out of contributions from the provincial
synagogues, and this gives him a certain amount
of authority over all the Jews of the empire with
the exception of the 3,000 or more Sephardim, who
have a separate haham, and of the dwindling band
of Reformers, who number about 2,000, scattered in
London, Manchester, and Bradford. In 1871 the
Anglo-Jewish Association was established to take
the place, so far as regards the British empire, of
the Alliance Israelite, which had been weakened by
the Franco-German war. The Jews of England
felt that they should be organized to take their
proper part in Jewish affairs in general. For many
years they, together with the French Jews, were
the only members of the race who were unham-
pered by disabilities ; and this enabled them to act
more freely in cases where the whole body of Israel
was concerned.
As early as 1840, when the blood accusation was
revived with regard to the Damascus affair, and
Jewish matters were for the first time treated on an
international basis, the Jews of England took by
far the most prominent position in the general pro-
test of the European Jewries against the charge.
Not only was the Board of Deputies at London the
sole Jewish body in Europe to hold public meetings,
but owing to their influence a meeting of pro-
test was held by eminent Christians at the IMansinn
House, London (July 3, 1840), which formed a prece-
dent for subsequent distinguished gatherings. Sir
Moses Montefiore, after aiding the Damascus Jews
by obtaining, in an interview with the sultan at
Constantinople, a firman repudiating the blood ac-
cusation, visited Russia in 1846 to intercede for his
coreligionists there. In 1860 he went to Rome in
connection with the Mortara affair; and in 1863 he led
173
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
England
a mission to Morocco on behalf of Jews of that coun-
try. Action was likewise taken by the chief Eng-
lish Jews in behalf of the unfortunate Hebrews
of the Danubian principalities. Sir F. Goldsmid
made an interpellation in the House of Commons
with regard to the Jews of Servia (March 29, 1867),
and started a debate in that assembly (April 19,
1872) on the subject of the persecutions of the Jews
in Rumania. As a consequence a Rumanian com-
mittee was formed, which watched the activities of
the illiberal government of that country.
"When in 1881 the outburst of violence in Russia
brought the position of the Russian Jews promi-
nently before the world, it was their coreligionists
in England who took the lead in organizing meas-
ures for their relief. Articles in the "Times" of
Jan. 11 and 13, 1882, drew the attention of the whole
world to the extent of the persecutions, and a meet-
ing of the most prominent citizens of London was
held at the Mansion House, Feb. 1, 1882 (see Man-
sion House Meeting). As a consequence a fund
was raised amounting to more than £108,000, and
a complete scheme of distributing in the United
States the Russian refugees from Brody was organ-
ized by the committee of the Mansion House Fund.
Similarly, when a revival of the persecutions took
place in 1891, another meeting was held at the Guild-
hall, and a further sum of over £100,000 was col-
lected and devoted to facilitating the westward
movement of the Russian exodus. An attempt was
made this time to obtain access directly to the czar
by the delivery of a petition from the lord mayor
and citizens of London; but this was contemptu-
ously rejected, and the Russo-Jewish committee
which carried out the work of the Mansion House
Fund was obliged to confine its activity to measures
outside Russia. When Baron de Hirsch formed
his elaborate scheme for the amelioration of the con-
dition of the persecuted Jews, headquarters were
established by him in London, though the adminis-
tration was practically directed from Paris. The
immigrants being excluded from most of the cities of
the Continent, the burden of receiving most of the
Russian refugees moving westward fell on England.
The advent of such a large number of Jews,
unprovided with capital, and often without a definite
occupation, brought with it ditficul-
The Result ties which taxed the entire resources
of the of the English communities. It was
Russian only natural that the newcomers
Exodus, should arouse a certain amount of
prejudice by their foreign habits, by
the economic pressure they brought to bear upon
certain trades, especially on that of clothing, and by
their overcrowding in certain localities. While the
Continent had seen the rise of strong anti-Semitic
feeling, England had been comparatively free from
any exhibition of this kind. During Lord Beacons-
field's ministry a few murmurs had been heard from
the more advanced Liberals against the " Semitic "
tendencies of the prime minister and his brethren in
race, but as a rule social had followed political
emancipation almost automatically. The Russian
influx threatened to disturb this natural process,
and soon after 1891 protests began to be heard
against the "alien immigrants." Bills were even
introduced into Parliament to check their entry Into
England. Nothing came of these protests, however,
till the year 1902, when the question had reached such
a point that it was deemed desirable to appoint a
royal commission to inquire into the whole subject.
This commission has heard evidence both from those
favoring and from those opposed to restricted immi-
gration. There is no evidence that the establish-
ment of this commission implied any anti-Semitic
feeling on the part of the government : it was merely
a natural result of an exceptional state of overcrowd-
ing in the East End of London.
The favorable condition of the English Jews has
not hitherto resulted in anj' very remarkable display
of Jewish talent. English Jews have contributed
nothing of any consequence to rabbinic scholarship
or even to halakic or exegetic learning, though the
commentaries of M. Kalisch on the Pentateuch are
a mine of learning, and in the later volumes antici-
pate some of the most far-reaching results of the
"higher criticism." The Hebrew chair at Univer-
sity College and the rabbinic readerships of the uni-
versities of Oxford and Cambridge have naturally
been filled by Jewish incumbents. The libraries of
England have become the receptacles of the largest
collection of Hebrew manuscripts and early Hebrew
books (see Bibliography). In the eighteenth cen-
tury two Jews, Dr. Sarmiento and E. Mendes da
Costa, became members of the Royal Society. Moses
Mendes was a poetaster of some repute. David
Levi translated the prayers, and defended Judaism
from the attacks of Dr. Priestley. Isaac D 'Israeli
wrote his inaccurate but entertaining "Curiosities
of Literature." Rev. Solomon Lyon was Hebrew
teacher at the University of Cambridge, and his
daughter, Emma Lyon, was the first Anglo-Jewish
authoress. Michael Josephs displayed some ability
in Hebrew writing, and Arthur Lum-
Iiiterature. ley Davids published a Turkish gram-
mar. Grace Aguilar wrote novels
which attained some popularity, while E. H. Lindo
wrote a praiseworthy history of the Jews of Spain
and Portugal which has still some value. More
recently Israel Zangwill has obtained more than
local celebrity by his novels and sketches of Jewish
life. Other Jewish novelists have been B. L. Far-
jeon, the late Amy Levy, and S. L. Gordon. S. L.
Lee has edited the later volumes of " The Dictionary
of National Biography," while I. Gollancz, besides
editing the "Temple Library," has helped to found
and has become secretary of the British Academy.
In other lines of activity Jews have fully partici-
pated in the national life. Sir George Jessel was a
most distinguished master of the rolls; Professor
Waley, an authority on conveyancing; and Sir
George Lewis is perhaps the best known living Eng-
lish solicitor. Dr. Ernest Hart was a leader in
modern methods of sanitation. English Jews are
reported to have taken more than their share in the
Volunteer movement when it first sprang into exist-
ence in 1860. During the recent war in South Africa
no less than 1,000 Jewish soldiers took part in the
campaign. Among these the most distinguished were
Colonel Goldsmid and Major Sir Matthew Nathan, the
latter of whom has also held important command
and has been governor of the West Coast of Africa.
Enerraving:
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
174
Since the abolition of university tests in 1870,
which was largely influenced by the success of
Numa Hartog as senior wrangler at Cambridge in
1869, Jews have taken some share both as students
and teachers in English university life. Joseph
James Sylvester was Savilian professor of geometry
at Oxford, a position due to his undoubted distinc-
tion in the world of mathematics ; S. Alexander is
professor of mental philosophy and E. Schuster
professor of physics in the Victoria University,
Manchester, and C. Waldstein was for a time Slade
professor of fine arts in Cambridge University. R.
Meldola is professor of chemistry at the Finsbury
Technical College, while Sir Philip Magnus has been
secretary and director of the London Technical In-
titute, and is one of the greatest English authorities
on technical education generally.
In art the list of Jewish names is somewhat scanty.
Solomon Hart became a Royal Academician ; Simeon
Solomon was one of the most promising leaders of
the pre-Raffaelite movement; and S. J. Solomon is
an A.R.A. Sir Julius Benedict and F. H. Cowen
are the chief names in music.
Jews have taken more than their due share in the
colonial expansion of England. Jacob Montefiore,
a cousin of Sir Moses Montefiore, was
The one of the chief pioneers of South
Colonies. Australia in 1835. Hon. Nathaniel
Levi did much to develop both the
coal and beet-sugar industries of Victoria. Sir
Julius Vogel was premier of New Zealand for many
years, and did much to promote its remarkable pros-
perity ; while New South Wales has been repre-
sented by Sir Saul Samuel and Sir Julien Salomons
as agents-general for that colony. Similarly, in
South Africa the firm of Mosenthal Brothers and
Jonas Bergtheil helped much toward the develop-
ment of Cape Colony and Natal; while the gold and
diamond industries of the Rand were chiefly in Jew-
ish hands, notably those of Barnato Brothers, Wern-
her, Beit & Company, etc.
At the beginning of the nineteenth century the
number of Jews in England was not supposed to
exceed 8,000, of whom at least 6,000 were in Lon-
don. The increase was comparatively slow until
the Russian immigration of 1880, when there were
probably about 60,000 Jews in the British Isles. At
the present time it is calculated that England has a
Jewish population of 148,811, as against 7,428 in
Scotland, and 3,771 in Ireland, giving
Statistics, approximately 160,000 for the British
Isles. In 1901 the British empire had
in all about a quarter of a million Jews, distributed
as follows :
British Isles 160,000
Aden 2,826
Australasia 16,678
Barbados 20
Canada and British
Columbia 16,432
Cyprus 68
Gibraltar 2,000
Hongkong 150
India 18,228
Jamaica 2,000
Malta 60
South Africa 20,000
Straits Settlements.... 535
Trinidad 30
Total 239,027
Bibliography : Early Period : Jacobs and Wolf, Bibl. Anglo-
Jud. Nos. 1-199; Prynne, A Short Demurrer Against the
JeWK, 1655; Madox, History of the Exchequer, London,
1753; Tovey, Anglia Judaica, Oxford, 1738; J. C. Webb,
The Question Whether a Jew Is Capable of Holding Land,
London, 1769 ; Jacobs, Jews of Angevin England, London,
1892, passim; B. L. Abrahams, The Expulsion of the Jews
from England, Oxford, 1895; Select Pleas of the Jewish
Exchequer, ed. Rlgg, 1902. ^, „^ ,
Intermediate Period: Bibl. Anglo-Jud. Nos. 201-296; L.
Wolf, The Middle Age of Anglo-Jewish History, In Papers
of the A7iglo-Jew. Hist. Exh.; S. L. Lee, in Transactions of
the New Shakespeare Society, 1895 ; L.Wolf, CromwelVs In-
telligencers, London, 1892; idem, various papers In Tram-
actions of the Jew. Hist. Soc. Eng.
Modem Period: Bibl. Anglo-Jud. pp. 56-231, Nos. 280-
2164 ; Blunt, History of the Jews in England, London, 1830 ;
J. Plcclotto, Sketches of Anglo-Jewish History, lb. 1878 ; L-
Wolf, The Queen's Jewry 1837-97, In Young Israel, pp. 99-
114, 140-154, ib. 1898.
J ■
ENGLANDER, GABRIEL HIRSCH: Aus-
trian scholar ; lived at Vienna in the first half of
the nineteenth century. H-e wrote: "Emunah Li-
shene 'Afar," prayers to be recited in the cemetery,
with a German translation (Vienna, 1828) ; " Korot
Yisrael," extracts from the Pentateuch, with a Ger-
man translation (ib. 1837); " Andachtsklange filr
Israel's S5hne und TOchter, " prayers for special occsi-
sions (ib. 1843). Englander edited Aaron ha-Levi's
"Sefer ha-Hinnuk," on the 613 commandments, to
which he added an index (ib. 1827).
Bibliography: Furst, Bibl. Jud. 1. 245; Zeltlln, BiW. Post-
MendeU. p. 77 ; Zedner, Cat. Hebr. Books Brit. Mus. p. 4.
L. G. M. Sel.
ENGLANDER, SIGMTTND: Austrian writer ;
born at Vienna ; died at Turin Nov. 30, 1902. After
graduating from the University of Vienna he de-
voted himself to literary work. He was an intimate
friend of the poet Friediich Hebbel. In 1847 he
edited at Vienna a monthly called " Der Salon : Mit-
theilungen aus den Kreisen der Litteratur, Kunst
und des Lebens " ; on account of the vexatious Aus-
trian censorship, however, he was compelled, after
three volumes had been issued, to discontinue its
publication. During the upheaval of 1848 he was
foremost among those journalists who supported the
popular cause. On the surrender of Vienna to the
government troops, Englander was one of the twelve
hostages whom Windischgratz demanded should be
handed over to him for punishment. Having had
timely warning, he succeeded in eluding the author-
ities, and reached Frankfort -on-the-Main. Still pur-
sued by the government, he went to Paris, where he
published with the help of Baron de Renter a litho-
graphed "Correspondence" which contained ex-
tracts from newspapers.
His revolutionary tendencies brought him into
conflict with the Parisian authorities, and after a
term of imprisonment he was expelled from the
country. He sought refuge in London, and became
correspondent for several Continental papers and ed-
itor of the " Londoner Deutsche Zeitung." Among
his writings is " Geschichte der FranzOsischen Arbei-
ter-Associationen. "
Bibliography: Jew. Chron. Dec. 19, 1902; Kuh, Biographic
HebbeVs, U. 220, 269 et seq. ; HebbeVs Ta^ebuch, ed. Kuh,
1885-87. ^
g, Jj. liA.
ENGLISCH, BERTHOLD: Austrian chess-
player; born 1851 at Hotzenplotz, Austrian Silesia;
died Oct. 19, 1897, in Vienna. In 1879 he gained
the first prize at the Leipsic tournament ; in 1883
he was fourth in the London tourney ; in 1887 in the
Frankfort-on-the-Main tournament (twenty-one en-
tries) he gained the seventh prize, winning over
Alapin, Gunsberg, and Zuckertort; and in 1896 he
175
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Engrland
won the first prize in the tournament arranged by
Baron Rothschild.
s. A. P.
ENGRAVING AND ENGRAVERS.— Bib-
lical Data : Engraving is the act and art of cutting
letters, figures, and the like, on stone, wood, or metal.
The account of the equipment of the high priest
(Ex. xxviii., xxxix.) evidences that thisarthad been
developed to a high degree among the Hebrews
at an early period. To designate the skill of the
worker the word Knn and its derivative ntjnn are
employed, while niDQ and r\vbpt2 and npnO denote
the process and the finished result (Ex. xxviii. 11,
21,36; xxxi. 5; xxxv. 33; xxxix. 14, 30; Zech. iii.
9; I Kings vi. 18, 19, 32, 35; vii. 31; [nnn, Ex.
xxviii. 11, 21, 36, is probably a scribal error for, or
a dialectic form of, Cf'lin]). The seal-engraver's art
is cited to indicate the manner of work to be done
on precious stones (Ex. xxviii. 11). Of the Plieni-
cians it is known that they had attained proficiency
in the engraving of signet-rings (Benzinger, "He-
braische Archaologie, " p. 258). As the same neces-
sity for using signet-rings (to sign contracts and other
documents) existed among the Hebrews, it is reason-
able to assume equal proficiency in this art among
them, especially since the signet-ring is mentioned as
among the usual appointments of men of standing
(Gen. xxxviii. 18). As in the case of Bezalel (Ex.
xxxi. 2), engravers were looked upon as endowed
with a divine spirit of wisdom and understanding.
Phenician artists were imported (II Sam. v. 11) at
a comparatively late period.
The precious stones in the ephod and the breast-
plate of the high priest, as well as the inscription on
the gold plate in his head-dress (Ex. xxviii., xxxix.),
are specially mentioned as specimens of the en-
graver's art. The ornaments on the walls of Solo-
mon's Temple (I Kings vi. 18, 19) are products of
the wood-engraver's skill (comp. II
On Sam. v. 11). The instrument used is
Precious known as tDJ?, with the usual qualifica-
Stones. tion b]-\2n ("the iron style"), tipped
with a diamond point (Jer. xvii. 1),
and used for engraving letters (Job xix. 24), or, more
properly, as tDin, the graving-tool by wliich incisions
were made (Ex. xxxii. 4). Both relief-engraving,
as in the case of the cherubim, and intaglio-engra-
viDg, for signet-rings and gems, seem to have been
known. Job xix. 24 has been construed as showing
that for purposes of inscriptions lead was used. In
the " pesel " (graven image) the form and figure are
completely separated from the block of material
used. According to Maimonides, Abraham ben
David, and other Talmtjdic authorities (Git. 20a;
"Yad," Kele ha-Mikdash, ix. 2), relief-work alone
(pressed out from beneath) was permissible in ob-
jects connected with sacerdotal service. For this
reason, as gems could not be worked in this way, in
the case of the precious stones on the ephod and
the breastplate a miracle was assumed: the worm
Shamir traced the letters which appeared on them
(Sotah 48b ; Nahmanides to Ex. xxv. 7).
Bibliography : Benzinger, Hebr. Arch. pp. 257 et seq.; No-
wack, Lehrbuch der Hebraischen Archaologie,\. 245 et seq.;
Leopold Low, Cfraphische RequisiUn und Erzeugnisse bei
den Juden, part 1, Lelpsic, 1870,
E. G. H.
In Medieval and Modem Times : Playing-
cards were one of the first products of the art of
wood-engraving: they were printed from wooden
blocks and then colored. As the invention of " books
of lots " and playing-cards, originally merely picture-
cards, must be ascribed to the Jews and Saracens, it
may be assumed that Jews were engaged at an early
date in their manufacture ; in fact, the only painter
of playing-cards whose name has come down from
the beginning of the sixteenth century in Germany
is the Jew Meyer Chaym of Landau (1520). Con-
temporaneous with Chaym, the sons of the portrait-
painter Moses dal Castellazzo were working at Venice
as stamp-cutters; but the only thing known about
them is that in 1521 they illustrated a Pentateuch
after designs by their father. There may have been
a number of such Jewish artists in the sixteenth cen-
tury. Julius von Schlossar says, in reference to the
illustrators of the Hebrew prints of this time (Hag-
gadah of Sarajevo, p. 222, Vienna, 1898): "All the
wood-cutters and engravers, as well as the print-
ers and publishers, are Jews." Unfortunately, the
names of these artists are not known; only occasion-
ally did they add a monogram to their work. A single
Jewish copper-plate engraver of this time is known
by name — David Laudi, who was working at Cre-
mona in 1550, furnishing the plates for the " Istoria
di Cremona." The engraver Salom Italia of Am-
sterdam was probably a native of Lombardy; of
his works only the portraits of Jacob Judah Leon
and Manasseh ben Israel, etched respectively in 1641
and 1642, are known. The following engravers on
copper were likewise working at Amsterdam in the
seventeenth century : a son of Jacob Belmonte, Ben-
jamin Senior Godines, also known as a calligrapher ;
B. de Almeyda ; Abraham b. Jacob, who engraved
a portrait of Aboab. Engravers of the eighteenth
century — chiefly illustrators of Hebrew books —
were: Abraham Lopez de Oliveira; Aaron Sanc-
troos (Santcroos) ; Abraham Isaac Polack, who en-
graved a portrait of Saul b. Isaac ha-Levi, and had
a reputation for pretty "ex libris." Among the en-
gravers at Amsterdam in the nineteenth century
were two members of the Amsterdam Academy,
Moritz Dessauerand Abraham Lion Zeelander (1789-
1856), the latter of whom engraved in outline the
gallery of Wilhelm II., and Joseph Hartogensis and
Jeremias Snoek, who painted and engraved the
synagogue of Rotterdam.
In England Jewish engravers are not mentioned
before the second half of the eighteenth century,
among them being Ezekiel Abraham Ezekiel (1757-
1806), who engraved some portraits of famous con-
temporaries ; Solomon Bennet (1761-1838), who en-
graved his own portrait; and Salomon Polak, who
engraved portraits and illustrated a Pentateuch. In
German)', similarly, Jewish engravers are not men-
tioned until the end of the eighteenth century.
I. Schnapper of Offenbach engraved a portrait of
Goethe in 1786, and one of Catherine
In II. Johann Michael Siegfried Lowe
Germany, of KOnigsberg (1756-1831) was also a
painter ; M. Abrahamson the younger
lived about the same time at Berlin, the only known
work by him being the portrait of Hirschel Levin.
Other engravers of Berlin were B. H. Bendix,
Engraving:
£nnery, Jonas
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
176
born about 1770, who engraved chiefly portraits,
and the well-known brothers Henschel. Loser Leo
Wolf of Hamburg (1755-1840) engraved views and
portraits. The following among modern German
engravers should be mentioned: Friedrich Frankel
(b. 1832) and Georg Goldberg (b. 1830), both of
Nuremberg, the former engraving from Dutch,
and the latter from Italian and modern, masters
(Kohut, "Beruhmte Israelitische Manner und
Frauen," i. 304: et seg.); Heinrich Redlich (d. 1884):
Louis Jacoby of Berlin (b. 1828, and still working in
1903) ; Hermann Seligman Emden (1815-75) of Frank-
fort-on-the-Main ; Henry Lemon of London (b. 1822).
Some Jewish artists also took up lithography : Leo-
pold Dick of Kaiserslautern (1817-54), who furnished
Biblical subjects after Raffael; Abraham Neu, who
engraved (1830) a view of the synagogue of Worms ;
David Levi Elkan (b. 1808), known for his ara-
besques and satirical subjects; Veit Meyer (b. 1818?)
and Gustav Wolf (b. 1798), both of Dresden, the
latter of whom engraved a gallery; Julius Bien of
New York (b. 1826) ; Leo Lehmann of Hamburg, who
engraved portraits. The stamp-cutter Moses was
working at Offenbach in 1825. Among French en-
gravers must be noted: F. Moyse, who chose Jewish
subjects, as "La Benediction de I'Aieul"; Gustave
Levy, who engraved portraits in the style of the
earlier Italian masters, including those of the chief
rabbis Lazare Isidor and Zadoc Kahn. Among the
engravers of other countries are: H. Leibowicz, a
Pole who produced 165 portraits during the middle
of the eighteenth century ; Joel Ballin, a Dane ; M.
Donat (c. 1833), the Hungarian calligrapher and en-
graver on copper; Samuel Jesi (1789-1853), the Ital-
ian, a member of the French Academy ; and Max
Liebermann and Joseph Israels, painters and etcliers.
In America the Rosenthals of Philadelphia, father
and son, are among the best and most prolific en-
gravers and etchers, while Julius Bien is one of the
foremost lithographers.
Jews engaged more usually, however, in stone- and
metal-engraving, two of the few arts they were per-
mitted to practise, and the knowledge of which was
frequently transmitted from father to son through
successive generations. It is an open question
whether or not this was due to some tradition handed
down from antiquity, as modern Jewish stone-
engravers are, apparently, mentioned for the first
time at the end of the sixteenth century, when Pedro
Teixeira met some at Aleppo. Diamond-cutting, an
art for a long time known only to Jews, may have
been introduced by them at Amsterdam at a rela-
tively early period, as half the diamond-cutters there
to-day are Jews; two of them, Fedder and Voor-
zanger, cut the Kohinoor in 1852. See also Ant-
werp.
The Jews understood the art of engraving, as well
as of cutting, diamonds. The first artists in this
line known l)y name are the court
Diamond- seal -engraver Michael Abraham, at
Cutting, the electoral court of Brandenburg,
and his brother Joseph Abraham, who
was also employed by the elector. After Joseph's
death (1697) his son Joseph Levi (Levi b. Joseph) was
appointed court seal-engraver, and cut the coat-of-
arms on a diamond for Frederick I. Joseph's sons,
Uri Phoebus b. Abraham b. Joseph and Joseph b.
Abraham b. Joseph, were likewise seal-engravers.
The latter's son, Joseph Beretz (b. 1745), is also
mentioned as a stone-engraver, probably being iden-
tical with the anonymous Jewish stone-engraver
who, Meusel says ("Miscellaneen Artistischen In-
halts," xvii. 260), engraved the Decalogue upon a
stone less than an inch square. A Jewish engraver
at Lemberg, in 1773, even engraved on the stone
of a ring a prayer of eighty-seven words (Geisler,
"Skizzen . . . Joseph II." 1783). Many Jewish
engravers, like the Abraham family, were the re-
cipients of princely favors on account of their art.
Philipp Hirsch (b. 1784), who had acquired the art
from his father, was appointed court stone-engraver
at the court of Wiirttemberg. He engraved heads
chiefly, as those of the King and Crown Prince of
Wiirttemberg, the Grand Duke of Baden, Schiller,
and Goethe. Philipp Aaron was called to Schwerin
by Christian Ludwigll., for whom he engraved "si-
gilla mystica." Toward the end of the eighteenth
century the court engraver M. Loser was called to
Sweden by the king in order to cut a coat-of-arms.
The brothers Enoch (d. 1807) and Jacob Nathansen
(d. 1816?), who were the scions of an old family of
engravers, were appointed by the same king court
seal-engravers. Other members of this family were :
Levy Enoch Nathansen (d. 1845), who engraved an-
tique heads on stone and copper; Wolff Nathansen
(d. 1899), metal- and stone-engraver; B. Nathansen,
worked in Hamburg from 1823 to 1829 ; and Edu-
ard Nathansen (d. 1844), metal- and stone-engraver.
There were court seal-engravers at Dresden under
August III. : Michael Samuel, and Jephiel Michael
(Abt), who drew a salary from the court ; the latter's
son, Samuel Abt, was likewise a seal-engravor.
Jean Henri Simon (1752-1833), one of the foremost
artists in his line, who enjoyed the favor of many
princes, engraved not only portraits on stone, as
those of Napoleon, Louis XVIIL, Louis Philippe, and
Charles X., but also medals. He transmitted his art
to his son, having himself acquired it from his father,
who is called by his biographer "Jacob Simon," but
who is probably identical with the eminent Belgian
gem-cutter Jacob Mayer Simon. The Parisian en-
gravers, Mayer Simon and Samuel Simon, the latter
(b. 1760) being engraver to the post-ofiice, were prob-
ably brothers of Jean Henri. The following were
working in Paris about the same time: David Salo-
mon, Israel Lion, Oury Philippe Lion, Samuel Abra-
ham, Benjamin Bodenheim, Pierre Wolf, and the
stone-engravers Samuel Mayer Oppenheim and Isaac
Joseph Mareli; Napoleon III. 's court engraver.
Stern, came somewhat later. Among the foremost
stone-engravers of his time was Aaron Jacobsen (d.
1770), who cut cameos and intaglios. His son Aaron
Salomon Jacobsen (1756-c. 1829) cut dies and medals,
and was court engraver and member of the academy
at Copenhagen. Another excellent Danish stone-
engraver was B. Goldfarb (c. 1832). L. Baruch, of
an old family of engravers, and an artist of reputa-
tion, was the teacher of his nephew, the eminent
medal-coiner Jacob Wiener (1815-99), who in turn
taught his brothers Leopold and Karl Wiener (d.
1867), both of whom were medal- engravers and
sculptors. The following earlier Jewish medal-
177
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Engraving:
Ennery, Jonas
engravers deserve notice : Jacob Abraham and his
son Abraham Abrahamson; Abraham Aaron, en-
graved (1785) a medal on the accession of Friedrich
Franz I. ; Abraham Jacobs, a medal (1765) on the
jubilee of the " Commerz-Deputation " of Hamburg ;
Joel b. Lipmaun Levi, the medal (1735) of R. Eliezer
b. Samuel Schmelka; and the Dutch I. Elion.
In the eighteenth century almost all the larger
Jewish communities had seal-cutters among their
members. Schudt (" Jiidische Merckwurdigkeiten, "
ii. 172) reports them as frequently plying their trade
at fairs and markets at the beginning of the eight-
eenth, and Bondi ("Sulamith." i. 227) at the begin-
ning of the nineteenth, century. The Hamburg
Jews' tax-lists of the beginning of the eighteenth
century mention four seal-engravers (at the end of
the century there were six) who carried on their
work in the open street. Von Griesheim ("Traktat
. . . die Stadt Hamburg," 1757, v. 1, 227) says, "The
seal-engravers of Hamburg, especially the Jews, do
very good work at reasonable rates."
The following are well-known artists of the pres-
ent time: Awner Grilliches and his son (Imperial
Russian Mint) ; Emmanuel Hanneaux, the sculptor
(among other plaques that of Coralie Cahen); the
Russian sculptor Beer, living at Paris (medal on the
occasion of the second Zionist congress); LOwenthal
of Vietma (medal of Dr. A. HoU'mann); Wilhelm
Rothenstein of London ; Eichel (" Jew-
Modern ish Confirmation at Warsaw, 1843") ; I.
Engravers. W. Loewenbach ("Inauguration of
Synagogue at Munich, 1826") ; L5wen-
stark ("Montefiore's Centennial, 1884"); H. Oppen-
heim, nephew of the painter Moritz Oppenheim (Ma-
dame I. Bloc, 1886) ; Saphir, a clever stone-engraver,
has done some work for the court of Russia ; Daniel
Henriques de Castro, although only an amateur, has
attained to a high degree of perfection in cutting
glass with the diamond-point.
Statistics concerning the number of Jewish en-
gravers for some countries are available. In 1857
there were fifty-four in the kingdom of Poland, aside
from Warsaw. In 1900, at Budapest, 321 Jews,
among them eleven women, were engaged in the
different branches of engraving (Jew. Encyc. ii. 155,
8.V. Artisans).
Bibliography : Wolf, Etwae iXber Jiidische Kunet und Ael-
tere JiXdiache K'Urtsfier, in Miithcilunfjen der Oesdlschaft
far JUd. Volhiskunde, 1902. Ix. 13-74.
D. A. W.
ENNERY, ADOLPHE PHILIPPE D' :
French dramatic author; born in Paris June 17,
1811 ; died there Jan. 26, 1899. By turn a lawyer's
clerk, painter, and journalist, in 1831 he made his
debut as a dramatist as part author of "Emile, ou
le Fils d'un Pair de France." From that date he
was sole or part author of more than 280 plays,
no less than five of them having been produced
upon the Paris stage at one time. He adapted his
work to the taste of the public, and achieved suc-
cess upon success, rapidly making a fortune. His
wealth allowed him to contribute to the Societe
Therxoale of Cabourg-Dives, of which he became
acting manager. This society, which was composed
in large measure of wealthy journalists and theat-
rical capitalists, placed him at its head,
v.— 12
D'Enueiy wrote under the names of Adolphe
d'Eunery, Philippe d'Ennery, and Eugene d'Ennery.
His plays were mainly written in collaboration with
others, among whom were Anicet Bourgeois, G.
Lemoine, Alexandre Dumas, Eugdne Grange, Du-
manoir, Mallian, Cormon, M. F. Dugue, Clairville,
Hector Cremieux, Plouvier, Charles Edmond, and
Lambert Tliiboust. Among his earlier plays were
the following: " Gaspard Hauser " (1836) ; "La Grace
de Dieu" (1841); "Les Pupillesde la Garde" (1841);
" Halifax " and " Les Bohemiens de Paris " (1842) ;
"Don Cesar de Bazan " (1844); " Le Marche de Lon-
dres," "La Dame de Saint Tropez," and "Marie
Jeanne, ou la Femme du Peuple " (1845) ; " Gasti-
belza, ou le Fou de TolSde " and " La Pri^re des
Naufrages" (1847).
In 1851 D'Ennery became manager of the Theatre
Historique, but resigned his office two weeks later
in order to establish a new theater, to be called the
"Theatre du Peuple," a name which he afterward
altered to that of "Theatre du Prince Imperial."
It was subsequently abandoned. In 1851 he also
made the difficult adaptation of Balzac's posthu-
mous comedy "Mercadet, ou le Faiseur," which he
reduced from five to three acts, and which was rep-
resented at the Gymnase in 1851, and in the reper-
tory of the Comedie-Fran^aise in 1870.
Among D'Ennery's later plays "were: "La Case
de I'Oncle Tom," 1853; "Les Oiseaux de Proie,"
1854; "Le Medecin des Enfants" and "Le Donjon
de Vincennes," 1854; "Cartouche," 1858; "LeLac
de Glenaston " and " La Prise de Pekin, " 1861 ; " Le
Chateau de Pontalec," "La Chatte Merveilleuse,"
and "Rothomago," 1862; "Aladin, ou la Lampe
Merveilleuse" and "L'Aieule," 1863; "Les Amours
de Paris," 1866; "Le Premier Jour de Bonheur,"
1868; "Reve d' Amour," 1870; "Le Centenaire,"
1873; "Les Deux Orphelines," 1875, his masterpiece
and enormously successful.
D'Ennery wrote the libretto for several of Auber's
comic operas. He dramatized many of the writings
of Jules Verne. In later years he wrote several
feuilletons in "Le Petit Journal," including "Le
Remords d'un Ange"and "Martyre." In 1885 he
adapted the " Cid " to opera, the music being by
Massenet. The last of D'Ennery's popular ro-
mances, "Seule," appeared in 1897, when he was
eighty-six years of age.
D'Ennery was commander of the Legion of Honor,
and possessed several foreign medals. He left a
fortune of nearly 6,000,000 francs, and liberally en-
dowed the institutions with which he had been con-
nected. Before his death he donated to the state one
of his houses, containing a collection of Chinese and
Japanese vases of great value.
Bibliography : Curlnier, Dirtinnnaire National ; La Grande
Encyclopedic ; Journal des Debats, Paris, Jan. 27, 1S99.
s. V. E.
ENNERY, JONAS : French deputy ; born at
Nancy Jan. 2, 1801 ; died at Brussels May 19, 1863.
He was for twenty-six years attached to the Jewish
school of Strasburg, of which he became the head.
In collaboration with Hirth, he compiled a "Dic-
tionnaire General de Geographic Universelle " (4
vols., Strasburg, 1839-41). for which Cuvier wrote
a preface. Soon afterward he published " Le Sentier
Ennery,
Enoch
Marchaud
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
178
d'Israel, ou Bible des Jeunes Israelites " (Paris,
Metz, and Strasburg, 1843). At the request of the
Societe des Bons Livres he took part in the editor-
ship of "Pri^res d'un Coeur Israelite," which ap-
peared in 1848.
In 1849, despite anti-Jewish rioting in Alsace, En-
nery was elected representative for the department
of the Lower Rhine, and sat among the members of
the "Mountain." He devoted his attention princi-
pally to scholastic questions. After the coup d'etat
he resisted the new order of things, and was exiled
for life in 1852. He retired to Brussels, where he
lived as a teacher until his death.
Bibliography : Arch. Isr. June, 1848 ; Staehling, Histoire
Contemporaine de Strasbouru et de V Alsace, Nice, 1884.
s. I. B.
ENNERY, MARCHAND: French rabbi;
brother of Jonas Ennery; born at Nancy 1792; died
at Paris Aug. 21, 1852; studied Talmud under
Baruch Guggenheim and at the rabbinical school of
Herz Scheuer, in Mayence. He went to Paris, be-
came teacher in the family of a wealthy coreligion-
ist, and in 1819 was appointed director of the new
Jewish school at Nancy. At this time he published
his Hebrew-French lexicon, the first of its kind to
appear in France. In 1829 he became chief rabbi
of Paris; in 1846 chief rabbi of the Central Consis-
tory; in 1850 chevalier of the Legion of Honor.
Bibliography : Arch. Isr. Sept., 1852; Univ. Isr. Sept. and
Oct., 1852.
8. I. B.
ENOCH ("iljn) : 1. Son of Cain (Gen. iv. 17). A
city was named after him.
2. Biblical Data : Name of the seventh progen-
itor of the race in the " book of the generations of
Adam " ; he was the son of Jared and the father of
Methuselah (Gen. v.). He lived 365 years, and is
described as "walking with God, "his end being told
in the words " and he was not ; for God took him "
{ib. 24). No further reference to Enoch is found in
Hebrew Scripture, unless the ingenious emendation
in Ezekiel (xiv. 14, 20; xxviii. 3) of "Daniel" into
"Enoch," proposed by Halevy ("R. E. J." xiv. 20 et
seq.) and adopted by Cheyne (Cheyne and Black, " En-
cyc. Bibl." ii. 1295), be accepted. In Ecclesiasticus
(Sirach) xliv. 16 Enoch's " taking away " is referred
to with the addition, in the recovered Hebrew text,
of nm yrh nyn din (see Peters, "Hebraische Text
des Buches Ecclesiasticus," p. 230, Freiburg, 1902);
and in xlix. 14 his destiny is glorified.
E. G. H.
In Rabbinical Literature : According to
Targ. Pseudo-Jonatlian (Gen. v. 24) Enoch was a
pious worshiper of the true God, and was removed
from among the dwellers on earth to heaven, re-
ceiving the names (and offices) of Metatron and
"Safra Rabba" (Great Scribe). This view repre-
sents one and (after the complete separation of Chris-
tianity from Judaism) the prevailing rabbinical idea
of Enoch's character and exaltation. Another, not
quite so favorable, appears in the polemics carried
on by Abbahu and others with Christian disputants
(Friedlander, " Patristische und Talmudische Stu-
dien,"p. 99; "R. E. J." v. 3). Enoch is held to have
been inconsistent in his piety and therefore to have
been removed by God before his time in order to
forestall further lapses. The miraculous character
of his translation is denied, his death being attrib-
uted to the plague (Gen. R. v. 24; Yalk., Gen. v. 24;
Rashi and Ibn Ezra on the verse ; comp. Wisdom iv.
10-14; Frankel, "Ueber den Einfluss der Palasti-
nischen Exegese," etc., pp. 44, 45;
Divergent Ecclus. [Sirach] xliv. 16; Zohar to
Views of Gen. v. 24; but see also Philo, "De
His Abrahamo," § 3). But withal Enoch
Character, is one of those that passed into Gan
Eden without tasting the pangs of
death (Talk., Gen. v. 24).
In the development of the Enoch legends he
is credited with the invention of the art of writing
(Book of Jubilees, iv. ; comp. Charles's notes on the
chapter; Targ. Pseudo- Jonathan, Gen. v. 24). He
teaches astronomy and arithmetic ("SeferYuhasin,"
v.; comp. Eusebius, "Praeparatio Evangelica," ix.
17; Bar Hebroeus Chronicle, p. 5). These ascrip-
tions, as well as the assumption that he was meta-
tron, reflect the interpretation of his name as mean-
ing the "initiated."
Neglected by the Jews for some time (Halevy, in
"R. E. J." xiv. 21), Enoch reappears as the hero
and author of several pseudepigraphic midrashim
(comp. Enoch, Books of), in part elaborations of
material contained in the "Safer ha-Yashar." Of
these midrashim the following are the best known :
"Hekalot Rabbati." "Sefer Hanok," "SeferHeka-
lot," and "Hayye Hanok." In the " Hekalot Rab
bati" (Jellinek, "B. H." iii. 83-108) Enoch appears
as Metatron, ''Sar ha-Panim" (see Jew. Encyc. i.
594b, s.v. Angelology), revealing celestial secrets to
the learned and the wise. The " Sefer Hanok " (Jel-
linek, I.e. ii.) relates how the earth was abandoned
by God in consequence of the sins of the generation
of the Deluge. Enoch is taken up to heaven, and is
appointed guardian of all the celestial treasures,
chief of the archangels, and the immediate attendant
on God's throne. He knows all secrets and mys-
teries, and, while all the angels are at his beck, he
fulfils of his own accord whatever comes out of
the mouth of God, and executes His decrees. He
teaches ; he conducts souls to the place of felicity ;
and he is known as " Prince of God's Face," " Prince
of the Torah," "Prince of Wisdom," "Prince of
Reason," and " Prince of Glory." He communicates
God's revelations to Moses.
The "Sefer Hekalot" (Jellinek, I.e. v.) contains,
among other things, an account of R. Ishmael's visit
to the seventh celestial hall or temple.
In the where he meets Enoch, raised to the
Minor dignity of Metatron, Sar ha-Panim.
Midrashim. Enoch tells him the story of his eleva-
tion as follows: In consequence of
earth's corruption by the evil spirits Shamhazai and
Azael, Enoch was translated to heaven to be a wit-
ness that God was not cruel (comp. Ecclus. [Sirach]
xliv. 16, Hebr. text). There all the gates of wisdom
were opened unto him as Metatron; he was ap-
pointed chief of all angels ; and his carnal body was
changed into one of light.
The " Hayye Hanok " is of later composition, but
more elaborate (Jellinek, I.e. iv.). Enoch appears in
the role of a pious ascetic. Called by a voice to
return to the abodes of men, he preaches repentance.
179
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Ennery, Marchand
Snoch
He gathers a vast concourse of disciples, and, in-
creasing in wisdom, he finally is proclaimed king.
Peace reigns on earth during the 243 yeai-s of his
rule. But he hankers after solitude. He abandons
his throne, appearing to men from time to time to
instruct them. Finally he is summoned to leave
earth and to assume rulership over the "sons of
God." He ascends to heaven on a horse, after the
manner of Elijah's translation, in the sight of a vast
multitude, which in vain repeatedly endeavors to
detain him. In Tosefot to Ycb. 16b it is denied
that Enoch could have been " Sar ha- '01am " (Prince
of the World).
In some late accounts Enoch reappears as a pros-
elyte, who, though under the obligation to observe
only the seven Noachian precepts, embraces Juda-
ism. He is a cobbler sewing together worlds; and
over every seam he pronounces the benediction
"Blessed be the name, the glory of His kingdom for
ever and aye " (see Yalk., Hadash., 25b ; Yalk., TJeu-
beni, 28b, Bereshit).
s. s. E. G. H.
In Mohammedan Literature : Enoch is
known to the Mohammedans as "Idris" (the In-
structor). In the Koran Idris is mentioned in sura
xix. 57 as a man of truth and a prophet, raised by
Allah to a lofty place, and in sura xxi. 85 as a model of
patience. Baicjawi, in identifying him with Enoch,
explains "Idris" as indicating his knowledge of di-
vine mysteries. He was the first man who knew how
to write, and invented the sciences of astronomy and
arithmetic (see above. In Rabbinical Literature).
The story of his " death " is variously related. When
on a visit to the Angel of Heaven he was met while in
the fourth heaven by the Angel of Death, who in-
formed him that he had orders to bring about his
end. Idris then expired in the embrace (wings) of
the Angel of Heaven, and remained in the fourth
heaven ever after. In other versions Idris, also
named "Uhnukh," appears as in communication
with the angel Gabriel, and as a student of the Books
of Adam, as well as of those imparted to him by
Gabriel. He had been sent as a preacher of repent-
ance unto the corrupt descendants of Cain.
Idris was often compelled to defend his life with
the sword against the depraved children of earth.
He invented the balance to weigh justly. He was
the first scribe and the first tailor. He longs to en-
ter paradise. God sends Death disguised as a beau-
tiful virgin to test him. He prays for death with
the privilege of returning to life. This is granted.
He dies, but returns to life at once ; visits hell, where
he beholds from the wall of division the horrors of
Gehenna; and is then led to the gate of paradise.
Refused admittance by the custodian, he lifts him-
self over the wall by clinging to a branch of the
tree "Tuba," the tree of knowledge, which God for
his benefit caused to bend over the wall. Thus Idris
entered paradise while still living. It is possible
that these legends contain traces of lost haggadahs.
Mas'udi reports that Enoch (Uhnukh) was the son
of Lud, and is identical with Idris. He lived on
earth 300 years and perhaps longer ; he is credited
with the invention of the needle and the art of sew-
ing. He received from heaven thirty leaflets con-
taining the praises of God and prayers.
Bim.iOGiiAPHv: Hughes, Dictionary of fslnm, s.v. Idrin;
Wt'il, Iiildi.-<clie Lcuoideii der MuxclniUiniet\ pp. ^i2et neq.;
Mas'udi, Lex Praii'ies (i'Or. 1. 73.
Critical View : The translation of Enoch
resembles that of other heroes of popular legend.
Elijah's (II Kings ii. 1-12) is the Biblical parallel,
while the fate of Ganymede, Hercules, Semiramis,
Xisuthrus, and the Phrygian King of Annacus
presents non-Hebrew analogues (see Winer, "B.
R. " ; Riehm, " Handworterb. " 2d ed. , i. 608). Among
modern critics the view prevails that Enoch cor-
responds to the Babylonian Emmeduranki (Greek,
" Edoranchus "), the seventh king in Berosus' list of
primitive monarchs. Emmeduranki was famous for
his knowledge of things divine ; he was the progenitor
of the priesthood. These heroes probably were orig-
inally deities, reduced in course of time to human
stature, but still credited with divine dcathlessness.
In Enoch's case attention has been called to the
coincidence of the 365 years of his life with the
number of days in the solar year, and it has been
suggested that Enoch originally represented the
deified sun (see Gunkel, "Genesis," p. 124).
E. G. H.
ENOCH, BOOKS OF (Ethiopic and Sla-
vonic) : Apocryphal works attributed to Enoch.
From Gen. v. 24 (" Enoch walked with God " and
"God took him") a cycle of Jewish legends about
Enoch was derived, which, together with apocalyp-
tic speculations naturally ascribed to such a man,
credited with superhuman knowledge, found their
literary expression in the Books of Enoch. Of this
literature a collection of fragments or single, inde-
pendent pieces has come down to us in the so-
called "Ethiopic Enoch," whereas the Slavonic Book
of Enoch gives, as it were, a resume of most of the
current oral or literary traditions about its hero,
which it brings into a certain system of its own. So
far as can be judged from these books, the legends
of Enoch are the following : (1) He went during his
lifetime to heaven, " walked " with God's angels over
all heaven (or heavens) and earth, came back to his
family and told them what he had seen, and finally
was again taken up to heaven. (2) During his jour-
neys he saw the secrets of heaven and earth, that is,
the natural phenomena. (3) He saw what had be-
come of the angels, "sons of God," who, according
to Gen. vi. 1-4, had come to earth and sinned with
the daughters of men. (4) He interceded for these
fallen angels. In 3 and 4 evidently two different
cycles of legends have crossed each other, but
whether 3 precedes 4, or vice versa, is hard to tell.
These legends, a more popular form of tradition, are,
however, not preserved imim paired, but are strongly
influenced and developed by the literary traditions
which deal mainly with apocalyptic ideas.
I. Ethiopic Enoch : In the old Jewish and
Christian literatures (for examjjle, in the New Tes-
tament Epistle of Jude, verse 14) a Book of Enoch
is quoted, and is undoubtedly often used without
special reference being made to it. But about
300 the Christian Church began to discredit the
book, and after the time of the Greek fathers Syn-
cellus and Cedrenus, who cite it (ninth century), it
Avas entirely lost until (1773) the traveler Bruce
discovered in Abyssinia two manuscripts of the
Enoch
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
180
book. In tlie nineteenth century several editions
and translations were made, and many critical in
quiries into its contents published. The following
is a list of the various editions and translations of the
Ethiopic Enoch :
Editions: Laurence, " Librl Enoch Versio .a:thiopica," Ox-
ford, 183« ; Dillmaiin, " Liber Henoch .^thiopice," Leipsic, 1851
(from 5 MSS.); Flemming. "Das Buch Henoch." Leipsic, 1902
(from U MSS.); another edition, still fuller than that of Flem-
ming, is being prepared by Professor Charles.
Translations : Laurence, " The Book of Enoch," Oxford,
1821; Hoffmann, "Das Buch Henoch," Jena, 1833-38; Dillmann,
" Das Buch Henoch Uebersetzt und Urklart," Leipsic, 1853 (stand-
ard translation for 40 years); Schodde, "The Book of Enoch
Translated, with Introduction and Notes," Andover, 1882;
Charles, " The Book of Enoch," Oxford, 1893 ; Beer, in Kautzsch,
"Apokryphen und Pseudepigraphen," il. 217-310, Tubingen,
1900; Flemming, in vol. v. of "Die Griechischen Christlichen
Schriftsteller der Ersten Drei Jahrhunderte," Leipsic, 1901.
There may also be mentioned here a retranslation Into Hebrew
("lun IDC) by L. Goldschmidt, Berlin, 1892, from DUlmann's
German translation.
Following is an analysis of the contents:
Ch.i.-v. : Introduction: Enoch relates a vision of the last
days, the fate of the elect and of sinners, and urges obser^'a-
tion of the works of God in nature.
Ch. vi.-cv. : The main part of the book :
Ch. vi.-xxxvi. : The so-called " angelologlcal book" :
(a : vi.-xix.): The story of the fallen angels :
vl.-xi. : The angels on earth, their marriages and wrong-
doings ; announcement of their punishment.
xll.-xvl. : Enoch's visions concerning their punishment ;
he announces their destiny to them, but upon their
supplication intercedes for them. In another vision
he is told that his intercession is in vain ; he then an-
nounces their final punishment,
xvii.-xix. : Enoch's journey through heaven and earth,
during which he sees chiefly the fallen angels suffer
the punishment which he had announced,
(b: xx.-xxxvl.): Enoch wanders, accompanied by the six
(or seven) archangels, through heaven and earth, and is
shown again the punishment of the angels (xxi.). Hades
(xxli.), and the secrets of nature in the west (xxiii.-xx v.).
In the center of the earth (xxvi.-xxvii.), in the east
(xxviii.-xxxiii.),in the north (xxxiv. and xxxv.2), and in
the south (xxxvi.).
Ch. xxxvii.-lxxi. : The similitudes and additions :
(a: xxxvli.): Introduction.
(b: xxxviii.-xliv.): First similitude: The future kingdom
of God, the dwellings of the righteous, the angels, and the
secrets of nature,
(c: xlv.-lvii.) : Second similitude: The Last Judgment
by the Messiah, " the Son of Man," who sits with " the
Head of Days." The holy and elect are rewarded ; the
heathen and sinners are destroyed forever.
(d: Iviii.-lxix.): Third similitude (with fragments of an
account of the Flood interspersed): The eternal bliss of
the righteous and the sufferings of the kings and the
mighty,
(e : Ixx.-lxxi.): First and second appendices: Enoch's
translation into paradise, and Enoch's ascension and elec-
tion as " Son of Man."
Ch. Ixxli.-lxxxii. : The Book of Celestial Physics : Theories
about sun, moon, stars, intercalary days, the four quarters
of the world.
Ch. Ixxxiii.-xc: Two dream-visions of Enoch before his
marriage, which he recounts to his son Methuselah :
(a: Ixxxiil.-lxxxlv.): The Flood— the first world-judg-
ment,
(b: Ixxxv.-xc): The history of the world from Adam
until the final judgment: Men are represented here as
animals; the righteous are white cattle and sheep, the
sinners and enemies of Israel are black cattle and wild
animals (vision of the animals, or of the shepherds).
Ch. xcl.-cv.: Admonitions and predictions of Enoch, ad-
dressed to his children :
(a: xcl. 1-11, 18-19): Admonition to live a righteous life,
(b: xcl. 12-17 and xcilL): The "Apocalypse of Weeks":
The history of the world Is outlined, divided into ten
weeks,
(c : xcii., xciv.-cv.): Admonitions, predictions of the punish-
ment of sinners, and promises of reward to the righteous.
Ch. cvi.-cviii. : Appendices:
Ch. cvi.-cvii. : Miracles and signs at the birth of Noah.
Ch. cviii. : Another speech of Enoch concerning the fate of
the wicked and of the righteous.
The Ethiopic Enoch was original!}' written in
Hebrew, and then translated into Greek. From this
version an Ethiopic and probably a Latin translation
were made. Of the Greek version ch. i.-xxxii.
are preserved in a manuscript discovered at Gizeh
in 1886-87 bj' the French Arclieological ]\Iission, and
published by Bouriant in the " Jlemoiies " of that
mission (1892, vol. ix., fasc. i.), by
Language Dillmann in the "Sitzungsberichte
and der Berliner Akademie der Wissen-
Versions. schaften " (1893, pp. 1079 et seq.), by
Lods, "Le Livre d'Henoch" (Paris,
1892), by Charles, " Book of Enocli " (1893, Appendix
C), and by Swete, " The Old Testament in Greek " (2d
Qd.^iii.liSQet seq., Cambridge, 1899). Furthermore,
ch. vi.-ix. 4, viii. 4-x. 14, xv. 8-xvi. 1 have come
down to us through Syncellus (about 800), and
Ixxxix. 42-49 is found in a manuscript in the Vati-
can. These fragments are reproduced by Charles
(1893), and again by Swete (1899). Of the Latin
translation only i. 9 and cvi. 1-18 are known. The
first passage occurs in Pseudo-Cyprian and Pseudo-
Vigilius (see Beer, I.e. p. 237); the second was dis-
covered by James in an eighth-century manuscript
in the British Museum, and published by Charles,
I.e., Appendix E, and by James, " Apocryplia Anec-
dota," pp. 146-150. Whether or not the whole book
was tianslated into Latin can not be established with
certainty fiom these fragments. All the Greek and
Latin fragments are republished in Flemming and
Radermacher, "Das Buch Henoch," Leipsic, 1901.
Almost from the beginning it was recognized that
Ethiopic Enoch was composed of various independ-
ent works, and it was assimied that three sources
Avere to be distinguished: (1) the
Composi- '"groundwork," i.-xxxvi.,lxxii.-civ. ;
tion (2) the similitudes, xxxvii.-lxxi. ; (3)
and Date. Noachian interpolations, chiefly to be
found in the similitudes. Different
scholars gave different analyses: it is not possible to
enumerate all their views, nor can all their works
and articles be mentioned here. The most recent
ones, in which the earlier views are usually given
in full (see especially Schiirer, Charles, and Clemen)
are:
Schiirer, Gesch. iii. 190 et seq., Leipsic, 1898 ; Eng. ed. div.
ii., iii. 54-73 ; Charles, Book of Enoch, pp. 9 et sc(/., 310-311 ;
Cheyne and Black, Encyc. Bibl. i. 220-225; Lawlor, Early
Citatio7K from the Book of Enoch, in Jour, of PhUoIogil,
1897, XXV. 164-225; Clemen, Die Ziisammeyisetzung des
Buche.t Henoch, in Theologxsche Studien und Kritiken, 1898.
pp. 212-227; Beer, in Kautzsch, Apokryphen und Pncudepi-
graphen, ii. 217-235; Bousset, Neueste Forschungen auf dem
Gebiete der ReliQiGscn Litteratur des Spdtjudentum.'i, in
Theologwche Rundschau, 1900, pp. 369 et seq.; J. van Loon,
Eschatologiei'n van den Hasmoneyntijd Volgens het Boek
Henoch, in Theolog. Tijdachrift, pp. 421-463, Leydeu, 1902.
Charles definitely proved that the so-called
"groundwork " was in itself not by any means uni-
form. Another important step in the interpretation
of the book Avas gained b_v Clemen's article, in
which Gunkel's theory of apocalyptic "traditions"
was applied. Charles distinguished five sections
(1893) or parts (1898), to which as a sixth part the
Noachian and other interpolations were added : (1)
181
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Enoch
i.-xxxvi., written before 170 B.C.; (2) Ixxxiii.-xc,
Avritten between 166 and 161 n.c. ; (3) xci.-civ., not
ciulier than 134 B.C.; (4) xxxvii.-lxx., the siniili-
liules, written between 94 and 79, or between 70
and 64 B.C. ; (5) Ixxii.-lxxxii., tlie Bool< of Celestial
Physics, the date of which can not be determined.
Clemen arrived at the following conclusion : " The
Book of Enoch is based on twelve independent tra-
ditions or groups of traditions: (1) i.-v. ; (2) vi.-xi. ;
(3) xii.-xvi. ; (4') xvii.-xix. ; (5) xx. (?)-xxxvi ; (6)
xxxvii.-lxix. ; (7) Ixx.-lxxi. ; (8) Ixxii.-xci. 10, 18,
19; (,9) xci. 12-17, xcii., xciii., xciv.-cv. ; (10) cvi.-
cvii.; (ll)cviii. ; (12) the Noachian fragments, liv. 7-
Iv. 2, Ix., Ixv.-lxix. 25. Probably No. 3, perhaps No.
6, certainly Nos. 9, 11, and 12, were taken from
written sources." According to him, the date is a
little doubtful, since some of the traditions may not
have been written down at once. Beer in the main
follows Clemen, but gives for a part a more de-
tailed analysis. Clemen's hypothesis of traditions
seems the most acceptable, as also his analysis,
except that his tenth tradition should perhaps
be counted as a ]3art of his No. 12, ?'. <;. , as a Noachian
fragment.
Some of the apocalyptic portions, above all the
similitudes, seem to have been literary tradition from
the beginning. But another very dif-
Separate ficult question arises: Hoav and in
Strata. what order were the different portions
of the book put together? Probably
vi.-xix., possibly vi.-xxxvi., are the stock, to which
other portions, younger or perhaps in part older,
were gradually added. Ch. vi.-xix. were intended
to tell the story of the fallen angels and Enoch's re-
lation to them: vi.-xi. and xii.-xvi., taken from
two different cj'cles of legends, were united ; and, in
order to show the execution of the punishment of
the angels, xvii.-xix., narrating the journey during
which Enoch is a witness of it, were added. It was
very natural to join to this portion xx.-xxxvi., an-
other tradition concerning Enoch's journey. The
next step in the composition ma}* have been the add-
ing either of the similitudes or of one or several of the
traditions in Ixxii.-eiv. But it seems more probable
that a redactor united vi.-xxxvi. with Ixxii.-civ.,
and wrote the introduction, i.-v., and perhaps also
the conclusion, cv. This intermediate book would
then have a proper beginning and conclusion.
The redactorial changes within the diflerent por-
tions of Ixxii.-civ. may also have been made at this
time. Thirdly and lastly would have been added the
similitudes, probably together with the Noachian
fragments xxxix. 1, 2a, liv. 7-1 v. 2, Ix., Ixv. 1-lxix.
25, cvi., cvii. Of the latter, cvi. el seq. were probably
added by some one Avho wished to carry the story
on a little farther — a very common occurrence in
literary history. He may have been the redactor
who added the similitudes and inserted in them sev-
eral other portions from the same .source from which
he took cvi. et seq. This theory is strongly sup-
ported by evidence which has only recently been
discovered; namely, the true date of the Book of
Jubilees, which has been proved, mainly by Bohn
and Charles, to be as early as the last tliinl of the
second century b.c. In the Book of Jubilees (iv.
17-23) writings of Enoch are mentioned, and (Charles
("Book of Jubilees," 1902, p. 37) concludes that
the author refers only to Ethiopic Enoch vi.-xvi.,
xxiii.-xxxvi., Ixxii.-xc. But Book of Jubilees iv.
23 may include Enoch xvii.-xxii. as well, and iv. 18
("recounted the weeks of the Jubilees") is perhaps
an allusion to the Apocalypse of Weeks, which by
many critics is considered the oldest portion of
Ethiopic Enoch. Thus it is very likely that the
book referred to in Jubilees was the intermediate
one just mentioned. Moreover, the similitudes,
which were evidently unknown to the author of
Jubilees, date from the lirst century B.C. — that is,
later than Jubilees — and the Noachian fragments
also were probably added in the first century, be-
cause in the second century reference (Jubilees x. 13)
seems to have been made to a complete apocalj'pse
of Noah. Last of all, cviii. was added to Ethiopic
Enoch; this may have happened long after i. -cvii.
had become one book (about 60 B.C. ). The whole book
originated and was put into writing in Palestine.
The Ethiopic Book of Enoch is one of the most
important pieces of apocal3'ptic literature; it fur-
nishes extensive contributions to our
Value. knowledge of Jewish folk-lore in the
last pre-Christian centuries; it shows
apocalyptic literature in its beginnings, and above
all it is a source of information upon the religious
ideas of Judaism, especially concerning the Messiah ;
finally, it also pictures the feelings of the people
during the time of the Hasmoneans. More details
with regard to these questions are to be found in
Charles, " Book of Enoch," introductions to the single
sections, and in Van Loon's article, mentioned above.
II. Slavonic Enoch: A book called "The Book
of the Secrets of Enoch," preserved, so far as is
known, only in Slavonic, was introduced to the
scientific world but a few years ago, when certain
manuscripts found in Russia and Servia were edited,
and subsequently translated into German and Eng-
lish. Following is an analj'sis of its contents;
Ch. i.-ii. : Introduction: Life of Enoch; his dreams, in
which he is told that he will be taken up into heaven ; his
admonitions to his sons before he departs.
Ch. iii.-lxvi. : The main part of the book :
Ch. iii.-.xxxvi. : Enoch in heaven :
(a: iii.-vi.): The first heaven : a great sea; the elders and
the rulers of the stars ; the habitations of the snow ; the
treasuries of dew, oil, and different colors.
(i) : vii.): The second heaven : the fallen angels imprisoned,
awaiting the eternal judgment; they ask Enoch to inter-
cede for tliem.
(c: viii.-x.): The third heaven : the Garden of Eden, with
the tree of life and an " olive-tree always distilling oil " ;
to the north of it the place of the damned.
(d: xi.-xvii.): The fourth heaven: the courses and the
gates of sun and moon ; the wonderful singing creatures
which wait upon the sun. namely, phenixes and chal-
cidri ; a singing host of angels.
(c : xvili.): The Bfth heaven : the watchers ("gregori "= iyp'n-
yopoi). silent and mourning for their fallen brethren, who
are being tormented In the second heaven.
(/ : xix.); The sixth heaven: seven bands of angels who
arrange and study the revolutions of sun. moon, and
stars; the angels who are put over the souls of men and
write down their lives and works : furthermore, seven
phenixes and seven cherubim and seven six-winged crea-
tures.
((/: xx.-xxxvi.): The seventh heaven: the Lord sitting on
His throne and the ten great orders of angels standing be-
fore Him. Enoch is clothed by Michael in raiment of God's
glory, and is told by the angei Vretil ( Vreteel, Pravuel) all
the secrets of heaven (natural phenomena) and of earth
(concerning men). He is ordered to write them down in
£nocti
Enriquez
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
182
366 books. God reveals to Enoch His own great secrets.
His creation, the story of the fallen angels and of Adam ;
furthermore. He tells him about the seven millenniums of
the earth and the eighth at the end. God also accuses the
wicked, and then orders Enoch to go back to earth for
thirty days to teach his children and grandchildren.
Ch. xxxvii. is probably a later addition.
Ch. xxxviii.-lxvi. : Enoch back on earth. He admonishes
his sons; tells them what he has seen in the heavens;
gives them his books and urges them to transmit these to
others ; moreover, he relates to them what God has prom-
ised to men and what He expects them to do, and asserts
that there is no intercession of departed saints for sinners.
In Ivi. Methuselah asks a blessing from his father. In Ivii.
all the sons of Enoch with their families and the elders
of the people are called, and Enoch gives renewed in-
structions as to a righteous life. In Ixiv. the Lord calls
Enoch, the people assemble to kiss him in Achuzan, and
he addresses them for the last time.
Ch. Ixvii.-lxviii . : Conclusion :
Ch. Ixvii. : Enoch's translation into heaven.
Ch. Ixviii. : Recapitulation of Enoch's life and doings; Me-
thuselah and his brothers build an altar in Achuzan, and
they and the people "make a great festivity, praising God
who had given such a sign by means of Enoch, who had
found favor with Him."
The Slavonic Enoch was written in Greek, as is
shown by the derivation of Adam's name from the
four quarters, ' Avarolr], Ai'ctg, 'ApKTog,
Language Mc(jri/Ltl3pid, and by several coincidences
and. Origin, with the Septuagint; but perhaps
parts of it are based on Hebrew origi-
nals. From the Greek it was translated into Sla-
vonic. Of this version there are five manuscripts
extant, which are described in the introduction to
Charles and Morfill, "The Book of the Secrets of
Enoch," Oxford, 1896 (reviewed by Bonwetsch in
" Theologische Literaturzeitung," 1896, cols. 153-
156) and to Bonwetsch, "Das Slavische Henoch-
buch," in " Abhandlungen der Koniglichen Gelehrten
Gesellschaft zu Gottingen," 1896 (reviewed by
Schurer in "Theologische Literaturzeitung," 1896,
cols. 347-350).
The Slavonic Enoch seems to be an attempt to
bring all the current traditions about Enoch into a
certain system, which is partly furnished by the spe-
cial scheme of the seven heavens. It is therefore,
with the exception of a few interpolations, derived
from one author. This author, according to Charles,
was probably a Jew living in Egypt, since he has cer-
tain speculations in common with Philo and other
Hellenistic Jews, and since several other elements in
the book betray Egyptian origin.
The book was probably written between 50 B.C.
and 70 a.d. ; the first date is given by the fact that
Ethiopic Enoch, Ecclesiasticus, and Wisdom of
Solomon are used ; the second by the
Date fact that the destruction of the Tem-
and Value, pie is not mentioned at all. The quo-
tations from Slavonic Enoch in the
Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, which Charles
uses as additional evidence in establishing the date,
are strongly doubted by Schurer. The Slavonic
Enoch furnishes new material for the study of re-
ligious thought in Judaism about the beginning of
the common era. The ideas of the millennium and
of the seven heavens are the most important in this
connection ; both have been treated in detail by
Charles in his introduction and commentary, pub-
lished together with Morfill's translation. Another
very interesting feature is the presence of evil in
heaven — the fallen angels in the second heaven, and
hell in the third. This belief, although probably
at first current among the Christians also, was, to-
gether with the idea of the seven heavens, afterward
rejected by the Church. The idea of hell in the third
heaven may have been derived from expectations ex-
pressed in Isa. Ixvi. 23, 24; that is, that the pleasures
of the righteous in paradise will be enhanced by see-
ing the sufferings of the wicked.
G. E. Li.
ENOCH, BOOKS OF (Hebrew) : See Apoc-
alyptic Literature.
ENOCH BEN ABRAHAM: Talmudist and
popular preacher ; died after 1662. Enoch belonged
to a famous family of scholars of the community of
Posen. In 1649 he left Cracow, where he was
preacher, to become rabbi at Gneseu. It is not
known why he left the latter citj^ : those districts of
Poland were not affected by the Cossack rebellion.
In 1652, when the community of Posen was on the
point of sinking under its load of debt, Enoch was
sent to Germany to raise funds, the community
pledging itself to appoint him preacher for a period
of three years on his return (" Communal Records
of Posen," iii. 197a). Conditions in Posen, however,
became such that the community could not longer
pay its officials. Enoch left Poland, either for this
reason or in consequence of the war between
Sweden and Poland, which broke out in 1655 and
devastated the commimities of Greater Poland. He
was appointed rabbi at Oettingen in Riess, where he
was living in 1662 and where he probably died.
Enoch was the author of the following : " Wikkuah
Yosef we-ha Shebatim," containing homilies, Am-
sterdam, 1680 ; a dirge on the suffering of the Jews
in the Ukraine and Little Poland, appended to Jacob
ben Naphtali's "Nahalat Ya'akob," ^■6. 1652; "Pe-
rush 'al Shir Mizmor," a commentary to Psalm
Ixxxiii., Prague, 1657; "Reshit Bikkurim," hom-
ilies on the existence of God, revelation, and reward
and punishment ; "HinnukBet Yehudah," responsa,
published together with those of his son, ib. 1708.
Bibliography: Steinschneider, Caf . BodL No. 4734 ; Michael,
Or ha-Hayyim, No. 906; Sokolow, Gan Perahim, p. 120,
Warsaw; 1890.
8. s. P. B.
ENOCH BEN JTTDAH LOB: German Tal
mudist and rabbi of Schnaittach ; flourished at the
beginning of the eighteenth century. He studied
with his father and with Rabbi Abraham Broda.
His writings are included with those of his father
and grandfather in " Reshit Bikkurim," and "Hin-
nuk Bet Yehudah," responsa (ib. 1708).
Bibliography: Michael, Or /la-Hai/i/rm, p. 41.5; Walden, S/iem
ha-GedoUm he-Hadash, ii. 68; Steinschneider, Cat. Bodl.
col. 838.
L. G. A. Pe.
ENOCH BEN MOSES: Prominent rabbi of
Cordova, 950-1024. His father was one of the four
scliolars who, according to tradition, were taken
prisoners while on a voyage and sold as slaves, and
who subsequently became the founders of Talmudic
schools in their new homes (see Apulia). Enoch,
then a child, was with his parents. When R. Moses
acliieved honor in Spain and was made rabbi of
Cordova, young Enoch found for a time in brilliant
183
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Enoch
Enriquez
external conditions compensation for the sorrows
of his ciiildhood. He married into one of the most
noble and prominent families in Cordova, and suc-
ceeded his father as rabbi. Thougli made wealthy
through these connections, Enoch always led an
ascetic life, depriving himself for the benctit of
the poor and needy. After the death of Prince
Hasdai ibn Shaprut, his friend and protector, Enoch
entered again upon a period of adversit3^ A party
arose to dispute his authority and position in favor
of Joseph ibn Abitur. Enoch prevailed, and Ibn
Abitur sought protection in foreign countries. Two
of Abitur's followers, the brothers Jacob and Joseph
ibn Gau, rich silk-manufacturers, gaining the favor
of the calif by presents of money, were granted the
privilege of appointing rabbis at Cordova. There-
upon they deposed Enoch and invited Abitur to re-
turn ; the latter, however, declined, and died in exile.
After Abitur's death Enoch was again recognized as
rabbi, officiating until 1024, when be became the vic-
tim of an accident. On the last day of the Feast of
Tabernacles, while ascending to the reading-desk,
the old and rotten woodwork of the almemar broke
down. The aged rabbi died of the injuries received
in falling.
The best known of his pupils is said to have been
the diplomat and scholar Samuel ha-Nagid. Ex-
cepting a few respousa (in the collections " Sha'are
Zedek" and "Toratan shel Rishonim," for instance),
no works of his are now extant, though some of the
earlier rabbinical authorities cite him in halakic deci-
sions. He is mentioned in the preface to the Hebrew
translation of Maimonides' commentary on Nezikin.
The statement that he translated the Talmud into
Arabic seems to be due to his having been confounded
with his opponent Joseph ibn Abitur.
BiBLioGRAPnY : Abraham ibn Da'ud, Sefer ha-^ahbalah, ed.
Basel, 1.580, pp. 70-72; Harkavy, StMdi€nu7idi»jri((/iei7?<)i6ren,
Iv. 261, 386 ; Gross, in Monatsschrift, 1869, p. 531 ; J. Muller,
Responsen der Spdnischen Lehrer, in seventh annual re-
port of the Lehranstalt fUr die Wissenschaft des Juderu
thums, Berlin, 1889; Kaminka, in Winter and Wunsche, Die
JUdische Litteralur, ii. 358 et seq.
L. G. A. K.
EXOCH, S. : German rabbi ; born in Hamburg
Oct. 8, 1814; died in Fulda Dec. 31, 1876; attended the
Johannsum in Hamburg and the Talmudic lectures
of Hakam Isaac Bernays, entered the University of
Wiirzburg, and also became a pupil of R. Abraham
Bing. He obtained his Ph.D. degree at Erlangen.
He continued his Talmudic studies with L. Boden-
heimer in Hildesheim, and R. Rohmann in Cassel;
and founded in Altona a Jewish secondary school
(Blirgerschule), which continued under his direction
until he became (1855) rabbi of Fulda. Enoch edited
for several years, beginning 1845, an Orthodox
weekly entitled " Der Treue Zionswachter. " He was
also associated as editor with the Berlin "Jlidische
Presse," which position he occupied at his death.
Bibliography: Israelitif^che Wocheiischrift, viii. 40 e( seq.
s. M. K.
ENOCH BEN SOLOMON AL-KUSTAN-
^INI : Turkish philosopher and cabalist (according
to Wolf, "Bibl. Hebr." 1., No. 635, also a physician);
lived at Constantinople in the fifteenth century. He
wrote "Mar'ot Elohim," a philosophical explanation
of the visions of Isaiah and Ezekiel (mentioned in
Isa. vi. 1, 2, and Ezek. i. l^<se9.)andof Zechariah's
vision of the candlestick (Zcch. iv. 2); each vision
occupies a chapter of the work. The author founded
his explanation on the philosophy of Maimonides.
There exist several manuscripts of this work, one
of which, belonging to Ghirondi, concludes with
a supercommentary to Ibn Ezra on Genesis. Ghi-
rondi is of opinion that this commentary also is the
work of Enoch.
Bibliography: Wolf, Bihl. Hebr. 1. 635, iii. &35: Nepi-Ghi-
ronrti, Tolednt Gedole Yisrael., pp. 108, 110; Michael, Or ha-
HaiJiiim, p. 415.
K. M. Sel.
ENOCH ZT7NDEL BEN JOSEPH: Russian
Talmudist; died at Byelostok 1867. He wrote:
a commentary on Midr. Kabbah of the tiveMegillot,
in two parts (Wilna and Grodno, 1829-34; 2d ed.,
AVilna, 1845); a twofold commentary on Midr. Tan.
{ib. 1833); a threefold commentary on Seder '01am
{ih. 1845) ; a commentary on Midr. Samuel (Stettin,
1860) ; " Mibhar Mi-Peninim," a commentary on the
Midr. Rabbah of the Pentateuch (Warsaw, 1870);
novelke on the Haggadah of the Talmud (Wilna,
1883) — these commentaries are, in fact, compilations
from other commentaries, especially those of Samuel
Jafe Ashkenazi, Hellin, and Barman Ashkenazi, to
which Enoch added novellaj of his own — " 'Olat
ha-Hodesh," prayers for the new moon, with trea-
tises on fast-days, philanthropy, etc. {ib. 1859); a
commentary on Pesik. R. ; "Hoi Ariel," a funeral
sermon on the death of R. Lob Katzenellenbogen of
Brest (ib. 1838).
Bibliography : Fiirst, Bibl. Jud. il. 107-108, iii. 396 ; Fuenn,
Keneset Yisrael, p. 312; Eliezer Kohn, Kin'at Soferim,
p. 107.
L. G. N. T. L.
ENOS : Son of Seth, Adam's third son. In his
time men began to call upon Yhwh (Gen. iv. 26).
At the age of ninety he begat Cainan, and he died
at the age of 900 years (Gen. v. 9-11 ; I Chron. i. 1).
The name doubtless means "man," as it is equiva-
lent to the often recurring "nomen appellativum"
tjrijx ("man," Deut. xxxii. 26) and the Aramaic {^JK
(Dan. ii. 10). Enos and the descendants of Seth in
general (Gen. v. 1 et seq.) have been regarded by some
modern scholars as simply arbitrary pendants to the
Cainites (Gen. iv. 17-24) ; but the two series of names
are very different.
Bibliography: Friedrich Delitzsch, Wn Lag das Paradiesi
p. 149; A. H. Sayce, in The Expositoru Time,*, 1898-99, pp.
a52 et seq.: Homme!, Artfsdtze %ind Abhandhawen, 1900,
part ii., p. 232; Gunkel, Handkommentar zur Geiiefsis, 1901,
p. 46.
E. G. II. E. K.
ENRiaUEZ (HENRiaUEZ) : Frequently re-
curring Spanish surname, often found combined with
other surnames, as "Bueno Enriquez," "Gomez En-
riquez," " Gabay Enriquez," etc. Many Maranos in
Spain, Portugal, Amsterdam, London, Jamaica,
Surinam, Barbados, New York, and other places,
bear this name.
Aaron Mendes Enriquez, physician at Amster-
dam in 1680. The "Opuscula" of De Barrios con-
tain a letter addressed to him.
Abraham Baruch Enriquez, of Amsterdam;
member of the Academy of Poets founded by Man-
uel de Belmonte, and a friend of the Spanish poet
Enriquez
Ephod
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
184
Abraham Gomez Silveyra, whose "Dialogos Bur-
lescos " he transcribed into a magnificent folio vol-
ume of 244 pages. An unknown relative in Tripoli
sent him a letter, dated Oct. 29, 1668, expressing
disapproval of the utterances of Isaac Cardoso and
Isaac Orobio de Castro concerning the Messiah.
Abraham Nunez Henriquez, of Amsterdam;
the administrator of the charitable institution Abi
Yetomim. David Nufiez Torres (1690) dedicated
a sermon to him. Another Abraham Nunez Hen-
riquez owned a plantation in Jamaica in 1760. He
had a relative, Moses Nunez Henriquez, wlio was
known in Jamaica in 1745.
Isaac Nunez Henriquez, of Hamburg ; Abra-
ham Cohen Pimentel (1688) dedicated his " Discur-
sos " to him. Another Isaac Nunez Henriquez
lived in Georgia in 1733. He was probably the
Isaac Nunez Henriquez who settled in New York
in 1741. A third Isaac Nunez Henriquez emi-
grated to Savannah, and died in Philadelphia in
1767.
Jacob Cohen Enriquez and Jacob Gabay
Enriquez each, in 1642, inscribed a pamphlet to
Manasseh ben Israel. Jacob Aboab da Fonseca dedi-
cated (1681) his "Parafrasis" to a "Jacob Enriquez "
— probabh'' one of the foregoing.
Jacob Nunez Enriquez, was a wealthy Am-
sterdam Jew who for some time held the Swedish
crown-jewels as security. Daniel Levi de Barrios
celebrated him in verse (1686). Another Jacob
Nunez Enriquez is known to have lived at Jamaica
in 1744.
Many Maranos of the name of " Enriquez " fell
victims to the Inquisition. In 1642 the sisters
B-aphaela, Johanna, Micaela, and Beatriz En-
riquez, in Mexico, were arraigned by the Inquisi-
tion, and the picture of their dead mother, Blanca
Enriquez, was burned in effigy. In 1680, a whole
family, Antonio, Violante, and Maria Enriquez,
with the husband of the last, was burned at the
stake. Louis Enriquez, and the widow (sixty
years of age) of another Louis Enriquez, together
with her daughter, were sentenced to imprisonment
for life. Blanca Enriquez of Cadiz and Beatriz
Nunez Enriquez of La Guarda were burned in
effigy — the former at Seville, on Oct. 14, 1721, the
latter at Valladolid on Jan. 26, 1727. Josepha
Enriquez, from Chile, living in Malaga, wife of
the martyr Simon de Andrade, on Nov. 30, 1721,
and the aged (seventy -three years) Eatharina
Enriquez, of Seville, on Jan. 25, 1724, were burned
at Granada. Luis Enriquez, farmer of the royal
domains, was deported by the Inquisition (May 10,
1682) to Brazil, and Gaspar Enriquez of Cuenca
was sentenced to imprisonment for life by the tri-
bunal of Cordova (April 23, 1724).
Bibliography: Kayserling, Ein Feiertag in Madrid, pp. 28 et
seq.; idem, Sephardim, p. 305; idem, Bihl. E^p.-Puit.-Jud.
pp. 21, 23, 69. 71, ia3, 106, 521 ; PuhUcatiom Am. Jew. HiM.
Soc. i. 8. 11. 48, V. 115, 117, Ix. 131 ; Kuenen, Geschiedenis dcr
Joden in Nederland, p. 212; Catalogue de Vente de Feu
M. D. Henriquez de Castro, p. 58 ; Gnttheil, The Jews and
the Spnnb<h Inqnuiition, in J. Q. R. xv.. Index, p. 238.
D. M. K.
ENSHEIM, MOSES (known also as Brisac,
and later as Moses Metz) : French mathematician
and liturgical poet; born at Metz 1750; died at
Bayonne April 9, 1889. He was destined for the rab-
binate by his parents, but left Metz against his
father's will, and traveled in Germany. In 1782-^5
he was tutor in the family of Moses Mendelssohn,
having special charge over the education of Abra-
ham Mendelssohn. His work (manuscript) on in-
tegral and differential calculus was highly praised
by Lagrange and Laplace, with whom, as with
Monge and BerthoUet, he was personally associated.
On leaving Mendelssohn's house he returned to
Metz, where he struggled hard to make a living by
teaching mathematics. Being a Jew, he was re-
jected for the position of professor of mathematics
at the newly founded Ecole Centrale at Metz.
Ensheim was prominent in the movement insti-
tuted by the Meassetim. Filled with enthusiasm
over the victory of revolutionary ideas, he wrote a
triumphal song in Hebrew, which was sung (Oct.
21, 1793) in the synagogue at Metz, to the tune of
the "Marseillaise," and printed in " Ha-Meassef . "
He was an intimate friend of Abbe Gregoire, whom
he furnished with the documents and data neces-
sary for his championship of the Jews. His last
years were passed at Bayonne in Abraham Fur-
tado's family, in which he had served as tutor,
his leisure being devoted to Talmudical studies.
Before his death he gave 12,000 francs, one-fourth
of his fortune, to the Jewish elementary school of
his native city.
Bibliography : Moses Mendelssohn, Gesammelte Schriften,
i. 54, V. «85; Gratz, Gefxh. x. !&">, 227; AUg. Zeit. des Jud.
iii. 247, 30(i ,- Arch. Isr. 1845, p. 71 ; B^gin, Biographie de la
Moselle, s.v. 1830.
s. I. B.
ENTICING. See Abduction and Seduction.
ENTBE-BIOS. See Agricultural Colonies
IN THE Argentine Republic.
EOTVOS, baron JOSEPH: Hungarian
statesman; emancipator of the Hungarian Jews;
born at Ofen Sept. 13, 1813; died at Budapest Feb.
2, 1871. On the completion of his legal studies
he traveled for several years in France. Influenced
by the liberalism of French literature and politics, he
determined to introduce the liberal institutions of
western Europe into his native country. He deliv-
ered, in 1840, as a member of the Diet, his first
speech in behalf of the emancipation of the Jews.
In 1841 he issued a pamphlet on the same theme,
which was widely read and was translated into Ger-
man and Italian. Four years later he published "A
Falu Jegyzoje," a novel in three volumes, with the
intention of creating, by the presentation of fine
Jewish characters, a favorable sentiment toward the
Jews. An English translation by Otto Wencksten
appeared under the title "Village Notary" (London,
1850). After the Hungarian revolution and the sub-
sequent agreement with Austria, Baron Eotvos was
appointed minister of public worship and education
(Feb., 1867); in the following December he effected
the complete emancipation of the Hungarian Jews.
Not satisfied with their political enfranchisement
alone, he endeavored also to secure their autonomy
as religions communities. He convened a congress
of Hungarian Jews (Budapest Dec. 14, 1868) which he
opened with an enthusiastic speech, but he failed in
his efforts to secure the adoption of a uniform com-
munal constitution. As a result of this congress,
185
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Enriquez
£phod
which sat uutil Feb. 23, 1869, Hungarian Judaism
split into three parties — Orthodox, Conservative, and
status quo-ante.
Bibliography: EotvOs. Evk6nyi\ 1879; Szlnnyei, Magmr
Irdk tHete/.H Milvei ; Venetlaner, A Znklofidg Szervezete az
EurdpaiAllamokban, p. 509.
8. L. V.
EOTVOS, KARL. See TiszA-EszLAH.
EPHAH. See Weights and Measures,
EPHEStrS : Capital of Ionia, Asia Minor, and
later, under the Romans, capital of Asia Procon-
sularis. Many Jews lived in this large Greek city
during the whole of the Hellenistic period. Josephus
("Contra Ap." ii. 4) traces the granting of citizen-
ship to the Jews of Ephesusand of entire Ionia back
to the Diadochi; but as the Greeks themselves, in
their dispute with the Jews, ascribed the regulation
of their affairs {idem, " Ant." xii. 3, § 2) to Antiochus
II. Theos (261-246 B.C.), it is probable that the
granting of equal rights to the Jews likewise dates
from that period.
In 49 B.C., when the consul L. Lentulus recruited
Roman citizens in Asia Minor for the legions of the
party of Pompey, the Jews of Ephesus, although
Roman citizens, were exempted from military serv-
ice in deference to "their laws ("Ant." xiv. 10, ^
13); and in 43 B.C. Dolabella, at the instance of Hyr-
canus II. {ib. % 12), granted them the same exemp-
tion. Dolabella directed the Ephesians to make
this known in other cities also; and the privilege
was carried into effect in Alexandria, Sardis, and
throughout Asia Minor (ib. §§ 14-17). Another
decree of the Ephesians assured to the Jews rest
on the Sabbath and the observance of their laws (ib.
§ 25). Under Augustus the Ephesians demanded
that, if the Jews deemed themselves the equals of
the Ephesians, they should worship the gods of the
Ephesians. The advocates of the Jews in this mat-
ter were Nicholas of Damascus, who later became
a historian, and M. Agrippa, who at that time (10
B.C.) governed the East. Agrippa wrote to the
Ephesians that the Jews throughout Asia should be
permitted to send gifts to the Temple at Jerusalem
and to observe the Sabbath (ib. xvi. 6, § 4). The pro-
consul C. Norbanus Flaccus (Philo, "Legatio ad
Caium," § 40) and Julius Antonius ("Ant." xvi. 6,
§ 7) wrote in like terms to the Ephesians.
Paul preached Christianity in the synagogue of
Ephesus during his first visit to that city (Actsxviii.
19) ; Apollos, a learned Jew from Alexandria, assisted
by Priscilla and Aquila, proclaimed it in the same
p\a.ce(ib. xviii. 26). Paul, on his second visit, again
preached in the synagogue ; but when some Jews
rejected his teaching, he went to preach in the pri-
vate synagogue of a certain Tyrannus (ib. xix. 9).
The Jews of Ephesus were completely Hellenized,
and the inscriptions on the Jewish tombs found there
are written in Greek: one stone commemorates a cer-
tain "Mar Maussios," i.e., Rabbi Moses; another, a
leading physician. Josephus' often cites a certain
Menander of Ephesus, whose history seems to have
included that of the Jews. The city was the scene
of the dialogue which Justin held with the Jew Try-
phon (Eusebius, "Ecclesiastical History," iv. 18).
Ephesus is mentioned in the rabbinical writings in
Targ. to I Chron. i. 5 and Yer. Meg. 71b. ^The
Rabbis, when referring to Asia, always mean simply
Ephesus. The charming tale of the widow of
Ephesus, which was known as early as the Talmud
(Kid. 80b), is treated several times in Jewish works
(Steinschneider, "Hebr. Uebers." p. 969). The so-
called Ephesiau script, used on amulets, seems to
have been employed by the Jews also (L5w, "Ge-
sammelte Schriftcu," ii. 80). The legend of the
Seven Sleepers, connected with Ephesus, which has
also been adopted by the Koran, is an episode in the
Jewish accounts of the life of Jesus (Krauss, " Leben
Jesu nach Jiidischen Quellen," p. 198).
Bibliography: Gratz. f?e.sch. 4th ed., Hi. 174, 186,228; Schurer,
Gesc/i. 3ded., iii. la, 81 ; Krauss, Z/e/i?)W(5r(er, ii. 14 ; Ayicient
Greek Inscriptwtis in the British Museum, Hi. 2, Nos. d76,
677.
G. S. Kr.
EPHOD.— Biblical Data: In the Old Testa-
ment this word has two meanings; in one group of
passages it signifies a garment ; in another, very
probably an image. In the former the ephod is re-
ferred to in the priestly ordinances as a part of the
ofl[icial dress of the high priest, and was to be made
of threads "of blue and of purple, of scarlet, and
fine twined linen," and embroidered in gold thread
" with cunning work " (Ex. xxviii. 4 et seq., xxix. 5,
xxxix. 2 et seq. ; Lev. viii. 7). The description of
the garment in these passages is not detailed enough
to give a clear picture of its sliape, nor does the
description of Josephus do so ("B. J." v. 5, § 7;
"Ant." iii. 7, § 5). All that can be gleaned from
the text is the following: The ephod was held to-
gether by a girdle (3J^n) of similar workmanship
sewed on to it (Ex. xxviii. 8); it had two shoulder-
pieces, which, as the name implies, crossed the
shoulders, and were apparently fastened or sewed
to the ephod in front (Ex. xxviii. 7, 27). In dress-
ing, the shoulder-pieces were joined in the back to
the two ends of the ephod. Nothing is said of the
length of the garment. At the point where the
shoulder-pieces were joined together in the front
"above the girdle," two golden rings were sewed
on, to which the breast-plate was attached (see
Breastplate).
In other passages from the historical books, dating
back to an early period, " ephod " probably means a
garment set apart for the priest. In I Sam. xxii.
18 the eighty -five priests of Nob are designated as
men that "did wear a linen ephod"
As ("efod bad"). In this passage the
a Garment. Septuagint omits the word " bad," and
if this omission is correct, the passage
might be explained as referring to the wearing of
the ephod by the priests. The word " bad " is also
omitted in the Septuagint I Sam. ii. 18, where it is
said tiiat Samuel was girded with a linen ephod,
and likewise of II Sam. vi. 14, wiiich relates how
David, girded only with a linen ephod, danced be-
fore the Lord. Here certainly reference must have
been made to a species of garment worn only by the
priest on ceremonial occasions ; but even this pas-
sage gives the reader no idea of what its appear-
ance was.
The word " ephod " has an entirely different mean-
ing in the second group of passages, all of which
belong to the historical books. It is certain that
the word can not here mean a garment. This is
Ephod
£phraiin
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
186
evident in Judges viii. 26-27, where it is recorded
that Gideon took the golden earrings of the Midian-
ites, weighing 1,700 shekels of gold,
As and made an "ephod thereof, and put
an Imag'e. it in his city, even in Ophrah," where
it was worshiped by all Israel. In
Judges xvii. 5 Micah made an ephod and teraphim
for his sanctuary. I Sam. xxi. 9 records that an
ephod stood in the sanctuary at Nob, and that
Goliath's sword was kept behind it. In these pas-
sages it is clear that something other than a mantle
or article of attire is meant. Even where the phrase
" to carry " the ephod occurs, it is evident from the
Hebrew " nasa' " that reference is made to something
carried in the hand or on the shoulder (comp. I Sam.
xxiii. 6).
The most natural inference from all these passages
is that " ephod " here signifies an image that was set
up in the sanctuary, especially since the word is
cited with Teraphim, which undoubtedly refers to
an image (comp. Hosea iii. 4). This assumption ob-
tains strong confirmation from the fact that in
Judges xvii. Zetseq., which is compiled from two
sources, the words " pesel " and " massekah " (graven
image and molten image) are used interchangeably
with "ephod" and "teraphim."
The ephod is frequently mentioned in close con-
nection with the sacred oracle. When Saul or
David wished to question Yhwh through the oracle,
they commanded the priest, "Bring hither the
ephod " (I Sam. xiv. 18 [A. V. "ark of God "], xxiii.
9, XXX. 7). This connection between the ephod and
the oracle may also be seen very clearly in the com-
bination of Urim and Thummim with
Connection the ephod in the official robes of the
Between high priest. It is the prerogative of
Ephod and the priests to carry and to question
Oracle. this ephod with the oracle. The sen-
tence " Ahiah was at that time carry-
ing the ephod before Israel " actually means that
Ahiah was then the chief among the priests of
Shiloh (I Sam. xiv. 3, xiv. 18 [LXX.] ; compare xxiii.
6). On the oracle compare Urim and Thummim.
This juxtaposition of "ephod" and "oracle" has
led to the assumption that in the last-mentioned pas-
sages " ephod " originally meant a kind of receptacle
for the sacred lots, similar to the oracle pocket in the
robe of the high priest (comp. Cheyne and Black,
"Encyc. Bibl." and Foote in Johns Hopkins Uni-
versity Circulars). This assumption would harmo-
nize all the early passages of the historical books,
for if the word " bad " be omitted, the above-men-
tioned passages (I Sam. ii. 18, xxii. 18) may also be
taken to mean that the priests "girded " this pocket
about them. But this interpretation is impossible in
II Sam. vi. 14, and is not very suitable in the stories
concerning the ephods of Gideon and Micah. It
might be adopted, however, where " ephod " is men-
tioned in connection with the oracle, for the image
■called "teraphim" is associated with the oracle in
the same waj"^ (comp. Ezek. xxi. 26 [21] ; Zech. x.
2). "Ephod " would then refer to a portable image,
before which the lots were cast.
It can not be definitely ascertained what connec-
tion, if any, there was between the two meanings,
"image" and "priestly robe." If the designation
for " image" is connected with the original meaning of
" ephod " as a covering or a dress, it may be inferred
that these images were made of wood, clay, or some
inferior metal, and covered with a "mantle" of gold
or silver (comp. Isa. xxx. 22). Smend endeavors to
prove an inner connection between the two mean-
ings by assuming ("Religionsgesch." p. 41) that the
image itself was originally clothed with an "ephod
bad " : witness the ancient custom of the Arabs of
hanging garments and swords upon their idols (Well-
hausen, "Skizzcn," iii. 99).
BiBLTOGRAPHT : Benzicger, Arch. p. 383; Nowack, ArcMolo-
gie, ii. 21 et seq., 118 et seq.; Cheyne and Black, Encyc. Bibl.;
Hastings, Diet. Bible ; Foote, in Johns Hopkins Universitu
Cvrularif, May, 1900; idem, in Journal of Biblical Literal
ture, 1902, pp. 1^8.
E. G. II. I. Be.
-In Rabbinical Literature : Although the
high priest in the Herodian temple wore au ephod
(Kid. 31a), tannaitic tradition has little to say regard-
ing its character. The material of wiiich the ephod
was made was a texture consisting of twenty-eight
threads, one thread of leaf gold being spun with six
threads of each of the four textures mentioned in
Ex. xxviii. 6 (Yoma 71b). Rashi, closely following
the Bible, describes the shape of the ephod as fol-
lows:
" The ephod was made like a girdle which women wear in
riding, and was fastened in the back, against the heart, under
the arms. In breadth it was somewhat wider than the back,
and in length it reached to the heels ; a girdle, long enough to
be used as a belt, was fastened lengthwise above. The shoul-
der-bands, which were fastened to this girdle, were made of the
same material as the ephod, and fell in front a little below the
shoulders. The ' shoham ' [A. V. " oDyx "] stones were then fast-
ened to the shoulder-bands, and golden threads connected the
edges of the shoham stones with the breastplate (jttTi) by means
of the rings on the latter" (Rashi to E.x. I.e.; similarly, also,
Maimonides, " Yad," Kele ha-Mikdash, Ix. 9-10).
Even in the tannaitic tradition there was a differ-
ence of opinion as to the order in which the names
of the twelve tribes were put on the "shoham"
stones (Sotah 36a). According to Rashi's explana-
tion of the passage, the Tannaim differ in that ac-
cording to the one opinion the names followed in
the sequence of the ages of the Patriarchs, with the
exception of Judah, who headed the list; while
according to the other opinion, the names of Leah's
sons were on the stones of the right shoulder-band,
and on the left side the name of Benjamin came first,
followed by those of the four sons of the concubines
ninSKTI ""ja, with Joseph's name at the end. Mai-
monides, however, probably basing his reasons on a
lost baraita, says (I.e.) that there were 25 letters on
each side and that the sequence was as follows:
Left.
Right.
pi NT
MP
min^
P
According to this opinion, if the list was read
from right to left, the names were arranged in the
sequence of the ages of the Patriarchs, with the ex-
ception, however, that Naphtali's name, instead of
following Dan's, preceded it. That Joseph's name
was spelled in the unusual form Yehosef is as-
187
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Ephod
Ephraim
serted in the Talmud {I.e. 36b). In conformity with
tlie view that the garments of the liigh priest pos-
sessed the power of absolving from sin (compare
High Priest in Rabbinical Litekatuue), it is as-
serted that the ephod was used in atoning for idola-
trous sins, "e]3hod" meaning also "the idol" (Zeb.
8Tb). The ephod of the high priest must be distin-
guished from the linen ephod which is mentioned in
Scripture as a common garment of priests and of the
disciples of prophets (Maimonides, I.e. x. 13; Ibn
Ezra on Ex. I.e. ; but compare Yer. Sanh. x. 29a).
Compare Breastplate of the High Priest ; Gems ;
Urim and Thummim.
Bibliography: Epstein, Mi-BTfirfmoniywot, pp. 83-90; A. Por-
taleone, Shilte ha-Gibb(>7-im, xliv.
s. s. ' L. G.
EPHOR (lit. "superintendent"): An official in
Sparta and in other parts of Greece. Officials called
"ephori" were employed among the Jews: (1) in
the service of the Temple at Jerusalem (Yoma 9a) ;
(2) at Babylon (Yeb. 45b); (3) in the Byzantine
empire, where an ephoros who supervised prices,
weights, and measures ("Basilica," i. 42) was inclu-
ded in the organization of the Jewish community.
Greek designations for Jewish offices are also found
elsewhere in Greek countries ; for instance, " didas-
calus" for rabbi (see "R. E. J." xii. 118), "sophoi"
(cTO(^o/) for teachers (see " J. Q. R. " vi. 235).
Bibliography; Krauss, Lehnw6rter,U. 435; Gratz, Gesch. 3d
ed., V. 33.
G. S. Kr.
EPHRAEM SYRTJS : Church father ; born at
Nisibis, Syria (whence his surname " Syrus "), or at
Edessa, at the beginning of the fourth century.
His numerous writings include Syriac commentaries
on the Pentateuch and on most of the historical and
prophetical books of the Old Testament. The text
used by him Avas the Peshitta; but, judging from
various passages of his commentaries, lie understood
Hebrew and often had recourse to the original.
These commentaries contain numerous haggadot.
Thus, for instance, in accordance with an old mid-
rashic saying, Ephraem explains that the earth's
covering of grass at the moment of Creation looked
as though it were a month old, and the trees as
though they were a year old (Ephraem, "Opera," i.
15; comp. Gen. R. xiv. 2; Hul. 60a). Adam was
endowed with a brightness which eclipsed that of
the sun. This brightness disappeared when he ate
the forbidden fruit (i. 26a; Gen. R. xi., xii. 2).
Cain's sacrifice was not accepted because it consisted
of the remnants of his meals (ii. 313e; Tan., Bereshit,
7b). Such haggadot, which show the influence of
Jewish tradition on the Bible exegesis of the Church
Fathers, are very numerous in Ephraem's commen-
taries.
Unlike other Church Fathers, Ephraem never
mentions the Jews in connection with the haggadot
he uses, but cites them anonymously. This is prob-
ably due to his hostility toward them; indeed, of all
the Church Fathers, Ephraem nourished the most vin-
dictive hatred against the Jews, whom he often terms
" the circumcised vagabonds " (KTTJ K^yD)- Because
of their reviling of Jesus, says he, tliey were driven
from their country and condemned to wander.
lie applies Solomon's judgment (I Kings iii. 16 et
seq.) to the Synagogue and the Church. The Syn-
agogue, lie says, is continually protesting that her
son is the living child and pleasing to God. Eph-
raem even wrote a denunciatory hymn against
the Jews, of which the following passages may be
cited:
" What is thine Iniquity, O daughter of Jacob, that thy chastise-
ment is so severe? Thou hast dishonored the Kinj? and the
King's Son, thou shameless one and harlot! . . . The Father
was exchanged for the calf and for sundry similitudes, and the
Son also was exchanged for a thief and a blood-shedder. ..."
Ephraem is especially embittered against the Jews
for their persistency in the Messianic hope.
"Jacob blessed Judah, saying: The scepter shall not depart
from thee. ... In this passage let the Jews that perceive
not search and look if there be a scepter in Judah or an inter-
preter between his feet, for the things that are written have
not been fulfilled, neither have they hitherto met their accom-
plishment. But if the scepter be done away with, and the
prophet be silenced, let the people of the Jews be put to shame,
however hardy in impudence they be. "
Ephraem acknowledges that at his time the Jew-
ish faith had numerous accessions from heathendom.
Of course, Ephraem declares that the heathen were
deluded by Jewish missionaries (see his commentary
on II Kings xix. 1).
Bibliography : GrUtz, TTnogadische EJemente hei den Kirclt-
envatenum Moiiatsxchrift, 1854; (ierson, i>("e Commenta-
rien (Jes Ephraem Syrm in Ihrem Verhiiltniss zur Jll-
dit^chen Exegese, Breslau,1868 ; Louis Ginzberg, Die Haggada
bet den Kirchenviitern und in der Apokruphisehen Lite-
rature Berlin, 1900: S. Krauss, The Jeirs in the Worhs of
the Church Fathers, in J. Q. R. vi. 28-99.
J. I. Br.
EPHRAIM.— Biblical Data: 1. Son of Jo-
seph. The name is connected with the root niD
(" to be fruitful " : Gen. xii. 52). He was the younger
of the two sons born to Joseph before the famine,
Manasseh being the elder (Gen. xii. 51). Neverthe-
less, Jacob, while blessing both, confers on Ephraim
the rights of the firstborn, to be unto him " as Reuben
and Simeon" (Gen. xlvii. 1-20), Joseph unsuccess-
fully attempting to prevent the preference of the
younger. This episode puts the historical fact that
Ephraim and Manasseh (and Benjamin) originally
constituted one tribe (see Gen. xlix. 22-26; Deut.
xxxiii. 13-17) in the form of a personal experience
in the family of the patriarch. From Joseph, Ma-
nasseh was first to separate : hence he is the elder ;
but Ephraim, increasing in importance and number,
outstrips the brother clan. That the birthright of
Reuben is given to Joseph's sons, as is stated in
I Chron. v. 1, indicates the gradual disintegration
of the tribe of Reuben, and the rise to prominence
of the Joseph division. The successive development
of these conditions is also reflected in the circum-
stance that in the enumerations of the tribes Ma-
nasseh sometimes precedes Ephraim (Num. xxvi.
34); sometimes the order is reversed (Num. i. 32).
Holzinger ("Genesis," p. 199) and Guthe ("Ge-
schichte des Volkes Israel," 1899, pp. 2 et seg.) de-
clare Ephraim to have been a later personification
(compare Guukel, "Genesis," p. 427). For argu-
ments against this theory see Koenig, " Einleitung
in das Alte Testament," pp. 183-185. While bless-
ing, Jacob crosses (^2^) his hands in order to place
his right hand upon the head of Ephraim. This
Ephraim
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
188
verb, which occurs only in this passage, has given
rise to curious rabbinical interpretations. Connect-
ing it with "sekel" (mind, wisdom), Targuni Onkc-
los construes it as indicating that Jacob acted with
full knowledge (see also Kashi and Ibn Ezra to the
verse). According to R. Judah, 73^^* really reads
"shikkel," and signifies that Jacob despoiled Manas-
seh in favor of Ephraim (Pesil^ R. 3 [ed. Friedmann,
p. 12a, note 85]). R. Nehemiah claims that the ex-
pression denotes the power of Jacob to "instruct"
and guide the holy spirit (ib.). It is of interest to
note that the words of Jacob's blessing (Gen. xlviii.
16) constitute one of the " pesuke de rahame," verses
petitioning protection which, according to the say-
ing of Abaye (Ber. 5a), were added to the Shema'
recited on retiring. E. G. H.
2. The tribe; namedaftcr its eponym, Ephraim,
the second sou of Jo.seph (Gen. xli. 50 et seq.). Of
its earlier history, an obscure gloss (I Chron. vii. 21,
22) preserves only a vague reminiscence of a cattle-
raid in which the tribe was ingloriously beaten by
the aboriginal people of Gath. At the time of the
Exodus Ephraim appears to have been numerically
one of the smaller tribes (40,500 warriors, while Ju-
dah is credited with 74,600, Zebulun with 57,400,
Manasseh with 32.200, and Benjamin with 35,400:
Num. i. 32-37J. But Ephraim, Manasseh, and Ben-
jamin, descendants of Rachel, marched together,
Ephraim in the lead, and camped west of the Taber-
nacle (Num. ii. 18). The chief of Ephraim, who
made the oflfei-ings for his brothers,
Chief of was Elishama, son of Ammihud (Num.
Ephraim. i. 10, vii. 48-53). Among the spies
sent into Canaan was Hoshea of
Ephraim, whose name was changed to "Joshua"
(Num. xiii. 9, [R. V. 17] ), and his succession to the
leadership after IMoses proves that by the invasion
Ephraim had risen to dominant influence, though the
figures of the census, which credit it with only 32,500
warriors against Manasseh 's 52,700 and Benjamin's
45,600. show a loss (Num. xxvi. 34 ct scq.).
At the apportioning of the laud, Ephraim was repre-
sented among the commissioners by Kemuel, the son
of Shiphtan, as well as bj^ Joshua (Num. xxxiv. 24).
From Joshua xvii. 14-18, xviii. 5, it is plain that at
the conquest and settlement of the land Ephraim
and Manasseh (and Benjamin: compare Ps. Ixxx.
2; II Sam. xix. 20; Num. ii. 18 f< Sf 7.) were consid-
ered one tribe — that of Joseph. Indeed, in the old
tribal poem, the so-called Blessing of Jacob (Gen.
xlix. 22 et seq. ; compare Deut. xxxiii. 13 et seq. ;
Judges i. 22), by modern critics ascribed to the early
part of the period of the Judges, Joseph is named
in place of Manasseh and P^phraim. Inconsequence
of the necessity of acquiring more territory to pro-
vide for its growing numbers, this Joseph group
forced its way northward through hostile territory
(Josh. xvii. l^etscq.). Tliis movement resulted in
the isolation of ]\Ianasseh and Ephraim (Josh. xxi.
5) tiiough the lines of demarcation between their
separate possessions were by no means consistently
or continuously drawn, each having settlements in
the district of the other (Josh. xvi. 9; xvii. 8, 9).
The southern boundaries of the portion of Joseph,
which constituted also the southern frontier of
Ephraim, are these: Starting from the Jordan, near
Jericho and its springs on the east, and following the
desert of Beth-aven, which rises from Jericho to the
hill of Beth-el, the line passed from Beth-el to Luz;
thence toward the boundary of the Archites ('Ain
'Arik) to Ataroth, descending westward towartl the
frontier of the Japhletites to the border of the nether
Beth-horon and to Gezer (Tell Jezer), terminating
at the sea (Josh. xvi. 1-3).
In Josh. xvi. 5etseq., however, the statement is
made that Ephraim's border eastward ran from Ata-
roth-addar to Beth-horon the upper, bending west-
ward at Michmethath on the north,
Ephraim's and then, turning eastward to Taanath-
Portion. shiloh (the modern Ta'na), passed
along it to the east of Janoah (modern
Yanun), descending again to Ataroth and to Naarali
(modern Khirbat Tamiyyah), finally reaching Jericho
and ending at the Jordan. From Tappuah the line
proceeded westward to the brook Kanah (probably
tlie Nahr al-Falek) and to the sea (the Mediterranean :
Vulgate, incorrectly, " the Dead Sea " ). These data
are confusing and not always consistent; they prove
that for many centuries the delimitations were un-
certain and the traditions concerning them conflicting
(.see Holzinger, "Joshua," pp. 66, 67).
The district occupied by Ephraim was mountain-
ous but very fertile (Ilosca ix. 13; Gen. xlix. 22;
Deut. xxxiii. 13-16; Isa. x xviii. 1). Its geograph-
ical position, midway between Dan, Benjamin, and
Mana.sseh beyond the Jordan, contributed materially
to making its possessor, Ephraim, the dominant factor
in the political development of the northern tribes.
Tiie mountains afforded protection; the Jordan and
the sea were within easy reach ; and the natural roads
of communication between the north and the .south
passed through it. Within its borders were the old
centers of the religio-political life, Shechem, Aruma,
and Shiloh, the seat of the Sanctuary.
The character imputed to Ephraim reflects the
rugged configuration of its home district (Gen. xlix,
23, 24). Ephraim is equipped with "the horns of
the wild ox " (Deut. xxxiii. 17).
The deeds of the tribe reported in the Book of
Judges bear out this characterization. It had a
share in tlic expedition against Hazor and King
Jabin (Judges iv. 2; Josh. xix. 36).
Ephraim's Deborah is represented as residing in
Martial its borders (Judges iv. 5; see for mod-
Character, ern critical views Budde, " Das Buch
der Richter "). In the Song of Deb-
orah the tribe is commended as among the first to
respond to the summons to arms (Judges v. 14).
Ephraim, jealous of its rivals for the leadership, has
a dispute with Gideon about being neglected at the
outset of his campaign against the ^lidianites (Judges
vii. 24, viii. 1); but its displeasure is abated by a
liappily turned compliment about "the gleaning of
the grapes of Ephraim being better than the vintage
of Abiezer" (Judges viii. 2). Under Jephthah the
men of Eplu'aim again resented a slight of this kind
(xii. 1), but with dire consequences to themselves.
The Gileadites, having an old grudge against them
(Judges xii. 4), smote them, and the venture cost
the tribe 42,000 men (ib. 6).
The episode is of linguistic interest, as in connec-
tion therewith the peculiar dialectic difference of the
189
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Ephraim
Epliraimitic speech is recorded ia the "s" prouuuci-
ation of the word " Sl)ibboleth " (ib. ). Abdou of Pira-
thon, an Ephraimite, is mentioned as one of the later
jud>res(xii. 15), while, thanks to Abimelech, Ephraim
and its capital Shechem enjoy, if only for a short
time, the distinction of being the first in Israel to be
under a king (ix. 6). Samuel sustained close connec-
tions with Ephraim (I Sam. i. 1, vii. 15-17). In his
selection of Saul as king, the jealousies of the tribe
were Avell considered, the new monarch being a Bcn-
jamite and therefore an ally of Ephraim. Hence, at
the death of Saul, Ephraim remained loyal to his
son Ishbosheth, and accepted David's (Judah's) rule
only after Abner's and Ishl)osheth's assassination
(II Sam. ii. 9, v.); but under Solomon's successor it
found the coveted opportunity, with the support of
the Ephraimite prophet Ahijah, to secede and set
up its own independent kingdom imder Jeroboam
(I Kings xi. 26, 29), with Shechem as the capital
(I Kings xii. 1).
Thenceforth the history of Ephraim is merged in
that of the Northern Kingdom, in which it remained
the dominant factor, so that, especially in figurative
speech, its name came to be used for
Secession the state of tlie Ten Tribes (Isa. vii.
of 2-5, 8; Hosea v. 3, 5, 9; vi. 4, and
Ephraim. elsewhere). In II Chron. xv. 8-11
the secession of Ephraim is denounced
as a forsaking of the God of its fathers and of His
laws. II Chron. xxx. 1, 10, 18 describes the irrelig-
iou of Ephraim in mocking the emissaries of Hez-
■ekiah, come to invite them to keep the Passover in
Jerusalem, and concludes the account by reporting
tlie destruction of all the idolatrous appointments
by the pious celebrants, "even in Ephraim [and
Manasseh]. " Josiah is credited with despatching an
embassy on a similar errand (II Chron. xxxiv. 6, 9).
Ephraim's rejection is spoken of in the Psalms
{Ixxviii. [A.y. Ixxvii.] 67), though in Ix. 7 Ephraim
is hailed "as the defense of [God's] head " (compare
cviii. 8). Ephraimites constituted an element in the
formation of the new people, tlie Samaritans (Ezra
iv. 4: "'Am ha-arez " [pNH DJ?] ; Ecclus. [Sirach]
ii. 26 : " That foolish people that dwell in Shechem ").
K. o. H. E. K.
In Rabbinical Liiterature : Though for sev-
enteen years Jacob instructed Ephraim, yet when
the latter came with his father Josepli and his
brother IVIanasseh to be blessed Jacob did not recog-
nize him, because on seeing Jeroboam and Ahab,
Ephraim's descendants, the prophetic spirit left
him. Joseph tlien addressed a fervent prayer to
Ood. and tlie spirit of prophecy returned. Jacob
then saw another of the descendants of Ephraim,
Joshua benNun, and thereupon gave the precedence
to Ephraim over his elder brother INIanasseh by pla-
ining his right hand upon his head and by mention-
ing his name first (Tan. to Wayehi). Ephraim was
thus favored with the birthright because he was
modest and not selfish (Gen. R. vi. ; Pesik. R. 3).
God, who executes the wishes of the ju.st, confirmed
Jacob's blessings, and Ephraim took precedence
over Manasseh in the order of the Judges (Joshua
of Ephraim coming before Gideon of Manasseh), in
the order of the standards (Ephraim's preceding that
of Manasseh), in the offering of the princely sacri-
fices (Num. vii.), and in the order of Kings (Jero-
boam and Ahab coming before Jehu: Num. R.
xiv.). In imparting the blessing Jacob said to
Ephraim: "Ephraim, the lieads of the tribes, the
chiefs of the yeshibot, and the best and most prom-
inent of my children shall be called after thy
name" (Lev. R. ii.); Joshua, Deborah, Barak, Sam-
uel, Messiah ben Joseph, and Messiah ben David
were Ephraimites (Pesik. R. 37 [ed. Fiiedmann, p.
164a] ). The tribe of Ephraim miscalculated the
time of the deliverance of the children of Israel
from Egypt, and left the country thirty years be-
fore the appointed time. They were met by a hos-
tile host of Philistines, who offered them battle, in
which the Ephraimites lost 300,000 men (according
to Pesik., 180,000; according to Pirke R. El., 200,-
000). Their bones were strewn in heaps along the
roads. According to the "Seferha-Yashar " (.see She-
mot), this event took place in the 180th year after
the Israelites went to Egypt, when 30,000 infantry
from the tribe of Ephraim left Egypt. The battle
was waged near Gath. Because they rebelled against
the word of God in leaving Egypt before the end
of the captivity destined by God had arrived, all
except ten were slain. The Philistines lost in the
battle 20,000 men. The ten men who escaped from
the battle returned to Egypt and related to their
brethren what had happened to them. Ephraim,
who was still alive, mourned over them many days.
That the children of Israel might not see the bleached
bones of the slain of Ephraim and return to Egypt,
God led them to Canaan by circuitous ways (Ex.
R. XX.). The slain Ephraimites were subsequently
resuscitated by Ezekiel (Sanh. 92b). Ephraim's
banner was painted black, and bore the picture of a
bullock (Num. R. ii.); Moses alluded to it when he
said of Joseph: "The firstling of his bullock, maj-
esty is his" (Deut. xxxiii. 17, R. V.). In the camp
Ephraim occupied the west side; from the Avest
come the severest winds, and also heat and cold ; to
these Ephraim's strength is compared (Num. R. ii.).
As God created the four cardinal points and placed
against them the standards of four of the tribes, so
He surrounded His throne with four angels, the
angel to the west being Raphael ("the Healer"),
who was to heal the breach wrought by Ephraim's
descendant, King Jeroboam (Ex. R. vii.). See Mes-
siah.
s. s. I. Bu.
EPHRAIM, MOUNTAIN OF (onDN nn ; R.
V. "hill country of Ephraim "): The northern part
of the mountain range west of the Jordan, extending
from Beer-sheba to the great plain of Esdraelon.
Its southern boundary is not expressly indicated
in the Old Testament, and probablj' never consti-
tuted a geographically defined line. It is certain,
however, that the section on the north comprised a
larger area than that inhabited by the tribe of
Ephraim ; for, according to Judges iii. 27, the Benja-
mites also were dwellers in the Ephraim hill coun-
try. It is further stated in Judges iv. 5 that Debo-
rah lived between Ramah and Beth -el in Mount
Ephraim. As for the extension of the hillj' country
on the north, the allusion in Josh. xvii. 14 et seq.
would seem to prove that it was not taken to stretch
as far as the plain of Esdraelon, unless the " wood
Ephraizn b. Aaron
Sphraim b. Nathan
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
190
country " (R. V. " forest '") liere mentioned desig-
nates, as some authorities assume, the section of the
mountain range between Sliechem and the plain.
At any rate, the " wood country " is contrasted here
with the " Har Efrayim. " The whole passage, how-
ever, is not clear.
In distinction from the range in Judah, which is
somewhat regular in its outline, Ephraim consists
of valleys and peaks running in all directions. It
also includes several plains without outlet, which in
the rainy season are transformed into marshes. The
great depression in which Shechem is situated di-
vides the mountain into two halves, the southern
and the northern. The southern half attains, in its
northern part near Shechem, an elevation of 2,604
feet (Mount Gerizim). The northern half com-
mences near Shechem with Mount Ebal, from which
issues a ridge terminating in Ras Ibzik with an ele-
vation of 2,205 feet. The promontory Carmel, at
an elevation of 1,656 feet, forms the terminus on the
northwest.
The hill country of Ephraim is far more fertile
than that of Judah, and comprises a number of
splendid valleys richly studded with orchards. The
marshy plains mentioned above contain excellent
soil in summer. The peaks, on the other hand, are
bald, being sparsely covered with shrubbery.
E. G. H. F. Bu.
EPHRAIM B. AARON NABON.
BON, Ephraim b. Aaron.
See Na-
EPHRAIM B. GERSHON: Turkish preacher
and physician of the middle of the fifteenth century ;
lived in Negropont and Constantinople. He w'as a
friend of Mordecai Comtino and Samuel Bueno, for
the funeral of whose sister he composed a sermon.
His sermons, still extant in manuscript, are interest-
ing as literary and historical documents. He was
probably the teacher of Elijah Mizrahi.
Bibliography : Steinschneider, Hehr. Bibl. xvil. 110, 134 et
seq.; xix. 30 et seq.
G. M. K.
EPHRAIM B. ISAAC OF REGENSBURG
(also called Ephraim the Great) : German tosafist
and liturgical poet of the twelfth century ; died in
Regensburg about 1175, probably at an advanced
age. He was one of the oldest pupils of R. Tarn,
under whom he studied in his youth, and he proba-
bly attended other yeshibot. On his return from
France he settled in Regensburg, probably his birth-
place, where, with Isaac b. Mordecai and Moses b.
Abraham, he established a rabbinical collegium. His
life was spent in that city, where also lived his son
Moses, a noted scholar, and his grandson Judah, a
pupil of Eleazar of Worms. Ephraim was an inde-
pendent character among the German Talmudists of
the twelfth century. Of remarkable keenness of
perception, he refused to recognize, either in the
theoretical or in the practical field, any post-Tal-
mudic authority, and often, therefore, came into
conflict with his teachers and colleagues. This
was the case when he tried to introduce extensive
modifications of the strict Passover regulations, or
when, in spite of the remonstrances of so old an au-
thority as Eliakim b. Joseph, he permitted pictures
of lions and snakes in the synagogue. Established
customs and religious regulations which had been
long regarded as inviolable were abrogated by
Ephraim when no reason for their existence could be
found in the Talmud. With even greater reckless-
ness did he proceed in the explanation of the Tal-
mud. Traditional interpretations, and sometimes
even traditional readings, had no authoritj- for him.
He had the courage in a letter to his teacher to char-
acterize certain parts in the benediction recited at
the Ilabdalah, on the evening of the festivals, as
"foolish verbosity"; and to criticize the customary
shofar-blowing on Rosh ha-Shanah.
In spite of the sharp rebuke which he elicited
from R. Tarn, who called him conceited and imperti-
nent ("Sefer ha-Yashar," ed. Rosenthal, p. 148),
Ephraim seems to have abated but little of his inde-
pendence, as shown in his frequent diflferences with
his former pupil and colleague Joel b. Isaac, and in
his answer to R. Tam {ib. pp. 149 etseq.). In fact, he
is known in halakic literature for his many proposi-
tions tending to modified interpretations of the Law,
some of which prevailed in spite of general opposi-
tion. He would have achieved still greater success,
no doubt, but for a violent temper which caused him
on several occasions to leave the synagogue during
the service in fierce anger on account of some usage
not approved by him. As a liturgical poet he ex-
cels all his German and many of his French contem-
poraries. His language is concise but clear, grace-
ful though forceful. His ingenious turns and facile
expression often call to mind the Spanish piyyutim.
Like them, he also wrote poems in strophic rime and
verse measure, which, nevertheless, are easy and
flowing. His piyyutim are filled with lamentations
over the sufferings of Israel and with penitential
reflections; twenty -eight of them have been pre-
served.
Ephraim wrote tosafot to various treatises, some
portions of which may be found in the printed tosa-
fot as well as in other works. His commentary on
Abot, which in the fifteenth century was still in ex-
istence, seems to have since been lost. Some of his
responsa are found in R. Tam's "Sefer ha-Yashar"
and Eliezer b. Joel's " Abiha-'Ezri." TheR.Yakkir
who is quoted by some authorities is probably iden-
tical with Ephraim, since " Yakkir " may have been
a by-name for "Ephraim" (see Jer. xxxi. 20). He
must not, however, be confused with Ephraim of
Bonn, nor with Ephraim, the pupil of Alfasi.
Bibliography: Dembitzer, notes on the n-i^NT nsD, pp. 54a,
5.5a; Gross, in Moiiatsschrift, xxxiv. 26.5-266; Kohn, Morde-
chaib. Hillel, pp. 113-117, 127-129; Weiss, Dor, p. 346; Zunz,
Literaturgesch. pp. 274-279; idem, Z. G. p. 125 ; idem, S. P.
pp. 254-257 (German translations of some of Ephralm's poems).
L. G.
EPHRAIM B. JACOB (known also as
Ephraim of Bonn, and Shallum): German Tal-
mudist, liturgical poet, and chronographer ; born in
1133; died after 1196. Ephraim belonged to a promi-
nent family of scholars, which included Eliezer b.
Nathan, to whom he addressed questions, and Leon-
tin b. Jacob. He had two brothers, Hillel and Kal-
onymus, both of whom he outlived. As a boy of
thirteen he witnessed the bloody persecutions to
which the Jews on the Rhine were subjected, and,
with many of his coreligionists, found refuge from
the fury of the mob in the castle of Wolkenburg,
191
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Ephraim b. Aaron
Ephraim b. Nathan
near Konigswinter, in the archbishopric of Cologne.
Later he lived at Neuss, and left there for Cologne
only a few days before the massacre of 1187. He
lost, however, on this occasion, a large part of his
fortune. He seems to have resided usually at
Worms. Ephraim was one of the important Ger-
man Talmudists of his time, although comparatively
little is known of his work in the tield of Ilalakah.
He frequently wrote responsa in conjunction with
Judahb. Kalonymus, Moses b. Mordecai, andBaruch
b. Samuel ; several of them are quoted in the " Mor-
dekai" ; but the "Hibbur " mentioned in the "Mor-
dekai " is not by him, but by Ephraim b. Nathan.
Ephraim is better known as a liturgical poet.
Zunz enumerates twenty-three of his piyyutim, sev-
eral of which are found in German and Polish litur-
gies. For instance, his " Elohim Ziwwita Lidideka "
and "Ha-Rahman Hu Asher Hanan" are still re-
cited in Germany on the occasion of a circumcision.
Ephraim was, perhaps, the last German to compose
poems in Aramaic for the synagogue, his selihah, " Ta
Shema'," being especially well known. This piyyut
is a mosaic containing forty -five lines, a combina-
tion of Aramaic expressions and phrases used in the
Talmud. His Hebrew piyyutim are frequently
acrostic compositions with a Talmudic phraseology,
and are therefore in many cases obscure and ungrace-
ful. He had wit and a great command of both He-
brew and Aramaic. In almost all his poems he al-
ludes to the persecutions and to the martyrs of
Judaism. He also wrote a commentary on the earlier
portions of the Mahzor, which became the chief
source for the similar work of a compiler in the be-
ginning of the fourteenth century, and which is
extant in manuscript in Hamburg (Steinschneider,
" Cat. der Hebraischen Handschriften in der Stadt-
bibliothek zu Hamburg," p. 57).
Ephraim 's account of the persecutions of the
Jews in German^', France, and England, between
1146 and 1196, is of great historical value. It is in
a great measure the record of his own experiences,
which are related impartiallj', and is among the most
valuable of the documents used by medieval chro-
nographers in their history of the persecutions dur-
ing the period of the Crusades. It was printed
for the first time as an appendix to Wiener's Ger-
man translation of Joseph b. Joshua ha-Kohen's
" 'Emek ha-Baka " (Leipsic, 1858), and translated
into German by S. Baer in " Hebraische Berichte iiber
die Judenverfolgungen Wahrend der Kreuzzilge "
(Berlin, 1892). Scattered notices by contempora-
neous Christian writers testify to the accuracy of
Ephraim's descriptions.
Bibliography : Gratz, Oesch- 3d ed. vl. 185, 233-333 ; Kohn,
Mordecfmi benHilleh pp. 117-118 ; Landshuth, 'Ammiuie ha-
^Abodah, pp. 47-48; Michael, Or ha-Hamjim, p. 509; Zunz,
Literaturgesch. pp. 388-293; idem, S. P. pp. 263-263 (con-
tains a translation of a selihah by Ephraim) ; idem, Z. G. p. 363 ;
compare Aronius, Regesten, No. 232.
K. L. G.
EPHRAIM BEN JACOB HA-KOHEN: Lith-
uanian Talmudist; born at Wilna 1616; died June
3, 1678, at Of en, Hungary. Driven by the Chmiel-
nicki persecutions from his native city, where he
was dayyan, he went to Moravia. He filled the
oflSce of rabbi, first at Trebitsch and then at Ofen.
Ephraim's works include: "Sha'ar Efrayim," re-
sponsa arranged according to the order of the Shul-
han 'Aruk (Sulzbach, 1688); and "Mahaneh Efra-
yim," notes to the Pentateuch, which he left in
manuscript.
Bibliography: Sha'ar f'/rayim, Introduction ; Fuenn, Kir-
yah Ne'emanah, p. 73, who wrongly calls Ephraim's
father Aaron instead of Jacob ; Emden, Megillat Sefer, Index,
Warsaw, 1896.
L. G. A. Pe.
EPHRAIM BEN JOSEPH OF CHELM
( JAMBROWER) : Polish liturgist ; born at Chelm,
Poland, at the end of the sixteenth century; died
at Wreshna, Poland, about 1650. His father, rabbi
at Jambrower, Poland, entrusted his education to
David ben Jacob of Szczebrszyn. After residing
for some years at Cracow, Ephraim was called as
rabbi to Wreshna. He wrote "Ba-Kosharot," in
two parts, containing twenty-two liturgical poems,
some of which are accompanied by a commentary
and by halakic decisions (Cracow, 1607).
Bibliography: Zunz, Littraturgescfi. p. 433; Steinschneider,
Cat. Bodl. col. 901 ; Zedner, Cat. Hehr. Books Brit. Mus. p.
341 ; Michael, Or ha^Hayyim, No. 508.
G. ■ L Br.
EPHRAIM BEN JUDAH : Liturgical poet of
the twelfth century. According to Zunz ("Litera-
turgesch. " p. 348) he lived in the northern part of
France, and may be identical {ib. p. 495) with the
Ephraim quoted by Jeroham in his " Toledot Adam
we-Hawwah " (xv. 5, § 10). The Mahzor of Avi-
gnon contains a piyyut for the first day of Passover,
beginning with " Wayehi ba-hazi ha-layelah," and
bearing the name "Ephraim b. Judah," and an an-
cient Mahzor of Rome contains two piyyutim writ-
ten by an Ephraim b. Judah.
Bibliography: Zunz, Z. G. p. 465; Idem, Literaturgesch. pp.
348, 495 ; Landshuth, 'Ammude ha-'Abodah, p. 47 ; Fuenn,
Keneset Yisrael, p. 153.
K. M. Sel.
EPHRAIM MAKSHA'AH (="the Object-
or ") : Scholar of the second century ; disciple of R.
Meir. He is knov/n only for several homiletic re-
marks in the name of his teacher. One accounts
for the selection of Obadiah for the mission of
evil tidings to the Edomites by asserting that this
prophet was himself an Edomite, a proselyte to Ju-
daism: his mission to that people illustrated the
proverb, "From the woods themselves something
must go into the hatchet [which is to fell the
trees]" ( Sanh. 39a; compare Yalk. to Obad. i. 1,
§ 545).
s. s. S. M.
EPHRAIM MOISIOH. See Anbax the Jas-
8IN.
EPHRAIM B. NATHAN : Grcrman Talmudist
of the thirteenth century; died before 1293. He
was a pupil of Simhah of Speyer and of Isaac b.
Moses of Vienna. Under the latter he probably
studied at the same time as did Meir b. Baruch, as
the names of both appear together as signatures to
a responsum on an important communal question.
Ephraim was the teacher of Mordecai b. Hillel, who
refers to him simply as " my teacher Rabbi Ephraim. "
Mordecai often cites the halakic writings of Ephraim,
which are sometimes called "ilTn, sometimes yy^P-
The exact nature of these writings is difficult to de-
termine. To judge from Mordecai 's quotations.
Ephraim Safra
£pic Poetry
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
192
however, they would seem to have extended over
the whole Talmud, and to have contained explana-
tions, as well as rules for religious practise. Epliraim
also wrote a selihah for the Minhah of the Day of
Atonement, in which the initial words of its strophes
form an acrostic of fourteen words.
Bibliography: Kohn, Mordechaihen Hillel,pp.^-3&; Zunz,
Literaturgesch. p. 357.
Jj. G.
EPHRAIM SAFRA ( = " the Scribe " or " Teach-
er ") : Palestinian scholar of the third century ; dis-
ciple of Simeon b. Lakish, in whose name he reports
a civil law (B. M. 119a). The same report appears
elsewhere (Yer. B. M. x. 12c) Avithout tlie reporter's
cognomen and without any indication of his rela-
tion to Simeon. Rabbinowicz ("Dikduke Soferim"
to B. M. I.e.) cites versions of the same report, read-
ing Ephraim Maksha'ah. If this be adopted, the
order of author and reporter must be changed.
s. 8. S. M.
EPHRAIM BEN SAMSON: Bible exegete;
flourished in France in the twelfth and thirteenth
centuries. He was the author of "Perush 'al ha-
Torah," which consists chiefly of gematria and
"notarikon." He largely followed Eleazar of
Worms. The commentary was published at Leghorn
<1800), in the Pentateuch commentary "Torah Or."
It would appear from a passage on Genesis (Wayeze)
that he wrote that part at least before 1220. Parts
of this commentary were utilized by Azulai in his
"Nahal Kedumim" (Leghorn, 1800).
Bibliography: Michael, Or /ta-Hoi/j/im, p. 351; Azulai, S/iem
ha-GedoUnu 1. 92, Wilna, ia52;'Zunz,Z. G. pp. 83, 92 ; Furst,
Bibl. Jud. 1. 233; Steinschneider, Jew?i.s/i Literature, p. 145;
De Rossi, Dtzionario. p. 102 ; Fuenn, Keneset Yisi'ael, p. 155.
K. M. Sel.
EPHRAIM SOLOMON BEN AARON OF
XiENCZIZA : Rabbi and popular preacher at
Prague; born probably at Lencziza, Poland; died
at Prague March 3, 1619. After having filled the
office of rosh yeshibah at Lemberg, he was appointed
in 1604 rabbi of Prague, and remained in this posi-
tion until 1618.
Ephraim was the author of the following works :
"'Ir Gibborim," in three parts, the first, entitled
"Petihot u-She'arim," containing a rhetorical intra-
duction and an ethical treatise, and the second and
the third being homilies on the Pentateuch, Basel,
1580; "'Olelot Efrayim," ethical sermons based
upon Bible and Talmud, in four parts, Lublin, 1590;
"Kelt Yekar," annotations on the Pentateuch, ib.
1602; "Sifte Da'at," forming the second part of the
preceding work and containing homilies on the Pen-
tateuch, Prague, 1610; "Orah le-Hayyim," two
ethical sermons, one for the Sabbath between New-
Year and the Day of Atonement (" Shabbat Teshu-
bah"), and the other for Passover, Lublin, 1595;
"'Ammude Shesh," sermons, Prague, 1617; "Ribe-
bot Efrayim," homilies on the Pentateuch (men-
tioned in the introduction to his work "Orah le-
Hayyim ").
Ephraim was also the author of three liturgical
poems celebrating Adar 2 (Feb. 15), 1611, on which
date a hostile army that had entered Prague was
defeated.
Bibliography: Moritz Griinwald, Rabbi Salomo Efraim
Luritschitz, Prague, 1892; Zunz, Literaturgesch. p. 421;
Steinschneider, Cat. Bodl. col. 904; Zedner, Cat. Hebr.
Books Brit. Mus. p. 240 ; Michael, Or ha-Hayuim, No. 501.
L. G. I. Bk.
EPHRAIM OF SUDILKOV (called also Moses
Hayyim Ephraim) : Russian rabbi and preacher
among the Hasidim of the Ukraine ; born at Med-
zhibozh, Podolia, about 1750; died at Sudilkov,
Volhynia, about 1799. He was thb grandson of
Israel Ba'al Shem-Tob and a twin-brother of Baruch
of Tulchin. Unlike his brother, Ephraim performed
no miraculous cures. He preferred a life of medi-
tation and seclusion to the splendor of the court of
a zaddik. Preaching and writing Biblical commen-
taries of a mystical nature formed his only occupa-
tions. Ephraim was only twelve j-ears old when
his grandfather died, but he religiously preserved
all that he had heard from him. Ephraim's sermons,
which were largely commentaries on the saj'ings of
his grandfather, were collected and published by his
son under the title " Degel Mahaneh Efrayim " (Ko-
retz, 1810), and were approved by the best-known
zaddikim of that time. Levy Isaac of Berdychev,
Israel of Kozenitz, and Jacob Isaac of Lublin.
The work reflects his boundless admiration for
the founder of Hasidism. He entertains no doubt
of the thaumaturgic powers of BEShT. He tells of
many prophetic messages from him to his brother-
in-law in Palestine (" Degel Mahaneh Efrayim." p.
6). The author insists that the miracles performed
by Besht were due not to supernatural means or
cabalistic methods, but to his simple and unswerving
faith {ih. p. 82). He recommends as a model to the
contemporary zaddikim the simple exhortation to
rely upon heartfelt talks on common everyday
subjects, and asserts that by such talks Besht led
the people to God more effectually than by theolog-
ical instruction {ib. pp. 36, 80). He believes firmly
that when Hasidic teachings are professed bj-- the
entire Jewish people the national regeneration of
Israel will be consummated {ib. p. 63).
Ephraim went to Sudilkov about 1780, but from
time to time revisited his birthplace. While Ephraim
was not free from the defects of Hasidism, he always
urged simplicity and sincerity.
Bibliography : Dubnov, In Voskhod, 1890, xli. 135 ; Degel Ma-
haneh Efrayim ; Seder ha-Dorot he-Hadash.
K. H. R.
EPHRAIM, VEITEL - HEINE : German
financier; died at Berlin in 1775. The name means
" Veitel, the son of Heine [German for " Hayyim "],
the son of Ephraim. " He was jeweler to the Prussian
court and mint-master under Frederick William I.
and Frederick the Great, by whom he was held in
high esteem. By his financial operations he assisted
this king in his wars, and when afterward charges
of defalcation were brought against him, the king
would not permit an investigation. Being the
brother-in-law of David Frankel, when the latter
was elected rabbi of Berlin (1743), Ephraim pledged
himself to pay annually the sum of 150 thalers into
the treasury of the congregation, so that Frankel
might employ a substitute in law cases in which his
relatives were involved and in which he could not
act as judge (Landshuth, "ToledotAnsheShem," p.
193
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Ephraim Safra
Epic Poetry
37, Berlin, 1884). The most important of the organ-
izations which he founded is the Veitel-Heine Eph-
raim'sche Lehranstalt in Berlin, originally founded
as a bet ha-midrash about 1774.
Bibliography : Ha-Maggid, Ix. 318 ; Fuenn, Keneset Yiarael,
p. 153; Wissen»chafUiche BUitter aus der Veitel-Heine
Ephraim'schen Lehraimtalt, Preface. Berlin, 1862 ; Lebrecht,
Die, Rahbinijsche Bibliutheh des Berliner Bet Hamidraach,
Berlin, 1852.
D. M. Sel.
EPHBAIM, VIDAIj (known also as Ephraim
Blasom, Vidal Blasom, and Vidal Ephraim) :
Pupil of R. Nissim of Gerona, rabbi in Palma, and
teacher of Simeon Duran. He was greatly esteemed
by Isaac b. Sheshet, and was noted for his mathe-
matical attainments. He died a martyr to his faith.
Bibliography : Isaac b. Sheshet, Responsa, Nos. 293, 309, 377 ;
Simeon Duran, Be.vpoma, 1. 82b, 87a; 11.50b; HI. 28a; Kay-
serllng, Oesch. der juden in Spanien, 1. 170 ; Stelnschnelder,
Cat. Bodl. col. 1968.
G. M. K.
EPHRATH or EPHRATHAH (mSN,
nmSX) : 1. Wife of Caleb (son of Hezron) and
mother of Hur (I Chron. ii. 19, 60; iv. 4). 2. An-
other name for Bethlehem (Gen. xxxv. 19, xlviii. 7;
Ruth i. 2, iv. 11; Ps. cxxxii. 6; Micah v. 1). The
name "Ephratah" occurs once (I Chron. ii. 24)
joined with "Caleb" — " Caleb-ephratah. "
E. G.^. M. Sel.
EPHRATI, DAVID (TEBELE) : Russian Tal
mudist; bora in Vitebsk 1850; died in Frankfort-
on-the-Main Oct. 24, 1884. Among his ancestors
were: R. Liva b. Bezalel of Prague, R. Yom-Tob
Lipman Heller, and R. Moses Kremer of Wilna.
His "Toledot Anshe Shem," Warsaw, 1875, which
is an attempt at the biographies and genealogies of
these notables and their descendants, from a scien-
tific point of view was not very successful (see " Ha-
Shahar," vii. 723-726). He wrote many Talmudical
works and commentaries, but only a few of them
were published, viz.: "Migdal Dawid,"on halakic
subjects, containing also some biographies, Mayence,
1873; "Yad Dawid Tebele," Lemberg, 1880, con-
taining addenda to his work "Dibre Dawid," which
had appeared five years previously; and "Kohelet
Dawid ha-Efrati," on Ecclesiastes, Berlin, 1884.
Ephrati also published, with the assistance of Israel
Hildesheimer, a periodical dealing with rabbinical
questions, under the title "Ez Hayyim," of which
several monthly numbers appeared in Lemberg in
1881, and a few in Berlin in 1884. Ephrati was also
associated with R. Israel Lipkin (Salanter) in the
publication of the periodical "Tebunah."
Bibliography : Ha-Aaif, 11. 754.
n. R. P. Wi.
EPHRON (p-isy): 1. Son of Zohar the Hittite ;
possessor of a field called "Machpelah," which he
sold to Abraham for 400 shekels (Gen. xxiii. 8, xxv.
9, xlix. 29). The Talmudists place Ephron's con-
duct in a poor light, alleging that after having
promised Abraham the field for nothing, he accepted
from him 400 shekels in good money (Bek. 20;
B. M. 87; B. B. 89).
2. One of the places won by Abijah, King of
Judah, from Jeroboam, King of Israel (II Chron.
xiii. 19). But the " kere " is " Ephrain " (piSJ?).
v.— 13
3. Mount Ephron, a district on the northern
frontier of Judah, between Naphtoah and Kirjath-
jearira (Josh. xv. 9).
4. A city on the east of the Jordan, taken and
destroyed by Judas Maccabeus in his expedition to
Gilead (I Mace. v. 46-51; II Mace. xii. 27; Josephus,
"Ant."xii. 8, §5).
E. G. H. M. Sel.
EPIC POETRY : Though an abundance of his-
torical reminiscence and a mass of soul-stirring leg-
end lay in the storehouse of Jewish literature, none
of it was built into a heroic poem. Religious and
secular poets, it is true, often treated of such sub-
jects as Abraham and Isaac and the sacrifice on
Mount Moriah, Jacob and Joseph and the stimng
story of their lives, Moses and Aaron and the de-
parture from Egypt, Joshua and the entrance into
Canaan, Jeremiah and the fall of Jerusalem, Elijah
the Prophet, his disciple Elisha, Jonah, Mordecai
and Esther, the post-Biblical Maccabees, theHanuk-
kah festival, the ten martyrs, the woman with her
seven children. These, however, are only poems
with an epic coloring ; a pure epic according to the
rules of art was not produced during all the centuries
of the Middle Ages. The stern character of Jewish
monotheism prevented the rise of hero-worship,
without which real epic poetry is impossible. Solo-
mon de Oliveira is probably one of the first of whom
an epic is known (" Elat Ahabim, " Amsterdam, 1665).
The first to produce anything worth notice in this
direction was N. H. Wessely with his Mosaide " Shire
Tif'eret" (Berlin, 1789-1802), an epic on the Exodus,
of linguistic elegance, but of no very great poetic
worth. The influence of a similar work by the Ger-
man poet Klopstock is quite evident. Next to him
stands Shalom Kohnwith his "Ner Dawid," an epic
poem on King David (Vienna, 1834). The influence
of these two epics on the readers and poets of that
time and on the later " maskilim " in Galicia was
considerable. In addition the following poets may
be mentioned from that and the succeeding period :
Issachar Bar Schlesinger ("Ha-Hashmona'im,"
Prague, 1817); Samuel Molder ("Beruriya," Am-
sterdam, 1825); Slisskind Raschkow ("Hayye Shim-
shon, " Breslau, 1824) ; Gabriel Poliak (" Ha-Keritot, "'
Amsterdam, 1834, and "Kikayon le-Yonah," ib.
1853); andHirsch Wassertrilling ("Hadrat Elisha',"
Breslau, 1857, and " Nezer Hamodot, " ib. 1860). The
later modern Hebraists have completely neglected
this branch of poetry, and a poem with merely an
epic coloring has taken the place of the stately
and imposing epic itself. Works of this sort have
been written by M. I. Lebensohn (" Nikmat Shim-
shon," "Yoel we-Sisra," etc.) — who has also trans-
lated parts of Vergil's " ^neid " — Konstantin (Abba)
Schapira, Solomon Mandelkem (" Bat Sheba' " and
" Shiggayon le-Dawid "), and others. Of recent He-
brew poets may be mentioned J. L. Gordon (" Aha-
bat Dawid u-Mikal," Wilna, 1856, and vols. iii. and
iv. of his collected works, St. Petersburg, 1883), Ch.
N. Bialik, and S. Tschemichowski.
Bibliography : Dukes, Zur Kenntniss der Neuhetordischen
Religi6sen Poesie, pp. 56 et seq., Frankfort-on-the-Maln,
1842 ; Franz Delltzsch, Oesch. der Jildischen Poesie, passim ;
N. Slouschz, La Renaissance de la Littirature Hebralque,
passim, Paris, 1902.
G. H. B.
Epicurus
Epstein
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
194
EPICXJItUS AND EPICUBEANISM. See
AriKOROs.
EPIQB.AMS (rnn; in modern Hebrew DJDD,
DDSO ; by tvay of circumlocution pjK' yn, plural
D^J1JtJ> D'Vn) : Short poems -with an unexpected yet
pointed ending ; much in favor among Jewish wri-
ters because of the play of wit which they permitted,
though often rather in substance than in form.
Such epigrammatic phrasings of ideas were used in
birthday and wedding poems, in dirges and tomb-
stone inscriptions, as well as in epigraphs, chapter-
headings, introductions, dedications, and approba-
tions and commendations of written or printed books.
They were employed especially in scholarly disputes,
and have played a prominent part in controversial
literature. At times they took a serious turn, at
others they were humorous and satirical: to deride
man's lot on earth, or to express sentiments of love,
friendship, or enmity. They were used even for
fervent prayers. Hebrew epigrams take mostly the
form of a witty application of some Biblical or Tal-
mudic expression; or they contain simply an allu-
sion to persons and objects with which the reader
is supposed to be familiar.
The epigram is represented in the productions of
all the Jewish poets of the Middle Ages. Typical
are the didactic and ethical epigrams of Sam-
uel ha-Nagid (see Harkavy, "Studien und Mitthel-
lungen,"i., especially some of the fragments of p
D'ijnn and ^^JJ^ p), the gloomy verses of Solomon
ibn Gabirol, the noble, tender, and at times droll
epigrams of Judah ha-Levi. Moses ibn Ezra, who
was somewhat older than Judah, excels him in both
breadth of thought and depth of feeling, as well as
in artistic expression. Sharply pointed are the epi-
grams of the clever and sarcastic Abraham ibn Ezra.
Ingenuity and waggishness vie with each other in
the productions of Al-Harizi. The Italian Imman-
uel may also be classed with the masters of this form
of poetry. The disputes about Maimonides and his
works (" Moreh " and " Madda' ") occasioned a great
number of epigrams, which have been collected by
Steinschneider (miDH DIp^D miO, ed. Mekize Nirda-
mim, Berlin, 1885). Some good epigrams were pro-
duced by Eleazar ben Jacob ha-Babli, Solomon da
Piera, and some of the latter's contemporaries — Aza-
riah dei Rossi, Judah de Modena, Jacob and Im-
manuel Frances, the three Gavisons (father, son,
and grandson, especially the last), and many others.
Brllll has published a number of epigrams from a
sixteenth century German manuscript, the mate-
rial of which, however^ goes back to a much earlier
date (" Jahrb." ix. 1 et aeq.).
Among the foremost epigrammatists of modern
times, beginning with the period of enlightenment
in the eighteenth century, are Ephraim Luzzatto, J.
L. Jeiteles, J. B. Lewinsohn, S. D. Luzzatto, Joseph
Almanzi, Hirsch Sommerhausen (D^JUK' D^Vn, Am-
sterdam, 1840), J. A. Benjacob, whose collected epi-
grams (D^OnaO, Leipsic, 1842) are accompanied by
a treatise on the form and essence of the epigram ;
M. Letteris, A. B. Gottlober, and S. Mandelkern.
G. H. B.
EPIGRAPHY. See Inscriptions.
EPILEPSY : Disease of the nervous system,
manifesting itself by attacks of unconsciousness, with
or without convulsions. It frequently occurs in
families where there is a predisposition to neurosis,
and tends to appear in the offspring of parents who
suffer from syphilis or alcoholism. Consanguineous
marriage, while not causing its appearance in the
offspring, may aggravate it where a neurotic tend-
ency exists.
The infrequency of alcoholism and syphilis among
Jews renders them less liable than others to the dis-
ease ; while the frequency of hysteria, insanity, neu-
ralgia, etc., coupled with consanguineous marriages,
intensifies any predisposition toward epilepsy.
In a discussion on the pathology of the Jews be-
fore the Academy of Medicine at Paris in 1891,
Charcot stated that at the SalpStri^re, the great hos-
pital for nervous diseases at Paris, only 39 Jewish
epileptics came imder observation during a period
of thirteen years.
Dr. Worms, physician to the Rothschild Hospital
in Paris, showed that during a period of twenty-five
years (1865-90), of 25,591 Jewish patients admitted
into that institution, only 77 suffered from epilepsy.
Considering the fact that the Jewish population of
Paris during that time was about 43, 500, Dr. Worms
affirmed that this was a very small proportion.
Dr. C. L. Minor of Moscow, Russia, in an analy-
sis of his cases of nervous diseases, finds that among
his 1,480 Jewish patients 36 (2.4 per cent) were epi-
leptics, as against 60 (3.5 per cent) among his 1,734
non-Jewish patients. Among the Jewish patients
15 had suffered from epilepsy before they reached
the age of fifteen. Among the non-Jewish patients
only 9 had had the disease before that age.
In the Craig Colony for Epileptics, New York,
1,286 patients had been admitted up to Oct., 1902.
Of these only 57 were Jews — 41 men, 16 women.
Thus, while the Jewish population of the state of
New York is estimated to be 6 per cent of the total
population, the percentage of Jewish epileptics at
the Craig Colony is only 4.43.
On the whole, the figures recorded seem to imply
less liability to epilepsy on the part of Jews, not-
withstanding a vague impression to the contrary.
Bibliography: Lagneau, M. G. S^e, Worms, Chovet, Fer^,
Oser, in Dtscitsston sur la Pathologie de la Race Juive, in
Bulletin de VAcademie de Medecine de Paris, xxvi. 238-
241; C. L. Minor, Sbomik v Polsku Yevreiskikh Nar-
odnikh Shkol, St. Petersburg, 1898.
J. M. Fi.
EPIPHANIUS : Bishop of Constantia, Cj'prus;
born at Bezanduke near Eleutheropolis, Palestine,
between 310 and 320 (according to Bartolocci, in
288) ; died at sea in 403. Epiphanius is supposed to
have been born of Jewish parents and to have em-
braced Christianity in his sixteenth year. A legend
asserts that, before his conversion, Epiphanius was
adopted by a rich Jew named Tryphon, who died
soon afterward, leaving his fortune to Epiphanius.
After passing four years in Egypt in a monastery,
Epiphanius returned to his native village, founding
there a monastery of which he became abbot. In
367 he was elected Bishop of Constantia, in Cyprus,
and became a zealous defender of orthodoxy, at-
taining celebrity on account of his opposition to Ori-
gen, whom he had condemned before two councils
(399 and 401). Epiphanius was a teacher and friend
of Jerome. Suspecting Chrysostom of favoring the
195
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Epicurus
Epstein
followers of Origen, he went to Constantinople to
denounce the heretical bishop, and died on his way
back to Constantia.
Of especial interest to Jews, owing to the infor-
mation it contains on Jewish, Gnostic, and Judaeo-
Christian views, is his Uavdpiov, an account, written
in 374-376, of eighty heretical sects. According to
Epiphanius, the pre-Christian sects are based upon
the following systems : Barbarism, Scythism, Hellen-
ism, Judaism, and Samaritanism. Heresies derived
from Samaritanism are the following, the order being
slightly changed in his letter to Acacius and Paulus:
Samaritans (ix.), Gorothaeans (x.), Sebuaeans (xi.),
Essenes (xii.), and Dositheans (xiii.). Those emana-
ting from Judaism are: Scribes (xiv.), Pharisees
(xv.), Sadducees (xvi.), Hemerobaptists (xvii.), Os-
saeans (xviii.), Nazarenes(xix.), and Herodians(xx.).
To these must be added the Nazarenes again (xxix.),
the Ebionites (xxx.), and the Judaizing Sampsaeans
(liii.). Though he follows older sources, such as
Hippolytus I., and though he is often wanting in
perspicuity, he adds a great deal from his own ob-
servation and study. In regard to the Ebionites
he is the only source for their gospel (Zahn, " Ge-
schichte des Neutestamentlichen Kanous,"ii., part
1, p. 724). His treatise on . Biblical weights and
measures (Uepl MerpDv kuI lira's fiuv), published by
Lagarde in Greek, with a partial translation into
German ("Symmicta," i. 210, ii. 150), and in Syriac
("Veteris Testamenti ab Origene Recensiti Frag-
menta," etc., pp. 1 et seq.), is more than what its
name implies. It treats of the Greek translations of
the Bible (see Swete, "Introduction," p. 31) as well
as of localities and the stars and heavenly bodies
mentioned in Scripture.
In these works, as also in his " Lives of the Proph-
ets " (ed. in Greek and Latin, Basel, 1529 ; in Syriac,
Nestle, "Syriac Grammar," p. 87; comp. idem,
"Marginalien," ii. 1893) and in his short treatise on
Aaron's breastplate (ed. Dindorf, i. 141, and in many
Syriac MSB.), he shows a varied acquaintance with
Jewish traditions (see, e.g., Ginzberg, "Die Hag-
gada bei den Kirchenvatern," pp. 24, 40, 104, 119).
That he knew Hebrew seems probable from his oc-
casional Hebrew quotations.
Bibliography : Panariun, in Epiphanius' collected works, ed.
Oehler, Berlin, 1859-61; Bartoloccl, Bibl. Rah. 1. 424-428;
Basnage, Hist, des Juifs, viii. 150; Hllgenfeld, Ketzergesch.
des Ur-Christenthums, pp. 80 et seq.; I.lpsius, Zur QueUen-
Kritik des Epiphanius, Vienna, 1865 ; Harnack, in Zeit. filr
die Gesammte Lutherische Theologie U7id Kirche, 1874, p.
143.
J. M. Sel.— G.
EPISCOPTJS JXTDiEORTrM. See Bishop of
THE Jews.
EPISTOLOGRAPHY. See LETTER-WRiTrNQ.
EPITAPHS. See Inscriptionb.
EPITHAIiAMIA. See Wedding-Songs.
EPITOMISTS. See Legalism.
EPSTEIN or EPPSTEIN: The surname
"Eppstein " is one of the oldest Jewish family names
in the Slavic countries. Nathan ha-Levi Epp-
stein and Solomon b. Jacob ha-Levi Eppstein
are mentioned in the responsa (No. 37) of R. Moses
Minz about the middle of the fifteenth century.
Me'ir b, Jacob ha-Levi Eppstein was a printer
in Prague in 1522. Meir Eppstein was a leader
of the community of that city in 1601 ; and Sam-
uel b. Judah ha-Levi Eppstein, a pupil of Mor-
decai Joffe (Lebush), flourished there about 1615.
In 1635 Abraham b. Meir ha-Levi Eppstein, a
descendant of the above R. Nathan, was rabbi of
Brest-Litovsk (see " Keneset Yisrael " for 5648, " Lik-
^utim," 43). Wolf b. Jacob ha-Levi Eppstein,
who came from Kiemenetz, Volhynia, was rabbi of
Friedberg, 1669-81 (see Brtlll's "Jahrb." vii. 46).
The cabalist Israel Jcffe of Sklov mentions among
the friends of his youth a certain Aryeh Lob Ep-
stein, which places him about the end of the seven-
teenth century (see " Ha-8hahar," vi. 229). Michael
b. Abraham ha-Levi Epstein flourished in Mora-
via 1670-80; another Michael ha-Levi Eppstein
in 1699 ; and a Judah ha-Levi Eppstein in 1690
(Mordecai Rothenberg, Responsa, No. 14). A Jo-
seph b. Wolf ha-Levi Epstein of Konitz is men-
tioned in the preface to " Iggeret Musar " (1713).
About the beginning of the eighteenth century
Mordecai ha-Levi Epstein, a great-grandson of
R. Abraham of Brest-Litovsk, was one of the chiefs
of the Jewish community in Grodno. One of his
sons, ?ebi Hirsch Epstein, who died in 1772, was
also a prominent leader in that city. His other son,
Aryeh Lob Epstein, author of "Ha-Pardes," was
rabbi of Konigsberg. One of the latter's descend-
ants, in his biography of the rabbi of Kftnigsberg,
collected much material for the history of the fam-
ily, and according to his data the accompanying
family tree may be constructed (see page 196).
The number of families named "Epstein " is very
large. There are more than two hundred Epsteins
in the city directory of New York (Manhattan), with
a proportionate number in all the large and smaller
cities of the United States where Jews live. This
makes the number of the members of the Epstein
families in the New World alone much larger than
the combined'' population of the two little cities
named " Eppstein, " one in Bavaria and one in Hessen-
Nassau, whence they are supposed to have origi-
nated. It is certain that many families assumed the
name "Epstein" at a later period, while in other
families the name was changed to "Ebstein," "Ep-
penstein," or similar forms.
The number of individual Epsteins who have
achieved prominence is also correspondingly large.
Among the Epsteins who merit mention are: Jehiel
Michael Epstein, author of "Darke ha-Heshbon,"
Wilna, 1836; Isaac Baer Eppstein, author of
"Yesode ha-I)at ha-Yisraelit," an adaptation of
Philippson's "Kurzgefasster Katechismus," KOnigs-
berg, 1849. The more important of the Epsteins
are treated in separate articles below.
Bibliography : Zunz. Z. G. pp. 270-271 ; catalogues of the
British Museum and of the library of the surgeon-general's
otBce of the United States army, s.v. Eppstein ; Fiirst, Bibl.
Jud.; Zeitlin, Bihl. Post-MendeJs. s.v. Epstein ; Gebu-
rot ha-Ari, Wilna, 1870; Frledensteln, 'Ir GibboHm, pp.
44, 60-t>l, Wilna, 1880; EfraU. Dor we-Dorshaw, p. 64, ih.
1889 ; Eisenstadt, Dor Rabbanaw we-Soferaw, p. 42, War-
saw, 1895.
J. P. Wi:
Abraham Epstein : Russo- Austrian rabbinical
scholar ; born in Staro Constantinov, Volhynia, Dec.
19, 1841. Epstein diligently studied the works of
fipsteiii
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
196
Levinsohn, Krochmal, and S. D. Luzzatto, and when
hei traveled in western Europe for the first time in
1861, he made the acquaintance of Rapoport, Fran-
kel, and Michael Sachs. After his father's death in
1874 (see Israel Epstein's biography in "Ha-Shahar,"
vi. 699-708) Epstein took charge of his extensive
Epstein is the author of the " Kadmut ha-Tan-
huma," a review of Buber's edition of the Midrash
Tanhuma (Presburg, 1886), and of " Mi-Kadmoniy-
yot ha-Yehudim," which contains (1) treatises on
Jewish chronology and archeology, and (2) a revised
and annotated edition of Midrash Tadshe (Vienna,
Nathan ha-Levl Eppsteln
Meir ha-Levl Eppstela
Abraham
(rabbi of Brest-Lltovsk 1635)
I
son
Meir
I
Abraham (of Rechnltz, Hungary)
Joshua (of Wllna)
I
Mordecal (of Grodno ; d. 1733)
Nabman
(rabbi of
Bar, Po-
dolia)
I
son
I
Nabman
■|
Isaac Ze'eb
(rabbi of
Kolomea,
Galicla)
r
1
Isaac (of Slutzk)
I
David (rabbi
of (jlusk)
, I
f 1
Mordecal Jehlel
I I
Isaac (rabbi Slmhah
of Uman) Zimnel
(of War-
saw)
I
r ]
Judah David
(author of
" Klnamon
Boshem,"
1848)
Jacob (of Slutzk)
I
Moses (rabbi of
Kobrln)
Jacob (rabbi of
Lomza)
I
Solomon (rabbi
of Lentschna)
Moses (rabbi of
Zamoscz; au-
thor of " Bet
Mosheh," 1848)
Aryeh Lttb
(of KOnigs-
berg, 1708-
75)
Wolf (of Tlktln,
1710-34)
I
daughter (m.
LObof Rosinoi)
I
Abraham
(of Slonlm)
I
Samuel Avlgdor
(rabbi of Kar-
lln ; d. 1866)
I
Baer (of Grodno) Zebi Hirsch
(of Grodno ;
progenitor
of the
Neches
family ; d.
1772)
Isaiah
(of Slo-
nlm; d.
1807)
Samuel
(of Slo-
nim; d.
1816)
Mordecal
Joshua
Meir
I j 1 Hirsch
Meir Joel Dob , ' . ^
Samson Baer <^^"?°'?'"
(m. Wolf
Lewin)
I
Joshua Heschel
Lewin (author of " 'AUy-
yot Eliyahu "; d. 1884)
Abraham Meir
(of Mush ; d. 1772)
Ephralm Mordecal
(of Kassov ; d. 1808)
Abraham
(of Mush)
I
Alexander
Wolf
(rabbi of
Kassov)
Mordecal of Wllna
(Gltke Taube's ;
d. 1808)
I
Hayylm
9ayylm (of Wllna) Moses
I (of Chasnik)
Alexander,
(rabbi of Skldl ;
d. 1832)
Samuel Aaron
Hatafi (rabbi
of KOnigsberg ;
d. 1827)
Israel
(of Slonlm,
1770-1843)
I
Solomon
Ephralm Mordecal
(author of " Geburot
ha-Arl," 1870)
Jehlel Michael
(of Pinsk)
Isaac
of Slonlm
(Glnsperiger)
I
r
Mordecal
(of Slonlm, 1753
1829)
I
Abr. Isaac
(rabbi of Geor-
genburg: d. 1860)
Joshua
(of Slonlm)
Abraham Mairlm
(of Tolotshin)
I
Meir of Wllna
(Shnlpishker ;
d. 1851)
Saul (rabbi of Kassov)
Baer (of
Slutzk)
Meir
Aaron
I
Hayylm
(of Selz)
I
Hirsch L6b
(of Grodno)
Genealogical Tree op the Epsteen Family.
business interests, but gradually wound up all his
affairs, and since 1884 has devoted most of his time
to travel and study. He settled in Vienna in 1876
and became an Austrian subject. He is the pos-
sessor of a large library which contains many
valuable manuscripts.
1887). He also wrote : " Bereschit-Rabbati, Dessen
Verhaltnisse zu Rabba," etc. (Berlin, 1888); "R.
Simeon Kara und der Jalkut Schimeoni " (Cracow,
1891) ; " Eldad ha-Dani, " a critical edition, with vari-
ations from divers manuscripts, of the well-known
work of Eldad, with an introduction and notes
107
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Epstein
(Vienna, 1891); "La Lettre d'Eldad sur les Dix
Tribus" (Paris, 1892; reprinted from "R. E. J."
XXV.) ; " R. Moshe ha-Darshan mi-Narbona " (Vienna,
1891) ; " Dibre Bikkoret li-Kebod Rabbi S. L. Rapo-
port," a defense of Rapoport against the attacks of
I. H. Weiss (Vienna, 1896); "Jiidische Alterthumer
in Worms und. Speier" (Breslau, 1896; reprinted
from " Mouatsschrif t, " v. 40). He wrote in addition
many critical, biographical, historical, and archeo-
logical articles for the Jewish periodical press,
especially for "Mouatsschrift," " Revue des Etudes
Juives," and "Ha Hoker," some of which have
been reprinted in book form.
Bibliograp}1y: Autobiographical sketch in Sokolow's Sefer
Zikaron, pp. 162-166, Warsaw, 1890; Zeltlln, Bihl. PoxU
MendeUi. p. 79 ; Lippe, Bibliographisclies Lexicon, ill. 98-
99, Vienna, 1899.
n. R. P. Wi.
Alois Epstein : Austrian pediatrist ; born at
Kamenitz-an-der-Linde, Bohemia, Jan. 1, 1849. He
was educated at the gymnasium at Neuhaus and the
University of Prague, graduating as doctor of med-
icine in 1873. In the same year he established him-
self at Prague as a physician, and in 1880 became
privat-docent in pediatrics. In 1881 he was ap-
pointed physician-in -chief at the foundling hospital,
and in 1884 professor at the University.
Besides numerous essays in the medical journals,
Epstein has written many monographs and books,
among which may be mentioned : " Ueber Blutungen
im Fruhesten Kindesalter," Prague, 1876; "Ueber
das Systolische Schadelgerausch der Kinder," ib.
1878; " Ueber die Gelbsucht bei Neugeborenen Kin-
dern," Leipsic, 1880; "Studien zur FragederFindel-
anstalten, " Prague, 1882 ; " Beitrag zu den Bildungs-
fehlern des Herzens," ih. 1886; " Ueber das Wesen
und die Behandlung der Cholera Infantum," Berlin,
1890; "Ueber Pseudodiphtheritis Septhaemischen
Ursprungs," ib. 1894; "Vulvite, Vulvovaginite et
Autres Inflammations des Organes Genitaux Ex-
ternes de Petites Filles," Paris, 1897; "Ueber An-
gina Chronica Leptothricia bei Kindern," Prague,
1900 ; " Ueber Verdauungsstoerungen im Sauglings-
alter," Stuttgart, 1901.
Epstein is one of the editors of the " Jahrbuch f ilr
Kinderkrankheiten. "
s. F. T. H.
Aryeh (Lob) Epstein b. Mordecai (Ba'al
h.a-Pardes) : Polish rabbi ; born in Grodno 1708 ;
died in Konigsberg, Prussia, June 26, 1775. At
first he refused to become a rabbi, preferring to
devote himself entirely to study ; but in 1739 he was
forced by poverty to accept the rabbinate of Bresto-
vech, Lithuania, and in 1745 he became rabbi of
Konigsberg, where he remained until his death.
He corresponded with Elijah, gaon of Wilna, and
with Jonathan Eybeschiitz, with whom he sided in
the quarrel about amulets.
He is the author of "Or ha-Shanim," on the 613
commandments (Frankfort - on - the - Oder, 1754) ;
"Halakah Ahaionah" and "Kuntres ha-Ra'yot" {ib.
1754; Konigsberg, 1759); " Sefer ha-Pardes," in three
parts — (1) on the Shema' and the observance of Sab-
bath, (2) sermons, (3) funeral orations {ib. 1759).
Several otlier cabalistic and halakic works from his
pen are mentioned in his own works or by his biog-
rapher. A prayer which he composed on the occa-
sion of the dedication of a new synagogue in Kbnigs-
berg {ib. 1756) is found in the Bodleian Library.
Annotations by him and by his son Abraham MeYr
are published in some of the later editions of the
Babylonian Talmud. He is called " Levin Marcus "
in Solowicz's "Gesch. der Juden in Konigsberg,"
Posen, 1857.
BiBLiooRAPHY: Epstein, Gcbwrot ^ri, Warsaw, 1870; Zedner,
Cat. Hebr. Hooks Brit. Mu». p. 241 ; Friedenstein, ^Ir Oib-
borim, pp. 44, 47, Wilna, 1880.
L. G. P. Wl.
Jacob Epstein : Polish banker and philanthro-
pist; born in Zarki, Poland, 1771; died at Warm-
brunn, Prussian Silesia, Aug. 16, 1843. In early
manhood he went to Warsaw, where he succeeded
in amassing a large fortune and became one of the
most prominent figures in the old Polish capital. He
was the first Jew in Warsaw to discard the old-style
Jewish garb and to dress himself and his family in
European fashion. In the rebellion of 1830-31 Ep-
stein took the part of his oppressed countr3-mea,
and was an officer in the insurrectionary army ; but
later he seems to have completely regained the favor
of the Russian government, as is evidenced by his
appointment as banker of the treasury commission
of the kingdom of Poland in 1838.
Epstein was the founder and president of the
Jewish hospital at Warsaw, on which he spent large
sums and which he raised to a high standard of effi-
ciency. Emperor Nicholas I., who visited the insti-
tution, conferred on Epstein the title of "hereditary
honorary citizen." The high respect in which Ep-
stein was held by the Christian population of War-
saw is best indicated by his election to membership
in the commission of charities, which consisted
mostly of Polish noblemen.
Bibliography: Fuenn, Kene«et Tisrael, p. 561; Allaemeine
Zeitung des Judenthums, 1838, No. 97 ; 1840, p. 340.
H. R. P. Wl.
Jehiel N. Epstein : Son of R. Abraham Segal
Epstein ; flourished about the middle of the seven-
teenth century. He was the author of the " Kizzur
Shene Luhot ha-Berit" (1683), written after the
style of the cabalistic "Shene Luhot ha-Berit." A
second edition, with numerous additions, and con-
taining extracts from current ethical works, was
published fifteen years later at Furth. Nothing is
known of the career of Epstein.
K. S. B.
Joseph Lazar Epstein : Russian educator
and author; born 1821; died in Shavli April 19,
1885. For the last twenty-four years of his life he
taught at the government school of Shavli. He was
a contributor to the Hebrew periodicals, and was the
first to write in Hebrew an account of Abraham Lin-
coln's life. This biography appeared in " Ha-
Karmel," 1862, Nos. 34-36, under the title "Toledot
Abraham " (Generations of Abraham). He also wrote
a biography of Manasseh b. Israel (after Kayserling),
which appeared in the same periodical {ib. 1863,
Nos. 8-9). His Hebrew translation of M. A. Gold-
schmidt's life of I. M. Jost appeared In Kohn-
Zedek's "Ozar Hokmah," 1865, v. 3. Epstein was
also the author of a history of Russia, entitled
"Dibre ha-Yamim le-Malke Russya," and paying
special regard to their influence on the condition of
the Jews (Wilna, 1872).
Epstein
Erfart
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
198
Epstein's novel, "Miryam ha - Hashmona'it,"
Wilna, 1863, is a translation from the German of L.
Philippson. A second novel, " Yad la-Zahab, " War-
saw, 1884, was the last of his works. Like most
Russian "maskilim," Epstein lived and died poor,
and left his family in straitened circumstances.
Bibliography : ZeltUn, Bibl. Post-Mendels, pp. 78-79 ; Ha-
Zeflrah, 1885, No. 16.
H. R. P. Wl.
Joshua ^ayyim b. Mordecai ha-Levi Ep-
stein: Russian rabbinical scholar and communal
worker; born in Wilna 1820; died there Dec. 1,
1900. He was familiarly known as "Reb Joshua
Hayyim the Sarsur" (money-broker), and was one
of the most popular and respected members of his
native city. He is the author of "Hiddushe Ri-
YaH," novelise on the Midrash Rabbot, and "Lik-
^uteRiYaH," collectanea on the Talmud, published
at Wilna, 1890, and distributed gratuitously among
poor scholars. The work closes with three short
treatises by his son Mordecai, entitled "Ma'amar
Mordekai."
BiBLioGRAPHT : Ahicwaf, 5662, pp. 224-225, Warsaw, 1901 ;
Stelnschneider, '/r Wilna, p. 349.
K. P. Wl.
Julius Epstein : Austrian pianist ; born at
Agram, Croatia, Aug. 7, 1832; pupil at Agram of
the choir-director Lichtenegger, in Vienna of Rufi-
natscha (composition) and Halm (pianoforte). He
made his debut in 1852, and soon became one of the
most popular pianists and teachers in Vienna.
From 1867 to 1901 Epstein was professor of piano
at the Vienna Conservatorium, where Ignaz Brilll,
Marcella Sembrich, and Gustav Mahler were among
his pupils. Epstein edited Beethoven's "Clavier-
sonaten " ; Mendelssohn's "Sammtliche Clavier-
werke"; Schubert's "Kritisch Durchgesehene Ge-
sammtausgabe, " etc.
His two daughters Rudolfine (cellist) and Bu-
g'enie (violinist) made a concert lour through
Germany and Austria during the season of 1876-
1877, which was very successful. His son Richard
is professor of piano at the Vienna Conservato-
rium.
Bibliography: Mendel, Musikalisches Konversations-Lexi-
kon ; Baker, Biographical Dictiuna/ry of Musicians, New
York, 1900 ; Schuster, Julius Epstein, 1902 ; Kosel, Biogra-
phien der Wiener Kilnstler und Schriftsteller, 1902.
8. J. So.
Sigismund Stefan Epstein (pseudonym, Schi-
mon Simel): German author; nephew of Abra-
ham Epstein; born at Warsaw, Russia, Nov. 12,
1866. He was educated at the gymnasia of Kiev
and Vienna and at the University of Vienna, where
he studied natural science. He went in 1895 to Ber-
lin, where he studied physiology under Du Bois-
Reymond at the Polytechnical Institute. He is at
present living in Paris, France.
Epstein is the author of " Kabbala und Naturwis-
senschaft," 1891 ; " Paul Bourget als Lyriker," 1893;
"H. von Helmholtz," 1895; "Emil du Bois-Rey-
mond," 1896; "Maupassant und der FranzOsische
Roman der Gegenwart," 1899; "Der Kampf des
Menschen Gegen die Natur." In 1899 Epstein col-
laborated in the publication of " Hundert Jahre in
Wort und Bild; Eine Kulturgeschichte des XIX
Jahrhunderts," Beriin, 1902.
8. F. T. H.
• ER (-iy, "the watchful"): 1. First son of Judah
by Shuah the Canaanite (Gen. xxxviii. 3; Num.
xxvi. 19). He died soon after marrying Tamar, be-
cause he " was wicked in the sight of the Lord "
(Gen. xxxviii. 7). What his sin was is explained in
Bereshit R. Ixxxv. 4.
2. Son of Shelah, the son of Judah (I Chron.
iv. 21).
3. Son of Jose, one of the ancestors of Jesus
(Luke iii. 28).
E. G. H. M. SEIi.
ERA : A historical period or reckoning of years,
dating from some important event or fixed point of
time. A striking event of a lasting effect is gener-
ally taken as a starting-point for a new era. The
Bible contains a few instances of this kind: the
Flood (Gen. xi. 10); the Exodus (Ex. xvi. 1, xix. 1,
xl. 17; Num. i. 1, ix. 1, x. 11, xxxiii. 38; Deut. i.
3; I Kings vi. 1); the earthquake in the days of Uz-
ziah (Amos i. 1); the Babylonian Exile (Ezek. xl. 1).
After the return of the Jews from the Babylonian
Exile they arranged their dates according to the
reigns of the Persian kings, just as before the Exile
they dated events according to the reigns of the
kings of Judah and of Israel.
According to Lev. xxv. 8, the Israelites were com-
manded to count seven Sabbatical cycles of seven
years each and to observe the fiftieth year as the
year of jubilee. The period of fifty years is called
a "jubilee." There is no record in the Bible of the
actual beginning of the jubilees nor of their actual
ending. Tradition relates that the fifteenth year
after the entering of the Israelites into the land of
Canaan was the first year of the first
Era of jubilee period. Tradition likewise
Jubilees, states that the observance of the jubi-
lee year was discontinued after the
conquest of Samaria by Shalmaneser (Maimonides,
"Yad," Shemittah we-Yobel, x. 8). But no infor-
mation is given in regard to whether the count-
ing of the jubilee periods was continued after the
fall of Samaria, and, if so, in what manner it was
continued {ib. x. 3-4). As, however, the law con-
cerning witnesses enjoins that they must answer
the question, "In what jubilee period, in what Sab-
batical cycle, and in what year of the cycle did the
event in question happen? " (Sanh. v. 1), it may be
assumed that the counting of jubilees and Sabbatical
cycles continued in practise and was generally known
(see Seder '01am xxx.). But neither in the Bible
nor in Talmudical literature is any instance given of
an event dated in this way. In Neubauer's cata-
logue of the Hebrew manuscripts in the Bodleian
Library (No. 2493) the following date is given:
"1797 Sel. 3d year of the Sabbatical cycle."
The Jews of post-Biblical times adopted the Greek
era of the Seleucids. The Greek era (" heshbon ha-
yewanim"), or the era of contracts ("rainyan she-
tarot "), dates from the battle of Gaza in the au-
tumn of the year 3 13 B.C. This was used by the Jews
as early as the Book of Maccabees (I Mace. i. 11),
though the author of the first Book of Maccabees
199
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Epstein
Erfurt
deals with the year as beginning with Nisan, while
in the second book the beginning of the year is
placed in Tishii (see the elaborate dis-
The cussion in Schilreis "Geschichte," 1.
Seleucid 36-46; and the literature mentioned
Era. on p. 46). It has even been suggested
that the Feast of Trumpets was not re-
garded as the "New-Year" until about 130 B.C. For
a time, indeed, it seemed possible that the Jews would
adopt an era of their own from the period of their
deliverance under the Maccabees. Several coins of
Simon are dated from " the year of the salvation of
Israel. "
There are two eras which may properly be called
"Jewish ": the era of the Destruction of the Temple
and the era of the Creation ('Ab. Zarah 9a). These
were employed by the tannaim, while the " era of the
Greeks " was used by the " safre " (scribes or clerks)
in drawing up contracts or other mercantile docu-
ments. The relation of the three eras to one another
may be expressed by the following equation: 1
after Destruction of Temple = 3829 a.m. = 381 Sel.
= 1 Sabb. cycle = 69 c.E.
The present usual method among Jews of recording
the date of an event is to state the number of years
that have elapsed since the creation of the world.
It appears to have arisen from an attempt to estab-
lish a connection between the lunar cycle of eight
years and the Metonic cycle of nine-
The teen years by which this is brought
Era of the into connection with the solar year,
Creation, the arrangement being made that by
calculations from a fixed point the
date of the new moon could always be ascertained
by reckoning the number of cycles which had
elapsed since the era of the' Creation, determined by
the mnemonic " beharad " (Ti' n2), which refers both
the era and the beginning of the lunar cycle to the
night between Sunday and Monday, Oct. 7, 3761
B.C. at 11 h. llj^ m. P.M. (2 referring to the second
day, n to the fifth hour after sunset, and "n to the
204 minims after the hour). Rilhl has shown that
the adoption of this era must have taken place be-
tween the year 222, when Julius Africanus reports
that the Jews still retained the eight-year cycle, and
276, when Anatolius makes use of the Metonic cycle
to determine Easter after the manner of the Jews.
It may be further conjectured that it was intro-
duced about the year 240-241, the first year of the
fifth thousand, according to this calculation, and
that the tradition which associated its determination
with Mar Samuel (d. about 250) is justified. The
era of the Creation occurs in the Talmud (Ab. Zarah
9b), but is used for dating for tlie first time in She-
rira Gaon's Epistle (see Azariah dei Rossi, "Me'or
'Enayim," p. 96); but this does not occur in the
best manuscripts which date after the Seleucid era.
The era of the Creation occurs in Shabbethai Don-
nolo (c. 946), and in Tanna debe Elij^ahu (974). Mai-
monides used the era of the Creation as well as the
Seleucid era and tl)atof the Destruction of the Tem-
ple ("Yad," Shemittah, x. 4). The abrogation of
the Seleucid era is attributed to David ibn Abi Zim-
rah about 1511, but it still remains in use among the
Yemenite Jews, most of the manuscripts of the Mid-
msh ha-Gadol being dated after it.
Strict Jews have an objection to using the Chris-
tian year as seemingly recognizing the founder of
the era, though occasionally it occurs even in Hebrew
books, as in Abulafia's "Gan Na'ul" (comp. Jel-
linek, "B. H." iii. 40, note 7) and in the writings of
Meyer Katzenellenbogen. Modern Jews frequently
use the Christian date, but rarely add the "a.d."
Jews in Mohamrhedan countries sometimes use the
era of the Hegira.
BiBLiORRAPHY : Ideler, Handbuch der Chronologte. 1825, pp.
528-537, 588, 583 : Lewlsohn, Gesch. des JUdischeii. Kalender-
wesens, pp. 28-35 ; P. Rubl, Der Ursprung der JUdischen
Weltdra, In Deutsche ZeiUchrift fUr Geschichtswissen-
schaft, 1898. pp. 185, 202 ; idem, Chronologie der Mittelal-
ters, pp. 184, 189 et seq., Berlin, 1897 ; 8. L. Rappaport, In
BuscWsKaiendarfor 1881, ; Seder 'Olam; Abraham b. Hlyya,
Sefer ha-'lbbur, iii.; Isaaclsraell, Fesod'OJam, Iv.
A. M. F.— J.
EBACH: (from the Biblical "'erek," II Kings
xxiii. 35): A tax on property for communal pur-
poses. The direct taxes which were levied by the
Jewish congregations were mostly twofold: (1) on
every family ("rashe bayit"), and (2) on property,
both real estate and chattels, according to the sworn
statement of the property -owner. The latter tax
was called " erach. " This is the form used in the
"Memorbuch" of Worms (see Maggid, "Zur Ge-
schichte und Genealogie der Gilnzburge," p. 180, St.
Petersburg, 1899). It is an expression frequently
used in Wiirttemberg (see "Orient," 1844, pp. 98,
146, end; "Allg. Zeit. des Jud." 1845, p. 522).
A. D.
EBECH : The second of the four Babylonian
cities founded, according to Gen. x. 10, by Nimrod.
The site of the city is now known as " Warka," on
the left bank of the Euphrates, about half-way be-
tween Hilla and Korna. The mounds and ruins
cover an area six miles in circumference. Inad-
equately explored by Loftus (" Travels in Chaldea
and Susiana," pp. W2 et seq.), they have furnished
only incomplete material for its history. The earli-
est inscriptions found are byDungi, Ur-Ba'u, and
Gudea, kings of Ur, who held Erech as a part of
their dominions. After these come texts of Singasid,
Merodach-baladan I. Great numbers of coffins, es-
pecially of the Parthian period, show that the site
had become a necropolis.
The foundation of Erech is ascribed in the non-
Semitic version of the Creation-story to the god
Marduk, and it is the center of life and action in the
Gilgamesh epic. It had many poetical names.
BiBLiOGRAPHT: The historles of Babylonia and Assyria by
Tiele, Hommel, Winckler, and Rogers ; Peters. Nippur.
E. G. H. R. W. R.
ERFUHT: Chief town of the district of the
same name in Prussian Saxony, situated on the
Gera. If the dates on the tombstones found in Er-
furt are genuine, there existed in that city an organ-
ized Jewish community in the ninth century. The
earliest official document, however, concerning the
Erfurt Jews dates from the second
Earliest half of the twelfth century. Between
Mention. 1160 and 1186 Bishop Conrad I. drew
up a form of oath to be used by them.
On June 26, 1221, the community suffered great per-
secution at the hands of Friesland pilgrims, about
twenty -six Jews (according to some sources eighty-
six) being massacred. A fast-day was instituted
Erfurt
Erlanerer, Camille
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
200
in commemoration of this calamity. Twenty-one
names of the victims have been preserved in the
"Memorbuph" of Mayence, and several others are
given in an elegy written on the occasion by the
liturgical poet Solomon ben Abraham.
Great as the catastrophe seems to have been, its
effects were not lasting; and the community in-
creased considerably in the first half of the thirteenth
century. For nearly forty years the prior of St.
Benedict, in whose parish many Jews resided,
claimed from the Jewish owners of houses the same
tithes as from Christians. When the Jews protested,
the bishop decided (July 20, 1240) in favor of the
prior; but the Jews, upheld doubtless by the
municipal council, persisted in their refusal to pay,
and the matter was finally submitted to arbitration.
On Jan. 13, 1266, Arclibishop Werner, in return
for an annual payment of 100 silver marks and for a
fee of 30 pfennigs for each interment,
Protection granted the Erfurt Jews a letter of
by protection, placing them under his
the Arch- own jurisdiction. From his notifica-
bishop. tion of this arrangement to the city
authorities it may be inferred that the
Jews had suffered greatly at the hands of the munic-
ipality, which had been interdicted on this account.
The archbishop's protection, however, did not shield
the Jews from assault on their synagogues and
cemetery ; and the city was again put under inter-
dict, the decree remaining in force until revoked in
1284 by Werner's successor, Heinrich of Basel, who,
however, at the same time renewed the Jews' privi-
leges, In 1291 Archbishop Gerhard II. pledged the
Jews to the municipal council for 1,000 silver marks.
In spite of ill treatment and numerous vexations,
the Jews, as attested by contemporary chroniclers,
took an active part in the defense of the city against
the repeated attacks of Count Friedrich in 1309.
These services, however, were soon forgotten, and
the chief of the council, HugoLongus, together with
the Dominicans and certain nobles who desired to
be rid of their creditors, plotted the destniction of
the Jews. The plague, which had raged intermit-
tently in Erfurt since 1315, was attributed to the
poisoning of wells by the Jews, and in Aug., 1348,
their quarters were stormed, about 3,000 Jews
perishing by fire and sword. The council benefited
to the extent of 800 silver marks in addition to all
movable property remaining, but the archbishop,
whose interests were injured by the extinction
of the Jewish community, claimed compensation.
Nevertheless, he pardoned the city in the following
year, and in 1350 he empowered the council to col-
lect and to use tlie debts owed to the Jews by the
counts of Bleichlingen.
Scarcely a year afterward a new Jewish com-
munity was formed at Erfurt, the settlers imder-
taking to pay the same amount of taxes as their
predecessors. As the old synagogue
After had passed into private ownership, the
the Black council granted (1357) a certain sum
Death. for the erection of a new one. In
1373 it issued a series of ordinances
concerning the Jews, who were required to wear
throughout the year long gowns, boots, and hats.
If capes were preferred for winter, these had to
be worn over the gowns. Girdles and jewelry
were prohibited. During the Christian fast-days
Jews were forbidden to buy fish. The affairs of
tlieir community were to be administered by five
parnasim and a rabbi.
In spite of these restrictions the Jewish popula-
tion of Erfurt gradually increased. It became nec-
essary to enlarge the old cemetery, situated near the
Moritz Gate, and some adjacent ground was rented
(1375) from the council for an annual payment of
five shillings. In the same year an agreement con-
cerning tlie taxes was entered into between the
council and the Jewish community. Excepting a
certain rich Jew, Elias, termed the " Judenmeister,"
who was specially taxed, the annual amount for the
Erfurt Synagogue in 1357.
(After Jartczewsky, " Geschlchtc der Judeo in Effort. ")
community was fixed at 850 pounds of pfennigs.
Besides these regular taxes, the Jews had to con-
tribute to the expenses of the defense of the city.
Thus, in 1377 they paid for this purpose 100 pounds
of pfennigs.
At the expiration of the agreement in 1380 the
council compelled them to make a present to the
city of 2,200 silver marks. In addi-
Heavy tion certain changes in the Jewish
Taxation, dress were prescribed with the view
of still further humiliating its wear-
ers. Jews were forbidden to employ Christian serv-
ants. No Jew, unless he became a citizen, for
which privilege he had to pay a considerable sum,
was allowed to settle in the city. To facilitate the
control of the Jewish inhabitants, the parnasim were
ordered to draw up a list and to deposit it with the
council. In this list figured seventy-six families
who were able to pay their dues to the city and
twenty-six for whom their more fortunate brethren
paid. In 1391 King Wenceslaus of Bohemia granted
the city of Erfurt many privileges, and relieved the
citizens from paying any debts to the Jews.
The history of the Jews of Erfurt from the end of
the fourteenth century to 1458, in which year they
were banished from the city, records a long series of
sufferings of various kinds. On one side was the
council, which became more and more exacting;
on the other, the bishops and the German emperors,
201
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Erfurt
£rlan£rer, Camille
to whom belonged by right one-third of the prop-
erty of the Jews. Thus Sigismund in 1416 im-
posed upon the Jews of Erfurt the
Till the payment of 6,000 gulden, estimating
Expulsion, this sum to be a third of the value of
their possessions. In the following
year he granted them a letter of protection for a
period of ten years, at the expiration of which it
was renewed for another term of six years; but,
judging from their repeated complaints, the protec-
tion seems to have been very ineffective. In 1438
Sigismund pledged the Erfurt Jews to the knight
Matthes Schlick, Burgrave of Eger, for the sum of
1,000 Rhenish gulden. In 1442 they were again com-
pelled to pay 6,000 gulden as a coronation gift to
Friedrich III. In 1454 John Capistrano visited Er-
furt, and excited the mob to violence against the
Jews. The latter complained to the emperor, who
severely remonstrated with the council ; but his re-
monstrances remained unheeded, and in 1450 the
council succeeded in obtaining from Elector Dietrich
of Mayence, in return for the payment of 450 silver
marks and 4,000 gold gulden, permission to banish
the Jews from the city.
Until the end of the eighteenth century Erfurt
remained forbidden ground to the Jews; and the
heavy poll-tax imposed by the coun-
In the cil upon Jewish travelers gave rise to
Eighteenth many protestations. Between 1768
Century, and 1789 only four Jews received per-
mission to settle at Erfurt. A little
later several others took up their abode there, and
although the council refused them rights of citizen-
ship, they were allowed to live in the city un-
molested. Citizens' rights were first conferred on
an Erfurt Jew in 1810, the recipient being Solomon
Mayei", father of the mathematician Ephraim Solo-
mon Unger. In 1811 the Jews acquired some
ground near the Briihlerthor for a cemetery. A
synagogue was erected in 1840.
In the Middle Ages Erfurt was a seat of learning,
and possessed an important rabbinical college. In
1399 many rabbis gathered there for a synod and set-
tled various ritual questions. Among the most re-
nowned rabbis and scholars of Erfurt were : Eleazar
of Worms, whose wife and children fell victims to
the persecutions of 1221 ; the Masorite Eleazar ben
Kalonymus; Rabbi Wadarash (?) (d. 1285); Solomon
ben Menahem ha-Ijevi ; Simhah ben Gershon ; Alex-
ander Siisskind (18th cent.); Isaac ha-Levi (14th
cent.); R. Anshel Cohen and R. Hillel (15th cent.);
and Jacob Weil. The community was administered
by four parnasim, having at their head a chief called
the " Judenmeister. " Three names of such chiefs oc-
cur often in the official documents : Elias, referred to
above; Heller; and Makir, whose son lived at Frank-
fort in 1398. Among the rabbis of the nineteenth cen-
tury the most noteworthy were Adolph Jaraczew-
sky, Ezekiel (1879-82), J. Oaro and Philip Kroner.
Dr. Moritz Salzberger is the present incumbent. The
Jewish community numbers now (1903) about 800
persons in a total population of 72,360. It has four
charitable institutions ; namely,.the Hebra, the Frau-
enverein, the Armenkasse, and the Groschenverein.
About sixteen Hebrew manuscripts are preserved
in the library of the Evangelisches Ministerium at
Erfurt, some of them of great value. The Bible
manuscripts, in large folio and most beautifully ex-
ecuted, have been used by J. H. Michaelis in his
edition of 1720 and by Baer in his critical edition
(see his "Liber Duodecim Prophetarum," p. vi.,
Leipsic, 1878). They have been described by D. J.
J. Bellermann in " DeBibl. et Museis Erford, " 1800-
1803; by Lagarde in "Symmicta," i. 130 et seq.,
GOttingen, 1877 (see "Hebr. Bibl." xix. 28); and in
the "Katalog der Ministerial-Bibl. zu Erfurt." 1876.
The Tosefta manuscript was used by Zuckermandel
for his edition of that work. A manuscript of the
Montefiore Library (No. 104) contains the "minha-
gim" of the Erfurt community (see "J. Q. R." xiv.
181).
Bibliography: ITrhundenbuch. ri!er Stadt Erfurt, 1890;
Michelson, in Zeit. den VereinsfUr die Thilringsche Gesch.
und AUerthum, iv. 151 ; Schmidt, Ueber die Jitden in Er-
furt Wdhrend der Hvssiten Kriege, 1U27-1US1; Adolph Jara-
czewsky. Die Gesch. der Juden in ErfuH, 1868; PhlUp
KroruT, Die Erf urter Hetytdischen OrabHchrifien, iuM"-
naUischrift, xxxiil. 349 ; Idem, Oench. der Juden in Erj ui* :
Aronlus, Reqesten, pp. 106, 183, 2-45; Gratz, Ge«ch. v1. 92;
Zunz. S. P. p. 26 ; Breslau, In Hebr. Bibl. xll. 124 ; Salfeld,
Marturolngium, p. 120,
G. L Br.
ERGAS, JOSEPH BEN IMMANTJEIi : Ital-
ian rabbi and cabalist ; born in Leghorn 1685 ; died
May 19, 1730. He is frequently mentioned by Mel-
dola in his responsa "Mayim Rabbim," by Mor-
purgo in his "Shemesh Zedakah," and in the "Mil-
hamah la-Adonai " (p. 48).
Ergas wrote: "Tokahat MeguUah," a polemical
work against Nehemiah Hayyun's " 'Ozle-Elohim,"
accusing the author of Shabbethaian heresy, London,
1715; "Ha-Zad Nahash," another polemic, against
Hayyun's"ShalhebetYah,"iJ. 1715; "ShomerEmu-
nim," a dialogue between a philosopher and a caba-
list, Amsterdam, 1736; "Mebo Petahim," an intro-
duction to the " true Cabala" and a warning against
"heretical Cabala," with some responsa at the end,
Amsterdam, 1736; "Dibre Yosef," a collection of
sixty-eight responsa, Leghorn, 1742; "Minhat Yo-
sef," containing ethical precepts and sayings of an-
cient authors, ib. 1827. Ergas' letters about the
Cabala to his contemporaries Abraham Segre and
Aryeh Lob Finzi were in the possession of Ghirondi.
BiBLiOGRAPHT: Azulal. Shem ha-GedoUm, i. 76; Nepl-Ghl-
rondl, Toledot Gednle Yi-trael, p. 146; Steinschnelder, Cat.
Bodl. col. 1457 ; Fuenn, Keneset Yisrael, p. 455.
K. M. Sel.
EBLANGEB, CAMILLE: French composer;
born at Paris May 25, 1863 ; studied at the Conser-
vatoire and (1888) obtained the first Prix de Rome
in the class of Leo Delibes. In 1888 he composed
at Rome "St. Julien I'Hospitalier," which ranked
him at once among the eminent composers of his
day. Subsequently he was appointed choirmaster
of the Jewish temple in tlie Rue des Cournelles. His
principal works include: "Velleda," a 13'ric scene
(produced at the Concerts Colonne, 1889), and "La
Chasse Fantastique " ( 1893 ), a symphonic com-
position, which formed part of "St. Julien I'Hospi-
talier," a dramatic legend in three acts and seven
tableaux, after Flaubert. Fragments of this work
were played at the Conservatoire in 1894, and
the entire composition was performed at the con-
certs of the Opera in 1896. His other well-known
Erlan^er, Jules
'Erub
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
202
productions are : " Kermaria," a lyric drama in three
acts, in collaboration with Gheuzi, produced at the
Opera Comique, Paris, Jan., 1897; "LeJuif Polo-
nais," a lyric drama based on the novel of Erckmann-
Chatrian, also produced at the Opera Comique, with
Victor Maurel in the title-role; "Bar-Kokeba," a
lyric drama in three acts and four tableaux, in col-
laboration with Catulle Mend&s; "La Glu," a lyric
drama based on the novel of Richepin.
Bibliography : Nouveau Larousse lUustri.
8. A. A. G.
EBIiANGEIl, JTJLES : French composer ; bom
at Weissenburg, Alsace, 1830 ; died at Brussels 1895 ;
son of Israel Silsskind Erlanger, rabbi at Weissen-
burg, and brother of Michel Erlanger, of the Con-
sistory of Paris ; a graduate from the conservatory
of music at Paris, atid one of the founders of the
Society of Authors and Dramatic Composers. From
1859 to 1861 he wrote several operettas for the The-
atre des Bouffes Parisiens — "L'Arbre de Robinson,"
"Les Dames de Cceur Volant," and "La Servante 2.
Nicolas." He then, however, abandoned the musical
profession and went into business, from that time
composing sacred music only. Durlacher, in Paris,
published in 1891 a "Recueil de Dix Morceaux Exe-
cutes dans les Synagogues de France et de Bel-
gique." Four collections of Erlanger's posthumous
works were published in Brussels in 1903, one con-
taining sacred music and three secular. He was
one of the founders of the Alliance Israelite Univer-
selle, and until his death president of the Alliance
Committee for Belgium.
8. A. Bl.
EBLAXGEB., MICHEL: French communal
worker ; born in Weissenburg, Alsace, 1828 ; died in
Paris Sept. 27, 1892. Having received a thorough
Jewish education from his father, he went to Paris in
1835. Sent by his employers to Alexandria, Egypt,
to organize there a branch of their house, he became
acquainted with the condition of the Jews in the
East. He likewise acquired there a knowledge of
the Italian and Arabic languages ; in French, He-
brew, English, and German he was already profi-
cient. He then visited Palestine, and began to take
an active part in the colonization movement. As
an active member of the Alliance Israelite Uni-
verselle, he assisted Charles Netter in establishing
at Jaffa the agricultural school known as " Mi^weh
Yisrael."
He succeeded Albert Cohn in the management of
the Rothschild charities, served the Alliance Israelite
Universelle, the Jewish Consistory, and the rabbin-
ical seminary of Paris as vice-president, and became
president of the Societe des Etudes Juives. He was
the prime mover in the founding of the Rothschild
colonies in Palestine established on behalf of the
Jews who were driven by the persecutions of 1882
and 1891 to leave Russia ; he was assisted in his ef-
forts by Isidore Loeb, and both were sent by the Alli-
ance to Berlin to organize committees for the aid
of Russian emigrants, which benevolent enterprise
afterward received the support of Baron de Hirscli.
Erlanger was strongly attracted by the life and asso-
ciations of Palestine, and he was desirous of spend-
ing the last years of his life there; but his work
in behalf of his coreligionists kept him in Europe
to the end.
Bibliography : Ha-A8if,vi. 159-160; Arch. Isr. 1892, pp. 326-
327.
8. A. R.
ERNESTI, JOHANN AUGUST : Protestant
theologian; classical scholar; born Aug. 4, 1707, at
Tennstadt, Thuringia; died 1781 at Leipsic, in the
university of which city he was professor of clas-
sical literature, rhetoric, and theology. Ernesti did
good service by insisting on the strict philological
interpretation of the Bible. His Biblical work was
mainly in the New Testament field. Though not a
great Hebrew scholar, he wrote the following tracts
on Jewish topics : " De Templo Herodis Magni ad
Aggaei ii. 10 et Joseph. A. I. xv." Leipsic, 1752;
"Programma de Vestigiis Linguae Hebraica; in Lin-
gua Graeca," »6. 1758; and"ExercitationumFlavini-
arum Prima, de Fontibus Archaeologiae," ib. 1756, to
which are added two corollaries: (1) "De Josephi
Stilo " ; (2) " De Odio Judaeorum Veterum Adversus
Literas Graecas," 1758. These were all republished
in the second and third editions of his " Opuscula
Philologica-Critica. "
Bibliography: Biographic Universelle, s.v.; Ersch and G ru-
ber, Encyc. s.v.; Herzog, Real-Encyc. s.v.
T. C. L.
EBBEBA, ABBAO : Italian banker and dep-
uty; born Dec. 8, 1791; died at Venice Dec. 25,
1860 ; father of Jacques Errera. His family traces
its descent from Benjamin Errera, who went from
Aleppo to Venice about 1700; according to a tradi-
tion the Erreras were the descendants of the Her-
reras who were expelled from Spain in 1492. He was
a member of the Chamber of Commerce and one of
the founders and presidents of the Stabilimento
Mercantile, established at Venice in 1852. Errera
was also for many years a member of the municipal
council of Venice, and represented his city in the
National Assembly (1848-49). During the siege of
Venice Errera was one of the five members of the
Committee of Public Safety, appointed to keep
order in the stricken city. For thirty years he served
as president of the Jewish community, and as a di-
rector of the Talmud Torah.
Bibliography : L. Delia Torre, In Arch. Isr. 1861, pp. 329-334.
8. A. R.
EBBEBA, GIOBGIO: Italian chemist; born
Oct. 26, 1860. at Venice; educated at the universi-
ties of Padua and Turin, from which latter place he
was graduated doctor of chemistry in 1882. Errera
was appointed lecturer to the philosophical faculty
of his alma mater, and became assistant to the pro-
fessor of chemistry. In 1892 he was appointed pro-
fessor of chemistry in the University of Messina.
Errera is the author of many essays published in
chemical journals, especially in the "Gazzetta
Chimica Italiaua," vol. xiv., and in the "Berichte
der Deutschen Chemischen Gesellschaft," 1898. He
wrote, besides, "Lezion di Polarimetria " (Turin,
1891).
8. F. T. H.
EBBEBA, LEO- ABB AM: Belgian botanist;
born at Laeken, Belgium, Sept. 4, 1858; educated
at the Athenee Royal and the University of Brussels,
203
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Erlangrer, Julea
'Erub
and at the universities of Strasburg, Bonn, and
Wurzburg; privat-docent of botany (1883), assist-
ant professor (1885), and professor (1890) at the Uni-
versity of Brussels; now (1903) also director of the
Botanical Institute of Brussels. He was elected in
1887 a corresponding member of the Academic
Royale des Sciences de Belgique, and full member in
1898. He is the author of " Les Juifs Russes : Exter-
mination ou Emancipation?" to which Mommsen
contributed a prefatory letter, Brussels, 1893; 2d ed.,
1903 (Eng. transl. "The Russian Jews," London,
1894). In 1897 Errera published, with Emile
Laurent, "Planches de Physiologic Vegetale." A
series of university lectures given by him at Brus-
sels were published (1897) under the title " E.\iste-t-il
une Force Vitale? " (2d ed. 1898, 3d ed. 1899, 6th ed.
1902). His father, Jacques Errera, who was born
at Venice July 20, 1834, and died at Vivier d'Oye,
near Brussels, Dec. 12, 1880, was a banker, and Ital-
ian consul-general in Brussels.
Bibliography : Biblvographie Academique, 1896.
S.
EBBEBA, PAUL JOSEPH: Belgian bar-
rister; horn at Laeken, Belgium, July 23, 1860; ed-
ucated at the University of. Brussels; professor in
the law department of the Ecole des Sciences Poli-
tiques et Sociales and of the University of Brussels;
member of the Academic Royale d'Archeologie de
Belgique; counsel of the Etat Independant du
Congo and counsel of the Jewish Colonization
Association ; president of the local committee of the
Alliance Israelite Universelle. He wrote: "Les
Masuirs," 2 vols., Brussels, 1891 ; "Les Warechaix,"
ib. 1894; "Esquisse du Cours de Droit Constitution-
nel Compare," ib. 1896 and 1899. Errera has con-
tributed many essays to the law journals of Belgium
and other countries.
S.
EBTEB, ISAAC : Satirist ; born 1792 at Janis-
chok, Galicia; died 1851 at Brody. The first part
of his life was full of struggles and hardships. After
having associated for many years with the Hasidim,
he settled at Lemberg ; and through the efforts of
some of his friends, such as Rapoport, Krochmal, and
others, he obtained pupils whom he instructed in
Hebrew subjects. This comparatively happy state
lasted for only three years (1813-16). Jacob Oren-
stein, chief rabbi of Lemberg, having been apprised
of the existence among his flock of a small band oc-
cupied with the study of secular subjects, excom-
municated them all. Deprived thus of his pupils,
the only means of his subsistence, he settled in the
neighboring town of Brody. There he struggled for
a while, until he resolved to study medicine.
Erter entered (1825) the University of Budapest,
where he studied medicine for five years and passed
all the prescribed examinations ; he then practised his
new profession in various Galician towns, including
Brody, where he made himself especially popular
among the poor and needy, who found in him a
kindly benefactor.
He composed a number of Hebrew satires, which
have procured for him a prominent place among mod-
em Hebrew satirists. For a time he edited a Hebrew
periodical entitled " He-Haluz," which was intended
chiefly to promote culture and enlightenment among
the Galician Jews. The periodical also advocated
the establishment in Galicia of agriculiural colonies
for the employment and benefit of young Jews,
and received some support from Vienna.
Erter's fame rests chiefly on his satires, published
under the title "Ha-Zofeh le-Bet Yisrael" (Vienna,
1858; lb. 1864), with a biography of the author and
introduction by Max Letteris, They are six in num-
ber, and are admirable in form and style. Their titles
are: "Mozne Mishkal"; "Ha-Zofeh be-Shubo mi-
Karlsbad " ; " Gilgul ha-Nefesh" ; " Tashlik " ; " Te-
lunat Sani we-Sansani we-Samangaluf "; "Hasidut
we-Hokmah. " The most attractive of these is " Gilgul
ha-Nefesh," the story of the many adventures of a
soul during a long earthly career; how it frequently
passed from one body into another, and how it had
once left the body of an ass for that of a physician.
The soul gives the author the following six rules,
by observing which he might succeed in his profes-
sion:
" (1) Powder your hair white, and keep on the table of your
study a human skull and some animal skeletons. Those coming
to you for medical advice will then think your hair has turned
white through constant study and overwork in your profession.
(2) Fill your library with large books, richly bound In red and
gold. Though you never even open them people will be Im-
pressed with your wisdom. (3) Sell or pawn everything, If that
Is necessary, to have a carriage of your own. (4) When called
to a patient pay less attention to him than to those about him.
On leaving the sick-room, assume a grave face, and pronounce
the case a most critical one. Should the patient die, you will be
understood to have hinted at his death ; If, on the other hand,
he recovers, his relations and friends will naturally attribute his
recovery to your skill. (5) Have as little as possible to do with
the poor ; as they will only send for you In hopeless and desper-
ate cases you will gain neither honor nor reward by attending
them. Let them wait outside your house, that passers may be
amazed at the crowd waiting patiently to obtain your services.
(6) Consider every medical practitioner as your natural enemy,
and speak of him always with the utmost disparagement. If he
be young, you must say he has not had suflBclent experience ; it
he be old, you must declare that his eyesight is bad, or that he Is
more or less crazy, and not to be trusted in important cases.
When you take part In a consultation with other physicians, you
would act wisely by protesting loudly against the previous treat-
ment of the case by your colleagues. Whatever the Issue may
be, you will always be on the safe side."
Erter wrote also some Hebrew verse; but thia
bears no comparison with his prose, which GrStz
says resembles in many points that of Heinrich
Heine.
Bibliography : Gr4tz, Oesch. der Juden, xl. 488 ; Letteris, In
Ha-Zofeh, Vienna, 1864.
T. J. Ch.
'EBTJB : Mixture or amalgamation ; ideal com-
bination of things separate. There are several kinds
of 'erub.
'Erub (par excellence) : The law concerning the
transportation of objects from one place to another
on the Sabbath distinguishes several sorts of places
("reshuyot"), of which the following three may be
mentioned : (1) a place or places belonging to an in-
dividual ("reshut ha-yahid "), such as houses and
enclosed spaces, being the property of one person;
(2) open spaces belonging to the public, such as
highroads and thoroughfares ("reshut ha-rabbim");
(3) places such as the sides and corners of streets,
and fields not enclosed, which can not be considered
either as public or as private property, but have
some peculiarities of both (" karmelit ").
'Erub
£sar-haddon
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
204
According to tlie traditional interpretation of Ex.
xvi. 29, it is forbidden to remove on tlie Sabbath
things from an enclosed space wliich is private prop-
erty to an open space which is public property.
Likewise it is prohibited to transport objects a
distance of more than four cubits within an open
space. The only space in which it is allowed to
remove things freely is an enclosed space which is
the property of an individual. But to
Private modify the inconvenient consequences
and Public of the Law the 'erub was introduced,
Spaces. which, so to speak, converted an open
space into an enclosed one. If a space
is not completely enclosed, the completion of the en-
closure is, under certain circumstances, effected by a
single rod or wire placed across the open parts, or by
a pole placed at one of the sides of the open part.
Such completion may be noticed in some ancient
towns and villages in which there is a Jewish con-
gregation, at the ends of streets leading out of the
place ; and it is known by the name of " 'erub."
'Erube ]}.a7erot (" combination among the inhab-
itants of courts ") : The courts, being as a rule sur-
rounded by houses or other buildings, thus satisfy
one condition of reshut ha-yahid, inasmuch as they
are an enclosed space ; but as they are not the prop-
erty of one individual, they partake of the nature
of public property, and thus the removal of things
within them on the Sabbath would be forbidden. In
order to satisfy the second condition, namely, of
being one person's property, the inhabitants com-
bine and form a union, each member contributing
something toward a meal and placing it in a room
accessible to all of them. Thej^ thus form one fam-
ily, and the court is reshut ha-yahid. The contrib-
utions are called " 'erube hazerot." In the same
way a street with all its courts may be turned into
■ m-7jjn 3T7y
W^
1 " SbS^^^^t/'^^ "^"^
Fr^^M^s
p- ^JgHillMi _ -Itr^/%^-= •
— =^ — ^iBfc — ■jnS^^'fciTr^ii — tmi
*- '" — ^"^ J^W^-^MMI"* ^^ ^ ^^"TiiSnm^i""^^^
fa^^^^^HU^B
^jiftiiwBkBiiH iliiililiiliii^^
iilliiHlliillll
UPPIgpilBMI^j
^s
" 'Enilj Hiizeiut."
(After Uod,-nsch»ta, " Kir<hlicbe Verfassung," 17-18.)
reshut ha-yahid, and the term " 'erube hazerot "
is then changed- into "shittufe mebo'ot" (com-
bination of the courts and houses in a street).
'Erube tehumin ("combination of parts of two
Sabbatli-day journeys"): Two thousand cubits con-
stitute a Sabbath-day's journey; that is to say, a
man, taking his dwelling-place as a center, may move
on the Sabbath forward and backward as often as
he wishes within a circle the radius of which is 2,000
cubits. The greatest length he may move in one
line is the length of the diameter, or 4,000 cubits.
If, however, a person intends to go on the Sabbath
to a place lying beyond tiie radius, but within 4,000
cubits of his starting-point, he has to transfer his
abode for the day of the Sabbath from the original
center to a point in the circumference which becomes
the new center, and he may walk from this point in
any direction one Sabbath-day's journey. This
transfer is only permissible for the purpose of per-
forming a " mizwah " (e.g. , circumcision). The trans-
fer must be marked by placing on Friday some food
^
.^.^^B^^
ir^^ itoSt^BP^^ldUiA^SB^^^
i^B^^^^^ ^^^^^wiiii — "^ — -
^r^lw.^£==H»==^rr-T^— ^^^^!Mwk^---^^^*=—
(r ^ — ^H
^'^^^^t
m
— = — — — ----
&^nCl^Hl
II i'iiiiiiiriiiiiiii>i,'fy^'jj!i^?l
" Reshut ha-Yahid " and " Reshut ha-Rabbim."
(After Bodenscbstz, "Kirchlichc Verfassnng," 1748.)
in the ncAV center for Sabbath, and the name " 'erube
tehumin " is especially applied to this food. The
" tehum " of the original center is thus combined with
that of the n(,'w one.
'Erub tabshilin: See Jew. Encyc. iii. 134b,
S.I). Bezah.
Bibliography: Malmonides, Fad, Shahbat, xiv. et seq.; lb.
'Kruhin; ib. Ynm-Tob, vl.; ShuHjan 'A7~uh, Orah Hay-
yim, »t6, 408. ^27 ; Geiger, UrschrifU p. 134 ; idem, JUii. Zeit.
ii. 34 ; Pahad Yiztmk, a.v. ''Erub and ^Erube.
s. B. M. F.
'ERUBIN ("mingling"): The second treatise of
the Mishnah Seder Mo'ed, forming an appendix to
the treatise Shabbat. It contains regulations con-
cerning three kinds of '"erub": (1) the 'erub par
excellence, called also, as in the first paragraph of
this treatise, "mabui " (lit. "street"), elliptically for
"'erub mabui" (ch. i.-ii.); (2) "'erube tehumin"
(ch. iii. -v.); and (3) " 'erube ha?erot" (ch. vi.-vii.
5). These three sections are followed by miscella-
neous laws concerning carrying things a distance of
four cubits or more within the public domain, or
from the public domain into the private domain (see
Domain, I*ublic), and vice versa (ch. viii. 6 to end of
treatise). Extraneous matters are occasionally in-
troduced; e.g., from four things soldiers in a camp
are exempt: (1) they may freely take wood for their
use without becoming guilty of robbery ; (2) they
need not wash their hands before meals; (3) they
may partake of demai ; and (4) they need not pre-
pare 'erube hazerot. The rules of 'erube tehumin
lead to the question whether the two days of New-
Year should be treated as equally sacred, or as in-
cluding one sacred and one non-sacred day. Rabbi
Dosab. Harkinas gives expression to the latter view
by suggesting two different forms of prayer for the
two days.
The following principles are met with in the Mish-
nah: (1) Whatever is done on behalf of another
without his consent has legal force only if the action
is of advantage to him; if not of advantage to him,
it has no legal force (vi. 11). (2) That which is pro-
hibited by the sages as a precaution against break-
205
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
•Erub
Esar-haddon
ing any of the laws of the Sabbath and festivals is
permitted in the sanctuary, because the sanctity of
the place sufficiently secures strict obedience to the
Law (X. 11-15).
The Tosefta follows, on the whole, the order of
the Mishnah. but it has a different arrangement of
the detailed rules. It is divided into eleven un-
equal chapters, viz., i.,on 'erub; ii. — iii. 9, on va-
rious methods of enclosing a space in order to make
it private domain; iii. 10-vii. 4, on 'erube tehurain;
vi. , on measuring the " tehum " or Sab-
Tosefta. bath-day's journey; vii. 5-ix. 17, on
both 'erube tehumin and 'erube haze-
rot; ix. 18— end, miscellaneous rules about carrying
things around on Sabbath. The Tosefta introduces
little extraneous matter. It concludes with the fol-
lowing remark on the quantitative relation between
the Biblical text of certain precepts and the corre-
sponding halakot of the Mishnah : " The halakot of
Sabbath, festival sacrifice ["hagigah "], and trespass
["me'ilah"] are numerous; the Biblical text, short.
They are like mountains suspended from a hair,
having nothing to rest upon. . . . But the dinim
and the halakot concerning divine service, cleanness
and uncleanuess, and marriage are numerous, and
have a good support in the text of the Torah "
(comp. Hag. i. 8 and Yer. 'Er. end).
The Gemara, both Babylonian and Palestinian,
discusses the laws of the Mishnah, adding here and
there detailed rules, or explaining their source. In
one place the Gemara offers an instance of verbal
criticism.'Where the two readings of the Mishnah are
discussed, the one being "me'abberin " and the other
"me'abberin."
The treatise contains numerous midrashic explana-
tions of Biblical passages. The following refer to
the study of the Torah :
'Er. 5.5a : " It [the TorabJ Is not In heaven " (Deut. xxx. 12);
i.e., knowledge ot the Torah is not acquired by proud people.
54a : " For they [the words of the Torah] shall be a graceful
companion to thee ; hence, turn thy mind to the Torah when
thou art alone on the way." 54b : " Set thee up signs " (Jer. xxl.
21) ; i.e., make use of mnemonics and similar
Gemara. means of assisting thy memory in the study of
the Torah. lb.: " Wealth gathered In buudles
shall be diminished" (Prov. xiil. 11) ; i.e., the wealth of the
Torah, if gathered in portions too large for proper digestion, is
soon lost. Whereto Raba remarks, "The scholars know this
rule very well, but neglect It in practise." 21b : " New and old
I have treasured up " (Cant. vil. 14 [A. V. 13] ) ; i.e., words of the
written as well as of the oral law I have treasured up. 22a :
" Black as a raven " (ib. v. 11) ; i.e., he who suffers privations
for the purpose of studying the Law Is sure to succeed In his
study. In 53 et scq. advice is given to the student to be meek,
to be ready to teach those who desire to learn, and to recite the
lesson aloud and accurately. 65a: As to the advantage of study-
ing at night, opinions differ. Rab Judah considers the night as
Intended for rest and sleep, while according to Resh Laklsh It is
the right time for study. 53a : " Study under one teacher, and
do not wander from teacher to teacher."
Of proverbs and general rules of conduct the fol-
lowing may be cited :
"When the wine's in, the secret's out" (65a); "three things
betray a man: his purse, his cup, and his temper" ("kiso,
koso, ka'aso"; 65b). "He who lowers himself Is raised by
God" (13a). "Wo unto me If I displease my Maker ("Yo-
zer"); wo unto me if I displease my Inclination " ("yezer":
iSa). " Part of man's praises may be said in his presence ; the
whole In his absence " (ib.). "A rule, apart from enumerated
exceptions, does not necessarily apply to all cases contained in
the general term" (27a). "It may be assumed for certain
["hazakah"] that a messenger carries out his mission" (31b).
" It may be assumed for certain that a ' haber ' does not part
with a thing not fully prepared for use" (32a).
In recommending meekness the Gemara points to
the Hillelites as examples. For three years they
werp discussing certain problems with the Shara-
maites ; in the end they prevailed because they were
modest, and kindly disposed toward others, having
due regard for the opinion of their opponents. An
incident in the life of R. Akiba is related as an ex-
ample of firmness in obedience to religious precepts.
Akiba, when in prison, was attended by R. Joshua,
who was daily supplied with a certain quantity of
water for Akiba. One day the governor of the
prison reduced the quantity by one-half. Akiba
was then informed that there was not sufficient
water to wash his hands before taking his meal.
The rabbi insisted on having the water for washing
his hands even at the risk of dying of thirst.
A few mathematical rules of an extremely elemen-
tary and imperfect character are given in the de-
scription of the Sabbath-day's journey: the rela-
tion of the diameter to the circumference = 1:3; the
diagonal of the square to a side of it = 7 : 5 ; the
square to the inscribed circle =2:1, and to the cir-
cumscribed circle =3:4 (76b).
Bibliography: Shulltan'Aruk^Orah^ayyim, 3^-416; Mal-
monldes, Yad, ^Erubin.
8. 8. M. F.
EBUSIII. See Betrothal.
ERWIG. See Visigoths.
ESAR-HADDON (Hebrew, " Esar haddon " ;
Assyrian, " Ashur ah-iddin" = "Ashur has given a
brother"): King of Assyria from 680 to 668 B.C. ;
son and successor of Sennacherib and predecessor of
Assurbanipal. He was one of the most energetic
monarchs of the Assyrian empire. After ascending
the throne vacated by the assassination of his father
(II Kings xix. 37; Isa. xxxvii. 38), his first concern
was to quell the rebellion in Nineveh, which, accord-
ing to the Babylonian chronicles, he accomplished
in a month and a half — from the twentieth day of
Tebet to the second day of Adar. According to the
Biblical story, the assassins fled to Armenia; the
inscriptions represent Esar-haddon as leaving Nine-
Veh in the month of Shebat, probably in pursuit of
his brothers (Winckler, in Schrader's "K. B." ii.
140-148). He met the rebels at Khanigalbat, near
Nelid, and easily defeated them, his campaign last-
ing eight months, so that in the month of Kislew,
680, Esar-haddon was crowned King of Assyria.
Abandoning the policy of his predecessor, Esar-had-
don rebuilt Babylon, for he affected great regard for
the old Babylonian deities. He also extended his
empire toward the southwest to an extent never be-
fore attained, in consequence of various military ex-
peditions primarily planned to maintain a hohl upon
Palestine and the Phenician seacoast. Sidon was
destroyed, and in its place on the mainland the king
ordered a new town to be built, with the name
"Kar-Ashshur-ah-iddin" ■ (Esar-haudou's town).
In 676 his army invaded Egypt, but was repulsed
with heavy losses.
After securing a better footliold in Arabia, Esar
haddon (671) led a second expedition into Egypt;
his report shows a striking similarity to the descrip-
Esar-haddon
Esau
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
206
tion of the country in Isa. xxx. 6. Tyre was be-
sieged ; another army occupied Arabia and the terri-
tory of the tribe of Simeon, while a third marched
into Egypt. Manasseh, the King of Judah, is named
among the vassals that had sent auxiliary troops.
In the month of Tammuz Memphis was taken, after
Tirhaka, the Ethiopian King of Egypt, had thrice
been defeated in open battle. This led to the with-
drawal of the Ethiopian ruler from the country to
beyond Thebes. In 669 the Assyrian nobility, ap-
prehending that Esar-haddon intended neglecting
Assyria in favor of Babylon, rebelled ; in consequence
of which Assurbanlpal was appointed coregent for
Assyria, while another son, Samash-shumukin, was
crowned King of Babylon. In the meantime Tir-
haka had returned to Lower Egypt and garrisoned
Memphis (669). Esar-haddon set out to look after
his dominions in Egypt, but died on the march in
the month of Heshwan (668), the army continuing
its forward movement and defeating Tirhaka at
Karbanit.
In the Bible Esar-haddon is mentioned as the ruler
who sent eastern, and especially Babylonian, settlers
to Samaria (Ezra iv. 2) ; he thus continued the policy
of Sargon, the "destroyer of Samaria," and con-
formed to his own general practise as detailed in his
inscriptions (see Schrader, "K. A. T." 2d ed., pp.
373 et seq. ). Manasseh remained loyal to him through-
out his reign, even when undoubtedly many voices
must have pleaded the timeliness of a policy of re-
sistance to Assyria (see Winckler in Schrader's " K.
A. T."3ded., p. 275).
Bibliography: Cylinders A, B, C, Rawllnsbn, fnscripfiorw o/
Western Asia, 1. 45-47 ; ib., i. 49, 50 and ill. 15, 16 ; Winckler,
Keilschrifttexte Sargons, pp. 25-26; R. G. Harper, Cylinder
A of the Esar-Haildon Inscriptions, 1888 ; Abel and Winck-
ler, in Schrader, K. B. il. 120-151 ; The Stele nf ZenjirU,
1. 11-29, plates i.-iv. (transl. by Schrader, pp. 29-43) ; Praj/ers
to the Sun God (transl. by J. A. Kundtzon), Assurische
Oebete, etc., i., 11. 72-2ti4; Budge, The History of Esar-
haddon, London, 1880; the histories of Assyria by Hom-
mel, Tiele, Rogers, Goodspeed ; McCurdy, History, Propti-
ecy and the Monuments, 11.
E. G. H.
ESAU.— Biblical Data: Jacob's elder brother
(Gen. XXV. 25-34, and elsewhere; comp. Josh. xxiv.
4). The name alternates with "Edom," though only
rarely applied to the inhabitants of the Edomitic
region (Jer. xlix. 8-10; Obad. 6; Mai. i. 2 et seq.).
The "sons of Esau " are mentioned as living in Seir
(Deut. ii. 4, 5). The " mountain of Esau " (Obad. 8,
9, 19, 21) and the "house of Esau" (Obad. 18) are
favorite expressions of Obadiah, while by others as
a rule " Edom " is employed to denote the country or
the people. In Genesis (xxv. 25, 30) "Edom" (red)
is introdticed to explain the etymology of the name.
The real meaning of " Esau " is unknown, the usual
explanation "densely haired" (= "wooded") being
very improbable. "UsOos," in Philo of Byblos
(Eusebius, "Prseparatio Evangelica," i. 10, 7), has
been identified with it, while Cheyne (Stade's "Zeit-
schrift," xvii. 189) associates it with "Usu"(Palai-
Tyros). F. Bu.
Even before birth Esau and Jacob strove one
against the other (Gen. xxv. 22), which led to the
prediction that the " elder shall serve the younger "
(ib. 23). The first, coming forth "red, all over
like an hairy garment," was called "Esau." He
grew up to be a "cunning hunter, a man of the
field" (ib. 27). One day coming home from the
field, Esau, hungry unto death, sells his birth-
right to Jacob for a mess of porridge, which event
is turned to account to explain his name (ib. 30 et
seq. ). When forty years old Esau married Judith
and Bashemath, the daughters of the Hittites Beeri
and Elon (Gen. xxvi. 34, 35). The favorite of Isaac,
he is called to receive the father's last blessing, but
Rebekah treacherously substitutes Jacob for him
(Gep. xxvii. 1-24). Discovering the fraud, Esau by
much weeping induces the father to bless him also
(Gen. xxvii. 38-40). Hating his brother Jacob, he
vows to slay him as soon as the father shall have
passed away. At his mother's advice Jacob takes
refuge with Laban, his departure being explained
to the father as an endeavor to prevent a repetition
of marital alliance with the daughters of Heth, so
great a source of grief in Esau's case (Gen. xxvii.
41^6). Esau thereupon takes a daughter of Ish-
mael to wife (Gen. xxviii. 9). After the return of
Jacob the brothers make peace, but separate again,
Esau passing on to Seir (Gen. xxxiii. 1-16, xxxvL
6-8). No mention is made of his death.
E. G. H.
In Babbinical Literattire : Even while in
his mother's womb Esau manifested his evil dispo-
sition, maltreating and injuring his twin brother
(Gen. R. Ixiii.). During the early years of their
boyhood he and Jacob looked so much alike that
they could not be distinguished. It was not till they
were thirteen years of age that their radically differ-
ent temperaments began to appear (Tan., Toledot, 2).
Jacob was a student in the bet ha-midrash of Eber
(Targ. Pseudo Jonathan to Gen. xxv. 27), while
Esau was a ne'er-do-well (i6. ; "a true progeny of
the serpent," Zohar), who insulted women and com-
mitted murder, and whose shameful
His conduct brought on the death of his
Vicious grandfather, Abraham (Pesik. R. 12).
Character. On the very day that Abraham died
Esau went forth to hunt in the field,
when he fell in with Nimrod, who for a long time
previously had been jealous of him. Esau, lying in
wait, pounced on the king, who was unaware of
his proximity, and, drawing his sword, cut off the
king's head. The same fate befell two attendants of
Nimrod, who had, however, by their cries for help,
brought the royal suite to the spot. Esau took to
his heels, but carried off the garments of Nimrod —
which were those of Adam (Targ. Pseudo-Jon. to
Gen. xxvii. 15) — and concealed them in his father's
house. It was when exhausted from running that
he chanced upon Jacob, who cunningly took up a
casual remark of his about the uselessness of the
birthright, and trapped him into selling the latter as
well as his share in the field of Machpelah, making
and keeping a properly witnessed and sealed record
of the transaction (" Sefer ha- Yashar, " vi. ).
According to Targ. Pseudo-Jon. to Gen. xxv. 29
and Pirke R. El. xxxv., the sale of the birthright
took place while Jacob was preparing for his father
the dish of lentils which was the usual meal offered
to mourners, and over which words of comfort used
to be said (comp. N. Brllll in Kobak's " Jeschurun,"
207
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Esar-haddon
Esau
viii. 30; B. B. 16b). Esau requested to eat thereof,
and then sold his birthright; indulging in blasphe-
mous speeches (Gen. R. Ixiii. ; Pes. 22b) and in deni-
als of immortality (Targ. Pseudo-Jon. I.e.) and of
God and the resurrection ; so that he figures in tradi-
tion as one of the three great atheists (Tan., Toledot,
24 ; Sanh. 101b). Jacob's conduct toward his brother
is accounted for by the fact that Esau had always
refused to share his sumptuous repasts with him
(Pirke R. El. I.e.).
Esau had won the affection of his father by lying
words (Targ. Pseudo-Jon. to Gen. xxv. 28). Hypo-
crite that he was, he played the good son; never
ministering to his father unless tricked out in Nim-
rod's garments, and asking questions concerning the
duty of tithing straw (Pesik. 199). Crafty at home,
he was equally so abroad (Gen. R. Ixiii.). Outra-
geous vices are charged against him (Gen. R. xxx vii. j
Ixiii.). Rebek-
ah, reading his
character aright,
and knowing by
mysterious fore-
sight what de-
graded peoples
were to descend
from him (Midr.
Teh. to Ps. ix.
16), resorted to
justifiable strat-
egy in order to
circumvent his
receiving the
blessing. The
detection of the
true character of
Esau reconciled
Isaac to the fact
that he had be-
stowed the bless-
ing on Jacob
(Gen. R. Ixvii.).
It was on the eve
of Pesah that Isaac asked his son to prepare for him a
meal of his favorite venison (Pirke R. El. xxxii. ;
Targ. Pseudo-Jon. to Gen. xxvii. 1). Esau was not
successful in the chase that day ; he had left behind
him his Nimrod cloak, wearing which a man could
at will capture wild animals (Targ. Yer. to Gen.
xxvii. 31). Further, whenever Esau had taken an an-
imal, God Himself had intervened, and an angel had
surreptitiously unbound it (Gen. R. Ixvii.), so as to
give Rebekah time to carry out her scheme. As Esau
threatened to avenge the deception, Jacob had to
take refuge with Eber, the son of Shem, with whom
he stayed fourteen j'ears. Esau's fury increased to
such au extent at Jacob's escape that he left Hebron
and went to Seir, where he took several wives, one
of them being Bashemath, whom he called "Adah."
After six months he returned to Hebron, bringing
his godless wives with him. Eliphaz was bom
unto him during this time ("Sefer ha-Yashar," I.e.).
Grief at the idolatrous practises of Esau's wives
caused Isaac's blindness, according to Tan., Tole-
dot, while others hold the expression niNID (" from
seeing"; Gen. xxvii. 1, Hebr.) to imply that Isaac
Is the
Cause of
Isaac's
Blindness.
E^u Seeking Isaac's Blessing.
(From the Sarajevo Ha^adah, fourteenth century.)
had lost his sight previously from the effort not to
see Esau's evil deeds (Pesilj:. R. 12; Meg. 28a;
Gen. R. Ixv.). Esau was aware of
the obnoxious character of his wives.
He would not trust his garments to
their care (Gen. R. I.e.); hence Re-
bekah was able to put them on Jacob.
Esau spent most of his days visiting the
shrines of idols, which vexed his father still more
than his mother, who had not been reared in Abra-
ham's family (Gen. R. Ixiii.), and was thus not quite
80 much shocked at idol-worship.
At the end of fourteen years Jacob returns to He-
bron. This inflames Esau once more, and he tries
to kill him, causing Rebekah to send Jacob to La-
ban. Esau thereupon commissions his son Eliphaz to
lie in wait for Jacob on the road and to kill him. He
and ten men of his mother's clan meet Jacob, who,
by giving them
all he has, bribes
them to spare his
life. Esau is
much vexed at
the action of his
son, but appro-
priates to him-
self all the gold
and silver pur-
loined from Ja-
cob ("Sefer ha-
Yashar," I.e.).
In Gen. R.
Ixviii. Esau him-
self is said to
have attacked
Jacob, dispers-
ing his escort.
Having heard
the parental in-
junction to his
brother not to
marry one of the
daughters of Ca-
naan, Esau, to reestablish himself in his parents'
graces, now takes to wife Mahalath ("Sefer ha-Ya-
shar," Z.c. ; comp. Gen. R. Ixviii., a play on the name,
to indicate that she eased Esau's conscience).
Increasing in wealth, Esau and his children have
feuds with the inhabitants of Canaan. This induces
him to locate at Seir ("Sefer ha-Yashar," I.e.).
Laban, vexed at Jacob's departure, treacherously
incites Esau to attack his brother on his way home.
But Rebekah, apprised of Esau's intention, warns
Jacob of the danger, and sends seventy-two of his
father's servants to Mahanaim to his aid, with the
advice that he should enter into peaceful relations
with Esau. Messengers are despatched to Esau,
who repulses them, vowing vengeance. Jacob be-
seeches God for help. Four angels are sent by God
to appear each in turn before Esau " like 2,000 men,
in four bands under four captains, riding on horses
and armed with all sorts of weapons." Esau and
his men flee and plead for mercy. He resolves to
go and meet Jacob, who at his brother's approach is
greatly troubled, but, noticing the greater alarm of
the others, receives Esau with brotherly affection
Esau
Xlschatologry
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
208
<"Sefer ba-Yashar," ^.c). The kiss they exchange
and the tears they shed at this meeting have been
differently construed. The word "inpE^^l (Gen.
xxxiii. 4), being dotted in the Masoretic text, indi-
cates, according to some, that Esau really repented ;
while others maintain that even in this scene he
acted the hypocrite (comp. Judas' kiss; Sifre, Num.
ix. 10; Gen. R. Ixxviii. ; Ab. R. N. 34; Ex. R. v.).
The latter view obtains in Targ. Pseudo-Jonathan
to the verse: Jacob wept on account of the pain in
his neck, which had been bitten by Esau ; and Esau
shed tears because his teeth hurt hira, Jacob's neck
having been turned into smooth stone or ivory (see
R&shi adloc. ; Gen. R. Ixxi.). Jacob was aware of
the hypocrisy of Esau (Pirke R. El. xxxvii.), as ap-
pears from the latter's explanation offered to God
when reproved for having profaned
His holy things by his gifts and address to
Murderous Jacob. Esau had planned to kill his
Intentions brother " not witli arrows and bow but
Toward by [my] mouth" (Pirke R. El. I.e.)
Jacob. " and sucking his blood " ; but the fact
that Jacob's neck turned into ivory
thwarted his intention.
Esau had, as stated above, previously plotted
against Jacob's life. Remembering the failure of
his son Eliphaz on that occasion, Esau resolves to lie
in wait for Jacob at a spot on the road where he can
not escape. Jacob, however, having a presentiment
of evil, does not take that road, but turns toward
the Jordan, praying to God, who works a miracle in
his behalf, and gives him a staff whereby he smites
and divides the river. Seeing this, Esau pursues
and gets in front of him, when God causes Jacob to
enter a place ("ba'arah") that has the appearance of
a bath-house (like that at Tiberias). Esau stands
guard over the door so that Jacob can not leave,
but will have to perish inside. Jacob takes a bath,
and God saves him (see Epstein, " Mi-Kadmoniyyot
ha-Yehudim," pp. 107, 108, Vienna, 1887). Never-
theless, Jacob and Esau meet peaceably at their
father's house (Pirke R. El. xxxviii.), and both sons
at the death of Isaac vie in showing filial piety (ib.).
At the division of Isaac's property Esau claims as
the first-born the right to choose. On the advice of
Ishmael he appropriates all the personal property,
but agrees to Jacob's taking title to the land of
Israel and the cave of Machpelah. A written in-
strument of this cession is made, whereupon Jacob
orders Esau to leave the country. Esau withdraws
(Gen. xxxvi.), and is compensated by one hundred
districts in Seir (Pirke R. El. xxxviii.).
In the " Sefer ha-Yashar " Esau returns to Canaan
from Seir (whither he had emigrated) upon hearing
that Isaac is dying. Jacob also repairs thither from
Hebron. Jacob and Esau with their respective sons
bury Isaac in Machpelah. The division of the prop-
erty is made on the proposal of Jacob, who leaves
Esau to determine which he will take, the personal
riches or the land. Nebajoth, Ishmael's son, urges
Esau to take the movable property, since the land
is in the hands of the sons of Canaan. This he
does, leaving "nothing unto Jacob," who writes
all particulars of the transaction in a book of
saie, Esau returning with his wealth to Seir. In
Gen. R. Ixxxii. and Ixxxiv. Esau is represented as
emigrating from Canaan from shame at his former
conduct.
Esau's death is not mentioned in the Bible. The
Rabbis supply the information that it was brought
about in an altercation with Jacob's
Esaii's sons over their right to bury their
Death. father in the cave of Machpelah (So^ah
13a). The "Sefer ha-Yashar" gives
full details of the dispute. Joseph invokes the " bill
of sale " witnessed between Esau and Jacob after
Isaac's death, and sends Naphtali to Egypt to
fetch the document. Before quick-footed Naphtali
returns, Esau unsuccessfully resorts to war, and
is slain by Dan's deaf and dumb son, Hushim,
who, though assigned to protect the women and
children at Jacob's bier, upon seeing the commo-
tion rushes on Esau, smites him with the sword and
cuts off his head; whereupon Jacob is buried in
the cave.
The Rabbis emphasize the fact that Esau's " hairy "
appearance marked him a sinner (Gen. R. Ixv.) and
his "red " ("edom ") color indicated his bloodthirsty
propensities ("dam" = "blood"; Gen. R. Ixiii.);
they make him out to have been a misshapen dwarf
(Gen. R. ixv. ; Cant. R. ii. 15; Agadat Bereshit xl.)
and the type of a shameless robber, displaying his
booty even on the holy "bimah" (Midr. Teh. to Ps.
Ixxx. 6); but his filial piety is nevertheless praised
by them (Tan., Kedoshim, 15, where his tears are
referred to; ib., Toledot, 24, where the fact that he
married at forty, in imitation of his father, is men-
tioned approvingly).
"Esau " (= Edom) later represents Rome.
8. 8. E. G. H.
Critical View : Esau is assumed to be the
progenitor of the Edomites. His character reflects
the disposition of this warlike people. The stories
in Genesis purpose to account for their relations with
the Israelites (Gen. xxv. 27, xxxii. 4, xxxiii. 1 et
seq.), as well as to throw light on the fact that the
" younger brother " — that is, the tribe or tribes that
gained a foothold in the country at a later date —
crowded out the "older," and thus acquired the
"birthright" (Gen. xxv. 29etseq., xxvii. 2S et seq.).
These narratives belong to both the Elohist and the
Jahvist writers, as does Gen. xxxvi., which reflects,
in the form of a genealogy, the historical fact of
Esau's mixture with Canaanites (Hittites) and Ish-
maelites. To the priestly writer is due the state-
ment that Esau's marriage, distasteful to his parents,
leads to Jacob's being sent away (Gen. xxvi. 84, 35).
The same authority is partly responsible for other
names connected with Esau in Gen. xxxvi. 2, 3;
xxvii. 46; xxviii. 1 et seq. Esau, according to this
source (P), remains with his parents (Gen. xxxv. 29),
and, after Jacob's return, leaves only because of the
lack of room (Gen. xxxvi. 6, 7). E. G. H.
ESCALONA : City of Castile ; said to have been
named after Ascalon in Palestine. Jews were living
there at a very early date. The fuero or charter
granted to the city in 1130 by D. Alfonso VII. de-
creed that neither a Jew nor a Moor might sit in
judgment against a Christian, and that the murder
of a Jew should be punished by a fine of 300 suel-
dos. In 1391 many of the Jews of Escalona were
209
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Esau
Eschatologry
killed, and others forced to accept baptism. The
ghetto of the city existed until the general expul-
sion; as late as 1474 it paid a tax of 1,000 mara-
vedis.
Bibliography : Mufloz, Colecc. de Fueros, p. 485 ; Gedallah
ibn Yahya, ShnWielet ha-Rlabbalah, ed. Amsterdam, 94a; J.
Amador de los Rios, Historia de los Judws de Espafia, lii.
599.
G. M. K.
ESCAPA (HDNpD^N, also nSKPK'^N), JOSEPH
BEN SAUL : Kabbi of Smyrna ; flourished in the
first half of the seventeenth century; probably born
at Uskup, European Turkey, after which place he
is named. At first rabbi and chief of the yeshibah
at Salonica, he later filled the same offices at Smyrna,
where at the beginning he shared the rabbinate with
Joshua Ashkenazi Azariah. When differences of
opinion arose between them in regard to matters of
ritual, they appealed to the rabbis of Salonica for
arbitration. After his colleague's death, Escapa re-
mained sole rabbi of Smyrna until the end of his
life. David Conforte says he saw Escapa w^hen the
latter was about one hundred years old. Escapa
was especially known for having been the teacher of
Shabbethai Zebi and for having afterward excom-
municated him. Escapa wrote an important work
called "Rosli Yosef," a detailed commentary and
novellffi on the four Turim of R. Jacob b. Asher.
Part one, which has been published, contains a por-
tion of the Tur Orah Hayyim (Smyrna, 1658); part
two, on Hoshen Mishpat, has been published up to
ch. 76 (Smyrna, 1659). He also wrote responsa;
some were published under the title of " Teshubot
Rosh Yosef " (Frankfort-on-the-Oder, 1709).
Bibliography: Aziilai, Shem ha-Gedolim, i. 76; Conforte,
JJCore ha-Dornt, ed. Cassel, p. 46a, Berlin, 1846; Steinschnei-
der. Jewish Literature, p. 216 ; Idem, Cat. Bndl. col. 1468 ;
Zedner, Cat. Hehr. Books Brit. Mus. p. 350; Gratz, Gesch.
3d ed., X. 187, 19().
L. G.
M. Sel.
ESCHATOLOGY (from ra iaxara = r\^-)r[H
D'DNH. " the end of days " : Gen. xlix. 1 ; comp.
Gen. R. xcviii., ypri, "the Messianic end " ; Isa. ii. 1;
also nnriN, "the end," Deut. xxxii. 20; Ps. Ixxiii.
17; Ben Sira vii. 36, xxviii. 6; comp. "Didache,"
xvi. 3): The doctrine of the "last things." Jewish
eschatology deals primarily and principally with the
final destiny of the Jewish nation and the world in
general, and only secondarily with the future of the
individual; the main concern of Hebrew legislator,
prophet, and apocalj^ptic writer being Israel as the
people of God and the victory of His truth and
justice on earth. The eschatological view, that is,
the expectation of the greater things to come in the
future, underlies the whole construction of the
history of both Israel and mankind in the Bible.
The patriarchal history teems with such prophecies
(Gen. xii. 3, 16; xv. 14; xviii. 18; xxii. 18; xxvi. 4);
the Mosaic legislation has more or less explicitly in
view the relation of Israel to the nations and the
final victory of the former (Ex. xix. 5; Lev. xxvi. 45;
Num. xxiii. 10, xxiv. 17-34; Deut. iv. 6; vii. 6 et
seq.; xxviii. 1, 10; xxx. Setseq.; xxxii. 43; xxxiii.
29). But it was chiefly the Prophets who dwelt
with great emphasis upon the Day of the Lohd as
the future Day of Judgment. Originally spoken of
as the day when Yhwh as the God of heaven visits
v.— 14
the earth with all His terrible powers of devastation
(comp. Gen. xix. 34; Ex. ix. 23, xi. 4, xii. 13; Josh.
X. 11), the term was employed by the
The Day of Prophets in an eschatological sense
the Lord, and invested with a double charac-
ter: on the one hand, as the time of
t be manifestation of God's punitive powers of jus-
tice directed against all that provokes His wrath,
and, on the other hand, as the time of the vindication
and salvation of the righteous. In the popular mind
the Day of the Lord brought disaster only to the
enemies of Israel; to His people it brought victory.
But this is contradicted by the prophet Amos (iii. 2, v.
20). For Isaiah, likewise, the Day of the Lord brings
terror and ruin to Judah and Israel (Isa. ii. 12, x. 3,
xxii. 5 ; comp. Micah i. 3) as well as to other nations
(Isa. xi V. 35, xxiv.-xxv.). In the same measure, how-
ever, as Israel suffers defeat at the hand of the great
world-powers, the Day of the Lord in the prophetic
conception becomes a day of wrath for the heathen
world and of triumph for Israel. In Zeph. i -iii. it
is a universal day of doom for all idolaters, including
the inhabitants of Judea, but it ends with the glory
of the remnant of Israel, while the assembled heathen
powers are annihilated (iii. 8-12). This feature of
ths final destruction, before the city of Jerusalem,
of the heathen world-empires becomes prominent and
typical in all later prophecies (Ezek. xxxviii., the
defeat of Gog and Magog; Isa. xiii. 6-9, Babel's
fall; Zech. xii. 3 et seq., xiv. 1 et seq.; Hag. i. 6;
Joel iv. [iii.] 3 et seq. ; Isa. Ixvi. 15 et seq.), the Day
of the Lord being said to come as "a fire which re-
fines the silver" (Mai. iii. 3 et seq., 9; comp. Isa.
xxxiii. 14 et seq.). Especially strong is the contrast
between the fate which awaits the heathen and
the salvation promised Israel in Isa. xxxiv.-xxxv.,
whereas other prophecies accentuate rather the final
conversion of the heathen nations to the belief in
the Lord (Isa. ii. 1 etseq., xlix. 6, Ixvi. 6-21; Zech.
viii. 31 et seq., xiv. 16 et seq.).
In addition to this conception of the Day of the
Lord, the Prophets developed the hope of an ideal
Messianic future through the reign of a son of the
house of David— tlie golden age of paradisiacal
bliss, of which the traditions of all
Res- the ancient nations spoke (see Dill-
oirrection mann's commentary to Gen. ii.-iii.,
of p. 46). It would come in the form of
the Dead, a world of perfect peace and harmony
among all creatures, the angelic state
of man before his sin (Isa. xi. 1-10, Ixv. 17-35:
"new heavens and a new earth"). It was only a
step further to predict the visitation of all the king-
doms of the earth, to be followed by the swallowing
up of death forever and a resurrection of the dead
in Israel, so that all the people of the Lord might
witness the glorious salvation (Isa. xxiv. 31-xxv.
8, xxvi. 19). Thehopeof resurrection had been ex-
pressed by Ezekiel only with reference to the Jewish
nation as such (Ezek. xxxvii.). Under Persian in-
fluence, however, tlie doctrine of resurrection under-
went a change, and was made part of the Day of
Judgment; hence in Dan. xii. 2 the resurrection is
extended to both the wicked and the righteous: the
latter " shall awake to everlasting life. " the former " to
shame and everlasting horror" (A. V. "contempt").
£schatology
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
210
It is certainly iucorrect to speak of an eschato-
logical system of the Bible, in which there is no
trace of an established belief in the future life.
Both Ben Sira and Tobit still adhere to the ancient
view of Sheol as the land of the shades (see Sheol).
It was the future destiny of the nation
The which concerned the Prophets and the
Formation people ; and the hope voiced by proph-
of an et, psalmist, and liturgical poet was
Eschato- simply that the Lord as the Only One
logical will establish His kingdom over the
System, whole earth (Ex. xv. 18; Micah ii. 13,
iv. 7; Obad. 21; Zech. xiv. 9; Isa.
xxiv. 23; Ps. xciii. 1, xcvi. 10, xcvii. 1, xcix. 1).
This implied not only the reunion of the twelve
tribes (Ezek. xxxvii. 16 et seq. ; Zeph. iii. 20), but the
conversion of the heathen surviving the divine day
of wrath as well as the downfall of the heathen
powers (Zeph. iii. 8-9; Zech. xiv. 9-19; Isa. Ivi. 6,
Ixiii. 1-6; Ps. ii. 8-12). It seems that, because of
the tribulation which the house of Zerubbabel had
to undergo — not, as Dalman ("Die Worte Jesu," p.
243) thinks, " because the Messiah was not an essen-
tial part of the national hope " — the expectation
of a Messiah from the house of David was kept
in the background, and the prophet Elijah, as the
forerunner of the great Day of the Lord who would
reassemble all the tribes of Israel, was placed in the
foreground (Ecclus. [Sirach] xlviii. 10; I Mace. xiv.
41). See Elijah.
It is difficult to say how far the Sadducees or the
ruling house of Zadok shared in the Messianic hope
of the people (see Sadducees). It was the class of
the Hasidim and their successors, the Essenes, who
made a special study of the prophetical writings in
order to learn the future destiny of Israel and man-
kind (Dan. ix. 2; Josephus, "B. J." ii. 8, §§ 6, 12;
idem, "Ant." xiii. 5, § 9, where the term el/xap/jevTj is
to be taken eschatologically). While announcing
the coming events in visions and apocalyptic wri-
tings concealed from the multitude (see Apocalyp-
tic Literature), they based their calculations upon
unfulfilled prophecies such as Jeremiah's seventy
years (Jer. xxv. 11, xxix. 10), and accordingly tried
to fix "the end of days" (Dan. ix. 25 et seq. ; Enoch,
Ixxxix. 59). The Talmud reproachingly calls these
men, who frequently brought disappointment and
wo upon the people, " mahshebe kezim " (calculators
of the [Messianic] ends: Sanh. 97b; comp. 92b, 99a;
Ket. Ilia; Shab. 138b; 'Eduy. ii. 9-10; for the ex-
pression I^O^n yp, see Dan. xii. 4, 13; Assumptio
Mosis, i. 18, xii. 4; II Esd. iii. 14; Syriac Apoc.
Baruch, xxvii. 15; Matt. xiii. 39, xxiv. 3). It can
not be denied, however, that these Hasidean or apoc-
alyptic writers took a sublime view of the entire
history of the world in dividing it into great world-
epochs counted either after empires or millenniurns,
and in seeing its consummation in the
The establishment of " the kingdom of the
'* Kingdom Lord," called also, in order to avoid the
of God." use of the Sacred Name, COCJTIID^D
(" the kingdom of heaven "). This pro-
phetic goal of human history at once lent to
all struggle and suffering of the people of God a
higher meaning and purpose, and from this point of
view new comfort was offered to the saints in their
trials. This is the idea underlying the contrast be-
tween the "kingdoms of the powers of the earth"
and "the kingdom of God" which is to be delivered
over at the end of time to the saints, the people
of Israel (Dan. ii. 44; vii. 14, 27). It is, however,
utterly erroneous to assert, as do Schilrer (" Ge-
schichte," ii. 504 et seq.) and Bousset ("Religion des
Judenthums," pp. 202 et seq.), that this kingdom of
God meant a political triumph of the Jewish people
and tlie annihilation of all other nations. As may
be learned from Tobit xiii. 11 et seq., xiv. 6, quoted
by Schiirer {I.e. ii. 507), and from the ancient New-
Year's liturgy (see also 'Alenu), " the conversion
of all creatures to become one single band to do
God's will" is the foremost object of Israel's Mes-
sianic hope ; .only the removal of " the kingdom of
violence" must precede the establishment of God's
kingdom. This hope for the coming of the king-
dom of God is expressed also in the Kaddish (comp.
Lord's Prayer) and in the eleventh benediction of
the "Shemoneh 'Esreh," whereas the destruction of
the kingdom of wickedness first found expression
in the added (nineteenth) benediction (afterward
directed chiefly against obnoxious informers and
heretics ; see Liturgy), and was in the Hellenistic
propaganda literature, the Sibyllines (iii. 47, 767 et
al.), emphasized especially with a view to the con-
version of the heathen.
In contrasting the future kingdom of God with
the kingdom of the heathen powers of the world the
apocalyptic writers were undoubtedly
World- influenced by Parsism, which saw the
Epochs, world divided between Ahuramazda
and Angro-mainyush, who battle with
each other until finally the latter, at the end of the
fourth period of the twelve world-millenniums, is
defeated by the former after a great crisis in wiiich
the bad principle seems to win the upper hand (see
Plutarch, "On Isis and Osiris," ch. 47; Buudahis,
xxxiv. 1; "Bahman Yasht," i. 5, ii. 22 et seq. ; "S.
B. E." V. 149, 193 et seq. ; Stade, " Ueber den Einfluss
des Parsismus auf das Judenthum," 1898, pp. 145 et
seq.). The idea of four world-empires succeeding
one another and represented by the four metals
(Dan. ii., vii.), which also has its parallel in Parsism
("Bahman Yasht," i. 3), and in Hindu, Greek, and
Roman traditions ("Laws of Manes," 1. 71 etseq.;
Hesiod, "Works and Days," pp. 109 etseq.; Ovid,
"Metamorphoses," i. 89), seems to rest upon an an-
cient tradition which goes back to Babylonia (see
Gunkel's commentary on Genesis, 1902, p. 241).
Gunkel finds in the twelve millenniums of Persian
belief an astronomical world-year with four seasons,
and sees the four Babylonian world-epochs repro-
duced in the four successive periods of Adam,
Noah, Abraham, and Moses. The four periods oc-
cur again in Enoch, Ixxxix. et seq. (see Kautzsch,
"Pseudepigraphen," p. 294) and Rev. vi. 1; also in
Zech. ii. 1 (A. V. i. 18), vi. 1 ; and Dan. viii. 22 ; and the
four undivided animals in the vision of Abraham
(Gen. XV. 9) were by the early haggadists (Johanan
b. Zakkai, in Gen. R. xliv. ; Apoc. Abraham, xv.,
xxviii.) referred to the four world-empires in an
eschatological sense.
Tlie Perso-Babylonian world-year of twelve mil-
lenniums, however, was transformed in Jewish es-
211
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Eschatolo^y
chatology into a world-week of seven millenniums
corresponding with the week of Creation, the verse
" A thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday "
(Ps. xc. 5 [A.V. 4]) having suggested
A "World- the idea that the present world of toil
Week. (" 'olam ha-zeh") is to be followed by a
Sabbatical millennium, " the world to
come" ("'olam ha- ba'": Tamid vii. 4; R. H. 31a;
Sanh. 97a; Ab. R. N. i.,ed. Schechter-, p. 5; Enoch,
xxiii. 1; II Esdras vii. 30, 43; Testament of Abra-
ham, A. xix.,B.vii. ; VitaAdaeetEvae,42;Rev. xx. 1;
II Peter iii. 8; Epistle of Barnabas, xv. ; Irenaeus,
V. 28, 3). Of these the six millenniums were again
divided, as in Parsism, into three periods: the first
2,000 years devoid of the Law; the next 2,000 years
under the rule of the Law ; and the last 2,000 j-ears
preparing amid struggles and through catastrophes
for the rule of the Messiah (Sanh. 97a ; ' Ab. Zarali 9a ;
Midr. Teh. xc. 17); the Messianic era is said to begin
4,291 years after Creation (comp. the 5,5003'earsafter
Creation, after the lapse of which the Messiah is
expected, in Vita Adye et Evae, 42; also Assumptio
Mosis, X. 12). On a probably similar calculation,
which placed the destruction of the Second Temple
at 3828 (Sanh. I.e.), rests also the division of the
world into twelve epochs of 400 years, nine and a
half of which epochs had passed at the time of the
destruction of the Temple (II Esdras xiv. 11 ; comp.
vii. 28). Twelve periods occur also in the Syriac
Apocalypse of Baruch (xxvii., liii.) and the Apoc-
alypse of Abraham (xxix.); the ten millenniums of
Enoch xxi. 6, however, appear to be identical with
the ten weeks in ch. xciii. , that is, 10 x 700 years. As
a matter of course. Biblical chronology was always
so construed as to bring the six millenniums into
accord with the Messianic expectations of the time;
only by special favor would the mystery of the end,
known only to God, be revealed to His saints (Dan.
xii. 9; II Esd. iv. 37, xi. 44; Syriac Apoc. Baruch,
liv. 1, Ixxxi. 4; Matt. xxiv. 36; Pes. 54b). The end
was believed to be brought about by the merit of a
certain number of saints or martyrs (Enoch, xlvii. 4;
II Esd. iv. 36; Rev. vii. 4), or by the completion of
the number of human souls sent from their heavenly
abode to the earth, the number of created souls being
fixed (Syriac Apoc. Baruch, xxiii. 4; 'Ab. Zarah5a;
Yeb. 63b). Finally, it was taught that "he who
announces the Messianic time based on calculation
forfeits his own share in the future" (R. Jose, in
Derek Erez R. xi.) and that " the advent of the Mes-
siah is dependent upon general repentance brought
about by the prophet Elijah" (Sanh. 97b; Pirke R.
El. xliii.; Assumptio Mosis, i. 18).
There prevails a singular harmony among the
apocalyptic writings and traditions, especially re-
garding the successive stages of the eschatological
drama. The first of these is the "travail" of the
Messianic time (n^CW bli^ 1^3n; literally, "the suf-
fering of the Messiah " ; comp. Pesik- R. 21, 34 ;
Shab. 118a; Pes. 118a; Sanh. 98b; Mek., Beshallah,
Wayassa', 4, 5; or ^^:^^^ ""^an, Matt. xxiv. 8; Mark
xiii. 9, taken from Ilosca xiii. 13). The idea that
the great redemption shall be preceded by great
distress, darkness, and moral decline seems to be
based on such prophetic passages as Hosea xiii. 13
et seq. ; Joel ii. 10 et seq. ; Micah vii. 1-6; Zech. xiv.
6 et seq. ; Dan. xii. 1. The view itself, however, is
not that of the Prophets, whose outlook is altogether
optimistic and eudemonistic (Isa. xi. 1-9, Ixv. 17-
25), but more in accordance with the
Travail of older non- Jewish belief in a constant
the decline of the world, from the golden
Messianic and silver to the brass and iron age,
Time. until it ends in a final cataclysm or
conflagration, contemplated alike by
old Teuton and Greek legend. It was particu-
larly owing to Persian influence that the contrast
between this world, in which evil, death, and sin pre-
vail, and the future world, "which is altogether
good " (Tamid I.e.), was so strongly emphasized, and
the view prevailed that the transition from the one
to the other could be brought about only through a
great crisis, the signs of decay of a dying world and
the birth-throes of a new one to be ushered into ex-
istence. Persian eschatology had no difliculty in
utilizing old mythological and cosmological material
from Babylonia in picturing the distress and dis-
order of the last days of the world (Bundahis, xxx.
18etseq.; Plutarch, I.e. 47; Bahman, I.e. ii. 2Set seq.,
iii. 60) ; Jewish eschatology had to borrow- the same
elsewhere or give Biblical terms and passages a new
meaning so as to make all terrestrial and celestial
powers appear as participants in the final catas-
trophe. This world, owing to the sin of the first
man (II Esd. iv. 30), or .through the fall of the
angels (Enoch, vi.-xi.), has been laden with curses
and is under the sway of the power of evil, and the
end will accordingly be a combat of God with these
powers of evil either in the heavens above or on.
earth (Isa. xxiv. 21 et seq., xxv. 7, xxvii. 1; Dan.
vii. 11, viii. 9; Book of Jubilees, xxiii. 29; Test.
Patr., Asher, 7, Dan. 5; Assumptio Mosis, x. 1;
Psalms of Solomon, ii. 25 et seq. ; and see Gunkel,
" Schopfung und Chaos," pp. 171-398). The whole
world, then, appears as in a state of rebellion before
its downfall. A description of these Messianic woes
is given in the Book of Jubilees, xx. 11-25 ; Sibyl-
lines, ii. 154 et seq., iii. 796 et seq. ; Enoch, xcix. 4 et
seq., c. 1 et seq. ; II Esd. v.-vi. ; Syriac Apoc. Baruch
XXV. -xxvii., xlviii. Slet seq., Ixx. ; Matt. xxiv. 6-29;
Rev. vi.-ix. ; Sotah ix. 15; Derek Erez Zuta x.;
Sanh. 96b-97a. "A third part of all the world's
woes will come in the generation of the Messiah "
(Midr. Teh. Ps. ii. 9). In all these passages evil por-
tents are predicted, such as visions of swords, of
blood, and of warfare in the sky (Sibyllines, iii. 795;
comp. Luke xxi. 21; Josephus, "B. J." vi. 5, §3),
disorder in the whole celestial system (Enoch, Ixxx.
4-7; II Esd. v. 4; comp. Amos viii. 9; Joel ii. 10),
in the produce of the earth (Enoch, Ixxx. 2; Book of
Jubilees, xxiii. 18; II Esd. vi. 22; Sibyllines, iii.
539), and in human progeny (Book of Jubilees, xxiii.
25; Sibyllines, ii. 154 et seq.; II Esd. v. 8, vi. 21).
Birds and beasts, trees, stones, and wells will cease
to act in harmony with nature (II Esd. v. 6-8, vi. 24).
Particularly prominent among the plagues of the
time, of which Baruch xxviii. 2-3 counts twelve,
will be "the sword, famine, earthquake, and fire";
according to Book of Jubilees, xxiii. 13, "illness and
pain, frost and fever, famine and death, sword and
captivity " ; but greater than the terror and havoc
caused by the elements will be the moral corruption
£!schatolog'y
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
212
and perversion, the wickedness and uuchastity an-
ticipated in prophetic visions, and the power of evil
spirits (Syriac Apoc. Baruch, I.e. and Ixx. 2-8; Book
of Jubilees, xxiii. 13-19). This view of the prev-
alence of the spirit of evil and seduction to sin in
the last days received special emphasis in the Ha-
sidean schools; hence the striking resemblance be-
tween the tanuaitic and the apocalyptic picture of
the time preceding the Messianic advent: "In the
last days false prophets [pseudo-Messiahs] and
corrupters will increase and sheep be turned into
wolves, love into hatred; lawlessness [see Belial]
will prevail, causing men to hate, persecute, and de-
liver up each other; and Satan, ' the world-deceiver'
(see Antichrist), will in the guise of the Son of
God perform miracles, and as ruler of the earth
commit unheard-of crimes" ("Didache," xvi. % et
seq. ; Sibyllines, ii. 165 et seq. , iii. 63 ; Matt. xxiv. 5-12 ;
II Tim. iii. 1 et seq.). The rabbinic description is
similar : " The footsteps of the Messiah [n'tJ'O ni2py,
taken from Ps. Ixxxix. 52; comp. the term iti'y 2p]},
"the last days of the rule of Esau" = "Edom—
Rome " ; II Esd. vi. 8-10 ; comp. Gen. E. Ixiii. ; Yal-
kut and Midrash ha-Gadol, ed. Schechter, on Gen.
XXV. 26; Pirke R. El. xxxii.] are seen in the turning
of the schoolhouse into a brothel, the desolation of
Galilee and Gaulauitis, the going about of the scribes
and saints as despised beggars, the insolence and
lawlessness of the people, the disrespect of the
younger generation toward the older, and the turn-
ing of the rulers to heresy" (Sotah ix. 15; Derek
Erez Zutax. ; Sanh. 97b; Cant. R. ii. 13; Ket. 112b;
in these passages amoraim of the second and third
centuries are often credited with the views of tan-
naim of the first; comp. also Shab 118a with Mek.,
Beshallah, I.e.). Simon ben Yohai (comp. Derek
Erez Zuta x. with Sanh. I.e.) counts seven periods
of tribulation preceding the advent of the son of
David. The Abraham Apocalypse (xxx.) mentions
ten plagues as being prepared for the heathen of the
time: (1) distress; (2) conflagration ; (3) pestilence
among beasts; (4) famine ; (5) earthquakes and wars;
(6) hail and frost; (7) wild beasts; (8) pestilence and
death among men ; (9) destruction and flight (comp.
Isa. xxvi. 20; Zech. xiv. 5); and (10) noises and
rumblings (comp. niPlp in the sixth period of Simon
b. Yohai; comp. Test. Patr., Levi, 17, where also
seven periods precede the kingdom of God).
An important part in the eschatological drama is
assigned to Israel's final combat with the combined
forces of the heathen nations under
The War the leadership of Gog and Magog, bar-
of Gog and. barian tribes of the North (Ezek.
Magog. xxxviii.-xxxix. ; see Goo and Ma-
gog). Assembled for a fierce attack
upon Israel in the mountains near Jerusalem, they
will suffer a terrible and crushing defeat, and Israel's
land will thenceforth forever remain the seat of
God's kingdom. Whether originally identical or
identified only afterward by Biblical interpretation
with the battle in the valley of Jehoshaphat (Joel
iv. [A.V.iii.] 12; comp. Zech. xiv. 2 and Isa. xxv. 6,
where the great warfare against heathen armies is
spoken of), the warfare against Gog and Magog
formed the indispensable prelude to the Messianic
era in every apocalyptic vision (Sibyllines, iii. 319
et xeq., 512 et seq., 632 et seq.; v. 101; Rev. xx. 8;
Enoch, Ivi. 5 et seq., where the place of Gog and
Magog is taken by the Parthians and Medes; II Esd.
xiii. 5, "a multitude of men without number from
the four winds of the earth " ; Syriac Apoc. Baruch,
LXX. 7-10; Targ. Y^er. to Num. xi. 26, xxiv. 17,
Ex. xl. 11, Deut. xxxii. 39, and Isa. xxxiii. 25;
comp. Num. xxiv. 7 [Septuagint, Viiy for " Agag "] ;
see Eldad and Medad).
R. EHezer(Mek., Beshallah, ^r.) mentions the Gog
and Magog war together with the Messianic woes
and the Last Judgment as the three modes of divine
chastisement preceding the millennium. R. Akiba
assigns both to the Gog and Magog war and to the
Last Judgment a duration of twelve months ('Eduy.
ii. 10); Lev. R. xix. has seven years instead, in ac-
cordance with Ezek. xxxix. 9; Ps. ii. 1-9 is referred
to the war of Gog and Magog ('Ab. Zarah 3b; Ber.
7b; Pe.sik. ix. 79a; Tan., Noah, ed. Buber, 24;
Midr. Tell. Ps. ii.).
The destruction of Gog and Magog's army im-
plies not, as falsely stated by Weber (" Altsynagogale
Theologie," 1880, p. 369), followed by Bousset ("Re-
ligion des Judenthums," p. 222), the extermination
of the Gentile world at the close of the Messianic
reign, but the annihilation of the heathen powers
who oppose the kingdom of God and the establish-
ing of the Messianic reign (see Enoch, Ivi.-lvii.,
according to which the tribes of Israel are gathered
and brought to the Holy Land after the destruction
of the heathen hosts; Sifre, Deut. 343; and Targ.
Yer. to Num. xi. 26).
The Gentiles who submit to the Law are expected
to survive (Syriac Apoc. Baruch, Ixxii. 4; Apoc.
Abraham, xxxi.); and those nations that did not
subjugate Israel will be admitted by the Messiah into
the kingdom of God (Pesik. R. 1, after Isa. Ixvi.
23). The Messiah is called "Hadrach" (Zech. ix.
1), as the one who leads the heathen world to repent-
ance ("j'lin), though he is tende" to Israel and harsh
toward the Gentiles {"^y^ nri: Cant. R. vii. 5). The
loyalty of the latter will be severely tested ('Ab.
Zarah 2b et seq.), while during the established reign
of the Messiah the probation time of the heathen will
have passed over (Yeb. 24b). "A third part of the
heathen world alone will survive " (Sibyllines, iii. 544
et seq., v. 103, after Zech. xiii. 8; in Tan., Shofetira,
ed. Buber, 10, this third part is referred to Israel,
which alone, as the descendants of the three patri-
archs, will escape the fire of Gehenna). According to
Syriac Apoc. Baruch, xl. 1, 2, it is the leader of the
Gog and Magog hosts who will alone survive, to be
brought bound before the Messiah on Mount Zion
and judged and slain. According to II Esd. xiii.
9 et seq., fire will issue forth from the mouth of the
Messiah and consume the whole army. This indi-
cates an identification of Gog and Magog with " the
wicked one " of Isa. xi. 4, interpreted as the per-
sonification of wickedness, Angro - mainyush (see
Armilus). In Midrash Wayosha' (Jollinek, " B. H. "
i. 56) Gog is the leader of the seventy-two nations
of the world, minus one (Israel), and makes war
against the Most High ; he is smitten down by God.
Armilus rises as the last enemy of God and Israel.
The great event preparatory to the reign of the
Messiah is the gathering of the exiles, "kibbuz
213
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
£schatolog:y
galiyyot." This hope, voiced in Deut. xxx. 3; Isa.
xi. 12; Micahiv. 6, vii. 11; Ezek. xxxix. 27; Zech. xi.
10-12 and Isa. xxx v. 3, is made espe-
Gathering cially impressive by the description in
of Isa. xxvii. 13 of the return of all the
the Exiles, strayed ones from Assyria and Egypt,
and by the announcement that "the
Gentiles tliemselves shall carry Israel's sons and
daughters on their arms to Jerusalem with presents
for the Lord" (Isa. xlix. 22, Ix. 4-9, Ixvi. 20). It
was accordingly dwelt upon as a miraculous act in
the synagogal liturgy and song (Shemoneh 'Esreh;
Meg. 17a; Cant. xi. 1, xvii. 31), as well as in apoc-
alyptic visions (Apoc. Abraham, xxxi. ; II Esd. xiii.
13; Matt. xxiv. 31). God shall bring them back
from the East and the West (Baruch, iv. 37, v. 5 et
seq.; Ecclus. [Sirach] xxxvi. 13; Tobit xiii. 13);
Elijah shall gather them and the Messiah summon
them together (Ecclus. [Sirach] xlviii. 10; Sibyl-
lines, ii. 171-187; Cant. xvii. 26; Targ. Ycr. to Ex.
vi. 18, xl. 9-10, Num. xxiv. 7, Deut. xxx. 4, Jor.
xxxiii. 13). In wagons carried by the winds the
exiles shall be borne along with a mighty noise
(Enoch, Ivii. 1 et seq. ; Zeb. 116a; Cant. R. and Hag-
gadat Shir ha-Shirim to Cant. iv. 16; Midr. Teh. to
Ps. Ixxxvii. 6), and a pillar of light shall lead them
(Philo, "De Execrationibus," 8-9). The Lost Ten
Tribes shall be miraculously brought back across
the mighty waters of the Eiver Euphrates (II Esd.
xiii. 39-47; Syriac Apoc. Baruch, Ixxvii. ; Sanh. x.
13; Tan., Mikkez and Shelah, i. 203, iii. 79, ed.
Buber, after Isa. xi. 15; see Arzareth; Sam-
B.\TioN; Ten Tribes).
The central place in the eschatological system is,
as a matter of course, occupied by the advent of the
Messiah. Nevertheless the days of
The Days the Messiah (" yemot ha-Mashiah "),
of the the time when the prophetic predic-
Messiah. tions regarding the reign of the de-
scendant of David find their fulfilment,
do not form the end of the world's history, but are
merel}"^ the necessary preparatory stage to the king-
dom of God ("malkut shamayim"), which, when
once established, will last forever (Dan. vii. 27;
Sibyllines, iii. 47 et seq., 767 et seq. ; Mek., Beshallah.
' Amalek, end). The Messiah is merely " the chosen
one" (Enoch, xlv. 3, xlix. 2, li. Set seq.); he causes
the people to seek the Lord (Ilosea iii. 5 ; Isa. xi. 9 ;
Zech. xii. 8 ; Ezek. xxxiv. 24, xxxvii. 24 et seq.), and,
as " the Son of God," causes the nations to worship
Him (Enoch, cv. 2; II Esd. viii. 28 etseq.. xiii. 32-
52. xiv. 9, after Ps. ii. 7, Ixxxix. 27 et seq.). The
time of his kingdom is therefore limited according
to some to three generations (Mek., I.e., after Ex.
xvii. 16, *1T "no) ; according to others, to 40 or 70,
to 365 or 400 years, or to 1,000, 2,000, 4,000, or 7,000
years (Sanh. 99a, 97b; Pesik. R. 1, end; Midr.
Teh. xc. 17); the number 400, liowever, based upon
a combination of Gen. xv. 13 and Ps. xc. 15 (see
Pesik. R. 1), is supported by II Esd. vii. 28 et seq.,
where it is positively stated that after his 400 years'
reign the Messiah Avill die to rise again, after the
lapse of a week, with the rest of the righteous in the
world's regeneration. It is probably to emphasize
his human character that the Messiah is frequently
called the " Son of Man " (Dan. viii. 13 ; Enoch, xl vi.
2et seq., xlviii. 2, Ixii. 7; see Man, Son of). For it is
in order to fulfil the designs of God for Israel and
the whole race of man that he is to appear as the
triumphant warrior-king to subjugate the nations
(Sibyllines, iii. 653-655), to lead in the war against
Gog and Magog (II Esd. xiii. 32; Targ. Yer. to
Num. xxiv. 17, 20), to annihilate all the powers of
wickedness and idolatry, cleanse the Holy Land and
city from all heathen elements, build the new house
of the Lord "pure and holy," and become the Re-
deemer of Israel (Syriac Apoc. Baruch, xxxix. 7 et
seq., Ixxii. 2; Cant. xvii. 21-30; Targ. Yer to Gen.
xlix. 11, Ex. xl. 9, Num. xi. 16, Isa. x. 27; coiiip.
Philo, "De PrjEmiis et Pcrnis," with reference to
Num. xxiv. 7): "he is to redeem the entire creation
by chastising the evil-doers and making the nations
from all the ends of the world see the glorj' of God "
(II Esd. xiii. 26-38; Cant. xvii. 31). "Free from
sin, from desire for wealth or power, a pure, Avise,
and holy king imbued with the spirit of God, he
will lead all to righteousness and holiness (Cant,
xvii. 32-43; Sibyllines, iii. 49, v. 414 et seq. ; Test.
Patr, Levi, 18; Midr. Teh. Ixxii. 12; Targ. Yer. to
Gen. xlix. 12, and Isa. xi. 2, xli. 1).
The Messianic time, accordingly, means first of all
the cessation of all subjection of Israel by other
powers (nVD^D 113^^', Ber. 34b ; Sanh. 91b), while
the kingdoms and nations will bring tributes to the
Messiah (Pes. 118b; Gen. R. Ixxviii. ; Tan., Yelam-
denu, Shofetim; Sibyllines, iii. 350, iv. 145, all based
upon Ps. Ixxii. 10 and Ixviii. 32); furthermore, it
will be a time of conversion of the heathen world to
monotheism (Tobit xiv. 6; Sibyllines, iii. 616, 624,
716 et seq. ; Enoch, xlviii. 4 et seq. ; 'Ab. Zarah 24a,
after Zeph. iii. 9), though the Holy
Time of Land itself will not be inhabited by
Universal strangers (Cant. xvii. 28; Sibyllines,
Peace. v. 264; Book of Jubilees, 1. 5). Both
earth and man will be blessed with
wondrous fertility and vigor (Enoch, x. 17-19,
"They will live until they have a thousand chil-
dren"; Sibyllines, iii. 620 et seq., 743; Syriac Apoc.
Baruch, xxix. 5; comp. Papias' description of the
millennium given as coming directly from Jesus, in
Irenseus, "Ad versus Haereses," v. 33, 3-4; Ket.
111b; Shab. 30b, "The earth will produce new
fruits daily, women will bear children daily, and the
land will yield loaves of bread and garments of silk,"
all with reference to Ps. Ixxii. 16; Deut. xxxii. 1;
Gen. xlix. 11; comp. Targ. Yer.). The days of the
youth of the earth will be renewed; people will
again reach the age of 1,000 years (Book of Jubilees,
xxx. 27; comp. Isa. Ixv. 20); the birth of children
Avill be free from pain (S\'riac Apoc. Baruch, Ixxiii.
60, after Isa. xiii. 8; Philo, "De Prsemiis et Popnis,"
15 et seq.); there will no longer be strife and illness,
plague or trouble, but peace, health, and joy (Enoch,
X. 16-22; Sibyllines, iii. 371; Syriac Apoc. Baruch,
Ixxiii, 1-5). All phj'sicai ailments and defects will
be healed (Gen. R. xcv. ; Pesik. R. 42 [ed. Fried-
mann, p. 177, note]; Midr Teh. cxlvi. 8; Eccl. R. i.
9, after Isa. xxxv. 6: comp. Matt. xi. 5). A spiri-
tual regeneration will also take place, and Israel's
sons and daughters will prophesy (Num. R. xv.,
after Joel iii. 1 [A. V. ii. 28], a passage which con-
tradicts the statement of Bousset, I.e. p. 229).
Eschatolog'y
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
214
The Messiah will furthermore win the heathen by
the spirit of wisdom and righteousness which rests
upon him (Sibyllines, iii. 780; Test. Patr., Levi, 18;
Judah, 24; Targ. Yer. to Gen. xlix. 12 and Isa. xli.
1). He will teach the nations the Noachian laws of
humanity and make all men disciples of the Lord
(Midr. Teh. xxi.). The wonders of the time of
Moses will be repeated on a larger scale in the time
of the Messiah (Mek., Beshallah, Shirah, 8, after
Micah vii. 15; comp. Hosea ii. 17; Targ. ; Tan., Bo,
ed. Buber, 6). What Moses, the first
Renewal redeemer, did is typical of what the
of the Time Messiah as the last redeemer will do
of Moses. (Eccl. R. i. 9). The redemption will
be in the same month of Nisan and in
the same night (Mek., Bo, 14); the same pillar of
cloud will lead Israel (Phiio, "De Execrationibus,"
8; Targ. Yer. to Isa. xxxv. 10): the same plagues
will be sent upon Israel's foes (Tan., Wa'era, ed.
Buber, 15; Bo, 6, 19; Midr. Wayosha' ; Jellinek,
" B. H." i. 45); the redeemer will ride on an ass (Zech.
ix. 9; comp. Ex. iv. 20); manna will again be sent
down from heaven (Ps. Ixxii. 16; comp. Ps. Ixxviii.
24; Syriac Apoc. Baruch, xxix. 8); and water rise
from beneath by miraculous power (Joel iv. [A. V.
iii.] 18; comp. Ps. Ixxviii. 15 et seq.\ Eccl. R. i. 9).
Like Moses, the Messiah will disappear for 90 or 45
days after his appearance (Pesik. R. 15; Pesik. v.
49b, after Hosea v. 15). The same number of people
will be redeemed (Sanh. Ilia) and the Song of Moses
be replaced by another song (Mek., Beshallah, Shi-
rah, 1; Rev. XV. 3). But, like Moses, the Messiah
will die (II Esd. I.e.); the opinion that the Messiah
will not taste death (Midr. Teh. Ixxii. 17) seems to
be of later origin, and will be discussed in connec-
tion with the account of the Messiah from the tribe
of Joseph or Ephraim (see below).
Jewish theology always insisted on drawing a
sharp line between the Messianic days and the final
days of God's sole kingdom. Hence the character-
istic baraita counting ten world-rulers, beginning
with God before Creation, then naming, Ninirod,
Joseph, Solomon, Ahab, Nebuchadnezzar, C^'rus,
Alexander the Great, the Messiah, and ending with
God last as He was the first (Pirke R. El. xi. ; Meg.
11a is incomplete). There are, however, in the per-
sonality of the Messiah supernatural elements
adopted from the Persian Soshians (" Savior ") which
lent to the whole Messianic age a specifically cosmic
character. An offspring of Zoroaster, born miracu-
lously by a virgin of a seed hidden in a
The Cosmic lake for thousands of years, Sosliians
Characters is, togetiier witli a number of asso-
ofthe ciates, six, or seven, or thirty, to
Messianic bring about tlie resiuTection, slay
Time. Angro-mainyusli and liis hosts of de-
mons, judge the risen dead, giving
each his due reward, and finally renew the whole
world (Bundahis, xxx.; Windisclunann, "Zoroas-
trische Studien," 1863, pp. 231 eti^eq. ; Bocklen, "Die
Verwandtschaft der Judi.schchristlichen mit derPar-
sischen Escliatologie," 1902, pp. 91 ft seq.). Simi-
larly, the Messiah is a being existing from before
Creation (Gen. R. i. ; Pesik. R. 33; Pirke R. El.
iii.; Pes. 54a, based on Ps. Ixxii. 17), and kept hid-
den for .thousands of years (Enoch, xlvi. 2 et seq.,
xlvili. 6, Ixii. 7; II Esd. xii. 32, xiii. 26; Syriac Apoc.
Baruch, xxix. ; Midr. Teh. xxi. ; Targ. to Micah
iv. 8). He comes " from a strange seed " ("inX yi?D:
Gen. R. xxiii., with reference to Gen. iv. 25; Gen.
R. li., with reference to Gen. xix. 34; Gen. R.
Ixxxv. ; Tan., Wayesheb, ed. Buber, 13, with ref-
erence to Gen. xxxviii. 29; comp. Matt. i. 3); or
from the North (jIDV, which may also mean "con-
cealment": Lev. R. ix. ; Num. R. xiii., after Isa.
xli. 25; comp. John vii. 27).
The Messiah's immortal companions reappear with
him (ILEsd. xiii. 52, xiv. 9; comp. vi. 26). Derek
Ercz Zuta i. mentions nine immortals (see Kohler, in
"J. Q. R." V. 407-419, and comp. the transposed
[hidden] righteous ones in Mandaean lore; Brand,
"Die Mandaische Religion," 1889, p. 38). They are
probably identical with " the righteous who raise the
dead in the Messianic time " (Pes. 68a). Prominent
among the companions of the Messiah are : (1) Elijah
the prophet (see Elijah in Rabbinical Litera-
ture), who is expected as high priest to anoint the
Messiah (Justin, " Dialogus cum Try phone," viii.,
xlix.; comp. Targ. to Ex. xl. 10; John i. 21); to
bring about Israel's repentance (Pirke R. El. xliii.)
and reunion (Targ. Yer. to Deut. xxx. 4; Sibyllines,
V. 187 et seq.), and finally the resurrection of the dead
(Yer. Shab. i. 5-3c; Shek. iii. 47c; Agadat Shir
ha-Shirim,'ed. Schechter, to Cant. vii. 14); he will
also bring to light again the hidden vessels of Moses'
time (Mek., Beshallah, Wayassa', 5; Syriac Apoc.
Barucli, vi. 8; comp., however. Num. R. xviii. :
"the Messiah will disclose these"); (2) Moses, who
will reappear with Elijah (Deut. R. iii. ; Targ. Yer.
to Ex. xii. 42; comp. Ex. R. xviii. and Luke ix. 80);
(3) Jeremiah (II Mace. xv. 14; Matt. xvi. 14); (4)
Isaiah (II Esd. ii. 18); (5) Baruch (Syriac Apoc.
Baruch, vi. 8, xiii. 3, xxv. 1, xlvi. 2); (6) Ezra (II
Esd. xiv. 9); (7) Enoch (Enoch, xc. 31; Evangelium
Nicodemi, xxv.), and others (Luke ix. 8; comp. also
Septuagint to Job, end). The "four smiths " in the
vision of Zech. ii. 3 (i. 20, R. V.) were referred by the
Rabbis to the four chiefs, or associates, of the Mes-
sianic time ; Elijah and the Messiah, Melchizedek and
the "Anointed for the War" (Messiah ben Joseph:
Pesik. V. 51a; comp. Suk. 55b). The "seven shep-
herds and the eight princes " (Micah v. 4 [A. V. 5])
are taken to be : Adam, Seth, Methuselah (Enoch was
stricken from the list of the saints in post-Christian
times), Abraham, Jacob, and Moses, with David in
the middle, forming the set of "shepherds" ;, Jesse,
Saul, Samuel (?), Amos (?), Hezekiah, Zedekiat,
Elijah, and the Messiah, forming the set of " princes "
(Suk. 52b). These, fifteen in number, correspond
to the fifteen men and women in the company of
the Persian Soshians. The Coptic Elias Apocalypse
(xxx vii., translated by Stcindorf), speaks of sixty
companions of the Messiah (see Bousset, I.e. p. 221).
The origin and character of the Messiah of the
tribe of .loseph, or Ephraim, are rather obscure. It
seems that tlie assumed superhuman character of
the Messiali appeared to be in conflict with the tra-
dition that spoke of his death, and therefore the
figure of a Messiah wlio would come from the tribe of
Joseph, or Ephraim, instead of from Judah, and who
would willingly undergo suff"ering for his nation and
fall as victim in the Gog and Magog war, was created
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EschatologT
by the haggadists (see Pesik. R. 37; comp. 34.). To
him was referred the passage, "They shall look unto
him whom they have pierced and
The mourn for him " (Zech. xii. 10, Hebr. ;
Messiah of Suk. 52a), as well as the fifty-third
the Tribe chapter of Isaiah (see Justin, " Dia-
of Joseph, logus cum Try phone," Ixviii. and xc. ;
comp. Sanh. 98b, "the Messiah's name
is ' The Leper ' [' hiwwara ' ; comp. Isa. liii. 4] ; the
passage quoted in Martini, "Pugio Fidei," p. 417,
cited by Gfrorer [I.e. 267] and others, is scarcely
genuine; see Eppstein, "Bereshit Rabbati," 1888, p.
26). The older haggadah referred also "the wild
ox " who with his horns will " push the people to the
ends of the earth" (Deut. xxxiii. 17, Hebr.) to the
Ephraimite Messiah (Gen. R. Ixxv. ; comp. Num. R.
xiv.). The Messiah from the tribe of Ephraim falls in
the battle with Gog and Magog, whereas the Messiah
from the house of David kills the superhuman hos-
tile leader (Angro-mainyush) with the breath of his
mouth; then he is universally recognized as king
(Suk. 52a; comp. Targ. Yer, to Ex. xl. 9, 11; Targ.
to Isa. xi. 4, Cant. iv. 5; Sefer Zerubbabel, in Jel-
linek, "B. H." ii. 56, where he is introduced with
the name of Nehemiah b. Hushiel; comp. I.e. 60 tt
seq., iii. 80 et seq.).
"Great will be the suffering tiie Messiah of the
tribe of Ephraim has to undergo for seven years at
the hand of the nations, who lay iron beams upon
him to crush him so that his cries reach heaven ; but
he willingly submits for the sake of his people, not
only those living, but also the dead, for all those who
died since Adam; and God places the four beasts of
the heavenly throne-chariot at his disposal to bring
about the great work of resurrection and regenera-
tion against all the celestial antagonists" (Pesik.
R. 36). The Patriarchs will rise from their graves
in Nisan and pay homage to his greatness as the
suffering Messiah, and when the nations (104 king-
doms) put him in shackles in the prison-house and
make sport of him, as is described in Ps. xxii. 8-16,
God will address him with the words " Ephraim, My
dear son, child of My comfoit, I have great compas-
sion on thee" (Jer. xxxi. 20, Hebr.), assuring him
that " with the breath of his mouth he shall slay the
wicked one" (Isa. xi. 4); and He will surround him
with a sevenfold canopy of precious stones, place
streams of wine, honey, milk, and balsam at his feet,
fan him with all the fragrant breezes of paradise, and
then tell the saints that admire and pity him that he
has not gone through half the suffering imposed
upon him from the world's beginning (Pesik. R. 37).
The haggadists, however, did not always clearly
discriminate between the Ephraimite Messiah, who
falls a victim, and the son of David, who is glorified
as victor and receives the tributes of the nations
(Midr. Teh. xviii. 5, where the former is meant as
being the one "insulted " according to Ps. Ixxxix.
51 [A. V. 52] ; comp. Targ. Yer. to Num. xi. 26, and
Midr. Teh. Ixxxvii. 6, where the two Messiahs are
mentioned together). According to Tan. Yelamdenu,
Shofetim (end), the nations will first bring tributes
to the Messiah ; then, seized by a spirit of confusion
("ruah tezazit"), they will rebel and make war
against him; but he will burn them with the breath
of his mouth and none but Israel will remain (that
is, on the battle-field: this is misunderstood by
Weber, I.e.; comp. II Esd. xiii. 9).
In the later apocalyptic literature the Ephraimite
Messiah is introduced by the name of Nehemiah ben
Hushiel, and the victorious Messiah as Menahemben
'Ammi El ("Comforter, son of the people of God ":
Jellinek, "B. H." ii. 56, 60 et al.). It appears that
the eschatologists were anxious to discriminate be-
tween the fourth heathen power personified in Edom
(Rome) the wicked, over whom the Ephraimite Mes-
siah alone is destined to carry victory (Pesik. R. 12;
Gen. R. Ixxiii. ; B. B. 123b), and the Gog and Magog
army, over which the son of David was to triumph
while the son of Ephraim fell (see Otot ha-Mashiah,
Jellinek, I.e.). While the fall of the wicked king-
dom (Rome) was taken to be the beginning of the
rise of the kingdom of God (Pesik. v. 51a), the belief
was that between the fall of the empire of Edom =
Rome and the defeat of the Gog and Magog army
there would be a long interval (see Pe.sik. xxii. 148a;
comp. Pesik. R. 37 [ed. Friedmann, 163b, note]).
According to R. Eliezer of Modin (Mek., Beshal-
lah, Wayassa', 4 [ed. Weiss, p. 58b, note]), the Mes-
siah is simply to restore the reign of the Davidic
dynasty (" malkut bet Dawid " ; comp. Maimonides,
Commentary to Sanh. xi. : "The Messiah, the son of
David, will die, and his son and grand.son will follow
him"; on the other hand, Bahya ben Joseph in his
commentary to Gen. xi. 11 says: "The Messiah will
not die ") ; also " the Aaronitic priesthood and Levitic
service."
The apocalyptic writers and many rabbis who
took a less sober view of the Messianic future ex-
pected a new Jerusalem built of sap-
The New phire, gold, and precious stones, with
Jerusalem, gates, walls, and towers of wondrous
size and splendor (Tobit xiii. 15, xiv.
4; Rev. xxi. 9-21; Sibyilines, iii. 651 et seq., v. 250
et seq., 420 et seq.; B. B. 75a; Pes. 50a; Pesik. xx.
143a; Pesik. R. 32; Midr. Teh. Ixxxvii., in ac-
cordance with Isa. liv. 11 et seq., Ix. 10; Hag. ii. 7;
Zech. ii. 8). The "new" or "upper Jerusalem"
(n^yo hl^ Q''h^)-\''; Ta'an 5a; Hag. 12b; Test. Patr.,
Dan. 5; Rev. xxi. 2, 10; Gal. iv. 26; Heb. xii. 22)
seen in visions by Adam, Abraham, and Moses
(Syriac Apoc. Baruch, iv. 2-6) will in the days of
the Messiah appear in all its splendor (II Esd. vii.
26, X. 50 et seq.; Syriac Apoc. Baruch, xxxii. 4); it
will be reared upon the top of all the mountains of
the earth piled one upon the other (Pesik. xxi. 144b,
after Isa. ii. 2).
This expectation of course includes a "heavenly
temple," "mikdash shel ma'alah " (Enoch, xc. 29 et
seq. ; comp. Hag. I.e. ; Pes. 54, after Jer. xvii. 12).
The more sober view is that the Messiah will replace
the polluted temple with a pure and holy one (Enoch,
liii. 6, xc. 28, xci. 13; Sibyilines, iii. 77b; Psalms of
Solomon xvii. 30; comp. Lev. R. ix. : "Coming from
the North, the Messiah will erect the temple in the
South"). The sacred vessels of the Tabernacle of
Moses' time, hidden ever since, are expected to reap-
pear (II Mace, ii. 4-8; Sj'riacApoc. Baruch, vi. 7-10;
Tosef., Sotah, xiii. 1 ; apocryphical Masseket Kelim;
Yoma 52b; Tan., Wayehi, ed. Buber, 3; comp. Jose-
phus, "Ant." xviii. 4, § 1). There will be no sin any
more, for " the Lord will shake the land of Israel and
Escbatolog'y
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
216
cleanse it from all impurity " (Pirke R. El. xxxiv.
21, after Job xxxviii. 13). "The Messianic time
will be without merit ["zekut"] and without guilt
[" hobah "] (Shab. 151b). Yet " only the select ones
will be allowed to go up to the new Jerusalem " (B.
B. 75b).
Whereas the Bab3'lonian schools took it for
granted that the Mosaic law, and particularly the
sacrificial and priestly laws, will be fully observed
in the Messianic time (Yoma 5b et al.), the view
that a new Law of God will be proclaimed by the
Messiah is occasionally expressed (Eccl. R. ii. 1; Lev.
R. xiii., according to Jer. xxxi. 32)—
A New " the thirty commandments " which
Law. comprise the Law of humanity (Gen.
R. xcviii.). "Ye will receive a new
Law from the Elect One of the righteous" (Targ.
to Isa. xii. 3). The Holy One will expound the
new Law to be given by the Messiah (Yalk. ii. 296,
to Isa. xxvi.); according to Pes. xii. 107a, He will
only infuse new ideas ("hiddush debarim "); or the
Messiah will take upon himself the kingdom of
the Law and make many zealous followers thereof
(Targ. to Isa. ix. 5 etseq., and liii. 11-12). "There
will be a new covenant which shall not be broken "
(Sifra, Behukkotai, ii., after Jer. xxxi. 32). The
dietary and purity laws will no longer be in force
(Lev. R. xxii. ; Midr. Teh. cxlvii., ed. Buber, note;
R. Joseph said: "All ceremonial laws will be abro-
gated in the future" [Nid. 61b]; this, however, re-
fers to the time of the Resurrection).
Resurrection formed part of the Messianic hope
(Isa. xxiv. 19 ; Dan. xii. 2). Martyrs for the Law were
specially expected to share in the future glory of
Israel (II Mace. vii. 6, 9, 23 ; Book of Jubilees, xxiii.
30), the term for having a share in the future life being
" to inherit the land " (Kid. i. 10). The Resurrection
was therefore believed to take place solely in ihe
Holy Land (Pesik. R. 1 ; the "land of the living " in
Ps. cxvi. 9 means "the land where the dead live
again "). Jerusalem alone is the city whose dead will
blossom forth as the grass, for those buried elsewhere
will be compelled to creep through holes in the ground
to the Holy Land (Ket. 3b; Pesik. R. I.e.). From
this point of view the Resurrection is accorded only
to Israel (Gen. R. xiii.). The great trumpet blown
to gather the tribes of Israel (Isa. xxvii. 13) will also
rouse the dead (Ber. 15b; Targ. Yer. to Ex. xx. 15;
II Esd. iv. 23 et seq. ; I Cor. xv. 52; I Thess. iv. 16).
The Last Judgment precedes the Resurrection.
Judged by the Messiah, the nations with their guard-
ian angels and stars shall be cast into Gehenna.
According to Rabbi Eleazarof Modi'im, in answer to
the protests of the princes of the seventy-two na-
tions, God will say, "Let each nation go througji
the fire together with its guardian deity," when
Israel alone will be saved (Cant. R. ii. 1). This gave
rise to the idea adopted by Christianity, that the
Messiah would passthroiigh Hades (Test. Patr., Ben-
jamin, 9; Yalk., Isa. 359; see Eppstein, "Bereshit
Rabbati," 1888, p. 31). The end of the judgment
of the heathen is the establishment of the kingdom
of God (Mek., Beshallah, 'Amalek). The Messiah
will cast Satan into Gehenna, and death and sorrow
flee forever (Pesik. R. 36; see also Antichrist;
Armilus; Belial).
In later times the belief in a universal Resurrection
became general. " All men as they are born and
die are to rise again," says Eliezer ben Kappar
(Abot iv.). The Resurrection will occur at the close
of the Messianic era (Enoch, xcviii. 10). Death will
befall the Messiah after his four hundred years'
reign, and all mankind and the world will lapse into
primeval silence for seven days, after which the
renewed earth will give forth its dead and God will
judge the world and assign the evil-doers to the
pit of hell and the righteous to paradise, which is
on the opposite side (II Esd. vii. 26-36). All evil-
doers meet with everlasting punishment. It was a
matter of dispute between the Shammaite R. Eliezer
and the Hillelite R. Joshua whether the righteous
among the heathen had a share in the future world
or not (Tosef., Sanh. xiii. 2), the dispute hinging on
the verse " the wicked shall return to Sheol, and all
the Gentiles that forget God " (Ps. ix. 18 [A. V. 17),
Hebr. ). The doctrine " All Israelites have a share iu
the world to come " (Sanh. xi. 1) is based upon Isa.
Ix. 21 : " Thy people, all of them righteous, shall in-
herit the land" (Hebr.). At first resurrection was
regarded as a miraculous boon granted only to the
righteous (Test. Patr., Simeon, 6; Luke xiv. 14),
but afterward it was considered to be universal in
application and connected with the Last Judgment
(Slavonic Enoch, Ixvi. 5; comp. second blessing of
the " Shemoneh 'Esreh "). Whether the process of
the formation of the body at the Resurrection is the
same as at birth is a matter of dispute between the
Hillelites and Shammaites (Gen. R. xiv. ; Lev. R.
xiv. ). For the state of the soul during the death of
the body see Lmmortality and Soul.
Owing to tlie gradual evolution of eschatological
conceptions, the Rabbis used the terms, " 'olam
ha-ba" (the world to come), "le-'atid
Regenera- la-bo" (in the coming time), and "ye-
tion of mot ha-Mashiah " (the Messianic days)
the World, promiscuously or often without clear
distinction (see Geiger, "Lesestiicke
aus der Mischnah," p. 41 ; idem, " Jild. Zeit." iii. 159,
iv. 124). Thus, for instance, the question is dis-
cussed whether there will be death for tlie Gentiles
"in the coming time "or not (Gen. R. xxvi.). R. Elea-
zarof Modi'im, of the second century (Mek., Beshal-
lah, Wayassa', ed. Weiss, p. 59, note) distinguishes
between the Messianic time (" nialkut bet Dawid "),
the " 'olam ha-ba " (the future world), which is that
of the souls, and the time of the Resurrection, which
he calls " 'olam hadash " (the new world, or world
of regeneration). This term, used also in the " Kad-
dish " praj'er " Le-Hadala 'Alma " (The Renewal of
the World), is found in Matt. xix. 28 under the Greek
name ■n-aTiivyeveciq: "In the regeneration when the
Son of Man shall sit on the throne of his glory " and
judge the world in common with the twelve Apos-
tles (for the last words see the twelve judges for
the twelve tribes of Israel in Testament of Abra-
ham, A. 13, and compare the seventy elders around
the seat of God in heaven in Lev. R. xi.)
Concerning this regeneration of the world Pirke
R. El. i. says, with reference to Isa. xxxiv. 4, Ii. 6,
Ixv. 17; Hosea vi. 2: " Heaven and earth, as well as
Israel, shall be renewed; the former shall be folded
together like a book or a garment and then unfolded,
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THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Eschatologry
and Israel, after having tasted death, shall rise again
on the third day." "All the beauty of the world
which vanished owing to Adam's sin, will be re-
stored in the time of the Messiah, the descendant of
Perez [Gen. R. xii.] — the fertility of the earth, the
wondrous size of man [Sifra, Behukkotai, 1-2], the
splendor of sun and moon" (Isa. xxx. 26; Targ. to
II Sam. xxiii. 4; comp. Apoc. Mosis, 36). Ten
things shall be renewed (according to Ex. R. xv. ;
comp. Tan.jWayiggash, ed. Buber, 9): The sun and
moon shall regain their splendor, the former endowed
with healing powers (Mai. iii. 20 [A. V. iv. 2]) ; the
fountains of Jerusalem shall flow, and the trees grow
(Ezek. xlvii. 12) ; desolate cities like Sodom shall rise
from their ruins (Ezek. xvi. 55) ; Jerusalem, rebuilt of
precious stones, shall shine like the sun (Isa. liv. 11
et seq.); peace shall reign among the beasts (Isa. xi.
7) ; and between them and Israel (Hosea ii. 20 [A. V.
18]); weeping and death shall cease (Isa. Ixv. 19,
XXV. 8-10); joy only shall reign (Isa. xxxv. 10); the
"yezer ha-ra' " (evil desire) shall be slain by God
(Suk. 52a). This regeneration of the world is to be
brought about by a world-conflagration ("mabbul
shel esh " = "a floor of fire " = iKnvpoatg: Sibyllines,
iii. 542, 689; iv. 174; ii. 296; Hippolytus, "Refutatio
Omnium Haeresium," ix. 30). This view, bor-
rowed from the Stoics, is based upon Isa. xxxiv. 4
(comp. Bousset, "Der Antichrist," p. 159). In this
world-conflagration Belial himself will be consumed
(Sibyllines, iii. 73 ; compare the burning up of the
primeval serpent Gohithar in Bundahis, xxx. 31).
Thus the fire of Gehenna which consumes the wicked
angels and the stars (Enoch, xc. 24 et seq., et aZ.) was
turned into a cosmic force bringing about the world's
renewal.
The Messianic kingdom, being at best of mere
earthly splendor, could not form the end, and so the
Great Judgment was placed at its close and following
the Resurrection. Those that would not accept the
belief in bodily resurrection probabl}'
The Last dwelt with greater emphasis on the
Judgment, judgment of the souls after death (see
Abraham, Testament of; Philo;
Sadducees; Wisdom. Book of). Jewish eschatol-
ogy combined the Resurrection with the Last Judg-
ment: "God summons the soul from heaven and
couples it again on earth with the body to bring
man to judgment" (Sanh. 91b, after Ps. 1. 4). In
the tenth week, that is, the seventh millennium, in
the seventh part, that is, after the Messianic reign,
there will be the great eternal judgment, to be fol-
lowed by a new heaven with the celestial powers in
sevenfold splendor (Enoch, xci. 15; comp. Ixxxiv. 4,
xciv. 9, xcviii. 10, civ. 5). On " the day of the Great
.Tudgment" angels and men alike will be judged,
and the books opened in which the deeds of men
are recorded (Ixxxi. 4, Ixxxix. 70 et seq., xc. 20, ciii.
3 et seq., civ. 1, cviii. 3) for life or for death; books
in which all sins are written down, and the treasures
of righteousness for the righteous, will be opened on
that day (Syriac Apoc. Baruch, xxiv. 1). "All the
secret thoughts of men will then be brought to
light." " Not long-suflfering and mercy, but rigid jus-
tice, will prevail in this Last Judgment"; Gehenna
and Paradise will appear opposite each other for the
one or the other to enter (II Esd. vii. 33 et seq.).
This end will come " through no one but God
alone " {ib. vi. 6). " No longer will time be granted
for repentance, or for prayer and intercession by
saints and prophets, but the Only One will give
decision according to His One Law, whether for
life or for everlasting destruction " (Syriac Apoc.
Baruch, Ixxxv. 9-12). The righteous ones will be
recorded in the Book of Life (Book of Jubilees,
xxx. 22, xxxvi. 10; Abot ii. 1; "Shepherd of
Hermas," i. 32; Luke x. 20; Rev. iii. 5, xiii. 8, xx.l5).
The righteous deeds and the sins will be weighed
against each other in the scales of justice (Pesik. R.
20; Kid. 40b). According to the Testament of
Abraham (A. xiii.), there are two angels, one on
either side; one writes down the merits, the other
the demerits, while Dokiel, the archangel, weighs the
two kinds against each other in a balance; and an-
other, Pyroel ("angel of fire"), tries the works of
men by fire, whether they are consumed or not;
then the just souls are carried among the saved ones ;
those found unjust, among those who will meet
their punishment. Those whose merits and de-
merits are equal remain in a middle state, and the
intercession of meritorious men such as Abraham
saves them and brings them into paradise (Testa-
ment of Abraham, A. xiv.). According to the
sterner doctrine of the Shammaites, these souls must
undergo a process of purgation by fire; "they enter
Gehenna, swing themselves up again, and are
healed." This view, based upon Zech. xiii. 9, seems
to be something like the Christian purgatory. Ac-
cording to the Hillelites, " He who is plenteous in
mercy inclines the scale of justice toward mercy " —
a view Avhich shows (against Gunkel, "Der Prophet
Ezra," 1900, p. 15) that Judaism believed in divine
mercy independently of the Pauline faith (Tosef. ,
Sanh. xiii. 3). As recorder of the deeds of men in
the heavenly books, " Enoch, the scribe of righteous-
ness," is mentioned in Testament of Abraham, xi. ;
Lev. R. xiv. has Elijah and the Messiah as heavenly
recorders, a survival of the national Jewish escha-
tology.
There is no Scriptural basis for the belief in retri-
bution for the soul after death ; this
Gehenna, was supplied by the Babylonians and
Persians, and received a Jewish color-
ing from the word " Gehinnom " (the valley of Hin-
nom), made detestable by the fires of the Moloch
sacrifices of Manasseh (II Kings xxiii. 10). According
to 'Er. 19a, the smoke from subterranean fires came
up through the earth in this place ; " there are cast
the spirits of sinners and blasphemers and of those
who work wickedness and pervert the words of the
Prophets " (Enoch, cviii. 6). Gehinnom has a double
purpose, annihilation (Enoch, xciv. 1 et seq.) and
eternal pain (II Esd. vii. 36 et seq.). Gehinnom has
seven names: "Sheol," "Abbadon," "Pit of Corrup-
tion," "Horrible Pit." "Mire of Clay," "Shadow of
Death," and "Nether Parts of the Earth " (Jonah ii.
3; Ps. Ixxxviii. 12 [A.V. 11], xvi. 10, xl. 3 [A.V. 2],
cvii. 14 ; Ezek. xxvi. 20). It is also called " Tophet "
(Isa. xxx. 33). It has seven departments, one be-
neath the other (Sotah 10b). There are seven kinds
of pains (II Esd. ii. 81 et seq.). According to rab-
binical tradition, ^h" 'es are condemned to fill an un-
fillable tank ; the impure sink into a quagmire ; those
^schatolo^y
EBdT&s
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
218
that sinned with the tongue are suspended thereby ;
some are suspended by the feet, hair, or eyelids;
others eat hot coals and sand ; others are devoured
by "worms, or placed alternately in snow and tire. On
Sabbath they are respited (see Dumah). These con-
ceptions, ascribed chiefly to Joshua ben Levi, have
their parallel in the apocalyptic literature appropri-
ated by the Christian Church (see Gehenna). The
punishment of the wicked endures twelve months,
according to R. Akiba ; the generation of the Flood
will in time be released (Gen. R. xxviii.), but the
punishment of those who have led others into heresy
or dealt treacherously against the Law will never
cease (Tosef., Sanh. xiii. 5).
The Garden of Eden is called the " Garden of
Righteousness" (Enoch, xxxii. 3), being no longer
an earthly paradise (ib. Ix. 8, Ixi. 12,
Gan 'Eden. Ixx. 3). It is above the earth, and its
inhabitants are "clothed with gar-
ments of light and eternal life, and eat of the tree of
life " {lb. Iviii. 3) in the company of the Lord and
His anointed. In Slavonic Enoch its place is in the
third heaven ; its four streams pour out honey and
milk, oil and wine (compare Sibyllines, ii. 318). It
is prepared for the "righteous who suffer innocently,
who do works of benevolence and walk without
blame before God." It has been created since the
beginning of the world, and will appear suddenly
at the Judgment Day in all its glory (II Esd. vi. ;
comp. Pes. 54a). The righteous dwell in those
heights where they enjoy the sight of the heavenly
"hayyot" that carry God's throne (Syriac Apoc.
Baruch, li. 11). As the wicked have a sevenfold
pain the righteous have a sevenfold joy (II Esd. vii.
88 et seq.). There are seven divisions for the right-
eous, which shine like the sun (Judges v. 31 ; comp.
Matt. xiii. 43), the moon (Ps. Ixxxix. 37), the fir-
mament (Dan. xii. 3), lightnings, torches (Nahum
ii. 5 [A. V. 4]), and lilies (Ps. xlv. 1, Hebr.). Each
of these divisions is placed differently before the face
of God. Each of the righteous will have a mansion,
and God will walk with them and lead them in a
dance (Yer. Meg. ii. 73b). See Eden, Garden of.
According to Ascensio Isaioe, viii. 26, ix. 18, xi.
40, the righteous on the arrival of the Messiah re-
ceive in the seventh heaven garments of light as well
as crowns and thrones. No small part in the future
bliss is played by the eating of the heavenly bread
or manna (Sibyllines, Prooemium, 87; Hag. 12b;
Tan., Beshallah, ed. Buber, p. 21; comp. "the
mysterious food," II Esd. ix. 19), the ambrosial milk
and honey (Sibyllines, ii. 318, iii. 7461, and, accord-
ing to R. Joshua b. Levi, " the wine prepared from
the beginning of the world " (Ber, 34b ; comp. Matt.
xxvi. 29). The very name for the highest bliss of
the future is " the banquet " (Abot iii. 16), which is
the same as "sitting at the table of the Messiah"
(Rev. xix. 9; Luke xiii. 28-29, xxii.
The 30, et al.). It is called in rabbinical
Banquet, literature " se'uddat ha-liwyatan " (the
banquet of the leviathan), that is to
say, in accordance Avith Job xl. 30 (A. V. xli. 6)
the "ha-barim, or pious ones, shall hold their meal
over it " (see Leviathan). It seems tliat the Persian
ox, "hadhayos," whose marrow imparts immortality
to the eater (Bundahis, xxx. 25), gave rise to the idea
of the behemoth and leviathan meal which is dwelt
on in Enoch, Ix. 7 et seq. ; Syriac Apoc. Baruch, xxix.
4; II Esd. vi. 52 ; Targ. Yer. to Num. xi. 26, Ps. civ.
26; B. B. 74b; Tan., Beshallah, at end.
But while this eudemonistic view is the popular
one, based upon Isa. Ixv. 13 and Ps. xxiii. 5 (Num.
R. xxi.), there is also the higher and more spiritual
view taught by Rab : " In the world to come there
is neither eating, drinking, nor procreation, neither
barter nor envy, neither hatred nor strife; but the
righteous sit with their crowns on their heads and
enjoy the splendor of the Shekinah; for it is said:
' And they saw God and did eat and drink ' ; that
is, their seeing God was meat and drink to them"
(Ber. 17a). More characteristic still is the view of
Rab's Palestinian contemporary R. Johanan : All the
bliss for the future promised by the Prophets refers
only to the Messianic time, whereas in regard to that
which is in store for the righteous in the world to
come it is said : " No eye hath seen it beside thee, O
God " (Isa. Ixiv. 3 [A. V. 4] ; Ber. 34b; comp., how-
ever, Ex. R. xlv., at end, according to which God
showed to Moses all the treasures in store for the doers
of benevolent works). The New Testament sentence,
"Many shall be last [there] that are first [here], and
first [there] that are last [here]" (Matt. xix. 30,
Greek), finds its explanation in the saying of a son of
R. Joshua b. Levi: "A contrary order of things I
have seen in the world beyond : the high in station are
low there, tlie lowly are placed on high " (Ber. 50a).
Only in the esoteric Essene circles whence the
apocalyptic literature emanated were attempted all
the elaborate descriptions of paradise that found
their way into the Midrash Konen, the Ma'aseh Gan
'Eden, and similar midrashim of the geonic time
given in Jellinek's "B. H." ii. 28, 52 et seq. ; iii. 131,
191 et seq. ; but these descriptions can be traced
through early Christian back to Jewish sources (see
"J. Q. R." vii. 595). Mystics like Nahmanides in
his "Sha'ar ha-Gemul" adopted these views; Mai-
monides and his school rejected them. The whole
eschatological system of retribution through para-
dise and hell never assumed in Judaism the char-
acter of a dogmatic belief, and Talmudic Judaism
boldly transferred the scene of the heavenly judg-
ment from the hereafter to the annual Day of Judg-
ment at the beginning of the year (R. H. 16b;
see New-Yeak). For Samaritan eschatology see
S.\.makitans.
The account above deals only with the early stages
of the Jewish eschatological views, roughly speak-
ing, down to the end of the Talmudic period. For
later development and present-day views see Im-
mortality ; Judgment, Day of ; Messiah ; Resur-
rection.
Bibliography: Schiirer, Gexch. 3d ed., ii. 49(>-r);")6, where an
extensive literature is given; Bousset, Die Religmn dee Jti-
denthumsim NeutestamentUchen Zeitalter, pp. 199-273. 473-
483, Berlin, 1903 ; Charles, A Critical HisUmj of the Doctrine
of a Future Life in Israel, in Judaism, and in ChrUi-
iianity, London, 1899; E. Booklen, Die Verwandtschaft der
JUdisch-Chrigtlicheu mit der Parsischi-7i Eschatologic,
Gottingen, 1903; h&stings. Diet. Bible ; Cheyne and Black,
Encyc. Bihl.; Hambiirper, R. B. T. s.v. Auferstehung,
^ViederheJebung der Todten, Mc'^sianixche Zeit, Parndies
Zukunftvmahl; Weber, Smtem der Altm/naaogalen Pales-
(inischen Theologie, pp. 323-386, Leipslc, 1880 (to be consulted
with caution); Drummond, Jexvish Mesxiah, London, 1877;
P. Volz, Jildiache Eschatologie von Daniel his Akiha,
Letpslc, 1903.
K.
219
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Eschatolog'y
£sdras
ESCTJDERO, LORENCO (ABRAHAM IS-
RAEL; identical with ABRAHAM GHER-
PEREGRINO) : Spanish pot-t ; boiu at Cordova
of Marauo parentage ; died about 1683. After his
conversion to Judaism he lived in great poverty in
Amsterdam. The Marquis of Caracena, then gov-
ernor of Flanders, urged him to return to Christian-
ity ; but, though tempted by the offer of rewards,
he steadily refused. After his death he was eulo-
gized by De Barrios in verse. Escudero is supposed
to be the author of the apologetic "Fortaleza del
Judaismo, y Confusion del Estraiio " (without date
or place), of which a poor Italian translation enti-
tled "Fortezza dell' Ebraismo, e Confusione dell'
Estraneo," and a Hebrew translation by Mordecai
(Judges V. 15; I Sam. xxxi. 7; I Chron. x. T). The
central portion of the plain was called "the valley
of Jezreel" (Josh. xvii. 16; Judges vi. 33; Hosea i.
5); and the portion on the south, "the valley of
Megiddon" (Zech. xii. 11; II Chron. xxxv. 22).
Its present name is Marj ibn-'Amr. The plain is
bounded on the south by the mountains of Samaria,
on the north by the Galilean mountain, and on the east
by a low mountain-range. To the westward it is 25
meters above sea-level; to the eastward, 120 meters.
E. G. H. F. BU.
ESDRAS, BOOKS OF: Apocryphal writings
ascribed to Ezra.
I Esdras : The apocryphal Book of Ezra, or, bet-
Plain of Esdraklo.v, with Mount Tabor i.\ the Distance.
(From a photograph by BoDtils.)
Luzzatto of Triest, under the title "Zeriah Bet-El,"
are extant in manuscript.
Bibliography: G. B. Rossi, Bililwtheca Judaica Antichris-
tiana, pp. 58, 138; De Rossi-HamberRer, Hlsfomc/ies B'Or-
terbuch der JtUL iSchi-iftsteller, p. 259 ; Barrios. Relacion de.
losPoetas, pp.54 et seq.; Steinschneider, JJebr. Bi7)l. iv. 48,
V. 131 ; Kavserllng, Sephardim, p. 2.t5; idem, Bibl.Eap.-Port .-
Jud. p. 4.T ; Neubauer, Cat. liixll. Hebr. MSS. No. 2173, 1.
D. M. K.
ESDRAELON (ESRELON) : The later Greek
form of the more ancient Jezreel, and the name of
the boundary-plain between the Ephruimitic and the
Galilean mountain-chain (Judith i. 8). It is fre-
quently spoken of as " the great valley " — a desig-
nation, however, not supported by Old Testament
usage. In the latter it is referred to as " the land
of the valley" (Josh. xvii. 16) or as "the valley"
ter, the "Greek Ezra" (Esdrae Gra'cus), is called
EaSpag a' in the Greek Bible, where it precedes the
canonical books of Ezra and Nehemiah,
Name and. counted there as one book, "Eadpag ji'.
Versions. In the old Latin Bible it was I Esdras ;
but after Jerome, with his strong
preference for the books preserved in Hebrew, had
rejected it from the canon, it was usually counted
as III Esdras: then either Ezra was I Esdras, and
Nehemiah was II E.sdras; or Ezra-Nehemiah was
I Esdras, and ch. 1, 2 of the Apocalypse of Esdras was
II Esdras. Sometimes, however, the Greek Ezra
is called II Esdras: then Ezra-Nehemiah is I Esdras,
and the Apocalyps^ is III Esdras: or, as in the
Ethiopic Bible, the h.i'er is I Esdras, and Ezra-
Nehemiah follows as lU Esdras or as III and IV
Esdras
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
220
Esdras. In the English Bible it is again entitled
I Esdras ; here the canonical book retained the Hebrew
form of its name, that is, "Ezra," whereas the two
apocryphal books, ascribed to the same author, re-
ceived the title in its Grseco-Latin form — "Esdras."
In the ancient Latin version I Esdras has the sub-
scription "De Templi Restitutione." Two Latin
translations were made : the " Vetus Latina " (Itala)
and the "Vulgate." In Syriac the book is found
only in the Syro-Hexaplar of Paul, Bishop of Telia
(616-617), not in the older Peshitta. There are also
an Ethiopic and an Armenian version.
I Esdras may be divided into ten sections, eight
of which are only excerpts from certain parts of
II Chronicles, Ezra, and Nehemiah :
Ch. i. = II Chronicles xxxv. 1-xxxvi. 21 : Josiah's Passover ;
his death ; the history of Judah until the destruc-
Contents. tion of Jerusalem. Verses 21-22, however, are
not found elsewhere, and are probably an ad-
dition of the compiler.
Ch. il. 1-14 ~ Ezra i. 1-11 : The edict of Cyrus.
Ch. ii. 15-26= Ezra Iv. 7-24: First attempt to rebuild the
Temple ; intervention of the Samaritans.
Ch. iii. 1-v. 3 = : Dispute of the three courtiers of Darius :
the victory of the Jewish youth ; decree of Darius that the Jews
might return and that the Temple and the cult be restored.
Ch. v. 4-6 = : Beginning of a list of exiles who returned
with Zerubbabel.
Ch. v. 7-73 = Ezra ii. 1-iv. 5 : List of exiles who returned with
Zerubbabel ; work on the Temple ; its interruption until the
time of Darius.
Ch. vl.-vii. 9= Ezra V. 1-vi. 18: Correspondence between Si-
sinnes and Darius concemlug the building of the Temple ; com-
pletion of the Temple.
Ch. vii. 10-15 = Ezra vi. 19-22 : Celebration of the Passover by
the Jews "of the Captivity" and those who had stayed in the
land.
Ch. viii. 1-ix. 36 = Ezra vii. 1-x. 44 : Return of exiles under
Ezra ; abolishment of mixed marriages.
Ch. ix. 37-55 = Nehemiah vii. 73-viii. 12 : The reading of the
Law.
It is evident that the compiler of I Esdras chose
as a center the tale, commonly called the " Dispute
of the Courtiers," of the contest among the three
pages in waiting, and that he grouped around this
tale several extracts from other writings with the in-
tention of giving it its historical environment. The
results of the contest were the restoration of the
Temple and of the Jewish cult and community;
and this is, indeed, the leading thought of the entire
work. The events that led to the destruction of the
Temple are therefore given as an introduction, and
after the restoration the doings of Ezra, of vital im-
portance in the development of Judaism, are related.
There are several discrepancies to be
Purpose noted in the different parts of the book,
and Origin, first of all in the central episode. The
story is that three pages of King
Darius each agree to write "one thing that shall be
strongest," and to let King Dai'ius bestow great
honor on him whose answer is the wisest. The first
writes "Wine"; the second, "The king"; the third,
"Women, but above all things truth." Then thej''
explain their answers. The third, the victor, asks
as reward the return of the Jews. His name is given
as "Zerubbabel" in iv. 13 and as "Joakim the son of
Zerubbabel " in v. 5. The latter seems to be the
original ; at the same time the second part of his
answer, "truth," seems to be an addition to the
original story. Other discrepancies are found in the
style of the different pieces and in their relative
value for the textual criticism of the originals.
These facts indicate that several individuals must
have worked over the book before it received its
final shape.
Since Josephus (c. 100 c.e.) made use of I Esdras,
and since it is very likely that I Esdras iii. 1-2 was
influenced by Esth. i. 1-4, the book was probably
compiled in the last century before, or the first century
of, the common era. It has no historical value, bo-
cause it bears every mark of a true midrash, in which
the facts are warped to suit the pur-
Date pose of the writer. The extracts from
and Value, other Old Testament writings, how-
ever, are valuable as witnesses of an
old Greek translation of the Hebi'ew text, made prob-
ably before the Septuagint (see Guthe in Kautzsch,
"Die Apokryphen,"i. letseq., and P.Volzin Cheyne
and Black, "Encyc. Bibl." ii. 1488-94).
II Esdras : One of the most interesting and the
profoundest of all Jewish and Christian apocalypses
is known in the Latin Bible as "Esdrae Quartus."
The number, which usually is a part of the name,
depends upon the method of counting the canonical
Ezra-Nehemiah and the Greek Ezra:
Name and the book is called " I Esdras " in the
Versions. Ethiopic, "II Esdras" in late Latin
manuscripts and in the English Bible,
" III Esdras " in other Latin manuscripts. There is
another division in Latin Bibles, separating II Es-
dras into three parts, each with a separate number,
of which the main part is "Esdrae Quartus." Greek
Fathers quote it as 'EoSpng 6 Ylpo(pTjT7jg or 'ATroKdlvipK;
"Eafipa. The most common modern name is " IV Es-
dras." Only ch. iii.-xiv., the original apocalypse,
will be discussed here. The original was written in
Hebrew, and then translated into Greek, as has been
proved by Wellhausen, Charles, and finally by Gun-
kel; but neither the Hebrew nor the Greek text is
extant. From the Greek were made the following
versions: (1) Latin, which is the basis of the English
version; (2) Syriac; (3) Ethiopic; (4) and (5) two
independent Arabic versions; (6) Georgian. The
Armenian version differs from the others; whether
it was made from the Syriac or from a separate
Greek version has not yet been decided. The book
consists of seven sections, called "vi-
Contents. sions" since Volkmar (1868): 1-8 treat
chiefly of religious problems; 4-6 con-
sist mainly of eschatological visions ; 7 tells of Ezra's
literary activity and death.
First Vision (iii. -v. 19): " In the thirtieth year of the ruin of
the city, I, Salathiel (the same is Esdras), was in Babylon, and
lay troubled upon my bed." Esdras asks God how the misery
of Israel can be in keeping with divine justice. The answer is
given by Uriel : God's ways are unsearchable and the human
mind can not grasp them ; everything will be clear after the end
of this world, which will soon come to pass. Then follows a
description of the signs of the end.
Second Vision (v. 20-vi. 34): Why is Israel delivered up to the
heathen ? The answer is similar to that of the first vision :
Man can not solve the problem ; the end is near. Its signs are
again revealed.
Third Vision (vi. 35-ix. 25): Why does Israel not yet possess
the world ? Answer : The present state is a necessary transition
to the future. Then follows a detailed description of the fate
of the wicked and the righteous : few will be saved ; Esdras in-
tercedes for the sinners, but he is told that nobody will escape
his destiny.
Fourth Vision (ix. 26-x. 59): Vision of a woman mourning for
her only son. Esdras pictures to her the desolation of Zion.
221
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Esdras
Suddenly instead of the woman appears a "bullded city."
Uriel explains that the woman represents Zion.
Fifth Vision (xi., xli.) : Vision of an eagle which has three
heads, twelve wings, and eight smaller wings "over against
them," and which is rebuked by a lion and then burned. The
eagle is the fourth kingdom seen by Daniel; the lion is the
Messiah.
Sixth Vision (xlii.) : Vision of a man who burns the multitude
assaulting him, and then calls to himself another but peaceable
multitude. The man is the Messiali ; the tlrst inultitude are the
sinners ; the second are the Lost Tribes of Israel.
Seventh Vision (xlv.): The restoration of the Scripture. Es-
dras, sitting under an oak, is addressed by God from a bush and
told that he will soon be translated ; he asks for the restoration
of the Law ; God commands him to procure many tablets and
Ave scribes and to tell the people to stay away for forty days.
Esdras does so, and, after having received a wondrous drink,
begins to dictate. Within forty days are written ninety-four
books, of which twenty-four, that is, the Hebrew canon, are to
be published and seventy to be kept secret. Esdras' translation
is found only in the Oriental versions ; in the Latin it has been
omitted, because ch. xv. and xvi. were added.
The author wishes to console himself and his peo-
ple in a time of great distress. He struggles with
the deepest religious problems: What
Purpose is the origin of suffering and evil in
and Origin, the world? Why does the All-Right-
eous create men, who He knows will
suffer, or will do wrong and therefore perish? Why
does man possess the mind or reason which makes
him conscious of these things? Throughout these
struggles the writer strives for assurance of salva-
tion. Since this is reserved for some future era, he
lays much stress on eschatology. Confidence in
Ood's justice underlies all his thoughts.
It has been questioned whether this apocalypse
was written by one author. Kalisch (" Das 4te Buch
Esra," GOttingen, 1889) tried to prove that it had five
different sources ; his views Avere largely adopted by
De Faye and by Charles. But Gunkel rightly calls
attention to the fact that the uniform character of
the book forbids its reduction to several independ-
ent documents, and that its repetitions and slight
discrepancies are a peculiarity of the author in deal-
ing with his complicated problems. Closely akin
to this book is the Apocalypse of Baruch ; it has
therefore been suggested that both might have been
written by the same author. Although this can
not be proved, it is at least certain that both books
were composed at about the same time, and that one
of them was the prototype of the other.
Since the eagle in the fifth vision undoubtedly
represents the Roman empire, most critics agree-
ing that the three heads are Vespa-
Date and sian, Titus, and Domitian, and since
Value. the destruction of Jerusalem so oft-
en referred to must be that by Titus
in 70 C.E., the book must date from the last quarter
of the first century — probably between 90 and 96.
II Esdras is a characteristic example of the growth
of apocalyptic literature: the misery of the present
world leads to the seeking of compensation in the
happiness of the future. But besides its historical
value, this book is an unusually important monu-
ment of religious literature for all times.
Additions: Cb. i. and ii. of the Latin and English
versions are of Christian origin (probably second
century), and describe the rejection of the Jews in
favor of the Christians. Ch. xv. and xvi., which
predict wars and rebuke sinners at length, may be
Jewish; they date from the middle or the second
half of the third century.
Bibliography : Schiirer, Oesc7i. 3d ed., 1898, ill. 246-2.50 (con-
tains a complete bibliography); Gunkel, in Kautzsch, Apokry-
pheiuetc, 11. 3.31 et seq.; idem, DerPrcrphet Et>ra, Tubingen,
1900.
G. E. Li.
The author of II Esdras, also called " the prophet
Ezra," in all probability, as shown by Wellhausen
("Skizzen und Vorarbeiten," vi. 248 et seq.), had be-
fore him the Baruch Apocalypse, written under the
impression of the destruction of the Temple by the
Romans; he reasons more on the general problems
of sin and death and on the design of God regarding
the few that are saved than on the national prob-
lem of Israel's adversity and the prosperity of the
heathen. In the controversy between the schools
of Shammai and of Hillel as to whether, in view of
the prevalence of sin and sorrow, " it is good for man
to be born or not " (N-|3J N^^O KiaJK' m^h mn ; 'Er.
13b), the author sides with the pessimistic view of
the former : " It would be better if we were not born
than to live in sin and suffer, not knowing why "
(II Esd. iv. 12). In the same light he views the
final judgment of man by God. "The germ of evil
sown into man by the first sin of Adam " iQ^ noniT
t^nJ; 'Ab. Zarah 22b) results in sin and damnation
for the great majority of men — indeed, there is no
man who sinneth not — and makes the human des-
tiny far inferior to that of the animal, which needs
not fear the great Judgment Day (II Esd. vii. ^5
[R. V. 115] et seq. ; viii. 35). The author recognizes
God's love for all His creatures (viii. 47), in spite of
the fact that greater is the number of those lost than
of those that are saved (ix. 15), but for him the end
must be unrelenting justice and no mercy nor any in-
tercession of saints; truth and righteousness alone
must prevail (vii. 32-38 [R. V. 102-115]). Here, too,
the author differs from tlie Hillelites, who teach that
those souls whose merits and demerits are equal are
saved by the mercy of God (who inclines the scale
toward mercy), and sides with the Shammaites, who
claim that these souls must go through the purga-
tory of the Gehenna fire before they are admitted into
paradise (Sanh. xiii. 4; R. H. 16b). In another re-
spect II Esdras (see iii. 30, ix. 22 et seq., xii. 34, xiii. 37
et seq.) manifests the spirit of the Shammaites in find-
ing Messianic salvation granted only to the remnant
of Israel, for it is Eliezer the Shammaite who, in
opposition to the school of Hillel, denies all Gentiles
a share in the world to come (Tosef., Sanh. xiii. 2).
In regard to the return of the Lost Ten Tribes, also,
the author shares the view of Eliezer, in opposition
to Akiba, that they will take part in the Messianic
redemption, and the very name for the land of the
exile of the Ten Tribes used by him, but obviously
misunderstood by the translator, rests on the same
Biblical words referred to by the two tannaim —
" erez aheret " (another land ; Deut. xxix. 27 ; II Esd.
xiii. 45, comp. 40; Sanh. x. 3; see Arzaueth).
The length of the Messianic time is stated to be 400
years (II Esd. vii. 28: this is based upon Ps. xc. 15
and Gen. x. 13; comp. Sanh. 99a; Pe.sik. R. 1). Espe-
cially significant is the apocalyptic sign for the Mes-
sianic era taken from Gen. xxv. 26, R. V. ("His
[Jacob's] liand had hold on Esau's heel "), which is
interpreted : "The end of Esau's [Edom's] reign will
Eshcol
£sseu
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
222
form the beginning of Jacob's — that is, tlie Mes-
siah's— kingdom" (II Esd. vi. 8, exactly as in Gen.
R. Ixiii. ; comp. Yalk.). For other parallels to rab-
binical sayings of the first century see Rosenthal,
"Vier Apocryphische Biicher aus der Zeit und
Schule R. Akiba's," 1885, pp. 39-71. Rosenthal also
thinks {lb. p. 40) that the five sages who during forty
days put into writing the twenty-four canonical and
seventy hidden (apocryphal) books dictated by Ezra
under inspiration (II Esd. xiv. 23-46) reflect the
work of the five disciples of Johanan ben Zakkai.
K.
ESHCOL: 1. Brother of Mamre and Aner. The
three brothers were princes of the Amorites and
allies of Abraham (Gen. xiv. 13), whom they sup-
ported in his expedition against Chedorlaomer.
2. The valley from which the spies cut the large
cluster of grapes which they carried back to the
camp of the Israelites as a proof of the fruitfulness
of the land (Num. xiii. 2Zet8eq., xxxii. 9; Dcut. i.
24). They entered this valley from Hebron ; hence
it lay in the vicinity of that city. To the north
of the present El-Khalil there is a Wadi Tuffah,
which is still famous for the size of its grapes. In
Num. xiii. 24 it is said that at the time of Moses the
valley received the name of " Eshcol " (grape) be-
cause of the cluster which had been found there.
Bibliography : Edward Robinson, Biblical Researches, i. 356.
E. G. H. E. K.
ESHTAOL (fjisntJ'X) : A town in the lowland
of Judah (Josh. xv. 33), generally mentioned in
company with Zoreah, both towns being allotted to
Dan out of Judah (ib. xix. 41). Between these two
towns there was a place named "Mahaneh-dan,"
the scene of Samson's boyhood and place where the
" Spirit of the Lord began to move him at times "
(Judges xiii. 25).
E. G. H. M. Sel.
ESHTEMOA or ESHTEMOH (VIODK^N,
nODK'X) : A town in Judah allotted with its suburbs
to the priests (Josh. xv. 50, xxi. 14; I Chron. vi. 57).
David frequented this place during his wanderings
(I Sam. XXX. 28). It is known now under the name
of " Al-Samu'a," a village seven miles south of He-
bron (Robinson, "Biblical Researches in Palestine,"
ii. 626). In I Chron. iv. 17 "Eshtemoa" may be
taken either for a person or for a city, but in verse
19 "Eshtemoa" certainly represents a person.
E. G. H. M. Sel.
ESEELES, BEBNHABD, FBEIHEBB
VON : Austrian financier ; born at Vienna 1753 ;
died at Hietzing, near Vienna, Aug. 7, 1839. He
was the posthumous son of Rabbi Berush Eskeles.
At an early age he went to Amsterdam, where he en-
tered a commercial house, of which he became man-
ager at the age of seventeen, but met with reverses,
and lost the fortune which his father had left to him.
In 1774 he returned to Vienna, married a daughter
of Daniel Itzig of Berlin, and entered the business
of his brother-in-law Arnstein, with whom he estab-
lished the banking-house of Arnstein and Eskeles,
which came into great prominence during the Con-
gress of Vienna. At this period Eskeles' di-awing-
room was the rendezvous of men like Talleyrand,
Wellington, Castlereagh, Hardenberg, and Theodor
Korner. Eskeles' name is often mentioned in the
memoirs of this time. His advice in financial mat-
ters was frequently sought by Joseph II., and later
by Francis I., who entrusted him with many im-
portant missions to foreign countries. He was sent
to Paris and Holland in 1810. Eskeles was the
founder of the Austrian National Bank (1816), and
its director for twenty-three years. He was raised
to the Austrian nobility in 1797, and became a knight
in 1811, and a baron in 1822.
Eskeles took little interest in Jewish affairs, and
during his short term of oflice as representative of
the Jewish community new and vexatious meas-
ures were introduced which, according to his con-
temporaries, he might have prevented had he used
his influence. He was, however, the founder of
several charitable institutions. He also established,
with an initial contribution of 50,000 gulden, a
fund for the maintenance of poor students. His
two children, a son, Denis, Baron de Eskeles (1803-
1876), and a daughter, Countess of Wimpfen, de-
serted the Jewish faith. Denis, who succeeded his
father in the management of the banking-house,
married Wilhelmina, Baroness Brentano-Cimaroli,
and by his death the male line of the house became
extinct.
Bibliography : Wurzbach, Biographisches Lexikon des Kai-
serthums Oesterreich, s.v.; Allg. Zeit. des Jud. 1839, p.
578; AUq. Deutsche Biog. v. 375; Meyers Konversations-
Lexikon.
8.
D.
ESKELES, GABRIEL BEN JTJDAH LOW
(also known as Gabriel of Cracow): Polish rabbi ;
died at Nikolsburg, Moravia, Feb. 2, 1718. At first
daj'yan at Cracow during the rabbinate of his
teacher, Aaron Samuel Kaidanower (1671), Eskeles
successively occupied the rabbinates of Olkusz, gov-
ernment of Kielce, Russian Poland (1684-93), Prague
(1693-98). Metz (1698-1709), and Nikolsburg (1709-
1718). In 1698 Eskeles was a delegate of the dis-
trict of Posen to the Council of Four Lands held
at the fair of Jaroslav. Considered one of the great-
est Talmudists of his time, he was widely consulted
on halakic questions, but nearly all his respousa have
been lost. One is quoted by Meir Eisenstadt in the
"Panim Me'irot" (ii., No. 47). He is also quoted
by Jacob b. Benjamin ha-Kohen in his " Shab Ya-
'akob." The following works of Gabriel Eskeles
still exist in manuscript: a commentary on Abot;
novelise on Shabbat ; homilies.
Bibliography : Memoiren der GlUckcl von Hameln. ed.
Kaufmann. pp. 321-3:33; Dembitzer, Kelilat YnfiA- 35; 11. 68,
1^-131 ; Kaufmann, Samson Wertheimer, p. 90; Friedlander,
Kore ha-Dorot, p. 24 ; Feuch twang, in Kaufmann Oedenk'
btich, p. 376 ; Eisen.stadt- Wiener, Da'at ^edoshim, p. 104.
K.
M. Sel.
ESKELES, ISSACHAB BEBTJSH : Austrian
rabbi and financier; born 1692; died at Vienna March
2, 1753; son of Gabriel Eskeles and son-in-law of
Samson Wertheimer. Eskeles called himself "Is-
sachar Berush of Cracow," although at the time of
his birth his father was rabbi of Olkusz, Poland.
Owing to his family connections, Eskeles was named
rabbi of Kremsir in 1710, when he was only eighteen
years old ; but as he had to absent himself very
often on account of business affairs, he had in his
223
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Eshcol
Essen
house a substitute rabbi to attend to rabbinical mat-
ters. According to Frankl-Griin (" Geschichte der
Juden in Kremsier," i. 84), Eskeles was rabbi at
Kremsir from 1710 till 1719, but it seems from other
sources that he settled at Vienna before 1719. In
1718 he succeeded his father in the rabbinate of
Nikolsburg, without, however, leaving his residence
in Vienna, where he was associated with his father-
in-law in the banking business. At the same time
Eskeles was the " Landesrabbiner " of Moravia. On
Sept. 10, 1725, the emperor, Charles VI., named Es-
keles " Landesrabbiner" of Hungary, a position which
had been occupied by his deceased father-in-law.
Like the latter, Eskeles presided at Vienna over the
rabbinical court of Hungary, which dealt with the
affairs of the Hungarian communities. In a deci-
sion of 1725 Eskeles signed himself " Issachar Bar of
Cracow, rabbi of Nikolsburg and Moravia, Eisen-
stadt, and Hungary, and of the district of Mayence."
From Vienna Eskeles could work to greater advan-
tage in behalf of the Jews. When in 1742 a heavy
tax was imposed upon the Jews of Moravia, the
exertions of Eskeles and Baron d'Aguilar secured its
annulment by Maria Theresa. Another decree, ban-
ishing in midwinter of 1744-45 the Jews of Bohemia
and Moravia because they were suspected of Prussian
leanings, was revoked upon the intercession of Es-
keles and D'Aguilar. Eskeles has written novelise
on Berakot, as yet unpublished.
Bibliography: Gratz, Gesch. 3d ed., x. 354-355; Dembitzer,
Kelilat TnU, 1. 69; Eisenstadt-Wiener. Da'at Kedoshim, p.
112; Friediander, Kore ha-Dorot, p. 26; David Kaufmann,
Samson Wertheinier, pp. 90 et seq.
K. M. Sel.
ESPERANSSA, GABRIEL: Rabbi at Safed
contemporaneously with Jonathan Galante (middle
of seventeenth century). It is supposed that he was
received as an orphan into the house of a woman
by the name of Esperanssa, who adopted and ed-
ucated him, and whose name he assumed. Espe-
ranssa was contentious and dogmatic; but was a
thorough Talmudic scholar. He left several works,
but only the collectanea to the Pentateuch have been
published (Hayyim Abulafia, " 'EzHayyim," p. 137).
Bibliography : Azulal, Shem ha-Gedolim, s.v. ; Conforte,
^ore ha-Dorot, end.
K. L. Grtj.
ESPERANZA ISRAELITICA. See Period-
icals.
ESPERIAL, SAMUEL: Physician of Cor-
dova, Spain. He was the author of a treatise on
surgery written for David of Jaen in Spanish, but
with Hebrew characters (Vatican MS. No. 372).
Bibliography : Wolf, Bibl. Hebr. i.. No. 2047 ; Stelnschneider.
Jewloh Literature, p. 200; KayserllnK, Bibl. Esp.-Port.-
Jud. p. 43.
G. M. Sel.
ESPINA, ALFONSO D'. See Spina, Al-
fonso DE.
ESPINOSA, BENJAMIN: Italian Hebraist
of the eighteenth century ; member of the rabbin-
ical college at Leghorn. He published " Peri 'Ez Ha-
dar," a ritual for certain special occasions, Leghorn,
1762, and "Yefeh Nof," containing seven didactic
poems and notes on the chapter in Maimonides'
code dealing with the implements of the sanctu-
ary, printed in Isaac Nunes Vaez's "Siah Yizhak,"
ib. 1766. A number of Espinosa's works exist in
manuscript; as, for instance, "Bet ha-'Ezer," a
supercommeutary on Abraham ibu Ezra's commen-
tary on the Prophets and the Hagiographa ; " Kon-
teros Yosod ha-Kiyyum," in which he defends the
traditional text of the prayers, Altona, 1768 (see
Benjacob, "Ozar ha-Sefarim," No. 503); "Sha'ar
Binyamin," rimed rules for the writing of a Penta-
teuch-scroll, with a commentary ; and " Neweh Ko-
desh," on the architecture of the Second Temple.
Bibliography: Mortara, Indice ; Heubauer, Cat. Bndl. Hebr.
MSS. p. 805.
D.
ESRA, ELIA: Philanthropist; born at Cal-
cutta Feb. 20, 1830 ; son of David Joseph Esra ; died
March, 1886. He was one of the wealthiest mer-
chants of India, and was generally known as " the
Indian Rothschild." It is said that he distributed
10,000 francs among the poor every month. Esra
built a large synagogue at Calcutta, which he called,
after his father, "Magen Dawid." In his will he
directed that a large Talmudic school should be built
at Jerusalem at the expense of his estate.
Bibliography : Ha-Asif, ill. 118.
J. M. K.
ESSEK : Fortified town in Austria-Hungary, the
second largest of Croatia; situated on the Drave.
It has a population of about 18,000, including
1,600 Jews. Jews did not enjoy the privilege of
residence there until 1792. They were, however,
permitted a stay of twenty-four hours for the pur-
pose of trading. As traders they appeared as early
as 1757, although decried as " pestilent and mangy
sheep." In 1830 their number, though small, never-
theless permitted of religious services; and in 1847
they organized a regular congregation, with a mem-
bership of forty and a budget of 663 gulden. In
1856 Dr. Samuel Spitzer became the first rabbi and
the principal of the congregational school, which had
obtained the privilege of incorporation ; in 1864 the
hebra kaddisha was established; and in 1867, the
membership having increased to one hundred and
sixty, a temple was built. The successor of Dr.
Spitzer was Dr. Armand Kaminka (1897-99); the
present rabbi of Essek is Dr. Simon Ungar of the
Budapest Seminary.
D. G. S.
ESSEN : City in the Prussian district of Dlissel-
dorf with 96,000 inhabitants (1895), including about
2,000 Jews. It developed from the convent of
Essen, and until 1802 was under the rule of its ab-
besses. The presence of Jews in Essen is first shown
in a document of Jan. 18, 1291, in which the chap-
ter at Essen cedes the right of an esquire of the dis-
trict to Count Eberhard von der Mark, the abbess
Bertha II. expressly reserving for herself all rights
over the Jews. This reservation was regularly made
on the selection of new esquires. In 1349-50, under
the abbess Katharina, the Jews were expelled from
the city under the charge of poisoning the wells.
In 1399 Jews are found on the tax-list, one of whom
was the first Jew to be admitted (1491) to the neigh-
boring city of Steele.
As the city's struggle against chapter and abbess
became more and more successful, the Jews fell
under the jurisdiction of the city, which gradually
XSssenes
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
224
reduced the number of Jewish residents to two
families, who were subjected, especially in regard
to money matters, to severe and irksome ordinances.
Of the Jewish families excluded from Essen, some
went to Emden, some to Halberstadt and Deutz.
The "Memorbuch" of Halberstadt mentions Elijah
the Great ha-Levi of Essen (d. 1690). He was the
father of E. Moses Kosmann and Judah Lehmann,
and grandfather of the court agent Behrend Lehmann
at Halberstadt. At the beginning of the eighteenth
century there were seven Jewish houses in the city ;
at its end there were twelve. The last patent of
protection, covering nineteen Jewish families in
Essen, and drawn up (1803) by King Frederick
William III. of Prussia, to whose kingdom the dis-
trict was annexed in 1802, is in the possession of
Isaac Hirschland, president of the community. At
present (1903) the community numbers 350 families
{about 2,000 individuals). "
In the Middle Ages the community worshiped in
a hall. The first synagogue was dedicated in 1808
during the French occupation. Synagogue and
school prospered under the labors (1841-94) of the
able pedagogue and preacher Moses Blumenfeld,
the author of several school-books. Blumenfeld
rendered valuable service to the city, and on his
death (1902) his name was given to one of the city's
streets (comp. "Allg. Zeit. des Jud." 1902, p. 88).
Since 1894 Dr. Samuel has acted as rabbi. The in-
stitutions include a Jewish elementary school, a
literary club, a library, an I.O.B.B. lodge, and three
charitable societies. There are also nine charitable
foundations, including the Karl Beer Fund for the
promotion of handicrafts.
Bibliography: F. Ph. Funcke, Oesch. des Filrstenthumsund
der Stadt Essen, Elberfeld, 1851.
D. S. Sam.
ESSENES (etymology doubtful ; probably two
words are represented, "Essenes" and "Esssei":
Essenes = 'ECTcr;?^^ = D'tyijv, "the modest," "hum-
ble, " or " pious ones " [so Josephus in most passages ;
Pliny, in "Historia Naturalis," v. 17, used "Es-
seni "j ; Esssei = 'Eaaalov = D'KtJTI , the " silent " or
" reticent " ones [so at times Josephus, and regularly
Philo ; 'Oaaaloi in Epiphanius] ; others, with less
probability, derive the name from the Syriac " hase,"
pi. " hasen, " status emphaticus " hasaya " [the pious ;
this explanation was suggested by De Sacy and
adopted by Ewald, Wellhausen, and Schiirer] ; from
the Aramaic " asa " [= " to heal, " or " the healers " ; so
Bellermann, Herzfeld, Geiger] ; from " 'asah " [=" to
do," with reference to the " 'anshema'aseh," the men
of wondrous practise: Suk. v. 4]; from a town by
the obscure name of "Essa" [Josephus, "Ant."
xiii. 15, § 3; so HilgenfeldJ ; from"haza" [="to
see," "seers"]; from "'ashen" [="strong"]; from
" seha " [rz " to bathe " ; so GraetzJ) :
A branch of the Pharisees who conformed to the
most rigid rules of Levitical purity while aspiring
to the highest degree of holiness. They lived solely
by the work of their hands and in a state of com-
munism, devoted their time to study and devotion
and to the practise of benevolence, and refrained as
far as feasible from conjugal intercourse and sensual
pleasures, in order to be initiated into the highest
mysteries of heaven and cause the expected Messianic
time to come ('Ab. Zarah ix. 15; Luke ii. 25, 88;
xxiii. 51). The strangest reports were spread about
this mysterious class of Jews. Pliny (I.e.), speaking
of the Essene community in the neighborhood of the
Dead Sea, calls it the marvel of the world, and char-
acterizes it as a race continuing its existence for thou-
sands of centuries witliout either wives and children,
or money for support, and with only the palm-trees
for companions in its retreat from the storms of the
world. Philo,who calls the Essenes *' the holy ones,"
after the Greek batoi, says in one place (as quoted by
Eusebius, "Praeparatio Evangehca," viii. 11) that
ten thousand of them had been initiated by Moses
into the mysteries of the sect, which, consisting of
men of advanced years having neither wives nor
children, practised the virtues of love and holiness
and inhabited many cities and villages of Judea,
living in communism as tillers of the soil or as me-
chanics according to common rules of simplicity and
abstinence. In another passage (" Quod Omnis Pro-
bus Liber, " 12 eiseg.) he speaks of only four thousand
Essenes, who lived as farmers and artisans apart from
the cities and in a perfect state of communism, and
who condemned slavery, avoided sacrifice, abstained
from swearing, strove for holiness, and were partic-
ularly scrupulous regarding the Sabbath, which day
was devoted to the reading and allegorical interpre-
tation of the Law. Josephus (" Ant." xv. 10, § 4;
xviii. 1, § 5; "B. J." ii. 8, §§ 2-13) describes them
partly as a philosophical school like the Pythago-
reans, and mystifies the reader by representing them
as a kind of monastic order with semi-pagan rites.
Accordingly, the strangest theories have been ad-
vanced by non-Jewish writers, men like Zeller,
Hilgenfeld, and Schiirer, who found in Essenism a
mixture of Jewish and pagan ideas and customs, ta-
king it for granted that a class of Jews of this kind
could have existed for centuries without leaving a
trace in rabbinical literature, and, besides, ignoring
the fact that Josephus describes the Pharisees and
Sadducees also as philosophical schools after Greek
models.
The Essenes, as they appear in history, were far
from being either philosophers or recluses. They
were, says Josephus ("Ant." xv. 10,
The §§ 4-5), regarded bj^ King Herod as
Essenes in endowed with higher powers, and
History, their principle of avoiding taking an
oath was not infringed upon. Herod's
favor was due to the fact that Menahem, one of
their number who, excelling in virtuous conduct and
preaching righteousness, piety, and love for human-
ity, possessed the divine gift of prophecy, had pre-
dicted Herod's rise to royalty. Whether Sameas and
Pollio, the leaders of the academy (Abot i. 11), who
also refused to take an oath ("Ant." xv. 10, § 4),
belonged to the Essenes, is not clear. Menahem Is
known in rabbinical literature as a predecessor of
Shaminai (Hag. ii. 2). Of Judas the Essene Jose-
phus relates ("Ant." xiii. 11, § 2; "B. J." i. 3, § 5)
that he once sat in the Temple surrounded by his
disciples, whom he initiated into the (apocalyptic)
art of foretelling the future, when Antigonus passed
by. Judas prophesied a sudden death for him, and
after a while his prediction came true, like every
225
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
B«s«a«B
other one he made. A similar prophecy is ascribed
to Simon the Essene (" Ant. " xvii. 13, § 3 ; " B. J. " ii.
7, § 4), who is possibly identical with the Simon in
Luke ii. 25. Add to these John the Essene, a general
in the time of the Roman war (" B. J. " ii. 20, § 4 ; iii.
2, § 1), and it becomes clear that the Essenes, or at
least many of them, were men of intense patriotic
sentiment; it is probable that from their ranks
emanated much of the apocalyptic literature. Of
one only, by the name of Banus (probably one of the
Banna'im; see below), does Josephus ("Vita," § 2)
relate that he led the life of a hermit and ascetic,
maintaining by frequent ablutions a high state of
holiness; he probably, liowever, had other imita-
tors besides Josephus.
To arrive at a better understanding of the Essenes,
the start must be made from the Hasidim of the
pre-Maccabean time (I Mace. ii. 42, vii. 13; II Mace.
xiv. 6), of whom both the Pharisees
Origin of and the Essenes are offshoots (Well-
the hausen, " Israelitische und Jildische
Essenes. Geschichte," 1894, p. 261). Such
"overrighteous ones," who would not
bring voluntary sacrifices nor take an oath, are al-
luded to in Eccl. vii. 16, ix. 2, while the avoidance
of marriage by the pious seems to be alluded to in
Wisdom iii. 13-iv. 1 (comp. II Mace. xiv. 6, 25).
The avoidance of swearing became also to a certain
extent a Pharisaic rule based on Ex. xx. 7 (see Targ. ;
Ned. 8b; Yer. Ned. iii. 38a; Sotah 9b; Ber. 33a);
and the rule (Matt. v. 37, R. V.) "Let your speech
be. Yea, yea; Nay, nay," is also Talmudic (B. M.
49a). As a matter of fact, the line of distinction
between Pharisees (" Perushim ") and Essenes was
never very clearly drawn (see " Perishut " in Abot
iii. 13; Sotah iii. 4, xi. 15; Tosef., Sotah, xv. 11;
Toh. iv. 13; B. B. 60b).
Thus the more than six thousand Pharisees who
claimed to be " highly favored by God " and to pos-
sess by " divine inspiration foreknowledge of things
to come," and who refused to take an oath of fealty
to Herod, predicting his downfall while promising
children to Bagoas, the eunuch (Josephus, "Ant."
xvii. 2, § 4), were scarcely different from those else-
where called "Essenes" ("Ant." xv. 10, § 4).
About the organization of the ancient Hasidim
little is known; but each Pharisee had to be ad-
mitted by certain rites to membership
" The in the association ("heber " or "habu-
Ancient rah"), receiving the name "haber"
Hasidim." therefrom (Dem. ii. 3; Tosef., Dem. ii.
2; Bek. 30b); these fraternities assem-
bled not only for worship but also for meals (see Gei-
ger, " Urschrif t, " pp. 122 et seq. ). The Pharisaic and
Essene system of organization appears to have been
at the outset the same, a fact which implies a com-
mon origin. A remnant of this Hasidean brother-
hood seems to have been the " Nekiyye ba-Da'at "
(the pure-minded) of Jerusalem, who would neither
sit at the table or in court, nor sign a document, with
persons not of their own circle (Git. ix. 8; Sanh.
23a). They paid special reverence to the scroll of the
Law in the synagogue (Masseket Soferim, xiv. 14).
But tradition has preserved certain peculiarities
of these "ancient Hasidim " (Hasidim ha-rishonim)
which cast some light on their mode of life. (1) In
v.— 15
order to render their prayer a real communion with
God as their Father in heaven, they spent an hour
ia silent meditation before offering their morning
prayer (comp. Didascalia in Jew. Encyc. iv. 593),
and neither the duty of saluting the king nor immi-
nent peril, as, for instance, from a serpent close to
their heels, could cause them to interrupt their prayer
(Ber. V. 1; Tosef., Ber. iii. 20; Ber. 32b). (2) They
were so scrupulous regarding the observance of the
Sabbath that they refrained from sexual intercourse
on all days of the week except Wednesday, lest in
accordance with their singular calculation of the time
of pregnancy the birth of a child might take place
on a Sabbath and thereby cause the violation of the
sacred day (Niddah 38a, b). Peril of life could not
induce them to wage even a war of defense on
the Sabbath (I Mace. ii. 38 ; II Mace. v. 25, xv. 4).
(3) They guarded against the very possibility of be-
ing the indirect cause of injuring their fellow men
through carelessness (Tosef., B. K. ii. 6; B. K. 30a,
50b; comp. Git. 7a: "No injury is ever caused
through the righteous "). (4) Their scrupulousness
concerning "zizit" (Men. 40b) is probably only one
instance of their strict observance of all the com-
mandments. (5) Through their solicitude to avoid
sin (whence also their name " Yire'e Het " = " fearers
of sin": Shek. vi. 6; Sotah ix. 15) they had no oc-
casion for bringing sin-offerings, wherefore, accord-
ing to R. Judah, they made Nazarite vows to en-
able them to bring offerings of their own ; according
to R. Simeon, however, they refrained from bringing
such offerings, as they were understood by them to be
"an atoning sacrifice for the sins committed against
the soul" (Num. vi. 11, Hebr.). This aversion to
the Nazarite vow seems to have been the prevailing
attitude, as it was shared by Simeon the Just (Sifre,
Num. 22; Ned. 10a). (6) Especially rigorous were
they in regard to Levitical purity ('Eduy. viii. 4;
Tosef., Oh. iv. 6, 13, where " zekenim ha-rishonim "
[the ancient elders] is only another name for " Hasi-
dim ha-rishonim"; see Weiss, "Dor,"i. 110); they
were particularly careful that women in the men-
strual state should keep apart from the household,
perform no household duties, and avoid attractive-
ness in appearance (Sifra, Mezora', end; Shab. 64b;
Ab. R. N. ii. ; "Baraita di Masseket Niddah." in
Horowitz's "Uralte Tosefta," 1890, i. 5, p. 16, iii.
2-3, pp. 24-27; "Pithe Niddah," pp. 54 et seq.).
(7) This, however, forms only part of the general
Hasidean rule, which was to observe the same degree
of Levitical purity as did the priest who partook of
the holy things of the Temple ("okel hullin be-to-
horatkodesh ") ; and there were three or four degrees
of holiness, of which the Pharisees, or "haberim,"
observed only the first, the Hasidim the higher ones
(Hag. ii. 6-7; Tosef., Dem. ii. 2). The reason for
the observance of such a high degree of holiness
must be sought in the fact that Levites who ate
"ma'aser " and priests who ate "terumah " and por-
tions of the various sacrifices had their meals in
common with the rest of the people and had to be
guarded against defilement.
Upon the observance of the highest state of purity
and holiness depended also the granting of the priv-
ilege, accorded only to the elite of the priesthood,
of being initiated into the mysteries of the Holy
EsseneB
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
226
Name and otter secret lore. " The Name of twelve
letters [see God, Names op] was, after the Hellen-
istic apostasy, entrusted only to the
The ' Zenu'im ' [the chaste ones] among the
♦'Zenu'im," priesthood. The Name of forty- two
or Chaste letters was entrusted only to the ' Za-
Ones. nua' ' and ' 'Anaw ' [the chaste and
the humble] after they had passed the
zenith of life and had given assurance of preserving
it [the Name] in perfect purity " (If id. 71a ; Eccl. R.
iii. 11 ; Yer. Yoma 39d, 40a). There was a twofold
principle underlying the necessity of perfect chas-
tity. When God revealed Himself to Moses and to
the people of Israel they were enjoined to abstain
from sexual intercourse, Israel for the time being,
Moses for all time (Shab. 87a; Pes. 87b; Ab. R. N.
ii., based upon Ex. xix. 15; Deut. v. 27). Those
in hope of a divine revelation consequently refrained
from sexual intercourse as well as other impurity
(comp. Rev. xiv. 4 ; Enoch, Ixxxiii. 2).
But there was another test of chastity which
seems to have been the chief reason for the name of
"Zenu'im" (Essenes): the Law (Deut. xxiii. 10-15;
comp. Targ. Yer. ad loc. ; Sifra, 258 ; Ber. 62a) en-
joins modesty in regard to the covering of the body
lest the Shekinah be driven away by immodest ex-
posure. Prayer was prohibited in presence of the
nude (Ber. 24b), and according to the Book of Jubi-
lees (iii. 30 et seq., vii. 20) it was a law given to
Adam and Noah "not to uncover as the Gentiles do."
The chastity ("zeni'ut") shown in this respect by
King Saul and his daughter (I Sam. xxiv. 4; II Sam.
vi. 16) gave him and his household a place in rab-
binical tradition as typical Essenes, who would also
observe the law of holiness regarding diet and dis-
tribute their wealth among the (poor) people (Pesik.
R. 15; Midr. Teh. vii.; Num. R. xi. ; Meg. 13b;
Yer. Suk. v. 55c). Every devotee of the Law was
expected to be a "zanua' " (Abot vi. 1 ; Niddah 12a;
Derek Erez Zuta vii.), such as were Rachel and
Esther (Meg. 13b), Hanan ha-Nehba, the grandson
of Onias the Saint (Ta'an. 23b), R. Akiba (Ket. 62b),
and Judah ha-Nasi (Yer. Meg. i. 72b).
The name "Zenu'im," which is replaced or ex-
plained by " Kesherim " (the blameless ones), another
name for " Hasidim " (Yer. Dem. vi. 25d ; Yer. Yoma
iii. 40d; comp. Tosef., Dem. vi. 6; Ned. i. 1; Ab.
R. N., text B, iv., ed. Schechter, p. 14, and comp.
note on p. 15), is also applied, like the term " Hasli-
sha'im " (see below), to those reticent ones to whom
a secret may be confided; e.f/., secret scrolls con-
cerning the Temple service were entrusted to them
(Tosef., Yoma, ii. 7; Yer. Yoma iii. 41a). It is not
always clear, however, whether the name denotes
the Essenes or simply the modest ones
The "Hash- as a class (see Dem. vi. 6; Ma'as. Sh.
sha'im," v. 1 ; Tosef., Sotah, xiii. 6). R. Simeon
or Secret the Zanua', who, while disregarding
Ones. the Temple practise, shows a certain
contempt for the high priest (Tosef.,
Kelim B. B. i. 6), appears on all accounts to have
been an Essene priest. In an old Armenian version of
Philo's dictionary of Hebrew names "Essene " is ex-
plained as "in silence" (Philo, "De Vita Contempla
tiva," ed. Conybeare, p. 247). The suggestion may
be made that the Hashsha'ira, " the observers of se-
crecy," designated also " the sin-fearing, " who " had a
chamber called ' lishkat hashslia'im ' in the Temple,
where they deposited their gifts of charity in secret
and whence the respectable poor drew their support
in secrecy," were the same Essenes from whom "the
Gate of the Essenes " in Jerusalem (Josephus, " B.
J." V. 42) derived its name. According to Tosef.,
Shek. ii. 16, these Hashslia'im had in every city a
special chamber for their charity-box, so that money
could be deposited and taken in secret, a thing that
could only be done upon the presumption that the
money belonged to all alike ; and since each city had
its administrative body consisting of its best men,
who took charge of the collection and distribution
of charity (Tosef., Peah, iv. 6, 16; Tosef., Sheb. vii.
9), it is probable that these Essene-like ascetics
(" Zenu'im " : Tosef. , Peah, ii. 18) followed their own
traditions, though they probably also came under
the general administration.
The explanation of 'Eaaaioi given by Suidas (=
■&euprjTiKot = "men of contemplation," or "mystics")
suggests that the name "Hashsha'im," like "Ze-
nu'im," denoted men entrusted with the secret lore
"given in a whisper" (Hag. 13a, 14a; Gen. R. iii.).
Another name denoting a class of pietistic extre-
mists showing points of contact with the Essenes is
" Watikim " (men of firm principles: Sifre, Num. 92;
Sifre, Deut. 13; Mliller, "Masseket Soferim," 1878,
p. 257, who identifies them with the Essenes). " The
Watikim so arranged their morning prayer as to fin-
ish the Shema' exactly at the time when the sun
came out in radiance " (Ber. 9b ; comp.
''"Watikim" Wisdom xvi. 28; II Mace. x. 28); the
and ' ' Holy Watikim closed the prayers " Malkiy-
Ones." yot, Shofarot" and "Zikronot" with
Pentateuch verses (R. H. 32b). As
holders of ancient traditions, they placed their own
custom above the universally accepted halakah (Mas-
seket Soferim, xiv. 18). Still another name which
deserves special consideration is " kadosh " (saint).
" Such is he called who sanctifies himself, like the
'Nazir, ' by abstaining from enjoyments otherwise
permissible" (Ta'an. 11a, b; Yeb. 20a; comp. Nid-
dah 12a, where the word "Zanu'a " is used instead).
Menahem bar Simai is called "son of the saints"
because he would not even look at a coin which bore
the image of the emperor or pass under the shadow
of an idol (Pes. 104a; Yer. 'Ab. Zarah iii. 42c, 43b,
where he is called "Nahum, the most holy one").
In Jerusalem there existed down to the second cen-
tury a community by the name of " The Holy Con-
gregation " ('Edah Kedoshah, or Kehala Kaddisha),
which insisted on each member practising a trade
and devoting a third part of the day to the study of
the Torah, a third to devotion, and a third to work:
probably a survival of an Essene community (Eccl.
R. ix. 9; Ber. 9b; Tamid 27b).
In this connection mention should also be made of
the "Banna'im" (builders: Mik. ix. 6; Shab. 114a),
whom Frankel (" Zeitschrift f tlr die ReligiSsen In-
teressen des Judenthums," 1846, p. 455) with great
plausibility identifies with the Essenes. Originally
applied to a gild of builders belonging to the Essenes
(see "Polistes," below; comp. Abba Kolon "the
Builder," Cant. R. i. 6; Abba Joseph the Builder,
Ex. R. xiii. ; the " Bannai " [Builder] in the company
227
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Essenes
of R. Gamaliel, who was to hide in tlie walls the
Targum to Job, Tosef., Shab. xiii. 2), their name was
given the meaning of builders of a higher world and
afterward applied to the Rabbis in general (Ber. 64a ;
Yer. Yoma iii. 40; Yer. Git. vli. 48d; Ex. R. xxiii. ;
comp. oiKodofieiv in the "Didascalia" and the Pauline
writings). Each hermit built his house himself;
hence the names "Banus" and "Bannaia," adopted
by men whose type was the legendary Benaiah ben
Jehoiada (Ber. 4a; 18a, b).
The name of the Hasidim of olden times is coupled
with that of the " Anshe Ma'aseh " (men of miracu-
lous deeds: Suk. v. 4), a fact which shows that both
belonged to the same class. Hanina b. Dosa is
called the last of " the miracle-workers " (Sotah ix.
15). But the Hasidim remained won-
Survivals der-workers in Talmudic times (Ber.
of the 18b; Lev. R. xxii., where "ish ha-
Hasidim. ma'aseh " is translated into " 'askan
bi-debarim "). In fact, there existed
books containing miraculous stories of the Hasidim,
a considerable number of which were adopted by
Talmud and Midrash (see Eccl. R. ix. 10), just as
there existed secret scrolls (" Megillot Setarim ") and
ethical rules of the Hasidim ("Mishnat" or "Me-
gillat Hasidim ") to which allusion is made here and
there in the Talmud (Yer. Ter. viii. 46b; Yer. Ber.
ix. 14d), and the contents of which have found their
way into the pseudepi graphic and early non-Tal-
mudic literature (see Horowitz, I.e.). The Hasidim
mentioned in old baraitas like Temurah (15b) and
Sotah (ix. 15), and in Abot de-Rabbi Natan (viii.),
who spent their time on works of charity, are none
other but survivals of the ancient Hasidim. The
Hasidean traditions may, therefore, be traced from
Jose ben Joezer, the martyr-saint and Hasidean
leader of the Maccabean time (II Mace. xiv. 37,
where "Razis" is a corruption of the name; Gen.
R. Ixv. ; Frankel, in "Monatsschrlft," Iii. 406 [1851],
down to Phinehas b. Jair, who was both in theoiy
and in practise a disciple of the Hasidim (see Bacher,
"Ag. Tan." ii. 594 et seq.); indeed, there Is little in
Essene life which does not find its explanation in
rabbinical sources.
Viewed in the light of these facts, the description
of the Essenes given by Philo and Josephus will be
better understood and appreciated. Philo describes
them in his earlier work, "Quod Omnis Probus
Liber," § 12, as
"a number of men living in Syria and Palestine, over 4,000
accordinK to my judgment, called ' Essael ' (6<rtoi) from their
salntliness (though not exactly after the meaning of the Greek
language), they being eminently worshipers of God (flcpoireuTai
eeoO)— not In the sense that they sacrifice
Philo's Ac- living animals (like the priests In the Temple),
count of the but that they are anxious to keep their minds
Essenes. in a priestly state of holiness. They prefer to
live in villages and avoid cities on account of
the habitual wickedness of those who Inhabit them, knowing, as
they do, that just as foul air breeds disease, so there Is danger of
contracting an incurable disease of the soul from such bad asso-
ciations" (comp. Ex. B. xll. : " Moses should not pray to God In
acity full of Idols").
This fear of contamination is given a different
meaning by Philo ("De Vita Contemplativa," ed.
Conybeare, pp. 53, 206). Speaking of their occupa-
tions, he says :
" Some cultivate the soil, others pursue peaceful arts, tolling
only for the provision of their necessary wants. . . . Among all
men they alone are without money and without possession, but
nevertheless they are the richest of all, because to have few
wants and live frugally they regard as riches [comp. Abot Iv.
1 : *' Who Is rich ? Who Is contented with hla lot ? for It 1«
said : ' When thou eatest the labor of thy hands happy art thou
and It shall be well with thee'" (P8.cxxvlii.2, Hebr.)]. Among
them there is no maker of any weapon of war [comp. Shab. vl.
4], nor any trader, whether huckster or dealer tn large mer-
chandise on land or sea, nor do they follow any occupation that
leads to Injustice or to covetousness " (comp. Kid. Iv. 11 ; Tosef.,
Kid. V. 15 ; Masseket Soferim, xv. 10 ; all these passages being
evidences of the same spirit pervading the Pharisaic schools) .
" There Is not a single slave among them, but they are all
free, serving one another ; they condemn masters, not only as
representing a principle of unrighteousness in opposition to that
of equality, but as personifications of wickedness in that they
violate the law of nature which made us all brethren, created
alike." [This means that, so far from keeping slaves, the Es-
senes, or Hasidim, made It their special object to ransom cap-
tives (see Ab. R. N. viii.; Ta'an. 22a; Hul. 7a); they emanci-
pated slaves and taught them the Law, which says : " They are
My servants (Lev. zxv. 42), but should not be servants of serv-
ants, and should not wear the yoke of fiesh and blood " (Targ.
Yer. to Deut. xxiii. 16-17 ; Tosef., B. ?:. vli. 5; Kid. 22b.; comp.
38b ; Abot i. 10 : " Hate mastership I " Abot vl. 2. In regard to
their practise of mutual service comp. Kid. 32b ; Luke xxii. 27;
John xiii. 1 et seq.).']
"Of natural philosophy . . . they study only that which per-
tains to the existence of God and the beginning of all things
["ma'ase merkabah" and "ma'aseh be-
Study of reshit "], otherwise they devote all their atten-
the Law. tlon to ethics, using as Instructors the laws of
their fathers, which, without the outpouring of
the divine spirit ["ruah ha-kodesh"], the human mind could
not have devised. These are especially taught on the seventh
day, when, abstaining from all other work, they assemble in their
holy places, called synagogues, sitting in rows according to their
age, the younger ones listening with becoming attention at the
feet of the elder ones. One takes up the holy book and reads
aloud, another one from among the most learned comes forward
and explains whatever may not have been understood— for, fol-
lowing their ancient traditions, they obtain their philosophy by
means of allegorical interpretation " (comp. the name of " dore-
she reshumot," allegorists, B. K. 82a).
"Thus they are taught piety, holiness, righteousness, the mode
of governing private and social affairs, and the knowledge of what
is conducive or harmful or Indifferent to truth, so that they may
choose the one and shun the other, their main rule and maxim
being a threefold one : love of God, love of manhood (self-
control), and love of man. Of the love of Grod they exhibit
myriads of examples. Inasmuch as they strive for a continued,
uninterrupted life of purity and holiness ; they avoid swearing
and falsehood, and they declare that God causes only good and
no evil whatsoever [comp. " kol de-'abed Rahmana le-tab 'abed,"
"What the Merciful does Is for the good," Ber. 6()b]. Their
love of virtue Is proved by their freedom from love of money, of
high station, and of pleasure, by their temperance and endur-
ance, by their having few wants, by their simplicity and mild
temper, by their lack of pride, by their obedience to the Law,
by their equanimity, and the like. Of their love for man they
give proof by their good will and pleasant conduct toward all
alike [comp. Abot 1. 15, ill. 12: "Receive every man with a
pleasant countenance 1 "1, and by their fellowship, which Is
beautiful beyond description.
" No one possesses a house absolutely his own, one which does
not at the same time belong to all ; for In addition to living to-
gether In companies ["haburot"] their houses
Their Com- are open also to their adherents coming from
munisza. otherquarters [comp. Abot i. 5]. They have one
storehouse for all, and the same diet ; their gar-
ments belong to all in common, and their meals are taken In com-
mon. . . . Whatever they receive for their wages after having
worked the whole day they do not keep as their own, but bring
Into the common treasury for the use of all ; nor do they neglect
the sick who are unable to contribute their share, as they have in
their treasury ample means to offer relief to those In need.
[One of the two Hasidean and rabbinical terms for renouncing
all claim to one's property in order to deliver It over to common
use is "hefker" (declaring a thing ownerless: comp. Sanh. 49a);
Joab, as the type of an Essene, made his bouse like the wilder-
ness—that Is, ownerless and free from the very possibility of
tempting men to theft and sexual sin— and he supported the
poor of the city with the most delicate food. Similarly. King
Saul declared his whole property free for use In warfare (Val^.,
Essenes
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
228
Sam. 1. 138). The other term Is "hekdesh nekasim" (conse-
crating one's goods ; comp. 'Ar. vl. ; Pes. 57 : " The owners of
the mulberry-trees consecrated them to God"; Ta'an. 24a:
" Eliezer of Beeroth consecrated to charity the money in-
tended for his daughter's dowry, saying to his daughter, ' Thou
Shalt have no more claim upon it than any of the poor in
Israel.' " Jose ben Joezer, because he had an unworthy son,
consecrated his goods to God (B. B. 133b) . Formerly men used
to take all they had and give it to the poor (Luke xvili. 22); in
Usha the rabbis decreed that no one should give away more
than the nfth part of his property (' Ar. 28a ; Tosef., 'Ar. iv. 23 ;
Ket. .50a).] They pay respect and honor to, and bestow care
upon, their elders, acting toward them as children act toward
their parents, and supporting them unstintingly by their handi-
work and in other ways " (comp. B. M. il. 11).
Not even the most cruel tyrants, continues Pliilo,
possibly with reference to King Herod, have ever
been able to bring any charge against these holy Es-
senes, but all have been compelled to regard them as
truly free men. In Philo's larger work on the Jews,
of which only fragments have been preserved in
Eusebius' " Praeparatio Evangelica " (viii.), the fol-
lowing description of the Essenes is given (ch. xi.):
" Our lawgiver, Moses, has trained thousands of disciples
who, on account of their saintliness, I believe, are honored with
the name of Essael. They inhabit many cities and villages, and
large and populous quarters of Judea. Their institution is not
based upon family connections, which are not matters of free
choice, but upon zeal for virtue and philanthropy. There exist
no new-bom children, and no youth just entering upon manhood,
in the Essene community, since the dispositions of such youth
are unstable on account of their immaturity ; but all are full-
grown men, already declining toward old age
The Essenes [compare the meaning of " zekenim "], such as
Advanced are no longer carried away by the vehemence
in Years, of the flesh nor under the Influence of their
passions, but are in the enjoyment of genuine
and true liberty." [This is the most essential feature of Esse-
nism (comp. Pliny, I.e.), and has been almost entirely ignored.
The divine command to marry and preserve the race is sup-
posed to have* been obeyed by every young man before the close
of his twentieth year (Kid. 29b), and he has not discharged his
obligation until he has been the father of at least two children,
two sons according to the Shammaites, according to the Hillelites
one son and one daughter (Yeb. vi. 6). It was therefore only
at an advanced age that it was considered an act of extreme
piety *' to leave children, wife, and friends behind in order to
lead a life of contemplation in solitude " (Philo, "DeVitaCon-
templativa," ed. Conybeare, p. 49).]
Philo says here also that the Essenes have no property of
their own, not house or slave or farm, nor flocks and herds,
but hold In common everything they have or obtain ; that
they either pursue agriculture, or tend to their sheep and
cattle, or beehives, or practise some handicraft. Their earn-
ings, he continues, are given in charge of an elected steward,
who at once buys the food for their meals and whatever is
necessary for life. Every day they have their meals together;
they are contented with the same food because they love frugal-
ity and despise extravagance as a disease of body and soul.
They also have their dress in common, a thick cloak in winter
and a light mantle in summer, each one being allowed to take
whichever he chooses. If any one be sick, he is cured by med-
clnes from the common stock, receiving the care of all. Old
men, if they happen to be childless, end their lives as if they were
blessed with many and well-trained children, and in the most
happy state, being treated with a respect which springs from
spontaneous attachment rather than from kinship. Especially do
they reject that which would dissolve their fellowship, namely,
marriage, while they practise continence in an eminent degree,
for no one of the Esssei takes a wife. (What follows regarding
the character of women probably reflects the misogynous
opinion of the writer, not of the Essenes.) Philo concludes with
a repetition of the remark that mighty kings have admired
and venerated these men and conferred honors upon them.
In his " Antiquities " (xiii. 5, § 9), Josephus speaks
of the Essenes as a sect which had existed in the time
of the Maccabees, contemporaneously with the
Pharisees and Sadducees, and which teaches that all
things are determined by destiny (elfiapfievri), and that
nothing befalls men which has not been foreordained ;
whereas the Pharisees make allowance for free will,
and the Sadducees deny destiny altogether. This
refers not so much to the more or less
Josephus' absolute belief in Providence (comp.
Account, the saying, "Ha-kol bi-yede shama-
yim " = " All is in the hands of God " :
Ket. 30a; Ber. 33b; and R. Akiba's words, "Every-
thing is fofeseen, but free will is given," Abot iii.
15), which the Sadducees scarcely denied, as to the
foreknowledge of future (political) events, which
the Essenes claimed (comp. Josephus, "Ant." xv. 10,
§ 5, et al.) ; the Pharisees were more discreet, and the
Sadducees treated such prophecies with contempt.
In "Ant." xviii. 1, §§ 2-6, Josephus dwells at some-
what greater length on what he assumes to be the
three Jewish philosophical schools. Of the Essenes
he says that they ascribe all things to God, that
they teach the immortality of the soul, and that the
reward of righteousness must be fought for (by mar-
tyrdom).
" When they send gifts to the Temple they do not offer sacri-
fices because of the different degrees of purity and holiness
they claim ; therefore they keep themselves away from the com-
mon court of the Temple and bring offerings [vegetable sacri-
fices] of their own. [This certainly does not mean that they
opposed animal sacrifices on principle, but that they brought no
free-will offerings for reasons of their own ; see above.] They
excel all men in conduct, and devote themselves altogether to
agriculture. Especially admirable is their practise of righteous-
ness, which, while the like may have existed among Greeks or
barbarians for a little while, has been kept up by them from
ancient days [« iraAaioO]; for they, like the Spartans of old and
others, have still all things in common, and a rich man has no
more enjoyment of his property than he who never possessed
anything. There are about 4,0(X) men who live in such manner.
They neither marry, nor do they desire to keep slaves, as they
think the latter practise leads to injustice [comp. Abot ii. 7:
"Many men servants, much theft"], and the former brings
about quarrels ; but, living to themselves, they serve one an-
other. They elect good men ["tobim"; see Charity] to re-
ceive the wages of their labor and the produce of the soil, and
priests for the preparation [consecration?] of their bread and
meat. They all live alike, and resemble most the [holy unmar-
ried] city-builders [pioneers] of the Dacae " (comp. Strabo,vii. 33) .
The chief information concerning the Essenes is
given in " De Bello Judaico " (ii. 8, §§ 2-13). But
this account seems to have been taken from another
source and worked over, as the description preserved
in Hippolytus' "Refutatio Omnium Hseresium"
(ix. 18-28) presents a version which, unobserved by
most writers, differs in many respects from that
of Josephus, being far more genuinely Jewish, and
showing greater accuracy in detail and none of
the coloring peculiar to Josephus (see Duncker'a
ed., G5ttingen, 1859, p. 472, note). The following
is Hippolytus' version, the variations in Josephus'
being indicated by brackets with the letter J:
" There are three divisions [sects, alpeTia-rai.— "philosophical
divisions"] among them [the Jews] : the Pharisees and Saddu-
cees and the Essenes. These [last] practise a holier life [J: "Jews
by birth "] in their display of love for one
another and of continence [comp. Zenulm,
above] ; they abstain from every act of covet-
ousness [J : " pleasure as an evil deed "] and
avoid even listening to conversation concern-
ing such things. They renounce matrimony,
but they take children of strangers [J : " when
they are still easily instructed " ; but comp. Abraham in Gen.
U. xxxlx. and Targ. Yer. to Deut. xxiii. 17], and treat them as
their own, training them in their own customs ; but they do not
forbid them to marry. Women, however, though they may be in-
clined to join the same mode of life, they do not admit, as they
by no means place the same confidence in women." [This refers
Hippolytus'
Description
Compared
with
Josephus'.
229
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Esaenes
simply to questions of Levitical holiness and to the mysteries en-
trusted to the Zenu'lin. Josephus has this sentence twisted into
the following crude and unjust statement: "They do not forbid
marriage and the procreation of children, but they guard against
the lasciviousness of women and are persuaded that none pre-
serves fidelity to one man."] Hippolytus continues: "They
despise wealth, and do not refrain from sharing what they have
with those in need ; in fact, none among them is richer than the
other ; for the law wnth them is that whosoever joins their order
must sell his possessions and hand the proceeds over to the coin-
mon stock [Josephus adds here remarks of his own] ; and the
head [archon] distributes it to all according to their need. The
overseers who provide for the common wants are elected by
them. They do not use oil, as they regard anointing as a de-
filement, probably from fear that the oil was not kept perfectly
pure. They always dress in white garments " (comp. Eccl. ix. 8) .
" They have no special city of their own, but live in large num-
bers In different cities, and if any of their followers comes from
a strange city everything they have is considered as belonging
equally to the newcomer; those who were
Esseues never known before are received as kindred
Travel and friends." "They traverse their native
Constantly, land [as "sheluhemizwah," sent for charita-
ble and for politico-religious purposes (comp.
Apostles)], and whenever they go on a journey they carry
nothing except arms. They find in every city an administrator
of the collective funds, who procures clothing and food for them.
"Their way of dressing and their general appearance are
decorous ; but they possess neither two cloaks nor two pairs of
shoes [comp. Matt. x. 10, and parallels]. At early dawn
they rise for devotion and prayer, and speak not a word to one
another until they have praised God in hymns. [Josephus
has here : " They speak not a word about profane things before
the rising of the sun, but they offer up the prayers they have re-
ceived from their fathers facing the sun as if praying for its
rising " ; comp. the Watikim, above.] Thus they go forth, each
to his work until the fifth hour, when, having
Prayers put on linen aprons to conceal their privy parts
and [comp. Ber. 24b], they bathe In cold water and
Heals. then proceed to breakfast, none being allowed
to enter the house who does not share their
view or mode of holiness [see Hag. lii. 2]. Then, having taken
their seats in order amid silence, each takes a sufficient portion
of bread and some additional food ; but none eats before the
benediction has been offered by the priest, who also recites the
grace after the meal ; both at the beginning and at the close they
praise God In hymns [comp. Ber. 21a, 35a, in regard to the saying
of grace; see M. K. 28b; Meg. 28a]. After this they lay aside
their sacred linen garments used at their meal, put on their
working garments left in the vestibule, and betake themselves
to their labor until the evening, when they take supper.
" There are no loud noise and vociferation heard [at their as-
sembly] ; they speak gently and allow tue discourse to flow with
grace and dignity, so that the stillness within impresses out-
siders with a sense of mystery. They observe sobriety and mod-
eration in eating and drinking. All pay due attention to the
president, and whatever he orders they obey as law. Especial
zeal they manifest in offering sympathy and succor to those in
distress. [Josephus here adds a sentence of his own.] Above
all they refrain from all forms of passion and anger as lead-
ing to mischief [see Anger]. No one among them swears ; a
word is regarded as more binding than an oath ; and one who
swears is despised as one not deserving of confidence. They are
very solicitous in regard to the reading aloud of the Law and the
Prophets [J : " the writings of the ancient
The La'w ones"], and of any [apocalyptic?] scroll they
and the have of the Faithful Ones [comp. Tan.,
Prophets. 'Wa'era, ed. Buber, 4; and Eschatology ;
J : "and they select such as are for the salva-
tion of soul and body"]. Especially do they investigate the
magic powers of plants and stones [comp. Wisdom vii. 20].
" To those desirous of becoming disciples they do not deliver
their traditions [napaSoaei.^ ; comp. Cabala] until they have
tested them. Accordingly they set before the aspirant the same
kind of food, outside the main hall, where he remains for a
whole year after having received a mattock, a linen apron, and a
white robe [as symbols of Zeni'ut (Essene, modesty and pu-
rity)]. After having given proof of self-control during this period,
he is advanced and his ablutions are of a higher degree of purity,
but he is not allowed to partake of the common meal until, after
a trial of two years more, he has proved worthy to be ad-
mitted into membership. Then oaths of an awful character are
administered to him : he swears to treat with reverence what-
ever is related to the Divinity [compare Blasphemy and God.
Names of] ; that he will observe righteousness toward men and
do injustice to none ; that he will not hate any one who has done
him injustice, but will pray for his enemies [comp. Matt. v. 45] ;
that he will always side with the righteous in their contests
[this proves, if anything, that the Essenes were fighters
rather than mere quietists] ; that he will show fidelity to all and
particularly to those in authority ; for, say they, without God's
decree no one is given power to rule [this refers not to political
rulers, as has been claimed with reference to "Ant." xv. 10.
8 5, but to the head of the order, whose election is not made
without the guidance of the Holy Spirit (Slfre, Num.92: Ber.
58a, " min ha-shamayim " ; comp. Didascalia, in Jew. Encvc.
Iv. 590a)]; that, if himself appointed to be ruler, he will not
abuse his authority, nor refuse to submit to the rules, nor orna-
ment himself beyond what is customary ; that he will ever love
the truth and reprove him who is guilty of falsehood ; that he
will neither steal nor pollute his conscience for the sake of
gain ; that he will neither conceal anything from the members
of the order nor disclose anything to outsiders, even though tor-
tured to death. He swears besides that he will not communicate
the doctrines differently from the manner in which he received
them himself. [Here Josephus has two conditions omitted
in Hippolytus: "that he will abstain from robbery" (which in
this connection probably refers to the teachings which might be
misappropriated and claimed for oneself; the rabbinical rule,
which has, therefore, an Essene coloring, being: " He who tells
a saying in the name of the author brings about the redemption,"
Abot vi. 6, based upon Esth. 11. 22), and "that he will with
equal care guard the books of the order and the names of the
angels." These oaths give a better Insight Into the character
and purpose of the Essene brotherhood than any other descrip-
tion, as will be shown later.]
" If any of them be condemned for any transgression, he is
expelled from the order, and at times such a one dies a terrible
death [see Anathema and Didascalia], for
Discipline of inasmuch as he is bound by the oaths taken
the Essene and by the rites adopted, he is no longer at
Order. liberty to partake of the food in use among
others. [Here Josephus: "and being com-
pelled to eat herbs, he famishes his body until he perishes."]
Occasionally they pity those exposed to dissolution ["sham-
mata"], considering punishment unto death sulflcient. In their
judicial decisions they are most accurate and just; they do not
pass sentence unless in company with one hundred persons
[this is possibly a combination of the higher court of seventy-
two (" Sanhedrin gedolah ") and the smaller court of twenty-
three (" Sanhedrin ketannah ")], and what has been decided by
them is unalterable. After God they pay the highest homage
to the legislator (that is to say, to the Law of Moses), and if
any one is guUty of blasphemy against him (that is, against the
Law), he is punished [J: "with death"]. They are taught to
obey the, rulers and elders [J : " the majority"].
" When ten [the number necessary to constitute a holy con-
gregation; see Mi.NYAN] sit together deliberating, no one speaks
without permission of the rest [the rabbinical term is "re-
shut"; see the Talmudic dictionaries, s.v. nisri]. They avoid
spitting into the midst of them [Hag. 5a; Ber. 62b], or toward
the right [the right hand is used for swearing; see Brand,
"Mandaische Religion," 1889, pp. 110 et seq.]. " In regard to
Sabbath rest they are more scrupulous than other Jews, for they
not only prepare their meals one day previously
Sabbath so as not to touch fire, but they do not even re-
Observance, move any utensil [rabbinical term, "muk-
zah "; see Sabbath] ; nor do they turn aside
to ease nature. Some do not even rise from their couch [comp.
Targ. to Ex. xvi. 27; Mek., Beshallah, 5], while on other days
they observe the law In Deut. xxiii. 13. After the easement
they wash themselves, considering the excrement as defiling
[comp. Yoma lii. 3]. They are divided, according to their de-
gree of holy exercises. Into four classes."
The following paragraph, omitted by Josephus,
is alluded to, in his "Ant." xviii. 1, § 6, as "the
philosophy of a fourth sect founded by Judas the
Galilean."
" For some of these observe a still more rigid practise In not
handling or looking at a coin which has an image, nor will thev
even enter a city at the gates of which statues
Zealots Also are erected [comp. Yer. 'Ab. Zarah 111. 42b.
Essenes. 43b]. others again threaten to slay any Gen-
tile taking part in a discnurse about God and
His Law If he refuses to be circumcised [comp. Saah. 59a, Ex.
Essenes
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
230
R. xxxiil.]. From this they were called ' Zealots ' [Kanna'im]
by soma ' Slcarii ' by others. Others again will call no one
lord except God, even though they be tortured or killed.
" Those of a lower degree of discipline [holiness] are so infe-
rior to those of the higher degree that the latter at once undergo
ablution when touched by the former, as if touched by a Gen-
tile. [These are the four degrees of holiness mentioned in Hag.
11. 7 : " ma'aser," " terumah," " tohorot," and " hattat," or
"most holy." Another division is: Koivofiia = u>Di3 = "com-
mon meal," and " tohorot " = " priestly meal " : Tosef., Dem. ii.
11.] Most of them enjoy longevity ; many attain an age of more
than a hundred years. They declare that this is owing to their ex-
treme piety [comp. the frequent question : " Ba-meh ha'arakta
yamim " (By what merit didst thou attain an old age ? Meg. 27b,
28)] and to their constant exercise of self-control. [Josephus
instead rationalizes.] They despise death, rejoicing when they
can flnisb their course with a good conscience ; they willingly
undergo torment or death rather than speak ill of the Law or
eat what has been offered to an idol." (Here Josephus adds
something of his own experience in the Roman war.)
This leads Hippolytus, exactly as in the " Didas-
calia," to the Essene view of the future life, a view
in which, contrary to the romantic picture given by
Josephus, the belief in Resurrection is accentuated :
" Particularly firm is their doctrine of Resurrection ; they
believe that the flesh will rise again and then be immortal like
the soul, which, they say, when separated from the body, entere
a place of fragrant air and radiant light, there
Essene Vie'w to enjoy rest -a place called by the Greeks who
of Resur- heard [of this doctrine] the ' Isles of the Blest.'
rectiou. But," continues the writer, in a passage char-
acteristically omitted by Josephus, "there are
other doctrines besides, which many Greeks have appropriated
and given out as tbeir own opinions. For their disciplinary life
[d<rict)<ri9] in connection with the things divine Is of greater an-
tiquity than that of any other nation, so that it can be shown
that all those who made assertions concerning God and Creation
derived their principles from no other source than the Jewish
legislation. [This refers to the Hasidean " ma'aseh merkabah "
and " ma'aseh bereshit."] Among those who borrowed from the
Essenes were especially Pythagoras andthe Stoics ; their disciples
while returning from Egypt did likewise [this casts new light on
Josephus' identification of the Essenes with the Pythagoreans :
" Ant." XV. 10, § 4] ; for they affirm that there will be a Judg-
ment Day and a burning up of the world, and that the wicked
will be eternally punished.
" Also prophecy and the foretelling of future events are prac-
tised by them. [Josephus has in addition : " For this purpose
they are trained in the use of holy writings, in various rites
of purification, and in prophetic (apocalyptic?) utterances; and
they seldom make mistakes in their predictions."] Then there
Is a section of the Essenes who, while agreeing in their mode
of life, differ In regard to marriage, declaring that those who
abstain from marrying commit an awful crime, as it leads to the
extinction of the human race. But they take wives only after
having, during three years' observation of their course of life,
been convinced of their power of child-bearing, and avoid in-
tercourse during pregnancy, as they marry merely for the sake
of offspring. The women when undergoing ablutions are ar-
rayed in linen garments like the men in order not to expose
their bodies to the light of day " (comp. Horwiiz, " Baraita dl
Nidda," 1. 2).
A careful survey of all the facts here presented
shows the Essenes to have been simply the rigorists
among the Pharisees, whose constant fear of becom-
ing contaminated by either social or sexual inter-
course led them to lead an ascetic life, but whose
insistence on maintaining the highest possible stand-
ard of purity and holiness had for its
Purpose of object to make them worthy of being
the Essene participants of "the Holy Spirit," or
Brother- recipients of divine revelations, and of
hood. being initiated into the mysteries
of God and the future. " Wo to the
wives of these men! " exclaimed Zipporah, the wife
of Moses, when she heard that Eldad and IVIedad had
become prophets, for this meant cessation of conju-
gal intercourse (Sifre, Num. 99). Abstinence from
whatever may imply the use of unrighteous Mam-
mon was another condition of initiation into the
mystery of the Holy Name (Yer. Yoma iii. 40d;
comp. Hul. 7b; Phinehas b. Jair; Midr. Teh. xxiv.
4, cxxviii. 2; Hul. 44b, with reference to Prov. xv.
27). The purpose of their ablutions before every
meal as well as before morning prayers, which prac-
tise gave them the name of " Tobele Shaharit " ( =
Morning Baptists, 'H/zepo/3a7rri(TraZ), was to insure the
pronunciation of the Name and the eating of holy
things in a state of purity (Tosef., Yad. ii. 20; Ber.
2b, 22a). The existence of large numbers of Levites
(Yeb. XV. 7) and Aaronites, the original teachers of
the Law, whose holy food had to be eaten in holi-
ness, was instrumental in the creation of a state of
communism such as the Law prescribes for each
seventh year (Peah vi. 1). Fear of defilement led
Judas Maccabeus as Hasidean leader to live only on
herbs (II Mace. v. 27).
A glance at the Essene oath of initiation confirms
the statement of Philothat love of God, or reverence
for His Name, love of man, or pursuit of righteous-
ness and benevolence, and love of virtue, or humil-
ity and chastity, were the chief aims of the Essene
brotherhood. Successors to the ancient Hasidim
who instituted the liturgy (Midr. Teh. xvii. 4: "hasi-
dim ha-rishonim "), they laid all possible stress on
prayer and devotion, opposing the priesthood in the
Temple out of mistrust as to their state of holiness
and purity rather than out of aversion to sacrifice
(Tosef., Ned. i. 1; Ker. 25a). They claimed to pos-
sess by tradition from the founders of the Synagogue
("anshe keneset ha-gedolah ") the correct pronuncia-
tion and the magic spell of the Holy Name (Midr.
Teh. xxxvi. 8, xci. 8), and with it they achieved
miracles like the men of old (Midr. Teh. Ixxviii. 12,
xci. 2). They taught Jews and Gentiles alike to
cleanse themselves in living streams from their im-
purity of sin, and return to God in repentance and
prayer (SibylHues, iv. 164; Luke iii. 3; comp. Tan.,
ed. Buber, Introduction, 153). Ever alert and rest-
less while in hope of the Messianic time, they formed
a strong political organization scattered through the
Holy Land ; and, in constant touch with one another,
they traveled far and wide to organize Jewish com-
munities and provide them with the three elements
of Judaism: instruction, worship, and charity (Abot
i. 2) ; and they were especially assiduous in pursuit
of benevolent work (Ab. R. N. iii., viii.). Each com-
munity had its seven good men, called " the Good
Brotherhood of the Town" (Heber 'Ir be-Tobah:
"Ant." iv. 8, § 14; Meg. 27a; Tosef., Peah, iv. 16;
Sheb. vii. 9).
Standing under the direction of the "mishmar,"
or " ma'amad " (the district authority : Tosef., Peah,
iv. 7), the Essenes claimed, as direct successors to
the Hasidim, Mosaic origin for their brotherhood
(see Philo and Josephus, I.e., in reference to Ex.
xviii. 21 ; comp. Targ. Yer. ; B. M. 30b ; Mek., Yitro,
2). Whatever their real connection with the Recha-
BiTEs(Jer. XXXV.) was, they beheld in Jonadab, the
founder of the sect of the " Water- Drinkers," as well
as in Jabez (I Chron. ii. 55, iv. 10; see Targ.) and in
Jethro the Kenite, prototypes, and possibly found-
ers, of the Jericho colony (Mek., Yitro, 2; Sifre,
Num. 78; Shek. v. 48c; Nilus, "De Monastica Ex-
231
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Essenes
ercitatione," iii. ; "J. Q. R." v. 418); likewise in
Jesse, the father of David, regarded as sinless and
deathless in their tradition (Shab. 55b ; Derek Erez
Zutai.); andinObed, Boaz, and his fa-
Types ther Salma (Tan., Wayehi, ed. Buber,
of Essenes. 4; Targ. to I Chron. ii. 54: etseg., iv. 22
et seq.). In this manner Ahijah and
Ahithophel became types of Essenes (Midr. Teh.
V. 8), as well as King Saul, as mentioned above ; but,
above all, the Patriarchs and protoplasts. Other
Essenic types were Abraham, called "Watik," the
prototype of the Anawim and Hasidim because "he
rose early" for prayer (Ber. 6b, after Gen. six. 27;
Shab. 105a; Gen. R. liii.); Shem - Melchizedek as
teacher of benevolence and true worshiper of God
(Midr. Teh. xxxvii. 1, Ixxvi. 3) ; Job as philanthro-
pist and as teacher of mystic lore (B. B. 15a, b; see
Kohler, "Testament of Job," in Kohut Memorial
Volume, pp. 265 ei seq.); Enoch (see Enoch, Books
OF); and Adam ('Er. 78b; Pirke R. El. xx.). A pas-
sage in the Tanhuma reads : "Only when Abraham
separated from Lot and Jacob from Laban did God
communicate with them as perushim " (Wayeze, ed.
Buber, 21). The claim of antiquity for Essene tradi-
tion is, accordingly, not the invention of Pliny or
Philo ; it is essential to the Essene traditional lore. In
truth, Abraham, as " 'Anaw " (= " the humble one "),
and all doers of works of benevolence, learned it from
God, " their Father in heaven " (see Talk. Mekiri to
Ps. xviii. 36; Yalk. to II Sam. xxii. 36; comp. Sifre,
Deut. 49). They are " the lovers of God " (B. B. 8b ;
Yoma 28a). God unites with the brotherhoods of
the humble ("haburot ha-nemukin": Tan., Wa'era,
ed. Buber, 3). He provides each day's food for
thcra as He provided the manna for Israel (Mek.,
Beshalalh, 2, ed. Weiss, pp. 56 [note] et seq. ; Sifre,
Deut. 42; Kid. 82b; Matt. vi. 25). "When men
ceased to hate men's gifts [the Essene] longevity
ceased " (Sotah 47b, based on Prov. xv. 27).
In regard to Sabbath observance the rabbinical
tradition traced the more rigid laws, comprising
even the removal of utensils, to Nehemiah's time,
that is, to the ancient Hasidim (Shab. 123b), and the
Book of Jubilees (1. 8-12) confirms the antiquity of
the Essene view. As the best characteristic of the
Essene view the saying of Phinehas ben Jair, the
last Essene of note, may be quoted: "The Torah
leads to conscientiousness; this to alertness ["zeri-
zut"] for holy work; this to blamelessness ["ne-
kiyyut"]; this to 'perishut' [Pharisaic separation
from common things] ; this to purity ; this to ' hasi-
dut ' [Essene piety ?] ; this to humbleness ; this to fear
of sin ; this to holiness, or to the possession of the
Holy Spirit ; and this finally to the time of the Res-
urrection ; but hasidut is the highest grade " ('Ab.
Zarah 20b).
Essenism as well as Hasidisra represents that
stage of religion which is called "otherworldliness."
It had no regard for the comfort of
Traces of home life ; woman typified only the
Essenism feebleness and impurity of man. In
and Anti- their efforts to make domestic and so-
Essenism. cial life comfortable and cheerful, the
Pharisees characterized the Essene
as "a fool who destroys the world" (Sotah iii. 4),
and their ethics assumed an anti-Essene character
(see Ethics). Exceptionally, some tannaim, such
as R. Eliezer b. Hyrcanus (Shab. 153a; Ned. 20b)
and Jose ben Halafta (Shab. 118b), favored the as-
cetic view in regard to conjugal life, while some
amoraim and tannaim gave evidence of Essene
practise or special Essene knowledge (see Frankel
in "Monatsschrift," ii. Ti et seq.). Traces of Esse-
nism, or of tendencies identical with it, are found
throughout the apocryphal and especially the apoc-
alyptic literature (see Kohler, " Pre-Talmudic Hag-
gada," in "J. Q. R." v. 403 et seq.; Jellinek, "B.
H." ii., Introduction, vii., xviii., et al.), but are espe-
cially noticeable in the Tanna debe Ellyahu. above
all in the Targum Yerushalmi, where the Essenic
colonies of Jericho and of the City of Palms are
mentioned as inhabited by the disciples of Elijah and
Elisha (Deut. xxxiv. 3); the sons of Levi are singled
out as forming brotherhoods for the service of God
(Gen. xxix. 34) ; Joseph, Kohath, Amram, and Aar-
on, as well as the Patriarchs, are called " Hasidim "
(Targ. Yer. on Gen. xxix. 13, xlix. 22; Ex. vi. 18,
20; Num. xxi. 1); priest-like and angelic holiness
is enjoined upon Israel (Ex. xxii. 30; Lev. xx. 7;
Num. xvi. 40); angels are expelled from heaven for
having disclosed divine mysteries (Gen. xxvii. 12);
the Holy Name and the Holy Spirit play throughout
a prominent role; and God's own time, like that of
the Essenes, appears as divided between studying
the Law, sitting in judgment, and providing for the
world's support and for the maintenance of the race
(Deut. xxxii. 4).
The Essenes seem to have originally consisted, on
the one hand, of rigorous Zealots, such as the Book
of Jubilees looks for, and such as were under the
leadership of men like Abba Tahna Hasida and Abba
Sicara (Eccl. R. ix. 7); and, on the other hand, of
mild-tempered devotees of the Law, such as were
the Essenes at En Gedi (Yer. Sotah ix. 24c ; Pliny,
I.e.) and the Therapeutae of Egypt. Rabbinical
tradition knows only that under the persecution of
Rome (Edom) the Essenes wandered to the south
(Darom: Gen. R. Ixxvi. ; comp. Pes. 70b; Yeb. 62b;
Midr. Teh. xix. 2), and occasionally mention is made
of " the brethren " (" habbarayya "), with reference to
the Essene brotherhood (Lam. R. iv. 1 ; see also Levy,
"Neuhebr. Wftrterb." s.v. N-inn, Kinn and mnn;
Geiger's "Jild. Zeit." vi. 279; Brtlll's "Jahrb." i.
25, 44). It is as charitable brotherhoods that the
Essenic organization survived the destruction of the
nation.
John the Baptist seems to have belonged to the
Essenes, but in appealing to sinners to be regener-
ated by baptism, he inaugurated a
Relation of new movement, which led to the rise
Essenism of Christianity. The silence of the
to Christi- New Testament about the Essenes is
anity. perhaps the best proof that they fur-
nished the new sect with its main ele-
ments both as regards personnel and views. The
similarity in many respects between Christianity
and Essenism is striking: There were the same com-
munism (Acts iv. 34-35); the same belief in baptism
or bathing, and in the power of prophecy ; the same
aversion to marriage, enhanced by firmer belief in
the Messianic advent ; the same system of organiza-
tion, and the same rules for the traveling brethren
Estella
Esther
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
232
delegated to charity-work (see Apostle and Apos-
TLESHip); and, above all, the same love-feasts or
brotherly meals (comp. Agape; Didascalia). Also,
between the ethical and the apocalyptic teachings
of the Gospels and the Epistles and the teachings of
the Essenes of the time, as given in Philo, in Hip-
polytus, and in the Ethiopic and Slavonic Books of
Enoch, as well as in the rabbinic literature, the
resemblance is such that the influence of the latter
upon the former can scarcely be denied. Neverthe-
less, the attitude of Jesus and his disciples is alto-
gether anti-Essene, a denunciation and disavowal of
Essene rigor and asceticism ; but, singularly enough,
while the Roman war appealed to men of action such
as the Zealots, men of a more peaceful and visionary
nature, who had pieviously become Essenes, were
more and more attracted by Christianity, and thereby
gave the Church its otherworldly character; while
Judaism took a more practical and worldly view of
things, and allowed Essenism to live only in tra-
dition and secret lore (see Clementina ; Ebionites ;
Gnosticism).
Bibliography: Frankel, Die Essacr, In Zeitschri.ft filr die
Reli^idsen IiUeressen des Judenthums, 1846, pp. 441-461 ;
Idem, Die EssU.er nach Talmudvichen Quellen, in Monats-
achrift, 1853, pp. 3(M0, 61-73; J. B6hmeT,Kithe Yiarael BOh-
mer, Warsaw, 1849 (Hebrew); N. L. Weinstein, BeitrUgezur
Oesch. der Essfler, Vienna, 1892; Mitwoch, Esaiier, In Zeit. filr
Aasyr. 1903 ; Gratz, Oesch. iii. 91 et seq., 697-703 ; Jost, Gesch.
des Judenthums und Seiner Sekien, i. 207-214 ; Derenbourg,
Hist. 1867, pp. 166-175, 460 et seq.; L. Herzfeld, Gesch. des
Volkes Israel, ill. 368, 388, 509 et seq.; C. D. Ginsburg, The
Essenes, Their History and Their Doctrines, London, 1864
(with summary of previous literature); idem. In Kitto's Diet,
of the Bible, and in Smith-Wace. Dictionary of Christian
Antiquities; Geiger, JUd. Zeit, 1871, pp. 30-56; M. Friedlan-
der, Zur Entstehunpsgesch. des Christenthxims, 1894, pp. 98-
142 ; Kohler, T/w; Essene Brotherhood, In Reform Advocate,
anniversary number, 1894, pp. 15-19; J. D. Llghtfoot, St.
PauVs Epistles to the Colosxians, 1876, pp. 349-419 ; Wellhau-
sen, I. J. O. 1895, pp. 292-296 ; Lucius, Der Essenismu^ in
Sei)iem VerhiUtniss zum Judenthum; Schiirer, Oesch. 11.
556-584 ; Hllgenfeld, Ketzergesch. des Vrchristenthums, 1884,
pp. 87-149; F. C. Conybeare, In Hastings, Diet. Bible; Philo,
De Vita Contemplativa, ed. Conybeare, Oxford, 1895.
K.
ESTELLA or STELLA (n^>t3K^X, ^''''^TlCJ'K,
npp^tDK') : Capital of a district of the same name in
Navarre. Its Jewish community dates as far back
as those of Tudela and Pamplona. In 1144 its syn-
agogue was turned over to the bishop by King
Garcia Ramirez, and transformed into the Church of
S. Maria. Twenty years later the legal status of
Estella Jews was established in a way favorable to
them (see the "Fuero" in Kayserling's "Geschichte
der Juden in Spanien, " i. 198).
Under Philip the Fair of France the Jews of Es-
tella suffered greatly. They were obliged to forego
all interest on loans to Christians and to accept re-
payments of the capital by instalments extending
over eight years. Louis Hutin, the successor of
Philip, was more just. "When in 1308 the seneschal
of Estella caused the arrest of certain Jews, the
king removed the seneschal from his office, set the
prisoners at liberty, and placed them under the pro-
tection of the seneschal of Pamplona. Nevertheless,
the situation of the Jews soon became desperate.
Many popular uprisings occurred against them, fo-
mented by the tax-collector Juan Garcia and the
Franciscan Pedro Olligoyen.
Shortly after the death of Charles I. (March 5,
1328) the long-impending storm of persecution came
upon them. The Jews of Estella, together with
many from outside who happened to be there on
business, united and defended themselves valiantly
from within the walls of their Juderia. But, reen-
forced by peasants from the surrounding districts,
the enraged inhabitants stormed the walls and forced
their way into the Jewish houses. The whole Jew-
ish quarter was burned to the ground and its resi-
dents were put to the sword, only a few escaping
slaughter. Menahem ben Zerah, the author of
" Zedah la-Derek," was among the survivors, though
his family perished. Philip III. instituted an in-
quiry, and, in order to preserve the semblance of
justice, impo&ed a fine of 10,000 livres on the city.
This, however, was remitted, even Pedro Olligoyen,
the chief instigator, going unpunished.
On one side of the Estella Juderia was the Castle
Belmelcher, and on the other a flour-mill called
"laTintura." The "aljama" had a special magis-
tracy, composed of two directors and twenty " regi-
dores," or administrators, retiring members being
replaced by election. The aljama was privileged
to introduce new measures, impose fines, and to
ban and expel from the community, etc.
The Jews of Estella were engaged principally
in commerce and finance. Several of them, like
Judah Levi, Abraham Euxoeb (Euxep), Abraham,
Joseph, Isaac, and Moses Medellim, were tax-farm-
ers. The Jewish population of Estella in 1366 num-
bered eighty-five families, and, like their brethren
tliroughout Navarre, bore a heavy burden of taxa-
tion. In 1375 they paid nearly 120 florins monthly.
Two years later the king levied a distress upon them
for refusing to pay the balance of a sum which had
been imposed upon them unjustly.
The restrictions to their trade were steadily in-
creased, and many were driven to leave the coun-
try. The edict of 1498 drove the Jews out of Na-
varre ; most of those in Estella emigrated ; a small
remnant embraced Christianity.
Several well-known medieval scholars came from
Estella. Among them were Sento Saprut and Abra-
ham ben Isaac (sentenced to death and their goods
confiscated " por sus ecsesos " in 1413) ; Rabbi Men-
ahem ben Zerah, son-inlaw of Benjamen Abez
(Abaz); David ben Samuel, author of "Kiryat
Sefer"; and Judah ben Joseph ibn Bulat, whose
grandfather, Joseph ibn Bulat, was president of the
aljama of Estella in 1358.
Bibliography : J. A. de los Rlos, Historia de los Judios de
EspafkL, 11. 176 et seq.; Gratz, Gesch. vll. 331; Jacobs,
Sources, Nos. 1408, 1428, 1614; Kayserling, Gesch. 1. 32 et
seq., 39 et seq.
G. M. K.
ESTELLE, FRANCE. See Etoile.
ESTERHAZY. See Dreyfus Case.
ESTERKA. See Casimiu III., the Great.
ESTHER (Hebrew, inON ; Greek, Ead^p):
Name of the chief character in the Book of Esther,
derived, according to some authorities, from the
Persian "stara" (star); but regarded by others as
a modification of " Ishtar, " the name of the Baby-
lonian goddess (see below).
Biblical Data : The story of Esther, as given
in the book bearing her name, is as follows: The
King of Persia, Ahasuerus, had deposed his queen
Vashti because she refused, during a festival, to
233
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Estella
Esther
show at his command her charms before tlie assem-
bled princes of the realm (i. 10). Many beautiful
maidens were then brought before the king in order
that he might choose a successor to the unruly
Vashti. He selected Esther as by far the most
comely. The heroine is represented as an orphan
daughter of the tribe of Benjamin, wlio had spent
her life among the Jewish exiles in Persia (ii. 5),
where she lived under the protection of her cousin
Mordecai. The grand vizier, Haman the Agagite,
commanded Mordecai to do obeisance to him. Upon
Mordecai 's refusal to prostrate himself, Haman in-
formed the king that the Jews were a useless and
turbulent people and inclined to disloyalty, and he
promised to pay
10,000 silver tal-
ents into the
royal treasury
for the permis-
sion to pillage
and exterminate
tills alien race.
The king then is-
sued a proclama-
tion ordering the
confiscation of
Jewish property
and a general ex-
termination of
all the Jews
within the em-
pire. Haman set
by lot the day
for this outrage
(iii. 6), but Mor-
decai persuaded
Esther to under-
take the deliver-
ance of her com-
patriots.
After a three
days' fast ob-
served by the
entire Jewish
community, the
queen, at great
personal risk, de-
cided to go be-
fore -the king and beg him to rescind his decree
(iv. 16). Ahasuerus, delighted with her appear-
ance, held out to her his scepter in token of clem-
ency, and promised to dine with her in her own
apartments on two successive nights (v. 2-8). On
the night before the second banquet, when Es-
ther intended to make her petition, the king, be-
ing sleepless, commanded that the national records
be read to him. The part which was read touched
upon the valuable services of Mordecai (vi. 1 eiseq.),
who some time before had discovered and revealed
to the queen a plot against the king's
Hainan and life devised by two of the chamber-
Mordecai. lains (ii. 23). For this, by some unex-
plained oversight, Mordecai had re-
ceived no reward. In the meantime the queen had
invited the grand vizier to the banquet. When
Haman, who was much pleased at the unusual honor
Traditional Tomb of Esther and Mordecai.
(From Flandin and Coste, ** Voyage en Perse.")
shown liim by the queen, appeared before the king
to ask permission to execute Mordecai at once,
Ahasuerus asked him, " What shall be done to the
man whom the king delighteth to honor?" Ha-
man, thinking that the allusion was to himself, sug-
gested a magnificent pageant, at which one of the
great nobles should serve as attendant (vi. 9). The
king immediately adopted the suggestion, and or-
dered Haman to act as chief follower in a procession
in honor of Mordecai (vi. 10).
The next day at the banquet, when Esther pre-
ferred her request, both the king and the grand
vizier learned for the first time that the queen wasa
Jewess. Ahasuerus granted her petition at once and
ordered that Ha-
man be hanged
on the gibbet
which the latter
had prepared for
his adversary
Mordecai (vii.).
Mordecai was
then made grand
vizier, and
through his and
Esther's inter-
vention another
edict was issued
granting to the
Jews the power
to pillage and to
slay their ene-
mies.
Before the
day set for the
slaughter ar-
rived a great
number of per-
sons, in order to
avoid the im-
pending disas-
ter, became
Jewish prose-
lytes, and a great
terror of the
Jews spread all
over Persia (viii.
17).
The Jews, assisted by the royal officers, who
feared the king, were eminently successful in slay-
ing their enemies (ix. 11), but refused to avail them-
selves of their right to plunder (ix. 16). The queen,
not content Avith a single day's slaughter, then re-
quested the king to grant to her people a second
day of vengeance, and begged that the bodies of
Haman's ten sons, who had been slain in the fray,
be hanged on the gibbet (ix. 13). Esther and Mor-
decai, acting with "all authority" (ix. 29), then
founded the yearly feast of Purim, held on the
fourteenth and fifteenth of Adar as a joyous com-
memoration of the deliverance of their race.
E. G. H. J. D. P.
In Rabbinical Literature : The story of
Esther — typical in many regards of the perennial fate
of the Jews, and recalled even more vividly by their
daily experience than by the annual reading of the
Esther
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
234
Megillah at Purim — invited, both by the brevity of
some parts of the narrative and by the associations of
its events with the bitter lot of Israel, amplifications
readily supplied by popular fancy and the artificial
interpretation of Biblical verse. The additions to
Esther in the (Greek) Apocrypha have their counter-
parts in the post-Biblical literature of the Jews, and
while it is certain that the old assumption of a He-
brew original for the additions in the Greek Book of
Esther is not tenable (see Kautzsch, " Die Apocry-
phen und Pseudepigraphen des Alten Testaments,"
i. 194), it is not clear that the later Jewish amplifica-
tions are adaptations of Greek originals.
The following post-Biblical writings have to be
considered :
(1) The first Targum. The Antwerp and Paris polyglots give
a different and longer text than the London. The best edition
Is by De Lagarde (reprinted from the first Venice Bible) in
" Haglographa Chaldaice," Lelpsic, 1873. The dale of the first
Targum is about 700 (see S. Posner, "Das Targum Rlshon,"
Breslau, 1896).
(2) Targum Shenl (the second: date about 800), containing
material not germane to the Esther story. This may be char-
acterized as a genuine and exuberant midrash. Edited by
De Lagarde (in " Haglographa Chaldaice," Berlin, 1873) and
by P. Cassel ("Aus Literatur und Geschichte," Berlin and
Lelpsic 1885, and " Das Buch Esther," Berlin, 1891, Ger. transl. ) .
(3) Babylonian Talmud, Meg. 10b-14a.
(4) Pirke R. El. 49a, 50 (8th cent.).
(5) Tosippon (beginning of 10th cent.; see Zunz, "G. V."
pp. 384et seq.).
(6) Midr. R. to Esther (probably 11th cent.).
(7) Mldr. Lekah Tob (Buber, "Sifre dl-Agadta," Wllna, 1880).
(8) Midr. Abba Gorion (Buber, I.e.; Jelllnek, "B. H." 1.
1-18).
(9) Mldr. Teh. to Ps. xxH.
(10) Midr. Megillat Esther (ed. by.Horwitz In his " Sammlung
Kleiner Midrashim," Beriin, 1881).
(11) Helms de Mordekal (Aramaic: Jelllnek, "B. H."v.l-8;
De Lagarde, I.e. pp. 362-365; Ad. Merx, " Chrestomathia Tar-
gumlca," 1888, pp. 154 et seq.).
(13) Yalk. Shlm'onl to Esther.
With the omission of what more properly belongs
under Ahasuerus, Haman, and Mordecai, the fol-
lowing is briefly the story of Esther's life as elabo-
rated by these various midrashim : A foundling or
an orphan, her father dying before her birth, her
mother at her birth, Esther was reared in the house
of Mordecai, her cousin, to whom, according to some
accounts, she was even married (the word r\2?,
Esth. ii. 7, being equal to n'3? = "house," which
is frequently used for " wife " in rab-
The binic literature). Her original name
Rabbinic was "Hadassah" (myrtle), that of
Accovint. " Esther " being given her by the star-
worshipers, as reflecting her sweet
character and the comeliness of her person.
When the edict of the king was promulgated,
and his eunuchs scoured the country in search
of a new wife for the monarch, Esther, acting
on her own judgment or upon the order of
Mordecai, hid herself so as not to be seen of men,
and remained in seclusion for four years, until even
God's voice urged her to repair to the king's palace,
where her absence had been noticed. Her appear-
ance among the candidates for the queen's vacant
place causes a commotion, all feeling that with her
charms none can compete; her rivals even make
baste to adorn her. She spurns the usual resources
for enhancing her beauty, so that the keeper of the
harem becomes alarmed lest he be accused of neglect.
He therefore showers attentions upon her, and places
at her disposal riches never given to others. But
she will not be tempted to use the king's goods, nor
will she eat of the king's food, being a faithful
Jewess; together with her maids (seven, according
to the number of the week-days and of the planets)
she continues her modest mode of living. When
her turn comes to be ushered into the royal presence,
Median and Persian women flank her on both sideSf
but her beauty is such that the decision in her favor
is at once assured. The king has been in the habit
of comparing the charms of the applicants with a
picture of Vashti suspended over his couch, and up
to the time when Esther approaches him none has
eclipsed the beauty of his beheaded spouse. But at
the sight of Esther he at once removes the picture.
Esther, true to Mordecai's injunction, conceals her
birth from her royal consort. Mordecai was
prompted to give her this command by the desire
not to win favors as Esther's cousin. The king,
of course, is very desirous of learning all about
her antecedents, but Esther, after vouchsafing him
tJie information that she, too, is of princely blood,
turns the conversation, by a few happy counter-
questions regarding Vashti, in a way to leave the
king's curiosity unsatisfied.
Still Ahasuerus will not be baffled. Consulting
Mordecai, he endeavors to arouse Esther's jealousy —
thinking that this will loosen her tongue — by again
gathering maidens in his courtyard, as though he is
ready to mete out to her the fate of her unfortunate
Mordecai predecessor. But even under this prov-
ocation Esther preserves her silence.
and Mordecai's daily visits to the court-
Esther, yard are for the purpose of ascer-
taining whether Esther has remained
true to the precepts of her religion. She had not
eaten forbidden food, preferring a diet of vegetables,
and had otherwise scrupulously observed the Law.
When the crisis came Mordecai — who had, by his
refusal to bow to Haman or, rather, to the image of
an idol ostentatiously displayed on his breast (Pirke
R. El. Ixix.), brought calamity upon the Jews —
appeared in his mourning garments, and Esther,
frightened, gave birth to a still-bom child. To
avoid gossip she sent Hatach instead of going herself
to ascertain the cause of the trouble. This Hatach
was afterward met by Haman and slain. Still Mor-
decai had been able to tell Hatach his dream, that
Esther would be the little rill of water separating
the two fighting monsters, and that the rill would
grow to be a large stream flooding the earth — a
dream he had often related to her in her youth.
Mordecai called upon her to pray for her people and
then intercede with the king. Though Pesah was
near, and the provision of Megillat Ta'anit forbid-
ding fasting during this time could not be observed
without disregarding Mordecai's plea, she overcame
her cousin's scruples by a very apt counter-ques-
tion, and at her request all the Jews " that had on
that day already partaken of food " observed a rigid
fast, in spite of (Esth. iv. 17) the feast-day (Pesah),
while Mordecai prayed and summoned the children
and obliged even them to abstain from food, so that
they cried out with loud voices. Esther in the mean-
time put aside her jewels and rich dresses, loosened
236
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Esther
Ler hair, fasted, and prayed that she might be suc-
cessful in her dangerous errand. On the third day,
witli serene mien she passed on to the inner court,
arraying herself (or arrayed by the "Holy Ghost,"
Esth. Rabbah) in her best, and taking her two maids,
upon one of whom, according to court etiquette, she
leaned, while the other carried her train. As soon as
she came abreast with the idols (perhaps an anti-
•Christian insinuation) the " Holy Ghost " departed
from her, so that she exclaimed, " My God, my God,
"why hast thou forsaken me?" (Ps. xxii. 1); there-
upon, repenting having called the enemy "dog," she
make the king jealous by playing the lover to
Haman, which she did at the feast, planning to
have him killed even though she should share his
fate. At the supreme moment, when she denounced
Haman, it was an angel that threw Haman on the
couch, though he intended to kneel before the queen ;
so that the king, suspecting an attempt upon the
virtue and life of his queen, forthwith ordered him
to be hanged.
To the Rabbis Esther is one of the four most
beautiful women ever created. She remained eter-
nally young; when she married Ahasuerus she was
Scrolls of Esther in Silver Cases.
(la the United Rtatra NatioDsl Museum, Washington, D. C.)
now named him "lion," and was accompanied by
three angels to the king. Ahasuerus attempted
to ignore her, and turned his face away, but an
angel forced him to look at her. She, however,
fainted at the sight of his flushed face
Esther and burning eyes, and leaned her head
Before on her handmaid, expecting to hear her
Ahasuerus. doom pronounced ; but God increased
her beauty to such an extent that
Ahasuerus could not resist. An angel lengthened
the scepter so that Esther might touch it: she invited
the king to her banquet. Why Haman was invited
the Rabbis explain in various ways. She desired to
at least forty years of age, or even, according to
some, eighty years (n = 5, D = 60, T = 4, n = 5 = 74
years ; hence her name " Hadassah "). She is also
counted among the prophetesses of Israel.
6. 8. E. G. H.
Critical View : As to the historical value of
the foregoing data, opinions diflfer. Comparatively
few modern scholars of note consider the narrative
of Esther to rest on an historical foundation. The
most important names among the more recent de-
fenders of the historicity of the book are perhaps
Havernick, Keil, Oppert, and Orelli. The vast ma-
jority of modern expositors have reached the con-
Esther
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
236
elusion that the book is a piece of pure fiction, al-
though some writers qualify their criticism by an
attempt to treat it as a historical romance. The
following are the chief arguments showing the im-
possibility of the story of Esther :
1. It is now generally recognized that the Ahas-
uerus (CJ^IIICTIX), mentioned in Esther, in Ezra iv.
6, and in Dan. ix. 1, is identical with the Persian
king known as Xerxes (Hepf^c , " Khshayarha "), who
reigned from 485 to 464 B.C. ; but it is impossible to
find any historical parallel for a Jewish consort to
this king. Some critics formerly identified Esther
with Amastris (Ionic, "Amestris"), who is men-
tioned by Herodotus (viii. 114, ix. 110; compare
Ctesias, 20) as the queen of Xerxes at the time when
Esther, according to Esth. ii. 6, became the wife of
Ahasuerus. Amastris, however, was the daughter
of a Persian general and, therefore, not a Jewess.
Furthermore, the facts of Amastris'
Improba- reign do not agree with the Biblical
bilities of story of Esther. Besides all this, it is
the Story, impossible to connect the two names
etymologically. M'Clymont (Hast-
ings, "Diet. Bible," i. 772) thinks it possible that
Esther and Vashti may have been merely the chief
favorites of the harem, and are consequently not
mentioned in parallel histoiical accounts.
It is very doubtful whether the haughty Persian
aristocracy, always highly influential with the mon-
arch, would have tolerated the choice of a Jewish
queen and a Jewish prime minister (Mordecai), to
the exclusion of their own class — not to speak of the
improbability of the prime ministry of Haman the
Agagite, who preceded Mordecai. "Agagitc"can
only be interpreted here as synonymous with
"Amalekite" (compare "Agag," king of the Ama-
lekites, the foe of Saul, I Sam. xv. 8, 20, 32; Num.
xxiv. 7; see Agag). Oppert's attempt to connect the
term "Agagite" with "Agaz," a Median tribe men-
tioned by Sargon, can not be taken seriously. The
term, as applied to Haman, is a gross anachronism;
and the author of Esther no doubt used it inten-
tionally as a fitting name for an enemy of Israel. In
the Greek version of Esther, Haman is called a Mace-
donian.
2. Perhaps the most striking point against the
historical value of the Book of Esther is the remark-
able decree permitting the Jews to massacre their
enemies and fellow subjects during a period of two
days. If such an extraordinary event had actually
taken place, should not some confirmation of the
Biblical account have been found in other records?
Again, could the king have withstood the attitude
of the native nobles, who would hardly have looked
upon such an occurrence without offering armed
resistance to their feeble and capricious sovereign?
A similar objection may be made against the proba-
bility of the first edict permitting Haman the Ama-
lekite to massacre all the Jews. Would there not be
some confirmation of it in parallel records? This
whole section bears the stamp of free invention.
3. Extraordinary also is the statement that Esther
did not reveal her Jewish origin when she was
chosen queen (ii. 10), although it was known that
she came from the house of Mordecai, who was a
professing Jew (iii. 4), and that she maintained a
constant communication with him from the harem
(iv. 4-17).
4. Hardly less striking is the description of the
Jews by Haman as being "dispersed among the
people in all provinces of thy kingdom " and as dis-
obedient " to the king's laws " (iii. 8). This certainl}'^
applies more to the Greek than to the Persian period,
in which the Diaspora had not yet begun and during
which there is no record of rebellious tendencies on
the part of the Jews against the royal authoritj'.
5. Finally, in this connection, the author's knowl-
edge of Persian customs is not in keeping with con-
temporary records. The chief conflicting points are
as follows : (a) Mordecai was permitted free access
to his cousin in the harem, a state of affairs wholly
at variance with Oriental usage, both ancient and
modern, (b) The queen could not send a message to
her own husband (!). (c) The division of the empire
into 127 provinces contrasts strangely with the
twenty historical Persian satrapies, (d) The fact
that Haman tolerated for a long time Mordecai's
refusal to do obeisance is hardly in accordance with
the customs of the East. Any native venturing to
stand in the presence of a Turkish grand vizier
would certainly be severely dealt with without de-
lay, (e) This very refusal of Mordecai to prostrate
himself belongs rather to the Greek than to the ear-
lier Oriental period, when such an act would have
involved no personal degradation (compare Gen.
xxiii. 7, xxxiii. 3; Herodotus, vii. 186). (/) Most of
the proper names in Esther which are given as Per-
sian appear to be rather of Semitic than of Iranian
origin, in spite of Oppert's attempt to explain many
of them from the Persian (compare, however, Schef-
telowitz, "Arisches im Alten Testament," 1901, i.).
In view of all the evidence the authority of the
Book of Esther as a historical record must be defi-
nitely rejected. Its position in the canon among the
Hagiographa or "Ketubim " is the only thing which
has induced Orthodox scholars to defend its histor-
ical character at all. Even the Jews of the first and
second centuries of the common era questioned its
right to be included among the canonical books of
the Bible (compare Meg. 7a). The author makes
no mention whatever of God, to whom, in all the
other books of the Old Testament, the deliverance
of Israel is ascribed. The only allusion in Esther
to religion is the mention of fasting (iv. 16, ix. 31).
All this agrees with the theory of a late origin for
the book, as it is known, for example.
Probable from Ecclesiastes, that the religious
Date, spirit had degenerated even in Judea
in the Greek period, to which Esther,
like Daniel, in all probability belongs.
Esther could hardly have been written by a con-
temporary of tlie Persian empire, because (1) of the
exaggerated way in which not only the splendor of
the court, but all the events described, are treated
(compare the twelve months spent by the maidens
in adorning themselves for the king ; the feasts of 187
days, etc., all of which point rather to the past than
to a contemporary state of affairs) ; (2) the imcom-
plimentary details given about a great Persian king,
who is mentioned byname, would not have appeared
during his dynasty.
It is difficult to go so far as Gratz, who assigns
237
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Esther
Esther to an adherent of the Maccabean party in the
reign of Antiochus Epiphanes. The vast difference
in religious and moral tone between Esther and
Daniel — the latter a true product of Antiochus' reign
— seems to make such a theory impossible. Nor is
the view of Jensen, followed by NOldeke, more con-
vincing to the unprejudiced mind. He endeavors
to prove that the origin of the whole story lies in a
Babylonian-Elamitic myth. He identifies Esther
with the Babylonian goddess Ishtar (Aphrodite);
Mordecai with Marduk, the tutelary deity of Baby-
lon; aud Haman with Hamman or Humman, the
chief god of the Elamites, in whose capital, Susa, the
scene is laid; while Vashti is also supposed to be
an Elamite deity. Jensen considers that the Feast of
Purim, which is the climax of the book, may have
been adapted from a similar Babylonian festival by
the Jews, who Hebraized the original Babylonian
legend regarding the origin of the ceremonies. The
great objection to such a theory is that no Baby-
lonian festival corresponding with the full moon of
the twelfth month is known.
The object of Esther is undoubtedly to give an
explanation of and to exalt the Feast of Purim. of
whose real origin little or nothing is known. See
Mkgili.ah; Purim.
Bibliography : Driver, Introduction to the Literature of the
O. T. pp. 449 et seq. ; Clieyne, Esther, In Encuc. Brit. 1878;
Founders of Old Testament Criticism, pp. 3.59 et seq.; Kue-
nen, Onderzoek, iii.551 etseq.; Lagarde, Purim, In Abhand-
lungen der KOniylichen GeselUchaft der Wissenschaften
zu GOttingen, Gottingen, 1887; Wildeboer, Esther,in No-
wack'e Handkommentar zum Alten Testament ; Toy, Es-
ther a.s a Babulonian Goddess, in New World, vi. 130-
145; Noldeke, Esther, in Cheyne and Black, Encyc. Bibl. li.
1400-1407 ; M'Clymont, in Hastings, Diet. Bible, pp. 772-776 ;
Frazer, Golden Bough, 2d ed., iii. 153, 157, 158.
E. G. H. J. D. P.
ESTHER, APOCRYPHAL BOOK OF: The
canonical Book of Esther undoubtedly presents the
oldest extant form of the Esther story. In times
of oppression the Jews found comfort in this narra-
tive, for it presented an example of sudden divine
salvation in the days of distress (Esth. ix. 22, 28),
and it strengthened their hope of being liberated
from their desperate condition, especially in the
days of the Maccabees. Naturally, the Jews' well-
known skill in transforming and enriching traditional
narratives was applied especiallj" to those incidents
which were touched but lightly in the Biblical Book
of Esther. Such variations and additions have been
preserved in Greek, but the assumption that they
were based on a Hebrew original has been proved
erroneous (comp. Scholz, "Kommentar iiber das
Buch Esther mit Seinen Zusatzen," 1892, pp. 21 et
seq.), the difficulty of translating many of these
additions into Hebrew being especially significant
(Fritzsche, "Kurzgefasstes Exegetisches Handbuch
zu den Apokryphen des Alten Testaments," 1851,
p. 71; Wace, "The Apocrypha," in "The Speaker's
Commentary," i. 361-365). The additions were
probably made in the time of the Maccabees, when
the people were hoping for another sudden liberation
by divine intervention. They aimed chiefly to sup-
ply the religious element signally lacking in the
Ginonical book (comp. Reuss, "Geschichte der Hei-
ligen Schriften des Alten Testaments," 2d ed., §§ 470
et «eq.; Bleek-Wellhausen, "Einleitung in das Alte
Testament," 5th ed., § 120; J. S. Bloch, "Hellenis-
tischeBestandtheileimBibl. Schriftum,"2ded., p. 8;
Ryssel, in Kautzsch, " Die Apocryphen und Pseud
epigraphen des Alten Testaments, " i. 197). Fritzsche
{I.e. p. 73) has pointed out linguistic similarities be-
tween the additions and the second Book of the
Maccabees.
The latest date that can be given to the additions
is the year 30 B.C., when the Ptolemaic rule came
to an end (comp. B. Jacob in Stade's " Zeitschrift, "
1890, p. 290). These additions are contained in the
uncial manuscript of the Codex Sinaiticus (Sin.),
Codex Vaticanus (B), and Codex Alexandrinus (A).
Among the printed editions may be mentioned those
of R. Holmes and J. Parsons, Oxford, 1798-1827;
E. Nestle, "Vet. Test. Grajce Juxta LXX. Inter-
pretum," Leipsic, 1850; H. B. Swete, "The Old
Testament in Greek," 2d ed., Cambridge, 1895-99;
O. F. Fritzsche, "Libr. Apoc. V. T. Graece," 1871.
The text of the additions has been pre-
Editions served in two forms, namely, that of
and Critical the Septuagint, and that revised by
Helps. Lucian, the martyr of Antioch (comp.
B. Jacob, I.e. pp. 258-262). Lagarde
has published both texts with complete critical anno-
tations in his " Librorum Veteris Testamenti Canoni-
corum, " 1883, i. 504-541 ; and later on A. Scholz
("Kommentar iiber das Buch Esther," pp. 2-99,
Wilrzburg and Vienna, 1892) published a small
edition in four parallel columns, showing side by
side the Hebrew text of the canonical book, the
two Greek texts, and Josephus' text (comp. Ryssel
in Kautzsch, I.e. pp. 198, 199).
For textual criticism there are, also, the two Latin
translations; not so much the Vulgate — in which
Jerome translated verj-^ freely, and in part arbitrarily
— as the Old Latin, which, in spite of its arbitra-
riness and incompleteness, and its additions, prob-
ably made in part by Christians, has preserved a few
good readings of the Codex Vaticanus (comp.
Fritzsche, I.e. pp. 74 et seq. ; Ryssel, in Kautzsch,
I.e. p. 199; B. Jacob, I.e. pp. 249-258). On the forth-
coming new edition of pre-Jerome texts of Esther,
comp. Ph. Thielmann, "Bericht iiber das Gesam-
melte Handschriftliche Material zu einer Kritischen
Ausgabe der Lateinischen Uebersetzung Biblischer
Biicher des A. T." Munich, 1900; " Sitzungsberichte
der Koniglichen Baj'crischen Academic der Wis-
senschaften," ii. 205-247. For an explanation of
the Greek additions to the Book of Esther see
Fritzsche, I.e. (the older interpreters, p. 76; the la-
ter, pp. 69-108) ; F. O. Bissel. " The Apocrypha of
Old Testament," New York, 1880; Fuller- Wace, I.e.
i. 361-402 ; O. ZOckler, " Die Apocryphen des Alten
Testaments," Munich, 1891; Ball, "The Ecclesias-
tical, or Deuterocanonical, Books of the Old Testa-
ment," London, 1892; V. Ryssel. in Kautzsch, I.e. i.
193-212.
The dream of Mordecai precedes in the Septua-
gint, as i. 11-17, the canonical story of Esther, and
corresponds in the Vulgate to xi. 3-12
The and xii. (Swete, " The Old Testament
Dream of in Greek," ii. 755 et seq.). This ver-
Mordecai. sion contradicts the account in the ca-
nonical book, for, according to the
apocryphal version (i. 2), Mordecai is" already in the
service of King Artaxerxes, and has this dream in
Ssther
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
238
the second year of that king's reign, whereas in the
canonical version (ii. 16) Esther was not taken into
the royal house until the seventh year of his reign,
and Mordecai did not sit " in the king's gate" — that is,
enter the king's serv-
ice— until after that
event (ii. 19-20). The
author of the apocry-
phal Esther speaks
of two conspiracies
against Artaxerxes,
and says that Morde-
cai preceded Esther
in coming to court.
His account is as fol-
lows: Mordecai as a
servant in the palace
sleeps with the court-
iers Gabatha and
Tharra (Esth. ii. 21,
"Bigthan"and"Te-
resh " ; Vulg. " Baga-
tlia " [whence " Gaba-
tha "] and " Thara "),
and overhears their
plot against the king.
He denounces the
conspirators, who are
arrested and confess.
The king and Morde-
cai write down the
occurrence, and Mor-
decai is rewarded. As
the conspirators are
condemned to death
(according to B. Ja-
cob in Stade's "Zeit-
schrift," X. 298, the words of Codex B, 6i6ti avripe-
drjaav, are to be added here; comp. Jerome: "qui
fuerant interfecti "), Haman, who evidently was in
league with them, plans to take vengeance on Mor-
decai (Apocr. Esth. ii. 12-17).
There is a second conspiracy after Esther has been
made queen, in the seventh year of the king's reign
(Esth. ii. 21 et seq.). Mordecai in his dream (Apocr.
Esth. i. 4-11) sees two dragons coming to fight each
other (representing Mordecai and Haman, ib. vi. 4) ;
the nations make readj"^ to destroy the " people of the
righteous," but the tears of the righteous well up in
a little spring that grows into a mighty stream
(comp. Ezek. xlvii. 3-12; according to Apocr. Esth.
vi. 3, the spring symbolizes Esther, who rose from
a poor Jewess to be a Persian queen). The sun now
rises, and those who had hitherto been suppressed
"devoured those who till then had been honored"
(comp. Esth. ix. 1-17).
The second addition contains an edict of Artax-
erxes for the destruction of all the Jews, to be car-
ried out by Haman (Apocr. Esth. ii.
The De- 1-7 ; it follows Esth. iii. 13 ; comp.
struction Swete, I.e. pp. 1%% et seq.). The mere
of the Jews mention of the fact that an edict for
Decreed, the destruction of the Jews had gone
forth, was a temptation to enlarge
upon it. The " great king " (verse 1), as in Esth.
i. 1, sends a letter to the governors of the one hun-
Ollve-Wood Case for Scroll of Es-
ther, from Jenisalem.
(In the U. S. N'ationsl Museum, Wasbing-
ton, D. C.)
dred and twenty -seven provinces of his kingdom —
that extends from India even unto Ethiopia — saying
that although personally he is inclined toward clem-
ency, he is bound to look to the security of his.
kingdom.
In a conference on the matter, he said, Haman,
the councilor ranking next to him in the kingdom,
had pointed out that there was one evilly disposed
class of people in his realm, which, by its laws, placed
itself in opposition to all the other classes, persisted
in disregarding the royal ordinances, and made a
unified government impossible. Under these cir-
cumstances, he said, nothing remained but to adopt
the suggestion of Haman, who, having been placed
in charge of the affairs of the state, could in a sense
be called the second father of the king ; this sugges-
tion was to destroy by the sword of the other nations,
on the fourteenth day of Adar (thirteenth of Adar
in Esth. iii. 13, viii. 12, ix, 1), all those designated
as Jews, together with their wives and children.
After these disturbers of the peace had been put out
of the way, the king believed the business of the
realm could again be conducted in peace.
The remaining additions are closely connected
with this affair. The next in order is Mordecai's
prayer for help (Apocr. Esth. iii. 1-11 ; Vulg. xiii.
8-18) ; in the Septuagint it is added to iv. 17 (Swete,
I.e. pp. 765 et seq.). It follows the story of Esth. iv.
1-16, according to which Esther commanded Mor-
decai to assemble all the Jews for a three-days' fast
Scroll of Esther as Fixed In Olive- Wood Case.
(In the U. S. National Museum, Washington, D. C.)
oeiore she herself interceded for them before the
king. The prayer begins with the usual praise of
divine omnipotence. Heaven and earth are a para-
phrase for the idea to ndv (verse 2; comp. Gen. i. 1;
239
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Esther
Isa. xlv. 18). The plight of the Jews was occasioned
by the refusal to kiss Hainan's feet (comp. Esth. iii.
2-5), a refusal caused not by pride, but because honor
as high as that which such an act implied belongs to
God alone (comp. the refusal of the npoaKvvrjaiq of the
Greek ambassadors to Darius). " This scrupulousness
is characteristic of post-exilic Ju-
Iffordecai's daism; in ancient Israel the honor
Prayer. was unhesitatingly accorded to every
nobleman (I Sam. xxv. 23 et seq. ; II
Sam. xviii. 21, 28): even Judith (x. 23 [21]) honored
Holofernes in this way in order to allay his sus-
picions.
But, Mordecai continues, this refusal was merely
a pretext to destroy God's chosen people {Kljipovofiia,
verse 8; comp. Apocr. Esth. iv. 20; vii. 9 = Hebr.
n?nj; Ps. xxviii. 9, xciv. 5, etc.; //fp'C, verse 9;
comp. LXX. on Deut. xxxii. 9; li'Xvpoq, verse 10 =
n^nj, Deut. iv. 20), and he implores God to protect
them now as He had their fatliers in Egypt (comp.
nns in Deut. ix. 26). The prayer closes with the
supplication to save His people and turn their
mourning into gladness (really " feasting " ; comp.
vi. 22 et seq. ; see also Esth. ix. 17-19, where the
prayer also ends in feasting and in the sending of
gifts of food to one another). Here, as in Ps. vi. 6
(A. V. 5), XXX. 10 [9], cxv. 17; and Ecclus. (Sirach)
xvii. 25, the reason for barkening to the prayer is
the desire ascribed toYnwH of hearing songs of praise
and thanks, which only the living can offer (verse
10, where the reading ardfia is preferable to al/za;
Swete, I.e. p. 765). Finally, emphasis is laid on
the people's loud calling and crying to God (ef \axvog
av-uv . . . EKEKpa^ev; comp. Dan. iii. 4, pTIl Nip;
Isa. Iviii. 1, pip D^">n) when they stood face to face
with death {ev b(f)'&a'k(ioiQ avruv).
Closely connected with this is the prayer of Esther
(Apocr. Esth. iii. 12-30; Septuagint, xiii. 8-18, xiv.
1-19; Swete, I.e. pp. 766 et seq. ; Vulg.
The Prayer xiv. 1-19): she takes off her royal
of Esther, garments {to. ifiana r^g 66^t/c avTijq [in
Esth. i. 11, ii. 17 only the royal crown
is mentioned]), and, putting on mourning-robes (pty,
Judges viii. 5 [6] ; Neh. ix. 1), strews ashes on her
head (comp. Isa. iii. 24; Mai. ii. 3; II Sam. xiii. 19,
commonly 1QN3 2^^' ; Job ii. 9). She winds her hair
about her (verse 13) and takes off all adornments
(ETanelvuyaev ; comp. fJ'DJ HJJ?, Lev. xvi. 29, 31 ; Isa.
Iviii. 3). In this way the pity of God would be
aroused and His anger allayed (I Kings xxi. 21-29).
The prayer refers to the threatening danger
(comp. iii. 11): as God once released Israel's ances-
tors from the Egyptian yoke (verse 16), so Esther
beseeches him now to save the Jews from their im-
pending fate, though they deserve it for having
participated in Persian idolatry (verses 17, 18 refer
to this, and not to the preexilic idolatry; comp.
II Kings xvii. 29-33, 41). Following Lagarde and
Ryssel, the reading in verse 19 is IdrjKav rag j^feipac
avTuv Enl Tag x^''-P°^? '''^^ e'cSij'kuv ("they put their
hands in the hands of the idols " ; on n^ jnj, to con-
firm an agreement by clasping of hands, see Ezra x.
19). This means: "The Persian oppressors have
vowed to their gods [verse 19] to make vain the di-
vine promise, to destroy Israel [i.e., the divine heri-
tage], to close the mouths of those that praise God,
and to extinguish the glory of the house and the
altar of God [verse 20] . Furthermore, they swear
that the mouth of the heathen will be opened in
praise of their impotent [gods], and their mortal
king [the Persian] will be for ever admired " (verse
21). Hence God is besought not to give His scepter
into the hands of the "non-existing" (roiq fi^ ovaiv;
comp. I Cor. viii. 4), and not to make the Jews a
laughing-stock to the heathen, but to let the plans
of the latter turn against themselves. "Mark him
[TrapadiyfiaTtaov; com p. Heb. vi. 6] who began [to
act] against us. "
In verse 24 Esther adds a prayer for the success
of the petition which, according to Esth. iv. 16, she
intends to make to the king. " Put orderly speech
into my mouth in face of the lion " (the Persian
king is thus called also in the Aramaic version of
Mordecai 's dream; see Merx, " Chrestomathia Tar-
gumica," p. 164,3; comp. Ecclus. [Sirach] xxv. 16,
19). The object of her petition — to turn the anger
of the king against Israel's persecutors — anticipates
the events of Esth. vii. 9. She prays God to help
her, the desolate one (ry fiSvy, corresponding to *7^n'
in Ps. xxv. 17 [A. V. 16], where it occurs next to
>jj;, "lonely and deserted," differing from verse 14,
ah el fidvog, referring to the singleness of Yhwh),
who has no one else to turn to (verse 25). She refers
to the fact that Yhwh knows the splendor of her
royal position did not tempt her to yield to the king
(in Esth. ii. 7-20 this is not mentioned), but that she
submitted to the force of circumstances (verse 25).
She continues by affirming that she hates the glitter
of the lawless ones {66^av avo/iuv; the avdfiuv here
are the heathen; their rf<5fa is their power), and
abhors the bed of the uncircumcised (verse 26).
Yhwh, she says, knows her distress in being forced
to be the king's wife. She abhors the symbol of
pride on her head {i.e., the royal crown she wears in
public); she abhors it like a filthy rag (uc paKoq
KarafirivLuv = Qnj? 1^331 ; Isa. Ixiv. 5 [A. V. 6]), and
does not wear it when sitting quietly at home (verse
17). Finally, she has not sat at table in Haman's
house, nor graced by her presence the banquet of
the king (according to the canonical version [ii.
18], Esther kept her own feast); nor did she drink
any of the sacrificial wine of the heathen gods {olvov
am)v6uv; comp. LXX. Deut. xxxii. 38; Fuller, in
Wace, I.e. p. 390, verse 28). Since her arrival there,
God, she says, has been her sole joy. The phrase a^'
rifiEpaq fieTapo2.^c refers to the change in her dwelling-
place (comp. Merx, "Chrestomathia Targumica," p.
163, 11 [Ryssel]), not to the day of her reception into
the royal palace (Esth. ii. 16), as ZOckler and Fuller
(in Wace, I.e. p. 390) have it. The prayer closes with
a petition for a confirmation of faith and a release
from all fear (comp. Judith ix. 11).
Esther's reception by the king (iv. 1-15; Swete,
I.e. pp. 767 et seq.) follows in the Septuagint imme-
diately upon the prayer (xv. 4-19; Vulg. xv. 1-19).
Here the events told in Esth. v. 1, 2
Esther are amplified. In xv. 1 (Septuagint)
Before the the " third day " corresponds to Esth.
King. V. 1. According to Septuagint v. 1
she took off the garments she had
worn at divine service; in the apocryphal version
(iii. 13) she had put them on. Divine service consisted
Esther
Estimate
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
240
in fasting, according to Esth. iv. 16; in praying,
according to Apocryphal Estlier iii. 12. In iv. 1
(Apocr. Esth.) she puts on her royal apparel, to
which the crown probably belongs, according to ii.
17. After a supplication to God, she appears (iv. 1)
accompanied by two handmaidens {Hjipai = " favorite
slaves"; comp. Judith viii. 33); according to Esth.
ii, 9, she had seven handmaids. In Apocryphal
Esther iv. 2 it is said she was escorted to the king
by two maidens, " and upon the one she leaned, as
carrying herself daintily " (verse 3 : wf rpvcpepevonkvri) ;
"and the other followed, bearing up her train." In
the canonical Book of Esther no mention is made of
this escort.
Iv. (Apocr. Esth.) describes the Impression her beauty pro-
duced : she was ruddy through the perfection of her beauty,
and her countenance was cheerful and love-kindling ; but her
heart was heavy with fear of the danger of appearing uncalled be-
fore the king (comp. Esth. iv. 11) . Having passed through all the
doors, she stood before the king, who sat upon his throne clothed
In the robes of majesty (see Fuller in Wace, l.c.\ compare the
representation of the king on his throne in the picture of Persep-
olis according to Rawlinson). Verse 7: Then, lifting up his
countenance (that shone with majesty), he looked very fiercely
upon her ; and the queen fell down, and was pale, and fainted ;
after she had regained consciousness she bowed herself upon
the head of the maid that went before her. Verse 8 : Then
God changed the spirit of the king into mildness. In concern
he leaped from his throne, and took her in his arms till she
recovered her composure, comforting her with loving words.
In Verse 9 he asks : " Esther, what is the matter ? I am thy
brother," thereby placing her on the same level with him.
In verses 10 et acq. he assures her that the death penalty is
meant to apply only to the unauthorized entrance of the king's
subjects (comp. Esth. iv. 11), and that it does not apply to her :
" Thou Shalt not die. . . ." Toucbing her neck with his golden
scepter, he embraced her, and said, *' Speak unto me." Then
said she unto him, " I saw thee, my lord, as an angel of God
[comp. Ezek". viii. 2], and my heart was troubled for fear of
thy majesty." And as she was speaking, she fell down for
faintness. Verse 16 : Then the king was troubled, and all his
servants comforted her.
The king now issues an edict canceling the former edict, and
decreeing protection to the Jews (Apocr. Esth. v. 1-24; Vulg.
xvi. 1-24 ; Septuagint addition to viii. 12 ; comp.
The New Swete, I.e. pp. 773-775, the amplification of the
Edict. edict mentioned in Esth. viii. 13). The first
edict against the Jews is revoked; its Insti-
gator, Haman, Is accused of conspiracy against the king ; and
every aid is ordered to be given to the Jews. Verses 2-4:
" Many, the more often they are honored with the great bounty
of their gracious princes, the more proud they are waxen, and
endeavor to hurt not our subjects only, but, not being able to
bear abundance, do take in hand to practise also against those
that do them good, and take not only thankfulness away from
among men, but also, lifted up with the glorious words of lewd
persons that were never good, they think to escape the justice of
God, that seeth all things, and hateth evil." Verses 5-6: "Oft-
entimes, also, fair speech of those that are put in trust to man-
age their friends' affairs [comp. Jacob In Stade, I.e. x. 283, note
2] hath caused many that are in authority to be partakers of
Innocent blood, and hath enwrapped them in remediless calam-
ities [comp. I Sam. xxv. 26; II Sam. xvi. 4], beguiling with the
fidsehood and deceit of their lewd disposition the innocency
and goodness of princes." Verse 7 : *' Now ye may see this, as
we have declared, not so much by ancient histories, as by ob-
serving what hath wickedly been done of late through the
pestilent behavior of them that are unworthily placed in
authority." Verses 8-9 : " We must take care for the time to
come that our kingdom may be quiet and peaceable for all men,
by changing our purposes and always judging things that are
evident with more equal proceeding." Verses 10-14 : The king
had accorded this gentle treatment to Haman. but had been
bitterly deceived by him, and was therefore compelled to revoke
his former edict. (According to Dan. vi. 9, 13 this was inadmis-
sible, but Fuller, Lc. pp. 397 et seq., cites a number of cases in
which it was done. Verse 10 is about Haman, called in i. 17
"the Agaglte," here " the Macedonian " ; inverse 14 he is ac-
cused of having betrayed the Persian empire to the Macedo-
nians.) " For Aman. a Macedonian, the son of Amadatha, being
indeed a stranger to the Persian blood [comp. Vulg. "et
animo et gente Macedo"], and far distant from our goodness,
and a stranger received of us, had so far obtained the favor that
we show toward every nation that he was called our ' father,'
and was continually honored of all men, as the next person unto
the king. He had also been bowed down to [comp. Esth. iii. 2-6].
But he, not bearing his great dignity, went about to deprive us
of our kingdom and life ; having, by manifold and cunning de-
ceits, sought of us the destruction, as well of Mordecai, who
saved our life, and continually procured our good, as of blame-
less Esther, partaker of our kingdom with the whole nation.
For by tTiese means he thought, finding us destitute of friends,
to have translated the kingdom of the Persians to the Macedo-
nians." According to these verses Haman was guilty of a
threefold sin, since he tried to wrest from the king wife,
kingdom, and life.
V. 15-16, 18-19 : " But we find that the Jews, whom this wicked
wretch hath delivered to utter destruction, are no evil-doers,
but live by most just laws ; and that they are children of the
Most High and Most Mighty God, who hath ordered the kingdom
both unto us and to our progenitors in the most excellent man-
ner. Therefore, ye shall do well not to put in execution the
letters sent unto you by Aman, the son of Amadatha; for he
that was the worker of these things is hanged [eo-Tavpwo-floi =
"impaled "] at the gates of Susa with all his family [according
to Esth. vil. 10, viii. 7, Haman alone was hanged ; according to
Esth. ix. 10, the Jews killed his ten sons ; in Dan. vi. 25 the
wives and children were thrown into the lions' den], God, who
ruleth all things, speedily rendering vengeance to him according
to deserts. Therefore he shall publish the copy of this letter
in all places [eicTiSei/ai ; Stade, I.e. x. 282, a phrase used in the
promulgation of royal commands], that the Jews may live after
their own laws " (comp. Ezra vii. 25 ct seq.; Josephus, " Ant."
xii. 3, §3, xvi. 6, §2).
V. 20-24 : "Ye shall aid them, that even the same day, being the
I3th day of the 12th month Adar, they may be avenged on them
who in the time of their aflliction shall set upon them [comp.
Esth. Ix. 1; but see above Apocr. Esth. ii. 6, where the 14th day
is fixed upon ; according to Esth. iii. 13, Haman had appointed
the thirteenth day for exterminating the Jews]. For Almighty
hath turned to joy unto them the day wherein the chosen people
should have perished. Ye shall therefore, among your solemn
feasts, keep it an high day with all feasting [following Gro-
tius, Fritzsche, and Hyssel kXtipmu (sc. hn-ep'^'') is to be added
after ; according to this the Persian king instituted the Jewish
Keast of Purim, as a day to be celebralted also by the Persians],
that both now and hereafter there may be safety to us [the
reading here should be i'M'f instead of niJilv} and the well-af-
fected Persians, and that it may be, to those which do conspire
against us, a memorial of destruction. Therefore every city
and country whatsoever which shall not do according to these
things, shall be destroyed without mercy with Are and sword,
and shall be made not only impassable for men, but also most
hateful for wild beasts and fowls forever."
In the Septuagint the interpretation of Mordecai's
dream is separated from the dream itself, which
forms the beginning of the additions, and constitutes
the end of the whole apocryphon (vi. 1-10), with
verse 11 as subscription (Swete, I.e. pp.
Interpreta- 779 et seq.). In the Vulgate the pas-
tion of sage stands at the end of the canonical
Mordecai's Book of Ezra (x. 4-11), preceding all
Dream. other apocryphal additions as well as
the dream itself, which here occupies
xi. 3-11. Neither dream nor interpretation is
found in Josephus. The expression " God hath done
these things" (comp. IMatt. xxi. 42) refers to the
whole story of the Book of Esther. Verse 2 refers
to the dream told in the beginning of the book,
which has been fulfilled in every respect. "The
little fountain that became a river " (vi. 3) signifies
the elevation of Esther (see i. 9), who became a
stream when the king married her and made her
queen. The light and the sun (see i. 10) signify
the salvation and joy that Esther brought to the
Jews (comp. Esth. viii. 16). The two dragons are
Mordecai and Haman. The nations that assembled
to destroy the name of the Jews (see i. 6) are the
241
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Esther
Estimate
heatlien (comp. Estli. iii. 6-8). "And my nation is
this Israel, which cried to God and were saved " (vi.
6; conip. iii. 11). "Therefore hatli he made two
lots, one for the people of God, and another for all
the Gentiles" (vi. 7; comp. Esth. iii. 7). "And the
two lots were drawn [r/Mov; lit. "they came, sprang
out at the right time"]: one for his people jFritzsche
and Kyssel add tJ Xau ahmv], the other for all the
other peoples. " " So God remembered his people and
justified [decided in its favor; compare Deut. xxv.
1; I Kings viii. 32; Ecclus. (Sirach) xiii. 22; Vulg.
freely rendered, " misertus est " ; compare old Latin
" sal vavit "] his inheritance " (vi.9). " Therefore those
days shall be unto them in the month of Adar, the
fourteenth and fifteenth day of the same month,
with an assembl}', and joy, and with gladness be-
fore God, according to the generations forever among
his people" (vi. 10; comp. Esth. ix. 18, 21). In II
Mace. XV. 36 the fourteenth day is called 7 MapSoxai-
Ky yfiipa.
The subscription, verse 11 (in Swete, ii. 780, in-
serted in the German Bible between Esther's recep-
tion by the king and Ahasuerus' second edict), re-
fers to the whole Book of Esther together with the
apocryphal additions, as does also the expression
TTjv npoKEt/iivT/v kiTiaTo'Xf/v Tuv <j>povpaL (Swete), mean-
ing " the above letter on Purim " (compare Esth. ix.
20, 29).
This letter was taken to Egypt by Dositheus —
who called himself a priest and Levite (?) — and his
son Ptolemy, who maintained that it was the original
(Apocr. Esther). Lysimachus, Ptolemy's son, an
inhabitant of Jerusalem, translated the letter in the
fourth year of the reign of Ptolemj^ and Cleopatra
(according to some in 455; see Fritzsche, I.e. pp. 72
et seq.). Four Ptolemies had wives by the name of
Cleopatra (Epiphanes, Philometor, Physkon, and
Soter). Soter II. lived about that time ; but all these
notices are untrustworthy ; compare, on the date of
the letter, Jacob in Stade's "Zeitschrift," x. 274-
290, especially p. 279.
E. G. H. C. S.
ESTHER, FEAST OF. See Purim.
ESTHER RABBAH : Midrash to the Book of
Esther in the current Midrash editions. From its
plan and scope it is apparently an incomplete collec-
tion from the rich haggadic material furnished by
the comments on the roll of Esther, which has been
read since early times at the public service on Purim.
Except in the Wilna and Warsaw editions with their
modern and arbitrary xlivisions, this Midrash con-
sists of six " parashiyyot " (chapters, sections) intro-
duced by one or more proems; these chapters begin
respectively at Esth. i. 1, i. 4, i. 9, i. 13, ii. 1, ii. 5;
and in the Venice edition of 1545 each has at the end
the words "selika parashata. ..." This division
was probably based on the sections of the Esther
roll, as indicated by the closed paragraphs (mOiriD) ;
such paragraphs existing in the present text to i.
9, 1. 13, i. 16, ii. 1, ii. 5, etc. The beginning of i. 4,
as well as the lack of a beginning to i. 16, may be
due to differences in the division of tiietext. It may
furthermore be assumed that a new parashah began
with the section E.sth. iii. 1, where several proems
precede the comment of the Midrash. From this
V.-16
point onward there is hardly a trace of further divi-
sion into chapters. There is no new parashah even
to Esth. vi. 1, the climax of the Biblical drama. As
the division into parashiyyot has not been carried
out throughout the work, so the comment accom-
panying the Biblical text, verse by verse, is much
reduced in ch. vii. and viii., and is discontinued en-
tirely at the end of ch. viii. The various paragraphs
that follow chapter viii. seem to have been merely
tacked on.
The Book of Esther early became the subject of
comment in the schoolhouses, as may be seen from
Meg. 10b et seq., where long haggadic passages are
joined to single verses. The Midrash under consid-
eration is variously connected with these passages.
The author of Esther Kabbah often draws directly
upon Yerushalmi, Bereshit Kabbah, Wayikra Kab-
bah, Pirke K. El., Targumim, and other ancient
sources. Bereshit Kabbah or Wayikra Kabbah may
also have furnished the long passage in parashah i.,
in connection with the explanation of the first word
(''TVS). Parashah vi. shows several traces of a later
period : especially remarkable here (ed. Venice, 45c, d ;
ed. Wilna, 14a, b) is the literal borrowing from
Yosippon, where Mordecai's dream, Mordecai's and
Esther's prayers, and the appearance of JMordecai
and Esther before the king are recounted (compare
also the additions in LXX. to Esth. i. 1 and iv. 17).
These borrowings, which even Azariah dei Rossi in
his "Me'or 'Enayim" (ed. Wilna, p. 231) designated
as later interpolations, do not justify one in assign-
ing to the Midrash, as Buber does, a date later than
Yosippon — that is to say, the middle of the tenth
century.
This Midrash may be considered older and more
original than the Midr. Abba Gorion to tlie Book of
Esther. Yalkut quotes many passages from the
latter Midrash, as well as from another haggadic
commentary (edited by Buber in the collection
" Sammlung Agadischer Commentare zum Buche
Esther," Wilna, 1886). The Midrash here consid-
ered is entitled " Midrash Megillat Esther " in the
Venice edition. Nahmanides quotes it as the Hag-
gadah to the Esther roll. It may be assumed with
certainty that it is of Palestinian origin.
Bibliography : Zunz, O. V. pp. 264 et seq.; Weiss. Dor, lil.
274, iv. 209: Jellinek, B. H. i. 1-24, v. 1-16, vi. 53-.58, with the
respective introductions: Horowitz, Sammlung Kleiner Mi-
dra«chim, 1881; Buber, IntrnductUm to Sammhnm Agadi-
scher Commentare zum Buche Esther (1886); idem. Agadi-
sche Aljhandlunoen zum Buche Esther, Cracow, 1897;
Briill's Jahrh. viii. 148 et seq.; Winter and Wiinsche. Die
Jlldische Litteratur, i. 554 et seq.; a German transl. of the
Midnish in Wunsche, Bihl. Bab.; and the bibliographies to
Bereshit Rabbah and Ekah Rabbati.
s. s. J. T.
ESTHONIA : Government of Russia; one of the
three Baltic Provinces. It has a total population
(1897) of 404,709, of whom 1,468 are Jews. Not
until the last quarter of the nineteenth century did
Jewish artisans, and others specially privileged,
begin to settle in the province, which is outside of
the Pale of Settlement.
H. R. V. R.
ESTIMATE (pDiy) : Estimate differs greatly
from Appraisement. The latter is a valuation put
upon land or upon some commodity by men acting
in a judicial capacity ; the former is a sort of valu-
ation made by the Mosaic law itself, mostly inde-
Estimate
Etam
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
242
pendent of the actual value, and oftener upon per-
sons than on things. While appraisement is always
a matter of jurisprudence, estimates, in the tech-
nical sense of the word, belong in the category of
sacerdotal laws.
The estimates for persons of either sex and of any
age, and for fields, are given in the traditional law
on the subject, which is elaborated in the treatise
'Arakin of the Mishnah and in the two Talmuds
thereto.
The text in Leviticus provides that where a
man by his vow consecrates a person to the Lord,
the estimate shall be : for a male from one month to
five j'ears, five shekels; from five to twenty years,
twenty shekels of silver; from twenty to sixty
years, fifty shekels; over sixty years, fifteen shekels;
for a female of like ages, three, fifteen, thirty, and
ten shekels respectively. If the person who made
the vow is poor, the priest is allowed to lower the
regular estimate.
The consecration of a clean beast must be carried
out literally. An unclean beast is estimated by the
priest : it is here a real valuation. One-fifth is to be
added by the master in redeeming.
Estimates The same applies to a house. A field
of of a man's possession (that is, de-
Animals, scended to him in his tribe) is estimated
at fifty shekels for each omer of barley-
seed it requires; but if some j'ears have expired
since the jubilee, the estimate is lessened in pro-
portion. One-fifth is added on redemption. A
" bought " field is similarly estimated according to
the number of years to the jubilee, but in any case
then goes back to the former owner. The shekel is
that of the sanctuary, and is therefore equal in value
to twenty gerahs.
One who is in his last gasp, or about to be exe-
cuted, can be estimated ; for the price is fixed. The
estimate to be paid by a poor man can not be less-
ened below one shekel; but if he has more money
about him, he must give it all up to the limit (R.
Me'fr dissents). The estimate of inherited land is
wholly aside from the value. "The parks or
pleasure-gardens of Sebaste are redeemed at the
same figure as the worn-out space round the city
wall " ('Ar. iii. 2).
The difference between the field of possession and
a bought field is this: one-fifth must be added in
redeeming the former, but not in redeeming the
latter. Speaking generally, if a rich person conse-
crates a poor one, he must pay the full, or rich man's,
estimate; but the poor man, even though he conse-
crates a rich man, need pay only the poor man's
estimate.
Passing by the definitions which the treatise
'Arakin gives of various vows, some special conse-
crations engage notice: "I owe the estimate of my
hand or of my foot," means nothing; "I owe the
estimate of my head," or of "my
Special liver," is the same as "my estimate"
Cases. simplj'; for a man can not live with-
out head or liver. " I owe half my
estimate," means paying half. "I owe the estimate
of half of myself," means the full sum ; for one can
not live with half his body. The law does not allow
the redemption of consecrated land to be made in
yearly instalments, but the whole amount must be
paid at one time.
The treasurer of the sanctuary may distrain the
goods of the person causing the estimate for the
amount ; but the same exemptions must be set aside
to him as are set aside to other debtors. In fact,
the passage in 'Arakin (Mishnah vi. 3), which sets
forth what is exempt from the treasurer's distraint,
is the source of the exemption law found in the
codes. The sanctuary may also, like a bond cred-
itor, pursue the lands of the obligor in the hands of
his heirs.
A distinction is found in 'Arakin between "vow-
ing " a person and causing him to be estimated: the
former implies the price which the particular person
would bring if sold as a slave, which may be more
or less than the estimate. One may consecrate, and
thus cause to be estimated, either himself or some one
else. Only minors, deaf-mutes, and lunatics can not
consecrate ; all but children less than a month old
may be consecrated. A heathen, according to the
prevailing opinion, may consecrate, but can not be
estimated.
According to Lev. xxvii. 21, as construed in the
Mishnah (vii. 3), the vows which are redeemable in
estimates go to the priesthood as an organized
whole. Hence the whole system fell into disuse
with the destruction of the Temple. It is therefore
not touched upon in the modern codes (Arba'
Turim and Shulhan ' Aruk) ; Maimonides, however,
aiming here as he does elsewhere to cover the whole
traditional law, has his hilkot 'Arakin wa-Haramin.
It is needless to follow the subject into further
details.
s. s. L. N. D.
ESTRUMSA (ESTRTJMZA, STRXJMZA, or
ESTBOSA): Oriental Jewish family which has
produced several rabbinical authors; takes its name
from " Strumnitza " in Macedonia.
Daniel Estrumsa : Rabbi and Talmudist ; died
at Salonica (?) in 1654. A pupil of Rabbi Mordecai
Kala'i, he became a rabbi of Salonica and chief of
the Portuguese yeshibah there. He wrote : " Magen
Gibborim," responsa, arranged in the order of the
Shulhan 'Aruk, and published by his grandson, Dan-
iel b. Isaac Estrumsa (Salonica, 1753); Talmudical
notes on the "Kol ha-Zelamim" of the 'Abodah,
Zarah, included in the " Ben le-Abraham " of Hay-
yim Abraham Estrumsa (1826); Responsa, included
in Solomon ibn Hason's "Bet Shelomoh" (1719);
"Shemot Gittin," on the spelling of proper nouns in
divorce bills, included in Hayyim Abraham Estrum-
sa's " Yerek Abraham " ; a collection of marginal
notes on Tur Hoshen Mishpat, included in the
" Doresh Mishpat " of Solomon b. Samuel Florentin
(1655).
From Estrumsa's yeshibah a number of well-
known Eastern rabbis graduated, among them being
David Conforte, author of "Kore ha-Dorot."
Bibliography: Conforte, Kore ha-Dorot, ed. Cassel, p. 513b;
Azulai, Shem ha-GedoUm. p. 47 ; Zedner, Cat. Hebr. Books
Brit. Mus. pp. 195, 243 ; Benjacob, Ozar ha-Sefarim, p. 396 ;
Michael, Or ha-Hayyim, No. "89.
L. G. ■ N. T. L.
^ayyim Abraham Estrumsa (called also Bab
ha-Zaken) : Chief rabbi of Serres ; died about 1834.
243
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Estimate
Etam
He wrote "Yerek Abraham," responsa; and "Beu
le-Abraham," a treatise of a casuistic nature. Both
works were printed at Salonica (the former in 1820,
the latter in 1826).
Bibliography : Azulai, Shem ha-GedoUm ; Hazzan. Ha-Ma-
"alot li-Shelomoh, p. 49; Franco, Eumi mr VHintoire des
Israelites de VEmpire Ottoman, etc., p. 267.
G. M. Fr.
of the intonations traditional in the Sephardic con-
gregations. Particularly is this the case in the
prominence of the third and fifth degrees of the
scale, and in the combination and repetition of brief
phrases in sentences of different lengths.
Bibliography : Zunz, Literaturgesch. p. 216; De Sola and Ag-
uilar, Aiicient Melodies, No. 30; Bacher, In J. Q. R.xiv. 596.
A. F. L. C.
*ET SHA'ARE RAZON
Moderato.
(1)
(2)
An - na ze - kor
For us re - mem
' Al har a - sher
Up - on that mount far
Refrain. -^
na
ber,
ka
li be - yom ho - ke - ah,
now we stand in judg - ment,
bod le - ka zo - re - ah,
off where glo - ry waits thee,
^ Fine.
-t-
5=2-
-4-
(1-2)
The
ked
we
- ha -
ne'
. kad
we •
ha
hind
- er
and
the
bound
i/p
- on
miz
the. .
be
al
ah.
tar.
-\-
-+-
Be - a - ha
Un - to the
Im naf - she
Though bound thy
rit
pa
ka
soul
nus
tri
bo
(0
1
sah,
arch,
'ad
him
-g?-
be
a
me
in
Bof
last,
od
bonds
ha - 'a
tenth
nik
most
sa
tri
sha
ten
w
'Ha - ben
' Tliat son
'Kum ha
' A - rise,
a - sher no
that hath been
'a - le - hu
and of - fer
-t
lad
born
11
him
^ ^s^
rah,
al.
rah,
der.
Other
verses
similarly.
le
(0
le
io
ka
thee
'o
Me
mi Sa - rah."
by. . . Sa - rah."
lah... ba - rah."
an.... of - f ring." Dal Segno.
<■ ET SHA'ARE RAZON (jivi "•"lyiJ' ny) : A
long poem on the binding of Isaac upon the altar
(' Akedah), written by Judah ben Samuel ibn Abbas,
a twelfth-century rabbi of Fez, for chanting before
the sounding of the shofar, and so utilized in the
Sephardic liturgy of the New-Year. It is associ-
ated there with a very old Morisco chant, which is
characteristic of its origin in the southern cities of
Spain, and which well exhibits the general mecha-
nism of the older chants, and the tonal construction
ETAM (DtO^y) : !• Village of the tribe of Simeon
(1 Chrou. iv. 82), not found in the parallel list of
localities in .Joshua.
2. Place in Judah, near Bethlehem, fortified and
garrisoned by Rehoboam (II Chron. xi. 6).
3. A rock, also in Judah, to which Samson re-
tired after the slaughter of the Philistines (Judges
XV. 8, 11), and near which place was the fountain
En-hakkore. It is mentioned in the Talmud (Zeb.
54b) as "the fountain of Etam " (DO'V TV), the most
Etampes
Ethics
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
244
elevated place in Palestine. Joseplius ("Ant." viii.
7, g 3) places this fountain sixty stadia south of
Jerusalem, and mentions that the water was brought
to that city by means of aqueducts, the remains of
which were still visible in his time. A village called
"Etam" occurs in the Mishnah (Yeb. xii. 7), and
is, perhaps, identical in site with the fountain of
that name (see Robinson, "Biblical Researches," 1.
515. ii. 168).
4, In 1 Chron. iv. 3 "Etam" may be either a
person or a place ; if the latter, it must be identical
with the Etam of Judah.
E. 6. H. M. Sel.
ETAMPES (Hebr. K'QJtD''X or tJ^QilDN) : Capital
of the arroudissement of the department of Seiue-et-
Oise, France. The origin of the Jewish community
of Etampes seems to go back to the twelfth century.
King Louis VII. appointed a provost in this city,
who alone had the right to enforce the payment
of debts to the Jews, and who was forbidden to
arrest debtors during the fair. Philip Augustus
expelled the Jews in 1181, and transformed their syn-
agogue into the Church of the Holy Cross, for which
tiie pope claimed the privileges which the synagogue
had enjoyed. On their readmission the Count of
Etampes was appointed guardian of the privileges
of the Jews.
The rabbis of Etampes took part in the Synod of
Troyes (1160). Toward the end of the twelfth cen-
tury K. Nathan, son of R. Meshullam ben Nathan
of Melun, lived at Etampes.
Bibliography : Recxieil des Ordonnanccs des Rois de France,
xi.; Lettre d'lnnncent III. aux. Doyen et Chapitre d'E-
tampcs (compare Depping. pp. 91 aad 96); Depping, ies
Juifs dans le Mnyen Aqe, Paris, 1844; Zadoc Kahn, Etude
8ur le Livre de Joseph le Zclatcur, in R. E. J. i. 223.
G. S. K.
ETERNAL LIFE. See Eschatology.
ETERNAL PUNISHMENT. See Escha-
tology.
ETHAN : 1. A man famous for his wisdom (I
Kings iv. 31) ; it is said that Solomon was wiser than
he, although it is not clear from this passage whether
he was Solomon's contemporary or whether he lived
before that king. The matter is settled, however,
in I Chron. ii. 6, 8, where he is mentioned as the
representative of the third generation after Judah.
There are no grounds for identifying this Ethan
with the "Etaua" of the Babylonian mythology
(comp. M. Jastrow, "Religion of Babylonia and As-
syria," p. 519), since Etana was not famous for his
wisdom. On Ethan as the author of Ps. Ixxxix.
(verse 1) see Ezkahite.
2. Descendant of Levi's eldest son, Gershom; he
was the ancestor of the celebrated Asaph, and the
grandfather of a man named Zerah (I Chron. vi. 42).
3. One of the descendants of Levi's third son,
Merari (I Chron. vi. 29), and a son of Rishi or Ku-
shaiah (I Chron. ib. ; xv. 17). This third "^than was
one of the famous triad of musicians, Heman, Asaph,
and Ethan (elsewhere called " Jeduthim "), appointed
by David (ib. xv. 16-19). This Ethan-Jeduthun
probably composed the music to Psalm xxxix., in
the superscription to which he bears the title "me-
nazzeah " (prefect, or conductor). Descendants of
Jeduthun are mentioned (II Chron. xxix. 14) as
living at the time of Hezekiah, and also after
the Exile (Neh. xi. 17). Ethan-Jeduthun has a still
higher office, however, in I Chron. xxv. 1, where
he is one of the prophets of the second class, found
in the sol-caled schools of the prophets (I Sam. x.
5). In his songs he reproduced the utterances of
the real prophets, and, having been commissioned by
the king, he was called the "king's seer" (II Chron.
xxxv. 15). The same title is given to Heman (I
Chron. xxv. 5) and also to Asaph (II Chron. xxix. 30).
E. G. H. E. K.
ETHAUSEN, ALEXAN7>ER BEN
MOSES: German scholar; lived at Fulda in the
seventeenth century. He Avas the author of a
Judfeo-German work in two parts: the first, "Bet
Yisrael," a history of the Jews up to the destruc-
tion of the Second Temple ; and the second, " Bet ha-
Behirah," in twenty-four chapters, a description of
Jerusalem and of both temples (Offenbach, 1719).
Bibliography: Michael, Or ha-Hayyim, p. 225, No. 480;
Furst, Bibl. Jud. 1. 259 ; Steinschiieider, Cat. Bodl. col. 730.
D. M. Sel.
ETHER (iny) : One of the cities in the lowland
of Judah allotted to Simeon (Josh. xv. 42, xix. 7).
e. g. ii. M. Sel.
ETHICAL CULTURE, SOCIETY FOR: A
uon- sectarian, ethicoreligious society founded at
New York by Prof. Felix Adler in 1876. The
society assumed the motto "Deed, not Creed," and
adopted as the one condition of membership a posi-
tive desire to uphold by example and precept the
highest ideals of living, and to aid the Aveaker to at-
tain those ideals. The aims of the society are stated
as follows : " To teach the supremacy of the moral
ends above all human ends and interests ; to teach
that the moral law has an immediate authority not
contingent on the truth of religious beliefs or of
l)hilosophical theories; to advance the science and
art of right living." The members of the society
are free to follow and profess whatever system of
religion they choose, the society confining its atten-
tion to the moral problems of life. It has given
practical expression to its aims by establishing the
Workingmau's School, a model school for general
and technical education, in which the use of the
kindergarten method in the higher branches of
study is a distinctive feature. Each of its teachers
is a specialist as well as an enthusiast in his sub-
ject; the Socratic method is followed. The ma-
jority of the pupils are of non-Jewish parentage.
Pupils over seven are instructed in the use of tools.
The society has also established a system of district-
nursing among the poor, and a family home for neg-
lected children.
Branch societies have been formed in Chicago,
Philadelphia, St. Louis, Cambridge (England), and
London, and a similar movement was started in Ber-
lin. While originally agnostic in feeling, the society
has gradually developed into a simple, human broth-
erhood, united by ethical purpose, and has, as such,
acquired a strong influence in distinctively Christian
circles in some parts of Europe. The only approach
to a religious service is a Sunday address on topics
245
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Etampes
Ethics
of the day, preceded and followed by music. Its
chief supporters in New York and Philadelphia are
Jews, as is its founder aud leader, though the soci-
ety does not in any degree bear the stamp of Juda-
ism. It has recently erected an elaborate building
in New York. A society on similar lines exists at
Frankfort-ou-the-Maiu. E. W. B.
ETHICS (r}i?of = " habit," "character"): The
science of morals, or of human dut}' ; the systematic
presentation of the fundamental principles of human
conduct and of the obligations and duties deducible
therefrom. It includes, there to re, also the exposi-
tion of the virtues and their opposites which char-
acterize human conduct in proportion to the extent
to which man is under the consecration of the sense
of obligation to realize the fundamental concepts of
right conduct. Ethics may be divided into general,
or theoretical, and particular, or applied. Theoretical
ethics deals with the principles, aims, aud ideas reg-
ulating, and the virtues characterizing, conduct — the
nature, origin, aud development of conscience, as at-
tending and judging human action. Applied ethics
presents a scheme of action applicable to the various
relations of human life and labor, and sets forth what
the rights aud duties are which are involved in these
relations. Ethics may also be treated descriptively ;
this method includes a historical examination, based
upon data collected by observation, of the actual
conduct, individual or collective, of man, aud is thus
distinct from ethics as dynamic and normative, as
demanding compliance with a certain standard re-
sulting from certain fundamental principles and
ultimate aims. Philosophical ethics embraces the
systematic development of ethical theory and prac-
tise out of a preceding construction (materialistic or
idealistic) of life and its meaning (optimistic or pes-
simistic). Religious ethics finds the principles and
aims of life in the teachings of religion, and pro-
ceeds to develop therefrom the demands and duties
which the devotee of religion must fulfil.
Jewish ethics is based on the fundamental con-
cepts and teachings of Judaism. These are con-
tained, though not in systematized formulas, in Jew-
ish literature. As it is the concern of Jewish theology
to collect the d;ita scattered throughout this vast
literature, and construe therefrom the underlying
system of belief and thought, so it is that of Jewish
ethics to extract from the life of the Jews and the
literature of Judaism the principles recognized as ob-
ligatory and actually regulating the conduct of the
adherents of Judaism, as well as the ultimate aims
apprehended by the consciousness of the Jew as
the ideal and destiny set before man and humanity
(see Lazarus, "Die Ethikdes Judenthums," pp. 9 et
seq.). This entails resort to both methods, the de-
scriptive and the dynamic. Jewish ethics shows
how the Jew has acted, as well as how he ought to
act, under the consecration of the principles and
precepts of his religion. Jewish ethics may be di-
vided into (1) Biblical, (2) Apocryphal, (3) rabbini-
cal, (4) philosophical, (5) modern ; under the last will
be discussed the concordant, or discordant, relation
of Jewish ethics to ethical doctrine as derived from
the theories advanced by the various modern philo-
sophical schools.
Biblical Data : The books forming the canon
are the sources whence information concerning the
ethics of Bible times may be drawn. These wri-
tings, covering a period of many centuries, reflect
a rich variety of conditions and beliefs, ranging
from the culture and cult of rude nomadic shepherd
tribes to the refinement of life and law of a seden-
tary urban population, from primitive clan lieno-
theism to the ethical monotheism of the Prophets.
The writings further represent two distinct types,
the sacerdotal theocracy of the Priestly Code and
the universalism of the Wisdom series — perhaps
also the apocalyptic Messianism of eschatological
visions. It would thus seem an unwarranted as-
sumption to treat the ethics of the Bible as a imit,
as flowing from one dominant principle and flowering
in the recognition of certain definite lines of conduct
and obligation. Instead of one system of ethics,
many would have to be recognized and expounded
in the light of the documents; for instance, one
under the obsession of distinctively tribal concep-
tions, according to which insult and injury entail
the obligation to take revenge (Gen. iv. 23, 24;
Judges xix.-xx.), and which does not acknowledge
the right of hospitality (Gen. xix. ; Judges xix.);
another under the domination of national ambitions
(Num. xxxi. 2 et seq.), with a decidedly non-humane
tinge (Deut. xx. 13, 14, 16, 17). But it must be re-
membered that the vdtimate outcome of this evolu-
tion was ethical monotheism, and that under the
ideas involved in it Biblical literature was finally
canonized, many books being worked over in accord-
ance with the later religious conviction, so that only
a few fragmentary indications remain of former
ethical concepts, which were at variance with those
sprung from a nobler and purer apprehension of
Israel's relation to its God and His nature.
The critical school, in thus conceding that the
canon was collected when ethical monotheism had
obliterated all previous religious conceptions, is vir-
tually at one, so far as the evidential character of
the books concerning the final ethical positions of
the Bible comes into play, with the traditional
school, according to which the monotheism of the
Bible is due to divine revelation, from which the
various phases of popular polytheism are wilful
backslidings. It is therefore permissible in the
presentation of Biblical ethics to neglect the indica-
tions of anterior divergences, while treating it as a
unit, regardless of the questions when and whether
its ideal was fully realized in actuality. The treat-
ment is more difficult on account of the character
of tlie Biblical writings. They are not systematic
treatises. Tiie material which they contain must
often be recast, and principles must be deduced from
the context that are not explicitly stated in the text.
With these cautions and qualifications kept in
view, it is safe to hold that the principle underlying
the ethical concepts of the Bible and from which
the positive duties and virtues are derived is the
unity and holiness of God, in whose image man was
ccatcd, and as whose priest-people among the
nations Israel was appointed. A life exponential of
the divine in the human is the "summum bonum,"
the purpose of purposes, according to the ethical
doctrine of the Biblical books. This life is a possi-
£thics
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
246
bility and an obligation involved in the humanity of
every man. For every man is created in the image
of God (Gen. i. 26). By virtue of this, man is ap-
pointed ruler over all that is on earth (Gen. i. 28).
But man is free to choose whether he will or will
not live so as to fulfil these obligations. From the
stories in Genesis it is apparent that the Bible does
in no way regard moralit}'' as contingent upon an
antecedent and authoritative proclamation of the
divine will and law. The "moral law " rests on the
nature of man as God's likeness, and is expressive
thereof. It is therefore autonomous, not heterono-
mous. From this concept of human
Auton- life flows and follows necessaiily its
omous in ethical quality as being under obliga-
Sanction. tion to fulfil the divine intention which
is in reality its own intention. Enoch,
Noah, Abraham, and other heroes of tradition, rep-
resenting generations that lived before the Sinaitic
revelation of the Law, are conceived of as leading a
virtuous life; while, on the other hand, Cain's murder
and Sodom's vices Illustrate the thought that right-
eousness and its reverse are not wilful creations and
distinctions of a divinely proclaimed will, but are in-
herent in human nature. But Israel, being the peo-
ple with whom God had made His covenant because
of the Patriarchs who loved Him and were accord-
ingly loved by Him — having no other claim to excep-
tional distinction than this — is under the obligation
to be the people of God (npJD Dy, Ex. xix. 5 et seq.)
that is to illustrate and carry out in all the relations
of human life, individual and social, the implications
of man's godlikeness. Hence, for Israel the aim
and end, the "summum bonum," both in its indi-
viduals and as a whole, is "to be holy." Israel is a
holy people (Ex. xix. 6; Deut. xiv. 2,21; xxvi. 19;
xxviii. 9), for "God is holy" (Lev. xix. 2, et al.).
Thus the moral law corresponds to Israel's own his-
toric intention, expressing what Israel knows to be
its own innermost destiny and duty.
Israel and God are two factors of one equation.
The divine law results from Israel's own divinity.
It is only in the seeming, and not in the real, that
this law is of extraneous origin. It is the necessary
complement of Israel's own historical identity.
God is the Lawgiver because He is the only ruler
of Israel and its Judge and Helper (Isa. xxxiii. 22).
Israel true to itself can not be untrue to God's law.
Therefore God's law is Israel's own highest life.
The statutory character of Old Testament ethics
is only the formal element, not its essential distinc-
tion. For this God, who requires that Israel "shall
fear him and walk in all his ways and shall love and
serve him with all its heart and all its soul " (Deut.
x. 12, Hebr.), is Himself the highest manifestation of
ethical qualities (Ex. xxxiv. 6, 7). To walk in His
ways, therefore, entails the obligation to be, like
Him, merciful, etc. This holy God is Himself He
that " regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward : He
doth execute the judgment of the fatherless and
widow, and loveth the stranger" (Deut. x. 17-18),
qualities which Israel, as exponential of His unity
and power and love, must exhibit as the very inner-
most ambitions of its own historical distinctness
(Deut. X. 19 et seq.).
Hence great stress is laid on reverence for parents
(Ex. XX. 12; Lev. xix. 3). Central to the social or-
ganism is the family. Its head is the father; yet
the mother as his equal is with him entitled to honor
and respect at the hands of sons and daughters.
Monogamy is the ideal (Gen. ii. 24). Marriage
within certain degrees of consanguinity or in rela-
tions arising from previous conjugal unions is for-
bidden (Lev. xviii. 6 et seq.); chastity
Family is regarded as of highest moment
Ethics. (Ex. XX. 14; Lev. xviii. 18-20); and
abominations to which the Canaanites
were addicted are especially loathed. The unruly
and disrespectful son (Ex. xxi. 17) is regarded
as the incarnation of wickedness. As virtue and
righteousness flow from the recognition of the holy
God, idolatry is the progenitor of vice and oppres-
sion (Ex. xxiii. 24 et seq.). For this judgment his-
tory has furnished ample pioof. Hence the ethics
of the Pentateuch shows no tolerance to either idols
or their worshipers. Both being sources of contam-
ination and corruption, they had to be torn out by
the roots (Lev. xix. 4; Ex. xx. 3 et seq. ; Deut. iv.
15-25 et seq.). Marriages with the aboriginal tribes
were therefore prohibited (Deut. vii. 3), for Israel
was to be a " holy " people. To the family belonged
also the slaves (Deut. xvi. 14). While slavery in a
certain sense was recognized, the moral spirit of the
Pentateuchal legislation had modified this imiversal
institution of antiquity (see Cruelty; Slaveky).
The Hebrew slave's term of service was limited;
the female slave enjoyed certain immunities. In-
juries led to manumission (Ex. xxi. 2-7, 20, 26),
Man-stealing (slave-hunting) entailed death (Ex.
xxi. 16). The stranger, too, was within the cove-
nant of ethical considerations (Ex. xxii. 20 [A. V, 21];
Lev. xix. 33). "Thou shalt love him as thyself," a
law the phraseology of which proves that in the
preceding " thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself "
(Lev. xix. 18) "neighbor" does not connote an Israel-
ite exclusively. There was to be one law for the
native and the stranger (Lev. xix. 34; comp. Ex.
xii. 49). As was the stranger (Ex. xxiii. 9), so were
the poor, the widow, the orphan, commended to the
special solicitude of the righteous (see Interest;
Poor Laws; Usury; Lev. xix. 9 et seq. ; Ex. xxii. 24
et seq., xxiii. 6).
In dealings with men honesty and truthfulness
are absolutely prerequisite. Stealing, flattery, false-
hood, perjury and false swearing, op-
Altruistic pression, even if only in holding back
Virtues, overnight the hired man's earnings, are
under the ban; the coarser cruelties
and dishonesties are forbidden, but so are the refined
ones ; and deafness and blindness entitled to gentle
consideration him who was afflicted by either of these
infirmities (Lev. xix. 11-14). The reputation of a fel-
low man was regarded as sacred (Ex. xxiii. 1). Tale-
bearing and unkind insinuations were proscribed, as
was hatred of one's brother in one's heart (Lev. xix.
17). A revengeful, relentless disposition is imethical ;
reverence for old age is inculcated; justice shall be
done; right weight and just measure are demanded;
poverty and riches shall not be regarded by the
judge (Lev. xix. 15, 18, 32, 36; Ex. xxiii. 3). The
dumb animal has claims upon the kindly help of
man (Ex. xxiii. 4), even though it belongs to one's
247
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Ethics
enemy. This epitome of the positive command-
ments and prohibitions, easil)- enlarged, will suffice
to show the scope of the ethical relations considered
by the Law. As a holj^ nation, Israel's public and
private life was under consecration; justice, truth-
fulness, solicitude for the weak, obedience and rev-
erence to those in authority, regard for the rights
of others, strong and weak, a forgiving and candid
spirit, love for fellow man and mercy for the beast,
and chastity appear as the virtues flowering forth
from Pentateuchal righteousness.
It has often been urged that the motive of ethical
action in the Pentateuch is the desire for material
prosperity and the anxiety to escape disaster. This
view confounds description of fact
Motive of with suggestion of motive. The Pen-
Morality, tateuchal lawgiver addresses himself
always to the nation, not to the indi-
vidual. In his system Israel is under divine disci-
pline, intended to make it in ever greater measure
worthy and fit to be a holy nation exponential of
the holy God. The physical and political disasters
which, from the point of view of modern critics,
were actual experiences in the time of the Deute-
ronomist, were consequences of Israel's disloyalty.
Only repentance of its evil ways and adoption of
ways concordant with its inner historic duty would
put an end to the divinely appointed and necessary
punitive discipline. The motive of Israel's ethical
self-realization as the "holy people," nevertheless, is
not desire for prosperity or fear of disaster. It is
to be true to its appointment as the priest-people.
From this historical relation of Israel to God flows,
without ulterior rewards or penalties, the limpid
stream of Pentateuchal raoralit}'.
For the Prophets, too, the distinct character of
Israel is basic, as is the obligation of all men to lead
a righteous life. The ritual elements
Prophetic and sacerdotal institutions incidental
Ethics. to Israel's appointment are regarded as
secondary by the preexilic prophets,
while the intensely human side is emphasized (Isa. i.
11 et seq., Iviii. 3 et seq.). Israel is chosen, not on
account of any merit of its own, but as having been
" alone singled out " by God ; its conduct is under
more rigid scrutiny than any other people's (Amos
iii. 1-2). Israel is the "wife" (Hosea), the "bride"
(Jer. ii. 2-3). This covenant is one of love (Hosea
vi. 7); it is sealed by righteousness and loyalty
(Hosea ii. 21-22). Idolatrj' is adulterous abandon-
ing of God. From this infidelity proceed all man-
ner of vice, oppression, untruthfulness. Fidelity,
on the other hand, leads to "doing justly and loving
mercy " (Micah vi. 8). Dissolution of the bonds of
confidence and disregard of the obligation to keep
faith each man with his fellow characterize the
worst times (Micah vii. 5). Falsehood, deceitful-
ness, the shedding of blood, are the horrors attend-
ing upon periods of iniquity (Isa. lix. 3-6; Jer. ix.
2-5). Truth and peace shall men love (Zech. viii.
16-17). Adultery and lying are castigated; pride
is deprecated ; ill-gotten wealth is condemned (Jer.
xxiii. 14, ix. 22-23, xvii. 11; Hab. ii. 9-11). Glut-
tony and intemperance, greed and frivolity, are ab-
horred (Tsa. V. 22; Jer. xxi. 13-14; Amos vi. 1, 4-7).
The presumptuous and the scoffers are menaced
with destruction (Isa. xxix. 20-21 ; Ezek. xiii. 18-
19, 22). But kindness to the needy, benevolence,
justice, pity to the suffering, a peace-loving disposi-
tion, a truly humble and contrite spirit, are the vir-
tues which the Prophets hold up for emulation.
Civic loyalty, even to a foreign ruler, is urged as a
duty (Jer. xxix. 7). "Learn to do good" is the
key-note of the prophetic appeal (Isa. i. 17) ; thus the
end-time will be one of peace and righteousness;
war will be no more (Isa. ii. 2 et seq. ; see Messiah).
In the Psalms and the Wisdom books the na-
tional emphasis is reduced to a minimum. The
good man is not so much a Jew as a
In Psalms man (Ps. i.). The universal character
and of the Biblical ethics is thus verified.
Wisdom Job indicates the conduct and princi-
Literatujre. pies of the true man. All men are
made by God (Job xxix. 12-17,
xxxi. 15). The picture of a despicable man is
that given in Prov. vi. 12-15, and the catalogue of
those whom God hates enumerates the proud, the
deceitful, the shedder of innocent blood, a heart
filled with intrigues, and feet running to do evil;
a liar, a false witness, and he who brings men to
quarrel (Prov. vi. 16-19). The ideal of woman
is pictured in the song of the true housewife
(Prov. xxxi. % et seq.), while Psalms xv. and xxiv.
sketch the type of man Israel's ethics will produce.
He walketh uprightly, worketh righteousness,
speaketh truth in his heart. He backbiteth not.
The motive of such a life is to be permitted "to
dwell in God's tabernacle," in modern phraseology
to be in accord with the divine within oneself. The
priesthood of Israel's One God is open to all that
walk in His ways. The ethics of the Bible is not
national nor legalistic. Its principle is the holiness
of the truly human; this holiness, attainable by
and obligatory upon all men, is, however, to be
illustrated and realized by and in Israel as the holy
people of the one holy God.
The temper of the ethics of the Bible is not as-
cetic. The shadow of sin is not over earth and man.
Joy, the joy of doing what "God asks," and what
the law of man's very being demands, willingly and
out of the full liberty of his own adaptation to this
inner law of his, is the clear note of the Old Testa-
ment's ethical valuation of life. The world is good
and life is precious, for both have their center and
origin in God. He leads men according to His pur-
poses, which come to pass with and without the
cooperation of men. It is man's privilege to range
himself on the side of the divine. If found there,
strength is his; he can not fall nor stumble; for
righteousness is central in all. But if he fails to be
true to the law of his life, if he endeavors to ignore
it or to supersede it by the law of selfishness, which
is the law of sin, he will fail. "The way of the
wicked He turneth upside down" (Ps. i.). Ethics
reaches thus beyond the human and earthly, and is
related to the eternal. Ethics and religion are in the
Bible one and inseparable.
K. E. G. H.
In Apocryphal Literature : Ethics in sys-
tematic form and apart from religious belief is as little
found in apocryphal or Judaeo-Hellenistic literature
as in the Bible, though Greek philosophy has greatly
Ethics
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
248
influenced Alexandrian writers such as the authors of
IV Maccabees and the Book of Wisdom (see Cardi-
nal ViKTUEfe), and, above all, Philo. Nevertheless
decided progress is noticeable both in the conception
and in the accentuation of theoretical ethics from the
time the Jews came into closer contact with the Hel-
lenic world. Before that period the Wisdom liter-
ature shows a tendency to dwell solely on the moral
obligations and problems of life as appealing to
man as an individual, leaving out of consideration
the ceremonial and other laws which concern only
the Jewish nation. From this point of view Ben
Sira's collection of sayings and monitions was writ-
ten, translated into Greek, and circulated as a
practical guide (TvaiSayuydc : Clemens Alcxandrinus,
"Paedagogus," ii. 10, 99 et seq.), giving instructions
from a matter-of-fact or utilitarian standpoint on the
various relations of man to man in the domestic and
social sphere of activity. The book contains popu-
lar ethics in proverbial form as the result of every-
day life experience, without higher philosophical or
religious principles and ideals; also in regard to
charity {ib. iv. 1 etseq., vii. 32 e^ seq.) the author takes
a popular view (see Sira, Ben). It is possible that
other books of a similar nature existed in the pre-
Maccabean era and were lost (see Ahikar).
Of a higher character are the ethical teachings
which emanated from Hasidean circles in the Macca-
bean time, such as a,re contained in Tobit, especially
in ch. iv.; here the first ethical will or testament
("zawwa'ah ") is found, giving a summary of moral
teachings, with the Golden Rule, " Do that to no man
which thou hatest! " as the leading maxim. There
are even more elaborate ethical teachings in the Tes-
taments of the Twelve Patriarchs, in which each of
the twelve sons of Jacob, in his last words to his
children and children's children, reviews his life
and gives them moral lessons, either warning them
against a certain vice he had been guilty of, so that
they may avoid divine punishment, or recommend-
ing them to cultivate a certain virtue he had prac-
tised during life, so that they may win God's favor.
The chief virtues recommended are: love for one's
fellow man; industry, especially in agricultural pur-
suits ; simplicity ; sobriety ; benevolence toward the
poor; compassion even for the brute (Issachar, 5;
Reuben, 1; Zebulun, 5-8; Dan, 5; Gad, 6; Benja-
min, 3), and avoidance of all passion, pride, and
hatred. Similar ethical farewell monitions are at-
tributed to Enoch in the Ethiopic Enoch (xciv. et
8eq.)a,rxd the Slavonic Enoch (Iviii. etseq.), and to the
three patriarchs (see Barnes, "The Testaments of
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, " in " Texts and Studies, "
ii. 144, Cambridge, 1892).
The Hellenistic propaganda literature, of which
the didactic poem under the pseudonym of Pho-
CYLiDES is the most characteristic, made the pro-
pagation of Jewish ethics taken from the Bible
its main object for the sake of winning the pagan
world to pure monotheism. It was owing to this
endeavor that certain ethical principles were laid
down as guiding maxims for the Gentiles; first of
all the three capital sins, idolatry, murder, and in-
cest, were prohibited (see Sibyllines, iii. 38, 761; iv.
30 et seq.; comp. Targ. Yer. Gen. xiii 13, et ul.);
then these so-called Noachian Laws were gradually
developed into six, seven, and ten, or thirty laws of
ethics binding upon every human being (Sanh. 56a, b ;
see also Commandments). Regarding the ethical
literature for converts see Didache.
Rabbinical : The whole rabbinical system of
ethics is based upon humanitarian laws of rigliteous-
ness. " Rather than commit any one of the three
capital sins — idolatry, adultery, murder — man (even
the Gentile) should give up his life" (Sanh. 74a, b);
by disregard of this prohibition the heathen forfeits
his claim upon human compassion and love ('Ab.
Zarah 2b ; Sanh. 108a), while the solemn acceptance
of it secures him the claim to love and support
(Sifra, Behar, vi. 5 ; Pes. 21b). It was with reference
to the Gentile world that the Golden Rule was pro-
nounced by Hillel as the cardinal principle of the
Jewish law(Shab. 31a; Ab. R. N., text B, xxvi. ; ed.
Schechter, p. 53). Akiba is more explicit: " What-
ever thou hatest to have done unto thee do not unto
thy neighbor; wherefore do not hurt him; do not
speak ill of him ; do not reveal his secrets to others ;
let his honor and his property be as dear to thee as
thine own" (Ab. R. N., text B, xxvi., xxix., xxx.,
xx.xiii.).
The scope of Jewish ethics embraces not only the
Jew, but man, the fellow creature (see Creature).
This is strongly emphasized by Ben Azzai when he
says: "The Torah, by beginning with the book of
the generations of man [Gen. v. 1], laid down the
great rule for the application of the Law : Love thy
neighbor as thyself" (Lev. xix. 18; Gen. R. xxiv.,
end). "Love the creature I" is therefore Hillel's
maxim (Abot i. 12), and "hatred of the creature"
is denounced by R. Joshua {ib. ii. 11).
The source and ideal of all morality is God, in
whose ways man is to walk (Deut. xi. 22). As He
is merciful and gracious so man should
Ideal and be (Sifra, Deut. 49; Mek., Beshallah,
Motive. to Ex. xv. 2; Sotah 14a, with refer-
ence to Deut. xiii. 5). This is in ac-
cordance with Abraham's being singled out "to
command his children and his house after him, to
observe the way of the Lord, to do righteousness
and justice" (Gen. xviii. 19, Hebr.). The motive of
moral action should be pure love of God (Sifra,
Deut. 48, after xi. 22), or fear of God, and not
desire for recompense. "Be not like the servants
that serve their master for the sake of getting
a share, but let the fear of God be upon you "
(Abot i. 3).
The cardinal principle of rabbinical ethics is that
the very essence of God and His law is moral per-
fection ; hence the saying of R. Simlai (see Com-
mandments): " Six hundred and thirteen command-
ments were given to Moses ; then David came and
reduced them to eleven in Psalm xv. ; Isaiah (xxxiii.
15), to six; Micah (vi. 8), to three; Isaiah again (Ivi.
1), to two; and Habakkuk (ii. 4), to one: ' The just
lives by his faithfulness ' " (A. V. " faith " ; Mak. 23b).
"The heathen nations, lacking the belief in a divine
ideal of morality, refused to accept the law of Sinai
enjoining the sacredness of life, of marriage, and of
property" (Mek., Yitro, 5).
Religion and ethics are, therefore, intimately in-
terwoven, for it is the motive which decides the
moral value, the good or evil character of the ac-
249
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Ethics
tion. " The words ' I am the Lord thy God, ' fol-
lowing a Biblical command, express the idea that
God judges men by the motive which springs from
tlie heart and which escapes the notice of man "
(Sifra, Kedoshim, iii. 2; B. M. 58b; comp. "God de-
sires the heart": Sanh. 106b; Men. xiii. 11). "An
evil deed done from a good motive is better than a
good deed inspired by an evil [selfish] motive " (Naz.
23b; Yor. Peaii i. 15c); hence "the resolve to sin is
of greater consequence than the sin itself" (Yoma
29a). Every good act must therefore be done for
the sake of God — "le-shem shamayim" — or of His
law— "lishmah" (Abot ii. 12; Ber. 16a). Man has a
free will (Abot iii. 15): "Do His will as if it were
thy will, that He may do thy will as if it were His;
annul thy will before His will, that He may annul
other men's will before thine "(Abot ii. 4). "The
rigiiteous have their desires in their power; the
wicked are in the power of their desires" (Ber. 61b).
Rabbinical ethics, the ethics of the Pharisees,
while adopting the rigorous views of the Hasidim
in principle, modified them by paying due re-
gard to the whole of life and opposing the ascetic
tendencies of the Essenks, and greatly deepened
and enlarged the sense and the scope of morality and
duty by infusing new ethical ideas and motives into
both the laws and the stories of the Bible, lifting
the letter of the Law to a high standard of spiritual-
ity. The fine ethical types created by the Hasidim
out of the lives of the Patriarchs and of the ancient
leaders of Israel became traditional prototypes and
models, and each Mosaic law, having been greatly
amplified in Hasidcan practise, received a deeper
meaning in the sphere of duty and responsibil-
ity. On the other hand, the Essene contempt for
woman and home and the comforts of life was
strongly opposed by the Pharisees, and conse-
quently rabbinical ethics developed a healthy, prac-
tical, and vigorous spirit of morality which has
nothing of the sentimentalism and otherworldliness
of other systems, and is not absorbed by mere social-
istic or altruistic concepts of life. Its character is
best described by Hillel's maxim: "If I am not for
myself, who is for me? and, being only for mj'self,
what am I? and if not now, when? " (Abot i. 15).
Man as child of God has first of all duties in re-
gard to his own self. " He who subjects himself to
needless self-castigations and fasting.
Duty of or even denies himself the enjoyment
Self- of wine, is a sinner " (Ta'an. 11a, 22b).
Assertion. Man has to give account for every
lawful enjoyment he refuses (Yer.
Kid. iv. 66d). Man is in duty bound to preserve
his life (Ber. 32b, after Deut. iv. 9; Sifra, Ahare
Mot, xiii.) and his health (B. K. 91b; Shab. 82a).
Foods dangerous to health are more to be guarded
against than those ritually forbidden (Hul. 10a).
He should show self-respect in regard to both his
bod}% " honoring it as the [sanctuary of the] image
of God" (Hillel: Lev. R. xxxiv.), and his garments
(Shab. 113b; Ned. 81a). He must perfect himself
by the study of the Law, which must be of primary
impoitance (Sifre, Deut. 34). "The third question
God asks man at the Last Judgment is whether he
studied the Law " (Shab. 31a). But study must
be combined with work (Abot ii. 2; Ber. 35b).
" Greater is the merit of labor than of idle piety "
(Midr. Teh. cxxviii. 2). "Love labor" (Abot i. 10);
"it honors man " (Ned. 49b; see Labor). One must
remove every cause for suspicion in order to appear
blameless before men as well as before God (Yoma
38a). Man is enjoined to take a wife and obtain
posterity (Yeb. 63b; Mek., Yitro, 8). "He who
lives without a wife lives without joy and blessing,
without protection and peace " ; he is " not a complete
man " (Yeb. 62a, 63a), and for it he has to give reck-
oning at the great Judgment Day (Shab. 31a). For
this accentuation of the dignity and sanctity of
domestic life see Woman.
Social ethics is best defined by R. Simeon b. Gama-
liel's words: "The world rests on three things: jus-
tice, truth, and peace " (Abot i. 18).
Justice and Justice ("din," corresponding to the
Righteous- Biblical "mishpat") being "God's"
ness. (Deut. i. 17), it must, according to the
Rabbis as well as Mosaism (Ex. xxiii.
3), be vindicated at all costs, whether the object be
of great or small value (Sanh. 8a). "Let justice
pierce the mountain" is the characteristic maxim
attributed to Moses (Sanh. 6b). They that blame
and ridicule Talmudism for its hair-splitting minu-
tiae overlook the important ethical principles un-
derlying its entire judicial code. It denounces as
fraud every mode of taking advantage of a man's
ignorance, whether he be Jew or Gentile; every
fraudulent dealing, every gain obtained by betting
or gambling or by raising the price of breadstuffs
through speculation, is theft (Tosef. , B. K. vii. 8-13;
Tosef.,B. M. iii. 25-27; B. B. 90b; Sanh. 25b; Hul.
94a); every advantage derived from loans of money
or of victuals is usury (B. M. v. ; Tosef., B. M. iv.);
every breach of promise in commerce is a sin provo-
king God's punishment (B. M. iv. 2); every act of
carelessness which exposes men or things to danger
and damage is a culpable transgression (B. K. i.-vi.).
It extends far beyond the Biblical statutes responsi-
bility for every object given into custody of a per-
son or found by him (B. M. ii. and iii.). It is not
merely New Testament (Matt. v. 22), but Pharisaic,
ethics which places insulting, nicknaming, or putting
one's fellow man to shame, in the same category as
murder (B. M. 58b), and which brands as calumny
the spreading of evil reports even when true,
or the listening to slanderous gossip, or the caus-
ing of suspicion, or the provoking of unfavorable
remarks about a neighbor (Pes. 118a; B. M. 58b;
'Ar. 16a).
" The first question man is asked at the Last Judg-
ment is whether he has dealt justly with his neigh-
bor" (Shab. 31a). Nor is tlie mammon of unright
eousness to be placated for charitable or religious
purposes (B. K. 94b; comp. Didascalia in Jew.
Encyc. iv. 592; Suk. iii. 1), the Jewish principle
being, "A good deed ["mizwah"] brought about by
an evil deed [" 'aberah "] is an evil deed " (Suk. 30a).
The Jewish idea of righteousness ("zedakah") in-
cludes benevolence (see Charity), inasmuch as the
owner of property has no right to withhold from the
poor their share. If he does, he acts like Sodom
(Abot V. 10; comp. Ezek. xvi. 49); like an idolater
(Tosef., Peah, iv. 20); or like a thief (Num. R. v.,
after Prov. xxii. 20). On the other hand, the Rabbis
Ethics
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
250
decreed, against Essene practise, tliat no one had a
right to give more than the fifth of his possessions
to charity (Ket. 50a; 'Ar. 28a; Yer. Peah i. 15b).
The twin sister of righteousness is truth, and here
too the Hasidim were the first to insist that swearing
sliould not be resorted to, but that a
Truth man's yea should be yea, and his nay,
and Peace, nay (Ruth R. iii. 18; see Essenes).
" God shall punish him who does not
abide by his word " (B. M. iv. 2). "He who prevar-
icates is as one who worships an idol instead of the
God of truth " (Sanh. 92a). One should be careful
not to deviate from the truth even in conventionali-
ties or in fun, was the teaching of Shammai (Ket.
17a; Suk. 46b). "Teach thy tongue to say, ' I do not
know,' lest thou be entangled in some untruth"
(Ber. 4a). "God hates him who speaks with his
tongue what he does not mean in his heart." "It
was the father of the Canaanites who taught them
to speak untruth " (Pes. 113b). " Truth is the signet
of God " (Yer. Sanh. i. 18a ; see Truth).
While peace is everywhere recommended and
urged as the highest boon of man (Num. R. xi. ;
Pes. i. 1; 'Uk. iii. 12), hatred, quarrelsomeness, and
anger are condemned as leading to murder (Derek
Erez Rabbah, xi. ; Yoma 9b ; Yer. Peah i. 16a). The
highest principle of ethics, rabbinical as well as Bib-
lical, is holiness, that is, separation from, and eleva-
tion above, everything sensual and profane (i.e.,
everything in animal life that is contaminating or de-
grading). The words which stand at the head of
the principal chapter on ethics in the jMosaic law,
"Ye shall be holy: for I the Lord your God am
holy" (Lev. xix.2), are explained (Sifra, Kedoshim,
i.) as: "Be separated ["perushim"] from a world
that is addicted to the appetites and passions of
the flesh, in order to sanctify Me by emulating Mj'
ways." "Keep away from everything leading to
impurity" (Lev. R. xxiv.). "God's holiness is
manifested in His punitive righteousness, which
consumes wrong and sin" (Tan., Kedoshim, ed.
Ruber, 1, 4). From this principle emanated the
necessity of a people consecrated to the service of
a holy God (Tan. I.e.; Ex. xxii. 3; Lev. xx. 26;
Deut. xiv. 2; comp. Mekilta, Sifra, Sifre, and
Rabbot on the passages), and the whole Mosaic
legislation, with its hygienic and marriage laws,
gave a high ethical meaning and purpose to the
entire life of the Jew. Similarly the Sabbath holi-
ness (Ex. XX. 8; Mek. ; see Pesik. R. 23) lifted do-
mestic and social life to a higher ethical level.
The very minute precepts of rabbinical law spiritual-
ized every part of life. So when Avashing of the
hands before and after each meal was made obliga-
tory, it was "to sanctify " the body and the table of
the Jew (see Ablution). The Sabbath joy was also
to be "hallowed " by wine (see Kiddush).
From the thought of a holy God emanated these
four virtues: (a) The virtiie of Chastity ("zeni'ut"
= " bashf ulness " ; Deut. xxiii. 14; Ned. 2ba, after
Ex. XX. 20), which shuts the eye against unseemly
sights and the heart against impure thoughts (Sifre,
Shelah Leka, to Num. xv. 14). Hence R. Meir's
maxim (Ber. 17a) : " Keep thy mouth from sin, thy
body from wrong, and I [God] will be with thee."
(b) The virtue of humility. As God's greatness
consists in His condescension (Meg. 31a), so does the
Shekinah rest only upon the humble (Mek., Yitro,
9; Ned. 38), whereas the proud is like one who wor-
ships another god and drives God away (Sotah 4b).
(c) Truthfulness. "Liars, mockers, hypocrites, and
slanderers can not appear before God's face " (Sotah
42a). (d) Reverence for God. "Fear of God leads
to fear of sin " (Ber. 28b), and includes reverence
for parents and teachers (Kid. 31d; Pes. 22b).
Thus the idea of God's holiness became in rabbin-
ical ethics one of t he most powerful incentives to pure
and noble conduct. " Thou shalt love
Kiddush the Lord thy God " (Deut. vi. 5) is ex-
and Hillul plained (Sifre, Deut. 32; Yoma 86a) to
ha-Shem. mean "Act in such a manner that God
will be beloved by all His creatures."
Consequently Israel, being, as the priest-people, en-
joined like the Aaronite priest to sanctify the name
of God and avoid whatever tends to desecrate it
(Lev. xxii. 32), is not only obliged to give his life
as witness or martyr for the maintenance of the true
faith (see Isa. xliii. 12, /idprvpec; and Pesik. 102b;
Sifra, Emor, ix.), but so to conduct himself in every
way as to prevent the name of God from being dis-
honored by non-Israelites. The greatest sin of fraud,
therefore, is that committed against a non-Israelite,
because it leads to the reviling of God's name (Tosef.,
B. K. X. 15). Desecration of the Holy Name is a
graver sin than any other (Yer. Ned. iii. 38b ; Sanh.
107a) ; it is an iniquity which, according to Isa. xxii.
14 (Mek. I.e. ; Yoma. 86a) — shall never be expiated
until death — a tradition strangely altered into the
New Testament ("Blasphemy against the Holy
Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men") Matt. xii.
31, and parallels). The desire to sanctify the name
of God, on the other hand, leads men to treat ad-
herents of other creeds with the utmost fairness and
equity (see Yer. B. M. ii. 8c, and Simeon b. Shetah ;
and compare God, Names of; Kiddush ha-Shem).
The fundamental idea of Jewish ethics is accord-
ingly that of true humanity, without distinction
of race or creed (comp. Sifra, Ahare
Ethical Mot, to Lev. xviii. 5). " The right-
Relations, eous" (not "priests, Levites, and Is-
raelites ") shall enter " the gate of the
Lord " (Ps. cxviii. 20). "It is forbidden to take ad-
vantage of the ignorance of any fellow creature,
even of the heathen" (Hul. 94a; comp. Shebu. 39a;
comp. Mak. 24a: "He only dwells in God's tent
who takes usury neither from Gentile nor from
Jew "). " No one can be called righteous before God
who is not good toward his fellow creatures " (Kid.
40a). Respect for one's fellow creatures is of such
importance that Biblical prohibitions may be trans-
gressed on its account (Ber. 19b). Especially do un-
claimed dead require respectful burial (see Burial
in Jew. Encyc. iii. 432b: "met mizwah"). Gen-
tiles are to have a share in all the benevolent work
of a township which appeals to human sympathy
and on which the maintenance of peace among men
depends, such as supporting the poor, burying the
dead, comforting the mourners, and even visiting
the sick (Tosef., Git. v. 4-5; Git. 64a).
The relation between man and woman is in rab-
binical ethics based upon the principle of chas-
tity and purity which borders on holiness. It is the
251
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Ethics
iuheritance of the Zenu'im, or Hasidini, who strove
after the highest standard of holiness (see Yer. Yeb. i.
3d; Lev. R. xxiv. ; Essenes). No other vice appears
to the Kabbis as detestable as obscene speech ("nib-
bul peh " ; Shab. 33a) ; and of liira wlio is not bashful
they say that "his fathers were not among those
who received the Law from God on Sinai " (see
Woman). This idea of the holiness of tlie marriage
relation is seen in the very name for marriage — " kid-
diishim " = "consecration" (see Frankel, "Grund-
linien des Eherechts," p. xxix. ; Niddah 71a; Mar-
riage). The relations of children and parents are
based upon the principle that God placed the fear
and honor due to parents in the same category as
those due to Himself, parents being for the child
the representatives of God (Kid. 30b et scq.). The
relations of the pupil to the (religious) teacher rank
still higher, inasmuch as preparation of his pupil
for thelife eternal is iavolved (B. M. ii. 11). "The
fear of thy teacher should be like the fear of God "
(Abotiv. 12). Reverence is due likewise to all supe-
riors in wisdom, and it should extend to the heart as
well as the outward form (Sifra, Kedoshim, vii. ;
see Parents; Reverence; and Teachers).
Tender compassion is enjoined on the master in
the treatment of his servant; he should not deprive
him of any enjoyment, lest he may not feel that he
is of like nature w'ith his master (Sifra, Behar, vii. ;
Kid. 22a, based upon Lev. xxv. 40 and Deut. xv. 16;
see Master and Servant; comp. R. Johanan's re-
gard for his servant; Yer. B. K. viii. 6a, with ref-
erence to Job xxxi. 15). Brotherly love extends
even to the culprit, who should be treated humanely
(Sifre, Deut. 286 ; Sanh. 52a).
Friendship is highly prized in the Talmud; the
very word for "associate" is "friend" ("haber").
" Buy thyself a companion " (Abot i. 6). " Com-
panionship or death " (Ta'an. 23a).
The Biblical commands regarding the treatment of
the brute (Ex. xx. 10; Lev. xxii. 28; Deut. xxv. 4;
Prov. xii. 10) are amplified in rabbinical ethics, and
a special term is coined for Cruelty to Animals
(" za'ar ba'ale hayyim "). Not to sit down to the
table before the domestic animals have been fed is a
lesson derived from Deut. xi. 15 (Git. 62a). Com-
passion for the brute is declared to have been the
merit of Moses which made him the shepherd of his
people (Ex. R. ii.), while Judah ha-Nasi saw in his
own ailment the punishment for having once failed to
show compassion for a frightened calf. Trees and
other things of value also come within the scope of
rabbinical ethics, as their destruction is prohibited,
according to Deut. xx. 19 (Shab. 105b, 129a, 140b,
et al.). A leading maxim of the Rabbis is not to in-
sist on one's right, but to act kindly and fairly "be-
yond the line of mere justice" ("lifnim mi-shurat
ha-din"), in order that " thou mayest walk in the way
of good men and keep the paths of the righteous"
(Prov. ii. 20; B. M. 83a; Mek., Yitro, to Ex. xviii.
20). R. Simlai summarized the Law in the words :
" Its beginning is the teaching of kindness, and so
is its ending " (Sotah 14a).
In this spirit the ethical sayings of the ancient
rabbis have been collected into special works, the old-
est of which is the mishnaic treatise Pirke Abot, and
into the Gemara-like commentary Abot de-Rabbi
Natan, into Derek Erez Rabbah and Derek Erez Zuta,
and into Masseket Kallah. The original part of Tanna
debe P^liyahu, which appears to have
Ethical contained the text and the Gemara
Literatvire commentary of a Mishnat Hasidim, be-
of longs to tlie same class of ethical works
the Rabbis, of the tunnailic period as does Pirke
di Rabbenu ha-Kadosh, which begins
with a farewell address of Judah ha-Nasi to his
children. All these are probably survivals of an
ancient Hasidean literature, and therefore lay espe-
cial stress on the virtues of Essenism, chastity, hu-
mility, and saintliness.
It is therefore not merely accidental that the eth-
ical works (" sifre musar ") in medieval Jewish litera-
ture present the same features of extreme piety, or
Hasidism, since they were written by German mystics
who claimed to be adepts in the Essenic traditions or
Cabala coming from older Oriental authorities. The
oldest one among these works, belonging to the mid-
dle of the eleventh century, bears the title "Ethical
Will of R. Eliezer the Great," because it starts
with a farewell address of R. Eliezer b. Hyrcanus;
but it is really a work of Eliezer B. Isaac of AVorms
entitled " Orhot Ha^yyim." The most elaborate and
popular ethical work of this kind is the "Sefer
Hasidim " of Judah b. Samuel, the Hasid of Re-
gensburg. His pupil, Eleazar b. Judah of Worms,
wrote a halakic-ethical work under the title of " Ro-
keah." Asher ben Jehiel wrote an ethical will
addressed to his children ; so did his son Judah b.
Asher (see Wills, Ethical). An anonymous ethical
work, under the title of "Orhot Zaddikim," which
Giidemann believes to have been composed by Lipp-
man Miilhauscn, appeared in the fifteenth century in
Germany. Abraham ha-Levi Horwitz's " Yesh No-
halin," at the close of the sixteenth century, and the
popular ethical work "Kab ha-Yashar," by Hirsh
Kaidenower, at the beginning of the eighteenth cen-
tur}'', belong to the same class of German ethical
works with a tinge of Hasidean mysticism. More sys-
tematic, though not philosophical, are the ethical
works "Menorat ha-Ma'or," by Israel Alnaqua, a
large part of which has been embodied in Elijah b.
Moses di Vidas' "Reshit Hokmah," and the popular
"Menorat ha-Ma'or," by Isaac Aboab. Regarding
these and either ethical works see Zunz, "Z. G." pp.
122-157, which contains examples of each ; also
Back, " Die Sittenlehrer vom 13ten bis 18ten Jahr-
hundert," in Winter and Wiinsche, "Die Jiidische
Literatur," iii. 627-651, where examples are also
given ; and Abrahams, " Chapters on Jewish Litera-
ture," 1899, pp. 189-199. All these medieval eth-
ical books have one characteristic trait: they teach
compassion and love for Jew and Gentile alike,
and insist on pure, unselfish motives, and on love
toward God and man, instead of on hope for paradise.
Bibliography: M. Lazarus. The Ethics of Judaism, vols. i.
and ii., Philadelphia, 1901-02 (transl. from the (ieniian) : E,
Griinebaum, Die Sittenlchre des JudeiithKinsi, Strashurg,
187f>; L. Lazarus, Zur Chaia<:leristic dtr Talmiuiii<chen
Ethih, Breslau, 1877 ; M. Blwh, Die Ethih der Halacha, Bu-
dapest, lS8tj; M. Mielziner, Ethicxnfthe Talmttd, in Judaism
at the ^^'o)■ld's PdiUamint of Reliqiiius^pp. 107-113; Morris
Joseph. .Ti'H'ish Etiiics. in Ueliuiovs Sustems of the Tl'ortd,
pp. ()95-707. London, 18'.W ; K. Kohler, The Ethics of the Tal-
mud, in Amcricaii Hcljrcu\ Nov.. 189,VMarch. 1894; Perles,
Boussets lieliuion dts Jttdeuthums Kritisch Ufitersucht,
Berlin, 1903; Fassel. Zedek xt-Misttpat: die Rabbinische
Tugend und Rechtslelire, Vienna, 1848.' K.
Ethics
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
252
Philosophical : The term " Philosophical
ethics " is here understood to mean the philosophical
principles on which Jewish thinkers endeavored to
base the ethics of Judaism. The first of these think-
ers was Philo. The discussion of moral questions
enters very largely into his writings; and although
his treatment is unsystematic, his doctrines can be
traced easily. Like almost all other Greek philoso-
phers, Philo considers the end of moral conduct to
be the desire for happiness. The so-called external
and corporeal "goods," such as wealth, honors, and
the like, are only "advantages," not in reality good
("Quod Deterius Potiori Insidiari Soleat," ed. Man-
gey, pp. 193-193). Happiness, then, must consist
in the exercise of, and the actual living in accord
with, excellence, and, naturally, in accord with the
very highest excellence — namely, with that which is
the best in man. This best is the soul, which, being
an emanation of the Deity, finds its blessedness in
the knowledge of God and in the endeavor to imitate
Him as far as possible (" De 3Iigratione Abrahami,"
i. 456). The opposite of tins "summum bonum " is
the mental self-conceit which corresponds in the
moral sphere to self-love (" Fragmenta, " ii. 661). It
consists in ascribing the achievements in the domain
of morality to man's creative intellect (voiif Troi^rtKoc),
instead of to the universal mind (Logos). In this
Philo is in direct opposition to the Stoics, whose
ethical principle he otherwise follows; for according
to them man is self-sufficing for the acquisition of
the virtues which lead to the "summum bonum."
Cain (=" possession") typifies, according to Philo,
the self-conceited, who ascribes all to his own mind,
while Abel (= " breath ") tj^pifies him who attributes
all to the universal mind ("De Sacrificiis Abelis et
Caini," i. 163). "Complete self-knowledge involves
sdf-despair, and he who has despair of self knows
the Eternal " ("De Somnis," i. 629).
In order that man may be responsible it is neces-
sary that he should possess the knowledge of right and
wrong. In fact nothing is praiseworthy even in the
best actions unless they are done with understanding
and reason ("De Posteritate Caini," i. 241). Man
therefore was endowed with conscience, which is at
the same time his accuser, judge, and
Responsi- adviser. Another condition which is
bility and essential to man's responsibility is free-
Free Will, dom of choice between opposing mo-
tives ("De Posteritate Caini," i. 236).
Man has a twofold mind : (1) the rational, directed
toAvard the universal, and (2) irrational, which seeks
the particular and transient ("De Opificio Mundi,"
i. 17). The latter, which is the real moral agent, is,
in its original condition, morally neutral, and has
the choice between good and evil. Therefore praise
is reserved for conduct which requires some exertion
of the will, and involuntary offenses are blameless
and pure.
The source of evil is the body, which plots against
the soul (" De Allegoriis Legum," i. 100). Closely
connected with the body are the senses and their oft'-
spring, the passions, which, although, as a divine gift,
they are not evil in themselves, are in antagonism to
reason. The highest principle of morality is there-
fore that taught by Plato and the Stoics ; namely,
the utmost possible renunciation of sensuality and
the extirpation of desire and the passions (ib.). This
does not mean, however, the adoption of asceticism
("De Abrahamo," ii. 4, 14). Before addicting one-
self to a contemplative life he must have discharged
the duties toward mankind — toward relatives,
friends, members of the tribe, country, and race —
and even toward animals.
" If you see any one," says Philo, " refusing to eat or drink at
the customary times, or declining to wash and anoint his body,
or neglecting his clothes, or sleeping on the ground In the open
air, and in these ways simulating self-control, you should pity
his delusions, and show him the path by which self-control may
really be attained'' ("De eo Quod Deterius Potiori Insidia-
ri Soleat," 1. 195).
Like Plato, Philo recognizes four Cardinal Vir-
tues and considers goodness to be the highest of them.
This idea is represented by the river which watered
paradise. As this river is said to have divided into
four great streams, so goodness com-
Cardinal prises four virtues; namely, prudence,
Virtues. fortitude, temperance, and justice
(" De Allegoriis Legum," i. 56). Else-
where Philo describes the chief virtues as piety and
humanity ("Human." ii. 39) or as piety and justice
("Proemiis et Poenis," ii. 406). Of these piety takes,
the leading place. It consists in loving God as the
Benefactor, or at least fearing Him as the Ruler and
Lord (" De Vict. Offer." ii. 257). " A life according
to God is defined by Moses as a life that loves God"
("De Post. Caini," i. 228). The virtue of temper-
ance is of great importance. It is typified by the
brazen serpent ; for if the mind, having been bitten
by pleasure, the serpent of Eve, is able to behold
the beauty of temperance, the serpent of Moses,
and through it to see God, it shall live ("De Alle-
goriis Legum," i. 80). Closely connected with tem-
perance is self-control, which is also the enemy of
pleasure and desire (" De Opificio Mundi," i. 39). As
waging war against pleasure, Philo, in opposition
to Greek philo.sophers, considers labor as a means of
human progress ("De Sacrificiis Abelis et Caini," i.
168). Fortitude, according to Philo, does not con-
sist in martial but in moral courage (comp. Abot iv.
1). He values prayer greatlj', which is the fairest
flower of piety ; but it must be sincere and inward ;
for piety does not consist in making clean the body
with baths and purifications ("Cherubim," i. 156).
Those who mistake bodily mortifications for tem-
perance, and ritual for holiness, are to be pitied
("DeeoQuod Deterius Potiori Insidiari Soleat," i.
195).
The four characteristics of a pious soul are hope
(which is connected with prayer), joy, peace, and
forgiveness. " Behave to your servants, " says Philo,
" as you pray that God may behave to
Character- you. For as we hear them so shall we
istics be heard, and as we regard them so
of Saintli- shall we be regarded. Let us show
ness. pity for pity so that we may receive
back like for like" ("Fragmenta,"
ii. 672). Philo recognizes the eflicacy of repent-
ance. "Never to sin," says he, "is the peculiar
quality of God, perhaps also of a divine man; to
repent is the quality of a wise man " (" De Pro-
fugis," i. 569).
For the doctors of the Talmud, the Saboraim, and
the Geonim of the time of Saadia the ruling princi-
253
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Ethics
pies of life were derived from the current concep-
tion of God and of the relation in which the Jewish
people stood toward Him. Morality
No Moral was to these Jewish philosophers the
Philosophy embodied will of God. Their maxim
in Talmud, was: "It is not speculation that is
essential, but practise " ; and for the
practise of morality the Jews had to foHow the in-
junctions of the Bible and Talmud. Under the
intluence of Greek and Arabic philosophy, Jewish
tiiinkcrs turned their attention to the ethical side
of Judaism also, the underlying principles of which
they endeavored to systematize and to bring as far
as possil)le into accordance with the ethical teachings
of tlie philosophers. Saadia in several passages of
his ri'ligio-philosophical work "Ila-Emunot weha-
De'ot " deals with ethical questions, as those of free
will, providence, and others, and devotes his last
chapter to human conduct. That happiness is the re-
sult of morality is assumed by him as a fact ; the only
question for him is, which is tlie highest virtue leading
thereto. Accordingly he points out thirteen differ-
ent views on the highest virtue, and warns against
adoi)ting any one of them. For him the ideal order
of life lies in the cooperation of all the legitimate
inclinations suggested by the two ruling faculties of
the soul, love and aversion, with each inclination in
its due place and proportion ; the third faculty of
the soul, the faculty of discernment (n~l3n HD) be-
ing the judge that is to control the other two.
Saadia condemns complete asceticism, and disap-
proves of the total neglect of the world's pursuits
even when such neglect is due to the desire for
learning.
However, Saadia's excursion in the field of ethics
was of small importance. He touches very slightly
upon the qualities which result from the forces of
the soul, and thus leaves his readers in the dark as
to one-half of the system which he proposes to con-
struct. A system of the principles of ethics, inde-
pendent of religious dogma or belief, was given by
Solomon ibn Gabirol in a special work entitled " Tik-
kun Meddot ha-Nefesh" (The Im-
Ibn provement of the Moral Qualities ), in
Gabirol's which he deals with the principles and
Ethics. conditions of virtue, the goal of life,
and the particular circumstances, phe-
nomena, and results of moral conduct. Man is, ac-
cording to Gabirol, the final object of the visible
world. He has two divine gifts in common with an-
gels— speech and reason. Like Plato, Gabirol holds
that evil is not innate in man ; the immortal and ra-
tional soul comes pure from the hands of God ; only
the vegetative soul is the home of sensual desires,
which are the source of all evil. The aim of man
therefore must be to restrain his sensual desires to the
indefensible minimum. This can be done by the ac-
quisition of knowledge of his own being and of the
ultimate cause, and by moral conduct. The qualities
of the soul, or the virtues and vices, are ascribed by
Gabirol to the five senses, which are constituted by
the five humors. As the humors may be modified
one by another, so can the senses be controlled, and
the qualities of the soul be trained unto good or evil.
The goal of human endeavor is to bring about the
union of man's soul with the higher world. The more
he divests himself of bodily sensuality the nearer
his soul approaches to an immediate vision of the
highest stages of the spiritual world. Ibn Gabirol's
system has the defect of being one-sided, in that
it treats only of the five physical senses and not
of the intellectual senses, such as perception and
understanding, which partake of the nature of the
soul.
A system of ethics was propounded by Ibn Gabi-
rol's contemporary, Bahya ben Joseph ibn Pakuda,
in his work " Hobot ha-Lebabot." It
Bahya's has many points in common with the
Ethics. system of Gabirol ; but it is more defi-
nitely religious in character, and deals
more with the practical side of Jewish ethics. Like
Ibn Gabirol, Bahj'a teaches that man is the final ob-
ject of this visible world, distinguished alike by his
form, activity, and intellect. The aim and goal of
all ethical self-discipline he declares to be the love
of God. Amid all the earthly attractions and en-
joyments, the soul yearns toward the fountain of its
life, God, in whom alone it finds happiness and joy.
Study and self-discipline are the means by which
the soul is diverted from the evil passions. The
standard of morality is the Law ; but one must pene-
trate into the sentiments embodied in the 613 pre-
cepts which show the "via media," equally removed
from sensuality and from contempt of the world,
both of which are abnormal and injurious. Like
Philo, Bahya values hope highly, and shares the
opinion of Ibn Gabirol that humility is the highest
quality of the soul ; it causes its possessor to be gen-
tle toward his fellow men, to overlook their short-
comings, and to forgive injuries. The characteris-
tic feature of Bahya's ethical sj^stem is his tendency
toward asceticism, which, although not directly ad-
vocated, may be seen in every line. He recommends
fasting, withdrawal from the world, and renuncia-
tion of all that is not absolutely' necessarj'.
Abraham bar Hiyya followed Bahya. In his
homilj' in four chapters on repentance, entitled
"Hegyon ha-Nefcsh," he divides the laws of Moses,
to correspond with the three classes of
Abraham pious men, into three groups, namely:
bar Hiyya. (1) the Decalogue, the first command-
ment of which is merely an introduc-
tion accentuating the divine origin and the eternal
goal of the Law ; (3) the group of laws contained in
the second, third, and fourth books of Moses, intend-
ed for the people during their wandering in the desert
or during the Exile, to render them a holy congrega-
tion; (3) the Deuteronomic legislation, intended for
the people living in an agricultural state and forming
a "kingdom of justice." All these laws are only
necessary while sensuality prevails; but in the time
of the Messianic redemption, when the evil spirit
shall have vanished, no other laws than those given
in the Decalogue will be necessary. The note of
asceticism is still more accentuated in the " Hegyon
ha-Nefesh" than in "Hobot ha-Lebabot," and Abra-
ham bar Hiyya went so far as to praise celibacy,
which is in direct opposition to the law of Moses.
According to Hiyya, the non-Jew may attain as high
a degree of godliness as the Jew ("Hegyon ha-
Nefesh," 8a).
As the firm adversary of any kind of speculation.
Ethics
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
254
Judab ha-Levi is not much concerned with ethical
pliilosophy ; and wlien, under the influence of his
time, lie treats philosophically some ethical ques-
tions, such as free will, rewards, and punishment, he
follows the beaten tracks of his predecessors, espe-
cially Saadia. The versatile Abraham ibn Ezra in
his " Yesod Moreh " laid down tlie important doc-
trine that the fundamental moral principles which
relate to all times and peoples were " known by the
power of the mind before the Law was declared by
Moses," or, in other words, ethical laws are universal
(comp. Kant's " Categorical Imperative "). He fur-
thermore declared that the motive leading to right
acting was internal.
A new departure in the field of ethics was taken by
Maimonides. As in metaphysics, he closely follows
Aristotle. Maimonides' ethical views
The Ethics are to be found in his introduction
of Mai- and commentary to Abot, in various
monides. passages of the "Sefer ha-Mizwot,"
and in his"Yad ha-Hazakah," espe-
cially in the " Hilkot De'ot " and " Hilkot Teshubah. "
In Maimonides' opinion ethics and religion are indis-
solubly linked together, and all the precepts of the
Law aim either directly or indirectly at morality
("Perakim," iv. ; "Moreh Nebukim," iii. 33). The
final aim of the creation of this world is man ; that
of man is happiness. This happiness can not con-
sist in the activity which he has in common with
other animals, but in the exercise of his intellect
which leads to the cognition of truth. The highest
cognition is that of God and His unity ; consequently
the " summum bouuin " is the knowledge of God, not
through religion, but through philosophy. This is
in accordance with the teachings of the philosopher
and, according to Maimonides, of the prophet Jere-
miah, who praises (ix. 23) neither bodily perfection,
nor riches, nor ethical perfection, but intellectual
perfection. The first necessity in the pursuit of the
"summum bonum " is to subdue sensuality and to
render the body subservient to reason. In order that
man should be considered the aim and end of the
creation of this world lie must be perfect morally
and intellectually. Neither tlie wise lacking virtue
nor the virtuous lacking knowledge can be perfect.
Virtue and vice have their source in the five faculties
of the soul : the nutritive, the sensitive, the imagina-
tive, the appetitive, and the deliberative. The soul
is to the intellect what matter is to form: it is sus-
ceptible to both good and evil, according to the
choice made by tlie deliberative faculty. Human
excellence is either of the appetitive faculty (moral
virtues) ; or of the deliberative faculty (intellectual
virtues). The appetitive virtues are numerous, and
include courage, temperance, magna-
Moral and nimity, truthfulness, etc. The vices
In- of the appetitive faculty consist in
tellectual the opposites of the appetitive vir-
Virtues. tues; for instance, cowardice and
rashness are the opposite extremes of
courage), and both are vices. However, to make
virtue deserving of praise and vice deserving of
blame there must be deliberate preference. Man
possesses a natural capacity for judging good and
evil, and he is perfectly free in liis choice (see
Fkee-Will). Tlierefore the rewards or punish-
ments promised for the observance or infraction
of the precepts fall also upon him wlio has not
been forewarned by revelation or religion. Intel-
lectual perfection is to be reached by the study of
philosophy, beginning with the preparatory study
of mechanics and mathematics. Maimonides distin-
guishes seven degrees in the religious and intellectual
development of man ; the lowest being that of bar-
barism, the iiighest that of the true knowledge of
God, attained only when one's intellectual energy
is so predominant that all the coarser functions of
the body are held in abeyance.
These are the main principles upon which Mai-
monides based the general ethical system of Judaism.
They are essentially those of Aristotle, but clad in
a Jewish garb and supported by quotations from
the Bible and Talmud. In the field of personal
ethics Maimonides established rules deduced from
the teachings of the Bible and of the Rabbis. These
rules deal with man's obligations to himself and to
his fellow men. To the obligations of man to him-
self belong the keeping of oneself in health through
leading a regular life, by seeking medical advice in
sickness, by observing cleanliness of the body and
of clothing, by earning a livelihood, etc. The re-
quisites for the soundness of the soul are peace
(contentment), moderation in joy and in grief.
Maimonides considers as a noble characteristic of
the soul the disinclination to receive presents. Pity
is a generous quality of the soul. To develop this
sentiment the Law forbade cruelty to animals.
Mutual love and sociability are necessary for men.
The sentiment of justice prescribed by the Law
consists in respecting the property and honor of
others even though tliey be one's slaves.
Shem-Tob Falaquera wrote four works on various
ethical questions, namely: "Iggeret Hanhagat ha-
Guf weha-Nefesh," on the control of the body and
tlie soul; "Zeri ha-Yagon," on resignation and forti-
tude under misfortune; "Reshit Hokmah," treating
of moral duties ; " Sefer ha-Ma'alot, " on the different
degrees of human perfection. In all these works
Shem-Tob followed closely the teachings of Mai-
monides.
Ethics occupies a prominent place in the Cabala.
According to the cabalists, moral perfection of man
influences the ideal world of the Sefirot ; for although
the Sefirotexpect everything from the
In En Sof, the En Sof itself is dependent
the Cabala, upon man : he alone can bring about
the divine effusion. The dew that
vivifies the universe flows from the just. By the
practise of virtue, by moral perfection, man may in-
crease the outflow of heavenly grace. Even phys-
ical life is subservient to virtue. This, saj's the
Zohar, is indicated in the words " for the Lord God
had not caused it to rain " (Gen. ii. 5), which mean
that there had not yet been beneficent action in
heaven because man had not yet given the impul-
sion.
The necessary requirements for deserving the
title of "just" are love of God, love of man, truth,
prayer, study, and fulfilment of the precepts of
the Law. Love of God is the final object of the
being of the soul. " In love is found the secret of
the divine unity ; it is love that unites the higher
255
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Ethics
and lower stages, and that lifts everything to that
stage where all must be one " (Zohar ii. 216a). The
life beyond is a life of complete con-
The templation and complete love. Love,
Virtues of which by the action of the Sefirah
the Just. " Grace " spreads order and harmony in
the ideal world, must also bring order
and harmony into the earthly world, especially into
the society of man. Truth is tlie basis of the world.
To use the very words of the cabalists, it is the great
seal by which the human spirit was engraved on
matter; and as an earthly king likes to see his effigy
on the coins of his realm, the King of the universe
likes to see the stamp of truth on man. In the act
of prayer the body cooperates with the soul, and by
this the union of this world with the ideal iselt'ected.
The divine wisdom which governed the creation of
the world finds its expression in human knowledge.
Accordingly, knowledge of the Law, in its ethical
as well as religious aspects, is a means toward influ-
encing the ideal world. Moreover, through study
man escapes the seductions of evil. Evil lies in
matter, and is conscious of itself; therefore it can be
conquered. Evil is necessary, for without it there
can be no good. The Zohar says that every man
should so live that at the close of every day he can
say, "I have not wasted my day " (i. 221b).
The later philosophic writers, e. g., Gersonides and
Albo, mainly repeat the ethical views of Maimonides
till the epoch-making appearance of Spinoza, who
neither in source nor in influence is strictly Jewish.
Bibliography : For Philo : Zeller, Die Philosophie der Grie-
chen, iii. 2, pp. 402-416 ; Drummond, PhlJo Judcens, ii. 283 et
seq.; Frankel, Zur Ethik des Jildi^chen Alexandrini»chen
PhiJosophen Philo, in Monatsschrift, 1867, pp. 241-252;
Hamburger, in Popular Wissenschaf tUche Monatsbl{itte7\
V. 153, 177, 207, 231 ; Claude Monteflore, in Jeivish Quarterlu
Review, vil. 481 etseq.: Tiktin, Die Lehre der Trigenden
und PflicMen bei Philo, Breslau, 1901; Schiirer, Gesch. iii.
378. For the Judaeo-Arabic period : Briill, Jahrbucher, v. 71 et
seq.; Dukes, Solomo ben Gabirol aiis Malaga und Ethischen
Werke Dei<selben, Hanover, 1860; A. Frankl-Grunn, Die
Ethik des Juda Halevi; Horovltz, Die Psuchologie Ibn Ga-
biroVs, Breslau, 1900; Geiger, Die EthUiChe Grundlage des
Buches iiber die Herzenpflichten, in ed. Baumgarten, xlii.-
xxii.; Kaufmann, Die Theoloqie des Bahya Ibn Pakuda;
idem. Die Sinne ; Rosin, in Jeiv. Quart. Rev. iii. 159 ; idem,
Die Ethik des Maimonides, Breslau, 1876; J. Guttman. Die
Philosophie des Solomon Ibn Gabirol, GoUingen, 1889;
Idem, Die Relif)iousphilosophie des Saadia. Gottingen, 1882;
Wise, The Improvement of the Moral Qualities, New York,
1901 ; M. Wolf, Moses ben JV/aimun's Acht Kapitel, Leipsic,
1863. For the ethics of the Cabala, see Cabala.
E. C.
I. Bu.
Modern : Under this heading it is proposed to
treat of the agreements and diflierences between the
concepts and theories and the resulting practises of
Jewish ethics and those of the main ethical schools
of modern times. The fundamental teachings of
Judaism base ethics on the concept that the uni-
verse is under purpose and law — that is, that it con-
stitutes a moral order, created and guided by divine
will, a personal God, in whom thought, will, and be-
ing are identical and coincident, and who therefore is
the All-Good, his very nature excluding evil. Man,
"created in the image of God," is a free moral agent,
endowed (1) with the perception which distinguishes
right from wrong, right being that which harmo-
nizes with the moral order of things and serves its
purposes, wrong being tliat which is out of conso-
nance with this order and would conflict with and
oppose it; and (2) with the will and the power
to choose and do the right and eschew and abandon
the wrong.
The moral law, therefore, is autonomous; man
finds it involved in his own nature. Man being
composed of body and soul, or mind, moral action is
not automatic or instinctive. It has to overcome the
opposition arising from the animal elements (appe-
tites, selfishness), which are intended to be under the
control, and serve the purposes, of the mind and
soul. Recognitioii of right, the resolve to do it, and
the execution of this resolve, are the three moments
in the moral act. Tiie impelling motive is not what
outwardly results from the act (reward or punish-
ment), but the desire and intention to be?,nd become
what man should and may be. Man thus is a moral
personality, as such able to harmonize his conduct
with the purposes of the All, and through such con-
cordance lift his individual self to the importance
and value of an abiding force in the moral order
of things. Every man is and may act as a moral
personality ; the " summum bonum " is the realiza-
tion on earth of conditions in which every man may
live the life consonant with his dignity as a moral
personality. This state is the " Messianic kingdom "
(D'DK' niD^D). The assurance that this kingdom
will come and that right is might has roots in the
apprehension of the universe and the world of man
as a moral cosmos. Israel, by virtue of being the
historic people whose genius flowered (1) in the rec-
ognition of the moral purposes underlying life and
time and world (see God), and the ultimate (nnnxn
D'D^n) triumph of right over wrong, as well as (2) in
the apprehension of man's dignity and destiny as a
moral personality, derives from its history the right,
and is therefore under obligation, to anticipate in its
own life the conditions of the Messianic fulfilment,
thus illustrating the possibility and potency of a
life consonant with the implications of the moral
order of things, and by example influencing all men
to seek and find the aim of human life in the ambi-
tion to establish among men the moral harmonies re-
sulting from the recognition that man is a moral
personality, and that the forces of the universe
are under moral law.
I. Jewish ethics, then, differs from the Christian
in insisting that man, now as in the beginning, still
has the power to discern between right
In- and wrong and to choose between
tuitional. them. The consciousness of sin, and
the helplessness of the sinner, are not
taught or recognized. Therefore Jewish ethics is
not tinged with quietism or Asceticism. Resigna-
tion and submission are not among the tendencies it
fosters or justifies. Resistance to evil, and its dis-
comfiture by remedial and positive good, is the key-
note of Jewish morality, individual as well as social.
Pessimism and optimism alike are eliminated by a
higher synthesis; the former as negative of the in-
herent godliness (or morally purposed creation) of
the universe and the essential worthiness of human
life, the latter as ignoring the place assigned to man
in the economy of things, and, with its one-sided
insistence that "whatever is, is right," paralyzing
man's energies. Meliorism, the conscious effort at
improvement, perhaps expresses the character of
Jewish ethics.
XSthics
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
256
II. Neither is Jewish ethics on tlie same plane as the
common-sense morahsm of Shaftesbury and Hutche-
son, or that of Wolff and the school of the " Aufklil-
rungsphilosophie." Theirs is a system of moral hed-
onism, which reduces the moral life to an equation in
happiness, gross or refined, sensual or spiritual.
The desire for happiness is not the true basis of
ethics. Nor is it true, as insisted on by this school,
that happiness, except in the sense of the feeling of
inner harmony with the implications and obligations
of human personality, attends moral action as does
effect follow upon cause. Like all hedonism, that
of the moralists, too, verges on utilitarianism, the
theory that what is useful (to oneself, or to the
greater number) is moral. In the modification of
the original equation between utility and morality,
which makes the "happiness of the greater number "
the test of goodness and the motive of moral action,
utilitarianism has virtually abandoned its main con-
tention without explaining why, in cases of conflict
between individual interest and the welfare of the
greater number, the individual should forego his
immediate or ultimate advantage ; for the contention
that egotism always is shortsighted, reaching out
for immediate and cheaper pleasure at the loss of
remoter but more precious advantages, virtually
denies the efficiency of utilitarianism as normative
of human conduct and relations. Jewish ethics does
not deny that spiritual pleasure is a concomitant
of moral action, nor that moral conduct leads to
consequences redounding to the welfare of society.
But, contrary to the doctrine of hedonism and utili-
tarianism, Jewish ethics does not regard these at-
tending feelings or resulting consequences as other
than morally inconsequential. They
Au- are not proposed as motives or aims.
tonomous. In other words, worthiness (holi-
ness) is the aim and the test of moral
conduct, according to Jewish ethical teaching.
This reveals how far Jewish ethics agrees with that
of Kant, who more than any other has left his impress
upon modern ethical thought. Kant, in insisting
that no ulterior purpose should determine human
action — going even to the extreme of holding that
the degree of repugnance which must be overcome,
and the absence of pleasure and delight, alone attest
the moral value of a deed — was moved, on the one
hand, by his dissent from the shallow " hedonism "
of the " moralists " (intuitionalists), and on the other
by a psychology still under the influence of the
Christian dogma of original sin. Nothing is good
but the "good will." But man's will is not natu-
rally good. The " good " man, therefore, must strug-
gle against his natural inclination. The absence of
gratification, the amount of the unwillingness over-
come, are indicative of the' goodness of the will.
Christian and hedonistic predications of rewards and
punishments (temporal or eternal), for good and evil
conduct respectively, led Kant to the demand that
purpose be eliminated altogether from the equation
of moral conduct. Jewisli ethics shares with Kant
the insistence that consequences, temporal or eter-
nal, shall not determine action. But the psychol-
ogy upon which Jewish ethics is grounded recog-
nizes that while pleasure and delight, or social utility,
are not to be lifted into the potencies of motives.
they are possible results and concomitants of moral
action. As with Kant, Jewish ethics is based on the
solemnity and awfulness of the moral "ought,"
which it regards as the categorical imperative, im-
plied and involved in the very nature of man.
But Jewish ethics sees in this immediate fact of
human consciousness and reason a relation, beyond
the human, to the essential force of the universe
(God). Because man is created in the image of God
he has, with this consciousness of obligation, "con-
science," the sense of harmony, or the reverse, of his
self with this essential destiny of man. The funda-
mental maxim of Jewish as of Kantian ethics insists
upon such action as may and should be imitated by
all. But in Jewish ethics this applicability is
grounded on the assurance that every man, as God's
image, is a moral personality, therefore an agent,
not a tool or a thing. Equally with Kant, Jewish
ethics insists on the autonomy of the moral law, but
it does this because this moral law is in God and
through God; because it is more inclusive than man
or humanity, having in itself the assurance of being
the essential meaning and purpose of all that is
realizable. It is not a mere "ought" which de-
mands, but a certainty that man "can " do what he
"ought to do," because all the forces of the universe
are attuned to the same " ought " and are making
for righteousness. This view alone gives a firm
basis to the moral life. It gives it both reality and
content. The categorical imperative as put by Kant
is only formal. Jewish ethics fills the categorical
imperative with positive content by holding that
it is man's duty as determined by the ultimate des-
tiny of the human family, and as purposed in the
moral order of things, to establish on earth the Mes-
sianic kingdom, or, in Christian ethics, "the commu-
nity of saints," the "kingdom of God."
III. Jewish ethics deduces and proclaims its de-
mands from the freedom of man's will. Determin-
ism in all its varieties denies human freedom for the
following reasons:
(1) Because the "soul" is dependent upon, and
therefore controlled and limited by, the body. The
contention of the determinists has not been proved.
The material elements are substrata of
Free "Will, the human person ; as such they are
factors of his being. But the " soul "
or " will " nevertheless has the power to resist and
neutralize the effects of the material factors. The
latter, within certain extent, hamper or help; but
whether increasing the difficulties or not, which the
" will " encounters in asserting itself, the material
elements may be and are under the will's control,
even to their destruction (e. g., in suicide). The ma-
terialistic constructions have not weakened the foun-
dations of Jewish ethics.
(3) Because empirically invariable regularity of
human action has been established by moral statis-
tics. At most the tables of moral statistics prove the
influence of social conditions as brakes or stimuli to
human will-power; but, confronted by the crucial
question, Why does one individual and not another
commit the (irregular) act? the theory fails ignomini-
ously. It does not prove that social conditions are
permanent. Man has changed them at his own will
under deeper insight into the law of his moral rela-
257
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Ethics
tions to other nicn. Hence the ariruineiits (ieriverl
from moral statistics do not touch the kernel of the
Jewish doctrine of the moral freedom of man.
(3) Because will is determined by motives, and
tliese arise out of conditions fixed by heredity and
environment. The utmost this contention estab-
lishes is that men are responsible for the conditions
they bequeath to posterity. These conditions may
render difficult or easy the assertion of the will in
the choice of motives, but they can not deprive the
will of the power to choose. Environment may at
will be changed, and the motives arising from it
thereby modified. Jewish ethics is not grounded
on the doctrine of absolute free will, but on that of
the freedom of choice between motives. Man acts
upon motives; but education, discipline, the train-
ing of one's mind to recognize the bearing which
the motives have upon action and to test them by
their concordance with or dissonance from the ideal
of human conduct involved in man's higher destiny,
enable man to make the better choice and to elim-
inate all baser motives. Even conceding the utmost
that the theory of determining motives establishes,
Jewish ethics continues on safe ground when predi-
cating the freedom of the human will.
(4) Because human freedom has been denied on
theological grounds as incompatible with the om-
nipotence and prescience of God (see Luther;
Maniciieans; Predestination; comp. Koran, sura
xvii. ; D. F. Strauss, "Die Christliche Glaubens-
lehre,"i. 363: Spinoza's "immanent" God). The
■difficulties of the problem have been felt also by
Jewish philosophers (see Stein, "Das Problem der
Willensfreiheit "). Still, the difficulties are largely
of a scholastic nature. Jewish ethics gives man the
liberty to range himself on the side of the divine
purposes or to attempt to place himself in opposi-
tion to them. Without this freedom moral life is
robbed of its morality. Man can do naught against
God except work his own defeat; he can do all with
God by working in harmony with the moral pur-
pose and destiny underlying life.
IV. Jewish ethics is not weakened by the theories
that evolution may be established in the history of
moral ideas and practise; that the standards of right
and wrong have changed ; and that
Relation conscience has spoken a multitude of
to Evo- dialects. Even the theory of Spencer
lutionist and others that conscience is only a
Ethics. slow accretion of impressions and ex-
periences based upon the utility of
certain acts is not fatal to the main principles of the
Jewish ethical theory. Evolution at its best merely
traces the development of the moral life; it offers
no solution of its origin, why man has come to
develop this peculiar range of judgments upon his
past conduct, and evolve ideals regulative of future
conduct. Human nature, then, in its constitution,
must have carried potentially from the beginning
all that really evolved from and through it in the
slow process of time. Man thus tends toward the
moralities, and these are refined and spiritualized in
increasing measure. Jewish ethics is thus untouched
in its core by the evolutional method of treatment
of the phenomena of the moral life of man.
v. Jewish ethics and Jewish religion are insepa-
V.— 17
rable. The moial life, it is true, is not dependent
upon dogma; there are men who, though without
positive dogmatic creeds, are intensely moral; as, on
the other hand, there are men who combine religious
and liturgical correctness, or religious
Based on emotionalism, with moral indifference
Religion, and moral turpitude. Furthermore,
the moral altitude of a people indi-
cates that of its gods, while the reverse is not true
(Melkarth, Astarte, Baal, Jupiter, reflect the moral-
ity of their worshipers). Nevertheless, religion alone
lifts ethics into a certainty ; the moral life under relig-
ious construction is expressive of what is central and
supreme in all time and space, to which all things are
sul'^'cct and which all conditions serve. God is, in the
Jewi.:h conception, the source of all morality; the
universe is under moral destiny. The key to all being
and becoming is the moral purpose posited by the
recognition that the supreme will of the highest
moral personality is Creator and Author and Ruler of
All. In God the moral sublimities are one. Hence the
Jewish God-concept can best be interpreted in moral
values (see God's thirteen Middot). Righteousness,
love, purity, are the only service man may offer Him,
Immorality and Jewish religiosity are mutually ex-
clusive. The moral life is a religious consecration.
Ceremonies and symbols are for moral discipline and
expressive of moral sanctities (see M. Lazarus,
"Jildi.sche Ethik"). They appeal to the imagina-
tion of man in a way to deepen in him the sense of
his moral dignity, and prompt him to greater sensi-
tiveness to duty.
VI. The ethical teachings of religion alone, and
especially the Jewish religion, establish the relation
of man to himself, to his property, to others, on
an ethical basis. Religion sets forth God as the
Giver. Non-religious ethics is incom-
Religious petent to develop consistently the obli-
Basis gations of man to live so that the
Necessary, measure of his life, and the value and
worth of all other men, shall be in-
creased. Why should man not be selfish? Why is
Nietzsche's "overman," who is " beyond good and
evil," not justified in using his strength as he lists?
Religion, and it alone, or a religious interpretation
of ethics makes the social bond something more
comprehensive than an accidental and natural (ma-
terial) compact between men, a policy, a pruden-
tial arrangement to make life less burdensome;
religion alone makes benevolence and altruism
something loftier than mere anticipatory specula-
tions on possible claims for benefits when necessity
shall arise, or the reflex impulse of a subjective
transference of another's objective misery to one-
self, so that pity always is shown only to self
(Schopenhauer). Religion shows that as man is the
recipient of all he is and has, he is the steward of
what was given him (by God) for his use and that of
all his fellow men.
On this basis Jewish ethics rests its doctrines of
duty and virtue. Whatever increases the capacity
of man's stewardship is ethical. Whatever use of
time, talent, or treasure augments one's possibilities
of human service is ethically con.secrated. Judaism,
therefore, inculcates as ethical the ambition to de-
velop physical and mental powers, as enlargement of
Ethics of the Fathers
Etiquette
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
258
service is dependent upon the measure of the increase
of man's powers. Wealth is not immoral ; poverty is
not moral. The desire to increase one's stores of
power is moral provided it is under the consecration
of the recognized responsibility for larger service.
The weak are entitled to the protection of the
strong. Property entails duties, which establish its
rights. Charity is not a voluntary concession on the
part of the well-situated. It is a right to which the
less fortunate are entitled injustice (npHV). The
main concern of Jewish ethics is personality. Every
human being is a person, not a thing. Economic
doctrine is unethical and un- Jewish if it ignores and
renders illusory this distinction. Slavery is for this
reason immoral. Jewish ethics on this basis i.T not
individualistic; it is not under the spell of other-
worldliness. It is social. By consecrating every
human being to the stewardship of his faculties and
forces, and by regarding every human soul as a
person, the ethics of Judaism offers the solution of
all the perplexities of modern political, industrial.
and economic life. Israel as the " pattern people "
shall be exponential, among its brothers of the whole
human family, of the principles and practises which
are involved in, pillared upon, and demanded by,
the ethical monotheism which lifts man to the
dignity of God's image and consecrates him the
steward of all of his life, his talent, and his treasure.
In the "Messianic kingdom," ideally to be antici-
pated by Israel, justice will be enthroned and in-
carnated in institution, and this justice, the social
correlative of holiness and love, is the ethical
passion of modern, as it was of olden, Judaism.
K. E. G. H.
ETHICS OF THE FATHERS. See Abot.
ETHIOPIA : The translation in the Authorized
Version, following the ancient versions, of a name
covering three different countries and peoples, viz. :
(1) Ethiopia proper; (2) parts of northern Arabia;
and (3) the regions east of Babylonia. See Cush
for this name and the problems involved.
The versions, beginning with the Septuagint, did
not know any other country than Kush (Egyptian,
"Ko['].sh"), that is. Nubia south of Egypt. In the
Bible " Cush, " the son of Ham and brother of ^Mizraim
(Egypt; Gen..x. 6; IChron. i. 8), evidently means the
ancestor of the Nubians. Originally the Egyptians
used the name Ko[']sh only of tribes living south of
the second cataract, extending it after 1500 B.C. to
the whole valley of the Nile south of Egypt; never,
however, to the highlands of Abyssinia, which, by a
late literary usurpation, and much to the confusion
of modern scholars, acquired the name "Ethiopia."
The Greeks often included under the term
"Ethiopians" (dusky-faced ones) all nations of east-
ern or central Africa, but designated as Ethiopia
proper the Nile valley from Syene (compare Ezek.
xxix. 10) to the modern Khartum. The inhabitants
of this country were more or less pure negroes. Isa.
xviii. 2 (R. V.) calls them "tall and smooth"; but
it is very doubtful if that obscure description of a
land "rustling with wings, which is beyond the
rivers of Ethiopia" {ib. xviii. 1), could mean Nubia.
Those barbarous tribes were at an early period
tributary to the Pharaohs who made the northern
part of the country a real Egyptian province after
2000 B.C., and the southern half after 1600. The
viceroys of this province became independent about
1000 B.C. Napata and Meroe were the capitals.
The Ethiopian kings occupied Thebes about 800,
and P'ankhy attempted to conquer the whole of
Egypt some fifty years later ; but actual possession
could only be effected hy Shabako about 700. After
Shabatako, the third Ethiopian Pharaoh, Taharko
came to the throne (the Tirhaka of II Kings xix. 9
and Isa. xxxvii. 9). His meddling with Syrian af-
fairs caused the Assyrian conquest of Egypt, which
country he and his succes.sor, Tanut-anion (Tanda-
mani), were unable to regain permanently (compare
Nahum iii. ; Isa. xx. 3). Cambyses fulfilled the
threat of Ezek. xxx. 4, and made Ethiopia tributary
(compare Esth. i. 1, viii. 9; I Esd. iii. 2). About
210 King Ergamenes broke the power of the high
priests of Amon, who, by means of their oracles
had virtually been rulers until this time.
Under Augustus a violation of the Roman frontier
at Syene caused the punitive expedition of Petronius
and the destruction of Napata. A few miserable
remnants of the kingdom and of ancient Egyptian
culture existed in Meroe for a while ; the wild tribes
of the Nobades and Blemrayans took the place of
the Ethiopians, whose language and race are usually
assumed to be represented by the modern Nubas.
The Bible, furthermore, mentions Ethiopia as the
type ofa remote land (Ps. Ixviii. 31, Ixxxvii. 4; Amos
ix. 7; Zeph. ii. 12, iii. 10; Dan. xi. 43). Isa. xliii.
3 seems to imply Ethiopia's wealth, probably in
gold, precious stones, etc. (compare Job xxviii. 19,
"the topaz of Ethiopia"; Isa. xlv. 14, "the mer-
chandise of Ethiopia"). Ethiopian mercenaries in
Egypt are mentioned in Jer. xlvi. 9. See also Cusu.
E. G. H. W. M. M.
ETHNARCH (ievdpxn^ = " chieftain ") : In the
Greco-Roman world, one that stood at the head of
any community, though not an independent ruler.
The Hebrew word "rosh" (cj'X")), especially in the
Biblical works of the post-exilic time, had per-
haps a meaning related to " ethnarch " (Nestle, in
Stade's"Zeitschrift," xv. 288; Schrader, "K. A. T."
3d ed., p. 310). The obscure lapufit?. (I Mace. xiv.
28) is probably merely the Hebrew title of Simeon
(^X Dy "i:;' = " prince of the people of God "), who
bore this title in addition to that of high priest. He
was called both " strategos " and "ethnarch" (ib. xiv.
47). The title 'ZapBfjd "Zaliavadl, given by Origen
to the Book of the Maccabees, would then mean
^K Dy IC* D'3"lti> (= "scepter of the prince of the
people of God "), referring to Judas Maccabeus, the
chief hero of the book. It would follow from this
that there were two ethnarchs even in this period:
Judas Maccabeus and Simeon. Josephus calls the
latter "ethnarch," probably following tlie Book of
Maccabees ("Ant." xiii. 6, § 7). Yet Willrich, not
without reason, considers this statement to be erro-
neous ("Judaica," p. 83).
The title "ethnarch " was officiallj'' given to Hyr-
canus II., though Pompcy refused him the crown
("Ant." XX. 10, § 4). Hyrcanus' title, as given in a
document of Caesar, was "high priest and ethnarch,"
and his children were to be designated in the same
way (xiv. 10, § 2 ; xiv. 8, § 5). Herod the Great also
is called e&vdpxK on a coin (Eckhel, "Doctrina
259
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Ethics of the Fathers
Etiquette
Nummoruin," i., iii. 484), although Saulc}', Levy,
and otlicrs, ascribe this coin to Archelaus. Herod's
son Archelaus was deemed unworthy of the title of
"king," and received simply that of "ethnarch"
C Ant." xvii. 11, § 4; "B. J." ii. G, § 3).
Tlie licad of the Jewish coumiuuily of Alexandria
had the title of "ethnarch" (Strabo, in "Ant." xiv.
7, § 2), and was probably identical with the Ala-
BAUcu. This may be gathered from a decree of
Claudius permitting the succession of ethnarchs
{ib. xix. 5, S 2). But Pliilo says expressly that at the
time of Augustus the gerusia took over the; functions
of the "genarch" ("In Flaccum," § 10), and yevap-
XVi here is doubtless equivalent to iOrdpx'/c. Philo
must refer to some interval during which, the per-
mission of Augustus not having been obtained, no
ethnarch could be appointed. At Damascus the
Nabatncan king Aretas IV. had an ethnarch at the
time of tlie apostle Paul (II Cor. xi. 32) ; yet there
is no reason for regarding this dignitary as at the
head of the Jews of that city, as does Griitz (" Gesch. "
4th ed., iii. 371), following earlier scholars, for the
chieftain or sheik of some tribe of nomads is meant
(Schilrer, "Gesch." 3d ed., ii. 83).
In an epitaph at Smyrna the Jewish community
is calleil " people " (eiJiof) of the Jews (Reinach, in
"R. E. J." vii. 161-166); hence the head of this com-
munity must have had the title of " ethnarch " (comp.
Suidas, s.i\ liJcof). Origen ("Epist. ad Africanum,"
^ 14) calls the patriarch of the Jews of Palestine
"ethnarch," ascribing to him great power; but this
seems merely an alternative for " patriarch."
Bibliography: Gratz, Gesch. 4th ed., iii. 3tl, comp. note 4;
Schiirer, Gexch. 3d ed., 1. 344, ii. 82; J. Weiss, in Herzog-
Haiick, Real-E)iciic. 3d ed., v. 5.i8 ; Biichler, Das SunhedricDi
in Jei-^isalem, pp. 46, 207, Vienna, 1902.
G. S. Kk.
ETHNOLOGY. See Biblical Ethnology.
ETIQ,UETTE : Rules governing intercourse in
polite society. Such rules are supposed by the
Rabbis to liave been laid down by the Bible itself.
Moses modestly uses the plural in saying to Joshua,
"Choose for us men and go fight with Amalek"
(Ex. xvii. 9, Hebr.), though he referred only to
himself. The obeisance of Abraham as he "bowed
himself toward the ground " and said to each of his
visitors, "My lord, if now I have found favor in thy
sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy serv-
ant," is a form of Oriental politeness, and is re-
corded as a model of address even when coming from
a greater man to one who occupies a lesser station
(Gen. xviii. 2-3). The gallantry displayed by Elie-
zer toward Rebekah, by Jacob toward Rachel, and
by Moses to the daughters of Jethro a;e instances
of respectful behavior toward women. The appeal
of Abigail to David is an example of courtlj-^ address
(I Sam. xxv.), as is also that of the "wise woman "
of Tekoah (II Sam. xiv.). The suavity of Queen
Esther toward Ahasuerus in her desire to counteract
the influence of Haman (Esth. v.) is also distin-
guished by good breeding. The command is given
to rise before the aged and to honor the elder (Lev.
xix. 32). When a rabbi enters the bet ha-midrash
or synagogue it is customaiy for the congregation
to rise until he occupies his seat. For reverence to
parents see IIonor and Pauents.
In rabbinical literature the term "derekerez"
(the way of the world) comprises among other
things etiquette, tliat is, good breeding, dignified
behavior, urbanity, and politeness. A general rule
is laid down by R. Eliezer: " One from whose mouth
the words of the Torah do not pass can not con-
duct himself according to the rules of etiquette"
(Kallah, ed. Coronel, lb, Vienna, 1864).
An introduction is necessary before dining with a
stranger, or sitting in judgment, or affixing a sig-
nature with another witness to a document (Sanh.
23a; comp. Derek Erez Zuta v.).
A person to be spoken to must first be called by
his name; even the Lord first "called " unto Moses
and then " spake " unto him (Yoma 4b). But a par-
ent or a teacher must not be called by name. Ge-
hazi was visited with leprosy for naming Elisha
(Sanh. 100a; comp. II Kings viii. 5). The princi-
ple " ladies first " has Biblical authoritj^ according to
the Rabbis. The most important message of Moses
to prepare the Israelites for the reception of the
Torah on Mount Sinai was addressed first to the
women and then to the men (" Thus shalt thou say
to the house of Jacob [women], and tell the children
of Israel [men] " : Ex. xix. 3, according to Mekilta,
ib. 2 [ed. Friedmann, p. 62bJ).
Written communications usually begin " With the
help of God," giving the week-day, day of the
month, and year from Creation. Letters are ad-
dressed in the choicest terras of en-
Modes dearment, honor, or resjiect. Relig-
of Address, ious questions were sent to Hai Ga'^n
addressed " our lord " ; a letter to a
representative rabbi styled him " the king among the
rabbis," "the prince in Israel," "the commander in
Law," "the famous governor," or "the great light."
To women were applied such forms as " to the virtu-
ous woman " ; " the crown of her husband " ; " blessed
shall she be above the women of the tent " (Judges
V. 24; see Titles). The personal name generally
follows the titles, even in case of a parent or a teacher.
After the name is added " may his light ever shine "
or " long may he live."
Letters written in the third person became the
proper form in the eighteenth century among the
German Jews. The addressee is referred to as " his
highness," "his honor," or "the honor of his learn-
ing." The communication concludes with an ex-
pression of affection and respect, and a wish for the
addressee's good health, peace, and prosperity. A
rabbinic signature is sometimes preceded with the
words " the little " or " who rests here among the
holy congregation." A letter of introduction begins
with "The deliverer of this writing " (r"31Dn). One
must be careful not to blot his writing, and should
answer his correspondents promptly (" Reshit Hok-
mah," ed. Constantinople, 1736, p. 300a).
Regular visiting was not generally indulged in ex-
cept in the case of some worthy object; but it was
a duty to visit the sick and to console the be-
reaved. The Rabbis visited one another very often
for the purpose of learning. The custom of visiting
the prophet on every new moon, or even on every
Sabbath, is adducccl from the question asked the
Shunammite (II Kings iv. 23). Hence a scholar
should visit his teacher every lioliday (R. H. 16b).
Johanan, when he visited his master R. Hanina, used
Etiquette
Strogr
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
260
to make a stir (by ringing a bell) before he entered,
in compliance with the Scriptural injunction, "his
sound shall be heard when hegoeth in unto the holy
place" (Ex. xxviii. 35; Lev. R. xxi. ; see Rashi to
Ps. 112a). The answer "yes" to a knock on the
door does not mean "enter," but "wait" (B. K. 33a).
Ben Sira is quoted in the Talmud as saying, "One
must not suddenly enter his neighbor's house " ; to
which R. Johanan added, " not even his own house "
(Niddah 16b; comp. Ecclus. [Sirach] xxi. 22).
There are numerous regulations for etiquette at
meals. Moses fixed the hours for dinner and break-
fast: "This shall be when the Lord shall give
you in the evening flesh to eat, and in
Meals. the morning bread to the full " (Ex.
xvi. 8 ; Yoma 75b). One who eats in
the street is like a dog, and some say is incapaci-
tated as a witness (Kid. 40b). One shall not bite
off a piece of bread and offer the rest to his neigh-
bor, nor offer his neighbor a drink from the cup
from which he has drunk first. Not even shall
a teacher let his pupil drink water out of the ves-
sel which has just been touched by his own lips, un-
til he has spilled some of the water from the top
(Tamid 27b).
Anything that causes expectoration or an odor
should not be eaten in company (Ket. 40a). Once
Rabbi ha-Nasi, lecturing before his disciples, smelled
garlic and requested the offender to leave. R.
Hiyya, however, rather than put the transgressor to
shame, caused the session to be suspended (Sanh.
11a). Etiquette prohibits eating the last morsel on
the table or platter, but the pot may be emptied
(ib. 92a ; ' Er. 53b). Ben Sira teaches to " Eat as be-
cometh a man. . . . And eat not greedily. ... Be
first to leave off for manners' sake; . . . and if thou
sittest among many, reach not out thy hand before
them" (Ecclus. [Sirach] xxxi. 16-18).
Invitations, as to a feast, were extended to even
slight acquaintances by special messengers. In some
instances the messenger mistook the name and called
on the wrong person. Thus Bar Kamza
Banquets ; was mistaken for Kamza, which error,
Toasts, it is claimed in the Talmud, was the
original cause of the destruction of
Jerusalem (Git. 55b). In later times the beadle acted
as the messenger, and usually invited every member
of the congregation. The evil effect of such whole-
sale receptions was to make entertainment very ex-
pensive. The congregation of the expelled Span-
ish Jews (1492) who settled in Fez adopted in 1613
stringent measures to check excessive feasting
(" Kerem Hamar, ii. § 94, Leghorn. 1169), " One
guest must not invite another " (B. B. 98b ; Derek
Erez Zuta viii. ; comp. Ben Sira xxxi.).
The custom of appointing one as the head of a
feast (probably as toast-master) is mentioned by Ben
Sira: "Have they made thee ruler of a feast? Be
not lifted up ; be thou among them as one of them "
(Ecclus. in [Sirach] xxxii. 1). The guests drank wine
to one another's health. " Wine and health to the lips
of the rabbis and their disciples" was the formula
of the toast for rabbis; in ordinary gatherings,
" Le-hayyim " (To your health). After saying grace,
toasts were given in honor of the host, his parents,
wife, and children, or on other occasions In honor
of the bride and groom or the " ha'al borit," alwa)'^s
beginning witli "The Merciful shall bless the host,"
etc. A person who drains his cup in one draft is
a glutton ; in three drafts, a cad ; the proper way is
to take it in two (Bc/.ah 25b).
Personal appearance is of vital importance:
"Cleanliness promotes holiness" ('Ab. Zarah 20b).
The washing of the hands before and
Personal after meals, bathing for the Sabbath
Ap- and the holidays, the paring of the
pearance. nails on Friday, and hair-cutting once
a month are part of Jewish etiquette.
When bathing, one must not dive or plunge into the
l)ath (Kalluh, ed. Coroiiel. 18b). For otiier rules of
etiquette in the bathing-place see Derek Erez, ix.
Women must not ride astride like men, except in
cases of emergency or from the fear of falling off
(Pes. 3a).
Artificial beautifying of the person by means
of hair-dye is restricted to women. Garments dis-
tinctive of one sex must not be worn by the other
(Deut. xxii. 5).
R. Johanan called his garments " my honor. " The
priest was ordered to change his garments when re-
moving the ashes from the altar (Lev. vi. 4). Thus,
says R. Isimiael, the Torah taught as a lesson in eti-
quette, that the servant waiting at the table should
not wear tlie garments in which he did the cooking
(Sanh. 94a). The Sabbath garment must be distin-
guished from every-day apparel (Shab. 113a). A
scholar whose garment is soiled by grease almost
deserves death, as he disgraces the honor of the Law
{ib. 114a). " This cleanliness in person and speech
. . . was a direct consequence of the religion. . . .
Cleanly habits were in fact codified . . . the medie-
val code-books of the Jewish religion contain a sys-
tematized scheme of etiquette, of cleanly custom,
and of good taste " (Abraham, " Jewish Life in the
Middle Ages," p. 16).
In matrimony the man, not the woman, shall pro-
pose, as it is Avritten "if any man take a wife"
(Deut. xxii. 13). The Talmud declares that since
usually the one who loses an article
Proposals, looks for it, the man must look for his
lost rib (Kid. 2b). The bride is ac-
companied by a chaperon, who brings her and intro-
duces her to the groom under the canopy, as "the
Lord God . . . brought her [Eve] unto the man "
(Gen. ii. 22; Ber. 61a).
Another rule in etiquette demands the use of eu-
phemisms: "Keep aloof from what is ugly and
whatever resembles it" (Hul. 44b; comp. Derek
Erez Zuta viii.). R. Joshua b. Levi said : " Never use
an indecent expression, even if you have to employ
many more words to complete the sentence." Noah
was ordered to provide the ark with clean beasts and
with " beasts that are not clean " (Gen. vii. 2), a long
negative being used in preference to a short posi-
tive expression of " contamination " (Pes. 3a). Other-
wise conversations should be precise and concise,
especially when speaking to a woman (Ab. i. 5; ' Er
53b). See Euphemisms; Greetings; Precedence.
BiBLiocRAPHY : Derek Erez B.\ Derek Erez Zuta; Ahotx
Maimonides, Yad, De'nt ; c'aro, Slmlhan 'Anik, Oral} Han-
vim, 169-183; Yorch De'ah, 240,241,335; De Vldas, Reshit
Hokmah, Derek Erez, pp. 282b-283a, ed. Constantinople,
1736 ; Low, Ben Oiananja ; Die Etiquette der Thai. Ze.it, il.
261
TJIE JEWISH E^X'YCLOPEDIA
Etiquette
Etrog:
tit),'167,210, 25P; Kurrein, 7Jf 7- Umuntiomit Motxclirii. Krank-
fort-on-the-Main, isoti; Soliiefer, Mr)iiiUikim^iw Aiinsliim,
an adaptation of Knispre, Wai-saw, l.st>i>: Andrep. Vntkxlaiuflr
ilcrjnilen, ch. viii., Leipsic, ISs] ; Aliraliauis, ./cici.s/i Life in
the Middle Agc.<, pp. Hi, !2;!-l~'(l. 'XM): Kisonsiein, Cmle i>f
Life, part i., ch. viii.; Briskin, Tair YiIiokIiiuC. part i., War-
saw, 1895.
s. s. .T. D. E.
ETOILE (Old French, Estoile or Estelle ; He-
brew. 3313) : Town in the ancient province of Daii-
pliine, France.
It mnst not be
confounded
with Estella
(Latin, Stelld).
Spain. In the
fonrteenth cen-
tury there were
living in Dijon
Jews who had
originally come
from " Estoile"
(S i m m o n e t,
"Juifs et Lom-
bards," in the
"Memoires de
^'Academic des
Sciences et
Belles-Lettresde
Dijon," 1865, p.
186) ; and in the
sixteenth cen-
tury Jews from
"Estelle" went
to Carpentras
("R. E. J." xii.
160, 200, 204).
Among tlie
scholars of
Etoile may be
mentioned: Ab-
ba Mari ben Jo-
seph and his son
Judah, who, at
Moras in 1333,
copied a portion
ofthe"Halakot"
of Alfasi (Gross,
"Gallia Juda
ica," p. 52); Mei'i
Kokabi("star"),
author of a com-
mentary on the
Pentateuch
(1318); Samuel
Kokabi, com-
mentator on a
work on the cal-
endar, written about 1402 (i6. p. 53); David ben Sam-
uel of Estelle, member of the rabbinical college of
Avignon in 1305 (doubtless identical with the cele-
brated scholar David ben Samuel Kokabi, the author
of " Migdal Dawid " and " Kiryat Sefer " ; comp. " R.
E. J." ix. 214, 230); Jacob ben Moses of Bagnols,
author of an important work on ethics and casuis-
tics, written about 1857-61 {ib. ix. 51).
Bibliography : Gross and Simmonet, as above.
G. S. K.
(Jitron-Tree
(From a
ETROG (jnnN, WnnS, and NJJl-iriK in Kid. 70a;
jnn in Targ. Yer. to Lev. xxiii. 40; compare the
Aial)ic "lurujjah"): The citron Uirpov, Kirpinv);
fruit of a tree of the orange and lemon family. It
is oblong in shape, and sometimes as much as six
inches in length. The skin is thick, .somewhat hard.
fragrant, and covered with protuberances; the pulj)
is white and subacid. Modern naturalists assume
the north of In-
dia to be its na-
tive home; but
it passed to the
countries of the
Mediterranean
from Media or
Persia; hence
the name of the
tree, "Citrus
medica," and of
the fruit, "Ma-
lum medica," or
"Malum Persi-
ca" (compare
Pliny, " Historia
Naturalis,"ii.3;
Josephus, I.e. iii.
10, t^ 4: fi. r^f
Uepaeag). It is
therefore possi-
ble that the Jews
brought the tree
with them from
Babylonia to
Palestine on
their return
from the Captiv-
ity.
The etrog is
used with the
"lulab" at the
Feast of Booths,
or Sukkot. Of
the four species
of plants enu-
merated in Lev.
xxiii. 40 (R. v.),
on which the car-
rying of the lu-
lab is based, tra-
dition takes " the
fruit of the good-
ly tree " (y]} nQ
mn, properly
"the fruit of a
fair or noble
tree") to designate the citron. For the haggadic
justification of this interpretation sec Suk. 35a,
and for a further discussion of the subject see
LcLAB. It is evident from Josephus and the Tal-
mud that the custom of carrying the lulab and
the etrog was well established in the time of the
Maccabees. Josephus ("Ant." xiii. 18, § 5) relates
that once, while Alexander Jannaeus was minis-
tering at the altar on tlie Feast of Booths, the people
pelted liini with their citrons, reproaching him with
with EtroKim.
pfautOgTAph.)
Etrog:
Ettingrer
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
262
(From Kirchner,
Etrog.
** Judischfs Ceremoniel,"
1726.)
being the son of a captive woman and therefore de-
barred from the priesthood. In Suk. 48b tlie episode
of being pelted with etrogs is related of an unnamed
Sadducee who wrongly
])()ured out the water-
libation at tlie foot of
tiie altar.
The etrog is also
called "Adam's ap-
[ile," or "paradise ap-
ple," and in Gen. K.
.\v. 7 among other
fruits the etrog is sug-
gested as liaving been
the forbidden fruit of
which Adam and Eve
ate in the Garden of
Eden ; " fur it is said,
'the ti'ee was good for
food' (Gen. iii. 6).
Which is the tree whose
wood can be eaten as well as its fruit? It is the etrog. "
To see an etrog in a dream is regarded as an as-
surance that one is " precious ["nn] before his Ma-
ker" (Ber. 57a). It is a Avide-spread, popular belief
that a pregnant woman who bites into an etrog will
bear a male child.
In modern times, especially since the auti Jewish
demonstrations of 1891 at Corfu, a movement was
inaugurated to boycott the elrog-growers of that
island and to buy etrogim raised in the agricultural
colonies of Palestine. Isaac Elhanan Si'ectok fa-
vored the Palestinian fruit ("Almanach Achiasaf,"
iv. 293), while others contended that the etrogim
of Palestine, being raised on grafted trees, were
prohibited ("Peri 'E/ Hadar," ed. Solomon 3Iarcus,
Cracow, 1900).
The etrog was occasionally the object of spe-
cial taxation. Empress Maria Theresa demanded
from the Jews of the
kingdom of Bohemia
July 17, 1744, an annual
taxof40,000florins($16,-
000) for tlie right of im-
porting their etrogim,
which tax was later on
reduced to 12,000 florins
("Oest. Wochenschrift,"
1901, p. 727). Some Ga-
lieian Jews in 1797 of-
fered to pay 150,000 flor-
ins for the privilege of
levying a tax on etrogim, but Emperor Francis II.,
in 1800, refused to interfere with a religious practise
(" Israel. Familienblatt, " Hamburg, Oct. 10, 1901).
Tristram, Natural History of the Bible, pp.
I. M. C.
Copper Coin of Simon Macca-
beus, Bearing an Etrog.
(After Mmdden, " History of Jewish
Coinage.")
Bibliography
347 et seq.
A.
ETTHAUSEN, ISAAC SECKEL BEN
MENAHEM: German rabbi ; flourished in the tirst
half of the eighteenth century, officiating as rabbi in
various German towns during a period of fifty -five
years. He was the author of "Or Ne'elam," a col-
lection of fifty-eight responsa relating to subjects
he had discussed with Baruch Rapoport, Jonathan
Eybeschutz, and others; and "Ur Lo i>e-Ziyyon,"
novella? on Berakot and Halakot Ketannot. Both
works were published after his death by his son,
Judah Lob Etthausen (Carlsruhe, 1765).
Bibliography: Furst, Bi/ji. Jiid. i. ^59 ; Fuenn, Keiieset Yis-
raeU P- W7.
K. M. Sel.
ETTING: Name of an American family, prom-
inent in national and civic affairs, whose liistory is
associated with the states of ^Maryland and Pennsyl-
vania, chiefly with the cities of IBallimore and Phil-
adelphia, though some of its meiuhers are connected
with the history of New York and Connecticut. Of
the following members of the family little is known :
Benjamin Etting-: Resident of New York; made
Silver Box for Etrog.
(In the po8SeKa)<in of J. D. Ei.senstein.)
a freeman in 1769; fled with other patriots at the
time of the capture of the city by the British, and
went to Norwalk, Conn., where he died in 1778
(" Pub. Am. Jew. Hist. Soc." ii. 66, vi. 102). Moses
Etting: Resident at Easton, Pa.; died during the
early part of 1778 {ib. ii. 66). Reuben Etting:
Joined the Revolutionary army when nineteen years
of age; was taken prisoner at Charlestown; died
shortly after his release {ib. ii. 66). Solomon Et-
ting: Mentioned in a subscription list as being in
Baltimore in 1773 {ib. vi. 155).
The historj' of the following members of the
family is known more fully:
Charles Edward Etting : American general
officer; born in Philadelphia Feb. 5, 1844; served
with distinction as a volunteer in the army during
the Civil war. He entered the Federal service as a
member of the One Hundred and Twenty-first Reg-
iment, with the grade of second lieutenant of Com-
pany D, and was promoted in turn to first lieutenant,
captain, and adjutant. Assigned to the third divi-
sion of the Army of the Potomac (1861), he took i)art
in the operations at Sharpsburg (Sept. 29, 1862) and
in the battles of Fredericksburg (Dec. 13, 1862),
Chancellorsville (May 1-4, 1863), and Gettysburg
(July 1-3, 1863), acting as staflf-ofliicer and aide-de-
263
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Etrog
Etting-er
camp throughout the campaign. Subsequently lie
took an active part in organizing new regiments in
his state (1864), and retired from military service
June 2, 1865. At the close of the war Etting re-
turned to Philadelphia and engaged in commerce.
Elijah Gratz Etting: Son of Reuben Etting;
born in Baltimore July 14, 1795; died in Philadel-
phia May 25, 1849. He was educated at the Uni-
versity of Pennsylvania, graduating in 1812. He
studied law in Pennsylvania, and was admitted to
the bar in 1816. On his return to Maryland he
was elected district attorney for Cecil county in that
state.
Frank Marx Etting : American army officer ;
sou of Henry Etting ; born Dec. 17, 1833 ; died in
Philadelphia June 4, 1890. After studying for the
legal profession he commenced practising at the bar
of Philadelphia Oct. 10, 1857. Abandoning law
some j'ears later, he entered the army, and was ap-
pointed paymaster, with the rank of major, in 1861.
Continuing in office throughout the Civil war, he
became chief paymaster to the forces (1864-67).
On the expiration of his term of office he was
brevetted lieutenant-colonel (of Volunteers, March
13, 1865 ; of Regulars, 1868). In 1868 he was ap-
pointed to the staff of Gen. Irwin McDowell as
chief paymaster for disbursing the Reconstruction
Fund. At the opening of the Centennial Exposi-
tion in 1876 Etting was elected chief historian
of the Department of the Exposition. He was
the author of a "History of Independence Hall,"
and at one time during his public career served
as director of public schools. Other representa-
tive members of this family in Philadelphia were
Benjamin Etting and Edward J. Etting, the
latter of whom had two sons, Theodore Minis and
Charles Edward.
Henry Etting : American naval officer ; born in
Baltimore May 20, 1799; died at Portsmouth, N. H.,
July 10, 1876. He commenced his career Jan. 1,
1818, as midshipman, and by Nov. 7, 1826, attained
the rank of purser. Four years later he was ap-
pointed paymaster, with the rank of commander
(Nov. 7, 1830), and retired from the navy with the
rank of captain Dec. 21, 1861. Throughout the
Civil war Etting held at New York the office of pur-
ser and fiscal agent of the Navy Department. After
fifty-three years of active service he was finally
placed on the retired list as pay -director, with the
rank of commodore (March 3, 1871).
Reuben Etting : Citizen of Baltimore ; born at
York, Pa., 1762; died in Philadelphia 1848. He
chose a military career, and was commissioned
(1798) first captain of the Independent Blues. In
1801 he was appointed United States marshal for
Maryland by Thomas Jefferson.
Solomon Etting : Born in York, Pa., 1764; died
in Baltimore, Md., 1847. He was one of those
American citizens who opposed a treaty with Great
Britain in 1795. He afterward removed to Balti-
more, where he was elected to the city council (1825),
ultimately becoming president of that body.
Theodore Minis Etting : American naval offi-
cer; born in Philadelphia ATay 25, 1846. During
the Civil war he volunteered, and received the ap-
pointment of acting midshipman Nov. 28, 1862,
being promoted to full grade June 2, 1868. In turn
he advanced through the grades of ensign (April 19,
1869) and master (July 12, 1870), attaining that of
lieutenant (March 3, 1874). Etting resigned July 1.
1877, and immediately took up the study of law
under Henry B. Ednuinds of Philadelphia. He
commenced to practise as a marine and corporation
lawyer in 1879, and was the author of a treatise on
"Admiralty Jurisdiction." Elected to represent the
eighth ward as member of the Select Council in 1885,
Etting from that time on has taken an active part
in the municipal affairs of his native city, and has
been reelected repeatedly. He held also the chair-
manship of the municipal committee on law.
Bibliography : Morals, Jews of Philadelphia, passim.
A. F. H. V.
ETTINGER (OETTINGER) : Family name
derived from the city of Oettingen in Bavaria, and
found ail over Europe among Ashkenazim families.
The Galician and Russian family of Ettingers con-
tains many rabbis and writers of some distinction.
The best-known members are:
Hayyim Judah Lob Ettinger : Austrian rab-
bi ; died in 1739 ; son of Eliezer ha-Levi Lichtenstein
Ettinger. He succeeded his father in the rabbinate
of Holleschau and in the directorate of its Talmud-
ical school, which was at that time one of the most
important in Moravia, and at which his brother,
the author of " 'Edut be-Yosef" (Sulzbach, 1761),
was a pupil. In 1717 Hayyim was appointed head
of the Talmudical school of Lemberg, and in
1730 succeeded the author of the "Pene Yehoshua'"
in the rabbinate of that place. Although Ettin-
ger wrote several works and numerous responsa,
nothing was published under his own name. Only
in the works of others, as, for instance, in those
of his brother-in-law, Hayyim Cohen Rapaport,
rabbi of Lemberg, may there be found a few scat-
tered responsa and notes of Ettinger's, which give
but slight indication of his Talmudical knowl-
edge.
Isaac Aaron Ettinger (also called Reb
Itzsche) : Galician rabbi and scholar ; son of Mor-
decai Ze'eb Ettinger; born at Lemberg 1827; died
there Jan. 16, 1891. Distinguished for his intellec-
tual activity and industry, he was invited by several
communities of Galicia to assume a rabbinate, but,
being Avealthy, he declined until, in 1868, he was
persuaded to accept the rabbinate of Przemysl.
He had occupied this position less than two years,
when the pressure of his private affairs compelled
him to relinquish it and retire to Lemberg. His
responsa exerted considerable influence; Mitnag-
gedim and Hasidim submitted to him questions
of ritual; the thaumaturgic rabbis of Sadagora
referred questions of inheritance to his decision;
and he was regarded even by the government
as the leader of the Galician Jews. He was
officially recognized by the Austrian minister of
the interior as Nasi of Palestine, and as such be
sent annually to Palestine about 50,000 gulden.
When Zebi Hirsch Ornsteiu died in 1888, Ettinger
was cliosen rabbi of Lemberg, an office which he
filled until his death. A highly cultured man, his in-
fluence was felt also by the Reform party. He often
Etting-er
Euclid
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
264
appeared in the Polish city council to uphold his
opinions. Some of his responsa were posthumously
published by his children under the title X"nnD Dl "^'
^-l^n (Lemberg, 1892).
Bibliography : Buber, Anshc Shew, p. 1^3, Cracow, 1895.
Mordecai Ze'eb Ettinger : Father of Isaac Aar-
on; born 1804; died June 30, 1863, at Lemberg. lie
published in collaboration with his brother-iu-law,
Joseph Saul Nathanson, the followiug: "Mefareshe
ha-Yam" (Lemberg, 1827), a conunentary to the
work of his uncle, Moses Joshua Heschel, rabbi at
Tarnogrod, who had published a work on Baba
Kamma under the title " Yam ha-Talmud " ; " Me-
'irat'Enayim" (Wilna, 1839; Zolkiev, 1842); "Magen
Gibborim," on the Sliulhan 'Aruk, Orah Hayyim
(part 1. Lemberg, 1834; part 2, Zolkiev, 1839);
"Haggahot 'al ha-Shas" (printed in the Wilna Tal-
mud ed.); "Ner Ma'arabi," annotations to the Jeru-
salem Talmud (printed in the Jitomir ed. ) ; " Ma'asch
Alfas," on tlie Cl"n.
After a collaboration of twenty -live years a differ-
ence arose between the two brothers-in-law, which
was brought to a crisis by Rabbi Solomon Kliiger's
"Moda'ah leBet Yisrael " in reference to the baking
of mazzot by machinery, Rabbi Jo.seph Saul's an-
swer, "Bittul Moda'ah" (1859), not meeting with
Ettinger's approval. Ettinger even before this had
commenced to work alone, publishing "Ma'amar
Mordekai " to the Shulhan 'Aruk (Lemberg, 1852),
and writing much that is still in manuscript.
Bibliography : Buber, Anshe Shem, p. 153, Cracow, 189.5.
K. M. W. R.
Solomon Ettinger : Physician and Yiddish
poet; died about 1855. He studied medicine in
Lemberg, Galicia; and, after graduating, settled in
Zamoscz, Russian Poland, which probably was his
native place. A. B. Gottlober, who mot him there
in 1837, relates that Ettinger was prohibited from
practising under his foreign diploma, and that he
afterward joined an agricultural colony. Failing
to succeed as a colonist, he settled in Odessa. He is
the author of a Yiddish drama entitled " Serkele "
(Johannisberg, 1861; 2d ed., Warsaw, 1874), wliich
is still considered one of the best literary produc
tions in that dialect. Some of his songs and fables
were published by his friend and fellow townsman
A. Zederbaum, in the periodicals "Kol Mebasscr"
and "Jiidisches Volksblatt." A collection of his
fables and songs was published by his family (St.
Petersburg, 1889 [?]). An excellent parody of
Heine's "Zwei Grenadiere," which appeared in J.
L. Gordon's "Sihat Hullin," is also attributed to
Ettinger. His song " Das Licht " (" Jiidisches Volks-
blatt," vol.vi.) is an imitation of Schiller's "Glocke."
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Gottlober, in Jlldisrhe Vo/fr.shiWiothe/f, 1. 353-
354 ; Jiidisches Volksblatt, vol. v.. No. 25, and vol. vi.. No.
6; Wiener, Historu of Yiddish Literature in the Nine-
teenth Century, pp. 101-102, New York. 1899.
s. P. Wl.
ETTLINGER, JACOB : German rabbi and au-
thor, and one of the leaders of modern Orthodoxy ;
born at Carlsruhe March 17, 1798; died at Altona
Dec. 7, 1871. He received his early education from
his fatlier Aaron, who was " Klausrabbiner " at Carls-
ruhe, continuing his studies under Abraham Bing at
Wliizburg, where he also attended the university.
He was thus among the earliest German rabbis who
possessed academic training. In 1826 he was ap-
l^ointed " Kreisrabbiuer " of Ladenburg, with his seat
in Mannheim, where he was at the same time chief
prebendary (" Klausprimator "). This position he
lield until he was called as chief rabbi to Altonu,
where he ofliciated from 1836 until his death. la
this position he became one of the most prominent
representatives of German Ortliodox}', Avhich stood
for the union of secular learning with strict adher-
ence to the tenets and practises of traditional Juda-
ism. A typical story is reported by Abraham Gciger,
who formed Ettlinger's accpiaintance as a student in
1829. At a sciiool examination a teacher said that
Joseph's brotlicrs had acted in an unbrotherly fash-
ion, whereupon Ettlinger rebuked him indignantly
for speaking ill of "the twelve tribes of Israel"
(Abraham Geiger, "Leben in Briefeu," p. 17, Berlin,
1878). His views can be judged from his first work,
■'Bikkure Ya'akob," in the preface of which he says
that he chose tiiis title because it had the numerical
value of Jacob and Rachel, who are mystically repre-
sented in the law of the Sukkah, with wliich the book
deals. A similar belief in the doctrines of the Cabala
is expressed in a sermon in which he urged early
burial, because as long as the body remains un-
buried the evil spirits ("hizoiiim") have power over
it (" Allg. Zeit. des Jud." 1845, p. 193). In his will
he left the request that the four capital punishments
should be performed symbolically on his body.
Ettlinger became one of the strongest opponents
of the Reform movement, and headed the protest of
the one hundred and seventy-three rabbis against
the Brunswick Conference of 1844 (see Confer-
ences, R.\i5mNiCAL). In the following year he es-
tablished the lirst organ of Orthodox Judaism, "Der
Zionswilchter, Organ zur Wahrung der Interessen
des Gesetzestreuen Judenthums," with a Hebrew
supplement, "Shomer Ziyyon ha-Ne'eman," edited
by S. J. Enoch. His school was attended by a great
many students preparing for the ministry, and many
of them became leaders of Orthodoxy. Samson
Raphael Ilirsch was his disciple in Mannheim, and
Israel Hildesheimer in Altona. Four of his sons-in-
law became prominent Orthodox rabbis — Isaacsohn
of Rotterdam, Solomon Cohn of Schwerin, Frey-
mannof Ostrowo, audM.L. Bamberger of Kissingen.
He was the last German rabbi wlio acted as civil
judge. Much against his will the Danish govern-
ment, to which Altona then belonged, abolished this
right of the Altona rabbi in 1863. The purity of his
character and tlie sincerity of his religious views
were acknowledged even by his opponents. He
provided in his will that nobody should call him
"zaddik" (righteou.s), and that the inscription on
his tombstone should contain merely the titles of his
works and a statement of the number of years dur-
ing which he was rabbi of Altona. The congrega-
tion obtained permission from the government to
bury him in the old cemetery of Altona, which liad
been clo.se(l a year before.
His publislied works arc: "Bikkure Ya'akob," on
the laws of Sukkot, Altona, 1836 (2d ed. with the
addition of "Tosefot Bikkurlm," ib. 1858); "'Aruk
la-Ner," glosses on various Talmudic treatises (on
265
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Ettinger
Euclid
Yebamot, Altona, 1850; oa Makkot and Keritot, ib.
1855; ou Sukkah, ib. 1858; on Niddab, ib. 1864; on
Rosh ba-Slmuah and Sanhedrin, Warsaw, 1873) ;
"Binyan Zi\'\'on," rcsponsa, Altona, 1868; "Slie'e-
lot u-Tesliubot Binyan Ziyyou ha-Hadasliot," Wilna.
1874 (a continuation of the preceding); "Jlinhat
'Ani," homilies, Altona, 1874. He published vari-
ous sermons in German, among them " Antrittsrede,
Gehalten in dcr Grossen Synagoge zu Altona," Al-
tona, 1830 ; " Rede beim Trauergottesdienst beim
Ableben Friedrich III," ib., 1840; and numerous ar-
ticles in the "Zionswachter, " a collection of which
was published by L. M. Bamberger under the title
"Abhandlungen und Reden," Schildberg, 1899.
BiBrjOGRAPilY: Ha-Mannid. 1870, p. 118. and 1871, pp. 379,
38*5 ; Der li<raeUU PP. 940-943 et seq., Mayence. 1871.
s. D.
EUCHEL, ISAAC ABRAHAM: Hebrew au-
thor; born at Copenhagen 1758; died at Berlin
(June?) 14, 1804. He studied at the University of
Konigsberg under Immanuel Kant, and acquired a
fine Hebrew style from Moses Mendelssohn and
Naphtali Wessel}-. A proposal to appoint him pro-
fessor of Oriental languages at the University of
Konigsbeig was resisted by Kant, as dean of the
faculty of philosophy, on the ground that "it is
hardly possible for a Jewish teacher of the Hebrew
language to abstain from the rabbinic expositions to
which he has been accustomed from his youth."
Euchel was one of the founders of the periodical
"Ha-Meassef" (1783), the organ of the Biurists.
For some time subsequently he was bookkeeper in
the establishment of Meyer Warburg in Berlin. In
the winter of 1791 he founded, with other young
scholars, like Joseph Mendelssohn, E. Wolfssohn, and
N. Oppenheimer, the Gesellschaft der Freunde in
Berlin.
Euchel's' chief works are: "Gebete der Deutsch-
Polnischen Juden" (translated from the Hebrew,
with notes, Ratisbon, 1786-88; Vienna, 1790-98);
"Die Spruche Salomos " (translated from Hebrew,
with Hebrew commentary, Berlin, 1789-98; Offen-
bach, 1805-08); "1st nach Judischen Gesetzen das
Uebernachten dcr Todten WirklichVerboten ?" (Bres-
lau, 1797-98); "Mose Maimuni's 'More Nebucliim,'
mitcinem Kommentar von Mose Narboniund einem
Kommentar von S. IVIaimon " (Berlin, 1791; Sulz-
bach, 1829). The most brilliant example of Euchel's
Hebrew style is found in liis biography of Closes
Mendelssohn, entitled "Toledot Rambeman: Le-
bensgeschichte ,Mos. ^Vlendelssohns, mit Excerpteu
aus Seinem 'Jerusalem'" (Berlin, 1789; Vienna,
1804).
BiBLiOGRAPHy : Max Letteris, in the new edition of the nONcn,
1784, pp. 41-47, Vienna, 1805; AUo- Zeit.desJud. 1837, p. 488;
Das jadische LiteraturUatU 1882, No. 33.
8. A. Ko.
EUCLID (Heb. DT'^pX, D-T'^pX, also DIT'^pX
and D"'"Ivp1X) : Greek geometer; tiourished in the
fourth century B.C. He is mentioned, perhaps for
the first time in Hebrew literature, by Rabbi Abra-
ham bar Hiyya (d. 1136). Jacob ben Nissim also
speaks of DISIDI^'S DT'i'PX.
Most of the oldest Hebrew manuscript now extant
are translations of Euclid strikingly similar in style
and method, and are apparently tlie work of the
same man, Moses ibn Tibbon. As he usually dated
his works, it is learned that the first translation of
Euclid's i:.Toix£la ("Elements") was
The " Ele- made in Elul, 5030 (= 1270). Another
ments." translation, called " Yesodot " or " Sho-
rashim" (c. 1273), and including Hyp-
sicles' books, is commonly supposed to have been
made by Jacob ben Makir (died about 1306), tliough
some attribute it to Moses ibn Tibbon.
Not only was the text itself translated into Hebrew,
but also the commentaries on it by Arabic .scientists.
Those made by Al-Farabi and by Ibn Haitham
(known as " Alhazen ") were rendered anonymously,
probably by Moses ibn Tibbon. Kalonymus ben
Kalonymus, the assumed translator of part of book
xiv., according to Simplicius' com-
Com- mentary (Feb. 2, 1309), also rendered
mentaries. Ibn Haitham's commentary on the
introduction to book x. (Sept. 9, 1314;
Berlin MS. No. 204). Other commentaries, original
and adapted, are by a pupil of Jacob b. Makir, by
Abba Marl (c. 1324; Munich MS. No. 91) on the
introduction to book i., by R. Levi ben Gershon (d.
1344) on the propositions of books 1., iii., iv., v.
(MSS. Jews' Coll., No. 138, 4; D. Guenzburg, St.
Petersburg. No. 340), and by Abraham ben Solomon
Y'arhi Zarfati. According to Joseph Delmedigo,
there was also an original commentary to the entire
Euclid by Elijah Mizrahi (d. 1526).
The "Elements" are usually divided into books
(" ma'amarim "). An annotated translation of book
i. and part of bookii., belonging to the sixteenth
century, is still extant (Paris MS. No. 1015).
Euclid's "Data" was rendered into Hebrew {c.
1272) by Jacob ben Makir, and called by him "Sefer
ha-Mattanot" (Book of the Gifts), from the Arabic
of Hunain ibn Ishak (" Kitabal-Mu'tayat") as revised
by Thabit ibn Kurruh. Til)bon, however, speaks of
Hunain ibn Ishak witliout reference to the reviser.
Hunain's version of Euclid's "Optic," as revised
by Thabit ibn Kurrah, was translated into Hebrew
by Jacob ben ]\Iakir and called "Hilluf ha-Mabba-
tim " (The Variety of Aspects).
At the end of tlie eighteenth century the study of
Euclid, wliich had been neglected for several cen-
turies, was resumed among Jews in Germany, and
especially in Poland. Three new translations were
made between 1775 and 1875. A new
Later edition with four plates was published
Transla- by Abraham Joseph (ben Simon) Minz,
tions. and annotated by Mei'r of Fiirth, the
title being IBD N"in DHIofj n'K'N"!
On'PpX (Berlin, 1775). The learned Baruch Schick,
usually known as " Baruch of Sklow," published five
years later a new translation of the first six books of
the "Elements," illustrated with 140 geometrical fig-
ures on three plates (The Hague, 1780). A hundred
years later Nahman Hirsch Linder translated books
xi. and xii., with notes and explanations, and with
illustrations on two plates (Jitomir, 1875).
Bibliography : Steinsi-hneider, Hehr. Uehers. 11. .503-513
Idem, Die Mathematik bei den Juden, in Bihliotheca
Mathematica, new .series, xi. 14. 35, 77, 79, 103, 108; xil. 86
xiii. 36; idem, in 3/o)iatoc/i) i7t, xxxvii. 519; Furst, Bihl
Jud. Iii. 338; Roest, Cat. Rosenthal. Bibl.i. 36ti ; Zeitlin
liihl. Pnst-Mendels. pp. 213. 343-344.
G. J. S. R.
XJulenburg
Euphemism
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
266
EULENBTJRG, ALBERT: German neuropa-
thist and electrotherapist ; born Aug. 10, 1840, in
Berlin; son of the physician Moritz Michael Eulen-
burg (1811-87). He received his education at the
gymnasium of Berlin and the universities at Bonn,
Zurich, and Berlin, and received his doctorate in
1861.
From 1863 to 1866 Eulenburg was assistant and
later chief physician of the hospital of the university
at Greifswald, where he was also admitted as privat-
docent in 1864. As army surgeon he took part in
the campaigns of 1866 and 1870-71, receiving the
Iron Cross for non-combatants. From 1867 to 1873 he
practised in Berlin, being attached to the clinical
staff of the university hospital from 1869-71. In
1874 he was appointed professor at the university of
Greifswald and director of the pharmacological in-
stitution, which positions he resigned in 1883, when
he moved to Berlin, where he opened a private
hospital for nervous diseases. In 1890 he became
assistant professor at the university of Berlin, and
in 1896 he received the title of "Geheimer Mediz-
inalrath."
Eulenburg is an authority on nervous diseases.
He is the editor of the well-known " Realencyklo-
padie der Gesammten Heilkunde," a standard work
which was published in 15 vols, by Urban und
Schwarzenberg, Vienna, 1880-83 (2d ed. 1885-90, 22
vols. ; 3d ed. 1893-1901, in 27 vols.) ; a supplementary
volume, entitled "Eucyklopadische Jahrbiicher,"
appears annually. Besides this great work, Eulen-
burg has written: "Die Hypodermatische Injection
der Arzneimittel," Berlin, 1864; 3d ed. 1875; "Lehr-
buch der Nervenkrankheiten auf Physiologischer
Basis," lb. 1871; 2d ed. 1878; together with Paul
Guttmann, "Die Physiologic und Pathologic des
Sympathicus," ib. 1873, a work which, republished
in London in 1879, received the Astley-Cooper
prize ; " Die Hydroelectrischeu Bader, " Vienna, 1883 ;
"Sexuale Neuropathic," Leipsic, 1895.
He is also the editor of the "Handbuch der Allge-
meinen Therapie und der Therapeutischcn Me-
thodic," Berlin and Vienna, 1898-99, and, since the
death of Samuel Guttmann in 1895, joint editor,
with J. Schwalbe, of the "Deutsche Medizinische
Wochenschrift."
BiBr.ioGRAPHY : Hirsch, Biographisches Lexiknn; Pagel,
Biagraphischen Lexikon.
s. F. T. H.
EULOGY. See Invocations.
EUNUCH (Hebrew, D^"iD; Greek, evvovxo^).
— Biblical Data : As throughout the Orient in
very ancient times, and more especially in Egypt
and Assyria, where they seem to have held the most
important offices, there were eunuchs in the king-
dom of Israel. The reference to them in I Sam. viii.
15 (Hebr.) is general ; but in other passages they are
mentioned as attendants of the kings; for instance,
Ahab (I Kings xxii. 9, Hebr.) and Jehoram (II
Kings viii. 6; comp. ix. 32). No allusion to eimuchs
in the kingdom of Judah occurs before the time of
Josiah (co7np. II Kings xxiv. 12, 15, Hebr. ; Jer.
xxix. 2, xxxiv. 19, xxxviii. 7, xli. 16). In II Kings
XXV. 19, Hebr; Jer. Hi. 25, a military officer taken
captive at the conquest of Jerusalem is called a
eTmiicli. Among the Jews, as among others, the
existence of eunuchs was connected with polygamy,
for in passages like II Kings xxiv. 15; Jer. xli. 16
(comp. II Kings ix. 32), they are expressly men-
tioned when reference is made to the women of the
king's harem. Consequently there is no reason to
interpret " saris " as applying to all roj'al offices in
general.
It is questionable whether the eunuchs were Jews.
A passage in Jeremiah (xxxviii. 7), in which the
eunuch is an Ethiopian, indicates that they were
not always natives of Judea, and it is probable that
they were usually non-Jews, since in Deut. xxiii. 1
castration was forbidden the Israelites; that is,
castrates might " not enter into the congregation of
the Lord." Later regulations were milder, and
the author of Isaiah (Ivi. 3 et seq.) did not consider
the fact of being a eunuch a reason for exclusion
from the congregation. Eunuchs were more expen-
sive than ordinary slaves, but there was no difficulty
in obtaining them.
Josephus shows that eunuchs were important
members of a regal household, especially under
Herod the Great, the care of whose drink was en-
trusted to one, the bringing of his supper to another,
and the putting of him to bed to a third, "who also
managed the principal affairs of the government "
("Ant." xvi. 8, § 1). Herod's favorite wife, Mari-
amne, was attended by a eunuch ("Ant." xv. 7, § 4).
E. G. H. W. N.
In Rabbinical Literature : The Rabbis dis-
tinguished two kinds of eunuchs: (1) "seris adam,"
a eunuch made by man; (2) "seris hamma," a eu-
nuch made by the sun ; that is to say, one born in-
capable of reproduction, so that the sun never
shone on him as on a man. According to the Shul-
han 'Aruk, "seris hamma" means "castrated in con-
sequence of fever." The Talmud gives various
criteria by which the eunuch of the second kind
may be recognized, and refers to various disabilities
due to the state, especially as regards Halizah.
A seris adam is not allowed to enter into the as-
sembly of the Lord (Yeb. 70a), as it is written (Deut.
xxiii. 2 [A.V. 1]): "He who is wounded in the
stones . . . shall not enter into the congregation of
the Lord " ; that is to say, shall not marry an Israel -
itish wife. Removal of or defect in either or both
of the testicles disqualifies for admission to the as-
sembly of the Lord.
A eunuch of either kind is not to be judged as a
rebellious son (see Deut. xxi. 18) because he is not
considered as a man (Yeb. 80b). As every Israelite
is commanded to perpetuate his race, it is a sin liable
to severe punishment to cause one to become a
eunuch (Shab. Ilia). Still there is a difference
whether one castrates another with his own hands
or causes him to be castrated. In the first case the
punishment is "malkot," that is, thirty-nine stripes;
in the second an indefinite number of stripes may
be inflicted.
Finally, one whose only sou is a eunuch has not
accomplished the commandment to perpetuate the
race.
Bibliography: Yeh. r.5a, r9a, 80b, 94b; N iddalu i~ty \ D. B.
l.'Vib; Maimonides, Yad Ishut, ii.. xiii., xiv., xvii. ; Shulfyan
'Aruk, Kben ha-'Ezer, 5. 1-13; 172, 1, 3, 5, 7.
8. 8. M. Sel.
267
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Eulenburg
Eupbexuism
EUPATORIA : Town in tlie government of
Taurida; on the western coast of tlie Crimea. It
was fornu'ily called by the Tatars -'Ge/.elew" (in
Hebrew IIX^TIJ). pronounced "Kozlow " by the Kiis-
sians; but on its annexation to Russia in 1784 it
received its present name. Eupatoria is the spiritual
center of the Karaites of the Crimea, and an impor-
tant Karaite community lias existed there for many
centuries. The community, which counts now
about 1,500 persons, is administered by abet din con-
sisting!: of three persons: the hakam, thehazzan, and
the shammash (beadle). The authority of the bet
din in religious matters is recognized b}' the Russian
government, and its decisions have legal force for all
the Karaite communities of the Crimea. Eupatoria
possesses the finest Karaite synagogue of the Crimea ;
to it is annexed a library containing man)' vahi-
able books and manuscripts on Karaite history and
theology. A printing-office for Karaite religious
books was established there in 1833, and many in-
teresting works, like the "E.shkol" of Hadassi and
the " Aderet Eliyaliu " of Bashyazi, were issued from
its presses.
Besides the Karaite community, there exist a
small Rabbinite one, consisting of several families of
the old Jewish settlers called "Krimchaki," and
about 150 persons newly established. The Jews of
Eupatoria are mostly artisans and wine-dressers. A
Rabbinite synagogue was built there in 1841.
Bibliography: Sim Ofec?icsf iw, 1839, pp. 1 ct scq.: SemeJiev,
ii. 174 ; Deinard, Massa' ba-Hazi ha-I Kerim. pp. 41 et .stqf.
II. i{. I. Bu.
EUPHEMISM (er(p!/iJ.icfi6g) ; A figure of speech
by which a .softened, indirect expression is substi-
tuted for a word or phrase offensive to delicate ears
though n.ore accurately expressive of wliat is meant.
Instances of euphemisms are found in the Bible; and
in tlie Talmud they are frequent, liaviug been used
whenever it was necessary to avoid unsuitable ex-
pressions. "Man should always express himself in
fitting terms " (Sanh. viii. 1 ; Pes. 3a) was a favorite
saying of the Rabbis. The technical expressions
for "euphemism" in Talmudic literature are: p{J>7
r\''P2, nn3 pt;*^, X'^yo NJCj6 (lit. "pure expres-
sion," "expression of honor," "beautiful expres-
sion"). In jiost-Talmudic Avritings it is called also
~linj N"'JID \)^'h ("expression of much light ").
Euphemisms were used in deference to considera-
tions of taste and delicacy. The ancients also had a
strong belief in the power of ill-omened words to
inflict misfortune, and generally avoided them by
substituting euphemisms (It3K'i5 V3 rinS'' ^K D^IV^:
"man should never open his mouth for Satan";
Ber. 19a). The following are some examples from
the Old Testament:
For dying: D\n^N "IDS np^ ^3 IJ^K ("he was not,
for God took him " ; Gen. v. 24); vniH UV 2^^ or
Vn3X nX ("he rested with his fathers"; Gen. xlvii.
30; II Sam. vii. 12; comp. KnifiaatiaL, " requiescere") ;
flDXJ (" to be joined " or " united " ; more often with
various additions, as "to his people," "tril)e," or
" forefathers, " or to his "grave"; comp. the Latin
"abire ad plurcs" and "illuc, quo priores abiere ") ;
pxn ^3 "I"n3 "l^n ("he went the way of all the
earth;" Kings ii. 2; comp. Job xvi. 22 and Nn~1N
KO^yn; Targ. Yer. to Gen. xxxv.); dSj? nJK' j^'
("sleep the eternal sleep"; Jer. li. 39, 57); n^NEJ' n"!**
("go down to She'ol" Gen.xxxvii. 35). The dead
are called "iDy ''JDi::* ("that dwell in the dust"; Isa.
xxvi. 19,17) and iQy HtDTN ''JL^"' ("that sleep in the
dust of the earth"; Dan. xii. 2). For urinating;
xhy^ nX "JDH (lit. "to cover one's feet"; Judges
iii. 24; I Sam. xxiv. 4; also in the Talmud, as in
Y\'b. 108a, according to Rashi). For coition: yi^
("know"; Gen. iv. 1); DDK' ("be," generally with
Dy); N3(" enter," with^x); ^:^•X ^KK>JJ ("come near
to a woman"; Ex. xix. 15); likewise 3")p, with the
preposition pK ("approach " ; Gen. xx. 4). For men-
struation: D''C'33 mx {ib. xviii. 11) and D''tJ'J "["IT
("the way of women"; ih. xxxi. 35; comp. Nidclah
l(ja, 64b, and the plaj^ on words there). For curs-
ing: "jin (with an import directly op-
In the O. T. posite to the original one of " bless-
ing"; I Kings xxi. 10, 13, Job i. 5,
11; ii. 5; perhaps, also, Ps. x. 3; further, in the
later literature, as Sanh. 56a, where Dt^n r)D"l3
occurs).
A peculiar kind of euphemism is that occurring
in the "keri," as against that in "ketib." Thus,
the verb ^JEJ> (Deut. xxviii. 30) is always replaced
by the synonj'in 2.'2^\ the disease termed DvQV
(Deut. xxviii. 27), by D'liriD- These and similar
cases are treated in the closing part of Tosef., Meg.,
as also in Meg. 25b.
From the later literature, especially the Talmudic,
many examples may be cited. For " to die " the fol-
lowing phrases occur- "iLDDJ ("depart"), common in
Neo-Hebrew ; also with the addition D?"iyn p ("from
the world ") or \'}'!J p^ (" to the Garden of Eden " ; B.
B. 16b; Tem. 16a); D!?iyn p "ipyj ("be rooted out
from the world"; Suk. 45b); inOtTJ HKV^ ("his
spirit departed"; Ber. 61b; Shab 88b; Aramaic,
nnOC'J npDJ; Meg. 16b); similarly, imi mS (Ket.
62b); IDDK'J nmQ (Gen. R. xciii. 8; compare
with these ])hrases "animam exspirare," (n:ml)vxeiv,
iKTTVfiv); riK'DJ nj ("his soul rested"; M. K. 25a, b;
Ket. 104a). In modern times the expressions '^p^^
"lohy^ (lit. "he went to his eternity"); ^3^ D^-H pDtT
"H; di-id!? f'panj; rh]}^ ^t' ni'i^f^b K'panj ("he
was called to the dwelling on high") are used.
For death : m"'t:Q (" departure " ; 'Ab. Zarah 20b) ;
nOC'J riN^V^ ("goiug out of the soul"; M. K. 25a;
with Pi^n p, "from the body," ib. 28b); n3''hn
("departure"; Sotah 12b); n""l3 and nD'DK ("de-
parture" and "being gathered"; B. B. 16h): )'p
("end"; Ned. 41a; comp. Gen. vi. 13); nj:'::': (said
of an easy death, lit. "kiss"; Ber. 8a; M. K. 28a).
For a cemetery (in the old popular parlance, "the
good place"): D^HH n'2 ("house of life"); fl'n
D^iy. □"'oi'iy rr'a. and po^y n'3 ("eternal house";
see Eccl. xii. 5); mjD JT'a and nniJD n"'n ("'house
of rest"); "in^ n''3 ("house of honor"). Tlie Tal-
mudic treatise on funeral ceremonies is called
euphemistically niHOCi' n3D0 ("Treatise on Joy "),
instead of "nil blii (probably with reference to
P.s. xvi. 11)
P\)r sicknesses: Besides epilepsy, whose victims
are referred to as nSDJ ("overcome " by a demon;
e.ff., Bek. vii. 6; Git. 70a), and concerning which
Euphemism
Europe
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
268
in the classic languages a series of peculiar
euphemisms bcciir, there are many other iutirmi-
ties, especially those frequently encountered in the
Orient, e.g., blindness and leprosy, which are indi-
cated by softened paraphrases. Euphemistic ex-
pressions for blindness and the blind, occurring also
in the Arabic, are cited by Landau ("Die Gegen-
sinnigen Worter," etc., pp. 199 et seq.). The most
familiar of them (for blindness) is "nnj ""JD or k^jd
KTinj (''having much light," "seeing much"),
which later was considered a typical euphemism,
as was also D^J'V "IIXO (" liglit of the eyes "). Ab-
dominal complaints are named concisely nVJinnn
(from pnnn = " below " ; Ber. 55a; Shab. 81a; Ket.
10b).
For certain organs and their functions : Instead of
the more literal expressions V3pji5 NVV or "j^ -[iv
{e.g.. Git. 70a), one frequently meets with V3~IV ^t^'y,
which is also used to express the sexual relations
(Ber. 62a; Hag. 5b; Sanh. 82b; comp. the Latin
"necessaria"), and occasionally simpl}- -[iVJ (Ex.
R. ix. 7), njD and njDJ ("go aside" ;
In the Toh. x. 2 ; Shab. 140b). Urine is called
Talmud. why\ "'D or |l^"'D (Ber. 25a); excre-
ment, nXIV or nioy; a privy, D'O HU
(Meg. iii. 2, 27b) or nDDH n'2. The expressions
for sexual intercourse (^jya) are; nDDH nx ti^t^
(comp. the picture of the '^D, B. M. 84b), "^-na riK'i?
mx ""jn y^T^ (Ab. R. N. xvi. 2), npa (Yeb. 62b).
ppTJ (B. M. 107b; Sotah lib), y^D (with the object
suppressed; 'Er. 100b; Ket. 65a). Compare also
the expressions jn?£^n DX *]Dn. and, especially of
the female, n?3i< (Ket. 65b; Yoma 75a; see Prov.
xxx. 20, and comp. fj'^J'nn, Ber. 62a). mriDJ and
mmD (both = n^ynj ; Yeb. lib; Ket. 13a). The
respective nouns are nOJOn K'''OEyn, or K^'DCTl
alone, or HDO alone (Kallah); nX^a, n:iy {iiiCTsya
[Ex. xxi. 10], Ket. 47b); according to circum-
stances, T\\£0 "im (B. B. 10b; Pes. 72b), and -im
HTny (Sotah lib); pK -|-n (Git. 70a; Yoma 74b);
NJT'Q (Targ. to Eccl. x. 18). For the sexual organs
—masculine: -13X, N")TK (B. M. 84a); DVy (Kal-
lah; Niddahl3b); "lE^Q; TJ; HON; H'lJ (Kid. 25a);
nay (Tem. 30a); N"l2''J (Targ.) or Hebr. nnJ (Bek.
vii. 5, 44b); rht:) (Shab. 118b; comp. pnnnn |PT.
Sanh. viii. 1, and NC*"2 X7''D for np, Yer. Yeb. ii.
4). Feminine: DIpD "iniN (Kallah; Ned. 20a); nns
(Ket. 9a; Pes. 87a); inp (Sanh. 82b); r\1Xi')i (Ned.
20a; see 'Aruk, «.r.). For njIT, Targ. Onk. to Gen.
xxxiv. 31 and xxxviii. 15 has X"l2 DpDJ, for which
the Hebrew equivalent (pnn) pn^ nSVV is used
(Kelim xxiv. 16, xxviii. 9).
Finally, in the category of euphemisms belong
such general expressions as KnP'JD and lai- The
first is used for " bleeding " in Shab. 129a, for
"mourning" in M. K. 18a (comp. Vulg. "factus" in
the sense of "death"; literally, "happening"), for
"magic formulas" in Hul. 105b; *13T in the phrase
"iZn ?T\T\, 'Ab. Zarah 17a, means the same as
K^'OKTl. Very peculiar is the euphemistic term
ins 121 (" something else "), used in designating cer-
tain repulsive objects which one does not wish to
name directl)'; thus it is used for "leprosy" (Pes.
76b, 112b; Shab. 129b; Git. 57b, 70a) ; "swine " (Ber.
43b; Pes. 76b; Shab. 129b); "coition" (Ber. 8b;
Bezah 22a); "immorality" (Ket. vii. 5, 71b, 72a);
"idolatry" (Men. xiii. 10, 109a; Shab. 17b).
Theautouymof "euphemism" is "cacophemism,"
the application of expressions of contempt to desira-
ble objects. The basis of the use of cacopheniisms
seems to be the Avide-spread fear that too great hap-
piness may attract envy (see Evil Eye). It was
thought to avert this by giving a bad name to the
thing which was in reality highly esteemed. The
best-known though almost isolated example of this
kind in Hebrew is D'C'ID = " the Ethiopian w\3man "
(Num. xii. 1), which, according to Rashi, stands for
"beautiful woman," and is so translated by the Tar-
gum of Onkolos. Abraham ibn Ezra
Cac- {nd loe. and on Ps. vii. 1) opposes this
ophemy. view very energetically ; and in gen-
eral denies that cacophemisms ever
occur in Hebrew. Instances do occur, however.
Buxtort, for instance (s.v. lyj), quotes lyiao,
" ugly," as meaning " beautiful " also.
Another motive for the use of cacophemisms is the
belief that it is a practise approved by one's own
religion to treat with contempt everything which
is in any way connected with the Avorship of
strangers. The general term "inx ~l2T, when used
to denote " idolatry " (Men. 109a; Shab. 17b), may
perhaps be regarded as an example of cacophemism ;
generally, however, some disparaging, belittling ex-
pression (comp. 'Ab. Zarah 46a; Tosef., 'Ab. Zai'ah,
7) was chosen. Such cases are more numerous than
those previously mentioned, and to them belong the
various expressions used to denote idols: Dvl^J
(Lev. xxvi. 30, etc., and often inEzekiel); D'VlpLJ*
(Dent. xxix. 16; II Kings xxiii. '24); |*pc> (I Kings
-xi. 7) ; nnyin (II Kings xxiii. 13) ; iyt3, Niyo (properly
"aberration": often in the Targumim, as Onk. on
Num. XXV. 2; Targ. II Chron. xxxii. 15). Other
examples are: xmyo n^2(" idolatrous temple"; Targ.
Judges xvii. 5); D^D'O ^n3T (pi'operly, "sacrifices
of the dead," Ps. cvi. 28, and corresponding to the
Aramaic D^n^HO. i-e., "mourning-feast," Targ.
Yer. Num. xxv. 2); Sn: DV ("day of abuse," for
"heathen festival day"; Gen. R. Ixxxvii. 9; Cant.
R., beginning); D''a3"13 n^iy "'^lyj ("impurities of
the Gentiles " = " their food and garbage " ; 'Ab.
Zarah 75b, 76a) ; HNOILi Dl^, for sorcery and demo-
niac work (Rashi on Sanh. 91a); comp. nsoiO (used
in later times also for places of worship belonging to
believers in other gods, just as they are popularly-
designated as D^VpK*). See Abomination.
BiBLiofiRAPHT: E. Landau, Die Geqcnf>inni(jcn W/irter im
Alt ujid Xeiihehrt'l ischeyi Sprachrcrglricliend Dargcstdlt,
Introduction (esppoiallv the concluding part), and pp. 34, 196,
201, 227, Berlin. 18% ; Z. D. M. G. xxxl. 264, 336, 354, 355; xl.
234.
G. S. E.
EUPHRATES (Heb. Perat; Babylonian,
Purattu) : The main river of nearer Asia, often
mentioned in the Bible (the fourth river of paradise.
Gen. ii. 14), and frequently designated as " ha-nahar "
(the river). It is formed by the union of two
branches, the Kur (the western Euphrates), which
rises north of Erzerum, and the jMurad (the east-
ern Euphrates), which issues from Lake Wan. It
flows, with many turns and over various falls,
through the Taurus range; unites — though this was
not the case in antiquity — with the Tigris; and
289
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Euphemissi
I<:urope
finally einptics below Basse )rii into tlie Persian Gulf.
Its main tributaries are the Balikli and the Khabur
(see Haboh).
For the surrouudinir country the Euphrates is of
the highest importance, inasmuch as its inundations
make the soil very rich. JMoreover, in ancient times
it served as tiie highroad of commerce and was navi-
gable by large vessels as far as Babylonia (Herodo-
tus, i. 194); Avhile farther north it was navigable by
boats and rafts.
The Euphrates is referred to as a boundary of the
land of the Israelites (Gen. xv. 18; Deut. i. 7, xi.
24; Josh. i. 4; Ps. Ixxii. 8; comp. I Chron. v. 9). In
the Prophets the river is the symbol of the great
Assyrian world-empire (Isa. vii. 20, viii. 7; Jer. ii.
18). The decisive battle between the Egyptian king
Necho and Nebuchadnezzar took place on tlie Eu-
phrates (II Kings xxiii. 29).
On the other hand, it is doubtful whether in Jer.
xiii. 4-7 the River Euphrates is meant, especially in
view of the fact that there is reference to a rocky
shore. According to Marti (in "Zeitschrift des
Deutschen Palastinavereins," iii. 11) and others, the
correct reading in Jeremiah is " Farata," and the river
in question is the Wadi Fara, northeast of Anathoth.
E. G. II. F. Bu.
ETJPOLEMUS : Hon of John, son of Accos;
envoy of Judas ]\Iaccabeus to the Romans. To se-
cure himself against the Syrians Judas sent Eupole-
mus Avith Jas(ni, son of Eleazar, to win the Romans
as friends and allies. The Romans granted his re-
quest, and the "senatus consultum," inscribed on
brass tablets and given his envoys by Rome, was set
lip in Jerusalem (1 jNIacc. viii. 17-28). As the mission
of Eupolemus is referred to in general terms, with-
out any specific statement of the underlying motives
(II Mace. iv. 11), and as his genealogy seems histor-
ically correct — Accos ()*1pn) is a noble family of
Jerusalem (Ezra ii. 61 ; Neh. iii. 21) — historians like
Mommsen, Mendelssohn, Griltz, Niese, and Schilrer
regard his mission as authentic. Niese, however,
questions the genuineness of the treaty with Rome,
and Willrich thinks that Uie whole story, as well as
the similar one in connection with Simeon, is a fic-
tion on the ground that relations between Rome
and Judea began only under Hyrcanus I., to whom
the above-mentioned " senatus consultum " was
granted. Josephus ("Ant." xii. 10, § 6) says that
the document was issued for the " high priest J udas, "
whom Willrich identifies with Akistobulus I., also
called " Judas. " These questions are connected with
that of the genuineness of the documents quoted in
the Books of the Maccabees and by Josephus, and
do not refer to the embassy of Eupolemus, which
must be regarded as historical. The assumption
that this Eupolemus is identical with the Hellenistic
writer of that name is not supported.
Bibliography: Grimm, in Zcit><chr. fUr fVi)itteii)ichnftUc}ic
ThenloQie, 1874, pp. 231-238 ; Mendelssohn, in Ritschl's Acta
Soc. Philolog. Lipn. v. 91-1()0; Gratz, Gesrli. 4tli ed., iii. (>5" ;
Schiirer, Ges^ch. 3d ed., i. 22i); Willrich, Jj/riaicfi, pp. 62-8.J,
GSttingen, 1900; Niese, in Hermes, xxxv. 501 et seq.
G. S. Kh.
EUROPE: I. Early Period (163 B.C. to 500
CE.) : The first settlements of Jews in Europe are
obscure. There is documentary evidence only for
the fact that in 163 u.c. Eupolemus, son of John, and
Jason, son of Eleazar, went to Rome as ambassadors
fi'om Judas Maccabeus and sealed a compact of
friendship with the republic (I Mace. viii.). Twenty-
five years later other visitors to Rome are said to
have made an attempt to win over wider circles to
the Jewish faith (Valerius Maximus, i. 2, 3); and
in the time of Cicero there was already a fairly large
Jewish community in Rome (Cicero, " Pro Flacco,"
28). Its numbers grew steadil}'; and in the year of
Herod's death (4 B.C.) not fewer than 8,000 Jews of
Rome supported the commission from Jerusalem to
Augustus (Josephus, "B. J." ii. 6, § 1). The settle-
ments in the provinces also increased. There were
Jews at Vienne (Vienna), Gallia Celtica, in the year
6 c.E. ; at Lugdunum in 39; and the apostle Paul
preached in the synagogues of Athens, Corinth, and
Thessalonica. The number of Jews was also aug-
mented by converts. The communities were well
organized. They liad houses for prayer, and ceme-
teries, and, under the protection of the law, went
peaceably about their business. They were farmers,
artisans, and, later, merchants. They attained to
Roman citizenship when Caracalla granted civil
rights to all Ihe inhabitants of the empire (212).
But toleration came to a sudden end w-hen Con-
stantine the Great bowed to the sign of the cross,
and the Church established the doctrine, unheard of
in pagan antiquity, that the possession
Christiani- of municipal and state rights is depend-
zation ent on submission to certain articles of
of Europe, faith. At the Council of Nicsa (325)
she broke the last tlireads which bound
her to the mother religion. She declared officially
that the Jews were cast off by the God of their
fathers because they had refused to accept the Chris-
tian dogmas. Constantine's successors promulgated
many exceptional regulations aiming to lower the
Jews both socially and economically. The stream
of the migration of nations set in, which shook
the Roman world to its foundations. In Italy, in
southern Gaul, on the Pyrenean peninsula, and in
Germany these hordes found large numbers of Jews
who experienced no change at the hands of their
new masters.
While thus the gradual decay of the world-empire
was terrifying the unprotected Jews and scattering
them still more, the ecclesiastics, and
Attitude especially the holy Ambrose of Milan,
of Churchi. endeavored to hasten the destruction
of Judaism. Theodosius II. , by a law
dated Jan. 31, 439, took away civil rights from the
Jews, set limits to the free exercise of their religion,
forbade them to build synagogues, made it difficult
for them to own slaves, and excluded them from
holding office in the state. This law remained the
basis for the contemptuous treatment of the Jews in
all Christian countries during the succeeding 1,500
years.
II. Period of Many - Sided Development
(500-1500): The East-Roman empire was at first
affected but little by the barbarian invasion. The
legislation of Justinian culminated in the principle
of taking away civil rights from heretics and un-
believers and of making their existence as difficult
as possible. The restrictive laws of Constantine
Europe
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
270
and Theodosius were renewed with increased rigoi'.
The public observance of their religion was for-
bidden the Jews. The loss of their civil rights
was followed by disregard for their personal free-
dom. In the wars waged by the Iconoclasts (eighth
and ninth centuries) the Jews especially had to
suffer, and mostly at the hands of iconoclastic em-
perors who were suspected of being heretics with
Jewish tendencies. Many Jews fled to the neigh-
boring states of the Slavs and Tatars, wliich were
just comiug into existence, and found refuge and
protection on the lower Volga and on the northern
shores of the Black Sea in the realm of the Chazars.
While the East-Roman empire was prolonging its
inglorious existence by perpetual warfare with
neighbors who were ever growing stronger, the
Western empire fell a prey to the barbarians. With
the exception of the restrictive laws of the first
Christian emperors, which still remained in force, the
Jews were not troubled on account of their faith.
Not until the beginning of the ninth century did the
Church succeed in drawing all humanity within her
jurisdiction, and in bringing together and definitely
settling the regulations in canonical law which the
authority of the Church ordained for believers and
their treatment of non-believers. Intercourse with
Jews was almost entirely forbidden to believers, and
thereby a chasm was created between the adherents
of the two religions, which could not be bridged.
On the other hand, the Church found herself com-
pelled to make the Jew a fellow citizen of the be-
liever; for she enforced upon her own conmiuni-
tlesthe Biblical prohibition against usury; and thus
the only way left open to her of conducting finan-
cial operations was to seek loans at a
Church legally determined rate of interest
Laws on from the adherents of another faith.
Usury. Through these peculiar conditions the
Jews rapidly acquired influence. At
the same time they were compelled to find their pleas-
ures at home and in their own circles only. Their sole
intellectual food came from their own literature, to
which they devoted themselves with all the strength
of their nature.
This was the general condition of the Jews in
Western lands. Their fate in each particular coun-
try depended on the changing political conditions.
In Italy they experienced dark days during the end-
less wars waged by the Heruli, Rugii, Ostrogoths.
and Longobardi. The severe laws of the Roman
emperors were in general more mildly administered
than elsewhere; the Arian confession, of which the
Germanic conquerors of Italy were adlierents, being
in contrast with the Catliolic characterized by its
tolerance. Among the Burgundians and Franks,
who professed the Catholic faith, the ecclesiastical
sentiment, fortunately for the Jews, made but slow
progress, and the Merovingian rulers rendered only
a listless and indifferent support to the demands of
the Church, the influence of which they had no in-
clination to increase.
In the Pyrenean peninsula, from the most ancient
times, Jews had lived peaceably in greater numbers
than in the land of the Franks. The same modest
good fortune remained to them when the Suevi,
Alani, Vandals, and Visigoths occupied the land.
It came to a sudden end when the Visigothic kings
embraced Catholicism and wished to convert all their
subjects to the same faith. Many Jews yielded to
compulsion in the secret hope that the severe meas-
ures would be of short duration. But they soon
bitterly repented this hasty step ; for
Arabs the Visigothic legislation insisted with
in Spain, inexorable severity (hat those who
had been baptized by force should re-
main true to the Christian faith. Consequently the
Jews eagerly welcomed the Arabs when the latter
conquered the peninsula in 711. See Spain.
Those Jews who still wished to remain true to the
faith of their fathers were protected by the Church
herself from compulsory conversion. There was no
change in this policy even later, when the pope
called for the support of the Carol ingians in pro-
tecting his ideal kingdom with their temporal power.
Charlemagne, moreover, was glad to use the Church
for the purpose of welding together the loosely con-
nected elements of his kingdom when he transformed
the old Roman empire into a Christian one, and
united under the imperial crown all the German
races at that time firmly settled. When, a few dec-
ades after his death, his world-empire fell apart
(843), the rulers of Ital}-, France, and Germany left
the Church free scope in her dealings with the Jews,
and under the influence of religious zeal hatred to-
ward the unbelievers ripened into deeds of horror.
The trials which the Jews endured from time to
time in the different kingdoms of the Christian West
were only indications of the catastro-
The phe which broke over them at the
Crusades, time of the Crisades. A wild, un-
restrained throng, for which the ciu-
sade was only an excuse to indulge its rapacit}', fell
upon the peaceful Jews and sacrificed them to its
fanaticism. In the first Crusade (1096) flourishing
communities on the Rhine and the Danube were
utterly destroyed. In the second Crusade (1147) the
Jews in France suffered especially. Philip Augus-
tus treated them with exceptional severitj'. In his
days the third Crusade took place (1188); and the
preparations for it proved to be momentous for the
Engli-sh Jews. After unspeakable trials Jews were
banished from England in 1290; and 365 years passed
before they were allowed to settle again in the Brit-
ish Isles.
The justification for these deeds was found in
crimes laid to the charge of the Jews. They were
held responsible for the crime imputed
False Ac- to them a thousand years before this;
cusations. and the false charge Avas circulated
that they wished to dishonor the host
which was supposed to represent Jesus' body.
They were further charged with being the cause of
every calamity. In 1240 the plundering raids of the
Mongols were laid at their door. When, a hundred
years later, the Black Death raged through Eu-
rope, the tale was invented that tlie Jews had pois-
oned the wells. The only court of appeal that re-
garded itself as their appointed protector, according
to liistorical conceptions, was the "Roman emperor
of the German nation." The emperor, as legal suc-
cessor to Titus, who had acquired the Jews for his
special jiroperty through the destruction of the
271
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Europe
Temple, claimed the rights of possession and pro-
tection over all the Jews in the former Roman em-
pire. They thus became imperial "servi camerae."
He might present them and their pos-
" Servi sessions to princes or to cities. That
Camerae." the Jews were not utterly destroyed
was due to two circumstances: (1) the
envy, distrust, and greed of princes and peoples to-
ward one another, and (2) the moral strength which
was infused into the Jews by a suffering which was
undeserved but which enabled them to resist per-
secution. The abilities which could find no expres-
sion in the service of country or of humanity at
large, were directed with all the more zeal toward
the study of the Bible and Talmud, toward order-
ing communal affairs, toward building up a happy
family life, and toward bettering the condition of
the Jewish race in general.
Everywhere in the Christian Occident an equally
gloomy picture was presented. The Jews, who
were driven out of England in 1290,
Ex- out of France in 1394, and out of nu-
pulsions. merous districts of Germany, Italy,
and the Balkan peninsula between
1350 and 1450, were scattered in all directions, and
fled preferably to the new Slavic kingdoms, where
for the time being other confessions were still toler-
ated. Here they found a sure refuge under benevo-
lent rulers and acquired a certain prosperity, in the
enjoyment of which the study of the Talmud was
followed with renewed vigor. Together with their
faith, they took wMth them the German language
and customs, which they have cultivated in a
Slavic environment with unexampled faithfulness
up to the present time.
As in Slavic countries, so also under Mohammedan
rule the persecuted Jews often found a humane
reception, especially from the eighth century on-
ward in the Pyrenean peninsula. But even as early
as the thirteenth century the Arabs could no longer
offer a real resistance to the advancing force of
Christian kings ; and with the fall of political power
Arabic culture declined, after having been trans-
mitted to the Occident at about the same period,
chiefly through the Jews in the north of Spain and
in the south of France. At that time there was no
field of learning which the Spanish Jews did not cul-
tivate. They studied the secular sciences with the
same zeal as the Bible and Talmud.
But the growing influence of the Church grad-
ually crowded them out of this advantageous posi-
tion. At first the attempt was made to win them
to Christianity through writings and religious dis-
putations; and when these attempts failed they
were ever more and more restricted in the exer-
cise of theii' civil rights. Soon they Avere obliged
to live in separate quarters of the cities and to w^ear
humiliating badges on their clothing. Thereby
they were made a prey to the scorn and hatred of
their fellow citizens. In 1391, when a fanatical
mob killed thirty thousand Jews in Seville alone,
many in their fright sought refuge in baptism.
And although they often continued to observe in
secret the laws of their fathers the Inquisition soon
rooted out these pretended Christians or Maranos.
Thousands were thrown into prison, tortured, and
burned, until a project was formed to sweep all Spain
clean of unbelievers. The plan matured when in
1492 the last Moorish fortress fell into tlie hands of
the Christians. Several hundred thousand Jews
were forced from the country which had been
their home for 1,500 years. Many of them fled to
the Balkan peninsula, where a few decades before
the Crescent had won a victory over the Cross
through the Osmauli Turks. These exiles have
faithfully preserved the language of the country
they were forced to leave; and to-day, after a lapse
of more than 400 years, Spanish is still the mother
tongue of their descendants.
III. Period of Decay (1500-1750): The re-
naissance of art and science was coeval with the death
of the Byzantine empire; and the newly discovered
art of printing scoffed at canonical laAvs which tried
to enslave thought. In the same year in which
Spain expelled the unbelievers the shores of Amer-
ica appeared above the horizon. The age of inven-
tions and discoveries brought about an immense
change in ideas. Only the Jews remained in the
night of the Middle Ages. These homeless people
were crowded from the west of Europe ever farther
toward the east. They had to seek refuge in the
realms of the Slavs and the Turks, in which a native
culture was as yet unknown. Their external cir-
cumstances were not at first unfavorable. They
even attained to high positions in the state, at least
in Turke}^ Don Joseph Nasi was made Duke of
Naxos ; and Solomon Ashkenazi was ambassador of
the Porte to the republic of Venice.
In Poland the Jews were an indispensable link
between the pomp-loving nobility and the peasant
serfs ; and trade and industry were entirely in their
hands. Not finding a higher civilization in their
new homes, their only mental nourishment came
from their national literature, and they either pur-
sued the one-sided study of the Talmud, which exer-
cised the understanding only, or dived deep into the
mysterious depths of the Cabala. The persecution
of the Jews in Turkey and Poland in the middle of
the seventeenth century came to the aid of the
visionaries and dreamers. Especially disastrotis
were the trials which were brought upon the Polish
and Lithuanian Jews through the Cossack het-
man Chmielnicki (1648) and by the Swedish wars
(1655). According to trustworthy reports, hundreds
of thousands of them were killed in these few years.
Once more fugitives and unsettled, the anxious Jews
waited trustfully for the message which should an-
nounce to them that at last the deliverer had ap-
peared in the far East.
Thus it came about that a talented youth from
Smyrna, Shabbethai Zebi, succeeded in passing him-
self off as the promised Messiah. Nura-
Shab- berless followers crowded about him ;
bethai and these still clung to Shabbethai
Zebi. in their delusion even after he had
adopted Islam through fear of the
death penalty with which the sultan had threatened
him. The incomprehensible extent of his following
was due to the fact that even those Jews who en-
joyed greater intellectual freedom than their brethren
in Poland were yet severely oppressed and gave
themselves up to cabalistic reveries.
Europe
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
272
Fugitives from Spain and Germany had come also
to Italy, and founded new communities beside the
existing ones. Here tliey greeted tlie dawn of the
new period, and togetiier witli tiie Greeks — wholiad
tied hither from Constantinople bringing tlie treas-
ures of classical antiquity witli them— became the
leaders and guides of the humanists to tlie source of
Jewish antiquity. The Italian Jewstaugiit Hebrew,
and learned Latin and Greek. The clergy in Italy
and Germany armed itself to light against the vic-
toriously advancing enlightenment and civilization,
and directed its attacks chiefly against Jewish
literature. Jewish apo.states in the pay of the
Dominicans spread false calumnies concerning the
Talmud. In its defense the German humanists
arose in a body, not so much out of friendliness
toward the Jews as out of zeal for free inves-
tigation. In these straits the Jesuits, who were the
most faithful defenders of the Church, came into
existence. They took up the tight against the Tal-
mud in Italy, and as early as 1553
Hebrew jjyres were lighted upon which copies
Books of it and other Hebrew books with-
Burned. out number were burned. Guided b\-
apostates, the Council of Trent ex-
purgated the Talmud of all pretended objectionable
passages, and the numerous spies of the Inquisition
forced the educated Jews to secrecy and hypocrisy.
The only study they were allowed to pursue un-
hindered was the Cabala, which the Jesuits erro-
neously believed supported Christian ideas. Thus
here also the soil was prepared for belief in the
dreamer Shabbethai Zebi.
The inclination to study esoteric doctrines spread
at that time even among the Jews who had founded
new communities in the Protestant states on the
shores of the North Sea under Dutch and English
protection. This new mysticism strongly influenced
the German Jews, who in consequence of supersti-
tious error were plunged into the deepest ignorance,
and were watching for a speedy redemption after
the sufferings of the Thirty Years' war. Judaism
was saved only when a beam of enlightenment
shone in the night of its existence. Shabbethai
Zebi was still alive when the Jews were driven out
of Vienna (1671). The elector Friedrich Wilhclm
of Brandenburg allowed them to settle in Berlin,
and protected them with a strong hand from injury
and slander. Even here they were hampered by
oppressive taxation and narrow-minded regulations;
but their versatile minds could not long remain shut
out from the growing enlightenment. For tlie third
time a Moses appeared in the midst of them, to lead
his people from darkness to light, from slavery to
freedom.
IV. The New Period (1750 to tlie Present
Time) : Moses Mendelssohn translated the Bible into
High German for his coreligionists, and thus tore
down the wall that separated the German Jews from
their fellow citizens. With the newly acquired pos-
session of a mother tongue the homeless Jew ac-
quired also tlie right to a fatherland. By the end
of the eighteenth century the Jews were taking an
act've part in German education and civilization.
They had their youth instructed in secular studies,
and aimed at ennobling tlie internal afl'airs of the
religious community. Tiiis was not accomplished
without severe inner struggles. To the adherents
of a radical reform like Holdheim and Geiger stood
opposed the champions of tradition like Samson
Raphael Ilirsch, who in religious matters would not
deviate a hair's breadth from the traditional observ-
ances, while Zacharias Frankel iried to pave the way
for an intermediary position on a historically posi-
tive basis. The rabbinic councils (1844-46) and
synods (1869-71) ac(iuire(l no authoritative influence
(see CoNKEKENCiis, Raluunical). But the change
in western Europe gradually came about of itself.
To-day in every large community .sermons are
preached in the vernacular ; the synagogue service
is accompanied by a trained choir and presided over
by a scientifically educated rabbi.
Thus Judaism was enabled to take part in the
work of civilization. Nort;h America and France
showed how salutary it might be to make use of all
the forces in the state. Prussia adopted the same
opinion when in its years of trial it
Political collected the weakened remnants of the
Equality, fatherland and in 1812 made Jews full
citizens in the land of their birth.
The new ideas, then, which were prevalent in the
constitutional states of Europe in the middle of the
nineteenth century recognized the political equality
of all citizens without regard to difference in belief.
The mental development of the Jews kept pace
with their civil recognition, and the science of Juda-
ism was developed. Its founder was I^eopold Zunz
(1794-1886). Berlin was again the starting-point of
the new science, which succeeded in giving a firm
foundation to modern Judaism.
Notwithstanding the fact that political equal-
ity was secured to the Jews in the revolutions of
1848, the majority of them still live outside the
sphere where liberal ideas predominate. A certain
relaxation of vigilance was shown in Russia during
the reign of Alexander II. ; but upon his death
(March 13, 1881) a series of outbreaks against the
Jews occurred which were followed by more sys-
tematic persecution on the part of the Russian bu-
reaucracy, so that the state of the Russian Jews at
the end of the nineteenth century was almost w'orse
than it had been at the beginning. Similarly, in
Rumania for the last quarter of a century restric-
tion has been added to restriction till the very ex-
istence of a Jew in that country has been ren-
dered almost impossible, notwithstanding the fact
that the Berlin Congress, which gave autonomy
to Rumania, did so on condition that full political
rights should be granted to all Rumanian citizens
without distinction of creed. Even in the European
countries where political equality exists there have
been certain signs of social antagonism, which gave
rise to the movement known as Anti-Semitism. Be-
ginning in 1875 in Germany, this spread to Austria,
and ultimately to France, where it
Anti- culminated in the Dreyfus Case.
Semitism. Neverthless, its virulence has percep-
tibly declined, and Russia and Ruma-
nia remain the chief sources of ill will against the
Jews on the continent of Europe. See also articles
on the various countries of Europe.
G. M. Br.
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Eurydemus ben Jose
Eve
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
274
The following table gives the official or estimated
number of Jews in the different European countries
at the four most recent census periods, about 1870,
1880, 1890, and 1900; the first set of figures being
taken from Andree, " Volkskunde der Juden " ; the
second, from I. Loeb's article " Juifs," in Vivien de
St. Martin, " Dictionnaire de Geographic " ; the third,
from J. Jacobs, "Jewish Year Book," 1900; and the
last partly from I. Harris, in " Jewish Year Book, "
1903. Estimates are marked with an asterisk.*
Jews in Eukope.
Country.
Austria
Belgium
Bosnia
Bulgaria
Denmark
Eastern Rumelia
England, etc
France
Germany
Greece
Holland
Hungary
Italy
Luxemburg
Norway and Sweden.
Portugal
Rumania
Russia (European)
and Poland
Servia
Spain (with (ribraltar)
Switzerland
Turkey, etc
Cyprus and Malta
Totals .
1870.
820,2(10
3,000^
8,959
4,290
68,366*
49,439
520,575
2,582
68,003
552,233
35,356
661
1,870
1,0(X)*
400,000*
2,553.549
2,a)0*
6,000*
6,996
62,413
.5,166,426
1880.
I,0a5,394
4,00!)«
3,426
10,000
3,946
4,177
60,000*
76,897
561,610
2,6.52
81,693
638,314
40,430*
777
3,027
200*
265,000*
2,553,145
3,492
1,902
7,373
115,000*
5,441,455
1890.
1,143,305
3,000*
4,080
"101', i89
72,000
567,884
5,792
97,324
716,801
50,000*
1,000*
3,402
300*
300,000*
4,500,000*
4,(>52
2,500
8,069
130,000*
7,701,298
1900.
1,224,899
12,(100*
5,845
28,000*
5,000*
6,982
179,000*
86,885
586,948
8,350
103,988
a51,378
44,037
1,200*
5,000*
1,300*
269,013
5,143,195
5,100
4,5tKJ*
12,551
75,295
130
8,a59,496
J.
EURYDEMUS BEN JOSE : One of the sons
of Tanna Jose b. Halafta. His name has been trans-
mitted in the most varying forms: "Awradimus"
(DIomiK), "Abirodimus" (D1»''Tl"'aN), "Abdimus"
(DIDnaN), and " Wradimus " (DIOmi). As a basic
form Bacher assumes " Eurydemus " (compare the
Biblical Dy3n"l), a name which occurs in Herodotus.
Levy ("Neuhebr. Worterb." i. 505a) and Kohut
( " Aruch Completum," iii. 257b), on the other hand,
favor the name " Eudaimon." Others, following the
Palestinian sources, read all these names, "Abdi-
mus," whom they identify with Menahem b. Jose
(compare Abdimus ben R. Jose). The few remarks
ascribed to Eurydemus contain admonitions to be-
nevolence.
Bibliography : Bacher, Au- Tau. ii. 416-417; idem, A(j- Bah.
Amoi: p. 64, note 31.
S. 8. M. So.
EUSEBIUS : Bishop of C;esarea and the " father
of Church history " ; born about 270. Though ani-
mated by zeal for the conversion of the Jews, he
often gives evidence of his bitter dislike of them.
In his " Demonstratio Evangelica," which is a direct
attack on Judaism, lie charges the Jews with serious
errors in the exposition of Scripture, and advises that
efforts shotild be made to induce them to abandon
their heresies (iv. 16). His advice doubtless influ-
enced the enactment of anti-Jewish laws by Con-
stantine, at whose right hand Eusebiiis sat in the
Council of Nica'a. Tlie " Demonstratio Evangelica "
is divided into twenty books, of wliich only ten have
been preserved. Eusebius first endeavors to demon-
strate that the Mosaic law had only a local character
and was not intended for a universal religion. For
instance, the injunction to appear "thrice in the
year" before God (Ex. xxxiv. 28) can only be ap-
plicable to the inhabitants of Palestine {ib. i. 2). He
then comments upon the Messianic prophecies of
the Bible, wJiich, according to him, were fulfilled in
the appearance of Jesus.
Of great interest for Jews is Eusebius' "Pra^para-
tio Evangelica." It is divided into fifteen books, of
which the last eight treat of Judaism, its religion,
history, and institutions, and show its superiority
over paganism. Especially valuable are books viii.
and ix., in which he reproduces fragments of Jewish-
Hellenic writers, such as Eupolenms, Demetrius,
Artapanus, Philo, Ezekielus, and Josephus. The
fragments, taken from the writings of Alexander
Polyhistor, are faithfully rendered. Eusebius seems
to have had a Jewish teacher, who instructed him
in Hebrew, and through whom he became familiar
with many haggadot and Jewish traditions; of
these he made use in his works on Biblical exegesis.
See Church Fathers.
Bibliography : (iratz, Gesch. iv. 313 ; S. Krauss, The Jews in
the Wiyrks of the Church Fatherg,m Jewish Quarterly Re-
view, vi. 82; Freudenthal, Hellenisttsche Studieii, pp. 1 et
seq.; Gratz, Hagyadische Elemente bei de)i Kirchenviltern,
in Mnnatssch7'ift, 1854 ; L. Ginzberg, Die Hagyada bei den
Kirchenviltern und in der Ajxihryphischen Literatur,
Berlin, 1900.
.1. I. Br.
EUTOLEMUS : Name borne by a number of
Palestinian Jews. R. Jose quotes in reference to
several halakic questions the testimony of a certain
"Eutolemus," who gave a decision in the name of
five elders (R. H. 15a; Suk. 40a; 'Er. 35a), and
whose full name was "Eutolemus ben Reuben"
(Sotah 49b). He is quoted in the Talmud as having
been permitted by the Rabbis to cut his hair in con-
formity with pagan custom because of his inter-
course with court officials (B. K. 83a). In Hebrew
the name "Eutolemus "is variously spelled Dp103X,
Bibliography : Krauss, in Byzatitinische Zeitschrift, ii. 510;
idem, Gi-iechische und Lciteinutche LehnwOrtcr, p. 4;
Weiss, Seder ha-Dorot, p. 23, Warsaw, 1883.
s. s. I. Br.
EVANS, SAMUEL (Young Dutch Sam):
English pugilist; born in Loudon Jan. 30, 1801;
died of consumption Nov. 4, 1843. Evans' first
encounter in the prize-ring took place at Knowle
Hill, Maidenhead, Berkshire, July 5, 1825, Avhcn he
beat Ned Stockman in seventeen rounds. His next
match was with Harry Jones, whom he defeated at
Sheremere, Bedfordshire, Oct. 18, 1825. These two
victories were succeeded by others in 1826 and
1827. Then followed two more victories: the first,
over Jack jNIartin, which took place at Knowle Hill,
Berkshire, Nov. 4, 1828, and ended in the sixteenth
round; the second, over Ned Neale, "a)"0uth,"at
Ludlow, April 7, 1829, which terminated in the sev-
enty-first round. On Jan. 18, 1831, Evansand Neale
met again, Evans defeating his opponent in fourteen
rounds, which occupied fifty two minutes. Hisnext
victory was over Tom Gaynor of Bath, which took
place June 24, 1834, near Andover, in the seven-
teenth round.
275
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Eurydemus ben Jose
Eve
Evans' career as a pugilist is remarkable for the
number of victories he achieved.
Bibliouraphy: American Jews^ Annual, 5647 (1886-87);
Evans, liDxiana, London, n.d.
J. F. H. V.
EVANSVILLE. See Indiana.
EVARISTUS: The fifth pope; consecrated
al)out 100; died about 109. The breviary of Pope
Pius V. reserves Oct. 26 to the memory of "Evaris-
tus Gntcus ex Judaeo patre Trajano Imperatoie
Pontificatum gessit. " From this it would follow
that this pope was a Jew, whose father was a
native of Bethlehem, and tlierefore, no doubt,
a Roman provincial. Evaristus, then, must have
been a Greek-speaking Jew, and, under the laws
of the empire, a Roman subject. Of his life little
is known. He died imder either Trajan or Hadrian,
and is said to be buried near St. Peter's body in the
Vatican.
Bibliography: Acta Sanctf)7~um (Bollandus),lviii.(ad Octob.
xxvi., torn, xi.), Paris, 1870; Anakcta Romana, vol. i., ed.
H. Grisar, Rome, 1899; A Harnack, Die ChronnhHjie der
Altchristlichen Litteratnr, i. 1897; W. H. Simcox, The De-
ginning>i of the Chr-iMian Church, 2d ed., 1892 ; Milman, His-
tory of Later Christia)nty, i.
G. G. Dr.
EVE (nin).— Biblical Data : The wife of Adam.
According to Gen. iii. 20, Eve was so called because
she was "the mother of all living" (R. V., margin,
"Life" or "Living "). On the ground that it was
not " good for man to be alone " God resolved to
" make him an help meet for him " {ib. ii. 18), first
creating, with this end in view, the beasts of the
field and the fowl of the air and then bringing them
unto Adam. When Adam did not find among these a
helpmeet for himself, Yiiwn caused a deep sleep to
fall upon him, and took one of his ribs, from which
He made a woman, and brouglit her unto the man
(ib. ii. 22). Upon seeing her, Adam welcomed her as
" bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh " (ib. ii. 23),
declaring that she should be called "ishshah" be-
cause she was taken out of "ish" (man.)
Dwelling in the Garden of Eden with Adam, Eve
is approached and tempted by the serpent. She
yields to the reptile's seductive arguments, and par-
takes of the forbidden fnnt, giving thereof to her
husband, who, like her, eats of it. Both discover
their nakedness and make themselves aprons of fig-
leaves. When God asks for an accounting Adam
puts the blame on Eve. As a punishment, the sor-
rows of conception and childbirth are announced to
her. as well as subjection to her husband (ib. iii. 16).
Driven out of Eden, Eve gives birth to two sons,
Cain and Abel ; herself naming the elder in the ob-
scure declaration "I have gotten a man with the
help of Yinvii " (ib. iv. 1, R. V.). Later, after the
murder of Abel, she bears another son, to whom she
gives the name "Seth," saying that he is given to
her by Yiiwii as a compensation for Abel {ib. iv. 25).
E. G. H.
— — In Rabbinical Literature : Eve was not
created simultaneously witii Adam because God
foreknew that later she would be a source of com-
plaint. He therefore delayed forming her until
Adamsiiould express a desire for her (Gen. R. xvii.).
Eve was created from the thirteenth rib on Adam's
right side and from the flesh of his heart (Targ.
Pseudo-Jonathan to Gen. ii. 21; Pirke R. El. xii.).
Together with Eve Satan was created (Gen. R.
xvii.). God adorned Eve like a bride with all the
jewelry mentioned in Isa. iii. He built the nuptial
chamber for her (Gen. R. xviii.). According to
Pirke R. El. xii., as soon as Adam beheld Eve he
embraced and kissed her; her name HK^X, from J»>'X,
indicates that God (n^) joined them together (see
also Ab. R.N. xxxviii.). Ten gorgeous "hup pot "
(originally, "bridal chambers"; now, "bridal can-
opies"), studded with gems and pearls and orna-
mented with gold, did God erect for Eve, whom He
Himself gave away in marriage, and over whom He
pronounced the blessing ; while the angels danced
and beat timbrels and stood guard over the bridal
chamber (Pirke R. El. xii.).
Samael, prompted by jealousy, picked out the
serpent to mislead Eve (Yalk., Gen. xxv. ; comp.
Josephus, "Ant." i. 1, §4; Ab. R. N. i.), whom it
approached, knowing that women could be more eas-
ily moved than men (Pirke R. El. xiii.). Or, accord-
ing to another legend, the serpent was induced to
lead Eve to sin by desire on its part to possess her
(Sotah 9; Gen. R. xviii.), and it cast into her the
taint of lust (xomr; Yeb. 103b; 'Ab. Zarah 22b ; Shab.
146a; Yalk., Gen. 28, 130). Profiting by the absence
of the two guardian angels (Hag. 16a; Ber. 60b),
Satan, or the serpent, which then had almost the
shape of a man (Gen. R. xix. 1), displayed great ar-
gumentative skill in explaining the selfish reasons
which had prompted God's prohibition (Pirke R. El.
I.e.; Gen. R. xix.; Tan., Bereshit, viii.), and con-
vinced Eve by ocular proof that the tree could be
touched (comp. Ab. R. N. i. 4) without entailing
death. Eve thereupon laid hold of the tree, and at
once beheld the angel of death coming toward her
(Targ. Pseudo-Jon. to Gen. iii. 6). Then, reasoning
that if she died and Adam continued to live he
would take another wife, she made him share her
own fate (Pirke R. El. xiii. ; Gen. R. xix.); at the
invitation of the serpent she had partaken of wine;
and she now mixed it with Adam's drink (Num.'R.
X.). Nine curses together with death befell Eve in
consequence of her disobedience (Pirke R. El. xiv. ;
Ab. R. N. ii. 42).
Eve became pregnant, and bore Cain and Abel on
the very day of (her creation and) expulsion from
Eden (Gen. R. xii.). These were born full-grown,
and each had a twin sister (ib.). Cain's real father
was not Adam, but one of the demons (Pirke R. El.
xxi., xxii.). Seth was Eve's first child by Adam.
Eve died shortly after Adam, on the completion of
the six daj's of mourning, and was buried in the
Cave of Machpelah (Pirke R. El. xx.). Comp.
Adam, Book of.
s. s. E. G. H.
In Arabic Literature : Eve is a fantastic fig-
ure taken from the Jewish Haggadah. In the Koran
her name is not mentioned, although her person is
alluded to in the command given by Allah to Adam
and his "wife," to live in the garden, to eat what-
ever they desired, but not to approach "that tree"
(suras ii. 33, vii. 18). According to Mohammedan
tradition, Eve was created out of a rib of Adam's left
side while he was asleep. Ridwan. the guardian of
paradise, conducted them to the g.-irdon, where they
Eve
Evidence
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
276
were welcomed by all creatures as the father and
mother of Mohammed.
Ihlis, who had been forbiddeu to euter paradise
and was jealous of Adam's prerogative, wished to
entice him to sin. He asked the peacock to carry
Lim under his wings, but, as the bird refused, he hid
himself between the teeth of the serpent, and thus
managed to come near Adam and Eve. He first
persuaded Eve to eat of the fruit, which was a kind
of wheat that grew on the most beautiful tree in the
garden, and she gave some to Adam. Thereupon
all their ornaments fell from their bodies, so that
they stood naked. Then they were expelled from
the garden. Adam was thrown to Serendib (Cey-
lon), and Eve to Jidda (near Mecca).
Although Adam and Eve could not see each
other, they heard each other's lamentations; and
their repentance restored to them God's compas-
sion. God commanded Adam to follow a cloud
which would lead him to a place opposite to the
heavenly throne, where he should build a temple.
The cloud guided him to Mount Arafa, near Mecca,
where he found Eve. From this the mount derived
its name.
Eve died a year after Adam, and was buried out-
side Mecca, or, according to others, in India, or at
Jerusalem.
Bibliography: Weil, liihlLsclie Leyende,}) Ocr Munelmi'ln-
ner.
E. G. H. H. HiR.
Critical View : The account of the creation of
woman — she is called "Eve" only after the curse —
belongs to the J narrative. It reflects the naive
speculations of the ancient Hebrews on the begin-
nings of the human race as introductory to the his-
tory of Israel. Its tone throughout is anthropomor-
phic. The story Avas current among the people long
before it took on literary form (Gunkel, "Genesis,"
p. 2), and it may possibly have been an adaptation
of a Babylonian myth (ib. p. 85). Similar accounts
of the creation of woman from a part of man's body
are found among many races (Tuch, "Genesis,"
notes on eh. ii.); for instance, in tlie myth of Pan-
dora. That woman is the cause of evil is another
wide-spread conceit. The etymology of " ishshah "
from " ish " (Gen. ii. 23) is incorrect (ntJ'K belongs
to the root ^JX), but exhibits all tlie characteristics
of folk-et3'mology. The name nin, which Adam
gives the woman in Gen. iii. 20, seems not to be of
Hebrew origin. The similarity of sound with ^n
explains the popular etymology adduced in the ex-
planatory gloss, though it is W. R. Smith's opinion
("Kinship and Marriage in Early Arabia," p. 177)
that Eve represents the bond of matriarchal kinship
("hayy"). Noldeke ("Z. D. M. G." xlii. 487), fol-
lowing Philo ("De Agricultura Noe," §5 21) and the
Midrash Rabbaii (ad lor.), explains the name as
meaning "serpent," preserving thus the belief that
all life sprang from a primeval serpent. The nar-
rative forms part of a culture-myth attempting
to account among other things for the pangs of
childbirth, which are comparatively light among
primitive peoples (compare; Ad.\m; Eden, Gauden
OK; Fam, of Man). As to whether tliis story incul-
cates the; divine institution of Monoo.vmy or not, see
Gunkel, "Genesis," p. 11, and Dillinaun's and Hol-
ziuger's commentaries on Gen. ii. 23-24.
E. G. II.
EVE OF HOLIDAYS : Unlike the early Baby-
lonians, whose day began with sunrise, the Jews
began theirs with sunset. Some critics, Dillmann
among them, attempted to find traces of the
Babylonian reckoning in the early portions of the
Bible, but there is no doubt that with the spread of
the Law the reckoning from evening to evening be-
came established among the Jews (see Ibn Ezra's
poem on the Sabbath, in which he decries the cus-
tom of a certain sect which began the Sabbath and
festivals with sunrise; Rosin's edition, ii. 78, Bres-
lau, 1885). The eve of Jewish holidays is therefore
not the evening of the festival, but the day prece-
ding it; in conversation, the expression " 'ereb yom-
tob " is even extended to denote an indefinite period
preceding the holiday. It is observed as a day on
which is prepared {-apaaum/) such work as it is not
permitted to do on the holiday or on the Sabbath.
The Rabbis enjoined that the celebration of holi-
days should begin some time before sunset, in order
" to add from the profane to the holy" (R. H. 9a;
Yoma 81b). In Temple times the blowing of the
trumpet thrice by the Levites on the
Announce- eve of a Sabbath or holiday notified
ment of the people to cease from work (Suk.
Beginning. 53b; Maimonides, "Yad," Kele ha-
Mikdash, vii. 5, 6; see Trumpet).
This custom was retained for a long time in Jewry,
although for the trumpet a wooden mallet was sub-
stituted, with which the Shammash knocked at the
doors of the shops or private dwelling-places to
remind the Jews that the Sabbath or holiday had
begun (Abrahams, "Jewish Life in the Middle
Ages," p. 56). He who engages in regular work
late in the afternoon of the eve of the Sabbath or
holiday will receive no blessing upon his work (Pes.
50b). Eating late in the afternoon before Sabbath is
also forbidden, because the appetite must be reserved
for the evening meal (Pes. 99b; Shulhan 'Aruk,
Oral.i Hayyim, 529, 1 : Isserles' gloss). It was con-
sidered a commendable act to bathe on the eve
of the Sabbath or holida}' (Shab. 25b ; Orah Hayyim,
260, 1; 471, 3: Isserles' gloss). In the afternoon
services the penitential psalm ("Tahanun") was
omitted, as it was on all holidays or festive occasions
(ib. 131). But besides these general rules which ap-
plied to the eves of all holidays, there are certain
laws and ceremonies prescribed for the eve of each
Jioliday in particular.
As there is no restriction of work on the day of
the New Moon (Rosh Hodesh), the eve of that day
would have remained unnoticed were it not for the
haggadic parallel between the Jewish nation and the
moon (Hul. 601)). The various phases of the moon
are compared to the various vicissitudes of Israel,
and the last day of the month reminds the Jew of
his shortcomings in tlie service of God, and thus
becomes a day of repentance, a miniature of the Day
of Atonement (" Yoni Kiiii)nr Katan "). The after-
noon prayer therefore includes many penitential
hymns and formulas of confession of sin (" widdui ").
Tliese, however, are recited only by tlie very pious,
who are also accustomed to fast on that day, at least
277
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Eve
Evidence
until after the afternoou service (Orah Hayyiin, 417;
comp. "Magc'u Abraham" and ''Be'er lleteb " ad
loc).
While the special additional prayers ("selihot ")
are recited before dawn during the week preceding
New-Year's Day, the prayers for the day before New-
Year's are much more numerous and are recited with
greater contrition. The hymn commencing with the
words "Zckor Berit" (Remember the Covenant) is
included in these prayers, and the day is frequently
designated by the initial words of that hymn. It is
also customary to fast on that day, or at least imtil
noon, although pious Jews fast the greater part of
the ten penitential days (Tanhuma, Emor, 22; Orah
Hayyim, 581, 2). It is ditierent, however, with the
eve of the Day of Atonement. Not only is it forbid-
den to fast on that day, but feasting is encouraged;
it is said that he who eats and drinks on the eve of
the Day of Atonement will be rewarded as if he has
fasted both days(Yoma 81b; Orah Hayyim, 604, 1).
The early prayers for that day are also considerably
reduced, and after the morning service a repast pre-
pared by the congregation is served in the synagogue
for the purpose of establishing a feeling of general
fellow.ship. Each one begs the forgiveness of those
he has wronged during the year. See also Kappa-
KOT and Malkut Schlagen.
The meal taken before sunset should consist of
light dishes, easily digestible, so that the evening
prayer can be recited with devotion. A certain so-
lemnity usually prevails in every household during
this meal, after which the parents bless the children
and immediately repair to the sj'nagogue. This
meal should be concluded before twilight sets m{ib.
604-608).
In Temple times the paschal lamb was offered
during the afternoon of the eve of Passover; there-
fore more laws and ceremonies are grouped around
this day than aroimd the eve of any other holiday.
On the evening of the day preceding Passover the
ceremony of searching for leaven is performed
by the master of the house (Pes. 2a; see Jew.
Encyc. ii. 628 s.v. ; Bedikat Hamez). If Passover
falls on a Sunday, the searching is begun on Thurs-
day evening. The leaven found during this exam-
ination is burned the next morning before noon (Pes.
21a). No leaven should be eaten after the fourth
hour of the day, and after the sixth hour it is not
permissible to derive any benefit from the leaven left
over {ib. 28b). Work on the eve of Passover is ab-
solutely forbidden, and the transgressor exposes
himself to the danger of being excommunicated.
Even in the forenoon some are accustomed to cease
work, and he who lives in a community Avhere this
custom prevails must conform to it (ih. 50a et seq. ;
see Custom).
The male first-born fast the whole day in com-
memoration of the miracle performed in Egypt, when
the first-born in Israel were saved while those of the
Egyptians were slain (Soferim xxi. 3; comp. Yer.
Pes. X. 1; see First-Boun). As is the case on the
eve of the Sabbatii, it is forbidden to begin a meal
after the tenth hour (four p.m.) of the day, .so that
the appetite for the evening meal be not spoiled.
Some are accustomed to fast the entire day in order
to be better prepared for the festival meal in the
evening (Pes. 99b, 108a). It is forbidden to eat any
mazzaii during the day preceding Passover, so that
after tiie fourth hour no bread, leavened or un-
leavened, may be eaten (Yer. Pes. x. 1 ; see Kosh to
Pes. iii. 7 ; Orah Hayyim, 468, 470, 471).
s. s. J. H. G.
EVICTION. See Ejectment.
EVIDENCE : Whenever in proceedings at law
an issue arises— that is, in civil cases when a fact is
asserted on one side and denied on the other — the
issue is generally determined by evidence, which the
party having the burden of proof must proffer; and
evidence to the contrary may be brought forward
by the other party. The evidence may consist
either of the testimony of witnesses or of documen-
tary writings. AViiat here follows applies in the
main to civil cases.
I. Witnesses : In order to prove a disputed fact,
witnesses must fulfil the following requirements:
1. Two must testify to the same fact. This rule
is laid down in Deut. xxv. 15 and in other pas.sages
apparently for criminal cases only, but it has been
extended to civil cases as well. In
Number civil cases, however, it is not necessary
and that the two witnesses should agree
Q,ualifica- very closely as to time and place.
tions. Thus, if of two witnesses to a loan one
should say, "A lent B a jar of oil";
the other, " He lent him a jar of wine " ; or if one
should say, "I was present when the money was
paid at Jerusalem " ; the other, " I saw it paid at
Hebron " ; or if one should say, " I saw it paid in the
month of Nisan "; the other, " I saw it paid in lyyar,"
their testimony would be void. But if one says he
saw it paid in the upper, and the other in the lower,
story; or if one says on the first of the month,
and the other on the second of the month, such evi-
is within the limit of fair mistake, and the testimony
stands. Even less does a disagreement as to cir-
cumstances other than time and place affect the
testimony ; for instance, if one says the money was
black from usage, the other that it was new, this
would be regarded as an immaterial circumstance,
and the testimony would stand. Where the two
witnesses vary only in the matter of quantity, the
lesser quantity is sufficiently proved. In criminal
cases, as has been shown under Acquittal in Tai.-
MUDic Law, a much closer agreement is required.
2. The witness must be an Israelite. The Tal-
mud seems to take this for granted ; though it allows
some facts to stand proved upon a statement
"made innocently" by a Gentile; that is, not as a
witness in court. In damage cases the Mishnali
(B. K. i. 3) saj's expressly that the witnesses must
be freemen and sons of the Covenant.
3. The witness must be a man, not a woman (R.
H. i. 8); of full age, that is, more than thirteen
years old; not a deaf-mute or a lunatic, and, ac-
cording to the better opinion, not a blind man, and
not either deaf or dumb. A boy not much over
thirteen, and having no understanding of business,
must not testify in a cause involving title to land
(B. B. 155a). Nor should a person of full age testify
as to what he said or heard as a minor, except in
matters of frecjueut observation; e.g. : "This is m\'
Evidence
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
278
father's," or "my teacher's," or "my brother's hand-
writing"; "This woman I usetl to see go out walk-
ing in maidenly hair and attire " ; " Such a man used
to go to the bath of evenings," indicating that he
was a kolien (Ket. ii. 10).
4. He must not be a " wicked " man ; for the Law
says (Ex. xxiii. 1): "put not thy hand with the
wicked, to be an unrighteous witness." The Mish-
nah (Sanh. iii. 3) names as those incompetent the
vicious rather than the wicked; dicers (^pnSJ'O
N'31p). usurers, pigeon-fliers, and those who trade
in the fruits of the Sabbatical year. A baraita in the
Gemara on this section {ib. 3oa, b) dis-
Moral qualifies also tax-collectors and shep-
Clualifica- herds as presumably dishonest, unless
tions. their good character is proved, as
well as butchers who sell " terefah "
meat for " kasher " ; and it provides that they can
reinstate themselves only by quitting their unlaw-
ful trade and by giving up for charitable pur-
poses all the unlawful gains made therein. Maimon-
ides (" Yad," 'Edut, x. 3) draws from the Talmudic
passages Sanh. 25a, b and B. K. 72b the inference
that one who purposely commits a .sin to which the
Law attaches the punishment of death or of forty
stripes, or who robs or steals, although these latter
offenses are not punishable by stripes or death, is
" wicked " in the sense of being an incompetent wit-
ness. The .same is true of one proved to be a
"plotting witness" (Sanh. 27a). But the ground
of incompetency must be proved hy two other
witnesses; the sinning witness can not become
incompetent by his own confession.
Informers, "Epicureans," and apostates are in-
competent (Maimonides, I.e. x, end, followed by
later codes). Also men who show lack of all self-
respect — by eating on the street, walking about
naked at their work, or living openly on the charity
of Gentiles — are incompetent (Maimonides, I.e. xi.
6, based on Sanh. 26b). Where the incompetency
arises imder rabbinical provisions, the objection-
able man must be publicly proclaimed incompetent
(PIDD) before his testimony can be excluded (ib.).
Wliere A and B are called as witnesses, and B
knows that A is "wicked" (for instance, a robber),
so as not to give force to the testimony of A, B
should not testify (Shebu. 30b).
5. The witness must not have any interest in tlie
litigation. The Talmud carries this doctrine so far
as to state (B. B. 43a) that where some one raises a
claim of title to the public bath-house or the square
of the city, none of the citiz^ens can testify or act as
judge until he divests himself of all share in the title.
Similarly, where the suit is on grounds common to
two joint owners of land, one may not testify for his
companion until he has sold his own share without
warranty. In a suit for a field a tenant on shares
may not testify for his landlord, for he is interested
in the crop.
6. The witness must not be related to the party
that calls him: in criminal cases the witnesses for
either side must not be related to the accused. The
degrees of consanguinity and affinity are the same
as for judges, and are laid down under Aiinatks.
Tlie rule is derived from a rather bold interpretation
of Deut. xxiv. 16, whicli is rendered, "Fathers shall
not be put to death on [the testimony of] sons, nor
sons on [the testimony of] fathers" (see Sanh. 27b);
but the principle is extended from capital cases to
civil suits, and far beyond the mere relationship be-
tween father and son. Relationship by marriage is
at an end when the wife dies. The objection of
friendship or hate that applies to judges does not
hold as against witnesses.
The Geouim disqualify a man who has publicly
threatened a litigant that he will ruin him by a de-
nunciation, from testifying against him (see Shulhan
'Aruk, Hoshen Mishpat, 34. 20, and Be'er Golah
thereon). The later codes follow the Palestinian
Talmud on Sanh. iii. in holding that witnesses akin
to each other or to the judges are incompetent
(Hoshen Mishpat, 33, 17).
II. Mode of Examination : 1. Witnesses do
not testify under oath, but under the sanction of the
ninth commandment. The presiding judge admon-
ishes the witnesses before they testify. All persons
other than the litigants and the witness to be exam-
ined are then dismissed from the room; the same
procedure applies to all following witnesses.
2. He who knows testimony of benefit to his
neighbor should, under the Mosaic law (Lev. v. 1),
make it known to him ; and an oath may be im-
posed on him to say whether he knows anything
and what he knows. The Talmud (B. K. 56a) points
to the words " he shall bear his iniquity " ; hence, he
is liable only to heavenly, not to earthl}', punish-
ment. With a view to the former, the litigant may
ask that a ban (the " sound of the curse " of Lev. v.
1, Hebr.) be pronounced in the synagogue against
all those who know aught in his favor and will not
come forward to testify. Otherwise he has no rem-
edy, no compulsory process against witnesses, and
no means to force them to answer questions. But
when the court finds that the witnesses for one part}'
are intimidated by his opponent from appearing, it
may compel the latter himself to bring those wit-
nesses into court.
3. From "the mouth of witnesses," says the text,
a man shall be condemned, not upon their written
statement; hence, testimony should be given by
word of mouth in open court, not by way of depo-
sition. In all criminal cases, and in ail suits for pen-
alties or damages to the person, tliis rule is invaria-
bly followed ; but in actions on contract, especially
on behalf of the defendant, depositions are admitted
for good reasons, such as that the witnesses are sick
or absent from the place of trial, or tliat one of the
parties is sick, so that the trial can not be had, while
the witnesses are about to depart. In all such cases
notice must be given to the opposite party, and the
deposition, in tlic nature of minutes of judicial pro-
ceedings, must he taken before a court of tliree
judges.
4. As a rule, witnesses may be heard only in the
presence of the opposing litigant, so that he may
suggest to the court points on which
In Presence to cross-examine them. For this reason
of the witnesses may not be received against
Litigant, a minor, because he would not know
how to direct the cross-examination.
Later authorities maintain that tiie rule, "No wit-
ness without the chance of cross-examination," ap-
279
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Evidence
plies to the plaintiff 's witnesses only ; but the debtor
may be the plaintiff, when he sues a minor heir
of his creditor for the cancelation of his bond,
by presenting his receipt attested by witnesses: it
is held (Hoshen Mishpat, 108, 17) that he must wait
till the infant heir comes of age, as in the " parol de-
murrer " of tlie common law.
5. In civil cases, other than those for personal in-
jury, the court is not bound to go, on its own mo-
tion, through the formal cross-questions as to time
and place (see Acquittal), with a view of finding a
contradiction between the two witnesses, for such a
course would "close the door before borrowers";
but where the judges have reason to suspect that
the claim or defense is fraudulent (nDIIO ; *- 15) they
should take all proper means to break down the tes-
timony on that side.
6. Where the witnesses testify to an admission
made by a litigant they should give, as far as they
can, the very words, not their general import. Let
tiie court decide whether the words amount to an ad-
mission, or whether they can be explained away as
having been made in jest or for an ulterior purpose.
The position is drawn from a section of the Mishnah
and a baraita (Sanh. 29a).
7. Speaking generally, after a witness has been
allowed to depart he may not retract his testimony
by saying, " I was mistaken " ; "I did not recollect " ;
etc. Even if he gives a plausible reason he is not
listened to. But when other witnesses are called to
attack the character of one who has testified, the
latter may explain or retract (Sanh. 74b; Ket. 19b).
III. Documentary Proof : This is often spoken
of as n^KI. which is the general term for "evidence"
or " proof."
1. It is in general either an instrument written by
an adverse party, which lias to be proved by wit-
nesses acquainted with his handwriting, or the more
formal instrument, known as a "shetar," or Deed,
attested by two witnesses, but not necessarily signed
by tl)e grantor or obligor. When a deed (a convey-
ance of land, or a bond, or an acquittance) is the
basis of an action or defense, it ought to be regu-
larly proved by the testimony of the attesting wit-
nesses; but if they are absent, or refuse to testify,
other men may establish the deed by proving the
handwriting of the attesting witnesses (there being,
of course, two witnesses to the handwriting of each
attester). When this is so proved, the attesting
witnesses are not allowed to attack the validity of
the deed. But if the party interested in the deed
must rely on the word of the attesting witnesses,
tiiese may say: "True it is, we signed the deed, but
we did so from fear for our lives"; or "The obligor
delivered a protest to us, showing that he acted
under duress"; or "We were underage, or incom-
petent on other grounds"; or "The deed had a con-
dition attached which has not been fulfilled " ; and
they may thus defeat the testimony given by them-
selves in support of the deed. But if they say the
shetar (say, a bond) was entrusted to the obligee
without consideration, or that they acted under
duress of pecuniary loss, or that they were incom-
petent 0}' reason of sinfulness, or that the grantor
was under age, their testimony in favor of the deed
stands, and their attempt to defeat it is "not listened
to " (Ket. ii. 3). But the attesting witnesses are al-
ways competent to state that the grantor or obligor
made a protest to them by reason of duress ; for this
is not incompatible with the deed (Hoshen Mi.shpat,
46, 37, 38).
2. A method to establish a deed, more especially
a bond, at the instance of the holder, is given in the
Talmud (B. K. 112a; see also B. B. 40a and Ket.
21a) and is recognized by the cod:!S (" Yad," 'Edut,
vi. ; Hoshen Mishpat, 46, 3-4). The two witnesses,
at the instance of the holder, come before an impro-
vised court, made up of any three re-
Establish- spectable Israelites; and the latter
ing write at the bottom of the deed " A
a Deed. B and C D appeared before us this day
and testified to their own signatures,
whereupon we have approved and established this
deed"; and the three "judges" sign. Being in the
nature of a judgment, this must be done in the day-
time; but the proceeding is wholly ex parte. A
deed thus established may, without further proof,
be presented upon the trial of a case. The gloss of
RaMA states that one expert is as good as three lay-
men, and that " in these countries " (meaning those
of the German "minhag") it is customarj- for any
rabbi at the head of a school (n2"'K'V to establish
a deed.
IV. Effect of Evidence: 1. The sages had very
little more confidence in circumstantial evidence
given for the purpose of " taking money out of " the
defendant's pocket than in that given for the pur-
pose of inflicting the penalty of death or stripes.
Ket. ii. 10 has been cited, according to which a wit-
ness may testify that, when a boy, he saw a woman
walk about in maidenly attire; the object being to
prove that she married as a maiden, not as a widow,
and is therefore entitled to a greater sum for her join-
ture. In discussing this clause the Talmud remarks
that this is only arguing from the majority of cases:
for though in most cases those wearing maidens' at-
tire are not widows, occasionally they
Circum- are; and money ought not be taken
stantial out of a man's pocket on mere reason-
Evidence, ing from the greater number of cases.
In fact, circumstantial evidence was
generally rejected.
2. Hearsay evidence was barred equally in civil
as in criminal cases, no matter how strongly
the witness might believe in what he heard, and
however worthy and numerous were his informants
("Yad," 'Edut, xvii. 1).
3. The length of time between the observation of
the fact and the testimony is no reason for rejecting
the latter, even though the witness has to refresh
his memorj^ by looking at a written memorandum
(Ket. 20a).'
4. It has been shown under Ambi how a "set" of
witnesses may be convicted as " plotters " by another
set or sets proving an alibi on them. But the op-
posite party may prove an alibi on the convicting set,
or in some other way show that the facts testified to
by the first set were impossible or untrue. Under such
circumstances a modern judge or jury would weigh
the credibility of the witnesses and the probability
of their stories, and decide between them accord-
ingly. The sages did not trust themselves or their
Evil Eye
Evolution
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
280
successors with this discretion. If there were no in-
dicia of fraud, they held that, as someone evidently
was lying, they could not decide which of them it
was; and that there was no evidence on the point.
This would generally defeat the plaintiff's demand ;
for, as has been said under Burden op Proof, the
burden lies on him who desires to get something
from his neighbor. If there were any indicia of
fraud, the judges would seek for some ground to
disqualify as incompetent the witnesses who seemed
at fault. Speaking broadly, the judges considered
it their duty to decide the effect of the testimony as
a question of law, not as one of the greatest prob-
abihty; though in some matters the "lucky throw
of the judge" (Nrm NTIB'; «•«■, his decision) was
held indispensable.
For the effect which the testimony of a single
witness has in certain cases, short of proving the
affirmation of the issue, see Procedure.
Bibliography: Maimonides, Yad, 'EfJut; Z. Frankel, Der
Gerichtliche Beweix nach M()mi)<ch-Talmudischem Recltte,
Berlin, 1846; I. Klein, Das Gesetz iiher das Gerichtliche
Bewelwerfahren nach Mnsaisch-TaJmiidischem Rechte ;
Bahr, Das Gesetz ilber FaUche Zeugen nach Bibel und
Talmud, Berlin, 1882.
8. s. L. N. D.
EVIL EYE (Hebrew, ynn I"*!?; Aramaic, Kry
XC3) : A supposed power of bewitching or harming
by spiteful looks, attributed to certain persons as a
natural endowment. The belief that a glance can
damage life and property is wide-spread among both
savage and civilized peoples (for the Chaldeans and
Egyptians see Lehmann, "Aberglaube und Zau-
berei," p. 33, Stuttgart, 1898; Budge, "Egyptian
Magic," pp. 97 et seq., London, 1899; Lane, "Cus-
toms and Usages of the Egyptians of To-day " [Ger-
man transl. by Zenker], ii. 66; and L. Krebl, "Der
Talisman James Richardson's," p. 7, s.v. "Araber,"
Leipsic, 1865). This belief was also held by the Jews
in Biblical times (see Jew.Encyc. i. 546, s.v. Amulet).
Simeon ben Yohai and the popular amora R. Jo-
hanan could, with a look, transform people into a
heap of bones (Pesik. 90b, 137a; B. M. 84a; B. K.
11a; see Blau, "Das Altjiidische Zaubervvesen," p.
50). According to R. Eliezer (Sanh. 93a), Hana-
niah, Mishael, and Azariah, after they had been res-
cued from the fiery furnace, were killed by the many
ej'es which were directed at them in astonishment.
"When R. Eliezer ben Hyrcanuswas shutout of the
place of teaching, every spot upon which he turned
his eye was burned up ; even a grain of wheat upon
which his glance fell was half burned while the
other half remained untouched, and the pillars of
the gathering-place of the scholars trembled " (B. M.
59b; Shab. 33b). Even over the first two tables of
the Covenant, because they were given publicly, the
eye had power (Grlinhut, "Likkutim," v. 128a =
'Aruk, s.v. '3DD). According to Rab (Yer. Shab. xiv.
14c; B. M. 107b), out of 100 people 99 die through
the evil eye. Large masses of people provoke the
evil eye, wherefore Joshua (Josh. xvii. 15) advised
the sons of Joseph to get themselves up to the
forest that the evil eye might not injure them (B.
B. 118a). Jacob also .said to his sons when they
went down into Eg3'pt: "Do not all enter at the
same gate on account of the eye" (Gen. R. xci.).
Prominent men are peculiarly susceptible to the evil
eye. When the people demanded that Judah I.
should come up to the pulpit from the school-bench,
his father, the patriarch Simeon ben Gamaliel, said:
" I have one dove among you, and do you wish to
take him from me by destroying him?" meaning
thereby, " If Judah I. is raised to the leader's place,
the evil eye from the audience may harm him"
(B. M. 84b).
To the descendants of Joseph the evil eye can do no
manner of harm (Ber. 20a). Whoever is on the point
of entering a city and is afraid of the evil eye,
should stick his right thumb in his left hand, and
his left thumb in his right, and say : " I, N. N., son
of N. N., am of the seed of Joseph, whom the evil
eye may not touch " (Ber. 55b). The saying is Jew-
ish ; the gesture rests on the heathenish notion that
obscene gestures protect against the evil eye. The
Talmud teachers, however, probably no longer knew
the meaning of the gesture prescribed. A glance
at the left side of the nose also protects against the
evil eye (Ber. I.e.). In the case of a horse protection
is effected by hanging between his eyes a fox's tail
(Tosef., Shab. iv. 5).
The evil eye could also affect lifeless objects.
Rab forbids standing in a neighbor's field when the
corn is in the ear (B. M. 107a). A gar-
Effect on ment found should not be spread over
In- the bed when guests are in the house,
animate for " it will be burned by the eye " of
Objects, the guests (B. M. 30a). Blessing comes
only upon those things wliich are hid-
den from the eye (Ta'an. 8b).
Many a superstition owes its origin to etymology.
Shab. 67a says : " If a tree lets its fruit fall, it should
be painted red and loaded with stones" (comp.
Pliny, "Hist. Naturalis," xviii. 86). Painting the
tree red protects it from the evil eye, "ipD having
the meaning of both "dyeing red" and "glancing."
The harm that comes from the eye is neutralized
by hanging something between the eyes. The
superstitions of the Middle Ages were the same as
those of the Talmud period, with the exception that
at the later epoch the Jews had more remedies
against the influence of the evil glance (comp.
Zohar, Num. xxiv. ; Manasseh ben Israel, "Nishmat
Hayyim," p. 141, Amsterdam, 1651).
The belief in the " 'en ha-ra' " still prevails in
Asia and eastern Europe and to a certain extent in
western Europe also.
Children are especially susceptible to the influence
of the evil eye. On account of their beauty they
arouse the envy of the mothers of other children,
who cast upon them their evil glances ; but " wise
women" understand how to counteract the influ-
ence which such glances may exert. R. Hisda
says: "If the first child be a girl this is a good
omen for the succeeding boys, because the evil eye
is in that case not irritated."
In Slavic lands old women throw live coals into
water, with which they sprinkle the four corners of
the room, reciting the while certain formulas as a
safeguard against the evil eye (Rubin, "Geschichte
des Aberglaubens," etc., p. 164; Grunwald, "Mit-
teilungen," etc., v. 41, No. 88). People light the
Habdalah candle and hold it before the child's open
mouth, extinguishing it so as to make the smoke
281
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Evil Eye
Evolution
go into the mouth (Grunwald, I.e. p. 40, note). This is
probably an imitation of Catholic exorcism by means
of incense. "A piece of bread and
In salt or of the mazzah from Passover
Folk-Lore. is put into the pockets of particularly
beautiful children. A piece from the
garment of the person who is suspected of having
exercised the charm . . . is placed on glowing coals
and the smoke blown into the child's face " (Grun-
wald, ib.). Adults wear rings or beads of amber on
a string around the neck as a protection against the
evil eye (Rubin, I.e. p. 179; Grunwald, I.e. v. 60,
No. 198, note). The bridegroom, whose conjugal
happiness is envied by some one, is especially sus-
ceptible to the influence of the evil eye. He may
protect himself by walking backward (Grunwald,
I.e. \. 87, V. 33, note 42). In olden times children
were not taken to the wedding-feast for fear of the
evil eye in the crowd (Lev. R. xxvi. 7; Tan., Emor,
4; conip. also Grunwald, I.e. i. 36, 99).
Bibliography: Winer, B. R. ii. 720: Wuttke, Der Deutsche
Vulki<(the7-olaube der Geoenuart, Index ; Lenormant, Magie
vnd }Valirmgcku)tst der Clialdiier, Jena, 1878; Budge,
Egnptian Magic, London, 1899; Lane, Cu.itorns arid Usages
of the Eg>jptia)is<>f To-day (German transl. by Zenker, ii. 66);
L. Krehl, Der Taluonan James Richardson's, p. 7, s.v.
Araber, Leipsic, 1865; Elwortby, The Evil Eue, London, 1895:
Daremberg-Saglio, Dictinnnaire dcs Antiquites Greeques et
Rnmaincs, ii. 983; A. Koliut, JUdi^sche Angelolngie und
Ddmonologie, p. 58, Leipsic, 1866; D. Joel, Der Aherglauhe
und die SteUiuiodcsJudenthumszii Dewselhcn, p. 63, Bres-
laii, 1881 ; Blau, Das Altjlidische Zauheru-esen, pp. 153-156,
165, Strasburg, 1898; Griinbaum, Gesaminelte Aufsiitze zur
Sprach- und Sagenhunde. ed. Perles, pp. 105,521,557, Berlin,
1901 ; M. Grunwald, Mitteihtngc)! der GcselUcltaft fllr JU-
dische Volkskunde, 1901, part vii., s.v. BOserBlick ; S. Rubin,
Gesch. dt's Aherglaubens bei AUeii VOlkeni mit Besoii-
derem HinhUck auf das JUdische VoJk, Vienna, 1887; Re-
vue des Ecoles de VAUiancelsraelite., 1901, No. 2, p. 161 ; No.
3, pp. 198-208 ; 1902, No. 5, p. 362.
K. L. B.
EVIL-MERODACH : Son of Nebuchadnezzar,
and third ruler of the New Babylonian empire;
reigned from 561 to 560 B.C. His name in Baby-
lonian is "Amil-Marduk" or " Avel-Marduk" =
"man," or "servant, of Marduk." No personal or
historical inscriptions of his reign have been dis-
covered, and there are only two sources of informa-
tion concerning him — the Hebrew Scriptures and
Berosus. According to the Bible (Jer. lii. 31 ; II
Kings XXV. 27 et seq.), he released, in the year of his
accession, the imprisoned king Jehoiachin, invited
him to his table, clothed him with royal raiment, and
elevated him above all otlier captive kings that were
in Babylon. Tiele, Clieyne, and Hommel are of the
opinion that perhaps Neriglissar, Evil-merodach's
brother-in-law, who is praised for his benevolence,
was Instrumental in the freeing of the Judean
king. Griitz, on the other hand, conjectures the
influence of the Jewish eunuchs (referring to Jer.
xxxix. 7 and Daniel).
Berosus, however, says that Evil-merodacli ruled
"unjustly and lewdly." Possibly his treatment of
the exiled king was held by the priestly, or national,
party to have been unlawful ; or it may be that the
memory of some injury rankled in the mind of the
priestly writer, or writers, of his history (Winckler,
" Gesch. Babyloniens und Assyriens. " p. 314). Evil-
merodach was unable to counteract the danger ari-
sing from Median immigration. The party opposed to
him soon succeeded in dethroning liim, and lie was as-
sassinated by order of Nerigl issar, who succeeded him.
Bibliography: Tiele, BaJniUinis(h-Assfiri.<<che Gcsph.ii.457;
Hommel, Gescfi. Babiilanicnsund Assyriens, p. 772; Murd-
ter-Delitzsch, Gesch. Babyloniens und Assyriens, p. 251;
Griitz, Gesch. ii. 5; Rogers, Hist, of Bab. ii. 354, 355.
E. G. u. R. W. R.— M. Sc.
EVIL SPIRITS. See Demonology,
EVOLUTION : The series of steps by which all
existing beings have been developed by gradual mod-
ification ; term generally applied to the theory con-
cerning the origin of species and the descent of man
connected with the names of Charles Darwin and
Herbert Spencer, and defended and amplified by
Ernst Haeckel and Thomas Huxley, though to
a certain degree anticipated by Goethe, Lamarck,
Kant, and even Heraclitus. According to this
hypothesis all animal and vegetable life may be
traced to one very low form of life, a minute cell,
itself possibly produced by inorganic matter. This
development, according to Darwin, is due to the
struggle for existence, and to the transmission
through natural (and sexual) selection of those quali-
ties whicli enable the possessors to carry on the strug-
gle, in which only the fittest survive. Herbert Spen-
cer and others have applied the theory of evolution
to every domain of human endeavor — civilization, re-
ligion, language, society, ethics, art, etc., tracing the
line of development from the homo
Judaism geneous to the heterogeneous, though
and recrudescences of and lapses into
Evolution, older forms and types (degeneration,
atavism) are by no means excluded.
The relation of the teachings of Judaism to this
theory is not necessarily one of hostility and dissent.
Evolution not only does not preclude creation,
but necessarily implies it. Nor are purpose and de
sign (teleology) eliminated from the process. Nat-
ural selection in strict construction is teleological.
Mechanical design alone is precluded. In its stead
the hypothesis of evolution operates with a teleology
that is, both in intensity and in extent, much
more adequate to the higher conceptions of God.
Mechanical teleology is anthropomorphic. Jewish
theism, not being anthropomorphic, does not defend
mechanical teleology.
The development of life from inorganic matter,
the rise of consciousness from preceding uncon
scious life, the origin of mind, of conscience, are not
accounted for by the theory of evolution; and as
at the beginning of the chain, so at these links it
fails. Jewish theism, while admitting that on the
whole the theory throws light on the methods,
pursued in the gradual rise and unfolding of life,
is justified in contending that it does not eliminate
the divine element and plan and purpose from the
process. Evolution gives answer to the how, never
to the wJiat, and only inadequately to the irkp.
Belief in miracles, in catastrophical interruptions
of the continuity of nature's processes, indeed,
is not compatible with the acceptance of the doc-
trine of evolution. The Jewish (Talmudical) view
of Miracles, as a condition involved in the original
design of nature, howevjr, is not inherently irreeon
cilable with the hypothe- 's of evolution, while mod
em (Reform) Jewish th.-'oiuij'y is not concerned to
defend the belief in miracles based on literal con
structions of Biblical passages.
Evolution
Ewer
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
282
Judaism, having never taught the doctrine of the
Fall of Man, is not obliged to reject the evolutional
theory on the ground that it contlicts with the
dogma which demands the assumption of man's
original perfection, and which thus inverts the proc-
ess and sequence posited by the evolutionists.
The theory of evolution has also been applied to
the history of religion. Following the positivists,
the writers on this subject from the
Evolution point of view of the evolutionary
of Religion, school have argued that some species
of animism (ancestor-worship) was the
lowest form of religion, which, developing and dif-
ferentiating successively into' gross and then refined
fetishism (totemism), nature-worship, polytheism, tri-
bal henotheism, and national monolatry, finally flow-
ered into universal ethical monotheism. The history
of Israel's religion has also been traced from this
point of view, according to which it exhibits vestiges
of antecedent animism and totemism, but appears in
its earlier historic forms as tribal henotheism of a
largely stellar and lunar (agricultural) cast; it then
grew, under the influences of environmen t and histor-
ical experiences (national consolidation and Canaan-
itish contamination), into national monolatry ( Yhwh-
ism), which gradually, under Assyro-Babylonian in-
fluences, deepened and clarified into prophetic or uni-
versal ethical monotheism, again to be contracted
into sacerdotal and legalistic Judaism. This theory
of the rise and development of religion in general
and of that of Israel in particular conflicts with (1)
the assumption of an original monotheism and the
subsequent lapse of man into idolatry, which, how-
ever, is a phase of the doctrine of the Fall of Man ;
and witli (2) the conception of revelation as an arbi-
trary, local, temporal, and mechanical process of
communicating divine truth to man, or to Israel.
The view, however, which looks upon revelation
as a continuous, growing, and deepening process,
through which divine truth unfolds itself and thus
leads man to an ever fuller realization of the divine
purposes of human life and the higher moral law of
human existence, and Israel to an ever more vital
appreciation of its relations to the divine and its
destiny and duty in the economy of things and pur-
poses human, is not inherently antagonistic to the
evolutional interpretation of the rhythm of religious
life.
(1) Evolution confirms religion as a necessary' out-
come and a concomitant of the development of hu-
man life. Thus evolution negatives the theories of
the rationalists that regard religion as a benevolent
or as a malevolent invention. (2) Evolution does
not deny the part played' by the great men (proph-
ets) in this process of developing religious conscious-
ness and views. (3) The rise and activity of these
great men evolution can not account for. (4) In the
history of Israel's religion, evolution
Evolution has not explained and can not explain
and Mon- how, from original (Kenite) YnwiiisM,
otheism. void of all moral content and all origi-
nal ."holiness" ( = "taboo" ["kO-
desh"]) ascribed to the Deity, could have sprung the
ethical monotheism of the Prophets and the idea of
moral holiness (" kadosh "). The power of origination
vested in genius (prophecy) is thus not eliminated as
the main factor from the factors involved in the
religious evolution of Israel. Babylonian influences
(Delitzsch, "Babel und Bibel ") did not, among the
Babylonians themselves, develop the higher mono-
theism. It is thus beyond the range of possibility
that what failed of development among its own orig-
inators should have evolved into monotheism among
the Israelites, unless Israel had a pecuHar and dis-
tinctive genius for monotheism. This power of origi-
nating monotheistic ideals and transmuting other
ideals into monotheistic concepts, a power which
the Prophets had in a high degree, and which the
nation also, as a whole, gradually displayed in the
development of its national genius, is the one factor
for wliich evolution can not account. This factor
may be rightly denominated "revelation." (5) The
evolution theory overthrows Kenan's dictum that
monotheism is " the minimum of religion." None of
the essential contentions of Judaism is vitally af-
fected by the propositions of the evolution school.
The philosophy of the Reform wing within Juda-
ism, regarding Judaism as a growth, not a fixed
quantity or a rigid law, and as stiil in the process
of developing (tradition being its vital element), has
even found corroboration in the theory of evolution.
K. E. G. H.
EVORA: City in Portugal, and the seat of the
rabbi of the province of Alemtejo. When the
bride-elect of Don Alfonso, the only son of King
John II., entered Evora (Nov. 27, 1490), the Jews of
the city met her in solemn procession and presented
her with gifts of cows, sheep, hens, etc. It was at
Evora, in 1497, that King Manuel issued the de-
cree commanding that all Jewish children under
fourteen years of age should be forcibly taken from
their parents on Easter Sunday and distributed in
various parts of the country, to be educated in the
Christian faith. In April, 1506, the synagogue was
demolished by the populace. Many wealthy Mara-
nos were living there when the institution of the
Inquisition was solemnly proclaimed (Oct. 22, 1536).
In 1542 it began its work in Evora, and one of the
first to be brought to the stake was David Reubeni
(see Auto Da Fe ; Inquisition).
Bibliography: Kayserling, Oeifch. der Juden in Portugal,
pp. 99, 131, 146, 227.
D. M. K.
EVRETJX (Hebrew, Nl^'N or NlVN) : Capital
of the department of Eure, France. In the Middle
Ages it was one of the centers of Jewish learning,
and its scholars are quoted in the Tosafot on Bezah
14b, 20b, 24b ; on Kiddushin 27b, 39a et passim ; on
Sotah 22a et passim; and in the Kol Bo, Nos. 24, 114.
The following rabbis are known to have lived at
Evreux: Samuel ben Shneor (Zunz, "Z. G." p.
38, designates him erroneously " Samuel, son of R.
Yom-Tob "), called the " Prince of Evreux " (" R. E.
J." vi. 168); one of the most celebrated tosafists;
Moses of Evreux, brother of Samuel; autlior of
the " Tosafot of Evreux " ; his name is often abbre-
viated to D "I • Isaac of Evreux, often abbreviated
to ' "I; Judah. ben Shneor, or Judah the Elder,
author of liturgic poems; Meir ben Shneor ; Sam-
uel ben Judah ; Nathan ben Jacob, father of
Jacob ben Nathan, who in 1357 copied the five
Megillot with the Targura for Moses ben Samuel.
283
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Evolution
Ewer
Bibliography: Gross, Gallia JwJaica, pp. 39-43; Renan-
Neubaiier, Lea Rabbins F}-aiit;ai«, pp. 43S-441 «t seq.: Zuiiz,
Z. G. pp. 38, 40; idem, Literaturgo^ch. p. 479.
G. S. K.
EWALD, FERDINAND CHRISTOPHER:
Eiiglisli clergyman; burn near Bamberg, Bavaria,
1802; died in Norwood, London, Aug. 9, 1874; baj)-
tized at Basel when about 23 years of age; entered
(1829) the service of the London Society for Propa-
gating the Gospel Among the Jews, by which he
was sent (1831) to Tunis. He labored assiduously
among the Jews in North Africa till 1842, when he
accompanied as chaplain Bishop Alexander to Jeru-
salem. Here he remained till 1849, when ill health
compelled him to return to London. He was largely
instrumental ui founding the Wanderers' Home in
London (1858), an asylum for doubting Jews and
needy proselytes. In addition to reports on his mi.s-
sionary labors in North Africa and Jerusalem, he
published a German translation of 'Abodah Zarah
(1856).
BiBLiooRAPiiT: I,e Roi, G€,<<rh. der Emngelischen Jmlcn-
wi,'*.s'i<))i, i. 2r&-280;i;. 59-63, ~'16-217; Diet. Nat. Biog. Sup-
plement, ii., s.r.
J. N. D.
EWALD, GEORG HEINRICH AUGUST:
Christian Biblical scholar; born at Gottiugeu Nov.
16, 1803; died there May 4, 1875; educated at
the University of Gottingen, where he studied
philology and especially Oriental languages. He
became private tutor in 1824 and professor at Got-
tingen in 1827. Being one of the "Gottingen
Seven," who in Nov., 1837, protested against the
violation of the constitution by the king, Ernst
August, he was removed from office. He was called
to Tubingen in 1838, and returned to Gottingen in
1848, and remained there till 1867.
Ewald was an influence both through his works
and through his personality ; and by his vast learning
and genuine piety was eminently fitted to be an ex-
pounder of the Old Testament.
Graetz writes of him (" Hist." v. 695) that whereas
both the rationalists and the orthodox Christian the-
ologians failed to arrive at a correct understanding
of the sacred Scriptures of the Jews, Ewald, "a man
of childlike mind, was the first to raise the veil, to
compreliend the language of the Prophets and Psalm-
ists, and to reveal the ancient history of the Jewish
people in its true light." By his works "a new
path was opened up for the comprehension of the
Hebrew genius and people." For him and his .school
the people of Israel was truly "the people of God,"
and its history the history of true religion, though
from the point of view he takes the last page of that
history was written eighteen hundred years ago.
Singularly enough, Ewald had only contempt for
the people whom as the creators of the Old and the
New Testment he glorified.
His great appreciation of the work done by medi-
eval Jewish scholars for Biblical exegesis and He-
brew grammar and lexicography was shown by his
publishing, in conjunction with Leopold Dukes,
specimens of the writings of Saadia, Adonim b.
Teonim, Judah ibn Kuraish, Meuahem ben Saruk,
Dunash b. Labrat, Judah Hayyuj, Jonah ibn
Janah, Moses Gikatilla, Judah ibn Balaam, and
others, under the title " Literar-Historische Mit-
theilungen liber die Aeltesten Hebraischeii Exegeten,
Gramatiker, uud Lexicographen," Stuttgart, 1844.'
In the domain of Old Testament science, he ren-
dered the most ellictive service. He published his
tirst work, "Die Komposition der Genesis Kritisch
Untersucht,"inl822. His " KritischeGrammatikder
Ilebraischen Sprache," which first appeared in 1827,
placed the science of Hebrew j)liilology on a new
basis. His other principal works are: "Die Dichter
(les Alteu Bundes," 1835-39; " Dio Propheten des Al-
ten Bundes," 1840-41; the monumental "Geschichte
des Volkes Israel," with the supplement "Alter-
thiimer des Volkes Israel," 1843-48, w^hich marks
an epoch in the treatment of Israelitish history;
"Jahrbucher der Biblischen Wissenschaft," 1849-
1865 ; and " Die Lehre der Bibel von Gott, oder Theo-
logie des Alten und Neuen Bundes," 1871-76.
Bibliography: Allg. Deutxclie niographie. vi. 438-442- T
Wilton Davies, Heiniicli Ewald, Louaon, 1903.
T. K. H. 0.
EWALD, JOHANN LUDWIG : German ped-
agogue and theologian, and advocate of the Jews;
born at Haiu-zur-Dreieich, grand duchy of Hesse,
Sept. 16, 1747; died at Carlsruhe March 19, 1822.'
He held various positions as preacher and professor,
and toward the end of his life was counselor to the
government of Baden. As such he took great inter-
est in the affairs of the Jews, which, after the Con-
gress of Vienna, occupied the attention of German
statesmen. He also wrote two pamphlets in de-
fense of the Jews and in refutation of the hostile
works written by Fries and Riihs: "Ideen liber die
Nothige Organisation der Israeliten in Christlichen
Staaten " (Carlsruhe and Baden, 1816) and "Einige
Fiagen und Noch Mehr Unlaugbare Wahrheiten,
Juden- und Menschennatur, Juden- und Menscheu-
bildung Betreffend " (Carlsruhe, 1820). He argued
that the Jews were not worse than others, that their
shortcomings were the result of persecution, and that
no one had aright to expect them to improve until
they had been given equal rights with other citizens.
He further pointed out that since the restricted
emancipation which the grand duchy of Baden had
conceded in 1809 the condition of the Jews had
shown marked improvement.
Bibliography: AUg. Deutsche Biographie; Jost, Neuere
Gexch. der Ixraeliten, i. 61 et seq., 193; Gratz. Gesch. xi. 345
et seq.
D.
EWE. See Sheep.
EWER, LEOPOLD : German physician ; born
Jan. 4, 1849, at Anklam, Pomerania. He studied
from 1868 to 1873 at the University of Berlin (M.D.
1873). During the Franco-Prussian war he was as-
sistant surgeon at the military hospitals at Berlin
and Carlsruhe. In 1874 he began to practise in Ber-
lin, where he soon became a specialist for massage
and orthopedia.
Ewer has taken an active part in the political life
of the German capital and in the religious develop-
ment of the Jewish congregation of Berlin (1883,
1886). He is thea"'hor of: "Hcinrich von Kant-
zau's Buch iiber die Erhaltung der Gesundlieit,"
1891 ; " Kursusder Mi;ssuj,-e mit Einschluss der Heil-
gy mnastik, " 1891 ; 2d ed. , 1901 ; " Leibeslibungeu und
Xlxchaug-e
Sxcoiuuiuuicatiou
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
284
Wettkampfe im Alten Griochenland und Rom,"
189G; " ludikationen und Teclmik der Bauchmas-
sage," 1901; "Der Bau des Menscblichen Koipers,
fill' Masseurs Bearbeitet," 1901; "Gyninastik lur
Aerzte und Studirende," 1901. He has also contrib-
uted many articles to medical and pedagogical jour-
nals.
Bibliography: M. Unterweger, in Zeittschrift fllr Gcsiind-
heitspfleoc, Gratz, Austria, Feb. 1, 1902.
B. F. T. II.
EXCHANGE, BILLS OF: Instruments, gen-
erally in duplicate, ordering persons to pay money
in distant parts. According to Hallam ("Europe
in the Middle Ages," iii. 339), Jews were the first to
issue orders of this kind addressed to particular per-
sons. An instance as early as 1183 is given in Cap-
many 's "Memorias Historicas Sobre la Marina y
Comercio de Barcelona" (i. 297). In 1181 Isaac of
Rochester, Isaac of Russia, and Isaac of Beverley
were accused of having " exchanged " (•' cambi visse ")
in Southampton (see Jacobs, "Jews of Angeviu
England," p. 73). It is not clear how this could
have formed a subject of oilense to the royal treas-
ury, but it makes it probable that the Jews of oue
country issued demand notes on those of another, the
countries in this case being Russia and England. The
practise appears to have begun among the Arab
traders of the Levant in the eighth century, and from
them passed to the Italian traders Avho followed the
Crusades (Grasshofl, "Die Suftaga der Araber,"
1901). It was also taken up by the Christians of
Aragon from the Arabs of Andalusia, possibly bj'^ the
intermcdiacy of the Jews during the course of the
twelfth century, but there is little evidence that its
further development was due to the Jews. No Jew-
ish names occur in the Marseilles list of drawers of
bills given by Schaube in " Jahrblicher fur National-
Okonomie und Statistik " (1895), among those at-
tached to the bills sent to the fair of Ypres in the
thirteenth century, in the list given by IVIarez in
"Memoires Couronnes de 1' Academic Royale de
Belgique " (1901), or in the long list of drafts drawn
by St. Louis on Italian merchants which is given
by Schaube in the "Jahrbucher" for 1898. For a
Jewish form of bill of exchange see "Berliner Fest-
schrift," 1903. pp. 103-109.
A. J.
EXCHEaUER OF THE JEWS (" Scacearium
Jud86orum"or "Thesauraria Juda-orum"): A divi-
sion of the Court of Exchequer in England (1200-90)
in which the taxes and the law-cases of the Jews
were recorded and regulated. It appears to have
arisen out of the estate left by Aaron of Lincoln,
which needed a treasurer and clerk to look after it,
so that a separate "Aaron's Exchequer" was con-
stituted. The riots following Richard I. 's accession
showed the danger such property was liable to if no
record was kept of the debts owing to the Jews.
Accordingly Richard in 1194 ordered that duplicates
should be taken of all Jewish debts and kept in this
or in other central repositories. It was soon after-
ward found necessary to have a center for the whole
of the Jewish business, and this was attached to
the Exchequer of Westminster and called the "Ex-
chequer of the Jews." The first recorded mention
of this is in 1200, when four "justices of the Jews"
are named, two of them being Jews, Benjamin
de Talemunt and Joseph Aaron. These justices
had the status of barons of the Exchequer, and
were under the treasurer and chief justice. They
were assisted by a clerk and escheator ; Jews might
hold these offices, but, excepting the two mentioned
above, none ever became justice of the Jews. The
justices were aided in their deliberations by the
presbyter or chief rabbi, who doubtless assisted
them in deciding questions of Jewish law which
may have come before them (see Presbyter).
The Exchequer of the Jews dealt with the law-
cases arising between Jews and Christians, mainly
with reference to the debts due the
Functions, former. It claimed exclusive j urisdic-
tion in these matters, but many excep-
tions occurred. In 1250, pleas of disseizin of ten-
ements in the city of London were handed over to
the mayor's court, and at times cases of this kind
were brought before the ordinary justices in eyre or
the hundred-court. It was before this court of the
Jewish Exchequer that in 1257 the trial of Chief
Rabbi Elyas of London took place. Moreover, the
court assessed the contributions of the Jews to the
royal treasury in reliefs (comprising one-third of
the estate of a deceased Jew), escheats (forfeited to
the king for capital olTenses), fines (for licenses and
concessions), and tallages, or general taxes applied
for arbitrarily bj' the king (see Tallage).
In connection Avith the tallage, the justices period-
ically ordered a " scrutiny " of the lists of the debts
contained in the archa or chest in which Jewish chiro-
graphs and Starrs were preserved. The chests them-
selves, or more frequently lists of the debts contained
in them. were sent up for " scrutiny " to Westminster,
where the justices would report to the king as to the
capability of the Jewry to bear further tallage. In
the middle of the thirteenth century the number
of such archoe was reduced to twenty-five (see
Archa). Arrears of tallage were continually ap-
plied for, and if not paid the Jew's wife and chil-
dren were often imprisoned as hostages, or he him-
self was sent to the Tower and his lands and chattels
were distrained.
The Exchequer of the Jews was one of the means
which enabled the kings to bring pressure upon the
lesser baronage, Avho therefore claimed in 1251 the
right to elect one of the justices of the Jews. These
were at first men of some distinction, like Hugh
Bigod, Philip Basset, and Henry de Bath. During the
early reign of Henry III. the j ustices were mainly ap-
pointed by Hubert de Burgh, but later on they were
creatures of the king's favorites, as in the case of
Robert Passelewe. During EdAvard I. 's rule justices
held their posts for a very short time, and in 1272
and 1287 they were dismissed for corruption, hand-
some presents having been made to them, nominally
for the use of the king, in order to expedite the legal
proceedings. Tiie court did not survive the expul-
sion, though cases Avith references to the debts of
the Jews occurred in the year-books up to the reign
of Edward II.
The deeds entered in the Jewish Exchequer were
mainly the chirographs recording and the Starrs an-
nulling indebtedness to the Jews. It has been sug-
285
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Sxchang'e
Excomxaunication
gested that the notorious Star Chamber received its
name from being the depository for tlie latter class
of deeds. The tax-lists for the tallages
Deeds and were made out by the Jewisli assist-
Cases. ants of the Exchequer, who were ac-
quainted with the financial condition
of each Jew on the list; many of these lists still
exist. Various jjleas entered by Jew or Christian
dealt with the rate of interest, its lapse during the
minority of an heir, the alleged forgeries of chiro-
graphs, and the like, and were recorded on the plea-
rolls of the Excherjuer. Tiie more important of
the Hebrew terms used in this connection and for a
clear exposition of the historical development and
of the ethical significance of this institution see
Anathema and Ban.
Although developed from the Biblical ban, ex-
eonununication, as employed by the liabbis during
Talmudic times and during the Middle Ages, is
really a rabbinic institution, its object being to pre-
serve the solidarity of the nation and strengthen the
authority of the Synagogue by enforcing obedience
to its mandates. Still, the legal instinct of the
Kabbis here, as elsewhere, made it impossible for
^tN.
>
^ft^V-P^f^^
vV^^S^v^
iVJOl*.
yi
' -^iti ¥ Sr'
■^•--^ ,. ,
i,^ <-£eiJjL:iitUifi^
^'^-"- -¥'t^^>'
-"••■■•'ii-^>^i
v';/^
CHIROGKAl'M CoNTAIMM; AN .\(;KKK.MKNT BETWKK.N ISAAC OK NORTHAMPTON AND DaMK MaUCARKT DE HlC, IVilli.
(In the Record Office, London.)
these have recently been jointly published by the
Selden Society and the Jewish Historical Society of
England.
Bibliography: Madux, History of the Exchequer, i. 221-
259, London, 176!) ; Gross, Exchequer of the Jews of Eng-
land in the Mitldlr A[ies. In I'aijeis of the AitqJo-Jewixh
Historical Kxiiositiou, 1888, pi). VO-ZV); Select J'h<ts, Starrs,
and Reconbi of tlie Jewish Exchequer, ed. J. M. Rigs, 1903.
J.
EXCOMMUNICATION (Hebrew, "niddui,"
"herem"): The highest ecclesiastical censure, the
exclusion of a person from the religious community,
which among the Jev/smeanta practical prohibition
of all intercourse with society. For tlie etymology of
such an arbitrary institution to become dangerous,
and a whole system of laws Avas gradually devel-
oped, by means of Avhich this power was hedged in
and controlled, so that it practically became one of
the modes of legal punishment by the court. "While
it did not entirely lose its arbitrary character, since
individuals were allowed to pronounce the ban of
excommunication on particular occasions, it became
ehietly a legal measure resorted to by a judicial
court for certain prescribed offenses.
The Talmud speaks of twenty-four offenses pun-
ishable by excommunication (Ber. 19a; Yer. M. K.
iii. 1), a round number which is not to be taken lit-
Sxcoinmunication
iExecution
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
286
erally. Later authorities enumerate the twenty-four
as follows: (1) insulting a learned man, even after
his death ; (2) insulting a messenger of the court ;
(3) calling an Israelite " slave " ; (4) refusing to ap-
pear before the court at the appointed
Causes of time ; (5) dealing lightly with any of
Excominu- the rabbinic or Mosaic precepts; (6)
nication. refusing to abide by the decision of
the court; (7) keeping in one's posses-
sion an animal or an object that may prove injuri-
ous to others, such as a savage dog or a broken lad-
der; (8) selling one's real estate to anon- Jew without
assuming the responsibility for any injury that the
non-Jew may cause his neighbors; (9) testifying
against one's Jewish neighbor in anon- Jewish court,
through which the Jew is involved in a loss of money
to which he would not have been condemned by
a Jewish court; (10) appropriation by a priest
whose business is the selling of meat, of the priestly
portions of all the animals for himself; (11) violating
the second day of a holiday, even though its observ-
ance is only a custom ("minhag"); (12) performing
work on the afternoon of the day preceding Passover ;
(13) taking the name of God in vain ; (14) causing
others to profane the name of God ("hillul ha-
shem"); (15) causing others to eat holy meat out-
side of Jerusalem ; (16) making calculations for the
calendar, and establishing festivals accordingly, out-
side of Palestine ; (17) putting a stumbling-block in
the way of the blind, that is to say, tempting one to
sin: (18) preventing the community from perform-
ing some religious act; (19) selling forbidden ("terc-
fah") meat as permitted meat ("kasher"); (20) omis-
sion by a "shohet" (ritual slaughterer) to show his
knife to the rabbi for examination; (21) self-abuse;
(22) engaging in business intercourse with one's di-
vorced wife; (23) being made the subject of scandal
(in the case of a rabbi) ; (24) excommunicating one
unjustly (Maimonides, "Yad," Talmud Torah, vi.
14; Shulhan 'Aruk, Yoreh De'ah, 334, 43).
While excommunication was pronounced by the
court and was considered a legal act, the procedure
was not so formal or so rigorous as in other judicial
cases. Circumstantial and hearsay evidence and
even incompetent witnesses were admitted, thus
preserving the arbitrariness of the
Procedure, character of the procedure (Yoreh
De'ah, I.e., Isserles' gloss). This char-
acteristic was still further emphasized in the oc-
casional excommunications which were inflicted by
individuals. These might be indefinite — as when a
man laid the ban upon any one who possessed articles
stolen from him (Shulhan 'Aruk, Hoshen Mishpat,
71, 7), or upon any one who knew of the circum-
stances of a case in which he was involved and did
not come to court to testify {ih. 28, 2) — or definite,
upon a particular person, as when a learned man ex-
communicated one who insulted him (M. K. 17a),
or when a master excommunicated a pupil wlio
decided a law in his presence (Shab. 19a) or asked him
ridiculous questions (Men. 37a). Some authorities
are of the opinion that a creditor, even though not
a scholar, might excommunicate his debtor who re-
fused to pay his debt (notes to Asheri, M. K. iii. 10;
Yoreh De'aii, I.e. 46).
The "niddui" was usually imposed for a period
of seven days (in Palestine thirty days). If it was
inflicted on account of money matters, the offender
was first publicly warned ("hatra'ah") three times,
on Monday, Thursday, and Monday successively, at
the regular service in the synagogue. During the
period of niddui, no one except the members of his
immediate household was permitted to associate
with the offender, or to sit within four cubits of
him, or to eat in his company. He
The was expected to go into mourning
Niddui. and to refrain from bathing, cutting
his hair, and wearing shoes, and he
had to observe all the laws that pertained to a
mourner. He could not be counted in the number
necessary for the performance of a public religious
function. If he died, a stone was placed on his
hearse, and the relatives were not obliged to ob-
serve the ceremonies customary at the death of a
kinsman, such as the tearing of garments, etc. It
was in the power of the court to lessen or increase
the severity of the niddui. The court might even
reduce or increase the number of days, forbid all in-
tercourse with the offender, and exclude his children
from the schools and his wife from the synagogue,
until he became humbled and willing to repent and
obey the court's mandates. The apprehension that
the offender might leave the Jewish fold on account
of the severity of the excommunication did not pre-
vent the court from adding rigor to its punishments
so as to maintain its dignity and authority (Yo-
reh De'ah, 334, 1, Isserles' gloss; compare Ture
Zahab and Pithe Teshubah, ad loc).
If the offense was in reference to monetary mat-
ters, or if the punishment was inflicted by an indi-
vidual, the laws were more lenient, the chief pun-
ishment being that men might not associate with the
offender. At the expiration of the period the ban
was raised by the court. If, however, the excom-
municate showed no sign of penitence or remorse,
the niddui might be renewed once and again, and
finally the "herem," the most rigorous form of ex-
communication, might be pronounced. This ex-
tended for an indfefinite period, and no one was per-
mitted to teach the offender or work
TheHerem. for him, or benefit him in any way,
except when he was in need of tlie
bare necessities of life.
A milder form than either niddui or herem was
the "nezifah." When a prominent person, such as
the nasi or another learned man, rebuked one with
the words, "How insolent this man is!" the latter
was required to consider himself excommunicated
for one day (in Palestine for seven days). During
this time he dared not appear before him whom he
had displeased. He had to retire to his house, speak
little, refrain from business and pleasure, and mani-
fest his regret and remorse. He was not required,
however, to .separate himself from society, nor Avas he
obliged to apologize to the man whom he had in-
sulted ; for his conduct on the day of
The nezifah was sufficient apology (M. K.
Nezifah. 16a; Yoreh De'ah, 334, 14). But when
a scholar or prominent man actually
pronounced the formal niddui on one who had
slighted him, all the laws of niddui applied. This
procedure was, however, much discouraged by the
287
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Excommunication
Execution
sages, so that it was a matter of proper pride for
a rabbi to be able to say that lie had never pro-
nounced the ban of excommunication (M. K. 17a).
Maimonides concludes with these words the chapter
on the laws of excommunication:
" Although the power is given to the scholar to excommuni-
cate a man who has slighted him, it is not praiseworthy for him
to employ this means too frequently. He should rather shut his
ears to the words of the ignorant and pay no attention to them,
as Solomon, in his wisdom, said, ' Also take no heed unto all
words that are spolien ' (Ecel. vii. 21). This was the custom of
the early pious men, who would not answer when they heard
themselves insulted, but would forgive the insolent. . . . But
this humility should be practised only when the Insult oc-
curs in private; when the scholar is publicly insulted, he
dares not forgive ; and If he forgive he should be punished, for
then it Is an insult to the Torah that he must revenge until the
offender humbly apologizes" (" Yad," Talmud Torah, vii. 13).
See AcosTA, Uriel ; Spinoza, Baruch.
Bibliography: Hamburger, R. B. T. a.v. Baiini Duschak,
Strafrecht, Vienna, 1869; Mandl, Der Bann, Brunn, 1898 ;
Abrahams, Jewish Life in the Middle Ages, Philadelphia,
1896; J. Wiesner, Der Bairn in Seiner GeschichtUchen
Entwicklung auf dem Boden des Judenthums, 1869.
s. 8. J. H. G.
EXECUTION : Carrying into effect the decision
of a court. The word also denotes the writ entrust-
ing some oflBcer of the law with the duty of
carrying the judgment into effect. For the manner
of carrying out a criminal sentence see Capital Pun-
ishment and Stripes. The present article treats
of the enforcement of judgments in civil cases;
another part of the subject (dealing with cases in
which the judgment is satisfied by a seizure of land)
is treated under Appraisement. See also Bank-
ruptcy; Foreign Attachment ; Garnishment.
IntheShulhan 'Aruk, Hoshen Mishpat, the course
of procedure is as follows: After judgment has been
rendered for a debt, if the defendant is in the same
town or within a short distance, no
Delay of steps are taken to seize his property
Execution, until he has been notified, so that he
may have an opportunity to apply for
a new trial. When the time for " opening the judg-
ment" has expired, the court waits until another
Monday, Thursday, and Monday have elapsed. On
further default the court makes out a writ, known
as"petihah" (lit. "opening"), by which the lesser
ban is pronounced against the debtor for ninety days.
On further default the court makes out a writ for
seizure of the debtor's property — " adrakta " — and re-
leases him from the ban ; but if the debtor is within
one (or two) day's journey, this is not done before
a messenger has warned him. A man's property is
but a surety for him (B. B. 174a), and the surety
should not be the first attached. The ninety days
are given (B. K. 112b) on the assumption that for
thirty days the defendant will seek a loan, that in
the next thirty days he will endeavor to sell the
property, and that, if it be sold, the purchaser will
need the last thirty days to secure the purchaso-
monej'. When the judgment is not for money, but
for the restitution of goods, or for the recovery of
land, the delay of ninety daj's is inadmissible.
The adrakta as to " free property " (lands of the
defendant not sold or encumbered) is
Forms
of Writ.
written thus: " A B was adjudged to
owe [a named sum] to C I), and not
having paid voluntarily, we have written out this
execution on his field described as follows" (then
follow tlie appraisement and advertisement, as shown
under Appraisement); whereupon the bond, if such
has been the basis of the proceedings, is torn up.
If the debtor has several parcels of the same class
of property, the choice as to which of them shall be
"extended" to the creditor at an appraisement lies
with him, not with the creditor (Hoshen Mishpat^,
102, 2).
When no free property can be found the adrakta
is written thus : " A B was found to be in debt
to C D by reason of a bond in the latter's hands.
As A B did not pay voluntarily, and as we have
not found any free property of his, and have al-
ready torn up the bond held by C D, and have
given to said C D the power to search and seek out
and lay hands on all property of A B that he can
find, including all lands which A B has sold from
[a named time] on, said C D has power to levy his
claim on such property." A solemn oath is exacted
from the creditor, following Ketubot 87a and She-
bu'ot 45b, that he has not otherwise collected, nor
released, nor sold his demand, in whole or in part ;
and, under a later institution, the debtor is called
upon to take a rabbinical oath that he has no means
of payment. So far the Hoshen Mishpat, following
a variant reading in the Talmud (B. B. 169a), has been
followed. But in the reading used bj"^ Maimonides
("Yad," Malweh, xxii.), and followed in printed
editions of the Talmud, the " tirpa " (tearing away)
document comes first, and the adrakta afterward,
the latter reciting the tearing up of the former.
The "iggeret sliuma " (letter of appraisement), by
which the land is turned over to the creditor or to a
purchaser at execution, recites the tearing up of the
last preceding document.
The debtor can avoid the pronouncement of the
ban and other proceedings by coming forward and
surrendering all his property, taking out only his
exemptions. But under an institution of the Geo-
nim he can be compelled to take a solemn oath to
the effect that he has nothing bej'ond the property
exempted, that he has nothing concealed in the
hands of others, and that he has not given anything
away with the understanding that it will be returned
to him; and he takes an oath that he will apply his
future earnings, beyond his simple wants, to the dis-
charge of the debt (Hoshen Mishpat, 91). The cred-
itor has also the right to demand the proclamation
of the ban against all who know, and do not inform
him, of any assets belonging to the
Case of debtor (for instance, money in the
Insolvent hands of Gentiles; ib. 100, 1, on ge-
Debtor. onic authority). When the debtor is
known to be poor and honest, and the
judge has good reason to believe that the creditor
wishes to humiliate him, or to bring pres.sure to bear
upon him to make himsuriender his wife's property
or borrow the money at heavy interest from Gen-
tiles, the court should not exact the oath {ib. 99, 4).
In passing from the stay of judgment to levies on
land the writer has followed the Talmud and the
codes. But in practise a judgment was ordinarily
satisfied with very little formality out of the debtor's
goods and chattels, moneys and bonds, and this
before levying either on "free" or on "subject"
lands. Money found by tlie messenger of the court
Executors
Exilarch
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
288
would be turned over at once to the creditor toward
payment of the judgment; goods would be sold
without appraisement and the proceeds applied in
like manner. Under the older law a man condemned
for tort might insist that the creditor after judgment
should pay himself out of the debtor's lands; for
the Torah says, " With tlie best of his vineyard . . .
he shall make restitution. " But in the later practise,
and for ordinary debts, the lender may refuse to
levy on lands at all, preferring to wait till the debtor
should find the money {ib. 101, 4). Bonds for the
payment of money may be taken in execution, but
they are not sold ; they are ai^praised according to
the solvency of the obligors and according to the
character of their lands, and turned over to the
creditor at such appraisement (^6. 5, based only on
authorities later than the Talmud).
The presumption prevails that all goods found on
the debtor's premises are his. But when third par-
ties claim them against the execution creditor, this
presumption can be overcome by Avitnesses, but only
when the goods are of the kind it is customary to
lend or hire. When the debtor is a factor engaged
in selling goods such as are found on his premises,
there is no longer a presumption that the goods are
his {ib. 99, 2; no mode of trial of the right of prop-
erty in the goods is indicated).
Bibliography: Shulhan ''AruJt, Hoshcn Mishpat, 97-105;
Maimonides, Yad, Mnlweh ; IJlocti. Civil-Process Urdnung,
s.v. E.recutio)is-Verfa}tren; Judah ben Barzilai, Se/er fia-
Shetai-ot.
s. s. L. N. D.
EXECUTORS. See Will.
EXETER: County-seat of Devon, England.
The first Jew mentioned as living in Exeter, about
1181, paid a fine of 10 marks for the king to take
charge of his bonds. A number of Jews are men-
tioned as paying 10 per cent of the debts recovered
through tlie law courts at the beginning of the reign
of King John; one of these, named "Deulecresse le
Eveske," appears to have lent money to the Priory
of St. Nicholas in Exeter. Duriug the latter part of
the thirteenth century Exeter was one of the cities
in which an archa was kept, with two Christian
chirographers and two Jews. In 1275 the Jewish
chirographers were accused of having forged a char-
ter, but were acquitted. At the expulsion the king
seized all the debts still owing to the Jews of Exe-
ter, who numbered about thirty-nine families, and
who were creditors to the amount of £1,058 4s. 2d.,
and 542 quarters of corn worth £180 13.9. id. A
small community arose toward the end of the
eighteenth century. It still exists, and worships
in the S)'nagogue in St. Mary Arches, which was
founded in 1763.
BiBi.ior.RAPHY : Jacobs, Jors of Angevin England, pp. 73,
240,376; Select I'lea,^ of the Jewish Ezchtquer, ed. Rigg,
pp. 83-84 ; B. L. Abrahams, in Traiisactin)is of the Jeifish
Hu<torical Sncieli/ of K/iglniid, ii. 91 ; M. Margroliouth, Jews
of Great Britain, iii. 439-440.
J.
EXILARCH (Aramaic, NHI^J t^'n ; Hebrew,
n^lJ C'Nlorm^J e'N"i: SQG Un\. 92a, et al.) : Title
given to the head of the Babylonian Jews, who,
from tlie time of the Babylonian exile, were desig-
nated by the term "golah" (see Jer. xxviii. 6, xxi.\.
1; Ezck. paMi'iii) or "galut" (Jor. xxix. 22). The
chief of the golah or prince of the exiles held a
position of honor which, recognized by the state,
carried with it certain definite prerogatives, and
was hereditary in a family that traced its descent
from the royal Davidic house. The origin of
this dignity is not known. The first historical doc-
uments referring to it date from the time when
Babylon was part of the Parthian empire, and it was
preserved uninterruptedly during the rule of the
Sassanids, as well as for several centuries under
the Arabs.
A chronicle of about the year 800 — the Seder
'01am Zuta — fills up the gaps in the early history of
the exilarch by constructing an account according
to which the first exilarch was no less a person than
Jehoiachin, the last king but one of the house of
David, whom the exilarchs regarded as their an-
cestor. The captive king's advancement at Evil-
merodach's court — that curious incident of the
Bab3ionian exile with which the narrative of the
Second Book of Kings closes (II Kings xxv. 27) —
was apparently regarded by the author of the Seder
'01am Zuta as the origin of the exilarchate. Even
without any authentic genealogical
Traced to tree of the family of the exilarchs, it
Jehoiachin. could not have been difficult to find a
genealogical connection between them
and King Jehoiachin, since a list including gen-
erations of the descendants of the king is given
in I Chron. iii. 17 et seq. A commentary to Chroni-
cles (ed. Kirchheim, p. 16) dating from the school
of Saadia quotes Judah ibn Kuraish to the effect
that the genealogical list of the descendants of David
was added to the book at the end of the period of
the Second Temple, a view which was shared by the
author of the list of exilarchs in Seder 'Olam Zuta.
This list has been S3mchronistically connected with
the history of the Second Temple, Shechaniah being
mentioned as having lived at the time of the Tem-
ple's destruction. The following are enumerated
as his predecessors in office: Salathiel, Zerubbabel,
Meshullam, Hananiah, Berechiah, Hasadiah, Jesaiah,
Obadiah, and Shemaiah, all of which names are also
found in I Chron. iii. (compare the list with the vari-
ants given by Lazarus in BruU's " Jahrb." 1890, p.
171). The names of the next two prehistoric exil-
archs— if that term may be used — Hezekiah and
Akkub, are also found at the end of the Davidic
list in Chronicles. Then follows Nahum, with Avhom
the authentic portion of the list probably begins,
and who may, perhaps, be assigned to the time of
the Hadrianic persecution (135), the period in which
are found the first allusions in traditional literature
to the existence of the exilarchic dignity.
In the account referring to the attempt of a Pales-
tinian teacher of the Law, Hananiah, nephew of
Joshua b. Hananiah, to render the
First Babylonian Jews independent of the
Historic Palestinian authorities, a certain Ahi-
Mention. jah is mentioned as the temporal head
of the former, jirobably, therefore, as
exilarch (Ber. 63a, b), while another source substi-
tutes the name "Nehunyon " for "Ahijah" (Yer.
Sanh. 19a). It is not improbable that this person
is identical with the Nahum mentioned in the list
(Lazarus, l.r. p. 65). The danger threatening the
289
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Executors
Exilarch
Palestinian authority was fortunately averted ; and
about the same time K. Nathan, a member of the
house of exilarchs, came to Palestine, and by virtue
of his scholarship was soon classed among the fore-
most tannaim of the post-Hadrianic time. His
Davidic origin suggested to R. Meir the plan of
making the Babylonian scholar " nasi " (prince) in
place of the Hillelite Simon b. Gamaliel. But the
conspiracy against tlie latter failed (Ilor. 13b). R.
Nathan was subsequently among the confidants of
the patriarchal house, and in intimate relations with
bimon b. Gamaliel's son Judah I. R. Mei'r's at-
tempt, lu)wever, seems to have led Judah I. to fear
that the Babj'lonian exilarch might come to Pales-
tine to claim the office from Hillel's descendant.
He discussed the subject with the Babylonian scholar
Hiyya, a prominent member of his school (Hor. lib),
saying that he would pay due honor to the exilarch
should the latter come, but that he would not re-
nounce the office of nasi in his favor (Yer. Kil. 32b).
When the body of the exilarch Huna, who was the
first incumbent of that office explicitly mentioned
as such in Talmudic literature, was brought to Pal-
estine during the time of Judah I., Hiyya drew upon
himself Judah's deep resentment by announcing the
fact to him with the words " Huna is here " (Yer.
Kil. 32b). A tannaitic exposition of Gen. xlix. 10
(Sanh. 5a) which contrasts the Babylonian exilarchs,
ruling by force, with Hillel's descendants, teaching
in public, evidently intends to cast a reflection on
the former. But Judah I. had to listen at his own
table to the statement of the youthful sons of the
above-mentioned Hiyya, in reference to the same
tannaitic exposition, that " the Messiah can not ap-
pear until the exilarchate at Babylon and the patri-
archate at Jerusalem shall have ceased " (Sanh. 38a).
Huna, the contemporary of Judah I., is not men-
tioned in the list of exilarchs in the Seder '01am
Zuta, according to which Nahum was followed by
his brother Johanan; then came Jo-
Succession hanan's son Sliaphat (these names also
of are found among the Davidians in I
Exilarchs. Chron. iii. 22, 24), who was succeeded
by Anan (comp. "Anani,"! Chron. iii.
24). From the standpoint of chronology the identi-
fication of Anan with the Huna of the Talmud ac-
count is not to be doubted ; for at the time of his
successor, Nathan 'Ukban, occurred the fall of the
Arsacids and the founding of the Sassanid dynasty
(226 C.E.), which is noted as follows in Seder '01am
Zuta : " In the year 166 [c. 234 C.E.] after the destruc-
tion of the Temple the Persians advanced upon the
Romans " (on the historical value of this statement
see Lazarus, I.e. p. 33). Nathan 'Ukban, however,
who is none other than jNIar 'Ukban, the contempo-
rary of Rab and Samuel, also occupied a prominent
position among the scholars of Babjiou (see Bacher,
"Ag. Bab. Amor." pp. 34-36) and, according to
Sherira Gaon (who quotes Shab. 55a), was also exil-
arch. As 'Ukbati'ssurcessDrismeiitioncd in the list
his son Huna (Huna II.), whose chief advi.sers were
Rab (d.247) and Samuel (d. 254), and in whose time
Papa b. Nazor destroyed Nehardea. Huna's son and
successor, Natlian, whose chief advisers were Judah
b. Ezekiel (d. 299) and Shesheth, was called, like his
grandfather, "Mar ' Ukban, " and it is he, the second
v. — 19
exilarch of this name, whose curious correspondence
with Eleazar b. Pedat is referred to in the Talmud
(Git. 7a; see Bacher, I.e. p. 72; ide7n, "Ag. Pal.
Amor." 1. 9). He was succeeded by his brother
(not his son, as stated in Seder '01am Zuta); his
leading adviser was Shezbi. The "exilarch Nehe-
miah" is also mentioned in the Talmud (B. M.
91b); he is identical with "Rabbanu Nehemiah,"
and he and his brother "Rabbanu 'Ukban" (Mar
'Ukban II.) are several times mentioned in the Tal-
mud as sons of Rab's daughter (hence Huna II. was
Rab's son-in-law) and members of the house of the
exilarchs (Hul. 92a; B. B. 51b).
According to Seder '01am Zuta, in Nehemiah's
time, the 245th year (313 c.e.) after the destruction
of the Temple, there took place a great religious
persecution by the Persians, of which, however,
no details are known. Nehemiah was succeeded
by his son Mar 'Ukban (III.), whose chief advisers
were Rabbah b. Nahmani (d. 323) and Adda. He is
mentioned as "'Ukban b. Nehemiah, resh galuta,"
in the Talmud (Sliab. 56b; B. B. 55a). This Mar
'Ukban, the third exilarch of that name, was also
called " Nathan," as were the first two, and has been
made the hero of a legend under the name of
"Nathan di Zizuta" (see Shab. 56b). The conquest
of Armenia (337) by Sapor II. is mentioned in the
chronicle as a historical event occurring during the
time of Mar 'Ukban III. He was succeeded by his
brother Huna Mar Huna III., whose
The Mar chief advisers were Abaj'e (d. 338)
'Ukbans. and Raba; then followed Mar 'Uk-
ban's son Abba, whose chief advisers
were Raba (d. 352) and Rabina. During Abba's time
King Sapor conquered Nisibis. The designation of
a certain Isaac as resh galuta in the time of Abaye
and Raba (Yeb. 115b) is due to a clerical error (see
BrilU's " Jahrb." vii. 115). Abba was succeeded first
by his son Nathan and then by another son, Mar Ka-
hana. The latter's son Huna is then mentioned as
successor, being the fourth exilarch of that name;
he died in 441, according to a trustworthy source,
the "Seder Tannaim wa-Amoraim." Hence he was
a contemporary of Ashi, the great master of Sura,
who died in 427. In the Talmud, however, Huna
b. Nathan is mentioned as Ashi's contemporary,
and according to Sherira it was he who was Mar
Kahana's successor, a statement which is also con-
firmed by the Talmud (Zeb. 19a). The statement of
Seder '01am Zuta ought perhaps to be emended,
since Huna was probably not the son of Mar Kahana,
but the son of the latter's elder brother Nathan.
Huna was succeeded by his brother Mar Zutra,
whose chief adviser was Ahai of Diphti, the same
who was defeated in 455 by Ashi's son Tabyomi
(Mar) at the election for director of the school of
Sura. ]\Iar Zutra was succeeded by his son Ka-
hana (Kahana II.), whose chief adviser was Rabina,
the editor of the Babylonian Talmud (d. 499). Then
followed two exilarchs by the same name; anotiicr
son of Mar Zutra, Huna V., and a grandson of Mar
Zutra, Huna VI., the son of Kahana. Huna V. fell
a victim to the persecutions under Kinir Pernz
(Firuz), being executed, according to Sherira, in
470; Huna VI. was not installed in office until some
time later, the exilarchate being vacant during the
Ezilarch
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
290
persecutions under Peroz ; he died in 508 (She-
rira). The Seder '01am Zuta connects with the birth
of his son Mar Zutra the legend that
Per- is elsewhere told in connection with
secutions Bostanai's birth. Mar Zutra, who
Under came into office at the age of fif-
Peroz and teen, took advantage of the confusion
Eobad. into which Mazdak's communistic at-
tempts had plunged Persia, to obtain
by force of arms for a short time a sort of polit-
ical independence for the Jews of Babylon. King
Kobad, however, punished him by crucifying him
on the bridge of Mahuza (c. 520). A son was born
to him on the day of his death, who was also named
"Mar Zutra." The latter did not attain to the office
of exilarch, but went to Palestine, where he became
head of the Academy of Tiberias, under the title of
" Resh Pirka " {' Ap^Kpep^KiTrjc), several generations of
his descendants succeeding him in this office. After
Mar Zutra's death the exilarchate of Babylon re-
mained unocupied for some time. Mar Ahunai lived
in the period succeeding Mar Zutra II, but for more
than thirty years after the catastrophe he did not
dare to appear in public, and it is not known
whether even then (c. 550) he really acted as ex-
ilarch. At any rate the chain of succession of those
who inherited the office was not broken. The names
of Kafnai and his son Haninai, who were exilarchs
in the second half of the sixth century, have been
preserved. Haninai 's posthumous son Bostanai was
the first of the exilarchs under Arabic rule.
Bostanai was the ancestor of the exilarchs who
were in office from the time when the Persian em-
pire was conquered by the Arabs, in 642, down to the
eleventh century. Through him the splendor of
the office was renewed and its political position
made secure. His tomb in Pumbedita was a place
of worship as late as the twelfth century, according
to Benjamin of Tudela. Not much is known re-
garding Bostanai's successors down to the time of
Saadia except their names; even the name of Bos-
tanai's son is not known. The list of the exilarchs
down to the end of the ninth century is given as
follows in an old document (Neubauer, "Medieval
Jewish Chronicles," i. 196): "Bostanai, Hanina b.
Adoi, Hasdai I., Solomon, Isaac Iskawi I., Judah
Zakkai (Babawai), Moses, Isaac Iskawi II. , David b.
Judah, Hasdai II." Hasdai I. was probably Bos-
tanai's grandson. The latter's son Solomon had a
deciding voice in the appointments to the gaonate
of Sura in the years 733 and 759 (Sherira Gaon).
Isaac Iskawi I. died very soon after Solomon. In
the dispute between David's sons Anan and Hana-
niah regarding the succession the latter was victor ;
Anan then proclaimed himself anti-exilarch, was
imprisoned, and founded the sect of the Karaites.
His descendants were regarded by the Karaites as
the true exilarchs. The following list of Karaite ex-
ilarchs, father being succeeded always by son, is
given in the genealogy of one of those "Karaite
princes " : Anan, Saul, Josiah, Boaz, Jehoshaphat,
David, Solomon, Hezekiaii, Hasdai, Solomon (see
Pinsker, "Likkute Kadmoniyyot," ii. 53). Anan's
brother Hananiah is not mentioned in this list.
Judah Zakkai, who is called "Zakkai b. Ahunai " by
Sherira, had as rival candidate Natronai b. Habibai,
who, however, was defeated and sent West in ban-
ishment; this Natronai was a great scholar, and,
according to tradition, while in Spain wrote the
Talmud from memory. David b. Judah also had
to contend with an anti-exilarch, Daniel by name
The fact that the decision in this dispute rested with
the calif Al-Ma'mun (825) indicates a decline in the
power of the exilarchate. David b. Judah, who
carried off the victory, appointed Isaac b. Hiyya as
gaon at Pumbedita in 833. Preceding Hasdai II. 's
name in the list that of his father Natronai must be
inserted. Both are designated as exilarchs in a
geonic responsum (Harkavy, " Responsen der Geo-
nim," p. 389).
'Ukba is mentioned as exilarch immediately fol-
lowing Hasdai II. ; he was deposed at the instiga-
tion of Kohen Zedek, gaon of Pum-
Deposition bedita, but was reinstated in 918 on
of 'Ukba. account of some Arabic verses with
which he greeted the calif Al-Mukta-
dir. He was deposed again soon afterward, and fled
to Kairwan, where he was treated with great honor.
After a short interregnum 'Ukba's nephew, David
b. Zakkai, became exilarch ; but he had to contend
for nearly two years with Kohen Zedek before he
was finally confirmed in his power (921). In conse-
quence of Saadia's call to the gaonate of Sura and
his controversy with David, the latter has become
one of the best-known personages of Jewish his-
tory. Saadia had David's brother Josiah (Al-
Hasan) elected anti-exilarch in 930, but the latter
was defeated and banished to Chorasan. David b.
Zakkai was the last exilarch to play an important
part in history. He died a few years before Saadia ;
his son Judah died seven months afterward. Judah
left a son (whose name is not mentioned) twelve years
of age, whom Saadia took into his house and edu-
cated. His generous treatment of the grandson of
his former adversary was continued until Saadia's
death in 942. Only a single entry has been pre-
served regarding the later fortunes of the exilarchate.
When Gaon Hai died in 1038, nearly a century after
Saadia's death, the members of his academy could
not find a more worthy successor than the exilarch
Hezekiah, a descendant, perhaps a great-grandson,
of David b. Zakkai ; he thereafter filled both offices.
But two years later, in 1040, Hezekiah, who was the
last exilarch and also the last gaon, fella victim to ca-
lumny. He was cast into prison and tortured; two of
his sons fled to Spain, where they found refuge with
Joseph, the son and successor of Samuel ha-Nagid.
Hezekiah himself, on being liberated from prison,
became head of the academy, and is mentioned as
such by a contemporary in 1046 ("J. Q. R." xv. 80).
The title of exilarch is found occasionally even af-
ter the Babylonian exilarchate had ceased. Abraham
ibn Ezra (commentary to Zech. xii. 7) speaks of the
"Davidic house" at Bagdad (before
Later 1140), calling its members the "heads
Traces. of the Exile." Benjamin of Tudela
in 1170 mentions the exilarch Hasdai,
among whose pupils was the subsequent pseudo-
Messiah David Alroy, and Hasdai's son, the exilarch
Daniel. Pethahiah of Regensburg also refers to the
latter, but under the name of " Daniel b. Solomon " ;
hence it must be assumed that Hasdai was also
291
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Exilarch
called "Solomon." Al-Haiizi (after 1216) met at
Mosul a descendant of the house of David, whom he
calls " David, the head of the Exile. " A long time
previously a descendant of the ancient house of ex-
ilarchs had attempted to revive in Egypt the dignity
of exilarch which had become extinct in Babylon.
This was David b. Daniel; he came to Egypt at
the age of twenty, in 1081, and was proclaimed ex-
ilarch by the learned Jewish authorities of that coun-
try, who wished to divert to Egypt the leadership
formerly enjoyed by Babylon. A contemporary
document, the Mcgillah of the Palestinian "gaon"
Abiathar, gives an authentic account of this episode
of the Egyptian exilarchate, which ended with the
downfall of David b. Daniel in 1094 ("J. Q. R." xv.
80 et seq.). Descendants of the house of exilarchs
were living in various places long after the office
became extinct. A descendant of Hezekiah, " Hiyya"
by name, with the surname Al-Da'udi, indicative
of his origin, died in 1154 in Castile (Abraham ibn
Da'ud). Several families, as late as the fourteenth
century, traced their descent back to Josiah, the
brother of David b. Zakkai who had been banished
to Chorasan (see the genealogies in Lazarus, I.e. pp.
180 et seq. ). The descendants of the Karaite exilarchs
have been referred to above.
The history of the exilarchate falls naturally into
two periods, which are separated from each other
by the beginning of the Arabic rule in Babylonia.
As shown above, the first period is not accessible to
tlie light of historical research before the middle of
the second Christian century. There
Develop- are no data whatever for a working
ment and hypothesis regarding the beginnings
Or- of the office. It can merely be said in
ganization. general that the golah, the Jews liv-
ing in compact masses in various parts
of Babylon, tended gradually to unite and effect
an organization, and that this tendency, together
with the high regard in which the descendants of
the house of David living in Babylon were held,
brought it about that a member of this house was
recognized as "head of the golah." The dignity be-
came hereditary in this house, and was finally rec-
ognized by the state, and hence became an estab-
lished political institution, first of the Arsacid and
then of the Sassanid empire. Such was the ex-
ilarchate as it appears in Talmudic literature, the
chief source for its history during the first period,
and from which come the only data regarding the
rights and functions of the exilarchate. For the
second, the Arabic, period, there is a very important
and trustworthy description of the institution of the
exilarchate, w^hich will be translated further on;
this description is also important for the first period,
because many of the details maybe regarded as sur-
vivals from it. The characteristics of the first
period of the exilarchate, as gathered from signifi-
cant passages of Talmudic literature, will first be
noted.
In accordance with the character of Talmudic
tradition it is the relation of the exilarchs to the
heads and members of tlie schools that is especially
referred to in Talmudic literature. The Seder '01am
Ziita, the chronicle of the exilarchs that is the
most important and in many cases the only source
of information concerning their succession, has also
preserved chiefly the names of those scholars who
had certain official relations with the
B«lations respective exilarchs. The phrase used
with, the in this connection (" hakamim deba-
Academies. ruhu," the scholars directed him) is
the stereotyped phrase used also in
^connection with the fictitious exilarchs of the cen-
tury of the Second Temple; in the latter case,
however, it occurs without the specific mention
of names — a fact in favor of the historicalness of
those names that are given for the succeeding cen-
turies. The authenticity of the names of the amo-
raim designated as the scholars "guiding " the sev-
eral exilarchs, is, in the case of those passages in
which the text is beyond dispute, supported by
internal chronological evidence also. Some of the
Babylonian amoraira were closely related to the
house of the exilarchs, as, for example, Rabba b.
Abuha, whom Gaon Sherira, claiming Davidian de-
scent, named as his ancestor. Nahman b. Jacob (d.
320) also became closely connected with the house
of the exilarchs through his marriage with Rabba b.
Abuha's daughter, the proud Yaltha; and he owed
to this connection perhaps his office of chief judge
of the Babylonian Jews. Huna, the head of the
school of Sura, recognized Nahman b. Jacob's su-
perior knowledge of the Law by saying that Nah-
man was very close to the " gate of the exilarch ''
("baba di resh galuta "), where many cases were de-
cided (B. B. 65b). The term "dayj^ane di baba"
(judges of the gate), which was applied in the post-
Talmudic time to the members of the court of the
exilarch, is derived from the phrase just quoted
(comp. Ilarkavy, I.e.). Two details of Nahman b.
Jacob's life cast light on his position at the court
of the exilarch : he received the two scholars Hisda
and Rabba b. Huna, who had come to pay their re-
spects to the exilarch (Suk. 10b); and when the ex-
ilarch was building a new house he asked Nahman
to take charge of the placing of the mezuzah ac-
cording to the Law (Men. 33a).
The scholars who formed part of the retinue of
the exilarch were called " scholars of the house of
the exilarch" ("rabbanan di-be resh galuta"). A
remark of Samuel, the head of the school of Nehar-
dea, shows that they wore certain badges on their
garments to indicate their position (Shab. 58a').
Once a woman came to Nahman b.
Retinue Jacob, complaining that the exilarch
of the and the scholars of his court sat at the
Exilarch. festival in a stolen booth (Suk. 31a),
the material for it having been taken
from her. There are many anecdotes of the annoy-
ances and indignities the scholars had to suffer
at the hands of the exilarchs' servants (Git. 67b,
the case of Amram the Pious; 'Ab. Zarah 38b,
of Hiyya of Parwa; Shab. 121b, of Abba b. Mar-
ta). The modification of ritual requirements
granted to the exilarchs and their households in
certain concrete cases is characteristic of their rela-
tion to the religious law (see Pes. 76b, Levi b. Sisi ;
Hul. 59a, Rab; 'Ab. Zarah 72b, Rabba b. Huna; 'Er.
lib, Nahman versus Sheshet; 'Er. 39b, similarly;
M. K. i2a, Hanan; Pes. 40b, Pappai). Once
when certain preparations which the exilarch was
Ezilarch
Exodus
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
292
making in his park for alleviating the strictness of
the Sabbath law were interrupted by Eaba and his
pupils, he exclaimed, in the words of Jer. iv. 22,
"They are wise to do evil, but to do good they
have no knowledge" ('Er. 26a). There are fre-
quent references to questions, partly halakic and
exegetical in nature, which the exilarch laid before
his scholars (to Huna, Git. 7a; Yeb. 61a; Sanh. 44a;
to Rabba b. Huna, Shab. 115b; to Hamnuna, Shab.
119a). Details are sometimes given of lectures that
were delivered "at the entrance to the house of the
exilarch " (" pitha di-be resh galuta " ; see Hul. 84b;
Bezah 23a; Shab. 126a; M. K. 24a). These lectures
were probably delivered at the time of the assem-
blies, which brought many representatives of Baby-
lonian Judaism to the court of the exilarch after
the .T,utumnal festivals (on Sabbath Lek Leka, as
Sherira says ; comp. 'Er. 59a).
The luxurious banquets at the court of the ex-
ilarch were well known. An old anecdote was re-
peated in Palestine concerning a splendid feast which
the exilarch once gave to the tanna Judah b. Bathyra
at Nisibis on the eve of the Day of Atonement (Lam.
R. iii. 16). Another story told in Pal-
Etiquette estine (Yer. Meg. 74b) relates that an
of the Resh exilarch had music in his house morn-
Galuta's ing and evening, and that Mar 'Ukba,
Court. who subsequently became exilarch,
sent him as a warning this sentence
from Hosea: "Rejoice not, O Israel, for joy, as
other people." The exilarch Nehemiah is said to
have dressed entirely in silk (Shab. 20b, according
to the correct reading ; see Rabbinowicz, " Dikduke
Soferim ").
The Talmud says almost nothing in regard to the
personal relations of theexilarchs to the royal court.
One passage relates merely that Hunab. Nathan ap-
peared before Yezdegerd 1., who with his own hands
girded him with the belt which was the sign of the
exilarch's office. There are also two allusions dating
from an earlier time, one by Hiyya, a Babylonian
living in Palestine (Yer. Ber. 5a), and the other by
Adda b. Ahaba, one of Rab's earlier pupils (Sheb.
6b; Yer. Sheb. 32d), from which it seems that the
exilarch occupied a foremost position among the
high dignitaries of the state when he appeared at
the court first of the Arsacids, then of the Sassanids.
An Arabic writer of the ninth century records the
fact that the exilarch presented a gift of 4.000 dir-
hems on the Persian feast of Nauruz (see " R. E. J."
viii. 122). Regarding the functions of the exilarch
as the chief tax-collector for the Jewish population,
there is tlie curious statement, preserved only in the
Palestinian Talmud (Yer. Sotah 20b, bottom), that
once, in the time of Huna, the head of the school of
Sura, the exilarch was commanded to furnish as
much grain as would fill a room of 40 square ells.
The most important function of the exilarch was
the appointment of the judge. Both Rab and Sam-
uel said (Sanh. 5a) tliat the judge who
Juridical did not wish to be held personally re-
Functions, sponsible in case of an error of judg-
ment, would have to accept his ap-
pointment from the house of the exilarcii. When Rab
went from Palestine to Nehardea he was appointed
overseer of the market by the exilarch (Yer. B. B. 15b,
top). The exilarch had jurisdiction in criminal cases
also. Aha b. Jacob, a contemporary of Rab (comp.
Git. 31b), was commissioned l)y the exilarch to take
charge of a murder case (Sanh. 27a, b). The story
found in B. K. 59a is an interesting example of
the police jurisdiction exercised by the followers of
the exilarch in the time of Samuel. From the same
time dates a curious dispute regarding the etiquette
of precedence among the scholars greeting the ex-
ilarch (Yer. Ta'an. 68a). The exilarch had certain
privileges regarding real property (B. K. 102b; B.
B. 36a). It is a specially noteworthy fact that in
certain cases the exilarch judged according to the
Persian law (B. K. 58b); and it was the exilarch
'Ukba b. Nehemiah who communicated to the head
of the school of Pumbedita, Rabbah b. Nahmai,
three Persian statutes which Samuel recognized as
binding (B. B. 55a).
A synagogal prerogative of the exilarch was
mentioned in Palestine as a curiosity (Yer. Sotah
22a): The Torah roll was carried to the exilarch,
while every one else had to go to the Torah to read
from it. This prerogative is referred to also in the
account of the installation of the exilarch in the
Arabic period, and this gives color to the assump-
tion that the ceremonies, as recounted in this docu-
ment, were based in part on usages taken over from
the Persian time. The account of the installation
of the exilarch is supplemented by further details
in regard to the exilarchate which are of great
historical value. Following is a translation of a
portion of this account, written by Nathan ha-Babli
in the tenth century, and included in Abraham
Zacuto's "Yuhasin" and in Neubauer's *' MedijEval
Jewish Chronicles," ii. 83 et seq. :
" The members of the two academies [Sura and Pumbedita],
led by the two heads [the geonim] as well as by the leaders
of the community, assemble In the house of an especially
prominent man before the Sabbath on which
Installation the installation of the exilarch is to take place.
Ceremonies. The first homage is paid on Thursday in the
synagogue, the event being announced by
trumpets, and every one sends presents to the exilarch ac-
cordine to his means. The leaders of the community and the
wealthy send handsome garments, jewelry, and gold and sil-
ver vessels. On Thursday and Friday the exilarch gives great
banquets. On the morning of the Sabbath the nobles of the
community call for him and accompany him to the synagogue.
Here a wooden platform covered entirely with costly cloth has
been erected, under which a picked choir of sweet^voiced youths
well versed in the liturgy has been placed. This choir responds
to the leader in prayer, who begins the service with ' Baruk
she-amar.' After the morning prayer the exilarch, who until
now has been standing in a covered place, appears ; the whole
congregation rises and remains standing until he has taken his
place on the platform, and the two geonim, the one from Sura
preceding, have taken seats to his right and left, each making
an obeisance.
" A costly canopy has been erected over the seat of the exilarch.
Then the leader in prayer steps in front of the platform and, in
a low voice audible only to those close by, and accompanied by
the 'Amen' of the choir, addresses the exilarch with a bene-
diction, prepared long beforehand. Then the exilarch delivers
a sermon on the text of the week or commissions the gaon of
Sura to do so. After the discourse the leader in prayer recites
the Kaddish, and when he reaches the words 'during your life
and in your days,' he adds the words 'and during the life of our
prince, the exilarch.' After the Kaddish he blesses the exilarch.
the two heads of the schools, and the several provinces that con-
tribute to the support of the academies, as well as the individ-
uals who have been of especial service in this direction. Thea
the Torah is read. When the ' Kohen ' and ' Levi ' have finished
reading, the leader in prayer carries the Torah roll to the exilarch,
the whole congregation rising ; the exilarch takes the roll In his
293
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Exilarch
Exodus
bands and reads from It while standing. The two heads of the
schools also rise, and the gaon of Sura recites the targ'um to the
passage read by the exilarch. When the reading of the To-
rah Is completed, a blessing is pronounced upon the exilarch.
After the ' Musaf ' prayer the exilarch leaves the synagogue,
and all, singing, accompany him to his house. After that the
exilarch rarely goes beyond the gate of his house, where serv-
ices for the community are held on the Sabbaths and feast-
days. When it becomes necessary for him to leave his house, he
does so only in a carriage of state, accompanied by a large ret-
inue. If the exilarch desires to pay his respects to the king, he
first asks permission to do so. As he enters the palace the king's
servants hasten to meet him, among whom he liberally distrib-
utes gold coin, for which provision has been made beforehand.
When led before the king his seat is assigned to him. The king
then asks what he desires. He begins with carefully pre-
pared words of praise and blessing, reminds the king of the
customs of his fathers, gains the favor of the king with appro-
priate words, and receives written consent to his demands ;
thereupon, rejoiced, he takes leave of the king."
In regard to Nathan ha-Babli's additional account
as to the income and the functions of the exilarch
(which refers, however, only to the
Income and time of the narrator), it may be noted
Privileges, that he received taxes, amotmting
altogether to 700 gold denarii a year,
chiefly from the provinces Nahrawan, Farsistan,
and Holwan.
The Mohammedan author of the ninth century,
Al-Jahiz, who has been referred to above, makes
special mention of tlie shofar, the wind-instrument
which was used when the exilarch ("ras al-jalut")
excommunicated any one. The punishment of ex-
communication, continues the author, is the only
one which in Mohammedan countries the exilarch of
the Jews and the catholicos of the Christians may
pronounce, for they are deprived of the right of in-
flicting punishment by imprisonment or flogging
("R. E. J." viii. 122 et seq.). Another Mohammedan
author reports a conversation that took place in the
eighth century between a follower of Islam and the
exilarch, in which the latter boasted: "Seventy
generations have passed between me and King
David, yet the Jews still recognize the prerogatives
of my royal descent, and regard it as their dutj' to
protect me ; but you have slain the grandson [Husain]
of your prophet after one single generation " {ib.
p. 125). The son of a previous exilarch said to an-
other Mohammedan author: "I formerly never rode
by Kerbcia, the place where Husain was martyred,
without spurring on my horse, for an old tradition
said that on this spot the descendant of a prophet
would be killed; only since Husain has been slain
there and the prophecy has thus been fulfilled do
I pass leisurely by the place " {ib. p. 123). This last
story indicates that the resh galuta had by that time
become the subject of Mohammedan legend, other
examples also being cited by Goldziher. That the
personage of the exilarch was familiar to Moham-
medan circles is also shown by the fact that the Rab-
binite Jews were called "Jaluti," that is, those be-
longing to the exilarch, in contradistinction to the
Karaites {ib.). In the first quarter of the eleventh
century, not long before the extinction of the ex-
ilarchate, Ibn Hazam, a fanatic polemicist, made the
following remark in regard to the dignity: "The
ras al-jalut has no power whatever over the Jews
or over other persons; he has merely a title, to
which is attached neither authority nor preroga-
tives of any kind " {ib. p. 125).
Curiously enough the exilarchs are still mentioned
in the Sabbath services of the Ashkenazim ritual.
The Aramaic prayer " Yekum Purkan," which was
used once in Babylon in pronouncing the blessing
upon the leaders there, including the "reshe gal-
wata " (the exilarchs), is still recited in most syna-
gogues. The Jews of the Sephardic ritual have not
preserved this anachronism, nor was it retained in
most of the Reform synagogues of the nineteenth
century.
Bibliography : Gratz, Gesch. Iv., v., vl.; Felix Lazarus, Die
HUupter der Vertriebene7i, In Brull's Jahrh. 1890; Jacob
Reifman, Resh Galuta, In Bikkurim, 1864 ; Abr. Krochmal,
Pei-ushim we-Hagoahnt le-Talmud Babli, pp. 5-68; Lem-
berg. 1881 ; S. Funk, Die Jtiden in Babulonien, Berlin, 1902:
Goldziher, Renseignements de Source Musulmaite mir la
Dignlte du Rcsch-Galuta, in R. E. J. 1884, pp. 121-12.5:
Brull's Jahrb. v. 94 ct seq. ; S. Jona, /. Rasce Galuta. in Ves-
silh) Israelitico, 1883-86; Seder 'Olam Zuta, in Neubauer's
Mediceval Jewu^h Chronicles, ii. 68 et seq.'
G. W. B.
EXILE : The translation of " goleh " (II Sam. xv.
19) and "zo'eh" (Isa. li. 14) in tiie English versions;
it also occurs as a translation of "galut" (Isa. xx.
4) and "golah" (Ezek. xii. 4, 11; Ezra viii. 35) in
the Revised Version (where the Authorized Version
uses "captives" and "captivity"). See Banish-
ment; Captivity; Diaspora.
J. K.
EXODUS ('Efodof, lit. "way out"): The depar-
ture, under the leadership of Moses, of the Israelites
from the land of Egypt. — Biblical Data: Having
multiplied in the land of Goshen, the Israelites were
enslaved and oppressed in vaiious ways by a "new
king" who "knew not Joseph." Alarmed at their
increase, he determined to prevent their becoming
strong enough to act decisively against Egypt in
case of war. Moses, who after various vicissitudes
had been summoned from Midian to demand his
people's freedom "to depart and serve Yhwh,"
and had brought ten Plagues upon the king and his
people, was finally bidden by Pharaoh to lead the
Hebrews out of the death-ridden land. More than
six hundred thousand able-bodied men, not count-
ing women and children and the "mixed mul-
titude," with their cattle and other property, marched
out in one night from Rameses in the direction of
Succoth (Ex. xii. 37, 88; xxxviii. 26; Num. i. 46, ii.
32, xi. 21, xii. 37, xxvi. 51); then, leaving this latter
station, they encamped at Etham, at the edge of the
desert. For God had resolved not to conduct them
along the nearer route, " the road of the Philistine "
(Ex. xiii. 17, Hebr.), fearing they might regret and
retreat to Egypt w-hen war (against the Philistines)
became necessary. So Yhwh commanded Moses to
lead them back and encamp before Pi-hahiroth,
" between Migdol and the [Red] sea " (Ex. xiv. 2).
This retrogressive movement would encourage
Pharaoh to pursue the fugitives. The Egyptian
king, in fact, starts out with horse and 600 chariots
and a vast army to recapture the Israelites. He
comes upon them "at Pi-hahiroth before Baal-ze-
phon " (Ex. xiv. 9). Terrified, the Israelites cry out
to Yhwh, and reproach Moses for having brought
them there to die, though graves in plenty might
have been found in Egypt. Then the help of Yhwh
is miraculously manifested. They pass dry-shod
over the sea, which divided at the lifting of Moses'
XJxodus
THE JEAVISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
294
staff and the blowing of a strong east wiutl. The
Egyptians, thrown into confusion by a change in
the position. of the "angel of God," pursue after
them, but the returning waters sweep their king
and all his hosts to a watery grave (Ex. xiv., xv.).
Critical View : That the events narrated in
Exodus can not be historical in all their details has
been generally conceded. The numbers are certainly
fanciful: 600,000 men would represent a total of at
least two million
souls. Where
these could have
found room and
subsistence in
the land of Go-
shen, granted
even that many
of them lived in
Pharaoh's capi-
tal, or in the dis-
trict of Eameses
(Gen. xlv. 10,18;
xlvii. 11), and
how so vast an
unorganized
host could have
crossed the Red
Sea in one night
are questions
that have not
been explained
(Colenso, " The
Pentateuch, " i.
1867; Kueneu,
"Historisch-
Kritische Einlei-
tung in die Bil-
cher des Alten
Testaments," i.
l,Uetseq.). The
Exodus must
have been a
movement of a
much smaller
body of men.
To doubt, as has
been done by
Winckler, for in-
stance ("Gesch.
Israels in Einzel-
darstellungen,"
i. 55), the histor-
ical possibility
of such a move-
ment on the assumption that a con fusion has arisen in
Hebrew traditions between "Mizraim" (Egj'pt) and
the " Muzri," a North-Arabian tribe, is not reasonable.
In view of the central character of the Exodus in
all later Hebrew theology, such a denial is inadmis-
sible. Egyptian monuments show that Semitic shej)-
herd tribes settled in Egypt at various periods.
Though the theory that the Hebrews are identical
with the equestrian clan of the Aper is not tenable
(Brugsch, " Gesch. Aegyptens Untcr den Pharaonen. "
pp. 582-583), and though the Israelites are nowliere
named on the Egyptian monuments as sojourning in
The Israelites Leaving Egypt and Crossing the Red Sea.
(From the Sarajevo Hatjgadah, fourteenth century.)
Egypt, the historical character of their own traditions
on their stay in the coimtry can not well be ques-
tioned. But it is probable that only a
Relations part of the twelve tribes, the Joseph
of Joseph, group (see the Joseph story in Gcne-
and Judah. sis), had pushed so far south, while re-
lated clans (the Judah group) never
left the Sinaitic peninsula (Stade, •' Gesch. des Volkes
Israels," pp. 128 et seq. ; idem, "Die Entstehung des
Volkes Israel,"
-SM 1897, p. 12). Op-
^ pressed andcom-
pelled to help
ijuild the fron-
tier garrison cit-
ies devised to
keep them in
check and their
kinsmen across
the frontier at
bay, the Israel-
ites invoked and
received aid from
their free breth-
ren, who banded
themselves into
a confederation
and, under the
leadership of a
great man (Mo-
ses), succeeded
in their patriotic
enterprise.
Like all old
races, the Israel-
ites regarded
their national
struggle as a
combat between
their God and
the god or gods
of their enemies.
In their victory
they beheld the
triumph of their
all-powerful
God, "a war-
rior " (Ex. XV. 3,
Ilebr.), over
Pharaoh. This
stupendous
struggle, which
must have lasted
for a long time,
gave the first permanent impulse toward the weld-
ing of all the sons of Israel into a nation, which
Yinvii had brought out of Egypt to be His peo-
ple (Ex. XV. 16). The total destruction of the
Egyptian army with its king is also an exaggerated
statement of the fact that the Egyptian frontier
garrisons were defeated in the attempt to recapture
the Israelites or impede their onward march. The
"crossing of the Red Sea " has invited much ration-
alizing about ebbing tides and the effect of the east
Avind upon the waters. Some natural phenomenon
probably underlies the account, as also that of the
295
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
ExoduB
ten plagues. But this phenomenon is the remote
material of an old mythology, and it is rather the
mythological construction of the phe-
Crossing nomenon than the phenomenon itself
the that has been elaborated in the Biblical
Bed. Sea. narratives (compare Rahab and Te-
hom [Tiamat ; see Abyss], and the like).
The song (Ex. xv.) is certainly older than the vari-
ous prose accounts of the crossing. The story of
the Exodus is not by one hand : both JE and P are
distinguishable (see Exodus, Book of).
Ancient Non-Jewish. Statements Concern-
ing- the Exodus: Manetho (Josephus, "Contra
Ap." i. 26-29) relates that a certain King Amenophis
fiction. They are without value for fixing the
date of the Exodus.
Up to within a very recent period the view which
identified the Hebrews with the Hyksos (I.e. i. 14;
Eusebius, "Hist. Eccl." i. 226 et seq.), the shepherd
kings of Aramean stock who held Egypt in subjec-
tion for some time (1800-1600 B.C.), a view which
Josephus was the first to urge, had
Barneses been almost entirely abandoned. Most
II. scholars identify with the Pharaoh of
the oppression Rameses II., son of
Seti, who ruled over Egypt for sixty-seven years.
He is known to have built in Lower Egypt many
structures of a character similar to those indicated by
The exodus.
(From a Passovtr Haggadah, Vienna, 18S3, in the possession of J. D. Eisenstein.)
had banished a leprous and impure people to do
hard labor in tlie quarries in eastern Egypt. Later,
settled in the city of A varis, they chose for their chief
a Heliopolitan priest by the name of "Osarsiph,"
subsequently called "Moses." Rising in rebellion
against Egypt, they were defeated by an Egyptian-
Ethiopic army, the fugitives finding safety in the
Arabian desert. Charemon (cited ibid. i. 32), with
some variations, reiterates the foregoing account.
According to Lysimachus (cited ibid. i. 34), King
Bocchoris drowned those of tlie Jews that were af-
flicted with leprosy and scabies, and drove the rest
into the desert. These non-Jewish accounts are
plainly inspired by hatred of the Jews, and display
a strange mixture of blurred Biblical facts and free
Ex. i. 11. One of the two Biblical "store [frontier]
cities" (R. V,) recalls his name ("Ra'amses" in
Hebr.), and the inference is that it and Pithom, if
not founded by him, were enlarged and beautified
in his reign, especially if the Hebrew designation
"'are miskenot" means "Temple cities" (Brugsch,
I.e. p. 549). Merneptah II., his son, would then be
the Pharaoh of the Exodus, who, indeed, is reported
to have had trouble with the hostile shepherd tribes
across the border (the Shasu = Hyksos, the princes
of the Shasu), and might thus well have attempted
to prevent the contingency feared in Ex. i. 10, that
the Israelites would "join also unto our [Egypt's]
enemies." Still it has been argued that under the
reign of Merneptah II. Egypt was too well organ-
Exodus
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
296
ized for the rebellion of the Israelites to have been
successful. His successor, Seti II., therefore, under
whom a general administrative disintegration set in,
is suggested as the ruler who was forced to acqui-
esce in the demands of the Hebrews (so Maspero
in Ger. ed. of his history, p. 258, Leipsic, 1877).
The dates given in the Bible, though involved in
much confusion (see Chronology), lend strong
probability to the assumption that the Exodus took
place under a king of the nineteenth dynasty (about
1500-1300 B.C.). I Kings vi. 1 fixes the interval be-
tween the Exodus and the building of the Temple at
over 480 years. Rehoboam — forty-one years after
the building of the Temple (I Kings xiv. 25; see
Herzog-Hauck, "Real-Encyc." i. 207)— is contem-
poraneous with Shishak, the first king of the twenty-
second dynasty (c, 950 B.C.). This would give about
1470 B.C. for the Exodus (Brugsch, I.e. pp. IQBetseq.).
The finding by Flinders Petrie (1896) of an in-
scription by Merneptah I., in which for the first
time "Isir'l " occurs in an Egyptian text, as well as
the contents of the El-Amarna tablets, has corrob-
orated the virtual correctness of the date given
above. The Thebes inscription with " Isir'l " proves
that under Merneptah I. Israel was settled in Pales-
tine. Israel may have been identical with the
Habiri that, according to the El-Amarna tablets, in-
vaded Palestine during the eighteenth dynasty and
were restricted in their freedom by Seti I. (nine-
teenth dynasty). This would likewise suggest, espe-
cially if the Habiri are identical with the Shasu
(W. M. Miiller, "Asien und Europa nach Alt-
agyptischen Denkmalern," p. 131), for the Exodus
the decade 1480-1470 b.c. (see Steindorff in Herzog-
Hauck, I.e. i. 211; Beer in Guthe, "Kurzes Bibel-
wOrterb." 1903, p. 58).
The stations named in JE do not all coincide with
those in P, as the following table shows:
JE.
Goshen (Gen. xlv. 10 ; Ex. xlil.
18) , not the route to the land
of the Philistines, but the
route to the desert and to
the sea (Ex. xiii. 17).
Rameses (Gen. xlvii. 11) or
Egypt (Ex. i. 7, xil. 13).
Rameses and Succoth (Ex. xil.
37).
Etham (Ex. xiil. 20).
Return to Pi-hahiroth (Ex.
xiv. 2).
Before Baal-zephon (Ex. xlv.
9).
Crossing the Sea (Ex. xlv.).
Desert of Shur (Ex. xv. 22).
Marah (Ex. xv. 23).
Ellm (Ex. XV. 27).
Elim (Ex. xvl. 1).
The two roads named in JE are easily determined.
The •* road to the land of the Philistines " runs in a
northeasterly direction to the Red Sea,
The Route, and then along the shore to Gaza.
The route is still used by the caravans
which cross the Suez Canal at Kantarat al-Khasnah.
The " road to the desert " from Egypt is reached
by the western gulf of the Red Sea, that is, not our
modern Suez, but the eastern terminus of the modern
Wadi Tumilat, the district of Tell al-Maskhutah.
Here Naville's excavations (1883-85) have established
the position of Pithom and the (Greek) Heronpolis.
This road (Ex. xiii. 17) from Go.shen ran in an east-
erly direction through the Wadi Tumilat to the
(then) northern point of the Red Sea, and thence
between the modern Balah and Timsah lakes into
the desert of Shur. This shows that JE thought
the route taken by Israel to have been in an easterly
direction toward Horeb.
P assumes Rameses as the starting-point; thence
the Israelites march through Succoth to Etham,
whence they retrace their steps and reach Egyptian
territory again. Of the three stations only Migdol
is definitely known as a north-frontier town of
Egypt. But this would be on the " road to the land
of the Philistines," which, according to Ex. xiii. 17,
the fugitives were not to take. P speaks only of
the "sea," never of the ''Yam Suf " ("red" weedy
sea). Brugsch {I.e.) and Schleiden ("Landenge von
Suez," 1858) have argued that the road taken lay
across the narrow strip of sand between the Serbo-
nian Lake and the sea. But this route does not
lead to Horeb (see Brugsch, " L'Exode et les Monu-
ments Egyptiens," 1875; Guthe, in "Zeitschrift des
Deutschen Palastina-Vereins," viii. 216-232). The
Rameses of the Exodus has also been variously iden-
tified. Ebers ("Durch Goschen zum Sinai," p. 501)
does not identify it with the above-named Tell al-
Mashkutah, which is believed to be Pithom, but with
Zoan (Tanis), the modern San. Here black bricks
(Ex. v. 7) have been found in abundance among the
ruins. That the point of the Gulf of Suez lay in the
time of the Exodus somewhat more to the north
than now has been pointed out in defense of the
theory that the crossing took place at Suez. It is
impossible to trace the route definitely from the con-
flicting data of Exodus. E. G. H.
EXODUS, BOOK OF.— Biblical Data: The
second book of the Torah or Pentateuch is called by
the Jews niJDtJ* n?X1, from the, opening words, or
briefly niDEJ'- The Greek name is 'E^oJof (in Philo
also 'Efn} w}^), that is, " departure " ; the Latin, " [Li-
ber] Exodus. " It contains, according to the Masorah,
1,209 (?) verses in 164 sections (" parashiyyot ''), 69
ending in the middle of the line ("petuhot" =
"open "), and 95 with a space in the middle of the
line (" setumot" = " closed "), in 29 chapters ("seda-
rim "), and 14 sections (" piskot "), for reading on
the Sabbath, in 11 lessons. The common division
into 40 chapters is taken from the Vulgate.
The second book of the Torah is the organic con-
tinuation of the first book. It narrates the depar-
ture of the descendants of the Patriarchs, increased
to a peoi)le, from servitude in Egypt,
Name and their journey to Sinai, and the revela-
Contents. tions and laws which they received
there. It is a well-planned and well-
arranged work, displaying much literary skill in the
command over great masses of material as well as in
the marshaling of the facts. It is homogeneous in its
views, and is not encumbered by unnecessary repe-
titions, though the sequel to it is found only in the
following books. It is divided into two principal
sections: (1) ch. i.-xviii., recounting Israel's deliv-
erance from Egypt; (2) ch. xix.-xl., the promul-
gation of the Law. These may again be divided
into subsections.
Ch. i.-iv. : The Call of Moses. The Israelites
living in Egypt are oppressed by forced labor,
297
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
£zodus
imposed upon them by a new Pharaoh who de-
sires to destroy them (i.)- The exposed male in-
fant of a Levitic family (whose name, in order not
to divert interest from the main story, is not given
here), is found by Pharaoh's daughter, who calls him
"Moses" and adopts him. Moses, grown to man's
estate, sympathizes with his suffering brethren, and
flees the country because he has slain an Egyptian
overseer. He goes to Midian, becomes shepherd to
the priest Jethro, and marries the latter's daughter
Zipporah (ii.). As he is feeding the sheep on Mount
Horeb, he has a marvelous experience. God appears
to him from a thorn-bush which, though burning,
is not consumed. He reveals Him.self as the God
of the Fathers of Israel, and orders Moses to go
before Pharaoh and demand the release of his breth-
ren. God overcomes Moses' reluctance by His prom-
ises of supreme aid, and appoints his brother Aaron
to be his assistant. IVIoses then returns to Egypt.
Ch. v., vi. : The Preparation. As Pharaoh not
only refuses Moses' request, but oppresses the
people still further, Moses complains to God, who
thereupon announces to him that He will now dis-
play His power and will surely liberate Israel. At
this point the genealogy of Moses and his family is
inserted, in order that it may not later interrupt or
weaken in any waj' the story which follows.
Ch. vii.-x. : The Plagues : the proofs of God's
pov/er. After God has assigned their tasks to
Moses and Aaron, and predicted Pharaoh's obdu-
racy, and after they have attested their commission
by working a miracle before Pharaoh (vii. 1-13), God
sends nine plagues over Pharaoh and his land: (1)
the changing of the waters of the Nile into blood
(on, vii. 14-25); (2) frogs (yniDV, vii. 28-viii. 11); (3)
vermin (D^J3, viii. 12-15); (4) noxious animals (3"iy>
viii. 16-28); (5) death of the cattle (nm, ix. 1-7);
(6) boils upon men and beasts (yn^, ix. 9-12); (7)
storms, killing men and beasts (Ti3, ix- 13-35) ; (8)
locusts that devour all vegetation (n^lK. x. 1-20) ;
(9) deep darkness for three days ("]*J'n, x. 21-29).
These plagues, which give evidence of God's power
over nature, are increasingly obnoxious and dan-
gerous, and are so arranged that every third plague
(hence narrated more briefly) confirms the two pre-
ceding ones (narrated more in detail), and each group
follows naturally upon the preceding one. The
story displays a skilful climax, rhythm, and variety.
Pharaoh, however, is untouched by the first plague,
which his magicians can imitate ; after the second
plague, which they can reproduce, but not check, he
begins to supplicate ; after the third plague he al-
lows his magicians to comfort him; from the third
on he makes fresh promises after each plague, but
recalls them when the danger is past, and remains
obdurate.
Ch. xi.-xiii. 16 : The Departure. The last, de-
cisive blow, namely, the death of all the first-born of
the Egyptians (ni"1133 DDO), and the departure are
announced. For the protection of their homes the
Israelites are commanded to kill a lamb (nOQ) and
to eat it quickly witli unleavened bread (nVO) and
bitter herbs (D'^'^IID), on the 14th of the first
month, and to be ready for immediate departure.
The first-born of all the Egyptians die. Pharaoh
dismisses the Israelites. To the number of 600,000
men, not including women and children, they leave
the country, after a sojourn of 430 years, carrying
with them rich gifts from benevolent Egyptians.
They go first from Rameses to Succoth. Chap,
xii. 43 — xiii. 16 contain supplementary regulations
regarding the future observance of the Passover.
Ch. xiii. 17-xv. 21: Pharaoh's Death. Re-
penting his clemency, Pharaoh, with chariots and
horsemen, pursues the Israelites, Avho have reached
the shores of the Red Sea (E)1D D'), divinely guided
by day by a pillar of cloud, and by night by a
pillar of fire. The Israelites pass dry-shod through
the waters, which marvelously recede before them
while engulfing Pharaoh and his entire army.
Moses and his people sing a song of praise to God.
Ch. XV. 22-xviii.: The March to Sinai. The
Israelites journey into the desert of Shur, to Mara.
The people, complaining of lack of water, are satis-
fied. They reach Elim. In the desert of Sin they
complain of lack of food. God sends them quails,
and from this time on, except on the Sabbath, sends
them a daily shower of manna. Upon arrival
at Rephidim the people again complain of lack
of water. God gives them water from a rock (" Mas-
sah and Meribah " = " place of temptation and quar-
rels"; xvii. 7). Amalek attacks Israel and is van-
quished by Joshua. God commands eternal war
against Amalek. Moses' father-in-law, Jethro, hav-
ing heard of Israel's deliverance, visits Moses, bring-
ing him his wife Zipporah and their two children,
whom Moses had left behind at home. On Jethro's
advice Moses appoints subordinate judges.
Ch. xix.-xx. : Israel's Call : the promulgation
of the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai. In
the third month the Israelites arrive in the desert of
Sinai and encamp at the mountain. God announces
to them through Moses that, having by His power
liberated them, He will now constitute them His
people, making them a nation of priests and a holy
people. The Israelites accept this call with one
accord, and after they have prepared themselves
worthily, God, through Moses' mediation, and with
thunder and lightning, clouds of smoke and noise
of trumpets, reveals Himself to them on Mount Sinai
and pronounces the ten fundamental commands of
religion and morals, which are followed by a com-
mand regarding the altar.
Ch. xxi.-xxiv. : The Law and the Covenant.
The Ten Commandments, formally declaring the di-
vine will regarding man's attitude to God and to all
His creatures, are followed by enactments relating to
civil law: (1) indenmifications for injuries done to
a fellow man; (2) duties toward persons who have
no actual claims, though they are dependent on the
good will of others. In conclusion there are the
promise of the land of Canaan as the reward of
obedience, and the warning against the pagan in-
habitants. God then enters into a solemn covenant
with the people, through Moses. He calls Moses up
into the mountain to receive the stone tablets of the
Law and further instructions.
Ch. xxv.-xxxi. : The Sanctuary and the
Priests. In order that God may dwell perma-
nently among the Israelites, they are given in-
structions for erecting a sanctuary. The directions
provide for: (1) a wooden ark, gilded inside and
Exodus
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
298
outside, for the Tables of the Covenant, with a
cover similarly gilded as " mercy seat " for the
Divine Presence; (2) a gilt table for the so-called
"shewbread" (D''JD DPI^); (3) a golden candlestick
for a light never to be extinguished ; (4) the dwell-
ing, including the curtains for the roof, the walls
made of boards resting on silver feet and held
together by wooden bolts, the purple curtain veil-
ing the Holy of Holies, the table and candlestick,
and the outer curtain; (5) a sacrificial altar made
of bronzed boards; (6) the outer court formed
by pillars resting on bronze pedestals and con-
nected by hooks and crossbars of silver, with em-
broidered curtains; (7) preparation of the oil for
the candlestick. Then follow directions for the
garmentsof the priests: (1) a shoulder-band (ephod)
with two onyx stones, on each of which are engraved
the names of six of the tribes of Israel, also golden
chains for holding the breastplate (" hoshen") set with
twelve precious stones, in four rows ; (2) a robe for
the cphod, with bells and pomegranates around the
seam; (3) a golden miter plate with the inscription
" Holiness to the Lord " ; (4) a coat ; (5) a miter ; (6)
a girdle. All these things are for Aaron. For his
sons coats, bonnets, girdles, and linen breeches shall
be made. Then follow directions for ordaining the
priests, including robing, anointing (of Aaron), and
a seven days' sacrifice ; the institution of daily morn-
ing and evening offerings; directions for making a
golden altar of incense, to be set up in front of the
inner curtain, opposite the Ark of the Covenant, and
on which an atonement shall be made once a year
with tlie blood of the sin-offering; directions for a
yearly tax of half a shekel to be paid bj' every Israel-
ite enumerated in the census toward the expenses
of this service; directions for making a laver and
stand of brass, to be set up between the Tabernacle
and the altar of sacrifice ; the preparation of the
holy oil for anointing and of the holy incense; ap-
pointment of the master workmen Bezaleel and
Aholiab to direct the work; the observance of the
Sabbath.
The most striking point in this enumeration is the
place given to the directions regarding the altar of
incense, which, to agree with the arrangement as de-
scribed in chaps, xxxv.-xl., should follow the direc-
tions for making the golden candlestick (xxv. 31-40).
This has been a puzzle to the critics, who have made
it the basis of the most far-reaching hypotheses. The
passage was not only supposed to be a later inter-
polation, but it was assumed that originally there
was no altar of incense, not even in Herod's temple!
The riddle may be solved as follows: In xxxv.-xl.
the articles are enumerated in the order in which
they were set up, while here they are enumerated
according to their uses. The golden altar of incense
later stood in the Tabernacle, between the table and
the candlestick, a fact leading to the assumption
that, like them, it belonged to the Tabernacle. But as
throughout ancient literature the offerings of sacrifice
and incense are two independent coordinated acts of
worship, so the altar of incense was, to all intents
and purposes, an independent requisite of worship
as important as the rest of the apparatus. For
this reason everything that is necessary for the
dwelling of God and the sacrifices that guarantee
His presence is described first, and the altar of in-
cense after (comp. especially Lev. xvi. 16-17: first,
atonement for the Holy of Holies and the " taber-
nacle . . . that remaineth among them in the midst
of their uncleannesses " ; then, the cleansing and
sanctifying of the altar of incense " from the unclean-
nesses of the children of Israel ").
The sacrifice presumes God's presence, while it is
the object of the incense to insure the continua-
tion of His presence. The things, again, that must
be repeatedly renewed are placed last, namely, the
oil for lighting; the yearly tax; the laver with
stand, consisting of mirrors, which were taken
apart again after the laver had been used, and are,
therefore, not enumerated in Num. iv. 14; the oil
for anointing; and the incense. In conclusion, there
are the directions for the workshop, the appointing
of the master workman, and the arrangement of the
work. These directions are admirably thought out,
down to the smallest detail.
Ch. xxxii.-xxxiv.: The Sin of the People
with the Golden Calf. While Moses is on the
mountain the people become impatient and urge
Aaron to make tliem a golden calf, which they
worship with idolatrous joy. God informs Moses
and threatens to abandon Israel. Moses at first in-
tercedes for the people, but when he comes down and
beholds their madness, he angrily breaks the two
tablets containing the divine writing. After pro-
nouncing judgment upon Aaron and the people he
again ascends to God to implore forgiveness for
them, as God is about to withdraw from them His
blessed presence and to leave them unguided in the
wilderness. Moses' intercession prevails. When he
petitions God to tell him who will accompany them,
what He intends to do, and how He will manifest
His splendor, God commands him to make new tab-
lets, and reveals Himself to Moses as a God of inex-
haustible love and mercy. He assures Moses that in
spite of their waywardness He will lead Israel into
the Promised Land, giving Moses in token thereof
new commandments applicable only to that land.
He commands the Israelites not to have intercourse
with the pagan natives, to refrain from all idolatry,
and to appear before Him on the three pilgrimage
festivals. Moses then returns to the people, who
listen to him in respectful silence.
Ch. xxxv.-xl.: The Sanctuary and the Gar-
ments of the Priests (almost in the same words as
in ch. xxv.-xxxi.). Moses collects the congrega-
tion, enjoins upon them the keeping of the Sabbath,
and requests gifts for the sanctuary. The entire
people, men and women, high and low, respond
willingly and quickly, and under the direction of
the superintendent they make: (1) the dwelling,
including the curtains, the walls, and the veil; (2)
the Ark and cover; (3) the table ; (4) the golden can-
dlestick; (5) the golden altar of incense; (6) the
altar of burnt offerings; (7) the laver; (8) the outer
court. An estimate of the cost of the material fol-
lows. Next comes the preparation of the garments
of the priests, including: (1) the ephod with the
onyx stones, together with the breastplate and its
twelve precious stones and its golden chains; (2) the
robe of the ephod ; (3) the coats for Aaron and his
sons; (4) the miter and bonnets; (5) the breeches;
299
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
£zodu8
(6) the girdle; (7) the golden plate of the crown.
Moses inspects the work when completed and praises
it, and the sanctuary is set up on the first of the
second month.
In connection with this section (xxxv.-xl.) the
questions arise : Why the lengthy repetition of ch.
xxv.-xxxi. in ch. xxxv.-xl. ? and Why the differ-
ence in the order in which the various objects are
described? To the first question the answer is:
When the people fell away and God renounced them,
the tablets of the covenant seemed to have become
useless, wherefore Moses broke them. But after the
people had been forgiven new tablets were made
and the promises relating to the country had to be
repeated. Furthermore, the promise given by God
that He will dwell among Israel, in a sanctuary
erected by them and in which they will worship,
must not be allowed to remain unfulfilled ; and there-
fore the building of the sanctuary that had been
planned is undertaken anew, but according to the
original idea. Hence ch. xxxii.-xxxiv. belong nec-
essarily between ch. xxv.-xxxi. and xxxv.-xl. To
the second question the reply is, that in xxv.-xxxi.,
which contain the plan, the pieces are enumerated
according to the uses to which they are put, while
in xxxv.-xl. (as also in the working-plans given to
the overseers in xxxi. 7 et seq.), which narrate the
progress of the work, they are enumerated accord-
ing to their arrangement.
Exodus contains the most fundamental and sub-
lime revelations of God regarding His nature and
will, and describes the beginnings of
Religion, the theocratic constitution of the
Israelitic people and the foundations
of its ethics, Idw, customs, and worship. God,
as revealed in Exodus, is not a new, hitherto
unknown God: He is the God of Abraham, of Isaac,
and of Jacob — the Fathers of the people — who has
protected them and has been worshiped by them
(Ex. ii. 24; iii. (5, 13-18; iv. 5; vi. 3, 8; xv. 2;
xxxii. 18). He Himself designates the name by
which He is to be addressed: "nin^ [Yhwh], the
God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God
of Isaac, and the God of Jacob " (iii. 15). The book,
however, expressly purposes to reveal, or fully de-
velop, for the first time certain aspects of the divine
nature that have not hitherto been noted. When
God appears to Moses in the flaming bush, and com-
missions him to announce to the Israelites their im-
pending liberation, Moses asks doubtingly (iii. 13):
" Behold when I come unto the children of Israel,
and shall say unto them. The God of your fathers
hath sent me unto j'ou ; and they shall say to me.
What is his name? what shall I say unto them? "
Moses seeks to know, not the name of God, but
what God's name, which he knows is full of signifi-
cance, expresses in this particular case. Moses is
•well aw'are that the name " Ynwii " means " the Al-
mighty," and that salvation rests with God; but
in his anxiety, amounting indeed to a lack of faith,
lie wishes to know at once how God will save.
God, however, will not announce that now ; merely
comforting him by saying (iii. 14) HMN ItJ'N HMN
("I will be there [helping when necessary] in such a
way as I may deem fit"; A. V. "I AM THAT I
AM "). "I will prove myself as the Almighty, the
unfailing savior." On this passage, if interpreted
rightly, is based the passage vi. 2, where God en-
courages Moses — who is disappointed
Revela- because reference to this name has
tions of availed him nothing — by saj'ing " I am
God. Yhwu! I have revealed mvself as a
faithful God ["El Shaddai "] to Abra-
ham, Isaac, and Jacob, without their having known
me according to my name Yhwh." And now God
works His miracles, all with the express intention
that the people may "know that I am Yiiwii " (vi.
7; vii. 5, 17; viii. 6, 18; ix. 14, 25, 29; x. 2; xiv.
18 ; xvi. 12). Thus, God is, as His name Yhwh im-
plies, the almighty Savior, subject only to His own
will, independent, above nature and commanding it;
the God of miracles; the helpful God, who uses His
power for moral purposes in order to establish law
and liberty in the world, by destroying the wicked
and saving the oppressed (iii. 8; vi. 6; vii. 5; xv. 3,
3, 11), in whose hands are given judgment and sal-
vation (iii., iv., vi. 1-8).
In ch. xxxii. et seq. is revealed another side of
God's nature. Israel has merited His destructive
anger because of its sin with the golden calf. But
God not only refrains from destruction and from re-
calling His word regarding the promised land ; He
even listens to Moses' prayers to grant His presence
anew to the people. When Moses again asks,
"Show me thy glory," God answers, "I will make
all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim
the name of Yhwh before thee, and will be gracious
unto whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy
unto whom I wuU show mercy" (xxxiii. 18-19).
And again, "Thou canst not see my face: for man
shall not see me and live; . . . thou shalt see my
back ; but my face shall not be seen" {ib. 20, 23, R.
v.). When God appears to Moses He reveals Him-
self as "Yhwh, Yhwh God, merciful and gracious,
long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth.
Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity
and transgression and sin, and that will by no means
clear the guilt}' ; visiting the iniquity of the fathers
upon the children, and upon the children's children,
unto the third and to the fourth generation " (xxxiv.
6-7). In these words God has revealed Himself as
a being full of holy zeal against wickedness — a zeal,
however, which is counteracted by the immeasurably
greater power of His love, mercy, and forgiveness,
for these are inexhaustible. But even this does not
constitute His entire nature, Avhich in its full depth
and clarity is beyond the comprehension of man.
These two revelations contain the highest and
most blessed insight into the nature of God ever
attained ; and around them may be grouped the
other statements regarding God which the book of
Exodus contains.
God is the absolutely Exalted One, who can not
be compared with any other gods; even the Midian-
iteJethro admits that Yhwh is greater
God the than all gods (xv. 1, 11; xviii. 11).
Absolutely The whole world belongs to God: He
Exalted has created heaven and earth and all
One. that is therein; He rules forever; He
performs marvels; nothing like Him
has ever been ; hence He is an object of veneration
(xv. 11, 18; xix. 5; xx. 11; xxxiv. 10). He gives
Exodus
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
300
speech to man, or leaves him deaf and dumb ;
gives him sight, or makes him blind (iv. 11). He
has power over men's hearts, either encouraging
them to do good (iii. 21, xi. 3, xii. 36), or, having
larger ends in view, not preventing them from
doing evil ("hardening the heart," iv. 21; vii. 3;
X. 1, 20; xiv. 4, 17). God is omniscient : He knows
the distant, the future, what man may be expected
to do according to his nature (vi. 4-13, 29; viii.
11, 15; ix. 12, 35; xxiv. 20; xxxiv. 10-12). From
God proceed artistic inspiration, wisdom, insight,
knowledge, and skill (xxxi. 3; xxxv. 31, 34; xxxvi.
1,2).
God is Providence (ii. 25) ; He rewards good deeds,
be they done from fear of or love for Him (i. 21, xx.
6). He is not indifferent to human misery ; He sees
and hears and intervenes at the right moment (iii. 7 ;
iv. 31 ; vi. 5 ; xxii. 22, 26) ; He makes promises which
He fulfils (ii. 24, iii. 16, iv. 31. vi. 5, xxxii. 13).
God is jealous and leaves nothing unpunished (xx.
7, xxxiv. 7) ; but He always punishes the sinner
Himself, admitting no vicarious death, even if it is
offered (xxxii. 33). His great moral indignation
("anger") against sin would be destructive (xxxii.
10, 33) were not His forgiving love still greater
(XX. 5, xxxii. 14, xxxiii. 19). He is gracious and
full of mercy (xv. 13, xxxiv. 6). His presence
means grace; it sanctifies; for He Himself "is glori-
ous in holiness" (xv. 11, xxix. 43).
Man can not perceive God in His entire nature;
he may only look after God when He has passed by
and imagine Him (Dillmann to Ex. xxxiii. 22).
Yet God reveals Himself to man; i.e.. He informs
man visibly and audibly of His presence and will.
God, who has already appeared to the Fathers, ap-
pears in the flaming bush, in the pillar of cloud and
of fire on the march, in the clouds in which He came
down on Sinai, in the fire on the mountain, in the
cloud in the desert, in the pillar of cloud on Moses'
tent, in the cloud from which He calls out to Moses
His attributes of grace, in the cloud and the fire that
serve as signals to the Israelites to start or to en-
camp (vi. 3; xiii. 21; xiv. 19; xix. 11; xx. ; xxiv.
15, 17; xxxiii. 9; xxxiv. 5; xl. 34-36). This divine
appearance is called God's message (xiv. 19; xxiii.
20, 23; xxxii. 34; xxxiii. 2) or His glory (xvi. 7,
10; xxiv. 16-17; xxxiii. 22; xl. 34).
God appears in order to make Himself known, to
give commands, and to impart reverence leading to
obedience (xvi. 10, xix. 9, xx. 20). God speaks
chiefly with Moses; He puts the words in Moses'
mouth, and tells him what to say ; He talks with him
face to face, as a man with his neighbor, and gives
him a staff as a token of his oftice (iii. 15 ; iv. 17 ; vii.
2, 17, 20; ix. 23; x. 13; xxxiii. 11). But God also
speaks from heaven to the entire people (xx. 22),
and orders for Himself a permanent dwelling-place
among them in the tabernacle set up according to
His directions (xx. 22, xxv. 8, xxix. 45); He de-
scends thither in order to talk with Moses, His espe-
cial place being the cover of the Ark of the Cove-
nant, between the two cherubim (xxv. 22, xxix. 43,
XXX. 6).
God has made a covenant with the Fathers of the
people, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that He will
multiply them as the stars of heaven; that He will
remember them, save them, and give to them and
their descendants the land of Canaan — a land " flow-
ing with milk and honey," and that
Israel. shall reach " from the Red Sea even
unto the sea of the Philistines, and from
the desert unto the river" (ii. 24; iii. 8, 17; vi. 4-8;
xiii. 5; xxiii. 31; xxxii. 13; xxxiii. 3). God remem-
bers this covenant and keeps it despite everything,
as is exemplified in the deliverance of Israel and the
destruction of Pharaoh (i. 7, 12; iii. 7; vi. 1; xxiii.
20); He does not forget it, in spite of the dejection
and the murmurings of the people (vi. 9; xiv. 10; xv.
24; xvi. 2, 27; xvii. 3), their worship of the golden
calf and their obstinacy (xxxii. 9; xxxiii. 3, 5; xxxiv.
9). He leads, fights for, heals, and educates Israel
and destroys Israel's enemies (xiii. 17; xiv. 14. 25;
XV. 3, 26; xvi. 4; xx. 20; xxiii. 22, 23, 27; xxxiii. 2,
xxxiv. 11, 24). The Israelites are God's people. His
host. His first-born son (vi. 7, vii. 4, xii. 41, xv. 16,
xxxii. 11 et seq. ; xxxiii. 13, 16). Yhwh will be
Israel's God (vi. 7, xxix. 5). Israel is His property
("segullah"). Above all people Israel shall be His
people, "a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation,"
if Israel will listen to God's voice and keep His cove-
nant (xix. 5, 6). Therefore He gives to tiie Israel-
ites commandments, descends to them in His glory,
holds them worthy of renewed revelations, and or-
ders divine service (xxiv. 8, xxxiv. 27).
In Exodus are found for the first time the preemi-
nent characteristics of the Israelitic law: its origin
in and pragmatic connection with history. An ac-
count is given of the laws in connection with the
events that called them forth. Thus, on the one
hand, history explains and justifies the
The Moral Law, while on the other the Law keeps
Law. alive and commemorates the events and
teachings of liistory. As furthermore
God is the subject of historj^ as well as the lawgiver,
Israel's religion assumes here the fundamental char-
acteristic that determines its entire future develop-
ment: it is a law founded on God as revealed in
history. The basis is the Decalogue, the Ten Com-
mandments (Ex. XX. 1-17), in which all duties are
designated as duties toward the God who liber-
ated Israel from the slavery of Egypt. Israel must
not recognize an}' other God ; idolatry and the ma-
king and Avorshiping of images are forbidden (xx.
2-5, 23; xxiii. 13, 24, 33; x.\xii. ; xxxiv. 12-14, 17);
Israel shall beware of seductive intercourse with the
idolatrous Canaanites ; sacrificing to idols, and magic,
are punishable by death. Nor may the name of the
true God be applied to vain idols (this is the only
correct explanation of xx. 7). God is recognized
as Creator of the world by the sanctification of the
Sabbath, on which man and beast shall rest from
all labors (xvi. 23etseq., xx. 7 et scq., xxiii. 12, xxxi.
12-17, xxxv. 1-3), and also by the observance of the
Sabbatical year (xxiii. 10). He is recognized as Is-
rael's savior from Egyptian oppression by the cele-
bration of the Passover (see below).
" Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days
may be long upon the land which the Lord thy
God giveththee" (xx. 12, fifth commandment). He
who strikes or insults his father or mother is pun-
ished by death (xxi. 15, 17). Honor must also be
accorded to those in authority (xxii. 27 [A. V. 28]).
301
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
ExoduB
"Thou Shalt not kill" (xx. 13). Murder is punish-
able by death (xxi. 12); there is no place of refuge
for the murderer, as there is for the accidental lionii-
cide, even at the altar (xxi. 13-14). For bodily in-
juries there is a fine (xxi. 18-19, 32-25, 28-31).
"Thou Shalt not commit adultery" (xx. 14).
Lechery and intercourse with animals are punisli-
able by death (xxii. 17) ; the seducer of a virgin must
either marry her or compensate her father (xxii. 15
etsecj.). "Thou Shalt not steal" (xx. 15). Kidnap-
ing is punishable by death (xxi. 16). Killing of a
burglar is justifiable. Whoever steals cattle, slaugh-
tering and selling it, has to pay four or five times its
value; if it is found alive, double; if the thief is un-
able to pay he is sold into slavery (xxi. 37. xxii. 3).
Property injured or destroyed must be made good
(xxi. 33-36, xxii. 4-14).
"Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy
neighbor" (xx. 16). Justice, veracity, impartiality,
honesty in court, are enjoined (xxiii. 1, 2, 6-8). An
oath is demanded where there is suspicion of a de-
fault (xxii. 7 et scq.).
"Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house,
thou shalt not covet thj^ neighbor's wife, nor his
manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his
ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor's (xx. 17).
The duties to one's neighbor include both kindly
deeds and kindly thoughts. The poor man must
be cared for: justice shall be done to him ; loans shall
be made to him ; and he shall not be pressed for pay-
ment, nor shall the necessaries of life be taken in
pawn (xxii. 24 et seq.). Widows and orphans shall
not be oppressed ; for God is their advocate (xxii.
21). Strangers shall not be injured or oppressed;
"for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt " (xxii.
20, xxiii. 9) ; they also shall rest on the Sabbath
(XX. 10). A Hebrew bond-servant shall not serve
longer than six years, unless he himself cliooses to
remain. He may not earn any wages for himself
while serving. The master of a girl that has been
sold into servitude shall marry her or give her a
dower. Servants are to be set free on receiving
bodily injuries; and death caused by an animal is
requited (xxi. 1-11, 20, 21, 26, 27, 32). Servants
also shall rest on the Sabbath (xx. 10, xxiii. 12).
Animals shall be treated gently (xxiii. 4, 5, 19), and
be allowed to rest on the Sabbath (xx. 10; xxiii. 12).
Consideration for an enemy is enjoined (xxiii. 4, 5).
To do these commandments is to obey God (xv. 26,
xvi. 28, XX. 6, xxiii. 13). Israel shall trust in Him
(iii.-vi., xiv. 31, xvi., xvii. 7, xix.9); and in a signifi-
cant passage (xx. 6) the love for God is accentuated.
In Exodus the beginnings of the national cult are
seen. It is strictly forbidden to make or worship idols
(xx. 3, 23; xxiii. 24; xxxii. ; xxxiv.
Cult. 13, 17). The symbol of the Divine
Presence is tlie Tabernacle built ac-
cording to God's directions, more especially the
cover of the Ark of the Covenant and the space be-
tween the cherubim thereon (see Tabkrnaci.k).
Worship by specially sanctified priests shall be ob-
served in tliis sanctuary (see Leviticus). The festi-
vals include the Sabbatli, for which no ritual is
mentioned, and three "pilgrimage festivals," at
which all males are to appear before God (xxiii.
14-17, xxxiv. 18-23).
The Passover is discussed in detail, a large part
of the book being devoted to its institution (xii.
1-28, 43-50; xiii. 1-16; xxiii. 15; xxxiv. 18-20) ; and
its historical origin is to be brought home to all fu-
ture generations (xii. 2, 14, 17, 24-27, 42; xiii. 5-10,
16; see Mazzaii; Pesaii; Sedeu). Toward eve-
ning of the 14th day of the first month a yearling male
lamb or kid without blemish shall be slaughtered,
roasted by the fire, and eaten at the family dinner,
together with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.
It must be roasted whole, with the legs and entrails,
and no bones must be broken ; none of the meat must
be carried from the house, but whatever remains
until morning must be burned. In connection with
this there is a seven days' festival (jn), the Feast of
Mazzot (unleavened bread). This bread shall be
eaten for seven days, from the 14th to the 21st of
the first month (the month of Abib, in which Is-
rael went out from Egypt; xxiii. 15, xxxiv. 18). It
is strictly forbidden to partake of anything leav-
ened; it must be removed from the house on the
first day. The first and tiie seventh day are strictly
days of rest, on which only necessary food may be
prepared. The sanctification of the firstlings that
belong to God is also connected with the Passover.
The first-born child, and that of the ass, which can
not be sacrificed, must be redeemed by a lamb (xiii.
1 et seq., xxii. 28, xxxiv. 19 et seq.). Other festivals
are (1) the cutting of the first-fruits of the harvest
("Hag ha-Kazir") or the Feast of Weeks ("Hag
Shabu'ot"), and (2) the harvest-home ("Hag ha-
Asif ") at the end of the year, after the harvest has
been gathered in (xxiii. 16, xxxiv. 22). At these
festivals the people must not appear empty-handed
before God; the}' must not mix the blood of the
Passover sacrifice with leavened bread, nor leave
the sacrifice tmtil the morning ; they must take the
firstlings of the field into the house of God, and
must not seethe the kid in its mother's milk (xxiii.
18, 19; xxxiv. 25, 26). The tithes from the barn
and the vineyard must not be delayed. Animals
torn in the field ("terefah") must not be eaten, but
must be thrown to the dogs, for "ye shall be holy
men " (xxii. 28-30; A. V. 29-31).
E. G. 11. B. J.
Critical View I. : Tlie Book of Exodus, like the
other books of the Hexateuch, is of composite ori-
gin, being compiled of documents originally dis-
tinct, which have been excerpted and combined by
a redactor (see Pent.\teuch). The two main sources
used in Exodus are the one now generally known
as " JE," the chief component parts of which date
probably from the seventh or eighth century B.C.,
and the one denoted by " P," which is generally con-
sidered to have been written during or shortly after
the Babylonian captivity. The former of these
soin-ces is in tone and character akin to the writings
of the great prophets; the latter is evidently the
work of a pri(>st, wliose chief interest it was to trace
to their origin, and describe with all needful particu-
larity, the ceremonial institutions of his people. It
is impossible, within tlie limits of the present article,
to state the details of the analysis, at least in what
relates to the line of demarcation between J and E,
or to discuss the difficult iiroblems which arise in
Sxodub
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
302
connection with the account of the legislation con-
tained in JE (xix.-xxiv. and xxxii.-xxxiv.) ; but the
broad and important line of demarcation between P
and JE may be indicated, and the leading character-
istics of the principal sources may be briefly outlined.
The parts of Exodus which belong to P are : 1. 1-5, 7, 13-14,
11. 23b-25 (the oppression); vi. 2-vll. 13 (commission of Moses,
with penealojry, vl. 14-27); vii. 1^20a, 21b-22, vlil. 1-3, llb-15
(A.V. 5-r, 15b-19), ix. 8-12, xi. 9-10 (the plagues); xli. 1-20,
28, 37a, 40, 41, 43^1, xiii. 1-2,20 (Passover, mazzot, dedica-
tion of nrst-bom) ; xi v. 1-4, 8-9, 15-18, 21a, c, 22-23, 26'-27a, 28a-29
(passage of Red Sea); xvl. 1-3, 6-24,31-36 (the manna); xvil.
la, xlx. l-2a (journey to Sinai); xxlv. 15-18a, xxv. 1-xxxi. 18a
(Instructions respecting the Tabernacle) ; xxxlv. 29-35, xxxv.-xl.
(the construction and erection of the Tabernacle) . The rest of
the book consists of J and E, which (before they were combined
with P) were united into a whole by a redactor, and at the same
time. It seems, expanded in parts (especially in the legal por-
tions) by hortatory or didactic additions, approximating in style
to Deuteronomy.
In JE's narrative, particularly in the parts belong-
ing to J, the style is graphic and picturesque, the
descriptions are vivid and abound in detail and
colloquy, and both emotion and re-
Char- ligious feeling are warmly and sym-
acteristics pathetically expressed. As between
of JE. J and E, there are sometimes differ-
ences in the representation. In the
account of the plagues, for instance, the Israelites
are represented by J as living apart in Goshen (viii.
18 [A. V. 22], ix. 26; compare Gen. xlv. 10, xlvi.
28, etc. ; also J) ; and the plagues are sent by Yhwh
at a specified time announced beforehand to Pharaoh
by Moses. In E the Israelites are represented, notas
occupying a district apart, but as living side by
side with the Egyptians (iii. 22, xi. 2, xii. 35 et
seq.); and the plague is brought to pass on the
spot by Moses with his rod (vii. 20b; ix. 23; x.
12, 13a; compare iv. 2, 17, 20b; xvii. 5; also E) or
his hand (x. 22). An interesting chapter belonging
to E is xviii., which presents a picture of Moses
legislating. Disputes arise among the people ; they
are brought before Moses for settlement; and his
decisions are termed "the statutes and directions
["torot"] of God." It was the office of the priests
afterward to give direction (min, min) upon cases
submitted to them, in matters both of civil right
(Deut. xvii. 17) and of ceremonial observance {ib.
xxiv. 8; Hag. ii. 11-13); and it is difficult not to
think that in Exodus xviii. there is a genuine his-
torical tradition of the manner in which the nucleus
of Hebrew law was created by Moses himself.
JE's account of the Sinaitic legislation is contained
in xix. 3-xxiv. 14, 18b; xxxi. ISb-xxxiv. 28. This
narrative, when examined attentively, discloses
manifest marks of composite structure. The greater
part of it belongs tolerably clearly to E, viz. : xix.
3-19; xx.-xxiii. 33 (expanded in parts by the com-
piler); xxiv. 3-8, 12-14. 18b; xxxi. 18b; xxxii. 1-8
(9-14, probably compiler), 15-35; xxxiii. 5-11. To J
belong xix. 20-25, xxiv. 1-2, 9-11 (fragments of an
account of thetheophany on 8inai); and xxxiii. 1-4,
xxxiii. 12-xxxiv. 28 appear also to be based upon
J, but amplified by the compiler. A particularly
noticeable passage in E's narrative is xxxiii. 7-11,
which preserves the oldest representation of the
"Tent of Meeting " ; it was outside the camp (com-
pare Num. xi. 16, 17, 24-30; xii. 4; also E; and
contrast the representation of P in Num. ii. et seq.);
tlie youthful Joshua was its keeper; and Moses
from time to time repaired to it for the purpose of
communing with Yhwh. Evidently the Tent of
Meeting, as pictured by E, was a much simpler
structure than it is in the representation of P (xxvi.-
xxxi., etc.), just as the altar (xx. 24-26), feasts,
etc. (xxiii. 10-19), presented by E, reflect the usage
of a simpler, more primitive age than do the corre-
sponding regulations in P.
The laws of JE are contained In xii. 21 27 (Passover); xlll.
3-16 (mazzot and consecration of flrst-bom) ; xx. 1-17 (the Deca-
logue); XX. 22-xxiii. 33 (the "Book of the Covenant"; see
xxiv. 7); and the repetition (with slight verbal differences, and
the addition in xxxiv. 12-17 of more specific warnings against
idolatry) of xiii. 12-13, and of the theocratic section of the Book
of the Covenant (xxili. 10-19) In xxxiv. 10-26 (sometimes called
the "Little Book of the Covenant"). The Decalogue and the
Book of the Covenant both belong In particular to E.
These laws have in many places had parenetic
additions made to them by the compiler (e.g., much
of xiii. 3-16; the explanatory comments in xx. 4-6,
9-11, 12b, 17; xxii. 21b, 22; xxiii. 23-25a). The
laws in xxxiv. 10-26 are introduced ostensibly as
embodying the conditions for the renewal of the
Covenant after it had been broken by the sin of the
golden calf; but it is generally supposed that orig-
inally they formed a separate collection, which was
introduced independently, in slightly different re-
censions, into E in xxiii. 10-19, and into J here, and
which probably, when J was complete, stood as
part of J's direct sequel to xxiv. 1-2, 9-11. Further,
although by the author of xxxiv. 1-28 in its present
form (see verse lb), the "ten commandments"
(Hebr. " ten words") of verse 28b are evidently in-
tended to be the Decalogue of xx. 1-17, yet the
natural subject of "And he wrote" in verse 28 is
" Moses " (compare verse 27) ; hence it is also inferred
by many critics that, in the original context of verse
28, the " ten words " were the preceding group of laws
(verses 10-26), which, though now expanded by the
compiler, would in that case have comprised orig-
inally ten particular injunctions (the "ritual Deca-
logue " of J, as opposed to the " moral Decalogue " of
E in XX. 1-17). Whatever the true explanation of
the double appearance of this little group of laws
may be, it is in any case the earliest existing formu-
lation of what were regarded at the time as the
essential ritual observances of the religion of Y'hwh.
The literary and other characteristics of P are,
mutatis mutandis, the same in Exodus as in other
parts of the Hexateuch. The same or similar
stereotyped formulas appear; and (as a reference to
the synopsis above will show) there
Char- is the same disposition to reduce the
acteristics account of ordinary events to a bare
of P. summary, but to enlarge upon every-
thing connected with ceremonial insti-
tutions. In i.-xi. the narrative of P runs parallel to
that of JE ; and the compiler has sometimes pre-
served divergent versions of the same events.
Thus, if vi. 2-vii. 13 be compared carefully with iii.
1-vi. 1, it will be seen not to describe the sequel of
it, but to contain a parallel and partly divergent ac-
count of the commission of Moses and of the pre-
liminary steps taken by him to secure the release of
the people. In the narrative of the plagues there are
303
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
SzoduB
systematic differences between P and JE: thus in P
Aaron cooperates with Moses; no demand for Israel's
release is ever made upon Pharaoh, the plagues
being viewed rather merely as signs or proofs of
power; the description is brief; the success or fail-
ure of the Egyptian magicians (who are mentioned
only in this narrative) is noted, and the hardening
of Pharaoh's heart is expressed by the verb " hazak,"
" hizzak " (this verb is used also by E ; but J has reg-
ularly "kabed," "hikbid"). In xii.-xiii. the double
strand is particularly evident: Passover, mazzot,
narrative, and the dedication of the first-born are all
in duplicate (in P, xii. 1-13 [43-50 supplementary],
14-20, 28, 37a, 40-41, 51; xiif. 1-2: in JE, xii 21-
27 (which careful comparison will show to be not
really the sequel of xii. 1-13), 29-36, 37b-39, 42a;
xiii. 3-10, 11-16).
The most characteristic part of P is, however, the
account of the instructions given to Moses on the
Mount (xxiv. 15-18a) for the construction of the Tab-
ernacle and the appointment of a priesthood (xxv.-
xxxi.). These instructions fall into two parts: (1)
xxv.-xxix. ; (2) xxx.-xxxi. In xxv.-xxix. the fol-
lowing subjects are dealt with: the Ark, table of
show-bread, and candlestick (xxv.); the Tabernacle
("mishkan"), its curtains, boards, and veil (xxvi.);
the altar of burnt offering, and the court (xxvii.) ; the
dress of the priests (xxviii.); the ritual for their con-
secration, and for the daily burnt offering, which it is
a primary duty of the priesthood to maintain (xxix.
1-42); and finally what is apparently the formal
close of the entire body of instructions, Yiiwn's
promise to take up His abode in the sanctuary
thus established (xxix. 43-46). Chapters xxx.-xxxi.
contain directions respecting the altar of incense, the
maintenance of public worship, the brazen laver,
the anointing-oil, the incense (xxx.) ; the nomination
of Bezaleel and Aholiab, and the observance of
the Sabbath (xxxi.). While now it is not doubted
that xxv.-xxix., with unimportant exceptions, form
part of the original legislation of P, it is generally
held by critics that xxx.-xxxi. belong to a second-
ary and posterior stratum of it, reflecting a later
stage of ceremonial usage. The chief reason for
this conclusion is the manner in which the altar of
incense is introduced (xxxi. 1-10). If such an altar
had been contemplated by the author of xxv.-xxix.,
he must, it is argued, have introduced it in xxv.,
together with the other furniture of the Holy Place,
and also mentioned it in xxvi. 33-35; moreover, he
would naturally, in such a case, have distinguished
the altar described in xxvii. 1-8 from the altar of
incense, and not have spoken of it simply as the
altar.
This conclusion respecting the secondary charac-
ter of the altar of incense appears to be confirmed
by the fact that in the other laws of P there is a
stratum in which such an altar is not recognized
(for instance. Lev. xvi.). There are also other indi-
cations tending to show that xxx.-xxxi. belong to a
posterior stratum of P, as compared with xxv.-xxix.
Chapters xxxv.-xl. describe, largely in the same
words as xxv.-xxxi. (the tenses alone being altered),
but with several differences of order, how the in-
structions given there to Moses were carried out. In
these chapters the altar of incense and the brazen
laver (xxx. 17-21) are introduced in the places which
they would naturally be expected to occupy, namely,
in the descriptions of the Holy Place and the court
respectively (xxxvii. 25-28, xxxviii. 8). It follows
that if xxx.-xxxi. belong to a secondary stratum of
P, the same must be true of x,xxv.-xl. The later
origin of xxxv.-xl. seems to be further supported
by the fact tliat the Septuagiut version of these chap-
ters is not by the same hand as the rest of the book :
so that presumably they were not in the manuscript
used by the original translators. The chapters, if
this view is correct, have taken the place of a much
briefer account of the manner in which the con-
struction of the Tabernacle was carried out.
P's representation of the Tabernacle and its ap-
pointments can not be historical. The Israelites in the
wilderness had undoubtedly an " ohel
P's Repre- mo'ed"; but it was the simple "ohel
sentation mo'ed" of E (Ex. xxxiii. 7-11; Num
of the xi., xii.), not the costly and elaborate
Tabernacle structure described by P. P's repre
TJn- sentation is the embodiment of an
historical, ideal ; it is a " product of religious
idealism," constructing for the Mosaic
age, upon the basis of traditions or reminiscences
of the Temple of Solomon, a shrine such as might
be adequate to Yhwh's majesty, and worthily sym-
bolize His presence in the midst of His people (com-
pare Ottley, "Aspects of the O. T." p. 226).
Bibliography : The introductions to the O. T. by Kuenen,
Driver. Holzinger, Konig, Cornill, Baudissin; the commenta-
ries of Dillmann, Baentsch (1900), Holzinger (1900), and A. R.
S. Kennedy (forthcoming); ('. A. Briggs, The Higher I fiti-
cism of the Hcxateiich, 1897; Carpenter and HarfordBat-
tersby, The Hexateuch, Oxford, 1900, especially 11. 79-143 (text
of Exodus, with the sources distinguished typographically, and
full critical notes); G. F. Moore, Ex<)dut<, in Cheyne and Black,
Encyc. Bibl. ii. (where further literature is referred to).
E. G. H. S. R. D.
Critical Vie"w II. : The critical problems and
hypotheses that Exodus shares with the other books,
such as the historical value of the accounts; author-
ship; relation to the later books; age, origin, and
character of the alleged sources, can not be discussed
here now ; the analysis of sources of Exodus can
alone be treated. According to the critics of the
Pentateuch, Exodus, like all the other books of the
Torah, possesses no unity, having been compiled
from different sources at different times, the vari-
ous parts being then revised finally by one redactor
(R); the same sources as those for Genesis furnish
the material, namely, J (Jahvist), E (Elohist), and
P (Priestly Code), in which again several strata
must be distinguished, as P^P 3, P^ J', J ^ E', E-,
etc. It is not necessary to refer to all the sugges-
tions that have been made; the analyses of sources
by Kuenen and Cornill are chiefly treated here
(Kuenen: Introduction; § 5; § 6, 2-15; § 8, 10-13;
§ 13, 13 et seq. ; ^ 16, 12; Cornill: Introduction; S 7;
§11,4: §12; §13,2,8; §14, 1,2,3.
ToP^'is assigned, according to Kuenen: i. 1-7,
13, 14; ii. 23-25; vi. 2-13 (13-28 interrupt the course
of the story and are by a later reviser; they are,
according to Wellhausen, unskilfully inserted and
amplified); vii. 1-13. 19, 20a (21c ?), 22; viii. 1-3,
lib, 12-15; ix. 8-12(35 ?); xi. 9-10; xii. 1-20, 28,
40*, 41* 43-51 (xiii. 20 ?); xiv. 1-4, 8, 9, 10 (in
♦ = revision ; -f- = essentially.
Exodus
Exorcism
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
304
part), 15-18, 21 (iu part), 22, 23, 26, 27 (in part), 28,
29; xvi. ("this chapter has been subsequently re-
vised and completed") (xvii. 1; xix. 2a ?); xxiv.
15-18a; xxv.-xxix. "follow in natural and regular
order, and may have been arranged iu this way by
the author himself," but (§ 16, 12) contain many in-
terpolations by R.
Ch. XXX., xxxi. 1-17, in which "the connection
is looser, or is wanting altogether ; and in which there
are contained regulations that do not harmonize with
■what has preceded, and that are not presupposed
later where they would naturally be mentioned
. . . probably contain later additions, harmonizing
in style with xxiv.-xxix., but not composed by
the same author." To ?■* are assigned ch. xxxv.-xl.
(and also Lev. viii.), which "depend entirely on
XXV. -xxxi., which the author must liave had before
him." They formed "originally a very brief ac-
count of the observance of the regulations laid
down in xxv. et seq. ; they seem to have been
gradually worked out, and then made as similar to
those regulations as possible. The striking varia-
tions found in the Greek translation of xxxv.-xl.
lead to the assumption that the final redaction of
these chapters was hardly completed — if indeed it
was completed — when that translation was made,
i.e., about 250 B.C." This entire theory regarding
xxv.-xxxi., xxxv.-xl. is based on Popper's work,
which the other critics also follow.
Cornill, who Includes the later parts of P^ under the gen-
eral designation P^, assigns to the Priestly Code the following
ponions : 1. 1-5, 7 *, 13, U * ; ii. 23 *, 24-25 ; vl.-|- (13-30 = P'') :
vli. 1-13, 19, 20a*, 21b-22; viil. 1-3, lla,b-15; ix. &-12; xi. 9-
10; xli. 1-20, 28, 37*, 40-41, 43-51 (15-20 and 43-50 = P^); xiii.
1-2; xiv. 1-4. 8, 9b, 10a,b, 15*, 16-18. 21-23-I-, 26-28aa, 28*, 29;
xvl. 1-3, 6-7, 9-18*, 20, 22a,b-24, 32-35a ; xvii. la ; xix. 1 *, 2a ;
xxlv. 15-18aa; xxv. 1-xxxl. 18a (xxviii. 41 belongs surely to
F», as do perhaps also other shorter additions to xxv.-xxix.;
and xxx.-xxxl. entire); xxxiv. 29-35 (?); xxxv.-xl. (entirely P'').
It is much more difficult in what remains to dis-
tinguish between the closely related J and E. Pas-
sages relatively complete in themselves are: (1) ch.
xxi.-xxiii., the so-called "Book of the Covenant " ;
it belongs to E, though dating from an earlier time,
and was found by him and incorporated iu his work ;
(2) the story of the golden calf (xxxii. -xxxiv.), J
and E sharing about equally in the account; (3) the
Decalogue and the preparations for it (xix., xx.),
chiefly E, but J also has a Decalogue (radition, its
Ten Commandments being found in xxxiv. 14-26
(Welihausen). E ', originally composed in the North-
ern Kingdom, must be distinguished from E'-'; the
latter was compiled about 100 years later for Judah,
and was worked over with J to form .IE, many
passages of which can no longer be analyzed.
E : Kuenen : Traces of E are found in 1. (15-21, and apparently
also 8-12, "is generally included in E"'); in ii. "there is great
difference of opinion " on the origin of verses 1-23 (according
to Jiilicher verses l-22are taken from E; according to Dillniann
1-14 from E and 15-23a from J. Welihausen takes the story on
the whole tohe acomliiiiutidn from J and E.) This document ap-
pears especially clear, though not without admixture, in iii. 1-15,
8 section that, as complement to vi. 2 et .scr/. (P), also explains
the use of " Elohim " in the account of the pre-Mo.saic time
taken from E. In the following "the traces are only with dilU-
rulty distinguished : in iii. l(>-.xii. only here and there with any
certainty." (Dillmann includes in E: the greater part of iii. 16-22;
iv. 17, 201), IH, 21 ; the greater part of v.; vii. 15, Hi, 171), 20h, 21a,
2:! in part, 24; viii. 16a, 21 24a, 2.'.h ; ix. 22, 23a, 24a, 2.")b (V), 31,
32, 35 ; X. 8-13a, 14 In part, 15 iu part. 20, 21 -27 ; xi. 1-3 ; xli. 31-
33, 37b, 38. Jiilicher includes : iv. 17, 18, 20b : v. 1, 2, 5 ; vli. 17
in part, 18, 20 In part, and 21, 24, 25a ; viii. 21b, 22, 23; ix. 22,
23a, 24 and 28 in part, 35; x. 7, 8-11, 12, 13a, 14a, 15a, 20, 21-
2", 28, 29; xi. 1-7; xii. 32, 35-38.) E is found again in: xiii.
17-19, 21, 22 ; xiv. 19a (19b ?); xv. 22-26 ; xvii. lb-7, 8-16 ; xviii.
Also xix. 9a, 10-17 ; xx. 18-21, 1-17 (in this order); this— the so-
called "first"— the Decalogue, with the historical matter con-
nected with it in xix. -xxiv., belongs to E 2. From the Book of
the Covenant xxiv. 1, 2, 9-14, 18a, and various other passages,
belong to E, as does also the story of Israel's apostasy at Sinai,
which appears enlarged and connected with other stories in
xxxii. -xxxiv., belonging originally to E''.
Cornill : i. 11-12, 15-22-|-; ii. l-lO-f- ; iii. 1-15-^, 21-22 ; iv.
17, 18, 20b; vii. 15b, 17b-18, 20b-21a, 24; ix. 22-23a. 24b*, 25b,
31-32, 35; x. 12-13aa, 14aa,b, 15b, 20-23, 25 (?); xi. 1-3; xil.
35-36, 37*; xiii. 17-19; xiv. 7-9a,|3, 10a,3, 19a, 20 (V); xv. 20-
26-|-; xvii. -xxiv. -|- ; xxxi. 18b ; xxxii.-|-; xxxili. 1-11-|- ; xxxiv.
la,4*, 28b* (V). In xix.- xxxiv. only xix. 13b (perhaps); xxiv.
1-2, 9-11 ; and xxxili. 7-10 belong to E'.
J, according to Kuenen, is represented in i.-xv. by accounts
parallel with those of E, but which can not now be distin-
guished ; " but it is doubtful whether J contributed anything to
the account of the laws promulgated at Mount Sinai and of the
defection of Israel, xix. -xxiv. and xxxii.-xxxiv." (Welihausen
finds J in: xix. 20-25; xx. 23-26; xxi.-xxiii.; xxiv. 3-8; Dill-
mann, in : xix. 9a, 20-25 [xx. 1-17, perhaps under a different
form]; xxiv. 1,2; xxxiv. iO-27; fragments in xxiv. 3-8, 9-11,
12 in part, 18b ; xxxii. 1-14, 19b-24, 30-34 ; also in xxxlil. 1-6,
12, 13, 18-23; xxxiii. 14-17; xxxiv. 1-9.)
Cornill : i. 6, 7a,b, 8-10, 14a,i3, 20b, 22 (?); ii. ll-23aa ; iii. 16-
20 ; iv. 1-12, 19, 20a, 24-26, 29 *, 30 *, 31 ; v.-i- ; vi. 1 ; vii. 14-15a,
16-17a, 23, 25, 29 ; viii. 4*, 5-7, 8*, 9-llaa, 16-20, 21 *, 22-28 ; ix.
1-7, 13-21, 2:jb, 24*, 25a, 26, 27 *, 28-30, 33; x.-|- ; xi. 4-8; xil.
21-27H-, 29-39-t-, 42a ; xiii. 3-16-|-. 21-22 ; xiv. 5-6, 9aa, lOba, 11-
14, 19b, 21a,0, 24-2.5, 27 *, 28b, 30-31 ; xvi. 4-5, 16a,^, 18b, 21-22aa ;
25-31-f , 35b ; xvii. la,b, 2, 7 ; xix. 2b, 7, 9-11, 18, 20-21, 22b, 25a ;
xxxiii. 12-23-t- (?); xxxiv. la*, 2-3, 4*, 5, 6a, 8, 10-28-(-.
Editions (according to Cornill) : In the first place
J and E were combined into one book (JE) by one
redactor (RJE). He greatly revised
Redaction, iii., and may have added the marching
song XV. 1-19 ("it is entirely improb-
able that it was composed at the time the event itself
took place "). He also did much editing of the peric-
ope dealing with the legislation, (xix. -xxxiv.). He
used E' throughout as foundation, supplementing it
with J ; he omitted entirely the second Decalogue in
J, incorporating what he thought valuable in the
Book of the Covenant, xxiii. 15-19, and reduced
xxxii. -xxxiii., on the whole, to its present form. A
second redactor then combined (the later) Deuteron-
omy with JE ( = JE -^ D). He added iv. 21-23 ; in
the story of the Egyptian plagues (x. 2) "there is at
least a Deuteronomistic touch " ; he also added viii.
18b and ix. 29b, and probably revised ix. 14-16. He
greatly revised xii. 21-27, xiii. 3-16, xv. 26, xvi.,
and xviii. 20b. He transferred, according to
Kuenen, the Book of the Covenant to Mount Sinai
in order to get room for Deuteronomy, being re-
sponsible, therefore, for all the confusion caused
thereby — for example, tlie transferring of xx. 18-21
from its original position ])efoi(', to its present posi-
tion after, x.x. 1-17; the transition to the Book of the
Covenant as found iu xx. 22, 23; and the peculiar
form of xxiv. l-15a. Ch. xix. 3b-8 is also specif-
ically Deuteronomic, as well as the revisions of
tiie Book of the Covenant with tlie final admoni-
tions in xxiii. 22b-25a, 27, 3lb-33, and the revision
of the second Decalogue, which RJE transferred
to the Book of the Covenant.
A third redactor, who combined JED with P, thus
practically producing the Pentateuch (R^), added
iv. 13-16 and 27-28, revised 29-30, and in v.-x. added
everywhere the name of Aaron (which was not in-
305
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Exodus
Exorcism
eluded at all originally !). He or P^ (see a7ite) added
vi. 13-30. It is more dilHcult to ascertain the
method of his revision of xii. 40-42. To xvi. he
transferred (in consideration of JE) a pas.sage by P
on the manna, whicli originally was placed after
the revelation on Sinai (the reason assigned for
this assumption on tlie part of the critics is that
verse 34 presupposes the Tabernacle; but this verse
is as much merely an anticipatory comment as is 3o).
He added to xvii. the fragment of the Jahvistic
miraculous storj' of the spring in order to make
room for P in Num. xx. He added finally the re-
peated phrase "the tables of testimon}-," xxxi. 18,
xxxiv. 29, and in xxxiii. he omitted the Elohistic
account of the making of the Ark of the Covenant.
It is often doubtful whether a revision was made by
Kp or by P^' ■•• ^ — Rp is himself a priestly redactor.
All tliese and similar analyses of the sources of
Exodus and the conclusions based thereon are en-
tirely wrong. However rich and many-sided may
have been the traditions from which the author drew
his material, the book from beginning to end is com-
po.sed and arranged according to a predetermined
plan. The fundamental errors of the critical views
are these ; (1) The distinction made between J and E is
erroneous, resting as it does on the varying use of the
divine names " Yhwh " and " Elohim" ; this use does
not indicate a difference in authorship, but is due to
the different meanings of the two names, the choice
of which is carefully considered in each case. The
statement that E uses in iii. 15 the name " Yhwh" for
the first time, is due to a wrong interpretation ; it is
based on the Alexandrian-Essenic-Christian-Gnostic
common superstition of the power of names and mere
words, which, going back to Egyptian antiquity, is
strongly marked in the New Testament — and hence
naturally influences modern scholars — but is en-
tirely foreign to the Old Testament. The verses vi.
2 et seq. are likewise interpreted wrongly. (2) An
entirely insufficient argument is the alleged further
variations of the language ; for this presupposes the
point to be proved. This argument turns in a cir-
cle: the critics seek to prove differ-
Errors ent sources by the variations of lan-
of Critical guage, and vice versa. Moreover, the
School. vocabulary is too limited for such as-
sertions. (3) The differences of style
and treatment do not indicate different authors, but
are called forth by the different subjects. The account
of the Tabernacle demanded technical details ; while
the stories of the deliverance from Egypt and of the
revelation on Sinai prompted a strong, energetic, and
thoughtful style. A separation into JE and P is
not admissible. (4) All suggestions of reduplica-
tions, differences, and contradictions show an insuffi-
cient insight into the spirit and intentions of the
author. Ch. i.-vi., for example, appear, on close
investigation, to be an indissolublj- united passage,
from which not one word may be omitted. The same
holds good of the story of the Egyptian miracles
(vii.-xi.), the arrangement of which the critics have
entirely misunderstood. The critics have refuted
their own argument by making as a criterion of
the division of this narrative into J and E the very
want of definite scheme which is, according to them,
characteristic of J and E.
v.— 20
The Book of the Covenant (xix.-xxiv.) is a uni-
fied piece of work, with logical connections that are
admirably established. The alleged double tradition
of the revelation, and especially Wellhausen's so-
called second Decalogue in ch. xxxiv., are mere fig-
ments of the brain. The inadequacy of these criti-
cisms is most striking in the review of the account
of the Tabernacle, in the sequence of the passages
XXV. -xxxi. and xxxv.-xl. and their connection with
xxxii. -xxxiv. (o) The theory that the book was
compiled from previous works is not sufiiciently
supported; and the attempt to analyze it into its
component parts is a hopeless one, for all the ele-
ments of the book are closely welded together into
one harmonious whole. Compare Deuteronomy.
Bibliography: The commentaries: M. Kalisch, 1&5.5; A.
Knobel, 1857 (2d ed. bv A. Dillmann. 1K80 ; 3d ed. bv V. Ilvssel,
1897); J. P. Lange, 1874 ; Rawlinsou,2ded., 1882; H.L.Strack,
1894 : B. Baentsch, 1899.
Criticism: Th. Noldeke, Untersuchungen zur Kritik des
AUen TestamciiL% 1869; Colenso, The Pentateuch and Book
of Joshua, vi., 1872; A. Kayser, Das VorexiUsche liuch
der Urgesch. Israeli und Seine Erweiteningen. 1874; Well-
hausen. Die Composition des Hexateuch und der Histori-
schen Bllcher des Alten Testaments, 1876-77. 2d ed. 1889 ; A.
Jiillcher, Die Quellen von Exodus, i.-vii. 7, 1880 ; idem. Die
Quellen von Exodus, vii. S-xxiv. 11, in Jahrb. fllr Proten-
tanti^che Tlieologie, 1882, viii. 79-177, 272-315; A. Kuenen, in
Theologische Tijdschrift, 1880, xiv. 281-302 (Ex. xvi.); ib.
1881, XV. 164-223 (Israel at Sinai, Ex. xix.-xxiv., xxxii. -xxxiv.);
Cornill, in Stade's Zeitsc)irift, 1881, xi. (on the relation of Ex.
xvli. 1-7 to Num. xx. 1-13); E. Bertbeau, Die Sieben Gruppen
Mosaischer (iesetze, etc., 1840 ; Bruston, Les Qnatre Sources
des Lois de VExode, in Bevue de Theologie et de PInlosojjhie,
1883, xvi. 329-369; idem, Des Cinq Documents de la Loi Mo-
sa'ique, 1892; J. W. Rothstein, Dos Bxtndesbuch und die Re-
ligionsgesch. EntwickeJu7}g Israels, 1888 (designates Ex. xxi.
et seq. as a commentary to the Decalogue); Budde, Die Gesetz-
gebung der yiittlercn BUchcr des Pentateuch. Insbesondere
der QxieUen J tind E, in Stade's Zeitschrift, 1891, xi. 193-
234; idem, Bemerkungen z^im B^indesbuch, in ib. pp. 99
et seq.; B. W. Bacon, JE in the Middle Books of the Penta-
teuch, in Jour. Bib. ijf. 1890, ix a, 161-200 (Ex. vli.-xii.); ib.
1891, X b, 107-130 (Ex.l.-vii.); ib. xi b. 1892, 177-200 (Ex. xil.
37-xvii. 16); ib. 1893, xii a, 23-40 (Ex. xviii.-xxxiv.); idem.
The Triple Tradition of the Exodus, Hartford, 1894; B.
Baentsch. Das Bundesbtich, 1892 (Ex. xx. 2;i-xxiii. 83); L. B.
Paton, Ttie Original Form of the Book of the Covenant, in
Jour. Bib. Lit. 1893, xii b, 79-93 ; Briggs, Higher Criticism
of the Hexateuch, 1893, Appendix, vi.; Idem, The Greater
Book of the Covenant, etc., pp. 211-2:j2; R. Kraetzschmar,
Die Buhdesvorstellung im A. T. 1896, pp. 70-99 ; Steuernagel,
Der Jehovistisclte Bericltt i'tber den Bundesschluss am Sinai
(Ex. xix.-xxiv., xxxi. 18, xxxiv. 28j, in Studien und Kri-
tiken, 1899. p. 319.
On the Decalogue in particular : Franz Delitzsch, Der De-
kalog in Exodus umi Deuteronomium, iu Zeit,vchriTt fllr
Kircldiche Wissenschaft, 1882, iii. 281-299; O. Naumann, Der
Dekalog und das Sinaitische Bundesbxich, ib. 1888, pp. 551-
571 ; C. G. MonteQore, Recent Ci'iticism upon Moses and the
Pentateuchal Narratives of the Decalogue, in J. Q. R. 1891,
xi. 251-291 ; Briggs, Tlie Higher Criticism, Appendix, iii. 181-
187 ; O. Meissner, Dir Dekalog, 1893.
On the question of the division of the Ten Commandments :
Dillmann, (.c. p. 221. On the Tabernacle: J. Popper, Der
Biblische Bericht il7>er die Stiftshiittc, 1862; Delitzsch, in
Zeitschrift filr Kirchliche Wissenscliaft und Kiirhliches
Leben, 1880, i. .57-66. 622; Green, in Presbyterian ami Re-
formed Review, v. 69-88; A. Klostermann, in Neuc Kirch-
liche Zeitschrift, 1897, pp. 48-77, 228-253, 289-328, 353-383;
introductions by Kuenen. Cornill, Strack, Driver, Konig, Bau-
dissin, and especially Holzinger, Einleitung in de/i Hexa-
teuch, 1893.
B. J.
EXOGAMY. See Marriage.
EXORCISM: The expulsion of evil spirits by
spells; in Greek fK,'?(i/.A«v(Matt. viii. 16, 31 ;ix. 34, 38;
Marki. 34, 38; ix. 38; Luke xiii. 32; and elsewhere).
See Demonology; and compare the sorcerj'-papy-
rus in Paris, line 1257, eKSaletv mv 6ia^olov and
dia^o'Aov EKlialT^ovaa. In Hebrew only XV = " go out "
occurs (Me'i. 17b; 'Ab. Zarah 55b; Greek i^fp.-de).
The demon was cast out by exorcism, for which
the Greek term i^opKiCu (from t^opKdu, e^opKtar^c,
Exorcism
Expectation of Life
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
306
only Acts xix. 13) and the Hebrew yat^Tl are
used. In the Bible the melancholia of King Saul
is ascribed to an evil spirit, which David, by
his harp playing, drives away. The word "bi'et"
(terrify) was still used in the fourth century of our
era as a term to express the troubled state which pre-
cedes that of being possessed (I Sam. xvi. 14-23 ; com-
pare Meg. 3a, bottom). The angel Raphael teaches
Tobit how to ban the evil spirit (Tobit vi. 7, 16, 17;
viii. 3 ; see Tobit and Testament of Solomon).
Josephus ("Ant." viii. 2, § 5) relates:
" I have seen a certain man of my own country, whose name
was Eleazar, releasing people that were demoniacal, in the pres-
ence of Vespasian and his sons and his captains and the whole
multitude of his soldiers. The manner of the cure was this :
He put a ring that had a root of one of those sorts mentioned by
Solomon to the nostrils of the demoniac, after which he drew
out the demon through his nostrils ; and when the man fell
down, immediately he abjured him to return into him no more,
still making mention of Solomon, and reciting the incantations
which he composed. And when Eleazar would persuade and
demonstrate to the spectators that he had such a power, be set a
little way off a cup or basin full of water, and commanded the
demon, as he went out of the man, to overturn it, and thereby
let the spectators know that he had left the man ; and when
this was done the skill and wisdom of Solomon were shown very
manifestly." See Ba'aras.
Rabbi Johanan ben Zakkai, a contemporary of
Josephus, alludes to the practise of exorcism by say-
ing : " Has an evil spirit never entered
Exorcism into you? Have you never seen a
in person into whom an evil spirit had
Rabbinical entered? What should be done with
Literature, one so affected ? Take roots of herbs,
burn them under him, and surroimd
him with water, whereupon the spirit will flee "
(Pesik. , ed. Buber, 40a). R. Akiba (d. 132), in speak-
ing of diseases, uses the technical terms of exorcism
('Ab. Zarah 55b). Simon ben Yohai drove out the
demon Ben Temalion from the daughter of a
Roman emperor (Me'i. 17b).
According to the statements in the Talmud, cures
by exorcism were especially common in JudiBO-
Christian circles. Mention is several times made of
a certain Jacob of Sekanya (see Jacob
Jewish. THE Gnostic), who desired to cure in
Christi- the name of Jesus one who had been
anity. bitten by a snake; R. Ishmael, how-
ever, would not permit it, preferring
rather to let his sister's son die (Tosef., Hul. ii. 22).
Origen says ("Contra Celsum," iii. 24) that he saw
people cured of dangerous diseases — of possession,
madness, and other ills — simply by calling .on the
names of God and Jesus, and that otherwise neither
men nor demons could cure them. Christianity has
preserved this belief up to the present day, for ex-
orcism still forms a part of the rite of baptism
(Herzog-Hauck, "Real-Encyc." v. 695-700; Hast-
ings, "Diet. Bible," i. 811 et seq. ; Winer, "B. R." i.
161-165; Acts xix. 13-16).
An interesting recipe is given in a Greek papyrus
(see Dietrich, "Abraxas," pp. 138 c^ seq.). In order
to drive out a demon one must take
Sorcery an unripe olive, together with certain
Papyri. plants, and murmur some magic words
over them, among the words used be-
ing mw, the Greek equivalent of the Hebraic Tet-
ragrammaton. The exorcist says: "Go out ['de-
mon '] from
Thereupon a phylactery is
made from a piece of tin and is himg from the
neck of the one possessed. The exorcist places
himself in front of the possessed one and begins as
follows: "I conjure thee in the name of the God of
the Hebrews, Jesus, Jahaia," etc. The spirit is then
conjured by a god, whose epithets are taken chiefly
from the Bible. A shorter but similar exorcism is
found in the same papyrus (lines 1225 et seq.). Com-
pare also the Babylonian exorcisms cited in Wolil-
stein's "Damonenbeschworungen auf Babylonischen
Thongefassen des Koniglichen Museums in Berlin "
(Berlin, 1894), and in Stilbe's " Jildisch-Babylonische
Zaubertexte " (Halle, 1895).
Mysticism existed in all ages as an undercurrent,
but in the thirteenth and following centuries it came
to the surface. While in Spain, southern France,
and Italy wide circles were opposing superstition and
exorcism (see Jacob Anatoli, "Malmad," pp. 68a,
184a, Lyck, 1866), German Judaism, saturated with
ignorance and mysticism, adopted with other super-
stitious customs the exorcistic method of working
cures. The "Book of the Pious" (S 462) states:
" Whoever wishes to cure one possessed must re-
peat the magic formula nine times, as is done in
Germany, where they count nine knots ; or else he
must cure him with rods of nine kinds of wood, or
with turnips, which should be hung around the
invalid " (Glidemann, " Geschichte des Erziehungs-
wesens und der Cultur." i. 202, 205, 216).
At the close of the Middle Ages, and even in the
first centuries of the modern era, the Cabala obtained
more and more influence over people's minds, and as
a consequence the belief in exorcism increased. In
the " Zera' Kodesh " (Flirth, 1696) a regular method
for driving out demons is cited ; this superstition
still exists in Hasidic circles, just as it prevails
among civilized Arians and Semites. It is a note-
worthy fact that a Hebrew proselyte in olden times
was not exorcised at baptism (Herzog-Hauck, I.e. v.
696). Curtiss relates (" Primitive Semitic Religion
of To-day," p. 152) that a few years ago a woman
was exorcised in Palestine, and that the evil spirit
when questioned replied that he was the spirit of
a Jew murdered in Nablus twelve years before.
The belief that the possessing spirit is often the
soul of a wicked or a murdered person unable to
find rest is frequently held.
Bibliography : Blau, Das Altjildische Zauberweseriy Stras-
burg, 1898: Wessely, Griechische Zauberpapyrus von Paris
wnd London, Vienna, 1888; idem, Neue (rriechische Zaw-
berpapiiri, ib. 1893 ; Dietrich, Abraxas, Leipsic, 1871 ; Alex-
ander W. M. Menz, Demonic Possession in the N. T., Edin-
burgh, 1902; Giidemann, Gesch. des Erziehiingswesens und
der Cultur; Tylor, Primitive CuUtn-e; Lehmann, Aber-
glauhe und Zauberei, Stuttgart, 1898; Budge, Egyptian
Magic, London, 1899; Strauss, Leben Jesu, 4th ed., ii.,
Tubingen, 1840.
K. L. B.
EXPECTATION OF LIFE: The expected
duration of life after any given age, estimated ac-
cording to fixed tables of mortality based on the
mean number of years which individuals, under
various conditions, have been found to live. The
earliest important contribution to the subject is the
work (1855) of De Neufville on the mortality of
Frankfort-on-the-Main during the three years 1846-
1848, derived from a total mortality of 3,213 among
307
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Exorcism
Expectation of Life
Christians and 263 among Jews. A more recent in-
vestigation was publislied as part of the census of
1890, entitled "Vital Statistics of the Jews in tlie
United States," being the partial results of a special
inquiry, made under the direction of Dr. John S.
Billings, formerly assistant surgeon-general of the
United States and an authority on hygiene, of about
10,000 Jewish families in the United States. Both
investigations fall short of the necessary degree of
scientific accuracy with which such tables of mor-
tality and life -expectancy are prepared for life-in-
surance purposes. Their value is impaired by the
fact that the method adopted for the calciilation of
the tables was not stated.
De Neufville's tables have found their way into
almost every treatise on the comparative mortality of
Jews and Christians. His tables, excepting No. 15,
where the numbers of those surviving to different
ages are shown in a comparison between the Christian
and Jewish populations, are mostly limited to a per-
centage statement of deaths at different periods of
life. Table No. 15, which is as follows, must not be
confused with a table showing the expected after-
lifetime :
Calculation, at Equal Ages, of the Number
OF Christians and Jews, out of 1,000 of
Each Born, Surviving to Specified Ages
(1846^8).
Ages
Attalued.
Christians.
Jews.
Ages
Attained.
Christians.
Jews.
10
20
30
40
736
691
567
461
867
827
734
639
50
60
70
80
90
351
248
134
37
2
540
441
274
69
4
This table leads to the conclusion that the expec-
tation of life w'as much more favorable for the Jew-
ish population of Frankfort at that period than for
the Christian. AVhile in the main the conclusions of
Table Showing the Numbers of Jews, out op
100,000 Born, Surviving to Given Ages,
Compared with the Corresponding Num-
bers OF Non-Jewish Inhabitants op Massa-
chusetts.
Ages.
Jews-
-1889.
Non-Jews In Massa-
chusetts
(1878-82).
Male.
Female.
Male.
Female.
0
50,684
41,731
39,849
38,592
37,314
35,474
3:3,788
29,188
21,8:36
13,391
108
49,316
42,326
40,829
39,698
36,451
33,563
30,613
26,405
14,742
7,492
468
51,2.53
36,727
at„543
32,02:3
29,2^)8
26,239
22,668
17,.585
10,168
2,951
1&5
48,747
5
36,361
15
34,121
25
31.290
35
28,171
45
55
25,244
22,114
65
17,740
75
11,243
85
3,950
95
358
De Neufville fairly coincide with general observa-
tions derived from mortality tables, they do not
warrant tiie extravagant opinions usually based
upon his tables. His general conclusions, derived
from a percentage distribution of deaths at different
ages, are inaccurate and misleading. The metiiod
adopted by him was crude and defective in theory,
and therefore the value of this contribution to the
literature of Jewish longevity is materially im-
paired. Census Bulletin No. 19, references to v/hich
are found in nearly all recent works on Jewish pa-
thology and longevity, is open to criticisms similar
to those directed against De Neufville's work. The
same fundamental error was committed in not sta-
ting in detail the method adopted for the calculation
of the life-tables, (1) for the year 1889, (2) for the
five years 1885-89. The essential facts as derived
from the bulletin are set forth in the above table
for the year 1889, which gives evidence of greater
accuracy than the table based upon five years of
observation.
The expectation of life for these Jews as compared
with the expectation for other populations is set forth
in Table No. 9 of the bulletin, which, in a recon-
structed form, is given below. Comparison is made
of the expectation of life among Jews with that of
the general population of Massachusetts and New
South Wales, two exceptionally healthful regions
representing conditions rather above the average.
Expectation op Years of Life.
Males.
Females.
Ages.
Jews
U.S.
1889.
Mass.
1893-97.
New
South
Wales,
1890-91.
Jews
U.S.
1889.
Mass.
1893-97.
New
South
Wales,
1890-91.
0
57.14
64.09
61.11
56.93
52.59
48.60
44.73
40.13
36.17
31.97
27.40
23.26
19.09
15.97
12.08
9.33
7.12
2.85
44.09
,52.88
49.33
4.5.07
41.20
37.68
34.28
30.87
27.41
23.93
20.53
17.33
14.38
11.70
9.34
7.37
5.70
4.31
3.16
2.22
49.60
54.90
50.89
46.40
42.16
38.16
34.30
30.51
26.84
23.27
19.82
16.58
13.60
10.97
8.64
6.51
5.00
3.44
2.54
55.39
.59.34
56.02
51.39
46.78
42.68
39.82
36.09
31.98
28.69
24.88'
20.97
17.58
13.58
11.88
10.45
7.93
.5.64
3.05
2.50
46.61
54.17
50.70
46.53
42.79
39.29
a5.85
32.43
29.00
25.54
22.10
18.81
15.74
12.90
10.36
8.29
8.56
5.07
3.73
2.60
52.90
5
57.42
10
53.39
15
48.78
20
44.46
25
40.34
yO
36.42
3.)
32.64
40
29.00
4.)
25.34
50
21.61
55
17.92
60
14.51
6")
11.41
70
8.64
75
6.47
80
504
85
3.73
90
2.64
95
The table for 1889 may be accepted as approxi-
mately accurate. The cumulative effect of superior
longevity must necessarily be quite considerable, and
the relative increase in the Jewish population must
therefore be much larger than the increase in the gen-
eral population. In marked contrast to the general
experience, this table shows that male Jews are
likely to live longer than female Jews. On the
whole these tables are approximate indications of
superior vitality and resulting longevity among the
Jewish population. More definite evidence is fur-
nished by comparative mortality rates, in particular
by the data published for Budapest under the di-
rection of Dr. Joseph Korosi. The insurance as-
sociations of the Jews in the United States have
Sybeschutz
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
308
never made known the results of their experience,
but the published data as to average ages at death,
average duration of membership, mortuary cost,
death rate, etc. , support the conclusion that the Jews
in this country, as well as abroad, enjoy a longevity
superior to that of the Christian population.
J. F. G. H.
EXPRESSION. See Typks.
EYBESCHiJTZ (or EYBESCHITZ), JONA-
THAN: German rabbi and Talmudist ; born in Cra-
cow about the
year 1690 ; died in
Altona Sept. 18,
1764. His father,
Nathan (Nata),
who was a grand-
son of the cabalis-
tic author Nathan
Spira, Avas called
as rabbi to Eiben-
schitz, Moravia,
about 1700, where
he died about 1702
in early manhood
(on the conrtictiug
reports in regard
to the date of his
death see Dembit-
zer, "Kelilat Yo-
fi," pp. lis etseq.,
Cracow, 1888).
Jonathan was then
sent to the yeshi-
bah of Meir Eisen-
stadt, who was
then rabbi of
Prossnitz, and la-
ter to the yeshibah
of Holleschau,
where a relative,
Eliezer ha - Levi
Oettingen, was
rabbi. After the
1 a 1 1 e r ' s death
(1710)Eybeschutz
went to Vienna,
where Samson
Wertheimer in-
tended to marry
him to his daugh-
ter. He thence
went to Prague,
where he married
Elkele, daughter
of Rabbi Isaac
Spira; and later on he resided two years at Hamburg
in the house of Mordecai ha-Kohen, his wife's mater-
nal grandfatlier. About 1714 he returned to Prague,
where he became preacher, probably in succession to
Asher Spira, who died in that year (Hock, " Die Fami-
lien Prags," p. 381, Presburg, 1892). Here he soon
became popular (see Nehemiah Reischcr's letter to
Jacob Emden, in the latter's "Sefat Emet," p. lib,
Lemberg, 1877); but he also incurred the enmity
of some of the family and admirers of the former
4>v^
Jonathan Eybeschutz (with Autograph).
(AfUT a portrait liy Gutekunst.)
rabbi, Abraham Broda ("Bene Ahubah," 15b; see
Dembitzer, ib. p. 120a), among them being Jacob
Reischer, and David Oppenheimer, chief rabbi of
f*rague. These personal animosities were most likely
responsible for the fact that about 1725 Jonathan was
accused of sympathy with the followers of Shabbe-
thai Zebi, who were still very active. Jonathan took
an oath that the accusation was false, and with the
other members of the Prague rabbinate signed the ex-
communication of the followers of Shabbethai Zebi.
Believing that his prospects in Prague were poor,
he made an effort,
upon the death of
Jacob Reischer
(1733), to secure
the rabbinate of
Metz. On this oc-
casion he failed,
but after Jacob
Joshua, who had
succeeded Rei-
scher, had gone to
Frankfort-on-the-
Main, Eybeschutz
again became a
candidate, and
was elected (1741).
But in Metz, as in
Prague, his con-
gregation divided
into enthusias-
tic admirers and
bitter enemies.
When in 1746 he
was elected rabbi
by the congrega-
tion of Fiirth, the
]V[ e t z congrega-
tion would not
release him from
h i s contract. In
1750 he became
chief rabbi of
Altona, Hamburg,
and Wandsbeck.
From that time
he became a cen-
tral figure in Jew-
ish history. Short-
ly after his arrival
in Altona a rumor
began to spread
that he still be-
lieved in the Mes-
sianic mission of
Shabbethai Zebi.
In substantiation of this charge a number of "ke-
me'ot " (see Amulet) were produced wliich, it was al-
leged, he had given to sick people in Metz and Al-
tona, and the text of which, tliough partly in cipher,
admitted of no other explanation than that given by
his enemies. The inscription read substantially as
follows: "In the name of Jahve, the God of Israel,
who dwelleth in the beauty of His strength, the God
of His anointed one Shabbethai Zebi, who with the
breath of His lips shall slay the wicked, I decree and
309
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Eybeschiitz
command that no evil spirit plague, or accident
harm, the bearer of this amulet " (Emden, " Scfat
Emet," beginning). These amulets were brought to
Jacob Emden, who claimed to have been ignorant of
the accusations, although they had been for several
months the gossip of the congregation. In his pri-
vate synagogue, which was in his house, he declared
that while he did not accuse the chief rabbi of this
lieres}', the writer of these amulets was evidently a
believer in Shabbethai Zebi (Feb. 4, 17.11). The
trustees of the congregation, who sided with their
rabbi, at once gave orders to close Jacob Emden 's
synagogue. Emden wrote to his brolher-in-law,
AuYEii Lob, chief rabbi of Amsterdam, and to vari-
ous rabbis who were outspoken enemies of Eybe
schlitz, among them Jacob Joshua of Frankfort,
Samuel Helman (Eybeschutz's successor in Metz),
and Nehemiah Reischer, rabbi of Kriechingen in
Lorraine, formerly Eybeschiitz's admirer, but now
his bitterest enem}'. All of these pronounced Eybe-
schutz a dangerous heretic, unfit to hold any rabbin-
ical office.
However, the trustees of the Altona congregation
declared Emden a disturber of the peace, against
whom drastic measures should be taken; and the
followers of Eybeschlltz assumed such
The a threatening attitude that Emden was
Dispute compelled to flee to Amsterdam (^lay
About 22, 1751). There he brought charges
Amulets, against his enemies before the Danish
courts, with the result that the congre-
gation of Altona was ordered to stop all proceedings
against him. In Hamburg the conflict assumed such
proportions that the Senate issued strong orders to
make an end of the troubles, which were disturbing
the public peace (May 1, 1752, and Aug. 10, 1753;
see " Allg. Zeit. des Jud. " 1858, pp. 520 et seq. ). Em-
den returned to Altona Aug. 3, 1752; and in Decem-
ber of the same year the courts ordered that nothing
should be published concerning the amulets. Mean-
while Eybeschiitz's popularity had waned; the Sen-
ate of Hamburg suspended him, and many members
of that congregation demanded that he should submit
his case to rabbinical authorities. "Kurze Nach-
rieht von dem Falschen Messias Sabbathai Zebhi,"
etc. (Wolfenbilttel, 1752), by Moses Gershon ha-
Kohen(Carl Anton), a convert to Christianit}', but a
former disciple of Eybeschlltz, was evidently an
inspired apology. Emden and his followers, in
spite of the roj-al edict, published a number of po-
lemical pamphlets, and Eybeschlltz answered in his
"Luhot 'Edut" (1755), which consists of a long in-
troduction by himself, and a number of letters by
liis admirers denouncing as slanders the accusations
brought against him.
His friends, however, were most numerous in
Poland, and the Council of Four Lands excommu
nicated all those who said anything derogatory to
the rabbi. A year after the publication of the
"Luhot 'Edut "he was recognized by the King of
Denmark and the Senate of Hamburg as chief rabbi
of the united congregations of Hamburg-Altona-
Wandsbeck. From that time on, respected and be-
loved, he lived in peace. His enemy Emden testifies
to the sincere grief of the congregation at the death
of Eybeschiitz ("Megillat Sefer," p. 208). Even
the notorious extravagances and the subsequent fail-
ure in business of his youngest son, "Wolf, seem not
to have affected the high esteem in which the father
was held.
Eybeschutz's memory was revered not only by
his disciples, some of whom, like Meshullam Zalmaa
ha-Kohen, rabbi of Filrth, became prominent rabbis
and authors, but also by those who were not under
personal obligations to him, such as Mordecai Benet,
who speaks in the most enthusiastic terms of him in
his approbation to the "Bene Ahubah," and Moses
Sofer, who tries to defend him in a case where he
committed a very bad blunder (Hatam Sofer, Yoreh
De'ah, No. 69). With regard to Eybeschiitz's actual
attitude toward the Shabbethai Zebi heresy, it isdiffl-
i
Amulet Prepared by Jonathan Eybeschiitz.
(In the colleLtion of Albert Wolf, Dresden.)
cult to say how far the suspicions of his enemies were
justified. On the one hand it can not be denied that
the amulets which he wrote contain expressions sug-
gestive of belief in the Messiahship of Shabbethai
Zebi ; but on the other hand it is strange that the ac-
cusations came only from jealous enemies. Jacob
Emden himself speaks of a rumor to the effect that
even before Eybeschiitz went to Altona he (Emden)
had expressed himself in terms which showed a de-
termination to persecute the successor of his father in
the office of chief rabbi (-'Megillat Sefer," p. 176);
and although he indignantly denies this rumor, he
speaks in another place of the chief rabbinate of
Altona as " the heritage of my fathers " {ib. p. 209).
Eybeschutz's works, given in the order of their
publication, are as follows :
17.j5. Luhot 'Edut. Altona.
1765. Keretl u-Peletl, novellas on Shulhan 'Aruk, Yoreh De'ah.
Altona.
Taryap Mizwot, the 613 commandments in rimed acrostics.
Prague. '
1773. Tif'tTet Yisrael, notes on the rabbinical laws regarding
menstruation, with additions by the editor, Israel,
grandson of the author and rabbi of Lichtenstadt.
1775. Urim we-Tuuiniim. novellae to Shulhan 'Aruk, Hoshen
Mishpat. Caiisruhe.
1779-62. Va'arot Debash, sermons, edited by his nephew Jacob
ben Judah Lob of Wojslaw. Carlsruhe.
1796. Binah la-'Ittim, notes on the section of the " Tad " dealing
Eye
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
310
with the holy days, edited by the author's disciple Hillel
of Stampferi. Vienna.
1799. Hiddushim 'al Hilkot Yom-Tob, edited by Joseph of Trop-
pau. It is in substance the same as the last-named work,
but differs from it in wording, and contains in addition
Maimonides' text. Both therefore present not a work
of the author, but notes taken from his lectures. Berlin.
1817. Sar ha-Alef, novellae on Shulhan 'Aruk, Orah Hayyim.
Warsaw.
1819. Bene Ahubah, on the matrimonial laws in the " Yad," ed-
ited by his grandson Gabriel Eybeschutz. Prague.
1825. Tif'eret Yehonatan, homilies on the Pentateuch (n.d.,
though 1825 is probably correct). Zolkiev.
1862. Perush 'al Piska Had Gadya, a liomiletical interpretation
of the " Had Gadya." Lemberg.
1869. Notes on the Haggadah, edited by Moses Zaloshin. Pres-
burg.
1891. Shem '01am, letters on the Cabala, edited by A. S. Weiss-
mann. Vienna.
A commentary on Lamentations under the title " Allon Ba-
l£ut," and homilies on the Pentateuch under the title " Keshet
Yehonatan," are extant In manuscript in the Bodleian Library
(Neubauer, " Cat. Bodl. Hebr. MSS." pp. 50 et seq.).
Bibliography; G. Klemperer, Hayye Yehonatan: Rabbi
Jonathan Eihen.'^chU.tz ; eine Biogi-aphische Skizze,Pragiie,
1858 (reprinted In Brandeis" Jlidittche Universalbibliothek
vols. 91 -93, Prague, n.d.); Ehrentheil, JUdviche Charaktcr-
bilder, Budapest, 1867 ; Isaac Gastfreund, SeferAnshe Shem,
Lyck. 1879; J. Cohn, Ehrenrettung des R. Jonathan Eibc-
schitz ; cin Bcitrag zurKritik des Oriitz^schen Geschichts-
loei-ka^, in Sefer 'Ale Siah, BUltter aus der Michael Da-
vid'schen Stiftung. Hanover, 1870; Gratz, Gesch. 3d ed., x.
315 et geq.; Fuenn, Keneset Yisi'ael, pp. 425 et seq.; Jacob
Emden's autobiography, Megillat Sefei; Warsaw, 1896. The
bibliography on the controversy between Emden and Eybe-
schiitz is given in Gratz, Gesch. x. 507 et seq.
s. s.
D.
EYE (py). — Biblical Data : This iraportant
organ is mentioned more than 800 times in the Bible,
but is described only in its extei\Qal appearance and
significance, according to the experience of daily
life. The following parts are mentioned: the eye-
ball ("bat 'ayin" = "girl of the eye," "little doll";
Lam. ii. 18; "babat 'ayin," Zech. ii. 12; comp. Levy,
"Glial. Worterb." i. 419b); the pupil ("ishon" =
" little man," whose image appears in the eye as in a
mirror; Deut. xxxii. 10; Ps. xvii. 8; Prov. vii. 2,
comp. Prov. vii: 9, xx. 20); the eye-socket ("hor";
Zech. xiv. 2); the eyelashes (" 'ap'appayim "; Ps. xi.
4 ; Prov. vi. 25 ; by synecdoche — " the eye " ; comp.
Job xli. 10) ; the eyelids (" shemurot " ; Ps. Ixxvii 5) ,
and the eyebrows ("gabbot 'enaw"; Lev. xiv 9).
The eye of the Oriental is not only large, but it is
also very strong. It appears from Gen. xxix. 17 that
weak ej'es were an exception. Near-sightedness
far-sightedness, and weak-sightedness are not men-
tioned. The eye became weak, heavy, or fixed
in old age (Gen. xxvii. i. ; Deut. xxxiv. 10, I Sam.
iv. 15; compare al.so Eccl. xii. 3). The sight was
also impaired by sorrow and misfortune (Ps. vi. 8,
xxxi. 10, Ixxxviii. 10; Job xvii. 7). The eye is the
source of tears ( Jer. viii. 23) ; and tears flowed often
and copiously (Lam. i. 16; iii. 48, 49; Ps. cxix. 136),
iniuring and even ruining the eyes (Lam. ii. 11, iii.
51 ; I Sam. ii. 33 ; Jer. xiv. 6). Sorrow dims and
obscures the eyes (Lev. xxvi. 16; Deut. xxviii. 32,
65; Job xxxi. 16; Lam. v. 17); while under favora-
ble circumstances they light up (I Sam. xiv. 27, 29).
The eye is said to be affected by emotions in general
(Ps. Ixix. 4; cxix. 82, 132). The fat eye of persons
addicted to high living protrudes (Ps. Ixxiii. 7);
much drinking of wine makes the eye deep red
(Gen. xlix. 12; Prov. xxiii. 29). The son closed the
eyes of his dead parent (Gen. xlvi. 4).
How far blindness — very frequent in antiquity —
prevailed in ancient Israel can not be determined
from the references found in the Bible. Blind per-
sons are spoken of comparatively seldom (see Jew.
Encyc. iii. 248, s.v. Blind, The). If a priest be-
came blind or had a spot on his eye
Diseases ("teballul be-'eno"; Lev. xxi. 20), he
and Care of was not allowed to officiate at the sac-
the Eye. rifice. Diseases of the eye were not
recognized as such, since the oculist's
art was not at all developed among any ancient peo-
ple except the Egyptians; hence nothing has been
transmitted on this point, and the nature of the
diseases mentioned cannot be definitely determined.
The reference to the " shut " eyes (Isa. xliv. 18) in-
dicates that an inflammation of the eyes is generally
meant; and the same may be assumed from the ex-
pressions used to denote " opening the eyes " (Isa.
xlii. 7, xxix. 19, xxxv. 5; comp. ib. xliii. 8; Num.
xxii. 31; Ps. cxix. 18). The original inhabitants
of Palestine are called figuratively "pricks" and
"thorns" in the eyes (Num. xxxiii. 55; Josh, xxiii.
13). In regard to the care of the eyes, it is said that
smoke injures them (Prov. x. 26). Women used a
cosmetic for the eye consisting of a mixture of
plumbagin and zinc, which they applied to the
inner surface of the eyelids in such a way as to
produce a narrow black rim, making the eyes appear
larger (II Kings ix. 30; Jer. iv. 30; Isa. liv. 11;
Ezek. xxiii. 40).
The barbaric custom of putting out the eyes
was practised quite frequently. Samson was
blinded by the Philistines, and King Zedekiah by
the Babylonians (Judges xvi. 21; II Kings xxv. 7,
Jer. xxxix. 7, Iii. 11). The Ammonites consented
to make peace with the inhabitants of
Blinding- Jabesh only on condition that all of
as a Pun- them would submit to having their
ishment. right eyes " thrust out " (I Sam. xi. 2).
The " lex talionis " is expressed by the
phrase "eye for eye" (Ex. xxi. 24; Lev. xxiv. 20;
l.»eut. xix. 21 ; comp. Ex. xxi. 26). The custom of
putting out the eyes was so widely spread that it be-
came a figurative term for deceiving (Niim. xvi. 14).
The ancient Israelites had very expressive eyes.
Desire, love, hatred, pride, etc., were all expressed in
the eye; and in the Hebrew language are found sep-
arate terms for all modes of seeing and
Emotional not seeing (Gen. iii. 6; Num. xv. 39;
Sig- I Kings ix. 3; II Chron. xvi. 9; Jobx.
nificance of 4, xv. 2, xvi. 9, xxxi. 7, xxxix. 29; Ps.
the Eye. x. 8, xxxv. 19; Prov. vi. 13, x. 10,
xxiii. 5, xxviii. 27, xxx. 13; Eccl. ii.
10; Cant. iv. 9; Ecclus. [Sirach] xxvi. 29, xxvii. 22;
Isa. iii. 16, vi. 10; Ezek. vi. 9, xxii. 26; God's eye,
Ps. xciv. 9). According to Ecclus. (Sirach) xxiii.
19, God's eye is 10,000 times brighter than the sun.
Good will and malevolence are mirrored in the eye
(Prov. xxii. 9, xxiii. 6; I Sam. xviii. 9; Deut. xv.
9; xxviii. 54, 56). The raising of the eyes expressed
a wish, as it still does among children (Ps. cxxiii. 1 ;
Isa. xxx viii. 14). " Eye " is often used metaphorically
(Ex. x. 5, 15 and Num. xxii. 5 [" the eye (= " face ")
of the earth"]; Prov. i. 17 ["the eye (= "sight")
of any bird"]; Cant. 1. 15, iv. 1, v. 12 ["eyes
of doves"]; Ezek. i. 4, 7; x. 9 ["like the eye
811
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Eye
(= "color") of amber," etc.] ; Zech. ix. 1 ["the eyes
(= "sight") of all men"]).
E. G. H.
In Rabbinical Literature : Much more was
known regarding the anatomy and physiology of
the eye during the period of tradition in the cen-
turies immediately preceding and succeeding the
beginning of the common era tiian in Biblical
times. The eyeball of man is round, while that of a
beast is oblong. It consists of a dark and a white
mass sejiarated from each other by a narrow rim.
The white part preponderates in the human eye,
while the black preponderates in the eyes of
beasts. The white is derived from the father; the
black, from the mother. The black part is tiie
means of sight. Eyes and eyesight differ in size
and strength in various persons. "Persons with
large eyes often have a peculiar expression. Heavy
eyelids droop. The eyebrows are sometimes close
to the eye ; sometimes they are so long that they
hang far down the face; and again there are no eye-
brows at all. The eyelashes also may be heavy or
sparse, or there may be none at all. Sometimes the
eyes are very deeply set, a formation that may be
regarded as a bodily defect" (Rosenzweig, "Das
Auge in Bibel und Talmud," pp. 13, 19).
Pain in the eyes is dangerous, as the sight is con-
nected with the heart ('Ab. Zarah 28b). Some kinds
of food are beneficial and others harmful to the
siglit. Fine bread and old wine are good for the
eyes, as well as for the entire body. Rapid walking
consumes one five-hundredth part of the sight.
Much talking hurts one whose eyes are affected.
Dirt is harmful, and many diseases are caused by
touching the eyes with unwashed hands. The salt
taken from the Dead Sea is especially dangerous.
The eyes of the inhabitants of Palmyra twitch be-
cause they live in a sandy region (Rosenzweig, I.e.
pp. 20 et seq.). Water is excellent for the eyes. A
drop of cold water in the eyes in the
Care and morning and washing the hands and
Diseases of feet at night are better than all the eye-
tlie Eye. salves in the world (Shab. 78a, 108b).
Tears contain salt in order that they
may not flow unrestrictedly in sorrow and distress,
which would be very injurious. Tears produced by
smoke or weeping injure the eye, while those that
are produced by laughter or incense are beneficial.
A collyrium made of stibium or antimony is often
mentioned (comp. Levy, "Neuhebr. Worterb." s.v.
^n3. "IpD, JT'Tl^p). This salve was forbidden when
made by the heathen (Niddah 55b; Yer. 'Ab. Zarah
40d). The veil of the Arabian Jewish women left
the eyes exposed (Shab. 65a; Yer. Shab. 7b). Sev-
eral diseases of the eye are mentioned, but they can
not be definitely identified. Professional and popu-
lar therapeutics are found side by side. Either
Galen influenced the rabbinical physicians, or both
he and they drew from the same source (see Medi-
cine). Artificial eyes made of gold are mentioned
(Yer. Ned. 41c ; comp. Yer. Sanh. 13c).
With the rise of Arabian culture the art of medi-
cine was more highly developed, and physicians ac-
quired a scientific knowledge of the eye, although
this was not advanced beyond the point reached by
Galen, either by the Arabian or the Jewish physi-
cians, or by Christian practitioners, down to the
eighteenth century. The general history of medi-
cine, therefore, presents also the theories of the
Jewish physicians regarding the eye. For the his-
tory of the sense of sight as recorded by the Jewish
philosophers, exegetes, and other non-medical writ-
ers of the Middle Ages, see D. Kaufmann's exhaus-
tive monograph, "Die Sinne," in " Jahresbericht
der Landes-Rabbinerschule," Budapest, 1884.
Bibliography: A. Rosenzweig, Das Aune in Bibel und Tal-
mud, Berlin, 1892; Friedmann, Der Blinde, Vienna, 1873 ; G.
Brecher, Da.s Tran«cendentale \ Magic und Magische Heil-
arten im Talmud, ib. ia50; Hamburger, R. B. T. i. 134 et
seq., 193 ; Hastings. Diet. Bible, 1. 814.
8. 8. L. B.
Color : The color of the eyes is an important
racial trait. The various colors are due to the
amount of pigmentation, and can be reduced to three ;
viz., fair (blue, gray), dark (black, brown), and
intermediate (green, yellow, etc.).
The Jews have usually black or brown eyes.
The appended table (No. 1) shows the colors of the
eyes of 147,375 school-children in various countries:
Table No. 1.
Country.
Number.
Percentage.
Observer.
Blue.
Brown.
Gray.
Germany
Austria
Hungary
Bavaria
Wiirttemberg
74,146
59,808
3,141
7,054
1,995
19.63
33.5
18.3
20.0
20.0
52.88
45.9
57.5
49.0
52.0
27.49
30.6
24.2
31.0
28.0
Virchow.
Schimmer.
Korosi.
Mayr.
Frass.
Observations on children must, however, be taken
with reserve, because their eyes grow darker when
they reach maturity. The appended table (No. 2),
showing the colors of the eyes in more than 7,000
Jews, brings out this point clearly:
Table No. 2.
Percentage.
Country.
No.
Observer.
Brown.
Gray.
Blue.
ASHKENAZIM.
Galicia
943
55.04
37.01
7.95
Majer and Koper-
nlckl.
Russia
100
57.0
33.0
10.0
Blechman.
Russia
100
67.0
11.0
22.0
Weissenberg.
Russia
938
53.19
36.47
10.34
Talko-Hryncewlcz.
Russia
245
69.8
25.3
4.9
Yakowenko.
Various
375
59.0
14.0
27.0
Beddoe.
Caucasia
204
84.31
14.22
1.47
Pantukhof.
Baden
86
48.8
25.6
25.6
Ammon.
England . ...
423
58.8
30.1
11.1
Jacobs.
Various
1,188
58.41
17.51
24.08
Fishberg.
Poland
200
60.5
17.5
22.0
Elkind.
Sephardim.
Various
290
68.0
12.0
20.0
Beddoe.
England
50
66.8
11.9
21.3
Jacobs.
Bosnia
55
69.1
30.9
Gmck.
Italy
103
70.0
30.0
....
Lombroso.
Women.
Various
1,084
63.46
16.89
19.65
Fishberg.
Russia
41
75.6
12.2
13.2
Weissenberg.
Russia
799
62.2
15.6
23.2
Talko-Hrvncewlcz.
Russia
100
76.0
16.0
8.0
Yakowenko.
Galicia
25
60.0
20.0
20.0
Majer and Koper-
nlcki.
Poland
125
62.4
13.6
24.0
Elkind.
It will be observed that the frequency of light,
Eye
Ezekiel
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
312
particularly blue, eyes among Jews reaches 25 per
ceut in some series (Ammon, Beddoe, Fishberg,
Weissenberg). Some anthropologists claim that this
trait points to intermixture of foreign, non-Semitic
blood, especially Aryan. In support of this view it
is shown that in those countries where light-colored
eyes are frequent among the indigenous population
the Jews also show a larger percentage of blue and
of gray ej-es. This can be seen in Table No. 2. In
Baden over 50 per cent of Jewish recruits have blue
or gray eyes; in Russia the percentage is less; while
in Caucasia, where the native races have dark eyes,
the Jews show 84.31 percent of dark eyes. The
English Seplmrdim show even a higher percentage
of blue eyes than the Ashkenazim.
An important phenomenon in connection with the
eyes of Jews is the variation of color according to
sex. It appears from the figures in Table No. 2
that the eyes of Jewesses are darker than those of
Jews. Joseph Jacobs sees in this a comparatively
small variability of type among Jewesses as com-
pared witii Jews (" Racial Characteristics of Modern
Jews, " in " Jour. Anthropological Institute. " 1885, v. ).
The appearance and form of the Jewish eye have
attracted much attention. It is stated that a Jew
may be recognized by the appearance
The Jew's of his eyes even when his features as a
Eye. whole are not peculiarly Jewish. Rip-
ley ("Races of Europe," p. 396) gives
this description: "The eyebrows, seemingly thick
because of their darkness, appear nearer together
than usual, arching smoothly into the lines of the
nose. The lids are rather full, the eyes large, dark,
and brilliant. A general impression of heaviness is
apt to be given. In favorable cases this imparts a
dreamy, melancholy, or thoughtful expression to
the countenance; in others it degenerates into a
blinking, drowsy type; or again, with eyes half-
closed, it may suggest suppressed cunning." Sim-
ilar descriptions of the Jewish eye are given by
Leroy-Beaulieu ("Israel Among the Nations," p.
113) and also Jacobs (Jew. Encyc. i. 620a, s.v. An-
thropology).
BiBLiooRAPHY : Majer and Kopernldci, Charakterystyka Fi-
zyczna LudnoKci Galicujshiej, in Zhior Wiixlom.do Antro-
pol. Kraj. i. 1877, ii. 1885; Blechman, Ein Beitray zur An-
thropi)lo(iie der Juden. Dorpat, 1882; J. Talko-Hryncevvicz,
Cfiarakternstuha Fizycziia LudyioKCi Zydowskiej Litwi i
iiw.s-i", in Zhior Wiodom. do Antropol Kraj. xvi., 1892; S.
Weissenberg, Die Slldrussischen Juden, in Archiv fllr Aii-
thropologie, xxiii. 347^2;i, 531-579 ; J. Jacobs, On the Racial
Characteristics of Modern Jews,in Jour. Anthropological
Institute. XV. 23-62 ; idem and I. Spielman, On the Comjiara^
live Anthropometry of English Jews, ib. xix. 76-88; L.
Gliick, Beitrdge zur Physischen A nthropologie der Span io-
len, in Wisscnschaftliche Mitthcilungen aus Bosnien und
der Herzegowina, iv. 587-592; I. I. Pantukhof, Observations
AnthropologiQues au Caucase, Tlflis, 1893; O. Ammon, Zur
Anthropologie der Badener, Jena, 1899; J. Beddoe, On the
Physical Characteristics of the Jews, in Tr. Etlinolngical
Soc. i. 222-237. London, 1861 ; Yakowenko, Material for the
Anthropology of the Jews (in Russian). St. Petersburg, 1898;
M. Fishberg, Physical Antliropology of tiie Jews, in Ameri-
can Anthropologist, Jan. -March, 1903.
Color-BIindness : Inability to distinguish col
ors may be the result of disease or of injury, or it
may be congenital.
Among Jews the defect is known to be extremely
frequent, as is shown very clearly by the first table
following, taken from .Jacobs.
In a later commimication Jacobs gives his own
investigations on the subject (" On the Comparative
Anthropometry of English Jews, "in "Jour. Anthro-
pological Institute," xix. 76-88), which show a yet
No.
Place.
1-5
O
Authority.
8U....
Breslau
4.1
2.1
Cohn, in " Centralbl. fiir Au-
genheilkunde," 1873, p.97.
949....
London (boys)
4.9
3.5
I "Tr. Ophthalmological
730....
" (girls)
3.1
0.4
1 Soc." i. 198.
500. .. .
Frankfort
1.8
2.9
Carl, " Untersuchungen,"
1881.
500....
Italy (boys)
2.9
2.7
Ottolenghi. " Gaz. Cll-
niche," 1883.
420....
" (girls)
0.0
Idem, in " Vessillo Israeli-
tico," Sept., 1884.
larger proportion of color-blindness among English
Jews:
East End.
West End.
All.
Sephardim.
Jews
14.8
3v4
2.1
12.7
2.0
13.4
Jewesses
0.0
The average percentage of color-blindness among
Jews examined by Cohn, Carl, Ottolenghi, and
others, is about 4 per cent. Among the English
Jews Jacobs has found that it is more than three
times as large as this. These investigations con-
firm the general observations that color-blindness is
more frequent in men than in women (Havelock
Ellis, "Man and Woman," pp. 138-145). They also
show that the East End (London) Jews, who are
poorer, have a larger percentage of color-blindness
than their wealthier brethren of the West End.
Jacobs attributes color-blindness to the fact that
the Jews are town-dwellers, where comparatively so
little color, and especially so little green, is to be
met with.
To this high proportion of color-blindness he also
attributes "the absence of anj' painters of great
ability among Jews, and the want of taste shown
by Jewesses of the lower grades of society," which
manifests itself in the preference for bright primary
colors for wearing-apparel.
It must also be remembered that in the main the
Jews in almost every country are poor. They are
consequently the class of people which is most pre-
disposed to color-blindness. In the "Report" of the
Committee on Color-Blindness appointed by the
Ophthalmological Society of London it is stated
that the reason for the high percentage of color-
blindness found among the Jews lies in the fact
that those of them who were examined were prin-
cipally of the poorer class.
-Defective Vision : Jacobs and Spielman in
their investigations on the comparative anthro-
pometry of English .lews ("Jour. Anthropological
Institute," 1889, p. 79) showed that London Jews
could read a test-type at a distance of only 19 inches
as against 25 inches by other Londoners; Jewesses
were not so markedly inferior, 23 inches as against
24 inches. On the other iiand, the better-nurtured
Jews had a range of 29 inches.
Botwinnick reports his observations on 829 Jews
and 2,763 Christians in Russia. Of the Christians
313
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Eye
Ezekiel
2.21 per ceut were affected with uear-sightedness,
while about 4| times as many Jews — 9.88 per cent —
were thus affected. The same observer shows that
cases of myopia of a high degree (teciiuically known
as " lOD ") are more frequent among Jews than
among non-Jews. His investigations in the Jewish
scliools in St. Petersburg revealed the fact that
among Jewish school-children 16.7 per cent (16. 5 per
cent in boys and 16. 8 per cent in girls ) suffered from
near-sightedness, as against 2 to 7.5 per cent in Chris-
tian children. Beginning with the twelfth year of
life, when 18.2 per cent were affected with myopia,
the percentage rose, nearly one-half of all the Jewish
cliildren from 16 to 18 years of age being near sighted.
Astigmatism is also very frequent among Jews.
Javal and Wecker have shown that it is of a pecul-
iar kind. The horizontal meridian of the cornea
presents the maximum of curvature. This is con-
trary to the rule, the ma.ximum of curvature being
usually perpendicular (Wecker, " Sur I'Astigmatisme
dans Ses Rapports avec la Conformation dcs Os du
CrSne," in "Bulletin de la Societed'Anthropologie,"
June 15, 1869, pp. 545-547).
Botwinnick attributes the near-sightedness of the
Jews to hereditary predisposition to weakness of
the organ of sight. But this does not bj' any means
explain the problem. The fact that the Jews are
town-dwellers must not be overlooked. Besides
this, the Jews are a nation of students.
Bibliography : Joseph Jacobs and I. Spielmau, On the Com-
parative Anthropometry of Engliiih Jews, in Jour. Anthro-
pological Institute, xix. 76-88; N. R. Botwinnick, Materiali
k Voprosu (I Blisorukosti v Evrecv, in Vratch, 1899, No. i'i.
Pathology : Jews are known to be great suf-
ferers from diseases of the eyes. The most frequent
of these appears to be trachoma or granular
conjunctivitis. Pilz (" Augenheilkunde," 1859) was
the tirst to direct attention to this fact. In the city
of New York the board of health recently (1903)
investigated the frequency of trachoma among
school-children. The results show that the disease
was very prevalent in schools where the majority of
the pupils were Jewish.
Glaucoma is another disease of the eyes preva-
lent among Jews. The characteristics of this dis-
ease are steadily increasing hardness of the globe of
the eye, with pressure and cupping of the optic
nerve; and forward pressure of the iris and dilation
of pupil. It is very injurious to the eyesight.
As a result of these diseases blindness is very fre-
quent among Jews (see Jew. Encyc. iii. 249, s.v.
Blindness).
The most important sequela of trachoma is en-
tropion, which consists in a distressing distortion
of the lid-borders, due to the formation of contract-
ing scar-tissue, which causes misdirection of thfc
fyelashes, so that they turn against the globe. This
condition is frequent among the Jews of eastern
Europe, Egypt, and Palestine, who are huddled to-
gether in unhealthful dwellings and live under the
worst conditions of poverty and misery.
Ilerve states that lacrimal tumors are very fre-
quent among Jews. He attributes this to an ana-
tomical peculiarity, the narrowness of the nasal canal
among Jews ("Bulletin de la Societe d'Anthropo-
logie," Dec. 20. 1883, p. 915).
Of the other diseases of the ej'es frequent among
Jews may be mentioned simple conjunctivitis,
and particularly blepharitis, which consists in an
inflammation of the lid-borders, with a resulting
falling out of the eyelashes. In extreme cases,
because of the destruction of the eyelashes and con-
sequent distortion of the eyelids, it proves to be a
most unsightly facial blemish. This disease is fre-
quent among the Jews of eastern Europe, Egypt,
and Palestine. It can be stated that the conditions
predisposing to this disease are identical with those
causing trachoma.
J. M. Fi.
EZBAI (""aTX) : Father of Naarai, one of David's
thirty might}- warriors (I Chron. xi. 37). The par-
allel list of II Samuel has " Paarai the Arbite " (xxiii.
35) instead of " Naarai the son of Ezbai." Kennicott
concluded ("Dissertation," p. 209) that the latter is
the correct reading.
E. G. H. M. Sel.
EZBON (|nVX) : 1. Son of Gad, and father of
one of the Gadite families (Gen. xlvi. 16). In Num.
xxvi. 16"Ezbon"is replaced by " Ozni " (^JTK)- 2.
A son of Bela, son of Benjamin (I Chron. vii. 7).
E. G. II. M. Sel.
EZEKIAS : High priest mentioned byJosephus,
who relates that among those who accompanied
Ptolemy to Egypt after the battle of Gaza (320 B.C.)
was Ezekias, then sixty-six years of age, a man
skilled in oratory and in affairs of government.
He is said to have become acquainted with Heka-
taeus, and to have explained to him and to some
other friends the differences between the peoples
whose homes and constitutions he had noted. The
existence of Ezekias is questionable, for Josephus
states elsewhere that Jaddua was succeeded by
Onias I., who was in turn succeeded by Simeon I.,
which leaves no room for Ezekias.
Bibliography: Josephus, Contra Ap. 1. 8 22; Reinach,
Fontes Renim Judaicarum. 1. 229; Williich, Judaica, pp.
91, 106 ; Schurer, Gesch. 3d ed., i. 348.
G. S. Kr.
EZEKIEL.— Biblical Data: Concerning the
life of Ezekiel there are but a few scattered references
contained in the book bearing his name. He was
the son of Buzi, a priest of Jerusalem (Ezek. i. 3),
and consequently a member of the Zadok family.
As such he was among the aristocracy whom Nebu-
chadnezzar (597 B.C.), after the first capture of
Jerusalem, carried off to be exiles in Babylonia
(II Kings xxiv. 14). Ezekiel therefore reckons the
years from the abduction of Jehoiachin (Ezek. i.
2, xxxiii. 21, xl. 1). He lived among a colony of fel-
low sufferers in or near Tel-abib on the River Che-
bar (not the River Chaboras), which probably formed
an arm of the extensive Babylonian network of
canals (iii. 15). Ezekiel was married (xxiv. 16-18),
and lived in his own house (iii. 24, viii. 1). On the
fifth day of the fourth month in the fifth year of
his exile (Tammuz, 592 B.C.), he beheld on the banks
of the Chebar the glory of the Lord, who consecrated
him as His prophet (i. 1-iii. 13). The latest date in
his book is the first day of the first month in the
twenty-seventh year of his exile (Nisan, 570); con-
sequently, his prophecies extended over twentj'-two
Ezekiel
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
314
years. The elders of the exiles repeatedly visited him
to obtain a divine oracle (viii., xiv., xx.). He exerted
no permanent influence upon his con-
His temporaries, however, whom he re-
Influence, peatedly calls the "rebellious house"
(ii. 5, 6, 8 ; iii. 9, 26, 27 ; and elsewhere),
complaining that although they flock in great num-
bers to hear him they regard his discourse as a sort
of esthetic amusement, and fail to act in accordance
with his words (xxxiii. 30-33). It' the enigmatical
date, " the thirtieth year " (i. 1), be understood to
apply to the age of the prophet — and this view still
has the appearance of probability — Ezekiel must
have been born exactly at the time of the reform in
the ritual introduced by Josiah. Concerning his
death nothing is known.
Ezekiel occupies a distinct and imique position
among the Hebrew Prophets. He stands midway
between two epochs, drawing his conclusions from
the one and pointing out the path toward the
other. Through the destruction of the city and
the Temple, the downfall of the state, and the ban-
ishment of the people the natural development of
Israel was forcibly interrupted. Prior to these
events Israel was a united and homogeneous nation.
True, it was characterized by a spirit totally unlike
that of any other people; and the consciousness of
this difl'erence had ever been present in the best and
noblest spirits of Israel. The demands of state and
people, however, had to be fulfilled, and to this end
the monarchical principle was established. There
is undoubtedly an element of truth in the opin-
ion that the human monarchy was antagonistic to
the dominion of God, and that the political life of
Israel would tend to estrange the nation from its
eternal spiritual mission. The prophecy of the
pre-exilic period was compelled to take these fac-
tors into account, and ever addressed itself either
to the people as a nation or to its leaders — king,
princes, priests — and sometimes to a distinguished
individual, such as Shebna, the minister of the royal
hou.se mentioned in Isa xxii. 15-25; so that the
opinion arose that the Prophets themselves were
merely a sort of statesmen.
With the Exile, monarchy and state were annihi-
lated, and a political and national life was no longer
possible. In the absence of a worldly foundation
it became necessary to build upon a spiritual one.
This mission Ezekiel performed by
The observing the signs of the time and by
Prophet's deducing his doctrines from them. In
Spiritual conformity with the two parts of his
Mission, book his personality and his preach-
ing are alike twofold. The events of
the past must be explained. If God has permitted
His city and His Temple to be destroyed and His
people to be led into exile, He has thereby betrayed
no sign of impoteucy or weakness. He Himself has
done it, and was compelled to do it, because of the
sins of the people of Israel, who misunderstood His
nature and His will. Nevertheless, there is no rea-
son to despair ; for God does not desire the death of
the sinner, but his reformation. The Lord will re-
main the God of Israel, and Israel will remain His
people. As soon as Israel recognizes the sovereignty
of the Lord and acts accordingly, He will restore the
people, in order that they may fulfil their eternal
mission and that He may truly dwell in the midst of
them. This, however, can not be accomplished imtil
every individual reforms and makes the will of the
Lord his law.
Herein lies that peculiar individualistic tend-
ency of Ezekiel which distinguishes him from all
his predecessors. He conceives it as
His his prophetic mission to strive to reach
Individual- his brethren and compatriots individ
istic ually, to follow them, and to win
Tendency, them back to God ; and he considers
himself personally responsible for
every individual soul. Those redeemed were to
form the congregation of the new Temple, and to
exemplify by their lives the truth of the word
tliat Israel was destined to become a "kingdom
of priests" (Ex. xix. 6). Law and worship — these
are the two focal points of Ezekiel 's hope for
the future. The people become a congregation;
the nation, a religious fraternity. Political aims
and tasks no longer exist ; and monarchy and state
have become absorbed in the pure dominion of God.
Thus Ezekiel has stamped upon post-exilic Juda-
ism its peculiar character ; and herein lies his unique
religio-historical importance.
Another feature of Ezekiel's personality is the
pathological. With no other prophet are vision and
ecstasy so prominent ; and he repeatedly refers to
symptoms of severe maladies, such as paralysis of
the limbs and of the tongue (iii. 25 et seq.), from
which infirmities he is relieved only upon the an-
nouncement of the downfall of Jerusalem (xxiv. 27,
xxxiii. 22). These statements are to be taken not fig-
uratively, but literally ; for God had here purposely
ordained that a man subject to physical infirmities
should become the pliant instrument of His will.
E. G. H. K. II. C.
In Rabbinical Literature : Ezekiel, like Jere-
miah, is said to have been a descendant of Joshua by
his marriage with the proselyte Rahab (Meg. 14b;
Sifre, Num. 78). Some even say that he was the
son of Jeremiah, who was also called "Buzi" be-
cause he was despised — " buz " — by the Jews (Targ.
Yer., quoted by Kimhi on Ezek. i. 8). He was
already active as a prophet while in Palestine,
and he retained this gift when he was exiled with
Jehoiachin and the nobles of the country to Babylon
(Josephus, "Ant." x. 6, g 3: "while he was still a
boy " ; comp. Rashi on Sanh. 92b, above). Had he
not begun his career as a prophet in the Holy Land,
the spirit of prophecy would not have come upon
him in a foreign land (Mek., Bo, i. ; Targ. Ezek. i. 8;
comp. M. K. 25a). Therefore the prophet's first
prophecy does not form the initial chapter in the
Book of Ezekiel, but the second : according to some,
it is the third (Mek., Shirah, 7). Although in the
beginning of the boc)k he very clearly describes
the throne of God, this is not due
His to the fact that he had seen more
Description than Isaiah, but because the latter
of God's was more accustomed to such visions;
Throne. for the relation of the two prophets
is that of a courtier to a peasant, the
latter of whom would always describe a royal court
more floridly than the former, to whom such things
315
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Szekiel
would be familiar (Hag. 13b). Ezekiel, like all the
other prophets, has beheld only a blurred reflection
of the divine majesty, just as a poor mirror reflects
objects only imperfectly (Lev. R. i. 14, tov^ard the
end). God allowed Ezekiel to behold the throne in
order to demonstrate to him that Israel had no
reason to be proud of the Temple; for God, who
is praised day and night by the hosts of the angels,
does not need human offerings and worship (Lev.
R. ii. 8; Tanua debe Eliyahu R. vi.).
Three occurrences in the course of Ezekiel's
prophetic activity deserve especial mention. It
was he whom the three pious men, Hananiah, Mi-
shael, and Azariah, asked for advice as to whether
they should resist Nebuchadnezzar's command and
choose death by fire rather than worship his idol.
At first God revealed to the prophet that they could
not hope for a miraculous rescue; whereupon the
prophet was greatlj"^ grieved, since these three men
constituted the
remnant of Ju-
dah. But after
they had left the
house of the
prophet, fully
determined to
sacrifice their
lives to God,
Ezekiel received
this re vela-
tion: "Thou
dost believe in-
deed that I will
abandon them.
That shall not
happen; but do
thou let them
carry out their
intention ac-
cording to their
pious dictates,
and tell them nothing" (Cant. R. vii. 8; comp.
AZARIAII IN RaBBINIC.\L LITERATURE).
Ezekiel's greatest miracle consisted in his resusci-
tation of the dead, which is recounted in Ezek.
xxxvii. There are different traditions as to the
fate of these men, both before and after their resur-
rection, and as to the time at which it happened.
Some say that they were godless people, wlio in their
lifetime had denied the resurrection, and committed
other sins ; others think they were those Ephraimites
who tried to escape from Egypt before Moses and
perished in the attempt (comp. Ephraim in Rab-
binical Literature). There are still others who
maintain that after Nebuchadnezzar
The Dead had carried the beautiful youths of Ju-
Revived by dah to Babylon, he had them executed
Ezekiel. and their bodies mutilated, because
their beauty had entranced the Baby-
Ionian women, and that it was these youths whom
Ezekiel called back to life. The miracle was per-
formed on the same day on which the three men
were cast into the fiery furnace ; namely, on the Sab-
bath and the Day of Atonement (Cant. R. vii. 9).
Nebuchadnezzar, who had made a drinking-cup
from the skull of a murdered Jew, was greatly aston-
Traditionai Tomb of Ezekiel, South of Birs Nlmrud.
(After Loftus, " Travels in Chaldea.")
ished when, at tlie moment that the three men were
cast into the furnace, the bodies of the dead boys
moved, and, striking him in the face, cried out : " The
companion of these three men revives the dead ! "
(see a Karaite distortion of this episode in Judah
Hadasi's "Eshkol ha-Kofer," 45b, at foot; 134a, end
of the section). When the boys awakened from
•Jeath, they rose up and joined in a song of praise to
God for the miracle vouchsafed to them; later, they
went to Palestine, where they married and reared
children. As early as the second century, however,
some authorities declared this resurrection of the
dead was a prophetic vision : an opinion regarded by
Maimonides ("Moreh Nebukim," ii. 46; Arabic text,
98a) and his followers as the only rational expla-
nation of the Biblical passage (comp. Abravauel's
commentary on the passage). An account of the
PNpTn' ^DD varying from these stories of the Tal-
mud (Sanh. 92b), found in Pirke R. El. xxxiii., runs
as follows:
" When the three
men had been
rescued by God
from the fiery
furnace, Nebu-
chadne z zar,
turning to the
other Jews who
had obeyed his
commands and
worshiped the
idol, said : ' You
knew that j'ou
had a helping
and saving God,
yet you deserted
Him in order to
worship an idol
that is nothing.
This shows that,
just as you de-
stroyed 3'our own country through your evil deeds,
you now attempt to destroy my country ' ; and at his
command they were all killed, to the number of
600,000." Twenty years later God took the prophet
to the place where the dead boys were buried, and
asked him whether he believed that He could awaken
them. Instead of answering with a decisive " Yes,"
the prophet replied evasively, and as a punish-
ment he was doomed to die "on foreign soil."
Again, when God asked him to prophesy the awa-
kening of these dead, he replied : " Will my prophecy
be able to awaken them and those dead ones also
which have been torn and devoured by wild beasts? "
His doubts were unfounded, for the earth shook and
brought the scattered bones together; a heavenly
voice revived them; four winds flew to the four
corners of the heavens, opened the treasure-house of
the souls, and brought each soul to its body. One
only among all the thousands remained dead, and
he, as it was revealed to the prophet, had been a
usurer, who by his actions had shown himself un-
worthy of resurrection. The resurrected ones at first
wept because they thought that they would now
have no part in the final resurrection, but God said
to Ezekiel : " Go and tell them that I will awaken
Ezekiel
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
316
them at the time of the resurrection and will lead
them with the rest of Israel to Palestine " (comp.
Tanna debe Eliyahu R. v.).
Among the doctrines that Ezekiel set down in his
book, the Rabbis noted the following as especially
important : He taught " the soul that siuueth, it
[alone] shall die " (Ezek. xviii. 4), although Moses
had said (Ex. xxxiv. 7) that God would visit "the
iniquity of the fathers upon the children." Another
important teaching of Ezekiel is his warning not to
lay hands on the property of one's neighbor, which
he considers the greatest sin among the twenty-four
that he enumerates (Ezek. xxii. 2 et
The Book se^.), and therefore repeats (Eccl. R. i.
of Ezekiel. 13) at the end of his index of sins (Ezek.
xxii. 12). In ritual questions the Book
of Ezekiel contains much that contradicts the teach-
ings of the Pentateuch, and therefore it narrowly
escaped being declared as "apocryphal" by the
scholars shortly before the destruction of the Temple
(Shab. 13b; Men. 45a). No one was allowed to read
and explain publicly the first chapter of the book
(Hag. ii. 1; ib. Gem. 13a), because it dealt with
the secrets of God's throne (comp. JVIa'aseh Mer-
kabah).
s. s. L. G.
EZEKIEIi'S TOMB: The traditional burial-
place of the prophet Ezekiel, around which
many sagas and legends have gathered, is shown
at Kefil near Birs Nimrud; for centuries it has been
a favorite place of pilgrimage for Mohammedans
as well as for Jews. The mausoleum, dating
probably from the time of the califs, was regarded
already in tlie twelfth century as the work of
King Jflioiachin, who is said to have erected it
when he was liberated from prison by Evil-
merodach. The Sefer Torah found there is alleged
to have been written by the prophet himself; and
he is said to have lighted the lamp which was
burning on his grave and had never gone out,
as the oil was constantly replenished. In the
twelfth century the mausoleum contained a large
Hebrew library, and it was said that manj- of these
books dated from the time of the First Temple (Ben-
jamin of Tudela, "Itinerary," ed. Asher, i. 67; comp.
also in Schechter, "Saadyana," the letter of She-
rira, p. 123, line 45). The bringing of presents to
the sacred spot was considered efficacious in the
rearing of a large progeny, and in causing animals
to be prolific. The objects placed there could not
be stolen, as such an attempt was immediately fol-
lowed by sickness. Therefore people contempla-
ting lengthy journeys brought their treasures to the
mausoleum, sure of having a safe deposit there.
Moreover, in case of death only the legal heirs were
able to take the goods away. The pilgrimages to
the spot took place in the autumn, and thousands
of Jews celebrated the Feast of Tabernacles there.
On these occasions the small gate in the wall sur-
rounding the tomb of the prophet was miraculously
enlarged, so that the camels with their burdens could
go through (Pethahiah of Regensburg, ed. Jerusa-
lem, 1872, pp. 4b, 5b, 6b ; comp. also Benjamin of Tu-
dela, I.e. ii. 141-143). The tomb of the prophet
was the subject of two fine poems by Al-Harizi
("Tahkemoni,"ed. Kaminka, xxxv. 293-296, 1. 392-
393).
s. s. L. G.
EZEKIEL, BOOK OF: Ezekiel's book is one
of the most original in the sacred literature of Is-
rael. Its principal features are its systematic ar-
rangement and homogeneity. The book falls into
two principal parts, i.-xxiv. and xxv.-xlviii., cor-
responding to the two principal themes of Ezekiel's
prophetic preaching — repentance and salvation,
judgment and restoration. It is introduced by a
vision, i. 1-iii. 15. At the River Chebar the glory
of the Lord appears to Ezekiel on the chariot of the
cherubim and consecrates him a prophet, sent to
a " rebellious house " to preach only wailing, sigh-
ing, and misery. Chaps, iii 16-xxiv. 27 show the
prophet fulfilling this mission. Here Ezekiel is
merely a "reprover" (iii. 26); he confronts the peo-
ple as if he were not one of them; he shows no emo-
tion, not a suggestion of pity, throughout the de-
livery of his dreadful tidings. He symbolizes the
siege and conquest of Jerusalem, the leading of the
people into exile (iv. -v.); on all the hills of Israel
idolatry is practised (vi.), and therefore "the end"
will come (vii.). The Temple is defiled with abomi-
nations of every description ; therefore the glory of
the Lord departs from it and from the city, and ded-
icates them to flames (viii.-xi.). Ezekiel represents
the final catastrophe symbolically; judgment will
not tarry, but approaches to immediate fulfilment
(xii.). No one will mount into the breach. On the
contrary, prophets and prophetesses Avill lead the
people completely astray (xiii.) ; even a true prophet
could not avail now, as God will not be questioned
by idolaters.
Tliat the judgment is fully merited w-ill be de-
monstrated by the godliness of the few who survive
the catastrophe (xiv.). Jerusalem is a useless vine,
good only to be burned (xv.). And thus it has ever
been: Jerusalem has ever requited the mercies and
benefits of the Lord with blackest ingratitude and
shameless infidelity (xvi.). The ruling king, Zed-
ekiah, particularly, has incurred the judgment
through his perjury' (xvii.). God rewards each
one according to his deeds, and He will visit upon
the heads of the present generation, not the sins
of the fathers, but their own sins (xviii.). Therefore
the prophet is to sound a dirge over the downfall
of royalty and the people (xix.). In an oration he
once more brings before the people all the sins com-
mitted by them from the Exodus to the present time
(xx.). Nebuchadnezzar approaches to execute the
divine judgment (xxi.). Jerusalem is a city full of
blood-guiltiness and impurity, all classes being
equally debased (xxii.), and far lower than Samaria's
(xxiii.). The city is a rusty kettle the impurities
of which can be removed only by fire. The exiles,
wlio still boast of the sanctity and inviolability of
Jerusalem, will be amazed by the news of its fall
(xxiv.).
Then follows (xxv.-xxxii.) a group of threatening
prophecies against seven foreign nations: the Am-
monites (xxv. 1-7), Moabites (xxv. 8-11), Edomites
(xxv. 12-14), Philistines (xxv. 15-17), Tyrenes
(xxvi.-xxviii. 19), Zidonians (xxviii. 20-23), and
317
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Ezekiel
Egyptians (xxix.-xxxii.). This division belongs to
the promise of salvation as detailed in xxviii. 2-i-26;
for it refers to the punishment visited
" Dooms" on the neighboring nations because of
of the their aggressions against Judah. It
Nations, also indicates that Israel may yet be
restored to fulfil its sacred mission, a
mission which can be accomplished only when the
nation lives in security. Ch. xxxiii. announces
the downfall of Jerusalem, and the prophet now
freely speaks words of consolation and promise to
the people. The shepherds hitherto placed over
Israel iiave thriven, but have neglected their flock,
which God will now take under His protection, ap-
pointing a new David as a shepherd over it (xxxiv.).
The Edomites, who have seized certain portions of
the Holy Land, will be annihilated (xxxv.); Israel
will be restored (xxxvi.); that is, Judah and Joseph
will be merged into one (xxxvii.). The last on-
slaught of the pagan world against the newly estab-
lished kingdom of God will be victoriously re-
pelled by the Almighty Himself, who will mani-
fest His sanctity among the nations (xxxviii.-
xxxix.). The final division, xl.-xlviii., embodying
the celebrated vision of the new Temple and the
new Jerusalem, contains a description of the future
era of salvation with its ordinances and conditions,
which are epitomized in the final sentence; "And
the name of the city from that day shall be. The
Lord is there " (xlviii. 35 ).
The evident unity of the whole work leaves only
one question open in regard to its authorship : Did
Ezekiel, as some maintain, write the whole book at
one time, or is it a homogeneous com-
Tlie Com- pilation of separate parts written at
position, different times? A number of pieces
were dated by the prophet himself, in
accordance with the number of years after the ab-
duction of Jehoiachin: i. 1, in the fifth; viii. 1, in
the sixth; xx. 1, in the seventh; xxiv. 1, in the
ninth ; xxix. 1, in the tenth; xxvi. 1, xxx. 20, xxxi. 1,
xxxiii. 21 (LXX.), in the eleventh; xxxii. 1, 19 and
xxxiii. 21 (Hebr.), in the twelfth; xl. 1, in the
twenty -fifth; and xxix. 17, in the twenty-seventh
year. The last-mentioned passage (xxix. 17-21) is
evidently an appendix to the already completed
book; and the twenty-fifth year (572), the date of
the important division xl.-xlviii., is probably
the date when the work was completed. If it
were true, however, that the whole book was
written at that time all previous dates would be
merely literary embellishments, and this view is
difficult because of the importance of the dating in
several instances where the prophet claims to tran-
scend ordinary human knowledge. Examples of
such instances are: xi. 13, where Ezekiel at the
Cliebar is cognizant of the death of Pelatiah, the
idolater, in Jerusalem; xxiv. 2, where he knows
the exact day on which the siege of Jerusalem will
begin; and xxxiii. 21, where he predicts to a day
the arrival of the messenger bearing tidings of the
capture of Jerusalem.
Moreover, it can be shown from the contradictions
which the various divisions of the Book of Ezekiel
contain that they were written at different peri-
ods. This is particularly true of the Messianic
prophecy, which, although kept somewhat in the
background in Ezekiel, is nevertheless directly ex-
pressed in xvii. 22-24, xxi. 32, xxxiv. 23-24, xxxvii.
22-24, and xxv. 14 (where Edom is referred to:
"And I will lay my vengeance upon Edom by the
hand of my people Israel"). In xl.-xlviii. — that
grand panorama of the future — this feature has en-
tirely disappeared. There is still some reference to
a prince, but his sole function is to defray from
the people's taxes the expenses of worship; there is
no longer room for a Messianic king. Neverthe-
less, Ezekiel permitted the earlier passages to re-
main. Even more significant is xxix. 17-21, which
can be understood only as an appendix to the al-
ready complete book. In xxvi.-xxviii. Ezekiel had
positively prophesied the capture and destruction
of Tyre by Nebuchadnezzar, but after thirteen
years of fruitless labor the latter had to raise the
siege and to arrange terms of peace with the city.
TJiereupon, in the above-mentioned passage. Ezekiel
promises Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar as an indemnity.
Here, then, is an oracle the non-fulfilment of which
the prophet himself is destined to see. Yet he does
not venture to change or to expunge it. Inciden-
tally it may be stated that the transmission of oracles
of which the prophets themselves were doomed to see
the non-fulfilment is the strongest proof that they
regarded these as messages for which they were not
personally responsible, and Avhich, consequently,
they did not venture to change; they regarded them
as God's word, the responsibility for the non-fulfil-
ment of which rested with God, not with themselves.
In view of these facts it must be assumed that al-
though Ezekiel completed his book in 572, he availed
himself of earlier writings, which he allowed to re-
main practically unchanged.
Not only is the Avhole artistically arranged, but
the separate parts are also distinguished by careful
finish. The well-defined and deliber-
Style. ate separation of prose and poetry is
particularly conspicuous. The poetic
passages are strictly rhythmical in form, while the
didactic parts are written in pure, elegant prose.
The author prefers parables, and his use of them is
always lucid. In xx. 49 he even makes his audience
say : " Doth he not speak parables? "
Very striking are the numerous symbolical actions
by which the prophet illustrates his discourse. Nine
unique examples maybe distinguished; indeed at
the very beginning of his prophetic activity there
are not fewer than four by which he describes the
siege, capture, and destruction of Jerusalem and
the banishment of the people (iv. and v.). The
two in xii. and the two in xxiv. refer to the same
subject, while that in xxxvii. refers to the future
redemption. Here, also, there is no question of
mere literary embellishment, for Ezekiel undoubt-
edly actually performed the symbolic actions ; indeed,
he was the first to introduce symbolism into Hebrew
literature, and therefore has been called the " fa-
ther of apocalypse." The picture of the chariot
("merkabah") in i., and the concluding division of
xl.-xlviii., are full of deep symbolism; and, accord-
ing to the Rabbis, neither should be read b\' any one
younger than thirty. The celebrated vision of Gog,
the Prince of Rosh Meshech (A. V. " the chief prince
Ezekiel, Ezekiel Abraham
£zekiel, Moses Jacob
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
318
of Meshech ") and Tubal (xxxviii. and xxxix.), is
also symbolical. The Book of Ezekiel shows
throughout the touch of the scholar.
The Talmud (Hag. 13a) relates that in consequence
of the contradictions to the Torah contained in xl.-
xlviii. Ezekiel's book would have remained unknown
had not Hananiah b. Hezekiah come to expound it.
Nevertheless it has never been appreciated as it de-
serves; and it is probably due to this fact that the
text of the work has been transmitted in a particu-
larly poor and neglected form. The Septuagint,
however, affords an opportunity to correct many of
the errors in the Hebrew text.
The statement of Josephus ("Ant." x. 5, § 1) that
Ezekiel wrote two books is entirely enigmatical. The
doubt cast upon the authenticity of the book by
Zunz, Seinecke, and Vernes has rightly never been
taken seriously ; but the authorship of several parts,
such as iii. 16b-21, x. 8-17, xxiv. 22-23, and xxvii.
9b-25a, has, with more or less justification, some-
times been questioned. That the book consists of
two divergent versions compiled by an editor, a
hypothesis recently advanced by Kraetzschmar, has
yet to be demonstrated.
Bibliography : H. Ewald, Die Prnphetendes Alien Bundes,
1841 ; F. Hitzig, Der Prophet Ezechiel, 1847; S. D. Luzzatto.
Perush ^al rinneyah we-Yehezel^el, 1876; R. Smend, Der
Prophet Ezechiel, 1880; Cornill, iJas Buch des Propheten
Ezec/iieJ, 1886; D. H. Muller, Ezechielstudien, 1^9^ \ A. B.
Davidson, The Book of the Prophet Ezekiel, Cambridge,
1896 ; A. Bertholet, Das Buch Hezekiel, 1897 ; C. H. Toy,
The Book of Ezekiel in Hebrew, 1899 ; Idem, The Book of
the Prophet Ezekiel, new Eng. transl. with notes, 1899 ; R.
Kraetzschmar, Das Buch Ezechiel, 1900.
E. G. H. K. H C.
EZEKIEL, EZEKIEL ABRAHAM: Eng-
lish engraver; born in Exeter 1757; died there
1806. He engraved paintings by Opie, Sir Joshua
Reynolds, and others, and was also known as
a miniature-painter and scientific optician. His
son Solomon Ezekiel (b. 1781 ; d. 1867) dissuaded
Sir Rose Price from establishing in Penzance a branch
of the Society for Promoting Christianity Among
the Jews. Ezekiel published a series of lectures
on the lives of Abraham and Isaac and on the He-
brew festivals (Penzance, 1844-47).
Bibliooraphy: Diet. National Biographi/; Jacobs and Wolf ,
Bihlidtheca Anijlu-Judaica, Nos. 970-971; Jew. Chroii.
March, 1867.
J.
EZEKIEL FEIWEL BEN ZE'EB WOLF :
Russian Talmudist and preacher; born at Polangen
1755; died at Wilua 1833. Early in life he filled the
position of preacher in his native town, and later at
Deretschin. He then traveled as a preacher through
Germany and Hungary, and, after residing for some
time at Breslau, returned to Polangen and devoted
himself to literary work. In 1811 he was appointed
preacher to the community of Wilna, which posi-
tion he filled until his death.
Ezekiel was the author of "Musar Haskel," a
commentary on Maimonides' "Yad," De'ot and
Teshubah (Dyhernfurth, 1790); and "Toledot
Adam," a biography of Rabbi Solomon Zelman ben
Isaac, whom Ezekiel had met in the house of
Elijah Wilna (ib. 1809-10). The latter work, in two
volumes, contains biographical data, various novel •
la;, and a chapter devoted to remonstrances against
the neglect of the study of the Bible. A special
edition, containing only the biographical data, was
published by Elijah Zebi Solowejczyk (Danzig, 1845 ;
Warsaw, 1854). In addition to these works, Ezekiel
left in manuscript a third volume of the "Toledot
Adam, " and novelliE on the first three books of the
Midrasli Rabbah, entitled "Bi'ure MaRIF," pub-
lished with the Wilna edition of the Midrashim in
1885 and 1887.
Bibliography: Steinschneider, Tr Wilna, pp. 87-90; Fuenn,
Kiniah Ne'emanah, pp. 240-242; Benjacob, Ozar ha-
Scfarim, pp. 307, 308, 618.
n. R. N. T. L.
EZEKIEL, JACOB : Born in Philadelphia, Pa. ,
June 28, 1812; died May 16, 1899. His parents,
Ezekiel Jacob Ezekiel and Rebecca Israel, had
come from Amsterdam, Holland, two years before
his birth. He learned the bookbinding trade
and worked at it for seven years. After having
removed to Richmond, Va., he married Catherine
Myers Castro on June 10, 1835. During his residence
there he brought about the repeal of an ordinance
which exacted an inordinate fine for the violation of
the Sunday laws (1845), and four years later he suc-
ceeded in effecting the introduction of an amend-
ment to the code of the state of Virginia, by which
the observers of the Jewish Sabbath were placed on
the same plane with those who rest on the "first
day."
In 1849 Ezekiel secured the enactment of a law by
wliich religious organizations were invested with
the rights of incorporated institutions. In 1851 he
protested against the ratification of a treaty between
the United States and the Swiss Confederacy on the
ground that the latter government discriminated
against Jews, and that in consequence American-
Jewish citizens would be without guaranty of their
rights of settlement or sojourn in the cantons of
Switzerland. Three years later he, with others, re-
peated his protest on the occasion of the proffer by
the Swiss government of a block of marble for tlie
Washington Monument. In 1841 he addressed a
letter to President John Tyler with reference to
the impropriety of calling the American nation a
"Christian people," as had been done in a procla-
mation on the occasion of the death of William
Henry Harrison. In a private reply to Ezekiel the
president conceded that intimations of sectarianism
are irrelevant in public documents.
Ezekiel removed to Cincinnati in 1869, and became
secretary of the board of governors of the Hebrew
Union College in 1876. He served in that capacity
until advanced age compelled him to withdraw from
active work (1896).
Besides numerous contributions to current Jewish
journals, Ezekiel wrote "The Jews of Richmond,"
and "Persecutions of the Jews in 1840," in "Publi-
cations of the American Jewish Historical So-
ciety " (No. 4, pp. 21-27, and No. 8, pp. 141-145).
President Tyler's letter to Ezekiel is reprinted in
the "Publications" of the same society (No. 9, p,
162).
Bibliography : Pub. Am. Jew. Hist. Soc. No. 9, pp. 160-163.
A. L. Gr.
319
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Ezekiel, Ezekiel Abraham
£zekiel, Moses Jacob
EZEKIEL, JACOB: The third of the Beni
Israel (the first two being Isaac Solomon and Joel
Samuel) who visited the Holy Land (1894); he was
accompanied on the pilgrimage by his wife. His
"Travels to Jerusalem" (Bombay, 1895) is the
record of his observations. It contains descrip-
tions and photographs of the places visited, and
gives some account of the Jewish ceremonies as
performed in Jerusalem.
J. J. E.
EZEKIEL, JOSEPH: Indian Hebraist; one of
the heads of the Beni-Israel of Bombay ; born in
that city 1834:. Ezekiel was educated in the school
of the Free General Assembly by the Rev. John
Wilson, and under
his tuition he learned
the rudiments of He-
brew, his later knowl-
edge being self -ac-
quired.
Ezekiel's first post
was as assistant
teacher in Che David
Sassoon Benevolent
Institution (1856),
from which he rose
in five years to be
head master. Here
he remained for forty
years. In 1871 Eze-
kiel was appointed
examiner in Hebrew
Joseph Ezekiel. at the University of
Bombay, and in 1879
was made a fellow of the university. In 1890 he
became justice of the peace.
Aside from his labors as teacher, translator, and
commentator, Ezekiel has worked unceasingly for
the good of the Jews in Bombay. His promptness
of action probably saved the entire community from
serious trouble in 1882, when the blood accusation
was brought forward by a native paper.
When the famine and plague devastated Bombay
and the central provinces, Ezekiel was asked by the
government to carry out preventive measures among
his people. He was named president of the Beni-
Israel Plague and Famine Relief Fund.
Ezekiel's principal works are translations of the
prayers, treatises on the Jewish religion, and text-
books of Hebrew, mainly written in Mahrati for the
use of the Beni-Israel. Among them may be men-
tioned: "The Jewish Marriage Ceremony," transl.
1862; "History of Antiochus Epiphanes," etc.,
transl. 1866; "Hebrew Primer," 3d ed., 1881; "The
Ethics of the Fathers," transl. 1870; "Scripture
Proofs of Jewish Doctrines," 1876; "The True As-
pect of Judaism," 1879; "A Chronological Outline
of Ancient History," 1880; "A Handbook of He-
brew Abbreviations," 1887. Besides these, he has
edited and translated into Mahrati the whole cycle
of Jewish liturgy.
Bibliography : The Jewish Year Book, 1900, p. 264 ; J. Mur-
ray Mitchell, In Western India ; Jewish Chronicle (London) ,
Aug. 10, 1900, p. 12.
J. E. Ms.
EZEKIEL, MOSES JACOB : American sculp-
tor; born in Riclunomi, Va., Oct. 28, 1844; educated
at the Virginia Military Institute, from which, after
serving as a Confederate soldier in the Civil war, he
was graduated. He then determined to devote him-
self to an artistic career. Among his early works is
the painting entitled "The Prisoner's Wife "
Ezekiel soon turned from the study of painting to
that of sculpture. One of his first successful efforts
as a sculptor was his "Cain, or The Offering Re-
jected." In 1868 he removed to Cincinnati, and
there modeled a statue of "Industry," which evoked
favorable criticism. There being no art scJiool in
Cincinnati, he went to Germany, and in Berlin stud-
ied under the sculptor Rudolph Siemering. Some
of his works produced at this time were the bas-
reliefs of Schiller and Goethe, now in the Villa
Collin, Berlin; "The Sailor Boy " ; and the statue of
"Virginia Mourning Her Dead."
On the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian war Eze-
kiel became special correspondent of the "New York
Herald." At Pillau he was suspected of being a
French spy, and was confined for eight days in the
Kronprinz-Caserne. After his release he worked in
the studio of Prof. Albert Wolff of Berlin, where he
executed the colossal bust of Washington now in the
Cincinnati Art Museum. Upon the completion of
this work he was elected a member of the Berlin
Society of Artists. Establishing a studio for him-
self, he modeled, among other works, a bust of Mer-
cury, a caryatid for Daniel Collin, and a bust of
Grace Darling. His model in relief entitled " Israel, "
and a sketch-model for a group, "Adam and Eve
Finding the Slain Abel," were awarded the Michael
Beer Prize of Rome.
During a visit to America in 1874 he executed in
marble a statue of "Religious Liberty " (see illus-
tration on page 320) — the tribute of the Inde-
pendent Order of B'nai B'rith to the centennial
celebration of American independence. The statue
was unveiled in 1876 in Fairmount Park, Philadel-
phia. Upon his return to Rome Ezekiel leased a
portion of the ruins of the Baths of Diocletian, and
transformed them into one of the most beautiful
studios in Europe. Here he created for the niches
of the Corcoran Art Gallery at Washington the
heroic statues of Phidias, Raphael, Dilrer, Michel-
angelo, Titian, Murillo, Da Vinci, Van Dyck, Ca-
nova, Rembrandt, Rubens, and Crawford. In 1896 a
memorial to Jesse Seligman was executed by him
for the Hebrew Orphan Asylum, New York. He
has been elected a member of various academies,
and was knighted by the German emperor.
Of his works the following may also be men-
tioned: mural monument to Lord Sherbrook, St.
Margaret's, Westminster, London; monument to
Massarani, in the Jewish cemetery, Rome; fountain
of Neptune, Nettuno, Italy; Jefferson monument,
Lexington, Va. ; recumbent statue of Mrs. Andrew
D. White, Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y. ; Haus-
serek monument. Spring Grove Cemetery, Cincin-
nati, O. ; "Christ in the Tomb," in the Chapel of
La Charite, Rue Jean Goujon, Paris; David; Ho-
mer; Beethoven; Portia; Eve (now in the palace
of Sans Souci, near Berlin); Queen Esther; por-
trait-busts of Cardinal Hohenlohe, Liszt, Queen
£zekiel b. Samuel
Ezra the Scribe
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
320
Margarita of Italy, and the Grand Duke of Saxe-
Meiningen.
Bibliography: Clement and Hutton, Artists of the Nine-
teenth Centicrii, part i., p. 243, Boston, 187&-84; El Diritto,
Rome, Sept. 2, 1876.
K. M. C.
A.
See
EZEKIEL B, SAMUEL HA-LEVI.
SCHLESINGEK, EzEKIEL.
EZEKIELXJS : Alexandrine poet ; flourished in
the second century B.C. He dramatized Biblical
episodes in Greek hexameters. Four fragments of
one of his dramas, representing the Exodus ('Efa-
yuyv), have been pre-
served by Clemens Alex-
andrinus (" Stromata," 1.
23, 155) and by Eusebius
( " Prseparatio Evangeli-
ca," ed. Gaisford, ix. 29,
§ 14). After referring
briefly to the suffering of
the Israelites in Egypt,
the first fragment gives
a monologue of Moses,
who relates the history
of his life from his birth
to his flight to Midian.
Then appear the seven
daughters of Jethro.
Moses questions them as
to their origin, and Zip-
porah gives him the re-
quired information.
In the second frag-
ment Moses relates to his
father - in - law a dream
which he has had, and
the latter interprets it
as predicting the future
greatness of Moses. The
following scene repre-
sents the burning bush,
from which is heard the
voice of God {ib. ix. 29,
g§4-6). The third frag-
ment gives the orders of
God concerning the Ex-
odus and the Feast of
Passover. Then appears
an Egyptian who has es-
caped the catastrophe at the Red Sea, and who re-
lates how the Israelites had crossed the sea, wliile
the Egyptians perished therein {ib. ix. 29, g§ 12-13).
The last fragment presents a messenger who in-
forms Moses of the discovery of an excellent resting-
place near Elim.
Apart from some embellishments, the poet fol-
lows closely the Biblical text, and displays some
ability in the treatment of the subject. To the ques-
tion whether dramas of this kind were intended for
the stage, Schiirer answers in the affirmative. Ac-
cording to him the author of this drama had a
double end in view: to instruct the people in Bib-
lical history, and to divert them from the pagan
plays.
Bibliography: Philippson, Ezektel des JUdischen Trauer-
spieldichters Aitszug aus Egypten und Philo des Aelteren
Jerusalem, Leipslc, 1830; Delitzsch, Zur Oesch. der JU-
dischen Pnesie, pp. 211-219; Dahne, Gesch. Darstellung der
JUdisch-Alexandrinischen Religionsphilnsophie, ii. 199;
Z. tYankel, Ueher den Einfluss der Paldstinischen Exegese
auf die Aleiandrinische Hermeneutik, pp. 113-119; Herz-
feld, Gesch. desVolkes Israel, iii. 517-519 : Schurer, Gesch.iii.
373 ; K. Kuyper, Le Poete Juif Ezechiel, in R.E.J, xlvi. 48-73.
J. I. Br.
EZEB (-1VN) : Son of Seir, and one of the princes
of Edom (Gen. xxxvi. 21, 27, 30; I Chron. 1. 38, 42).
EZER (iry, " help ") : Tlieophorous name, short-
ened either from "Eleazar " or from " Azriel," both
occurring in the Bible. 1. Son of Ephraim, slain by
the inhabitants of Gath (I Chron. vii. 21). 2. A Le-
vite who assisted Nehe-
miah in reconstructing
the walls of Jerusalem
(Neh. iii. 19). 3. A priest
who assisted in the dedi-
cation of the walls of
Jerusalem (Neh. xii. 42).
4. One of the sons of
Hur, father of Hushah
(I Chron. iv. 4). 5. A
Gadite warrior, one of
David's generals (I
Chron. xii. 9).
E. G. H. M. Sel.
EZION - GEBER
("I3J P"'^y) • ^ maritime
place of Idumsea, situ-
ated on the ^lanitic
Gulf of the Red Sea, not
far from Elath or Eloth
(Deut ii. 8; I Kings ix.
26, II Chron. viii. 17).
It was the last encamp-
ment of the Israelites
before they came to the
wilderness of Zin, or Ka-
desh (Num. xxxiii. 35,
36), and the station for
Solomon's navy, whence
It sailed to Ophir (I
Kings ix. 26). There
also the ships of Je-
ll oshaphat were wrecked
{ib. xxii. 48), probably
on the rocks near the
roadstead. This place
was called by the Greeks "Berenice" (Josephus,
"Ant." viii. 6, § 4); it was near the present Akabah.
E. G. H. M. Sel.
EZOBI, ELIEZER BEN HAN AN : Proven-
cal poet ; lived at Beziers in the thirteenth century.
He was the brother of Joseph Ezobi, and a contem-
porary of Abraham Bedersi, with whom he ex-
changed poems. His productions include a didactic
poem of thirty strophes on man, in which he adopted
the form of Ibn Ezra's poem, "Ben Adamah."
Bibliography : Carmoly, La France Israelite, p. 86 ; Renan-
Neubauer, Les Rabbins Frangais, p. 705; Gross, Gallia
Judaica, p. 104.
G. I. Br.
EZOBI, JOSEPH BEN HANAN BEN
NATHAN: Liturgical poet; lived at Perpignan in
the thirteenth century. He was the author of the
' ReliRlous Liberty," by Moses Ezeklel.
(From a photograph.)
821
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Ezekiel b. Samuel
Ezra the Scribe
followiug : (1) three liturgical poems, the first on
the Feast of Pentecost, the second (found in the
Avignon ritual), on the ten martyrs under Iludrian
(English paraphrase by Israel Gollancz in "Jewish
Chroniele," July 19, 1(101), and the third a selihah
begiiniing with 'n "|nDn iT'X; (2) " Ka'arat Kesef,"
a poem of 130 distichs, composed for the wedding of
his son Sanuiel (Constantinople, ir)23); in it Ezobi
advises his son how to conijiort himself in society,
and what studies he ought to pursue. He recom-
mends the study of the Talnuid together with the
conmientarics of Alfasi and jVIainionides, and warns
liim against Greek science, Avhich resembles the
fruits of yodom and Gomorrah. The " Ka'arat
Kesef " was translated into Latin by Reuchlin(Tu
bingen, 1512-14) and by Jean Mercier (Paris, 1561);
into English by I. Freedmanin "J. Q. R."viii. 585.
Ezobi was also the author of a ritual work entitled
"Safer Millu'ini," known only by a quotation of
Solomon ben Adret (Responsa, ed. Constantinople,
p. 25).
Bibliography: Zunz, Litcraturue!>ch. p. 480; Cannoly, La
Fiance Israelite, p. 81 ; Geiger, in He-Haluz, ii. 13 ; Land.s-
huth. 'Ainmude ha-'Ahodah, p. 90; Renan-Neubauer, Les
Ecrivain^ Juifs, pp. 701 ct seq.; (iross, Gallia Judaica, pp.
458-459.
G. I. Br.
EZOBI, SOLOMON BEN JUDAH : Rabbi
at Carpentras, Leghorn, and Florence; born at
Sofia, Bulgaria, in the sixteenth century ; died in
Italy about 1650. While officiating as rabbi of Car-
pentras (1620-35) he instructed Jean Plantavit de
la Pause, Bishop of Lodeve, in Hebrew. About
1633 Ezobi made the acquaintance of Peiresc, the
eminent magistrate and scholar, and soon became
his intimate friend. A lively correspondence ensued
between them ; and at one time Ezobi passed many
mouths in Peiresc 's house at Aix les-Bains.
In 1638 Ezobi was appointed rabbi at Leghorn,
and a little later at Florence.
Ezobi was the author of " Aguddat Ezob " (an
allusion to his own name) a collection of homilies
and sermons, still extant in manuscript in the
library of the Alliance Israelite Universelle of Paris.
Rev. Etudes Juivcn, xi. 101, 352; xii. 95, 129 ;
I. Br.
EZRA THE SCRIBE ("iDlDn XITJ?).— Biblical
Data : A descendant of Seraiah the high priest (Neh.
viii. 13; Ezra vii. 1 et seq.; II Kings xxv. 18-21);
a member of the priestly order, and therefore known
also as Ezra the Priest (jn3n ^^IT^: Ezra vii. 11; x.
10, 16). The name, probably an abbreviation of
" Azaryahu " (God helps), appears in Greek (LXX.,
Apocrypha, Josephus) and in Latin (Vulgate) as "Es-
dras." Though Ezra was one of the most important
personages of his day, and of far-reaching influence
upon the development of Judaism, his biography
has to be reconstructed from scanty material, fur-
nished in part by fragments from his own memoirs
(see Ezra, Book of). The first definite mention of
liim is in connection with a royal firman granting
him permission to lead a band of exiles back to Jeru-
salem (Ezra vii. 12-26). This edict was issued in
the seventh year of King Artaxerxes, corresponding
to 458 B.C. There is no reason to doubt the authen-
ticity of the document as incorporated in Aramaic
v.— 21
Bibliography
xvi. 150.
L. G.
in the Book of Ezra, though Jewish coloring may
be admitted. The arguments advanced for the op-
posite view( Cornill, "Einleitung in das Alte Testa-
ment," p. 264; Driver, "Introduction to tlie Litera-
ture of the Old Testament." 10th ed., p. 550) at their
utmost reflect on the verbal, not the virtual, accu-
racy of the decree. Nor is there any ground for
holding that the king in question was any other
than Artaxerxes Longimanus. A. van Hoonacker's
contention ("Nehemie et Esdras," etc., Paris, 1890)
that Ezra came to Jerusalem in the seventh year of
Artaxerxes II. (397 J5.C. ; comp. Winckler, "Altori-
entalische Forscliungen,"ii. 2; Cheyne, in "Biblical
World," Oct., 1899), is untenable (see Guthe, " Gesch.
des Volkes Israel," j). 252; Piepenbring, "Ilistoire
du People d'Israel," p. 537; Kuenen, "Gesammelte
Abhandlungen zur Bibl. Wis.senschaft," ed. Budde,
pp. 2^%etseq.).
Though received with greater favor, the assump-
tion of Kosters(in " Ilet Ilerstel van Israel," German
ed. by Basedow, pp. 103 et seq.) that Ezra arrived
in Jerusalem only during the second visit of Nehe-
miah (433 B.C.), can not be maintained (see Ed.
Meyer, " DieEntstehungdes Judenthums," 1896, pp.
60,'89. \^^etseq.\ Wellhausen, "Die Riickkehr der
Juden," pp. Z et seq.). Probably the reputation he
enjoyed for learning (hence "the ready scribe":
Ezra vii. 6) stood liim in good stead with the king,
who in the firman appears to have conferred upon
him extensive authority to cai'ry his intention into
effect. To the number of about 1, 500, mostly from
the tribes of Judah and Benjamin (Ezra viii. 1-14),
not counting the women and children,
Returns to the companions of Ezra assembled at
Jerusalem, the river flowing toward Ahava. But
uo Levite being among them, Ezra in-
duced 38 Levites and 220 Nethinim to join his ex-
pedition. After observing a day of public fasting
and prayer, on the twelfth day of the first month
(Nisan = April), without military escort but with
due precaution for the safeguarding of the rich gifts
and treasures in their keeping, they set out on their
journey, and arrived without mishap at Jerusalem
in the fifth month (Ab — August).
Soon after his arrival Ezra was compelled to take
strenuous measures against marriage with non-He-
brew women (which had become common even among
men of high standing), and he insisted in a very
dramatic manner upon the dismissal of such wives
(Ezra ix. and x.); but it was only after the arrival
of Nehe.miah (444 b.c. ; comp. Neh. viii. 1 et seq.)
that he published the " book of the law of Moses "
which he had brought with him from Babylon, and
made the colony solemnly recognize it as the basis
of their religious and civil code. Ezra is further
mentioned as the leader of one of the two choirs
singing hymns of thanksgiving at the dedication of
the wall (Neh. xii. ZQ et seq.), but this note is sus-
pected of being a gloss of questionable historical
value. E. G. H.
In Rabbinical Literature : Ezra marks the
springtime in the national history of Judaism.
"The flowers appear on the earth" (Cant. ii. 12)
refers to Ezra and Nehcmiah (Midr. Cant, ad loc).
Ezra was worthy of being the vehicle of the Law,
had it not been already given through Moses (Sanh.
£zra
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
822
21b). It was forgotten, but Ezra restored it (Suk.
20a). But for its sins, Israel in the time of Ezra
would have witnessed miracles as in the time of
Joshua (Ber. 4a). Ezra was the disciple of Baruch
ben Neriah (Cant. R.); his studies prevented him
from joining the first party returning to Jerusalem
in the reign of Cyrus, the study of the Law being
of greater importance than the reconstruction of the
Temple. According to another opinion, Ezra re-
mained behind so as not to compete, even involun-
tarily, with Jeshua ben Jozadak for the office
of chief priest. Ezra reestablished the text of the
Pentateuch, introducing therein the Assyrian or
square characters, apparently as a polemical meas-
ure against the Samaritans (Sanh. 21b). He showed
his doubts concerning the correctness of some words
of the text by placing points over them. Should
Elijah, said he, approve the text, the points will be
disregarded; should he disapprove, the doubtful
words will be removed from the text (Ab. R. N.
xxxiv. ). Ezra wrote the Book of Chronicles and the
book bearing his
name(B. B. 16a).
He is regarded
and quoted as
the type of
person most
competent and
learned in the
Law (Ber. R.
xxxvi.). The
Rabbis associate
his name with
several impor-
tant institutions.
It was he who
ordained that
three men
should read ten
verses from the
Torah on the second and fifth days of the week
and during the afternoon (" Minhah ") service on
Sabbath (B. K. 82a) ; that the " curses " in Leviticus
should be read before Shabu'ot, and those in Deute-
ronomy before Rosh ha-Shanah (Meg. 31b ; see Bloch,
" Die Institutionen des Judenthums," i. 1, pp. 112 ct
seq., Vienna, 1879). He ordained also that courts be
in session on Mondays and Thursdays; that gar-
ments be washed on these days ; that garlic be eaten
on the eve of Sabbatli ; that the wife should rise
early and bake bread in the morning; that women
should wear a girdle (B. K. 82a; Yer. Meg. iv. 75a) ;
that women should bathe (B. K. 82a); that pedlers
be permitted to visit cities where merchants were
established (B. K. 82a; see Bloch, I.e. p. 127); that
under certain contingencies men should take a ritual
bath ; that the reading at the conclusion of the
benedictions should be "min ha-'olam we-'ad ha-
'olam " (from eternity to eternity: against the Sud-
ducees; see Bloch, I.e. p. 137). His name is also
associated with the work of the Great Synagogue
(Meg. 17b). He is said to have pronounced the Divine
Name (Yhwh) according to its proper sounds (Yoma
69b), and the beginnings of the Jewish calendar are
traced back to him (Bezah 6a; Rashi, ad loc).
According to tradition, Ezra died at the age of
Site of the Traditional Tomb of Ezra,
(From a photograph by Dr. W. Popper.)
120 in Babylonia. Benjamin of Tudela was shown
his grave on the Shatt al-' Arab, near the point where
the Tigris flows into the Euphrates ("Itinerary," 1.
73). According to another legend, he was at the
time of his death in Babylon, as a courtier in the
retinue of Artaxerxes (see Vigouroux, " Diclionuaire
de la Bible," ii. 1931). Josophus, however, relates
that Ezra died at Jerusalem, where he was bui-ied
(" Ant. "xi. 5, § 5). In the selihah n"l3TK rh^ for the
10th of Tebet the date of Ezra's death is given as the
9th of Tebet (see Shulhan 'Aruk, Orah Hay vim, 580).
E. c. ■ E. G. il.-^I. l^K.
Critical View : The historical character of the
Biblical data regaiding Ezi'a the Sciibe (after Ed.
Meyer, "Die Entstehung des Judenthums," p. 321)
is generally conceded. But the zeal of Ezra to carry
out his theory that Israel should be a holy seed
(C'Tp yiT). and therefore of absolutely pure Hebrew
stock, was not altogether eflfective ; that his views
met with opposition is indicated in the books of Ruth
and Jonah. The "book of the law " which he pro-
claimed at the
public assembly
(Neh. viii.-x.)is
substantially
identified with
the Priestly
Code (P), which,
though contain-
ing older pi'iest-
ly ordinances
("torot"), came
to be recognized
as the constitu-
tional law of the
congregation
(Judaism) only
after Ezra's
time and largely
through his and
Nehemiah's influence and authority. E. G. H.
EZBA, BOOK OF.— Biblical Data : The con-
tents of the book are as follows:
Ch. 1.: Cyrus, inspired by Jehovah, permits the Israelites to
rebuild the Temple of Jerusalem, and returns to them the golden
vessels which had been carried off by Nebu-
Synopsis chadnezzar.
of Ch. ii.: The number of the captives that re-
Contents, turned from Babylon to Palestine with Zeriib-
babel is stated as 42,360, besides 7,337 men ser-
vants and women servants and 200 singing men and women.
Ch. iii.: Jeshua ben Jozadak and Zerubbabel build the altar,
and celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. In the second year the
foundations of the Temple are laid, and the dedication takes
place with great rejoicing.
Ch. iv.: The adversaries of the Jews, especially the Samari-
tans, make efforts to hinder the Jews from building the Temple.
A letter is written by the Samaritans to Artaxerxes to procure a
prohibition of the construction of the Temple, and the work Is
interrupted till the second year of Darius.
Ch. v.: Through the exhortations of the prophets Haggai and
Zechariah, Zerubbabel and Jeshua ben Jozadak recommence the
building of the Temple. Tatnai, the governor " on this side the
river," sends to the king a report of their action.
Ch. vi.: Darius finds the decree of Cyrus in the archives of
Achmetha (Haitiadan), and directs Tatnai not to disturb the
Jews in their work. He also exempts them from tribute, and
supplies everything necessary for the offerings. The Temple is
Ilnished in the month of Adar. in the sixth year of Darius, and
is dedicated with great solemnity.
Ch. vii.: Artaxerxes gives Ezra a commission to bring with
him to Jerusalem all the captives that remain in Babylon.
323
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Ezra
Ch. viii.: Contains a list of the heads of families who returned
with Ezra to Palestine. Kzra institutes a fast while on his way
to Jerusalem.
Ch. i.x.: The princes of Israel inform Ezra that many have not
repudiated their foreign wives.
Ch. X.: Those who have taken strange wives are compelled to
send them away and to bring each a sin offering.
J. M. Sel.
Critical View : The canonical Book of Ezra
coniinences wjiere the Chronicles leave off, and in-
deed with slight variation repeats the last two
verses of II Chron. "What follows consists of three
portions: (1) an account of the return of the e.viles,
and a brief survey of the fortunes of the Jewish
community down to the reign of Xerxes; (2) ch. iv.
7-vi. 22, extracts from a collection of historical doc-
uments in Aramaic, illustrating the fortunes of the
community in the reigns of Artaxerxes I. and
Darius, with a short appendix in Hebrew ; (3) ch.
vii. to end, a record of the enterprise of the author
of the book, including a copy of the decree granted
to him by Artaxerxes II., with an account of the
author's work at Jerusalem.
The first section includes a document also tran-
scribed in Neh. vii. 6-73a, called by Nehemiah a
genealogical table of the first return. A third copy
is to be found in the apocryphal I Esdras.
The documents embodied in the second section
are described as " written in Aramaic and ' targumed '
in Nehemiah Aramaic " (iv. 7). Since a work can not
be translated into the same language as that in which
it is composed, the expression " targumed " must
mean "described," a sense which corresponds closely
to the sense of the Arabic word "tarjamah," which,
used of a tradition, signifies the heading in which
its contents are described. This phrase, then, im-
plies that the contents of this section
Varying- were transcribed from a collection of
Character documents and accompanied with a
of Com- commentary, probably made for the
position, benefit of the Eastern community. In
these extracts there is evidently a
chronological transposition ; for the correspondence
with Artaxerxes I. (ch. iv.) is placed before the cor-
respondence with Darius (ch. v., vi.), who is cer-
tainly Darius I. This may be due to momentary
confusion on the author's part between Darius I.
and Darius II. ; but it is surprising, since in iv. 5-7
he shows himself well acquainted with the order of
the Persian kings. Thus the period covered by the
commentary on the documents in ch. v. and vi. is
earlier than that covered by the documents inch. iv.
The authenticity of the documents is a matter on
which there is difference of opinion, the most recent
critics (E. Meyer excepted) being disposed to regard
all of them as forgeries, wdiereas before the time of
Graetz they were generally thought to be genuine.
The custom in use among ancient historians of
illustrating their histories by speeches and letters of
their own composition makes the treat-
Alleged ment of such questions exceedinglj'
Fab- difiicult. The edict of Cyrus, said to
rications. have been found at Achmetha (vi. 3-
5), is the boldest of these fabrications,
if they be such; but the mention of that ancient
capital implies some very remarkable knowledge
on the part of the author here excerpted. Some
otlicr reasons for believing these documents genuine
are alleged by Herzfeld ("Geschichte des Volkes
Israel," i. 125). The character of the Aramaic in
which they are couched agrees fairly well, both in
vocabulary and in grammar, with that of early in-
scriptions and papyri ; and there would be nothing
surprising in successive compilers having assimilated
the language somewhat to the dialect with which
they were most familiar. It is also possible that
these Aramaic texts are translations of documents
in Old Persian, and were accommodated to the ta.ste
of those whom they were intended to reach.
The third part of the book appears to be a per-
sonal memoir; and the decree there given (vii. 11-
26), coming from an Artaxerxes whom the author
distinguishes by spelling from Artaxerxes I., can
not be regarded as spurious without seriously sha-
king the writer's credit. The narrative which he
proceeds to give of his journey, however, contains
little which might have been invented for the pur-
pose of edification, though it might be open to any
one to regard viii. 22 as written by one who had
Neh. ii. 7 before him. The narrative of Ezra's do-
ings at Jerusalem is also not marked by exaggera-
tion. Ch. ix. records a lengthy prayer offered by
him on receipt of the intelligence of the mixed
marriages, and ch. x. the measures taken by him to
separate the erring couples, with a list of the
persons affected. The objection urged by some
critics that so severe a measure would not have been
obeyed, seems insufficient to justify the condemna-
tion of this part of the narrative as unhistorical ;
since the author may well have supposed it would
be more effective than it turned out to be. Nor in-
deed does the recurrence to the subject in Neh. x. 31
and xiii. 23 render it improbable that severe measures
were taken years before in the same direction.
Supposing the king to have been Artaxerxes II.,
Ezra's arrival in Palestine may be considered to
have taken place in 397 B.C. From the mention
in Neh. xiii. 13 of Zadok as scribe, whereas in Neh.
viii. 9 Ezra has that title, it is perhaps to be inferred
that Ezra predeceased Nehemiah : in that case his
death probably occurred between 370 and 360 b.c.
The question of the historical character of the
Book of Ezra is concerned chiefiy with the last sec-
tion; since in the first two sections the scribe is
not speaking as an eye-witness, whereas in the third
there is either an authentic narration or a fiction.
The latter view is taken by C. C. Torrey in Stade's
"Zeitschrift," 1896, Supplement.
Bibliography : Ezra, in the introductions to the Old Testa-
ment of Driver, Cornill, Kuenen, Konig, Wellhausen-Bleek,
Ry!e, Wildeboer, Baudissin ; the commentaries of Bertheau-
Ryssel, Oettli, Ryle ; Sayce, Introduction to Ezra and Nehe-
miah; Kosters, Hct Hcrstel van Isi-ael. 1894; (also German
translation. Die Wiederherstellung Israels in der Persischcn
Periode, 1895) ; Meyer, Die Entstehiing des Judentliums,
Halle, 1896; Van Hoonacker, Nouvelles Etudes sur la Res-
tauration Jtiim, 1896; Etude Chronnlnqiqne des Livres
d' Esdras et Nehemie, Paris. 1868; Sigmund Jampel, Die
Wiedei-herstellung Israel's u7Uer den Achiiemeniden, in
MonaUischrift, xlvi. (1902).
J. JR. D. S. M.
EZRA, APOCRYPHAL BOOKS OF. See
EsDKAs, Books ok.
EZRA : Palestinian halakist of the fifth century ;
disciple of R. Mana the Younger (Yer. Ter. i. 40b,
vii. 44d). By a clerical error his name is some-
Ezra
Fairs
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
324
times substituted for that of Azaiiuii a liaggadist of
an earlier generation (Yer. Sbab. vii. 9b ; Y"er. Pes. i.
28a [some lines below "Ezra" is quoted]); and this
has led some writers into the error of considering
the two scholars as identical (see Azariah).
Bibliography: Frankel, Mcbo, p. l~Ob; Bacher, Ag. Pal.
Amor. lii. 449 et seq.
s. s. S. M.
EZRA THE CABALIST. See Aziuel ben
Menaiiem.
EZRA THE PROPHET OF MONCON-
TOUR : French tosatist; nourished in the thir-
teenth century. The title " prophet " is, according
to Zunz, an honorific one. It is possible that his
French name was "Profiat." which was translated
into Hebrew as " Nabi " ( = " Prophet "). Ezra is
quoted in the Tosafot under various names; e.g.,
"Azriel " (B. K. 24a), "Ezra" (B. B. 28a), and "Ezra
ha-Nabi " (Git. 88a). Sometimes he is quoted sim-
ply as "the rabbi and prophet of Moncontour"
("IIDpJIOn)- Gross identities Ezra with R. Ezra of
Moncontour, cited as a religious authoritj^ in the
Halberstamm Manuscript No. 345 ; also with Ezra ha-
Nasi (a misspelling of " ha-Nabi "= " the Prophet "),
who is counted among the disciples of Isaac ben
Solomon the Elder.
Bibliography: Zunz, Z. G. p. 565; Gross, Gallia Judaica^
p. 337.
K. I. Br.
EZRA B. SOLOMON ASTRUC IBN GA-
TIGNO. See Gatigno, Ezra b. Soi.omox.
EZRAHITE (TnTN): Name occurring in Psalms
Ixx.xviii. and Ixxxix. (in the titles); I Kings iv. 31;
and I Chronicles ii. 6. In the last-mentioned passage
the Authorized Version gives "s(m of Zerali." It
is not probable that the Ezrahite of Kings, who was
famed for liis wisdom, was the author of a psalm of
the tenor of Psalm Ixxxix., which, moreover, must
have been written during the Exile, when the crowu
of the Davidic family was, as it were, broken (Ps.
Ixxxix. 40). In the superscription to the preceding
psalm, the Korahite Heman, also, is called " the Ezra-
hite " ; that is, a descendant of Levi is spoken of as if
he were a son of Zerah, who belonged to the tribe
of Judah. The addition of "the Ezrahite "to the
names of Heman and Ethan in the superscriptions
to Psalms Ixxxviii. and Ixxxix. is due to an error.
E. G. II. E. K.
FABLE : A moral allcgor}' in which beasts,
and occasionally plants, act and speak like human
beings. It is distinct from the beast-tale, in which
beasts act like men, but in which there is no moral.
In the ancient world two nations onl}', the Indians
and the Greeks, are known to have had any con-
siderable number of fables. In the Bible, however,
there is the fable of the trees choosing their king
(Judges xi. 8-15), told by Jotham to persuade the
Israelites not to elect Abimelech as their king. This
is a genuine fable which finds no parallel in either
Greece or India. Besides this, Jehoash of Israel an-
swers Amaziah of Judah, when requesting an alliance,
in an allegorical response which resembles a fable (II
Kings xiv. 9). It would appear from these exam-
ples that the Israelites had also adapted the beast-
tale for moral or political purposes, as was done in
Greece; but it would be idle to derive the origin of
the ancient fable from the Israelites on account of
these two examples, as Landsberger does in his
" Fabeln des Sophos " (Leipsic, 1859). There is, on
the contrary, evidence that the Jews after Biblical
times adopted fables either from Greece or from
India. In Ecclus. (Sirach) xiii. 20 there is a distinct
reference to the fable of the two pots, which is
known in classical antiquity only from Avian (ix.),
though it occurs earlier in Indian sources (" Pancha-
tantra," iii. 13, 14). There is a later reference to the
same fable in the rabbinic proverb, " If a jug fall on
a stone, wo to the jug! if a stone fall on the jug,
wo to the jug! " (Esth. R. ii.). For the later spread
of ^sopic and Indian fables among the rabbis of
the Talmud, see ^sop, though with reference to the
suggestion there made that " Kobesim" refers to the
collection made by Kybises, it should be added that
some are inclined to hold that the name "Kobesim"
really refers to washermen, who were the gossips
of the Babylonian communities (see Kobak's
"Jeschurun," vi. 185).
In the Middle Ages a number of fables appear in
Berechiah ha-Nakdan's "Mishle Shu'alim " which
are probably derived from Arabic sources (see Bere-
chiah ben Natronai Krespia ha-Nakdan). Two
other collections, by Isaac ibn Solomon ibn Abu
Sahula and Josepli ibn Zabara, also contain fables,
possibly derived from India by way of Arabia.
The many beast-tales contained in "Kalilah wa-
Dimnali " were distributed through Eiu'ope by means
of the Latin translation of John of Capua, and
helped much in tlie circulation throughout Europe
of the Bidpai literature. In more recent times the
fables of Lessing, Krilof, and others, have been
translated into Hebrew and Y'iddish.
The ancient Israelites thus appear to have had
the beginnings of a fable literature of their own,
wliich probably disappeared through the competi-
tion of the Indian and Greek fables found in the
Talmud (see ^sop's Fables among the Jews).
It has been conjectured that the chief additions to
the fable literature in the I\Iiddle Ages were made
through the intermediation of the Jews Berechiah
ha-Nakdan and John of Capua.
Bibliography : .lacobs, Fahlc:^ of ^^sop. vol.i., London, 1888;
idem, Jeiritih Biffitxioti of Folk-Tales, in Jewish Ideals, pp.
135-161; S. Back, in MonntsscliHft, 1876-86; Liindsberger,
Die Fabeln des Sop/ios, 1859, Introduction.
J.
FADL, DA'UDABUAL-: Karaite physician;
born at Cairo IKU ; died thereabout 1242. Having
studied medicine under the Jewish physician Hibat
Allah ibn Jami', and under Abu al-Fada'il ibn
325
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Ezra
Fairs
Nakid, he became the court pliysiciau of the sultaii
Al-Malik al-'Adil Abu Bakr ibn Ayyub, the brother
and successor of Saladiu. He was also cliief professor
at the Al-Nasiri liospital at Cairo, where he had a
great many pupils, among them being the historian
Ibn Abi Usaibi'ah. The latter declared that Abu al-
Fadl was the most skilful physician of the time and
tliat his success in curing the sick was miraculous.
Abu al-Fadl was the author of an Arabic pharma-
copoeia in twelve chapters, entitled " Akrabadhin,"
and treating chiefly of antidotes.
Bibliooraphy: Ibn Abi Usaibi'ah, 'Uyun al-A)iha'' fi Tata-
hat aUAtihba\ ed. Aug. Miiller, li. 118-119, Konigsberg, 1884 :
Cannoly,'in iJeuue Oriejitale, i. 418; Steinschneider, Jewish
Literature, VP' 195, 36«, note 16a; idem, Bibl. Arab.-Jud.
§154.
K. M. Sel.
FADUS CUSPIT7S : Procurator of Judea after
the death of Agrippa I. Appointed by Emperor
Claudius in 44 c.e., he went to Palestine in the same
year, and found the inhabitants of Penca engaged
in open hostilities against tho.se of Philadelphia
on account of boundary disputes. Fadus soon
restored order, but he then incensed the Jews by the
unreasonable demand that the sacred vestments of
the high priest, which had been in the liands of the
Romans from the year 6 to 36 c.e., but had been
restored to the Jews by Vitellius, should again
be given into the keeping of the Romans. With the
consent of Fadus and the Syrian governor Cassius
Longinus, the Jews sent an embassy to Rome, which
obtained from Emperor Claudius the revocation of
the procurator's demand. Fadus was also instru-
mental in checking the advance of the pseudo-
prophet Theudas.
Bibliography: Josephus, Ant. xix. 9, § 2; xx. 1, §§1 etseq.;
Scburer, Gcsch. 3ded., i.564; Griitz. Gesch. 4th ed., iii. 724;
Kellner, Die Kaiserlichen Procuratnren von JudUa, in
Zeitschrift fllr Katholische Theologie, 1888, pp. 630 et aeq.
G. H. Bl.
FAENZA (NVJ^'S) : City in the province of
Ravenna, and the family seat of the Finzi accord-
ing to a tradition of the family ; Mazliah (Felice)
Finzi lived there as early as 1450. The physician
Lazarus Hebrajus, prominent in the fifteenth cen-
tury on account of his wealth, his scholarship, and his
benevolence in treating the poor gratuitously, and the
liturgical poet Raphael (^JT) hen Isaac da Faenza were
among its Jewish citizens. Several of the latter's
piyyutim are in the Roman Mahzor. Raphael ben
Isaac sold a mahzor to Uzziel da Camerino in Flor-
ence in 1458. Joseph Colon (Responsa, No. 171, ed.
Cremona, p. 146c) mentions a decision by the rab-
binate of Faenza dating from this same period.
Bibliography : Cassel. in Ersch and Gruber, Encuc. section
il.. part 27. p. 1513; Zunz, Literaturgcsch. p. 38.5. Addenda
28 ; J. Q. R. xiv. 409 ; Bernardinus da Feltre, in Acta Sancto-
rum, vlii. 926.
G. I. E.
FAGIXJS, PAUIi (Paul Buchlein) : Christian
Hebraist; born at Rheiuzabern, in the Kurpfalz,
1504; died at Cambridge, England, Nov. 13, 1549.
He studied at the universities of Heidelberg and
Strasburg, and became successively pastor at Isny,
professor and preacher at the University of Stras-
burg, and professor of Hebrew at Cambridge. He
learned Hebrew from Elijah Levita and established
a Hebrew press at Isny. He translated into Latin
the following works: Pirke Abot (1541); Levita's
"Tishbi" (1541); Tobit (1542); "Alfabeta de Ben
Sira" (1542); "Sefer Amanah" (1542); David
Kimhi's commentary on Psalms, oh. i.-x. (1544); a
part of the festival prayers under the title " Pvrcca.-
tiones" (1542). He also edited Targum Onkelos
(1546), and wrote an exegetical work on the first four
chapters of Genesis (1542); an elementary Hebrew
grammar (1543); and two books, "Liber Fidei seu
Veritatis" (1542) and "Parvus Tractulus" (1542),
endeavoring to prove from the works of two Jews
the truth of Christianity.
Bibliography : Wangemann, in Herzog-Hauck, Beal-Eiicyc.
V. 733 ; Steinschneider, in Zcit. flir Hcbr. Bibl. ii. 149.
J. C. L.
FAIRS : Periodical assemblies for the purchase
and the sale of goods. Talmudic authorities were
opposed to the attendance of Jews at fairs on the
ground that they are an outgrowth of pagan festi-
vals. The Talmudic word for fair, "yarid," which
is still in use among the Jews, is, according to
Hoffmann ("Zeitschrift filr Assyriologie," 1896, pp.
241-246), akin to the Arabic "warad" (to go
down to the water), and originated in the relig-
ious processions made to the ponds near the temples.
There were three cities in Palestine in
Ancient which fairs w^ere held — Gaza, Tyre,
Fairs. and Bohna ; the last-named is specially
denounced as an idolatrous place ( Yer.
'Ab. Zarah i. 4; Gen. R. xlvii.). In contrast wiUi the
custom of the time of Ezekiel, when the Jews trans-
acted all sorts of business at the fairs of Tyre (xxvii.
17), only slave-buying was permitted by the Talmud-
ic authorities, and that only in order that the slaves
might be taken away from idolatry (Yer. 'Ab. Zarah
i. 1, 4). R. Hiyya bar Abba, having bought a pair
of sandals at the fair held at Tyre, was severely cen-
sured by R. Jacob b. R. Abba {ib.).
During the Middle Ages these restrictions were
removed, and Jews were the chief frequenters of the
fairs, even in places where their permanent residence
was forbidden by law. But they had to pa}- special
admission-fees. For instance, at the three annual
fairs held at Lcipsic in the last years of the seven-
teenth century the Jewish merchants, on their arrival
at the gate of the town, were required to purchase
tickets at the price of ten thalers and four groschen
each, while women and servants were amerced
in half that sum. The authorities of Leipsic
kept a careful register of the names of all the
Jewish merchants who attended the fairs, and de-
ducted a percentage from their earnings. During
the years 1675-1700 the number of Jewish mer-
chants arriving at the Leipsic fairs was 18,182,
among them being 2,362 women, servants, brokers,
and musicians, who were admitted at half price;
their admission-fees alone amounted to 173,000
thalers. It was customary to buy goods at the
Easter fair and pay for them at the Michaelmas
one. But during the Middle Ages fairs were not
merely centers of trade for the Jews; they were also
rendezvous for Talmudic scholars, especially in
Poland, where scholars who had just completed
their terms at the ycshibot would gather in hun-
dreds, with their masters — in summer, at the fairs of
Zaslavl and Jaroslav; in winter, at Lemberg and
Fairs
Falashas
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
326
Lublin. Public disputations on rabbinical matters
were held at the fairs.
On these occasions marriages were also arranged
—according to Hanover, "Yewen Mezulah," hun-
dreds, and even thousands, annually. Jair Hayyim
Bacharach reports that he made several speeches,
the first \Vhen he was twenty -four
Students at years old, at the fair of Frankfort-on-
the Fairs. the-Main ("Hawwot Ya'ir," p. 280a)
At a still earlier period Jews in great
numbers attended the .fairs at Troyes (France),
especially at the time of Rashi. At these meetings
important points concerning Judaism were decided.
The Council of Four Lands, instituted about the
middle of the sixteenth century, originated at the
fairs of Lublin and Jaroslav.
In Little Russia Jews were permitted to visit the
fairs in 1727, though they were not allowed to re-
main. The great fair of Nijni Novgorod is a
modern counterpart, frequented by Jews from Per-
sia, India, Khiva, and Bokliara, whose merchandise
consists mainly of Asiatic fancy goods. At the fairs
of Kharkov and Poltava contracts for very large
amounts are closed with the Jews, who trade chiefly
in wool, grain, and leather. The business of the fair
of Kiev is also mainly in the hands of the Jews,
who originally dealt in sugar. As Jews arc r ^t
allowed to live in Great Russia, only merchants of
the first and second gilds and their agents may at-
tend the fairs of Nijni-Novgorod, Irbit, Kiev, and
Kharkov.
Bibliography: Gratz, Gcsrh.Sd ed , ix. 444; Nathan Hanover,
yctceu-Mf ??(?ah, Dyhernfurth, 1727; Jair Hayyim Bacharach,
Hawwot Ya'ir, p. 230a, Frankfort-on-the'-Main, 1729; Abra-
hams, Jeici^h Life in the Middle Aqes. pp. 172, 216, Lon-
don, 1896 ; Isidore Lt^vi, in R. E. J. xliii. 192 et scq.; M. Freu-
denthal, JildUche Besucher der Leipziger Mctiscn i)t 1075-n:).
Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1902; (iradovski, Tiirgvgi)(t Prava
Yevreyev v Roxsii, p. 3.5, St. Petersbur(;r, 1886; Mysh, Ruho-
vodstvn k Russliim Zakonam <> YeorfijalJi, |>.2G8, St. Peters-
burg, 1898.
D. M. Sel.
FAIRY-TALES. See Folk T.\i,ES.
FAITH (nJIDN; comp pa, Deut. xxxii 21);
In Biblical and rabbinical literature, and hence in
the Jewish conception, "faith " denotes not belief in
a dogmatic sense (see Saul of Tarsus), but either
(a) faithfulness (from the passive form "ne'eman "
= "trusted" or "trustworthy," Deut. I.e.; comp.
Deut. xxxii. 4 : "a god of faithfulness " [" emunah " ;
A. V " truth "] ; Ps. xxxvi. 6 [A. V. 5] ; Prov. xx. 6,
xxviii. 20- "a man of faithfulness" [A. V. "a faith-
ful man"]; Hosea ii. 22 [A. V. 20]: "I will even
betroth thee unto me in faithfulness"; Jer. vii. 28:
" faithfulness [A. V. " truth "] is perished " ; Ecclus.
[Sirach] xlvi 15) or (b) confidence and trust in God,
in His word, or in His messenger (Hab. ii. 4: "The
just shall live by his faith"; comp. Gen. xv. 5 [A.
V. 6]: "He [Abraham] believed in the Lord: and
he counted it to him for righteousness"; II Cliron.
XX. 20: "Believe in the Lord your God, so shall ye
be established"; Isa. vii. 9: " If ye will not believe
[that is, have faith], surely ye sliall not be estab
lished ").
In this sense of perfect trust in God the Rabbis
laud and insist on faith as highly meritorious (see the
classical passage on "amanali" in Mek., Beshallah,
6 with reference to Ex xiv. 31); whereas those lack-
ing faith (" mehusare amanah," Mek., Beshallah,
Shirah, 2; comp. b7jyoniaTol [= " men of little faith"
= njIDN 'JtOp], Matt. vi. 30), are greatly blamed;
the world's decline is brought about by the disap-
pearance of " the men of faith " (Sotah ix. 12).
Only in medieval times did the word " emunah "
(faith) receive the meaning of dogmatic belief, on
which see Articles of Faith.
K.
FAITUSI, BARUCH B. SOLOMON:
Preacher in Tunis toward the end of the eighteenth
centurj'. He was inclined toward mystical and
cabalistic studies. His "^lekor Baruk," containing
sermons on the wc'ckly portions, commentaries on
various Talmudic treatises, and cabalistic discourses,
was published at the expense of Joshua ben Abra-
ham Lombroso in Leghorn (1790).
s. s. M. K.
FAITUSI, JACOB B. ABRAHAM : Talmud-
ist lived in Tunis, and hiter in Jerusalem; died at
Algiers July, 1812. He traveled in the interest
of the Jerusalem community. He wrote: "Berit
Ya'akob," containing sermons, a commentary on Be-
zalel's " Shittah Mekubbczet " on Sotah, and notes of
the Geonim on Nedarim and Nazir, with elucidations
by Abraham b. Musa (Leghorn, 1800); "Mizbah
Kapparah," containing commentaries (his own and
others) on various Talmudic treatises, and several
sermons on charity {ib. 1810 ; 2d ed. , Lemberg, 1861) ;
"Yerek Ya'akob," containing cabalistic notes on
the Pentateuch and several treatises of the Talmud,
as well as responsa, edited bj^ David Hayyim Fai-
tusi, son of the author.
Bibliography : Gazes. Note.^ BihliouraphiqaeK, pp. 174 <;( seq. ;
Zedner, Cat. Hehr. Books Brit. Miis. p. 274.
8. S. M. K.
FALAISE (lIebre^y, Nr"'^D or NK'^^D) : Capital
of the arrondissement of the department of Calvados,
in Normandy, France, and till 1206 under English
rule. It seems to have had a considerable Jewish
community in the Middle Ages. Jacob and Morel-
lus of "Falcsia" were among the Jews authorized
(1204) to live at the Chatelet at Paris. A decree of
the Court of E.xcliequer of Falaise, issued in 1220 to
avenge the murder of a Jew of Bernai, made all the
citizens responsible, excepting those who had re-
sponded to his cries for help. In 1299 the taxes
paid by the Jew Abraham and his coreligionists of
Falaise amounted to seventy-five livres.
The following Jewish scholars of Falaise are
known: Simson ben Joseph, tiietosafist; Samuel ben
Solomon, called also " Sire Morel " ; Hayyim Paltiel ;
Moses of Falaise; Yom-Tob of Falaise.
Bibliography: Delisle, Catalogue de$ Artes de PliiUppe-
Augii.'<ti\ ]>. 89(); Brus.sel, Usage (k.s Fiefs, vol. i., book ii., eh.
39; comp. Bedarridc, Les Juifs e)i France, etc., p. 217 ; Dep-
pinij, Les Juifs da >is le Mot/cn Age, p. 120, Paris, 1834 ; Ziuiz,
Z. (jf. pp. 35, 56 et passini ; Renan-Neubaiier, Les Rabbins
Fran(}ais, pp. 444 et passim ; R. E. J. xv. 2-55.
o, S. K.
FALAaUERA (PALftUERA), SHEM-TOB
BEN JOSEPH: 8|)ai)isli philosopher and poet;
born 1225; died after 1290. He was well versed in
Arabic and Greek philosophy, and had a fine critical
sense. Falaquera unfortunately gives no inforraa-
327
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Fairs
Falashaa
tion concerning his own personality. He was the
author of.
Iggeret Hanhagat ha-Guf we ha-Nefesh, a treatise in verse on
the control of the body and the soul.
Zeri ha-Yagon,on resignation and fortitude under misfortune.
Cremonil, l.^TjO.
Iggeret tia-Wikkuah, a dialogue between an orthodox Jew
and a philosopher on the liarmony of philosophy and relig-
ion, being an attempt to prove that not only the Bible, but
even the Talmud, is in perfect accord with philosophy. Prague.
1810.
Reshit Holimah, treating of moral duties (and giving the so-
called "ethical epistles" of Aristotle), of the sciences, and of
the necessity of studying philosophy. In this Shem-Tob treats
of the philosophy of Aristotle and Plato. This and the prece-
ding work have been translated into Latin (Bibliothfeque Natio-
nale, Paris, MS. Latin, No. 6691 A).
Sefer ha-Ma'alot, on the different degrees of human perfection ;
ed. L. Venetianer, 1891.
Ha-Mebakkesh, a survey of human knowledge in the form of
a dialogue in rimed prose interspersed with verse. This work
Is a remodeling of the " Reshit Hokmah." Amsterdam, 1779.
Sefer ha-Nefesh, a psychological treatise according to the
Arabian Peripatetics, especially Avicenna. Brody, 1835.
Moreh ha-Moreh, commentary on the philosophical part of the
" Moreh Nebukim " of Maimonides, with an ajipendix contain-
ing corrections of the Hebrew translation of Samuel ibn Tibbon.
Presburg, 1837.
Letter in defense of the " Moreh Nebukim," which had been
attacked by several French rabbis; published in the " Minhat
Kena'ot." Presburg, 1838.
Extracts from Ibn Gabirol's " Mekor'Hayyim," published by
Solomon Munk in his " Melanges de Philosophic Juive et Arabe."
Paris, 1859.
De'ot ha-Filusuflm, containing Aristotle's " Physics and Meta-
physics" according to Ibn Roshd's interpretations (Steinschnei-
der, "Cat. Hebr. MSS." Leyden, No. 20).
Iggeret ha-Musar, a compilation of ethical sentences (comp.
"Orient, Lit." 1879, p. 79).
Megillat ha-Zikkaron, a historical work, no longer in exist-
ence, quoted in the " Mebakkesh."
Iggeret ha-Halom, a treatise on dreams, mentioned in " Mo-
reh ha-Moreh," iii., ch. 19, p. 131.
Bibliography: Munk, Melangeit de Philnsophie Juive et
Arahe, pp. 494-496; Renan. Aveiroes et VAverrolsme, pp.
183. 187; Kaufmann, f>t)(dien Uher Salomon ibn GdlnroU
1899, pp. 1-3; Steinschneider, Cat. Bodl. cols. 2537-2548;
idem, Hehr. Uehers. pp. 8, 18, 37, 356, 380, 423; Giidemann,
Das JUdischc Unterrichtswcsen, i. 155-157; Gratz, Gesch.
vii. 219 et seq.; Straschoun, Pirhe Zafim, i. 46 ; L. Vene-
tianer, Semtob ibn Fala-Kha, in Magyar Zsidn Szemle,
1890, viii. 74-82, 144-155.
G. I. Bu.
FALASHAS : Jews of Abyssinia. A colony of
Jews exists in Abyssinia known under the denomi
nation of " Falashas " or " Emigrants. " They are also
called " Kaila " ; in the Walkait and Tchelga regions
they are known as "Foggara," and the Ilmormas or
Gallas give them the name of "Fenjas." In their
families they make use of the expression "house of
Israel," or simply "Israel"; the word "Ailiud" ( =
"Jew ") isalmost unknown. The origin of the Fala-
shas is unknown. According to a tradition preserved
by them and recorded by Bruce, who traversed
Abyssinia in the eighteenth century, they left Jeru-
salem in the retinue of Menilek, the son of Solomon
and the Queen of Sheba. After a lengthy residence
on the coast, about the time when the commerce of
tlie Red Sea passed into foreign hands they appear
to have withdrawn into the interior of the country,
where they applied themselves to the fabrication of
pottery. Others believe the Falashas to be descend-
ants of prisoners of Shalmanescr, or of Jews driven
from Jiidea when Jerusalem was destroyed in the
time of Titus and Vespasian. But Joseph Ilalevy,
who visited them in 1868, thinks that the Jew-
ish element of the Falashas proceeds especially from
the Himyarites captured in Ethiopia by the king
Kaleb, conqueror of Dhu-Nuwas. Taking refuge in
the mountains beyond the Takazze, they converted
a part of the Agaus, and through intermixture with
them produced the Falasha type. This opinion ap-
pears to be the more probable.
The Falashas are in general darker and more cor-
pulent than the Amharas, among whom they live.
Their hair is shorter and often curly; their eyes are
smaller, and their faces not so long. Their houses are
built in the same fashion as those of other Abys-
sinians ; they use the same implements and speak the
same language. Their usual food is
Manners, teff or " dagussa," and they do not eat
Customs, raw meat. Their drink is hydromel
Dress. or beer made from the dagussa-grains.
Their dress is the same as that of the
Christians; their priests wear turbans like Christian
priests. TheRoman toga is their gala-dress; during
work they wear short trousers or a waist-cloth de-
scending to the knees. For out-of-door wear the
women put on a long shift edged with different
colors; they also wear bracelets and earrings, but
do not pierce the nose as do the tribes of the Tigre
district. Laymen have no head-dress, but usually
shave the head; and they walk barefoot. The
woman is the equal of the man, and is neither veiled
nor confined in a separate abode. Married couples
apply themselves to their occupations in unison.
The Falashas ply all trades, though agriculture is
their chief occupation. They make the articles nec-
essary for the liome or the field ; they become ma-
sons, architects, blacksmiths, and weavers, but reject
commerce. They marry at a mature age, and are
monogamous. Divorces, which are very infrequent,
take place in public assembly and not by writing.
The children are taught by the " debteras " or scribes ;
education is very rudimentary, and consists in teach-
ing them to read the Bible (especially the Psalter)
and sacred history, and to recite prayers. Writing
is seldom taught. As has been stated, the Falashas
generally speak Amharic, the official language of
Abyssinia, but in their homes they employ an
Agau dialect, which is known under the name of
" Falashina " or " Kailina." In the Kuara region, to
the northwest of Lake Tana, it has a peculiar pro-
nunciation. It is this dialect into which they trans-
late the Bible and in which they recite their prayers.
The leaders of the Falashas are divided into three
classes, "neziiim," "kohanim," and "debteras."
The nezirim are said to have been founded by Abba
Ze'ira in the fourth century. They live together in
large numbers, and eat only food prepared by one of
their own number. They are visited by other Fala-
shas, and wlien the first-born is not redeemed he is
given over the nezirim. The kohanim live with the
other Falashas, often taking the place of the nezi-
rim, by whom they are ordained. They are com-
pelled to marry ; but when the wife dies they do
not marry again. They are the ritual slaughterers,
and receive part cf the animal offered. The debt-
eras assist the kohanim in their work.
The religion of the Falashas is pure Mosaism, based
upon the Ethiopic version of the Pentateuch, but
modified by the fact that they are ignorant of
the Hebrew language. Indeed, they appear never
Falashas
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
328
to have known tlie Hebrew text of tlie Bible.
They liave no Hebrew books at all, despite the
exaggerated reports of some schol-
Leaders ars (Ludolf, "Hist, ^thiopica," 1. 14;
and "Orient, Lit." 1848, p. 262). They
Religion read the Bible in Gecz, and know noth-
of the ing of Mishnah or Talmud, although
Falashas. there are a few points of contact be-
tween Falasha and Rabbinic, Karaite,
and Samaritan observances. They follow generally
the Pentateuch, but do not observe the customs con-
nected with the zizit, tefillin, and mezuzot; nor do
they celebrate either Purim or Hanukkah. They
keep the Sabbath very rigorously, calling it "Sanbat
Kadma'i," following the tradition that the Sabbath
was created before heaven and earth. In fact, they
believe Sanbat to be an angel placed over the sun and
the rain, who
will precede
them on the way
to Jerusalem in
the days of the
Messiah. The
kohanim spend
Friday night in
the "masjid "
(synagogue),
and commence
their prayers
with the crow-
ing of the cock.
After prayers
the people bring
their food to the
masjid, and all
eat there to-
gether. On Sab-
bath they do not
light a tire, nor
do they cross a
river. They
sanctify the new
moon, fasting on
the eve. They
preserve in "Nisan," "Ab," "Lul," and "Teshran,"
some remembrance of the Hebrew names of the
months, though in ordinary life they use the solar
cycle.
Every four years the Falashas add a month in
order to equalize the lunar witli the solar year.
They fast on the tenth day of every month in re-
membrance of the Day of Atonement, on the twelfth
day in honor of the angel Michael, and on the fif-
teenth in remembrance of the Passover and Pen-
tecost. The yearly celebration of the Passover is
observed in the following manner: On the eleventh,
twelfth, and thirteenth, and until the evening of the
fourteenth day, they eat only a peculiar sort of bread
called " shimbera. " They slaughter the paschal lamb
at sunset on the fourteenth day. Their mazzah is
made of shimbera and wheat. Pentecost is celebrated
on the 12th of Siwan, as they commence to count from
the last day of tlie Passover festival. It is for them
also the day of the giving of tlie Law. New- Year's
Day is called the "Festival of Shoferot"; the Day
of Atonement, the "Day of Forgiveness," on whicli
Falasha Woman, Showing
(After Lefebure, *' Voya
day God appeared to Jacob. During the Feast of
Tabernacles they do not build booths, but, accord-
ing to Flad, eat mazzot for seven
Festivals, days. The last day of the ninth
month is the Festival of Ingathering,
when they go up into the mountains, taking gifts
to the nezirim, and pray and offer sacrifices. The
tenth day is the Harvest Festival, when they give
tithes to the kohanim. They have many fast-days
— e.g., the second and fifth days of the week, and, in
commemoration of the destruction of the First Tem-
ple, from the 1st to the 9th of Tammuz. They do not
conmiemorate the destruction of the Second Temple.
The synagogue or masjid of the Falashas consists
of a Holy of I lolies and a sanctuary. To the right of
the door of the Holy of Holies is a table on which is
placed the Book of the Law; to the left are the
vestments of the
priests. Two
vessels are
placed there,
one containing
the ashes of the
red heifer, the
other " the water
of sin." On the
right hand of the
eastern gate is a
stone altar 5x5
ells, and one ell
high. The wo-
men's court is to
the south of the
masjid, whilethe
congregation as-
sembles in the
northern end.
Offerings are
made more fre-
quently than is
commanded by
the Pentateuch.
The ceremonials
are accom panied
with the noise of sistra, together with the burning of
incense; after each passage, recited in Geez, the
translation is read in Kailina, and tlie hymns are also
chanted in that dialect. Circumcision is performed
on the eighth day, on both girls and boj-s; the oper-
ator is a woman. If the eighth day falls on a
Sabbath, the ceremony is performed on the ninth.
When the first-born is not redeemed by money he
is trained as a nazir. A first-born must marry a
woman who also is a first-born. The first-born of
animals is given to the priest when it is one year old.
The Falashas are monogamists; they know noth-
ing of the levirate. Before death they make confes-
sion to a nazir. The mourners put dust on their
heads and cut themselves, while the nazirs recite
psalms and prayers. They bury their dead at once,
not in coffins, but in graves lined with stones.
Lamentations are continued for seven days; on the
tliird and seventh days an offering is brought, and
it is believed that until this has been done the soul
remains in the " valley of death." During the seven
days the mourners' food is brought to them by
Full Face and Proflle.
,ge en Abyssinie.")
329
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Falashas
friends. Among tlie Falashas, as among the Chris-
tians, are found liermits who enjoy a great reputation
for knowledge and sanctity. They are the fathers of
families who have made vows of chastity after the
death of their wives.
The Falaslias observe very carefully the distinc-
tions between " clean " and " unclean. " Next to each
dwelling is a tent to which the unclean person re-
tires. At the end of the day he must bathe. In the
case of a death the mourners retire for seven days.
The Falashas are also very careful to slaughter ani-
mals in strict accordance with the ritual. Before
being cooked the flesh is cut into small pieces, and
any traces of biood which remain are removed.
They know nothing, however, of the distinction be-
tween that which is "meaty" and that which is
form a considerable part of the inhabitants of Dem-
bca and of Tchelga, and are much scattered to the
west of Lake Tana, in Kuara, and elsewliere.
In the tenth century a Jewish queen named "Ju-
dith " (or " Esther " or " Terda^-Gobaz "), at the head
of the Falashas of the province of
Semien, appears to have dethroned a
king of Abys.sinia at Axum, and to
have establislied a dynasty which
occupied the throne for about three
centuries. Joseph Halevy has doubted this story, and
not without cause, as further researches have shown.
Under the rule of Amda-Seyon I. (1314-44) Jews
dwelt in Semien, Wogara, Salamt, and Sagade. One
of this king's generals suppressed a rebellion in Bega-
meder, inhabited by Christians converted to Juda-
Dis-
tribution
and History.
Falasha Village at Balankab.
(After St«rn, " Travels Among the Falashas.")
" milky." They wash their hands and recite certain
prayers before eating.
The prayers of the Falashas have been published,
with a Hebrew translation, by J. Halevy (Paris,
1877) from a manuscript which he brought back
with him from Abys.sinia. The following may serve
as a specimen :
" Praised be Thou, God of Israel, God of Abraham, God of
Isaac, God of Jacob, God of the whole earth. God, give us Thy
blessing. Bless us with the blessing with which Thou didst
bless Abraham. Bless us as Thou didst bless the storehouse of
Abitara [a cliaritable woman]. Keep our going-out and our
roming-in. Thou who art the keeper of Israel. Keep us in
peace. Praise the Lord, O ye heavens. Let the whole earth
praise Him. Amen ! "
Falashas exist in Tigre, in Shire, among the
Azobo-Gallas, and as far as Shoa. In Amhara they
have established themselves in the Walkait and
along the Takazze, from the Semien to the Lasta.
Less numerous to the east of Lake Tana, they are
not found at all in Miethya and Gojam ; but they
ism. A Falasha revolt took place under Ishak (1412-
29). The reign of Zara' Ya'ekob (1434-68) was also
troubled by a rebellion of Amba-Nahad, the governor
of Salamant; of Sagay, governor of Semien; and of
Kantiba, all of whom had abjured Christianity and
become Jews. The latter were then rigorouslj' per-
secuted, as also under one Markos, general of Baeda-
Maryam (1468-78), son of Zara' Ya'ekob.
The wars which took place between the Abyssiu-
ians and the Mussulmans during the reigns of Lebna-
Dengcl (1508-40) and Galawdewos (1540-59) proba-
bly produced an alliance for common defense be-
tween the Christians and Jews of Abj-ssinia; but the
latter were again attacked by Minas (1559-63), who
during the finst year of his reign proceeded to Semien
and made war upon Rade'et the Fala.sha. This war
was continued by his successor. Sartsa-Dcngel (1563-
1597). About 1578 the latter engaged in batile with
the Abatis, a Falasha tribe, at Waina-Daga, and ex-
terminated them. Two years later he made an expe-
^alashas
Falk, Hayyim
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
330
ditiou into Semien, seized upon Rade'et, and carried
him off to Waj. In 1582 he conquered Kalef, an-
other Jewish chief of Semien, and in 1587 made a
fresh incursion into the countr)^ attacked Gushn,
brother of Gedewon, and slew him. At last in 1588
he carried his arms into Kuara. Under the reign of
Susenyos (1607-32) Gedewon revolted and was sub-
dued; he was killed by this ruler in 1626, and the
Falashas of Dembea, terrified by the emperor's
cruelty, embraced Christianity. In 1627 a battle
occurred between Susenyos and the Falashas. To
ward the end of the eighteenth century' they seem
still to liave had a separate political existence in
Semien, but they were at that time finally reduced
to vassalage. In Gondar they are the masons and
smiths (" Israelitische Annalen," 1839, p. 71); in
other places, also carpenters, merchants, and agricul-
turists. In 1894 Falashas commenced to arrive at
Massuah on the coast, desirous of advancing trade
with Italy (" Allg. Zeit. des Jud." Oct. 5, 1894, p. 4).
King Theodore, approached by Protestant mission-
aries who wished to convert the Abyssinians, author-
ized them to attempt the conversion only of the
Falashas.
In Hebrew writings there are only a few and, in
general, indistinct references to the Falashas. The
earliest account is in the diary of Eldad the Danite
(9th cent.). His account, especially of the halakot
of the Abyssinian Jews, has been carefully studied by
A. Epstein (" Eldad ha-Dani, " Presburg, 1891). Mos"t
of the references date from tlie fifteenth to the seven-
teenth century, and are connected with the reports
of "Prester John" ami of the existence of the Ten
Tribes. There is an evident confusion between
the Jews of Abyssinia and those of India (both coun-
tries called " Cush " or " Ethioi)ia "). David ibn Abi
Zimra (1479-1589) mentions in his Responsa(iv. 219)
a question in regard to the Falashas. There is a pos-
sible reference in Obadiah of Bertinoro (1488). The
cabalist Abraham Levi (1528), writing from Jerusa-
lem, speaks of Falasha as being three days' journey
from Suakin ; he speaks of a Jewish king, and a Chris-
tian king, Theodorus, who killed 10,000 Jews in Sa-
lima in 1504. Levi's contemporary, Israel, mentions
in a letter Jews who came from Cush, and a Jewish
king who had Mohammedan and Christian subjects.
Elijah of Pesaro (1532) speaks of the Jews in Habesh,
while Isaac ibn 'Akrish (1550), in the preface to his
"Kol Mebasser," reports that he heard froman Abj's-
sinian envoy in Constantinople that the Moham-
medan governor there would have been annihilated
had it not been for the help of the Jewish prince and
his 12,000 horsemen. The Falashas are further men-
tioned by Moses de Rossi (1534 ; "J. Q. R." ix. 493);
Abraham Yagel (16th cent.), who speaks of them as
inhabiting the Mountains of the Moon; and Moses
Edrei (1630), who knew of a Jewish king, Eleazar, in
Abyssinia. Most of these references are to be found
in Neubauer's article in "Sammelband" iv. of the
Mekize Nirdamin, and in "J. Q. R." vol. i. ("Where
Are the Ten Tribes? "). Compare also Lewiu, " Wo
Wilrendie ZelmStamine Israels zu SuchenV" Frank-
fort-on-the-Main, 1901.
Bibliography: J. Ludolf, HM. ^thiopica, Frankfort-on-
the-Main, 1681; J. Bruce. Toi/nuc nifx Soinvrs dti Nil Pen-
dant hs A nnees 176H, nc.'K mo, mi. et im (transl. by J.
H. Caslera), London, IT'JO ; H. Salt, Voyage en AhyssUue
(transl. by Prevost), Paris and Geneva, 1812; idem, Vnyaqe
en Ahyssinie (transl. by Henry), Paris, 1816; Combes and
Taralsler. Voyage en Abiixsinie de 1835 a i837, ib. 1838; K^ne
Basset, Etudes su7- VHiatoire d'Ethiopie, in Journal Asia-
tique. ib. 1882; J. Penuchon, Vie de Lalibala, Roi d'Ethio-
pie. ib. 1892; idem, Histohe dea Guerres d'Amda-Seyoit, in
Journal Asiatiqite, ib. 1890; idem, Les Chroniquesde Zar'a
Ya'eqob et de Ba'eda Mdryum. ib. ]89;j; idem, Hist. d'Es-
kender, d''Amda-Seyon II. et de Nd'od. Rois d' Ethiopie, in
Journal Asiatique. ib. 1894; F. M. E. Pereira, His^toria de
Minas, AdemasSaoad. Reide Ethiopia. Lisbon, 1888 ; idem,
Ctironica de Susenyos, ib. 1892; Mariiis Saineano, L^Abys-
xinie dans la Scco])dc Moitiedu XVI. Siecle. Leipsic and
Bucharest, 1893; Guillaume Lejean, Theodore II.. le Nouvel
Empii'e d'^/jyssuiif, Paris, 1865; Conti Rossini, Appunti
ed Osservazio)ii sui Re Zague e Takla Haymano, Rome,
189d ; Joseph Halevy, Excursion chcz Ics Falacha, in Bxd-
letin de la Sociite de Giographie de Paris, March-April,
1869; A. d'Abbadie, Rapport sur Ics Falaclia, in Arch.
Isr. 1846; M. Flad, A Short Description of the Falasha
and Kamants, London, 1806; Ger. transl. Basel, 1869;
Jews of Abyssinia, in Cliristian Observer. London, 1869; A.
Loewy, The Falashas, in Jew. Chron. London, Dec. 5, 1890;
huzz?Ll\jo, Mt'moire sur Ics Juifs d'AhynKinie r>ii Fala.'ihn.t,
m Arch. Isr. 1853 and 1853; Metz, Zur Gesch. der Fala-
schas, in Monatsschrift, 1878 and 1879; Morals, The Fala-
shas, in Peiin Monthly, Philadelphia, 1880; L. Stein, Die
Juden i)i Abessinicn (Falaschas), Amsterdam, 1881; H. A.
Stern, Wanderings Among the Falashas in Abyssinia,
London, 1863; Cyrus Adler, Bibliography of the Fala-'^has,
in American Hebrew, March 16. 1894; Lewin, Ein Verlas-
sener Bruderstamm, in Bloch's Wochenschrift, Feb. 7,
1902, p. 85.
J. D. Pe.— G
FALCES or FALCET (t3"'Di5D) : A town near
Lerin, Navarre. Its Jewish community suffered
greatly during the persecution of 1328. In 1366 it
contained only eighteen families. Isaac Bonafos b.
Shealtiel, son-in-law of Isaac b. Sheshet, lived there,
probably as a physician.
Bibliography : Isaac b. Sheshet. Responsa, Nos. 71-77, 133-
147 ; Kayserling, Gesch. der Juden i7i Spanien, 1. 45, 86.
M. K.
G.
FALCON.
See Pkey, Birds of.
FALERO, ABRAHAM ABOAB : Portuguese
philanthropist ; died at Verona 1642. At the be-
ginning of the seventeenth century or perhaps even
at the end of the sixteenth he settled at Hamburg.
There he built a synagogue, named "Keter Torah,"
for the Portuguese community. He founded yeshi-
bot wherever he could, his activity in this respect
extending even to Palestine, and he was known as
one who spent large sums in the ransom of captives.
Toward the close of his life he went to Verona to
see his son R. Samuel Aboab, and died there.
Bibliography: Gratz, Gesch. 3d ed., ix. 20; Kayserling,
Sephardim, p. 310 ; Azariah Figo, Binah la-'Ittim, 84l>-86a,
Berlin, 1799; S. J. Fuenn, Keneset Yisiciel, p. 6.
D. M. Sel.
FALK, EDTJARD: German publicist; died in
Paris July 7, 1863. Originally destined for a mer-
cantile career, he later turned to study, and after
having passed his examination at the gymnasium,
entered the University of Berlin, whence he was
graduated in 1858. He then entered the service of
the state as assessor, and began at the same time his
career as journalist, writing for the "Magdeburger
Zeitung. " He wrote a number of pamphlets on ques-
tions of the day, as "Brennuszug und Moskowiten-
thum, Mahnruf an das Deutsche Volk" (1859). in
which he advocated the cause of Austria against
Napoleon III., and on the suggestion of the Duke of
Coburg, who took a great interest in his writings,
he published this pamphlet in an enlarged edition
under the title "Die Despoten als Revolutionare."
He also wrote : " Preussen's Aufgabe in Deutschland :
331
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Falashas
Falk, Hayyim
Kechtsstaat Wider Revolution," 1859; " Deutsche
Federu iu Oesteneicb"s Doppeladler " ; "Gallischcr
Judaskuss, Antwort auf Eduiond About's Schrift:
Preussen im Jahre 1860," 186U; " Miinuer uud Maass-
regeln," a defense of self-government; " Der Ent-
larvte Palmerston," 1861; and "Die Verfassung
England's," 1S62. Avliicli a j'ear later passed into a
second edition and an English translation. He then
went to Paris to prepare himself for a new work on
the development of political law in the European
states since the French Hevolution, with which lie had
hoped to enter upon an academic career in the Uni-
versity of Heidelberg, but he was killed in the French
capital, being run over by an omnibus.
BIBLIOGRAI'IIY
s
AUij. 7.1 it. ,!,.< Jiiil. lS(;i. pp. 488 cl seq.
D.
FALK, HAYYIM SAMUEL JACOB (also
known as De Falk, Dr. Falk, or Falkon) : Eng
Falk, the " Ba'al Shein."
(After .1 painting by Copley.)
lish cabalist and mystic; born about 1708; died in
London April 17, 1782. Some writers give Flirth,
otliers Podolia (Podhayce), as his birthplace. He
was known as the "Ea'al Shem " of Loudon. Falk
left a diary, now in the library of the bet ha -mid-
rash of tlie United Synagogue, which is a quaint
medley of dreams, records of charitable gifts, book-
lists, cabalistic names of angels, lists of pledges, and
cooking-recipes.
Falk's contemporary R. Jacob Emden denounces
him vehemently as an adherent of the false Messiah,
Shabbethai Zebi, and accuses him of having shel-
tered the excommunicated Jew Moses David of Pod-
hayce. Falk probably belonged lo one of the fan
tastic sects that arose at this time in consequence
of the Shabbethaian craze, but nothing definite is
known of his early life except that his mother was
buried at Fiirth, to which congregation he be-
queathed a sum of money. Falk claimed to possess
thaimiaturgic powers and to be able to di.scover hid-
den treasure. Archenholz ("England und Italien,"
i. 249) recounts certain marvels which he had seen
performed by Falk iu Brunswick, and which he at-
tributes to a special knowledge of chemistry. In
Westphalia at one time Falk was sentenced lo be
burned as a sorcerer, but escaped to England.
Received in London with hospitality, Falk rapidly
gained fame as a cabalist and worker of miracles,
and many stories of his powers were current. He
could cause a small taper to remain alight for
weeks; an incantation would fill his cellar with
coal; plate left with a pawnbroker would glide
back into his house. When a fire threatened to des-
troy the Great Synagogue he averted the disaster
by writing four Hebrew letters on the pillars of the
door. In a letter to Emden one Sussman Shesnowzi
says of Falk:
"His chamber is lighted up by a silver candlestipk on the
wall, with a central eight-branched lamp made of pure silver of
beaten work. And albeit it contained oil to burn a day and a
nifrlit it remained enkindled for three weeks. On one occasion
tie remained secluded in his room for six weeks without meat
or drink. When at the conclusion of this period ten persons
were summoned to enter, they found him seated on a sort of
throne, his head covered with a golden turban, a golden chain
round his neck with a pendent silver star on which sacred
names were inscribed. Verily this man stands alone in his
generation by reason of his knowledge of holy mysteries. I
can not recount to you all the wonders he accomplishes. I am
grateful in that I have been found worthy to be received among
those who dwell within the shadow of his wisdom."
Tidings of these strange proceedings soon reached
the outer world, and Falk began to have visitors of
distinction. Archenholz mentions a royal prince
who applied to Falk in Iiis quest for the philoso-
pher's stone, and was denied admittance. Hayyim
Azulai mentions ("Ma'gal Tob," p. 13b) that when
in Paris he was told by the Marchesa de Crona that
the Ba'al Shem of London had taught her Cabala.
Falk seems also to have been on intimate terms with
that strange adventuier Baron Theodor de Ncuhoflf,
who, expelled from his self-made kingdom of Cor-
sica, settled in London and endeavored to restore his
fallen fortunes by the discover}^ of ocean treasures.
Falk records a mysterious meeting with Prince
Czartoryski, probably the governor-general of Podo-
lia, and with one Emanuel, whom lie describes as
"a servant of the King of France." He is also be-
lieved to have given the Duke of Orleans, to insure
his succession to the throne, a talisman, consisting
of a ring, which Philippe Egalite, before mounting
the scaffold, is said to have sent to a Jewess, Juliet
Goudchaux, who passed it on to liis son, subse-
quently King Louis Philippe.
Falk's principal friends Avere the London bankers
Aaron Goldsmid and his son. Pawnbroking and
successful speculation enabled him to acquire a
comfortable fortune. He left large sums of money
to charity, and the ovcrseei's of the United Syna-
gogue in London still distribute annually certain
payments left by him for the poor.
BiBLiofJRAPHY: Emden's Polemical ^york!>^, Alexander,
Memoirs nf li. Gnhlf mid; Jew. Chron. March 9, 1888;
Archenholz; E)wl^ind tind Jtalien, i. 249; Von Gleichen,
DenkivUrdiyheiten ; Herman Adler, The Baal-Shem of
London, in Berliner Festschrift. 1903, pp. 1-4.
.,. H. A.
Falk, Jacob
Fall of Man
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
332
FALK, JACOB JOSHUA BEN ZEBI
HIBSCH. See Jacob Joshua ben Zebi Hirsch
Falk.
FALK (p%), JOSHUA BEN ALEXAN-
DER HA-KOHEN: Polish Talmudist; born at
Lublin; died at Lemberg March 29, 1614. His name
occurs as " RaFaK" ( =" R. Falk Kolien ") and "Ma-
HaRVVaK " ( = " Morenu ha-Rab Walk Kohen "). He
was a pupil of his relative Moses Isserles and of Sol-
omon Luria, and became the head of the yeshibah
of Lemberg. Many celebrated rabbis were his
pupils, among them being Jacob Joshua b. Zebi
of Cracow, the author of " Maginne Shelomoh. " Falk
was a great authority on rabbinical matters. At the
meeting of the Council of Four Lands in 1607,
during the Kremenetz fair, many of his proposals
were approved. In 1611 Falk and Enoch Hendel b.
Shemariah issued a bill of divorce at Vienna which
occasioned lenghty discussions among the celebrated
rabbis of the time, including Meir of Lublin and Mor-
decai Yafeh (see "She'elot u-Teshubot MaHaRaM,"
Nos. 12S ei seq.).
Falk was the author of various works, which are
still popular and highly regarded among rabbinical
scholars. They are: "Sefcr Me'irat 'Enayim," a
commentary to the Shulhan 'Aruk, Hoshen Mishpat,
containing all the decisions of earlier authorities,
with an index of their sources, Prague, 1606; "Bet
Yisrael," a double commentary to the four Turim
(the first commentary, entitled "Derishah," contains
explanations of responsa and decisions; the other,
entitled "Perishah," explains the text of the Turim
and Bet Yosef: Yoreh De'ah and Eben ha-'Ezer,
Lublin, 1635-1638; Hoshen Mishpat, Frankfort-on-
the-Main, 1712-16; and Orah Hayyim, Berlin 1767):
"Kontres 'al Dine Ribbit," a discourse on the laws
relating to the prohibition of usury, followed by
some "takkauot" (ordinances by the Rabbis), Sulz-
bach,1692; "Pene Yehoshu'a," homilies in the order
of the parashiyyot, Zolkiev, 1742; "Sefer ha-Hosa-
fah," a supplement to the "Darke Mosheh " of
Moses Isserles, printed with the Hoshen Mishpat,
Dyhernfurth, 1796; novelise on Talmudic treatises.
Bibliography: Azulai, Shetn ha-GedoUm, i. 50, 70; De Rossi,
Dizionario, i. 116 ; Buber, Toledot Anshe Shem, No. 197.
S. s. M. Sel.
FALK, MAX : Hungarian statesman and jour-
nalist ; born at Budapest Oct. 7, 1828. The strait-
ened circumstances of his parents threw him at an
early age upon his own resources. He gave private
lessons, and was the first to translate into German
the works of the great Hungarian lyric poet Petofi
(1843). He also translated into Hungarian the plays
of Karl Hugo. Having embraced Christianity and
obtained his degree from the University of Budapest,
he went to Vienna to study, and Avhen the Revolu-
tion of March, 1848, broke out he joined the stud-
ents' legion, doing yeoman's service in the cause of
liberty. He also contributed to tlie "Studentcn-
Kurier" and "Der FreinuUhige."
The outcome of the rising of October left Falk
penniless and on the verge of despair. At this time
he wrote an article for tlie " Oesterreichische Zei-
tung," advocating the restoraticm of the Hungarian
constitution and emphasizing its importance for
Austria itself. The article decided Falk's future
career; he became a contributor to the paper and
remained on its staff until it was suspended by the
government. Falk then joined the staff of the
-"Wanderer." His articles were enthusiastically
received in Hungary, and, with those contributed
to the "Pesti Naplo," then the leading Hungarian
paper, won him the recognition of Hungarian pa-
triots. He was soon brought into personal rela-
tions with the great political leaders of the country,
among them being Count Stephan Szechenyi. His
"Count Szechenyi and His Time" is a memorable
work.
Falk became a member of the Hungarian Acad-
emy of Sciences in 1863. He incurred the displeas-
ure of Minister Schmerling by his bold advocacy of
the rights of Hungary, and was imprisoned for three
months on account of an objectionable article in the
"Wanderer." In 1866 he was appointed instructor
of Hungarian to the Empress Elizabeth, whose
warm interest in Hungary was due to a large extent
to him. lu 1867 he returned to his native city
and became editor-in-chief of the "Pester Lloyd,"
raising that paper to a high level of excellence.
Falk has alwaj'^s been an active politician. Since
1869 he has been a member of the Hungarian House
of Representatives. He is especially known in con-
nection with the committee on foreign relations of
the Hungarian delegation, and has been decorated
by the Emperor Francis Joseph with the Komthur
Cross of the Order of Saint Stephen.
Bibliography: Szinnyel, Magiiar Irak Elete es Munk&i;
Pallas Nagij Ler„ s. v.
s. H. Bl.
FALKENSOHN, ISSACHAR BEHR. See
BeIIR. IsSACHAR FaLKENSOIIN.
FALKSON, FERDINAND: German physi-
cian and political writer; born at Konigsberg Aug.
20, 1820; died there Aug. 31, 1900. He was edu-
cated at the universities of Konigsberg, Berlin, and
Halle, graduating from tlie first-named as ]\I.D. in
1843. In the same year he engaged in practise in
his native city, and in 1844 was appointed physician
to the poor of the Jewish community, a position
which he held until his death.
In 1845 Falkson was betrothed to a Christian,
but being unable to obtain in liis own country the
necessary permission to marry, he went to England,
and was married there in 1846. On his return to
Konigsberg in the same year, he was accused of
violating the state laws. The case occupied the
courts for three years, and was finally won by
Falkson (1849). He was active in politics, and at
the time of his death was senior of the chamber of
aldermen in Konigsberg.
Falkson published: "Aktenstiicke Meincs Elie-
processes," 1845, 1847; " Gemischte Ehen Zwischen
Juden und Christen," Altona, 1845; " Die Emanci-
pation der Juden und die Emancipation der Denk-
euden, ib. 1845; "Giordano Bruno," 1846; "Me-
nioiren (1840-48)," 1888; "Reisebilder," 1890.
Bibliography : Weisfert Bioqraphisch-LittcrarixcheH Lcxi-
hoii fVir Konigsberg luul Ostpreussen, pp. 61-6a, KonigS'
lierfX. 1898.
P. F. T. H.
FALL OF ANGELS: The conception of fallen
angels — angels who, for wilful, rebellious conduct
against God, or through weakness under temptation.
333
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Falk, Jacob
Fall of Man
thereby forfeiting their angelic dignity, were de-
graded and condemned to a life of mischief or shame
on earth or in a jilace of punishment — is \vide-si)read.
Indications of this belief, behind which probably
lies the symbolizing of an astronomical phenome-
non, the shooting stars, are met with in Isa. xiv.
12 (comix Job xxxviii. 81, 32; see Constella-
tions). But it is in apocalyptic writings that this
notion assumes crystallized detinite-
In ness and is brought into relations with
Apocalyp- the theological problem of the origin
tic and nature of evil and sin. That Satan
Writings, fell from heaven with the velocity of
lightning is a New Testament concep-
tion (Luke X. 18; Rev. xii. 7-10). Originally Satan
■was one of God's angels, Lucifer, who, lusting for
worldly power, was degraded. Samael (Yalk., Gen.
35), originally the chief of the angels around God's
throne, becomes the angel of death and the "chief-
tain of all the Satans" (Deut. 11. xi. ; comp. Matt.
XXV. 41).
But it is especially Samhazai and Azael of whom
the fall is narrated. In Targ. Pseudo-Jonathan to
Gen. vi. 4 they appear as the "netilim" (A. V.
"giants"), undoubtedly in consequence of an in-
■correct interpretation of this word as "those that
fell from Leaven." The story of these two angels is
found in brief form in Yalk., Gen. 44; it has been
published by Jellinek (" B. II." iv. 127; originally in
Midrash Abkir; comp. Rashi, Yoma 67b; Geiger,
" Was Hat Mohammed aus dem Judenthume Auf-
genommen?" p. 107).
As in the case of man, so in that of the angels
woman was the cause of the lapse. Naamah, the
wife of Noah (Gen. R. xxiii. 3), was
Woman one of the women whose great beaut j'
the Cause tempted the angels to sin (Nahma-
of Fall. nidesto Gen. iv. 22). As regards Aza-
zel and Samhazai, mentioned above,
it was a young woman named "intiD'K C'lstar,"
"Esther") that proved fatal to their virtue. These
angels, seeing God's grief over the corruption of the
sons of men (Gen. vi. 2-7), volunteered to descend to
earth for the purpose of proving their contention
that, as they had foretold at the creation of Adam, the
weakness of man (Ps. viii. 5) was alone responsible
for liis immorality. In their new surroundings they
themselves 3ielded to the blandishments of women.
Samhazai especially became passionately enamored
of Lstar. She, however, would yield to his impor-
tunities only on the condition that he tell her the
name of Yhwh (see God, Names of), by virtue
of which he was enabled to return to heaven.
As soon as she was possessed of the secret, she rose
to heaven herself, and God rewarded her constancy
by assigning her a place in the constellation of
Kimah. Samhazai and his companion thereupon
took to themselves wives and begat children (comp.
the bene Elohim, Gen. vi. 4). Metatron soon after
sends word to Samhazai concerning the approaching
flood. This announcement of the world's and his
own children's impending doom brings Samhazai to
repentance, and he suspends himself midway be-
tween heaven and earth, in which penitent position
he has remained ever since. Azazel, who deals in
rich adornments and fine garments for women, con-
tinues in his evil ways, seducing men by his fanciful
wares (hence the goat sent to Azazel on the Day of
Atonement).
Variants of this story are not rare. According to
Pirke R. El. xxii., "the angels that fell from
heaven," seeing the shameless attire of the men and
women in Cain's family, had intercourse with the
women, and in consetiuenee were deprived of their
garment of flaming tire and were clothed in ordinary
material of dust. They also lost their angelic
strength and stature. Samael was the leader of a
wliole band of rebellious angels <ei. xiii.).
In the Book of Enocli eighteen angels are named
(Enoch, vi. 7) as chief participators in the conspiracy
to mate with women. Samiaza is the leader, and
Azael is one of the number (but see Charles, "Book
of Enoch," p. Gl, note to vi.-xi.). Azael, however,
imparts to men all sorts of useful as well as
secret knowledge and the art of beautifying eyes
(Enoch, viii. 1 ; comp. Targ. Pseudo-Jon. to Gen. vi.
4). For other versions of the story or reminiscences
thereof, see Book of Jubilees, v. 1, G-11; vii. 21,
25; Test. Patr., Reuben, 5, and Naphtali, 31; Jose-
phus, "Ant." i. 3, § 1 ; Philo, "De Gigantibus."
The later Jewisli tradition, shocked at the notion
of the angels' fall, insisted vipon interpreting the
bene Elohim of Gen. vi. 1-4 as referring to men
(Gen. R. xxvi. : "sons of judges";
Later comp. Tryphon in Justin, "Dial, cum
Jewish Trypli." i>.79). The Samaritan version
Tradition, reads rfJIi^^l" "'J3; Onkelos, N"'213"l.
The "Sefer ha-Yashar" ("Bereshit,"
end) ascribes the shameful conduct to magistrates
and judges (see Charles, "Book of Jubilees," p. 33,
note).
The cabalists give the older view. In the Zohar
(iii. 208, ed. Mantua) Aza and Azael fall and are
punished bj' being chained to the mountains of
darkness. According to another passage (i. 37),
these two rebelled against God and were hurled
from heaven, and they now teach men all kinds of
sorcery (for other quotations from cabalistic com-
mentaries on the Pentateuch see Griinbaimi, "Ge-
sammelte Aufsatze zur Sprach- und Sagenkunde,"
p. 71).
Allusions to these fallen angels occur also in the
Koran (sura ii. 96); but their names are there given
as "Ilarut" and "Marut." Their fate in Arabic
tradition is identical with that of Samhazai and
Azael (Geiger, I.e. p. 109). The refusal to worship
Adam (suras ii. 32, vii. 11, xv. 29, xxxviii. 73) brings
on the Fall, just as it does in the Midrash Bereshit
Rabbati of R. Moses ha-Darshan (see Grlinbaum, I.e.
p. 70).
Bibliography: Griinbaum, GesammeUe Aufailtze zur
Spj-rtc/i- uiul S(iijenliu)Hit\ Berlin, 1901.
E. G. H.
FALL OF MAN : A change from the beatific
condition, due to the alleged original depravitj- of
the human race. The events narrated in Gen. iii.
leading up to the expulsion of Adam and Eve from
Eden are held to support the doctrine of the fall of
man and to be the historical warrant for its assump-
tion. According to this doctrine, man (and woman)
was first created perfect and without sin. Placed
by God in the Garden of Eden, he found his wants
Fall of Man
Familianten Gesetz
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
334
provided for. In a state of innocence, he was not
aware of his nudity, since, not having sinned, he
was without the consciousness of sin and the sense
of shame had not yet been aroused in him. Man could
have continued in this blissful condition and would
never have tasted either the bitterness of guilt or that
of death had he not disobeyed the divine command,
according to which he was not to partake of the fruit
of the tree of life, under penalty of immediate death.
(See Adam; Eden; Eve.) Expelled from the garden
under the curse which their disobedience brought
upon them, Adam and Eve were doomed to a life of
labor and pain which was the prelude to death. Hap-
piness, innocence, and deathlessness were forever
forfeited. And in their fall were involved all of
their descendants, none of whom in consequence was
exempt from the corruption of death and from sin.
This theological construction of the narrative in
Genesis assumes tlie historical authenticity of the
account; and finds corroborative evidence in the
many stories current among various races positing
at the beginning of human history a similar state of
blissful perfection which, through the misdeeds of
man, came irretrievably to an end, giving way to
conditions the reverse of those hitherto prevailing.
Among these stories, that of Zoroastrian origin, con-
cerning Yima, the first man, presents a striking par-
allel to Genesis. Having committed sin, he is cast
out of his primeval paradise into the power of the
serpent, which brings about his death. In a later
version concerning the first pair, ]\Iasha and Ma-
shyana, is introduced the incident of eating forbid-
den fruit at the instigation of the lying spirit. For
other parallels see J. Baring-Gould, " Legends of
Old Testament Characters" ; Tucli, "(Jenesis," on
Gen. iii.
The critical school views these parallels in the
light of non Hebrew attempts to solve the problem
with which Gen. iii. is also concerned.
Views of viz., the origin of evil. This prob-
the Critical lem at a comparatively early period of
School. human thought impressed itself upon
the minds of men, and, owing to the
fundamental psychic unity of the human race, found
similar solution. Sin and suffering, the displeasure
of the gods and human misery, are correlatives in all
early religious conceits. As actual man suffered,
struggled, and died, this fate must have been brought
upon him by disobedience to the divine will and by
disregard of divine commands. Under tribal organ-
ization and law, combined responsibility on the part
of the clan for the deeds of its component members
was an axiomatic proposition. The guilt of the
father necessarily involved all his descendants in its
consequences. These two factors — the one psycho-
logical and religious, the other sociological — are the
dominant notes in the various stories concerning the
forfeiture of pristine happiness and deathlessness
by man's sin.
Biology and anthropology are in accord in demon-
strating that the assumed state of perfection and
moral innocency is never found in the beginning
of human civilization. There is no proof of a fall
either physical or moral. The reverse is, on the
whole, true: all evidence points to arise from prim-
itive imperfection.
The stor}' in Gen. iii. belongs, in all probability,
like the other incidents related in the Book of Gen-
esis up to the twelfth chapter, to a cycle of adapta-
tions from Assyro-Babylonian creation- and origin-
myths (see Cos.mogony; Eden), though the exact
counterpart of the Biblical narrative of the tempta-
tion and expulsion has not as yet been found in the
tablets. Two human figures, with a serpent behind
them, stretching out their hands toward the fruit of
a tree, are depicted on a Babylonian cylinder; but
the rendering of the third creation-tablet is so much
in doubt that no conclusion may safely be based
on this representation (see Sayce, " Ancient Monu-
ments"; Schrader, " K. A. T." 2d ed., p. 37; Davis,
" Genesis and Semitic Traditions ").
The Biblical myth elaborates also culture-elements.
It reflects the consciousness that in remote days man
was vegetarian and existed in a state of absolute
nudity, fig-leaves and other foliage furnishing the
first coverings when advancing culture aroused a
certain sense of shame, while subsequently hides
and skins of animals came to be utilized for more
complete dress.
The story of the fall of man is never appealed to
in the Old Testament either as a historical event or
as supporting a theological construction of the na-
ture and origin of sin. The translation in the Re-
vised Version of Job xxxi. 33 and
Relation to llosea vi. 7 ("Adam " for the Hebrew
Old Testa- D"IN), even if correct, would not sub-
ment stantiatc the point in issue, that the
Theolog-y. Okl Testament theology based its
doctrine of sin on the fall of Adam.
The Garden of Eden is not even alluded to in any
writings before the post-exilic prophets (Ezek.
xxviii. 13, xxxi. 9; Isa. li. 3; butcomp. Gen. xiii. 10,
and even in these no reference is found to the Fall.
The contention that, notwithstanding this surprising
absence of reference to the story and the theme, tlie
Hebrewsof Biblical timesnevertlielessentertained the
notion that through the fall of the first man their own
nature was corrupted, is untenable. Ps. li. 5, the clas-
sic passage of the defenders of the theory, is, under a
fair interpretation, merely the avowal of the author
that when he or the Israel of whom he speaks was
born, Israel was unfaithful to Yhwh ; and Ps. xiv.
3 does not give a general statement applicable to the
human race, but depicts a condition existing at a
certain period in Israel.
The fall of man, as a theological concept, begins
to appear only in the late Apocrypha and pseudepi-
grapha, probably under Essenic (if not Judyeo-Chris-
tian) influences. In II Esd. iii. 7 it is stated that
when Adam was punished with death, his posterity
also was included in the decree (the variants in the
versions, Ethiopic, Armenian, Syriac, and Latin,
all point to a Hebrew ni")n). H Esd. iii. 21 has:
"For on account of his evil will the first Adam
fell into sin and guilt, and, like him, all that were
born of him." This view is again stated in ch.
vii. 48: "O Adam, what hast thou done! When
thou sinnest, thy fall did not come over thee alone,
but upon us, as well, thy descendants" (comp.
Ecclus. [Sirach] xxv. 24, "from woman was the be-
ginning of sin ; on her account must we all die ").
Similarly, in the Apocalypse of Baruch (xvii. 3)
335
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Fall of Man
Familianten Qesetz
Adam is blamed for the shortening of the years of
his progeny. Yet it would be hasty to hold that in
these books the doctrine is advanced with the rigid-
ity of an established dogma. Even in II Esd. iii. 9
the thesis is suggested that the consequence of the
Fall came to an end with the Flood, when a genera-
tion of pious men sprang from Noah, and that it
was only their descendants who wantonly brought
corruption again into the world.
Philo's allegorical interpretation (*'De Mundi
Opiflcio," § 56), making of the Biblical incidents
typical occurrences {SeiyfiaTa rvTiriov),
Philo's represents a phase of Jewish thought
Views. on the whole more in accord with the
teachings of Judaism on the Fall and
on sin than is the quasi-dogmatic position of II
Esdras. According to Philo, Adam typifies the ra-
tional, Eve the sensuous, element of human nature ;
while the serpent is the symbol of carnal lust and
pleasure. After Philo, Samuel Hirsch, among mod-
ern expounders, treats the fall of man as a typical
exposition of the psychological processes which pre-
cede sin (temptation) and gradually (through self-
deception) culminate in actual sin (see his Cate-
chism, ch. ii.).
The sin of Adam, according to the Rabbis, had cer-
tain grievous results for him and for the earth. The
Shekinah left earth after his fall (Gen. R. xix. ;
Tan. , Pekude, 6). He himself lost his personal splen-
dor, deathlessness, and gigantic stature (see Adam).
All men were doomed thenceforth to die ; none, not
even the most just, might escape the common fate:
the old temptation of the serpent suffices to bring
on death (B. B. 17a ; Shab 55b). Adam wished, there-
fore, to refrain from procreating children ; but, learn-
ing that the Torali would be given to Israel, was
induced to change his mind (Gen. R.
Views of xxi.). Through the illicit intercourse
the Rabbis, of Eve with the serpent, however,
the nature of her descendants was cor-
rupted, Israel alone overcoming this fatal defect by
accepting the Torah at Sinai, which had been offered
to and rejected by all other nations (Shab. 146a ; ' Ab.
Zarah 23b ; Yeb. 103b). If Israel had not made the
golden calf, death would have been removed from
the midst of Israel (Shab. 88a; comp. 'Ab. Zarah 5a).
Pious men and women overcame, at least partially,
the consequences of Adam's fall. Abraham, Isaac,
Jacob, Moses, Aaron, and Miriam did not suffer
death at the hand of the angel of death; they died
through God's kiss (np''tJ'J3), and even their bodies
were not consumed by worms (B. B. 17a; M. K.
28a ; Derek Erez Zuta i.). Jacob and others entered
into paradise while living (Ta'an. 5b; Derek Erez
Zuta i.). While thus it is not altogether true that
the fall of man had no place in the theology of the
Talmudists (against Nager, " Die Religionsphiloso-
phie des Talmud," § 9) it is a fact that for the
most part the foregoing notions were mere homilet-
ical speculations that never crystallized into definite
dogmas. R. Ammi's thesis (Shab. 55a) founded on
Ezek. xviii. 20, that every death is caused by an
actual sin, is entitled to recognition as clearly as the
opinion held by his disputant, Simeon b. Elea-
zer, who contends that death is the result of the
Fall.
In modern Jewish thought the fall of man is with-
out dogmatic importance (see Ouiginal Sin; con-
sult, however, Benamozegh, " Morale Juiveet Morale
Chretienne," p. 117; David Castelli, "II Messia Se-
condo gli Ebrei," p. 179, Florence, 1874).
K. E. G. H.
FALLOW DEER. See Roebuck.
FALSE IMPRISONMENT. See Imprison-
ment.
FALSE WITNESS. See Evidence.
FALSEHOOD. See Lying.
FAMIGLIA ISRAELITICA. See Cokfu.
FAMILIANTEN GESETZ : A law which
required every Jew in "the countries of the Bohe-
mian crown " (Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia) to
obtain a special permit from the state before he
might marry. In these provinces it was the avowed
policy of the government to prevent any increase in
the number of Jewish residents, and it was for this
reason that the " Familianten Gesetz " was passed.
When Maria Theresa revoked her edict expelling the
Jews from these provinces (1745), it was on the
condition that their number should not be in-
creased ; even her son Joseph II. reasserted (1780-90)
the condition. In 1787 a census was taken which
showed the number of Jewish families in Bohemia
(8,541)andMoravia(5,106). The number permitted
in Bohemia was increased to 8,600, in Moravia to
5,400, while in Austrian Silesia 119 were permitted
(patent for Moravia, Nov. 17, 1787; for Bohemia,
various royal orders in 1788-89; for Silesia, Dec. 15,
1781). In Moravia the number of Familianten was
distributed according to congregations, the largest
being Nikolsburg with 620 ; in Bohemia and Aus-
trian Silesia the Familiant was allowed to settle
under the same conditions as were other Jews.
The number of marriage permits issued was lim-
ited to the number of deaths among the Familianten.
An applicant for a permit was required to give
surety for the payment of three years' taxes, to
prove that he possessed at least 300 florins, to show
that he had received a school education, to pass an
examination in Jewish religion according to Herz
Hombeug's text-book, "Bene Zion," and to give evi-
dence that he was at least twenty-four years of age.
A first-born son, a school-teacher, or a veteran of
the army had precedence over other candidates.
The license was issued either by the county or by
the provincial authorities (" Kreisamt " or " Guber-
nium ").
Besides the ordinary Familianten there were
those who, in recognition of special merit, were
permitted to marry as "supernumeraries." It was
a rule, however, that they should be given the
first license vacated by death. The law of Francis I.
(Aug. 3, 1797) permitted Jews who had served as
volunteers in the army or who lived exclusively by
agriculture or by technical skill to marry without
regard to the number of established families. Those
who married according to the Jewish law and with-
out license were called " Magranten " (emigrants),
because in order to be legally married they had to
emigrate. Their weddings were called "garret-
weddings."
Famille
Family
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
336
This law was abolished by the constitution of
March 4, 1849", which made all civil and political
rights independent of religious belief. It was, how-
ever, revived in a different form by a law of Marcli
19, 1853, which declared that section 124 of the civil
code, demanding a court license (" kreisamtliche
Bewilligung ") for a Jewish marriage, had not been
abrogated by the constitution. Tlie difference be-
tween this and the former condition was only the
abolition of the fixed number. This law was re-
pealed Nov. 29, 1859.
Bibliography: Hermann, Gesch. der Juclen in Bdhmen,
pp. 86 et seq., Vienna and Prague, 1819; Scari, Systematischc
Darstelhuio der in Betreff der Juden in Mdhrenund im
K- K. Antheil von Schlesicn Erlasseneii Gcsetzeund Ve-
rordniingen, pp. 3 et seq., Briinn, 1835; Frankl-Griin, Gesch.
der Juden in Kremsier, i. 171, 11. 22, Breslau, 1896, and
Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1898.
D.
FAMILLE DE JACOB. See Pekiodicals.
FAMILY AND FAMILY LIFE : The family
Includes either those who are descended from a com-
mon progenitor, as " bet Dawid," the house (dynasty)
of David (I Sam. xx. 16) ; " bet Lewi, " the house (tribe)
of Levi (Num. xvii. 8); "bet Yisrael," tlie house
(natioji) of Israel (Ex. xvi. 31); or a body of persons
who form one household under one head and one
domestic government, including parents, children,
sons- and daughters-in-law, and dependents. While
the principle of kinship was the basis of the family,
clan, and nation, by a legal fiction persons not of
the Hebrew blood Avere admitted into its union as
members. Much stress is laid upon purity of race.
Abraham sends Eliezer to his kindred in search of a
wife for his son Isaac (Gen. xxiv. 3 et seq.). In
Judges xiv. Samson's family is surprised that he does
not wed one of his tribe; yet union by intermarriage
with alien people was quite prevalent. The laws
of the Mosaic code sought to restrict intermarriage,
and the fulminations of the Prophets, as well as the
great reformation under Ezra and Nehemiah, are
all evidence of the prevalence of this custom.
Law and Prophets, Psalmists and Proverbs, Tal-
mud and Midrash again and again dwell upon the
importance of the family. Malachi (iii. 23 [A. V.
iv. 5] et seq.) tells of Yhwh sending the prophet
Elijah before the coming of "the great day," that
he may bring about perfect union between parents
and children.
The clan, "mishpahah" (Gen. x. 18-20; Num. i.
2); the tribe, "matteh" (I Kings viii. 1) and "she-
bet" (Ex. xxviii. 21); and the nation.
Importance " 'am " (Ex. i. 9), were considered as
of extensions of the family. In all these
the Family, forms of development the underlying
bond was the belief in a descent from
a common ancestor, and the resulting kinship of all
the persons constituting sucli a political division.
The ties of blood were of absolute and undisputed
strength (see Go'el). In the family is seen the
patriarchal as distinct from the matriarclial system.
The father is the head of the family, and through
him the genealogy is traced. "The relationship on
the father's side is a hereditary one, but that on tlie
mother's side is not regarded as such " (B. B. 109b).
This principle is based upon the section of the Mo-
saic law which provides that in case of a man dy-
ing without descendants and brothers, his father's
brothers or kinsmen are the legal heirs. Hence the
mother's father or brothers, or other kinsmen on the
mother's side, are excluded from inheritance (Num.
xxvii. 8-11).
The primitive family was a close corporation.
This characteristic was retained to some extent down
to tlie time of the Diaspora. The family determined
right and wrong, made laws, administered justice,
and maintained divine worship (Gen. viii. 20; xiii. 4;
xxii. 13, 14; Jobi. 5). This explains why among the
ancient Hebrews the political state did not attain to
the high development of Ilcllas and Rome. But
the main reason for the solidarity of the family
may be found in its religion. Not only is one born
into a group of fellow citizens, but, as a matter of
course, he embraces the gods of the family and of
the state. These to the ancient mind were as much a
part of the particular community as were the human
members. Thus YnwH appears to Jacob and tells
him, " I am Ytiwh, the Lord God of Abraham thy
father,andthe God of Isaac" (Gen. xxviii. 13); Rachel
took with her the " teraphim " (images) of Laban,
her father, and put them in " the camel's furniture "
{ib. xxxi. 33-35); Josliua and the Prophets speak of
Yhwii as the God of Israel, as their inheritance (Josh,
xiii. 33). In the days of Saul and David the tribes
had long been united in the worship of Yuwh, and
yet the clans maintained their annual sacra gentilicia,
at which every member of the group was boimd to
be present (I Sam. xx. 6, 29). Aaron, the high
priest, on the Day of Atonement brings sacrifices
to atone for the sins of his house, of his tribe, and
of the people (Lev. xvi.). That the change of na
tionality involves a change of cult maybe clearly
seen from the Book of Ruth. "Thy sister inlaw,"
says Naomi to Ruth, " is gone back unto her people
and unto her gods." Ruth replies, "Thy people
shall be my people, and thy God my God " (i. 14 et
seq.).
The father's authority over the child was almost
supreme. Abraham is ready to sacrifice Isaac (Gen.
xxii.); Jephthah sacrifices his daugh-
Paternal ter (Judges xi. 39) ; the practise of sac-
Authority, rificing children to Molech rests on the
same paternal authority (Lev. xviii.
21, XX. 2-5; II Kings xxiii. 10). Judah orders
Tamar, his daughter-in-law, to be burned for having
broken the marriage-vow (Gen. xxxviii. 24). Chil-
dren were regarded as the property of the father
and could be seized for debt (II Kings iv. 1). The
father could sell his daughter into marriage, though
not into slavery (Ex. xxi. 7-11). Only at a tender
age, while still a minor, could a maiden be sold by
her father against her will ; when she had arrived at
the age of puberty his paternal authority over her
ceased, and could be exercised only in a sort of sur-
veillance until she was married. But under no cir-
cumstance was he allowed to cause her to become a
prostitute (Lev. xix. 29). As the legal system devel-
oped, the courts enforced punishment for all manner
of disobedience against father and mother. He that
smote or cursed his father or his mother was put to
death (Ex. xxi. 15, 17; comp. Prov. xx. 20). Sim-
ilarly the stubborn, rebellious, gluttonous, and dis-
obedient son was stoned to death (Deut. xxi. 18-21).
Children are bidden to honor and respect their
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Family
Famine
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
338
parents, to look upon them as God's representatives
on earth, as their greatest benefactors (Ex. xx. 12;
Lev. xix. 3; Prov. i. 8, xxx. 17). It is the duty of
parents to instruct their cliildren and to lead them
in the ways of virtue and righteousness (Deut. vi.
6-7; corap. Ex. xii. 26etseq., xiii. 14-15).
The family takes its character from the position
of woman (see Woman). The position of the wife
in the family depended largely upon her having a
son. Children, especially sons, were looked upon
as a blessing from God (Ps. cxxvii.
Position of 3-5). Sons were regarded as the fu-
Women. ture supporters of God's kingdom (Ps.
viii. 3); they were to be the warriors
who would defend the hearth (Deut. xxv. 4-13), and
be the mainstay and support of the home. As
among the Greeks in Homeric times childlessness
was looked upon as a dire misfortune, so also among
the Hebrews it was considered in the light of a pun-
ishment from God: "And she [Rachel] conceived,
and bare a son ; and said, God hath taken away my
reproach" (Gen. xxx. 23; comp. I Sam. i. 12 et seq.).
Even the sons of concubines ranked as ancestors of
tribes. The levirate shows how essential was the
building up of the house. Thus, if a brother died
without issue, it was the duty of one of the surviving
brothers to marry the widow (Gen. xxxviii. 8; Deut.
xxv. 4-13).
Primogeniture is recognized in the Mosaic code
(Deut. xxi. 16-17) and regulated in the Talmud.
The tirst-born son receives two portions of the
father's estate, but not two portions
Descent of the mother's estate (Bek. viii.-ix-.).
and In- Where there are no sons the daugh-
heritance. ters inherit, as in the case of the
daughters of Zelophehad. In the ab-
sence of both sons and daughters the property goes
to the male relations in order of kinship as deter-
mined by the Mosaic code (Num. xxvii. 1-11). Be-
sides the larger share of the inheritance, certain
privileges belong to the first-born son (the .first-
born of the father, not of the mother, for in a
polygamous state of society each wife may have
had a son). A blessing from the father before he
was about to pass away was a special privilege
of the first-born son. Isaac wishes to bless Esau,
his first-born son (Gen. xxvii.). Joseph calls the
attention of his father Jacob to jManassoh as his
first-born son, for Jacob had placed his right
hand in blessing upon the head of Ephraim (Gen.
xlviii. 13 et seq. ; comp. xlix. 3; Ex. xxii. 29). The
privilege that belonged to the first-born son could
be sold, as in the case of Esau, who sold his birth-
right to Jacob (Gen. xxv. 32 et seq.); or it could be
bestowed by the father as a mark of favor upon a
younger son. Thus Jacob withdraws from Reuben,
his first-born son, the double portion that by right he
should have received after his father's demise, and
bestows it upon Joseph and his two sons (Gen. xlviii.
21 et seq., xlix. 3 et seq.).
The instinct of solidarity in ancient Israel and the
high regard for tlie chastity of woman explain the
sanctity and purity of the Jewish family life. Pa-
triarclial history abounds in pictures of beautiful
home life. The filial obedience of Isaac; the love of
Jacob for Rachel ; the forgiveness by Joseph of his
brethren ; the death-bed scene of Jacob, where he
blesses his sons and grandsons; the strong bond be-
tween Ruth and Naomi ; and the passionate grief of
David for his erring son Absalom — these and many
other instances give evidence of the beauty and of
the strength of the family affection (Gen. xxii.,
xlv. ; Ruth; II Sam. xviii. 33). That the Bible laid
great stress upon the power of the home is shown
by the closing verses of Malachi: "Behold, I will
send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of
the great and terrible day of the Lord : And he shall
turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and
the heart of the children to their fathers, l&st I come
and smite the earth with a curse."
The Mosaic code guards the chastity of the
mother, the sanctity of the home, the blessedness of
the household, the preservation of society, and the
upbuilding of mankind. The crime of adultery is
punished with death (Deut. xxii. 21 et seq. ; comp.
Mai. ii. 14-15). Though the purity of family life
was at times sullied, as for instance at Gibeah
(Judges xix. 20 et seq.), and by David (II Sam. xi.),
yet it remains true that through good and evil times
the high ideals of home life were maintained. Cases
of sensual excess or of unfilial conduct are rare
among the Jews down to modern times.
In Talmudical times the purity and sanctity of
the home were regarded with equal respect. "God
dwells in a pure and loving home " (Kid. 71). " Mar-
riages are made in heaven " (Shab. 22a, b). But the
power for good is specially apparent in the Jew-
ish home during the Middle Ages. Throughout
those centuries of persecution and migration the
moral atmosphere of the home was rarely contami-
nated, and it became a bidwark of moral and social
strength, impregnable by reason of the religious
spirit that permeated it. Tlve observances of the
faith are so entwined with the every-day customs of
the home as to make the Jewish religion and the fam-
ily life one, a bond in sanctity. Most of the religious
ceremonies are to be celebrated in the bosom of the
family ; the observances of the dietary laws are an
especially prominent feature in the daily routine.
The Seder, the Sukkah, the lighting of the candles
on Ilanukkah, grace before and after meals, these
help to unite the members of the family. But most
valuable is the celebration of the S.^bbath. The
Sabbath lamp, kindled on Friday evening, is a
symbol of the home influence of woman as the in-
spirer of a pure famil}'^ life.
Bibliography: Nahirta Remv, Das JUdische fVeib: Ahra-
hanis, Jcu'/.s/i, Life in Die. Middle Ages; Schecbter, Stiuiies
i)> Jiidai-stn.
K. A. G.
FAMILY VAULT: An exclusive burial-place
for the members of a family. The desire of the an-
cient Hebrews to "lie with their father.s," and par-
ticularly the charge of Jacob to his sons to remove
his body from Egypt and to bury it in the Cave of
Machpclali, furnish early evidence of this form of
sepulture.
The Cave of Machpeluh ac(iuired by Aliraham
from Ephron is the first family. vault of wiiich tiiere
is record. It is still to be seen in Hebron, sur-
mounted with an imposing stone structure of a li.ter
date. Tlie upper ])art of tiie interior is now used as
339
THE JEAVISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Family
Famine
Cave
of Mach-
pelah.
Couityard
a mosque. Those who are not Mohammedans are
not allowed to enter the cave, though an exception
was made in favor of the Prince of Wales in 1861.
Beneatli the surface of the ground is the cave where
the Patriarchs are supposed to be buried. Rab and
Samuel of Babylonia differed as to the
architectural style of the Cave of
Machpelah (lit. "double"): one said it
was a cave within a cave; the other
that it resembled a house with an
attic. According to another opinion, the signilica-
tion "double" refers to the couples buried in the
cave; namelj\ Abraham with Sarah, Isaac with Re-
bekah, Jacob with Leah (Er. 53a).
There are numerous references in the Bible to the
desire of the kings in Israel to be buried with their
fathers. The king of the house of David had a sep-
arate burial-place "in the city of David." Heze-
kiahwas buried in the "chiefestof the sepulchers of
tlie sons of David " (II Chron. xxxii. 33).
Palestine, owing to its rocky conformation, was
an ideal place for elaborate and ornate rock cut
vaults. Nebu-
chadnezzar is
said to have
been persuaded
to conquer Je-
rusalem because
the mausoleums
in the Holy Land
were superior to
the king's pal-
aces in Babylo-
nia (Sanh. 96b).
An example of a
magnificent sep-
ulclier is that of
Queen Helen of
Adiabene in Je-
rusalem, erroneously known as the "Tombs of
the Kings," and by the Jews as "The Tomb of
Kalba Sabua." The best example of a family vault
is perhaps the structure near the monument of
Absalom, popularly known as the "Bet ha-Hofshit"
(II Kings XV. 5), or as the burial-cave of Haggai,
Zechariah, and Malachi, and, according to the Chris-
tians, as tiie "Cave of St. James." It is really,
however, as is proved by the inscription recently
(leciiihered (Luncz, "Moreh Derek," p. 130), the
family vault of the priest Ilezir, mentioned in I
Chron. xxiv. l-'i.
A cave at ]\[eron, neaF Safcd in Galilee, lias a
collection of chambers forming a small catacomb;
and tradition assigns it to Hiliel the Elder and his
disciples.
There are two distinct tj'pes of Jewish antique
rock-tombs in Palestine. The ancient form is a sort
of vestibule from which chambers or
Vestibule
Ground-Plan of a Family
(After a drawing b
Types
of Rock-
Tombs.
niches, just huge enough to insert a
body lengthwise, are cut in the walls.
These chambers are known as " ku-
kin " (p^lD). The later form is the
sepulcher or sarcophagus cut in the rock, with a
vacant sjiace around it for the funeral party.
The former type is mentioned in the Mislinali (B.
B. vi. 8), with reference to the liability of the ven-
der or contractor of a vault. The description fol-
lows:
The plot is usually four by six ells or arm-lengths (1 arm-
length = 24 inches), ooiiliiinintr eight chambers, three on each
side-wall and two on the wall opposite the entrance to the
vault. Each chamber is four ells long, seven handbreadths
high, and six handbreadths wide. R. Simeon said the usual
size of a vault was six by eight ells, containing thirteen cham-
bers, four on each side-wall, three opposite and one on each
side of the entrance (see illustration below).
A courtyard six ells square was provided above
t he surface of the vault, for the accommodation of the
bier and funeral party. This yard had steps leading
down to the vault.
The latter style of sepulclier is mentioned in the
Tosefta: " A sarcophagus cut in the rock ... if
built in the wall of the vault [= tJ>Dj] " (Oh. x., ed.
Zuckermandel, p. 607).
Apparently tlie ancient type of familj' vault with
the kukin was no more in use and was quite un-
known at the time of the rabbis of the Babylonian Ge-
mara, who asked for an explanation of it (B. B. 8b).
A criminal, condemned and executed by the bet-
din, was not al-.
lowed burial in
his family vault,
but was interred
in one of the
separate burial-
grounds pro-
vided for the
four grades of
capital offenders
(Sanh. ii. 5).
The members
of the Sanhedrin
were all buried
in one plot in Je-
rusalem. There
are many caves
wherein rabbis of distinction lie in groups. R.
Simeon b. Lakish took pains to mark these vaults
for identification (B. M. 85b). Similar caves or
vaults are found especially at Safed, wliere distin-
guished cabalists rest in peace together.
Bibliography : Zuckermandel. in Monatsschrift, xxiii.; Stan-
ley, Sinai and PaleKtiiif, p. 149, London, 1872; Pal. Explot:
Fund, Qxiarterhi Statcn\int, passim.
A. J. D. E.
FAMINE : A general scarcity of food, resulting
as from drought, war, hail, flood, or insects. The
land of Canaan is said in the Bible to have been sev-
eral times afflicted with distressing famine, which is
frequently mentioned together with pestilence and
the sword of the enemy. David's decision wlien
offered his choice from among these three scourges
indicates that pestilence was considered the least
terrible of them (II Sam. xxiv. 14-15). The follow-
ing is a clironological enumeration of the famines
recorded in the Bible:
The faniine of Die lime of .Abraham ((ien. xii. 10).
The famine in the days of Isaac (Gen. xxvi. 1), confined to
the land of Canaan.
The general famine in the time of Jacob. It was fii"st felt in
Egypt, and it extended subsequently to the surrounding coun-
tries, an(i lasted seven years ((jen. xli. 54 -"m).
The famine " in the days when the judges ruled," which
lasted ten years (Ruth i. 1,6). U was limited to the land of
Vault in Talmudic Times.
y J. D. Eisenstein.)
Fanciulli
Fano
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
340
Canaan, for Elimelech and his family fi)iind a refuge in the land
of Moab.
The famine in the days of David, which lasted three years
(II Sam. xxi. 1).
In the time of Elijah, Samaria suffered three years from a
famine as a result of drought (I Kings xviii. 1, '^).
A more terrible famine occurred when Ben-hadad besieged
Samaria. An ass's head was sold for eighty shekels and a kab of
dove's dung for twenty shekels. Mothers ate their own chil-
dren (II Kings vi. 24-29).
After a brief respite another famine came upon the land
and lasted seven years (II
Kings viii. 1).
In thetimeofZedekiah, f"
King of Judah, the siege
of Jerusalem by Nebu-
chadnezzar caused a fam-
ine in which mothers
again ate their own chil-
dren (II Kings XXV. 3:
Jer. xxxviii. 9, lii. 6 ; Lam.
ii. 30, iv. 10).
Another famine oc-
curred in the time of the
prophet Joel. It was due
to locusts, and was fol-
lowed by drought (Joel i.
4-20).
E. ('.. If. M. Sel.
FANCIULLI,
DE. See Adole-
SCENTOLI.
FANO (Hebr.
13ND) : Small town in
the Papal States uear
P e s a r o. Jewish
bankers of Fano are
known to have had
a large financial
transaction with the
Malatestas (the rulers
of the city) as early
as 1332. There was
a great demand for
loans in that agricul-
tural region, which
possessed little capi-
tal. The Jewish
bankers were well re-
ceived and, winning
the contidence of
the authorities, were
granted extensive
privileges and were
efficiently protected.
At this period the
Jewish community
was so large that it
paid taxes amoiuiting
to half the sum collected from the entire town. In
1367, when tlie heretics Avere expelled from the city,
the Jews were expressly excepted. In 1447 the Mala-
testas defended them against the demands of the
papal chamber for a Jews' tax. The bankers were
treated as full citizens, and were exempt from all
taxes. When the privileges were renewed in 1430,
and the Jews demanded assurance against persecu-
tion and spoliation, the demand was granted.
Tlie Jews' badge was introduced into Fano in
1464, but the bankers were not required to wear it.
At the same time they were secured against rei)udia-
1'lt33
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'2 13*73
onp3
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H'V'^p^'?
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nc:3 p-j)
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03.0*^3
h^.yTi
cnv^
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• 5;
J
Page from Hai Gaon's
(In the
tion of debts. When in 1492, after the affair
of Simon of Trent, a preacher attacked the Jews
in his sermons and brought against them the
blood accusation, some of the city councilors rose
to defend the Jews and to protest against inci-
ting the populace. Tlie city was, in fact, excom-
municated three times within forty years because
of its too lenient treatment of the Jews. The
founding of the Monte di Pieta in 1471 did not
detract from the
wealth or the popu-
larity of the Jewish
banks.
The security en-
joyed by the Jews
of Fano naturally in-
duced others to set-
tle there. In 1435
they formed a fairly
large communitJ^
The later comers,
however, were not
full citizens; they
were subject to the
restrictions obtaining
at that time, and were
obliged, after 1464,
to wear the Jews'
badge. The hostility
of the Christian pop-
ulace, which was also
felt by the bankers,
forced some families
to emigrate in 1452.
In the second half of
the fifteenth century,
in consequence of the
attacks of the monks,
the relations between
the Jews and Chris-
tians became even
more unfriendly.
It is recorded that
in 1460 a Jewess,
Perna by name, ap-
plied for permission
to practise medicine.
In 1542 Fano re-
ceived many of the
Jews who had fled
from Sicily. It seems
to have liad an un-
prejudiced cardinal,
who in 1553 disap-
pi-oved of the burning of the Talmud and other He-
brew books. The community was dissolved on the
expulsion of the Jews from the Pontifical States. In
19U1 only three Jews were living in Fano. Among
the scholars of Fano the following may be men-
tioned: the physician Elijah b. Judah of Rome
(1400), P. Jacob Israel and \\. Moses Nissim (fifteenth
century), and Jehiel b. A/.riel Treves (sixteenth cen-
1 ury ). The Fano family of scholars has been widely
known since the sixteenth century.
BiBLlouRAi'HV: Ersch aii<l (iruber, K/ici/c section ii., part 37,
p. irk!; stern, Urlut)ulliv}ii- Ihitraijc itiirr (Ui^tiUu)iu 'ler
i
^-J
" Musar Haskel," Printed at Fano, 1503. The
first Hebrew 32mo.
collection of Hoti. Maver Sulzberger.)
841
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Fanciulli
Fano
PapMe zu den Judcn, ii. 91, 113; Mortara, Tndice; Gino
iMzzaXto, I Banchicri Ebrei in Uriiino ndV Etd Ducalc.
ch. li., documents 14-17 et j>a»'u;i, Padua, li)02.
G. I. E.
-Typography : Gersliou Soncino moved to Fauo
iu 1500 and established there a famous printing-
press, from wliich the following Hebrew works
were issued between 1503 and 1516:
1503. Hosha'not.
1504. Haggadah for Pesah evening.
Hai Gaon.— Musar Haskel (only one copy known).
1505. Eleazar b. Judah.— Ha-Rokeah.
Siddur Teflllot (Rumanian rite).
(?) Ghirondi.— Sha'are ha-Teshubah.
1506. Judah ha-Levi.— Sefer ha-Kuzari.
Tahanunim.
(?) Sahula.— Meshal ha-Kadmonim.
Joseph Albc— 'Ikkarim.
1516. Jacob b. Asher. -Arba' Turim.
Bibliography: Steinschneider, JUdische Typographic, p. 42;
idem, in Hebr. Bihl. xi. 105; Schwab, ies Incunables Ori-
entaux, passim ; Sacchi, I Tipngrafl Ebrei di Suiicino, p. 21 ;
Soave, JDei Soncino, pp. 29 et scq.
FANO : Name of an Italian family, members of
which have been prominent as scholars since the
sixteenth century. Among them the following may
be mentioned :
Abraham ben Moses da Fano : Italian scholar
of the fifteenth (?) century; author of a mystical
commentary to the Song of Songs (Vatican MS.
No. 230).
Bibliography : Wolf, Bihl. Hebr. i.. No. 122 ; Bartolocci, Bibl.
Rabb. i. 47 ; Salfeld, in Magazin, vi. 46 ; Mortara, Indice, p.
21 ; De Rossi-Hamberger, Histoi'isches WOrterbuch, p. 103.
G.
Enrico Fano: Italian senator; born at Milan
1833; died there Dec. 11, 1899. In youth he was
an ardent patriot and a conspirator. In 1859
lie was sent by Victor Emmanuel II. as commis-
sioner to Garibaldi's camp. He was a pronounced
skeptic. Elected deputy of Milan in 1867, he re
mained in office for several legislative periods. In
1890 he was made a senator. Fano is author of
" Delia Carita Preventiva e dell' Ordiuamento delle
Society di Mutuo Soccorso in Italia," Milan, 1868.
Bibliography: Almanacco Italiano, 1901.
s. U. C.
Ezra ben Isaac Fano : Rabbi of Mantua and
cabalist; lived in the sixteenth and seventeenth cen-
turies. Fano was a pupil of the cabalist Israel
Saruk, and among his own pupils were Menahcm
Azariah da Fano, Jacob the Levite, and Issachar
Baer Eulcnburg. On July 14, 1591, Fano received
the title of " Chief Rabbi Laureate of Mantua. " He
was the possessor of valuable manuscripts, some of
which he edited and annotated. He published,
under the title of " Sefer Mishpete Shcbu'ot " (Venice,
1602), a collection of small treatises by Hai Gaon.
In conjunction with jMei'r of Padua, he edited a manu-
script of the Midrash Tanhuma, adding a preface,
an index, and three tables of practical decisions
(Mantua, 1613). His decisions were published in
Moses Porto's " Paige Mayini " (p. 28b) and in the
collection entitled " Mashbit Milhamot" (p. 32b).
MS. No. 130 in the "Codices Hebraic. Biblioth. I. B.
de Rossi " (Parma, 1803) contains a collection of let-
ters written to Fano by ]\Iordecai Dato and Joseph
Hazak (Cod. 130), and Joseph Gikatilla's "Sefer
ha-Orah," with a description by Fano (Cod. 1228).
Fano also wrote notes to many cabalistic works.
Bibliography: Zunz, in Kerem Hemed,vii. 122; Nepi-Ghi-
rondi, Toledot Gedole Vi«rael, pp." 282, 2»9 ; Mortara, Indice,
p. 21.
Giulio Fano : Italian physiologist; born at Man-
tua iu 1800. He studied physiology at Florence
undei Luciani, the most famous physiologist in Italy.
In 1894 he succeeded his master as professor of physi-
ology at the Istituto di Studi Superiori in Florence,
and soon won a scientific reputation second only to
that of his teacher. In 1898 he was awarded the
prize of the Accademia dei Lincei at Rome. His
works include: "La Fisiologia in Rapporto coUa
Chimica e coUa Morfologia " ; " La Fisiologia nel
Passato e le Cause dei Suoi Recenti Progressi " ;
"L'Elettricita Animale"; "Physiologic Generale
du CcEur."
8. I. E.
Isaac Berachiah ben Judah Aryeh Fano :
Italian cabalist, liturgical poet, and rabbi ; flourished
in the seventeenth century in Lugo. He was a pupil
and son-in-law of Menahem Azariah da Fano and
teacher of Shabbethai Baer, author of "Be'er
'Eshek." Lampronti, in his "Pahad Yizhak " (s.v.
" Abel Asur " and "Tum'at Ohel"), quotes two re-
sponsa of Isaac Berachiah Fano. Some piyyutim
written by the latter are to be found in the Italian
"Siddur shel Berakah" (Ferrara, 1693). He also
wrote "Hanok la-Na'ar," containing homilies and
novella ; but it was not published.
Bibliography : Nepi-Ghirondi, Toledot Gedole Yisrael, p.
141; Steinschneider, Cat. Bodl. col. 1096; Mortara, Indict,
p. 21.
Jacob ben Joab Elijah da Fano : Italian
rabbi and Hebrew poet ; lived at Ferrara and Ancona
about the middle of the sixteenth century ; teacher
of Abraham Portaleone. He wrote: "Shilte ha-
Gibborim, " a rhythmical poem warning men against
women, and "Kinah," an elegy in verse on the per-
secution of the Jews at Ancona, published together
at Ferrara, 1556; "Zoker ha-Berit," a treatise on the
commandments, wliich formed the first part of his
" Petah Tikwah," no longer extant. He is generally
supposed to have been the author of the " Kizzur
Hobot ha-Lebabot," Venice, 1655, a compendium of
Bahya's "Hobot ha-Lebabot."
Bibliography: Zunz, in Geiger's Wiss. Zcif. J(W. Thcol.m.
56; Franz Delitzsch, Zur Gesch. der Hebi'dischen Pocxic, p.
173; Steinschneider, Cat. Bodl. col. 1210; Fuenn, Keneset
Yisrael, p. 561.
s. s. M. Sel.
Menahem Azariah da Fano (also called Im-
manuel da Fano) : Italian rabbi, Talmudist, and
cabalist; born 1548; died at Mantua 1620. Hewasa
disciple of Moses Cordovero, to whose widow he
offered 1,000 sequins for her husband's manuscripts.
Even as a youth Fauo had some reputation for learn-
ing, as is shown by the fact that Moses Cordovero
(d. 1570)senthimacopy of his "Panics Rimmonim."
One of Fano's teachers was Ishmael Hanina b. Mor-
dccai of Valmontone. Fano was a patron of learning.
When Joseph Caro, shortly before his death (1575),
sent "Kesef Mishneh," his commentary on Maimon-
ides' Yad ha-Hazakah, to Mantua for publication,
Fano, at the suggestion of Dei Rossi, assumed part of
the expense and took charge of the edition. Accord-
ing to a report of Inimanuel Aboab, Fano lived for
some time in Reggio. Numerous pupils flocked to
Fano
Farhi
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
342
him from Italy and Germany, aiul lie was held ia
general respect for his learning and chai'acter.
Fane's authority as a Talmudist is evident in a col-
lection of responsa ("She'elot Teshubot me-Rabbi
Mcnahcm 'Azaryah," Dyhernfurth, 1788) containing
130 chapters on various subjects connected with re-
ligious law and ritual questions. They are distin-
guished by precision of style as well as by the an-
thor'sindependence of the later authorities. He even
decides sometimes in opposition to Joseph Caro {e.g..
No. 32), and holds changes in the ritual to be justifi-
able in certain cases (see, e.g., No. 25). In his love for
precision and brevity Fano compiled a book of ex-
tracts from Alfasi's code, which itself is only a com-
pendium of the Talmud. This book is preserved in
manuscript. Azulai enumerates twenty-four caba-
listic treatises by Fano, part being in manuscript.
Ten of these are comprised in the work " 'Asarah
]\Ia'amarot " ; five of them, under the title " Amarot
Tehorot," Avere printed together with "Kol Yehu-
dah," a philosophical commentary by Judah b.
Simon (Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1698; Mohilev, 1810).
These treatises originated partly in addresses de-
livered by the author on feast-days, especially on
Rosh ha-Shanah. In spite of Fano's decided tendency
toward scholastic and allegoric interpretation, his
works are not quite devoid of original remarks.
For example, in connection with the cabalistic in-
terpretation of Num. xxxiii. 2, "And Moses wrote
their goings out according to their journeys," he
says: "The Torah speaks always of ideas when it
seems to be describing concrete tilings: the liigher
meaning is the principal thing; the lower, material
meaning holds the second place. Moses b. Nahman,
indeed, follows another opinion in his commentary
on Genesis in holding to the principle that 'the
Torah speaks according to the manner of men ' ; but
we can justly say that men speak according to the
manner of the Torah" (" Hikkur Din," iii. 22).
" The prohibitions of the Torah never appear in the
imperative, but in the form of the future: 'Thou
shalt have no other gods ' ; ' Thou shalt not bow
down thyself toother gods ' ; ' Thou shalt not swear
falsely ' ; etc. This means, ' I know thou wilt not
be guilty of these things, since human nature does
not tolerate such crimes, and if sin occurs in this life
it can be only a passing episode.' On the other
hand, the commandments arc in the impeiative:
' Kabbed, ' 'zakor ' ; that is, ' I command thee nothing
new; the good instincts in tliee have always been
there ; thej^ need only to be awakened and devel-
oped ' " {ib. iv. 9). This last sentence is character-
istic of the author's optiinis!u as well as of his
mild nature, which attracted the sympathy of all.
In 1581 Jedidiah (Amadeo) Recanati dedicated to
Fano his Italian translation ("Erudizionc dei Con-
fusi") of Maimonides' "Moreh Nebukim." Isaiah
Ilurwitz especially mentions Fano's treatise " Yonat
Elem " as a theological work the teaching of which
comes very near to the truth (Jo.seph Solomon Del-
niedigo, introduction to " Nobelot Hokmali"). Fano's
IMipil Samuel Portaleone composed an elegy on the
occasion of his death (Oxford MS. No. 988c). One of
Fano's sons was Isaac Bereciiiah; and the same name
wasborn(! also by Fano's son-in-law and pupil (men-
tioned in a letter of Israel Sforno to his sou Obadiah).
1?IRI,I0(!RAPHY : Oonfortt', A'nrc Jia-Dinat. p. 42b; Azulai,
Slum ha-GedoUm; Aboab. Nonvthmia, ii. 38, p. 300 ; I).
Kaufinann, In R. E. J. xxxv. 84. xxxvi. 108; J. (J. U. viii.
520.
s. s. A. Ka.
FAaUIN, JUCEFE (JOSEPH) : Sjianish trav-
eler of the fourteenth centurj- ; lived first at 15arcelona,
but settled in Majorca after having made a tour of
the known world. A year and a half later the rep-
resentatives of the A 1 jama demanded that he should
contribute his sliare to the tax of 18,000 livres which
had been laid upon that body eight years previously.
Faquin protested against the imjust and unreason-
able demand in a petition which he presented to
King James II. of Majorca (March 20, 1334), where-
upon the king' commissioned the royal procurators
to examine the case carefully.
BuiLiOGRAPHV : R. E. J. iv. .')3 et sei/.; Kavserling, ClniMo-
pher ColuinhiUi, p. d.
G. M. K.
FARABI, AL-. See Ai.FARAni.
FARAJ BEN SALIM or MOSES FARACHI
OF GIRGENT (known also as Faragut, Fara-
:
Charles of Anjou Presenting Arabic Manuscript
to FaraJ for Translation.
(From an illuiniiKitM'ii l,y Friar Giuvaiiiii in tlie liiblinthtqne NatioDale, Paris.)
rius, Ferrarius, and Franchinus) : Italian phy-
sician and translator; flourished in the second half
of the thirteenth century. He was engaged by King
Charles of Anjou as translator of medical works
from Arabic into Latin. In this capacity he ren-
dered a great service to medicine by making a Latin
translation of Razi's medical encyclopedia, "Al-
Hawi " (published 1486, under the title "Continens,"
with a glossary by the translator). The translation
is followed, between the same covers, by " De Ex-
positionibus Vocabulorum scu Synonimorum Sim-
plicis Medicina?," which Steinschneider supposes to
form a part of the "Continens." As a token of his
esteem for the translator, Charles of Anjou ordered
that on the original copj- of the manuscript of the
"Continens" (MS. Bibliotheciue Nationale, Paris,
No. 6912) the portrait of Faraj should be drawn
343
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Fano
Farhi
beside his own by Friar Giovanni of Monte Cassino,
the greatest illuminator of his time.
Faraj also translated "De Mcdicinis Expertis,"
attributed to Galen and included in his works pub-
lished by Juntas and Cliartres (x. 561-570), and
"Tacuini ^'Egritudinum " (Arabic, "Takwim al-Ab-
dan "), by Ali ibn Jazla, published at Strasburg,
1532. Steinschneider believes that to Faraj should
also be ascribed the Latin translation of iMasawaih's
treatise on surgery (MS. Biblioth^que Nationale,
Paris, No. 7131), said to have been made by a cer-
tain "Ferrarius. "
BiBLiOGRAPHT: Wiistenfeld, Die Uebcrsetzxingen Arabischer
Weike in das Lateinische, p. 107; SUnnschneider, in Vir-
chow's Arohiv, xxxix. 296; idem. Cat. Bodl. col. 979; idem,
Hebr. Bibl. xx. 136; idem, Hebr. Uebers. p. 974.
G. I. Br.
FARAJI, JACOB AL- : Rabbi at Alexandria,
Egypr, in the middle of the seventeenth century;
brother-in-law of Shabbethai Nawawi, rabbi of
Rashid, and teacher of Samuel Laniado. Al-Faraji
was the author of responsa, extracts from which
were incorporated in the collection "Birke Yosef,"
published by Azulai at Leghorn in 1774-76. As
shown by one of his responsa inserted in "Ginnat
Weradim " by Abraham ben Mordecai ha-Levi (Con-
stantinople, 1716-18), Al-Faraji was an able gram-
marian and a good Hebrew stylist.
Bibliography : Azulai, Shemha-Oedolim, p. 96; Ftirst, Bibl.
Jud. i. 276.
G. I. Br.
FARHI (PARHI), ESTORI : Explorer of
Palestine; born about 1282 at Florenza, Spain;
died in Palestine, probably in 1357. His father,
Moses, sent him to study under his grandfather,
Rabbi Nathan, at Tronquetelle, near Aries, France.
At the age of nineteen he went to Montpellier to
study astronomy with Jacob ben Makir; he also
studied Latin, Arabic, and the works of Aristotle,
Hippocrates, Ptolemy, and Galen. When the Jews
were expelled from France, July 22, 1306, he went
to Perpiguan, where he remained for seven years,
and translated several works. In 1312 he decided
to go to Palestine. On his way thither he stopped
for a few days at Cairo. Thence he went to
Jerusalem, where flattering efforts were made to
induce him to stay. He refused, however, because
of the anti-Maimonidean feeling there, and settled at
Bethshan, near Jerusalem. During the next seven
years he explored Palestine, and laid down in his
•' Kaftor u-Ferah " his researches into the history,
geography, fauna, flora, and antiquities of the Holy
Land. He carried with him the manuscript, cor-
rected by R. Baruch of Jerusalem, but it disappeared
at his death. Fortunately, some copies had pre-
viou.sly been distributed, and one was found in 1515
by Isaac Kohen Sholal, Nagid of Egypt. Between
1545 and 1548 it was printed at Venice by Meir b.
Jacob Frantz, who attributed it to the nagid.
David Conforte was the lirst to ascribe the work
to Farhi. A second edition appeared at Berlin
(1849, ed. Hii'sch Edelman), and a third edition at
Jerusalem (two vols., 1897-98, ed. Moses Luncz).
Farhi was tlie author of six other works : " Targum
Sefer Refu'ot," translation of Armengaud Blaise's
"De Remediis," a medical work (the Latin text i^no
longer extant, all the translations of this work since
tlien being based on Farhi's Hebrew text); "Sefer
ha-Kabusim," on purgatives, translated from the
Latin of Elijah b. Judah (an incomplete copy is in
the Casanata collection in Rome, I. iv. 5); "Ma'-
amar be-Bi'ur Da'at"; "Shoshanat ha-Melek " :
"Batte ha-Nefesh"; and "Slia'ar ha-Shamayim."
The last four are no longer extant, but are quoted
in his "Kaftor u-Ferah," a treati.se in wliich Farhi
combats Avicenna's opinion regarding the inhabit-
ants of the equator.
Bibliography: Luncz, Lnah Erez Yisrael, pp. 108-130, .leru-
salein, 1897 ; Zunz, in Asher's ed. of the Itinerary of R. Ben-
jamin of Tvilela, ii. 260 et seq.; Steinschneider, Hebr.
Uebers. pp. 778, 83.5; and especially Renan-Neubauer, Les
Ecrivains Juifs Francis, pp. 403 ct i^cq.
G. M. Fr.
FARHI, HAYYIM MXJ'ALLIM : Minister
of the Pasha of Damascus and Acre ; born at Damas-
cus about the middle of the eighteenth century;
assassinated in 1820. This remarkable statesman
for more than forty years governed a part of the
Turkish empire. His father, Saul Farhi, was min-
ister of the treasury to the Pasha of Damascus, and
he himself, while still a young man, showed skill in
state affairs. When Ahmad Jazzar, Pasha of Acre,
obtained also the pashalic of Damascus, he recog-
nized the ability of the young Farhi and promoted
him to the position of minister. Farhi utilized
his influence to help his coreligionists. His love
for his master and his desire to continue his services
to the Syrian Jews were so strong that he bore even
the most outrageous treatment on the part of the
pasha.
During the siege of Acre by Napoleon in 1799,
Farhi was the soul of the defense, frustrating all
of the enemy's strategic plans. Napoleon, knowing
that it was owing to the efforts of the Jewish min-
ister that he could not conquer the place, tried, but
in vain, to win him over.
After Jazzar's death in 1808, Farhi was con-
firmed in his dignity by Jazzar's successor, Sulai-
man Pasha. The Jewish poets sang of Farhi as a
new Solomon, finding his name (from the Hebrew
"farah," meaning "to bloom") to be synonymous
with the happiness of the countrj'.
Farhi was assassinated during the reign of Sulai-
man's successor, Abdallah, who, although one of
Farhi's pupils, was his bitter enemy; and the body,
in spite of the prayer of the Jews that it might be
granted decent burial, was thrown into the sea.
Bibliography : Lebrecht, in Maqazin fllr die Literatur des
Auslandes, IS'iO, pp. 461, 503 ; Carmoly, iieime Orientate, i.
^-9; OieJif, Lit. 1850, cols. 738-732, 743-748, 777-780; Travels
of Lndii He-ster Stanhojje. iii. 134 ; Joseph srhwarz, Tcbu'ot
ha-'Arcz, ii. 46a ; Griitz, Gesch. 3d ed., xi. 215.
S. M, Sel.
FARHI, ISAAC: Dayyanandalmoner of Jeru-
salem ; born at Safed; died at Jerusalem May 11,
1853. About 1840 Farhi was sent to Europe by the
rabbinate of Jerusalem to collect contributions for
the poor. He was the author of "Marpe la-'Ezem,"
moral essays, Ortakeui. 1830; "Matok mi-Debash."
on morals, with a pamphlet entitled '•Tub Yerushala-
yim," a eulogy on the Holy City, Jerusalem, 1842;
" Mine Metikaii," a pamphlet containing three ser-
mons for Shabbat Zakor, Leghorn, 1848; "Zuf
Debash." morals, ib. 1849; "Matok la-Nefesh," ser-
mons, ("onstantinople: "Shehct Mishor," ethical
Farhi, Joseph
Farmer of Taxes
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
344
essays and novellae, ib.\ "Ma'aseli Abot," a com-
mentary on Pirke Abot, Leghorn, 1864. He also
left some unpublished novellaj on the Talmud and
on Maimonides.
Bibliography : Nepi-Ghirondi, Toledot Gedole Yi^raeh p.
2(18; Luncz, Jerusalem, i. 142; Fuenn, Keneset Yiarael, p.
654.
8. s. M. Sel.
FARHI, JOSEPH SHABBETHAI : Tal-
mudic scholar and cabalist ; born at Jerusalem about
1802; died at Leghorn, Italy, in 1882. Farhi was
an earnest cabali.st; he believed that after death
the human body undergoes the trial of purgatory
which the cabalists call "hibbut ha-keber" (the
torments of the grave).
Farhi went to Leghorn about 1842, and while
there wrote: (1) "'Oseh Fele," a collection of won-
derful stories (Leghorn, 1845); (2) "Tokpo shel
Yosef," a narration of the story of Joseph {ih. 1846) ;
(3) "Rokeb 'Arabot," an Arabic commentary on
Pirke Abot, with the text, the Decalogue, and the
"Piyyut bar Yohai " (ib. 1849); (4) "Sheber Bat
'Ami," an Arabic commentary on the Haftarah of the
Ninth of Ab, with an Arabic version of the story
of Anna and her seven sons (ib. 1853). He edited the
"Ma'aseh Abot "of Isaac Farhi, adding a number
of notes{ib. 1864), and the " Ma'agal Tob " of Joseph
Concio (ib. 1879).
Bibliography : Mortara, Indice. p. 21 ; M. G. Monteflore, in II
VessiUo IsraeUticii. xxx. 92 ; Zedner, Cat. Hehr. Books Brit.
Mns. p. 248; Van Straalen, Cat. Hchr. Boohs Brit. Mus. p.
77.
K. M. Sel.
FARIA, JUAN DE : Marano poet. While re-
siding at Brussels in 1672 he wrote a poem in honor
of his friend Miguel de Barrios' " Coro delas Musas."
Barrios calls him and Aaron Dormido "ruisefioresdel
Musayco nido " (nightingales of the Mosaic nest).
Bibliography : Barrios, Relacion de las Poetas, p. 58.
D. ]M. K.
FARISSOL (PERIZOL), ABRAHAM BEN
MORDECAI : Italian scholar and geographer;
born at Avignon, France, 1451 ; died, according to
Gratz ("Geschichte," ix. 44), in 1525; Zuuz, how-
ever ("G. S." i. 178), says that he was living in
1526. In 1468 he was at Avignon, but soon after-
ward went to Mantua, and in 1473 to Ferrara. He
acted at Ferrara as cantor in the synagogue (accord-
ing to Steinschneider, " Hebr. Uebers." p. 81, the can-
tor at that time was a certain " Mordecai "), and occu-
pied himself besides in the copying of manuscripts.
He wrote a short commentary to the Pentateuch
under the title of "Pirhe Shoshannim " (De Rossi,
"MSS. Codices," No. 201). Soon afterward he
wrote a polemical work under the title of "Magen
Abraham," or "Wikkuah ha-Dat," in three parts,
the second against Christianity, the third against
Islam. He was induced to write this work by the
fact that at the court of Ercole d'Este I., Duke of
Ferrara, he had had a dispute with two monks.
By order of the duke he also made a resume in
Italian of the Hebrew text, so that his antagonists
might understand his position ("Monatsschrifl."
xlii. 421). Kirchheim proved (in "Orient, Lit." vi.,
col. 7) that the greater part of that work was copied
from Duran's "Keshet u-Magen." About the same
time Abraham Farissol wrote a commentary to Job
(in " Biblia Kabbinica," Venice, 1518). But the most
important of his writings is the "Iggeret Orehot
'01am," a cosmographic and geographic work in
thirty chapters (Ferrara, 1524; Venice, 1587). The
chief sources Farissol used were Bergomas' "Sup-
plementum " and Amerigo's " Cosmographia. " The
author speaks of the newly discovered parts of the
world, of the wonderful stories told by travelers,
and of the Ten Tribes.
Farissol was the first Jewish scholar who turned
his attention to geography. The " Iggeret " was
translated into Latin by Hyde under the title of
"Tractatus Itinerum Mundi" (Oxford, 1691). In
1525 Farissol wrote a commentary to Ecclesiastes (De
Rossi, ib. No. 48). He also translated into Hebrew
Aristotle's "Logic" and the compendium of Por-
phyry (De Rossi, ib. No. 145). Some sermons of
Farissol 's, and a number of letters which he wrote
in 1468 and 1474 to several of his contemporaries
(Messer Leon of Ferrara being among them), are
also extant.
Bibliography : Wolf, Bihh Hchr. iii., No. 117 ; De Rossi, MSS.
( 'odiccs, i. 95 97 ; idem, Dizionario, pp. 117, 118 ; Steinschnei-
der, Cat. Bodl. col. 689; idem, Hebr. Uebers. p. 81; idem,
Hebr. Bibl. vli. 27, 28; ix. 115; Michael, OrJia-Hayyim, pp.
91, 92; Kirchheim, in Orient, Lit. vi. 7; Michael, ib. vi. 2.53;
Gratz, Gesch. 3d ed., viii. 457, ix. 44-46; Fiirst, Bibl. Jud. 1.
276; Gross, Gallia Judaica, p. 11; Fuenn, Kenesvt Yisrael,
pp. .52, 53; Abraham Pe.saro, in II VessiUo Israelitico, 1879,
p. 170.
G. M. Sel.
FARISSOL, JACOB BEN HAYYIM COM-
PRAT VIDAL : Liturgical poet; born at Avi-
gnon; grandson of Vitalis Farissol, one of the
three chief bailiffs of Avignon in 1400. He was a
pupil of Solomon ben Menahem, or "P'rat Maimon,"
under whose supervision he composed in 1422, at
the age of seventeen, a commentary to Judah ha-
Levi's "Cuzari" entitled "Bet Ya'akob." Jacob
ben Hayyim is doubtless identical with the liturgical
poet mentioned by Zuuz ("Literaturgesch." p. 525)
under the name of "Comprad Farissol," who flour-
ished at Avignon in 1453. The name "Farissol"
was a very common one among the Jews of Pro-
vence. It is found at Montpellierin 1306 (Saige, " Les
Juifs du Languedoc," p. 128), at Perpignan in 1413
("R. E. J." xiv. 67), and at Avignon in 1451,
1465-80, and 1558 (Bayle, " Les Medecins d'Avignon
au Moyen Age," p. 54; Gross, "Gallia Judaica," p.
11; "R. E. J." xiv. 67, 89).
Bibliography: Renan-Neubauer, Les Ecrivains Juifs Fran-
rai.'>. p. 7.5.) : Ziinz, Literaturgesch. p. 525; (Jross, Gallia Ju-
daica, pp. 6, 7 ; R. E. J. xii. 198; xiv. 67, 89.
G. S. K.
FARISSOL, JUDAH : Italian mathematician
and astronomer; flourished at Mantua at the end of
the fifteenth century. In 1499 he wrote " Iggeret
Sefirah," a description of the astronomical sphere,
with diagrams.
Bibliography: steinschneider, Jewish Literature, p. 187;
Neubauer, Cat. Bodl. Hebr. MSS. p. 711.
G. M. Sel.
FARJEON, BENJAMIN L. : English-Jewish
novelist; born in London 1833; died there July 23,
1903; educated at private schools. He emigrated to
New Zealand, where he entered upon a literary career
and became manager and partial owner of the first
daily newspaper in that colony. Turning to fiction, he
345
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
FarM, Joseph
Farmer of Taxes
published his first book, "Grif," in 1870, whicli at-
tracted the notice of Dickens. Among his writings
are "Joshua Marvel" (1871), "London's Heart,"
" Great Porter Square " (1884), " Set in a Silver Sea,"
"The Sacred Nugget," "The King of Noland,"
"Something Occurred." "A Secret Inheritance,"
"The House of White Shadows," "The Betrayal
of John Fordham," "Samuel Boyd of Catchpole
Square, " and " The Mesmerists. " " Solomon Isaacs "
(1877), "Aaron the Jew." "Miriam Rozella," and
" Pride of Race " deal sympathetically with Jewish
scenes and characters.
Bibliography: Alllbone, Diet. Eng. Lit. Supplement, s.r. ;
Who's }Vho.
J.
r
V. E.
[;■■'
rrhxsy |rr>fi|{ Kian o-idj njn
differences among the Hungarian Jews. In the
course of the combat Farkas exerted his endeavors
in behalf of the Orthodox party, and it was he
who was the chief factor in securing official recog-
nition of that party as a separate communal organi-
zation.
s. L. V.
FARKAS, GYULA (JULIUS): Hungarian
mathematician and physicist; born at Puszta Sarosd
March 28, 1847; attended the gynmasium at GyOr
(Raab), and studied law and philosophy at Buda-
pest. After teaching in a secondary school at
Szekesfehervar (Stuhhveissenburg), Farkas became
in succession principal of the normal school at
u-nai n'nn lain Sy\ vTir(\ S*? yn »oi n;?: u-i
xs^V^ ^Vl T?! '^r ^3^ ^5 ^^>.
** — — t — -r >
Part of Page from Hebrew PENTATErcn Printed by Samuel Giacon, Faro, 1487.
The flrst book in any language printed in Portugal.
(In the BritisI) Museum.)
FARKAS, ALBERT: Hungarian Journalist;
born at Szilagy Somlyo Aug. 1, 1842; attended the
gymnasium at Kolozsvar (Klausenburg), and studied
law at Budapest. Farkas contributed to the " Mag-
yar Sajto," the " Hon," and the " Vasarnapi Ujsag " ;
wrote various patriotic poems, including one, under
the title "Samson es Delila," on the defeat of the
Hungarian national aspirations ; and translated into
Hungarian Gervinus' study on "Hamlet," as well as
the work of Count Ladislaus Teleki on the Russian
intervention in Hungary, Edmond About's "Tolla
Feraldi," Racine's "'^Phedre," and Wieland's "Die
Abderiten." He took a leading part in the emanci-
pation movement as editor of the "Magyar Zsido,"
advocating a peaceable adjustment of the religious
Papa, pdvat-(locent(1881) of mathematics at the Uni-
versity of Budapest, and professor of phy.sics (1888)
at Klausenburg. The Hungarian Academy of
Science elected him corresponding member May
6, 1898. His principal writings are embodied in
the reports of the Academy of Science of Paris
(1878-84); the " Aicliiv der Slathematik und Phys-
ik " ; and the "Journal des Mathematiques." His
separately published works are "Die Diatomische
Dur-Scale." Budapest, 1870; and " TermeszetUn
Elemei " (Elements of Physics), ih. 1872.
Bibliography: PaUa,-< Nagy Lexicon, vi. ; Ho7-vdth K6ny-
veszetc, 1881.
s. L. V.
FARMER OF TAXES. Sec T.^x-F.vu.Mixci.
Farmiu?
Fastin§:
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
346
FARMING ON SHARES. Ste Landlord
AND Tenant.
FARO : Capital of the Portuguese province of
Algarve. It was tlie seat of the district rabbi, or
chief justice, appointed by the ciiief rabbi. Faro
had Jewish inhabitants at an early date. They are
mentioned in the municipal laws of Alfonso III.
after the capture of Algarve. Alfonso IV. made
the Jews of the locality sign a document in which
they agreed to pay punctually the protection-money
levied on them.
That the Jews of Faro did not altogether escape
the cruelties of the Inquisition is evidenced by the
burning of Estevainha Gomes of Faro at Lisbon
June 17, 1590.
There was formerly a family of the name of
Faro at Bayonne, where the tomb of Abraham
Rodrigues Faro, who died in 1693, may be seen. In
London David and Isaac of Faro are included in the
list of subscribers to the synagogue of Bevis Marks
(c. 1700). The tomb of Jacob of Faro's widow, who
died in 1686, has also been preserved in London.
In 1903 Faro had 9,330 inhabitants, including
about fifteen Jewi.sh families. There are two syna-
gogues, one founded about 1830, the other in 1860;
a hebra kaddisha; and a cemetery dating from 1820,
when the community was organized. The ceme-
tery contains the ancient tombstone of Joseph ben
Thone (?), a rabbi who died in 1315. The commu-
nity supports a hazzan and a slaughter-house estab-
lished in 1830.
Bibliography: Archivo Torre dn Tnmhn, Lisbon MS. No.
732: Auto da Fe de Lisbna. fo\. 9(); Tninbes des Cimetii'res
de Baiiowiie et de Lnndres, p. 2.tS; Gaster, Hist, of Bevis
Marks, pp. 74-78. 91-96 ; Kayserling, Geacli. der Juden in
Portuaal, pp. 7. 23.
G. M. K.— C. DE B.
A printing-press existed in the liouse of Don
Samuel Giacon, at whose expense was printed in 1487
a Pentateuch with 110 leaves without pagination or
register, in double columns, and with from 30 to 85
lines to a full page. The letters, square characters,
are unequal ; the vowels often incorrect, and in many
cases wanting ; dagesh and accents are not expressed.
There seem to have been marginal notes printed on
the top and bottom of the first five leaves, but the
margins have been cut off. According to Hiibler
(" Typographic Iberique," p. 38), this was the first
Hebrew book printed with vowel-points. More-
over, it appears from the long list of printing-presses
in the Iberian peninsula, published bj" Habler
("The Early Printers of Spain and Portugal," Lon-
don, 1897), that this was absolutely the first book
printed in Portugal. Only one copy is known to
exist, that now in the British Museum, and which
formerly belonged to Almanzi. See illustration on
page 345.
BiBi.ior.RAPHY: Steinsohneider, Cat. Bodl. No. 1092; Zedner,
Cat. Hebr. Books Brit. 3/h.s. p. 799.
J.
FARRAR (FERRAR), ABRAHAM: Portu
guese physician and poet; born at Porto; died at
Amsterdam 1663. After practising medicine at
Lisbon, Farrar emigrated to Amsterdam, where he
became (1639) president of the Portuguese commu-
nity. He was a nephew of Jacob Tirado, the
founder of the Portuguese congregation Bet Ya'a-
kob at Amsterdam. There Farrar formed a friend-
ship with Manasseh b. Israel, who dedicated to him
his " Thesauro dos Dinim " Farrar's " Declarac^ao
das Seiscentas e Treze Encommendan^as da Nossa
Santa Ley " (Amsterdam, 1627) is a poetical render-
ing of the "Taryag Mizwot" in Portuguese verse.
He calls himself in this work " the Portuguese exile "
(Judeo do destierro Portugal). De Barrios (" Rela-
cion de los Poetas," p. 53) says, wrongly, that Far-
rar wrote in Spanish.
Bibliography: De Barrios, Relacion de los Poetas, p. 53;
Kayserling, Gesch. der Juden in Portugal, p. 290; idem,
Bibl. EKp.-Port.-Jud. p. 44; idem, in Rev. Etudes Juives,
xviii. 281, 282.
G. M. Sel.
FASSEL, HIRSCH BAR: Austrian rabbi and
author; born at Boskowitz, Moravia, Aug. 21, 1802;
died at Nagy-Kanizsa, Hungary, Dec. 27, 1883.
After receiving his early training in his native city
he continued his studies at the yeshibah of Moses
Sofer at Presburg. After his marriage he engaged
in business, but finding mercantile life unconge-
nial, he accepted the rabbinate of Prossnitz (1836)
in succession to Ijob Schwab. The " Landesrab-
biner," NeliemiahTrebitsch, objected to liis election,
but he was confirmed by the government in spite of
the protest (Low, "Gesammelte Schriften," ii. 207).
Like his predecessor, Fassel was one of the pioneers
of modern culture in Moravia, preaching in German
and introducing some reforms. After the death of
Solomon Tiktin the congregation of Breslau elected
him (1845) as associate rabbi to Abraham Geiger in
order to reconcile the conservative element of the
congregation. Fassel, however, declined the call
(" Abraham Geiger's Leben in Briefen," p. 113, Berlin,
1878). His competition for the vacant position
of Landesrabbiner of Cassel and afterward of
Moravia was unsuccessful, Samson Raphael Hirsch
being elected. In 1851 he was called to Nagy-
Kanizsa to succeed Leopold Low, and held this po-
sition until his death.
Fassel's "Mozene Zedek," a manual of the more
important practical laws, intended for the use of
rabbis, is written entirely in the spirit of Talmudic
casuistry, although the author is uniformly inclined
to more lenient decisions. In the introduction to his
" Kol Adonai " (1854) he says : " A reform in Judaism,
if it is not to degenerate into mere negation, is only
possible on the basis of rabbinism." The rabbinical
law, even the portion of it which deals with criminal
cases, was regarded by him as authoritative.
Fassel was a voluminous writer. He published a
number of sermons and contributed frequently to
the Jewish press, as to the "Orient," "Ben Cha-
nanja," "Neuzeit," and other periodicals. His pres-
entations of the Jewish law and of rabbinical ethics
are of lasting value. His combination of traditional
legal dialecticism with homiletic methods, exem-
plified in his "Neun Derusch-Vortrage " (1868), is
quite original. He wrote:
Zwei Gottesdienstliche Vortrage, Gehalteii in der Synagoge
zu Prossnitz. Vienna, 1838.
Horel) Bezayon : Briefe eines Jiidlschen Gelehrten und Rab-
binen iiber das Werk " Horeb " von S. U. Hirsch. I.eipsic, 1839.
Reis- und Hulsenfriichte am Pesach Erlaubte Speisen.
Prague. 1846.
Ein Wort zur Zeit belm Dankfeste fiir die Errungenschaft der
Freibeit. Vienna, 184«.
347
tup: JEWISH encyclopedia
Farming'
Fasting:
Zedek u-Misbpat, Tugend- und Rechtslehre, Bearbeitet nacb
den Principien des Talmuds und nacb der Form der Pbllosophie.
Vienna, 1848.
DieEpidemie: Trauer- undGedenkrede. Nagy-Kiinizsa, 1848.
Misbpete El : das Mosaiscb-Rabbinlscbe C'ivilrecht, Bearbeitet
nacb Anordnung und Eintbeilung der Gericbtsordnungen der
Neuzeit und Erliiutert mit Angabe der Quelleu. Nagy-Kanizsa,
18J254.
Kol Adonai : die Zehn Worte des Bundes (sermons). Nagy-
Kanizsa, l&'A.
'Asot Mishpat : das Mosalscb-Uabbiniscbe Gerichtsverfabren
in CivilrecbtUcben Sachen, Bearbeitet nacb Anordnung und
Eintbeilung der Gericbtsordnungen der Neuzeit und Erlautert
mit Angabe der Quellen. Nagy-Kanizsa, 1859.
Dat Mosbeb we-Yisrael : die Mo?aisch-Rabbinlsche Religions-
lehre.Katechetiscb fiirden Unterricbt Bearbeitet. Nagy-Kanizsa,
1859; 3d ed., Vienna, 1863.
Dibre Elobim Hay, Neun Deruscb-Vortriige. Nagy-Kanizsa,
1868.
We-Sbafetu we-Hizzilu : das Mosaiscb-Rabbinlscbe Strafrecbt
und Strafrechtlicbe Gericbtsverfabren, Bearbeitet nacb Anord-
nung und Eintbeilung der Gesetzbucber der Neuzeit und Erlau-
tert mit Angabe der Quellen. Nagy-Kanizsa, 1870.
His " ^lozene Zedek " was never published ; only
three of its four parts were completed. The manu-
script is preserved la the library of the Hebrew
Union College at Cincinnati.
BiBLioRRAPHY : AUyemeiii6 Zcitung des Judetithums, xlviii.
45; Jost, Neucre Ge.sch. der Judetu iii. 137, 182.
D.
FASTING AND FAST-DAYS (D"lV = "fast
ing"; t^'DJ nUJ? = "attiiction of soul'"; later He-
brew [Ezraix. 5] and Talmudic, n'JVD) : Fasting is
usually defined as a withholding of all natural food
from the body for a determined period voluntarily
appointed for moral or religious ends. This insti-
tution has found wide acceptance in all religious
systems, although its forms and motives vary with
different creeds and nationalities.
The origin of fasting is disputed by various critics.
Some (e.g., Herbert Spencer) are of the opinion that
it arose from the custom of providing refreshments
for the dead; others {e.g., W. R. Smith) that it was
merely a preparation for the eating of the sacrificial
meal; others, again {e.g., Smend), attribute the cus-
tom to a desire on the part of the worshipers to hum-
ble themselves before their God, so as to arouse
His sympathy ; while still others think that " it
originated in the desire of primitive man to bring
on at will certain abnormal nervous conditions
favorable to those dreams which are supposed to
give to the soul direct access to the objective
realities of the spiritual world " (Tylor, cited in
" Encjc. Brit." s.t\). The Rabbis compared fasting
to sacrifice, and considered the affliction of one's
body as the offering up of one's blood and fat upon
the altar (Ber. 17a). E.xamples may be quoted from
the Bible to corroborate these varying opinions.
In olden times fasting was instituted as a sign of
mourning (I Sam. xxxi. 13; II Sam. i. 12), or when
danger tlireatened (II Sam. xii. 16; comp. I Kings
xxi. 27), or when the seer was prepar-
In Biblical ing himself for a divine revelation
Times. (Ex. xxxiv. 28; Deut. ix. 9, 18; Dan.
Ix. 3; comp. B. M. 85a). Tliat indi-
vidual fasting was common among the early Jews is
evident from the provision made (Num. xxx. 14)
that a vow made by a woman " to afflict the soul "
ma}' under certain conditions be canceled by the
liusband. More frequent, however, were liie occa-
sional fasts instituted for the whole community, es
pecially when the nation believed itself to be under
divine displeasure (Judges xx. 26; I Sam. vii. 0.
where it is conjoined with the pouring out of water
before the Lord; Jer. xxxvi. 9; Neli. ix. 1), or when
a. great calamity befell the land (Joel i. 14, ii. 12), as
when pestilence raged or when drought set in ; and
sometimes also when an important act was about to
be carried out by the officials of the land (I Kings xxi.
12; comp. I Sam. xiv. 24). In Jonah iii. 6-7 it may
be seen with what rigor an official fa.st was observed,
while in Isa. Iviii. 5 is given a description of a fast-
day among the Jews. For the attitude of the
Prophets and of the Rabbis toward fasting see An-
sTiNENCE ; Asceticism.
Of regular fixed fast-days the Jewish calendar has
comparatively few. Besidesthe Day of Atonement,
which is the only fast-day prescribed by the Mo-
saic law (Lev. xvi. 29; see Atonement, Day of),
there were established after the Captivity four reg-
ular fast-days in commemoration of the various sad
events that had befallen the nation during that
period (Zech. viii. 19; comp. vii. 3-5). These were
the fast of the fourth month (Tammuz), of the
fifth month (Ab), of the seventh month (Tishri),
and of the tenth month (Tebet). Ac-
List of cording to some rabbis of the Tal-
Fast-Days. mud, these fasts were obligatory only
when the nation was under oppression,
but not when there was peace for Israel (R. H. 18b).
In the Book of Esther an additional fast is recorded
(ix. 31 ; comp. iv. 3, 16), which is commonly ob-
served, in commemoration of the fast of Esther, on
the thirteenth of Adar, although some used to fast
three days — the first and second Mondays and the
Thursday following Purim (Soferun xvii. 4, xxi. 2).
Many other fasts, in memory of certain troubles
that befell Israel, were added in the course of time,
a full list of which is given at the end of Megillat
Ta'anit. These were not regarded as obligatory, and
they found little acceptance among the people.
The list, with a few changes as given in Shulhan
'Aruk, Orah Hayyim, 580, 2, marked in parentheses,
is as follows :
1. First of Nisan : the sons of Aaron were destroyed in the
Tabernacle.
3. Tenth of Nisan : Miriam the prophetess died ; the well that
followed the Israelites in the wilderness disappeared.
3. Twenty-sixth of Nisan : Joshua the son of Nun died.
4. Tenth of lyyar : Eli the higli priest and his two sons died,
and the Ark was captured by the Philistines.
5. Twenty-ninth (twenty-eighth) of lyyar : Samuel the prophet
died.
6. Twenty-third of Siwan : the Israelites ceased bringing the
firstlings to Jerusalem in the days of Jeroboam.
7. Twenty-tlfth of Siwan: R.Simeon son of Gamaliel. R. Isb-
maei son of Elisha, and R. Hanina the superior ("se-
gan ") of the priests were executed.
8. Twenty-seventh of Siwan : R. Hanina son of Teradion was
burned while holding a scroll of the Torab.
Seventeenth of Tammuz: the tablets were broken ; the reg-
ular daily sacrifice ceased: A post enuis burned the Law,
and introduced an idol into the holy place; the breaking
into the city by che Romans f Ta'an. 28b).
First of Ab : Aaron the high priest died.
Ninth of Ah: it was decreed that Jews who went out nf
Egypt should not enter Palestine; the Temple was des-
troyed for the first and the second time; Bether wiis
conquered, and Jerusalem plowed over with a plow-
share Uh. 29a).
12. Eighteenthof Ab : the western light was extinguished in the
time of Ahaz.
9,
in.
11.
Fasting-
Fat
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
348
13. Seventh (seventeenth) of Elul: the spies died in a pesti-
lence.
14. Third of Tishri : Gedaliah and his associates were assassin-
ated in Mizpah (II Kings xxv. 25).
15. Fifth of Tishri : twenty Israelites died, and Akiba was im-
prisoned and afterward executed.
16. Seventh of Tishri : it was decreed that the Israelites should
die by sword and by famine on account of the affair of
the golden calf (see Meg. Ta'an. ad loc, ed. princeps,
Mantua, 1514).
17. Sixth (seventh) of Martieshwan : Nebuchadnezzar blinded
KingZedekiah after he had slaughtered the latter's chil-
dren in his presence.
18. Seventh (twenty-eighth) of Kislew : Jehoiakim burned the
scroll that Baruch wrote at the dictation of Jeremiah.
19. Eighth of Tebet : the Torah was translated into Greek in
the time of Ptolemy ; there was darkness in the world for
three days.
20. Ninth of Tebet : incident not explained (death of Ezra, as
mentioned in " Kol Bo ").
21. Tenth of Tebet : the siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar
began (11 Kings xxv. 1 ; Jer. lii. 4).
22. Eighth (fifth) of Shebat: the righteous (elders) that were in
the time of Joshua died.
23. Twenty-third of Shebat : the Israelites gathered to war with
the tribe of Benjamin (Judges xx.).
24. Seventh of Adar : Moses died.
25. Ninth of Adar: the controversy between the house of Sham-
mai and that of Hillel.
The Polish Jews are accustomed to fast on the
twentieth of Siwan on account of the atrocities com-
mitted on that day in 1648 by tlie Cossacks. Some
pious Jews also fast every Monday and Thursday in
commemoration of the destruction of the Temple, of
the burning of the Torah, and of the desecration of
God's name (comp. Luke xviii. 12). The first and
second Mondays and the first Thursday of lyyarand
of Marheshwan, following the festivals of Passover
and of Sukkot respectively, are recognized fasts in
most Jewish communities, and were originally insti-
tuted to atone for the sins that might have been com-
mitted in the pursuit of pleasure during the holida3's
(Kid. 81a; Tos., s.v. " Sokobo " ; Oral? Hayyim, 492).
The burial societies observe a fast-day preceding their
annual feast held in the evening. In some places it
is observed on the fifteenth of Kislew^ ; in some on the
seventh of Adar; while others have other days for
its observance (see Burial Society). It is also cus-
tomary to fast on the eve of New-Year'sDay (Tan.,
Emor, s.t\ " U-Lekahtem "), while many fast during
all the ten penitential days (Orah Hayyim, 581,
2, Isserles' gloss). Some pious Jews fast every Fri-
day, so as to partake of the Sabbath meal with a
hearty appetite (ib. 249, 3). The anniversary of the
death of one's father or mother ("Jahrzeit") and
the day of one's marriage are also observed as fasts
(Yoreh De'ah, 402, 11, Isserles' gloss; Eben ha-
'Ezer, 61, 1, Isserles' gloss). The first-born fast on
the eve of Passover in commemoration of tlie mira-
cle which was performed in Egypt when all the
Egyptian first-born were slain and those of the Is-
raelites were saved.
Besides these fixed fast-days, tlie Synagogue fre-
quently imposed a fast-day upon the community
when great calamities threatened the people. This
right of the Synagogue had its origin in tlie fasts
described in the treatise Ta'anit as having been in-
stituted in early times when rain was late in com-
ing. If no rain fell on or before the seventeenth of
Marheshwan, the learned and pious men of the com-
munity fasted three days — Monday, Thursday, and
Monday. In the case of continued drouglit, three
more fasts were proclaimed, and, lastly, seven fast-
days on successive Mondays and Thursdays were
instituted. These fasts were accompanied with
many solemn ceremonies, such as the taking out of
the Ark to the market-place, while the people cov-
ered themselves with sackcloth and placed ashes on
their foreheads, and impressive sermons were deliv-
ered (Ta'an. 18a). Fast-days were subsequently
instituted in case any misfortune befell the people,
as pestilence, famine, evil decrees by rulers, etc. (ib.
19a). Examples of the latter were the fasts insti-
tuted by the Russian rabbis during the anti-Jewish
riots early in the eighth decade of the nineteenth
century.
Private fasts were frequent among the Jews from
earliest times (Judith viii. 6; I Mace. iii. 47; II
Mace. xiii. 12). One may take it upon himself to
fast on certain days, either in memory
Private of certain events in his own life, or
Fasts. in expiation of his sins, or in time of
trouble to arouse God's mercy (see
Vows). The Rabbis, however, did not encourage
such abstinence Indeed, they positively forbade
it in the case of a scholar, wiio through his fasting
would be disturbed in his study ; or of a teacher, who
would thereby be prevented from doing his work
faithfully ; or of one pursued by robbers, who might
become weak (Ta'an. 11a). In no case should one
boast of his fasts to others, and even though he is
asked he should try to evade the question, except
when he has fasted in expiation of his sins; in this
case acknowledgment ma}^ lead others to expiation
likewise (Orah Hayyim, 565, 6).
The fast undertaken in consequence of an evil
dream has peculiar significance in Jewish law.
While in general no fast is permitted on Sabbaths
or holidays, the Talmud permitted one to be under-
taken even on these days, provided it be comple-
mented later by another fast (Ber. 31b). There are,
however, various opinions among the later authori-
ties regarding such a fast. Some think that it may
be observed on a Sabbath only after an evil dream has
occurred three times, while others are of the opinion
that it is not possible to distinguish at present be-
tween good and evil dreams, and that therefore one
should not fast at all on the Sabbath. The custom
is to fast if one dreams of the burning of a scroll
of the Law, or the Day of Atonement during Ne'ilah
service, or the beams of his house falling, or his teeth
dropping out. The custom of fasting on such oc-
casions has, however, lapsed into desuetude, and, as
in the cases cited above, is discouraged by the Rab-
bis (Orah Hayyim, 288).
All Jewish fasts begin at sunrise and end with
the appearance of the first stars of the evening, ex-
cept those of the Day of Atonement and the Ninth
of Ab, which last "from even till even." There is
no special ritual for the ordinary fast-days. The
Law is taken out and the lesson from Exodus is read
which treats of the thirteen qualities of mercy and
of God's forgiveness at the supplication of the
pious (Ex. xxxii. 11-14, xxxiv. 1-10). The same
passages are read both at the morning and at the
afternoon services, wliile at the latter the Haftarah
is also read from Isa. Iv. 6-lvi. 8. The Sephardim
do not read the Haftarali on the afternoon of any
349
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Fasting'
Fat
fast-day except the Ninth of Ab (see Ai?, Ninth
D.VY of). Iu the 'Amidah the prayer heginuiug with
'"Anenu" is inserted, and in the morning service
special selil.iot are provided for the various fasts.
The giving of charity on a fast-day, especially the
distribution of food necessary for the evening meal
(Sanh. 35a, and Kashi ad loc), was much encouraged,
iu accordance witli the rabbinic saying that " the re-
ward of the fast-day is in the amount of charity dis-
tributed " (Ber. 6b).'
The only fixed fast-day tliat may be celebrated on a
Sabbath is the Day of Atonement; all the others, if
they fall ou a Sabbath, are postponed until the fol-
lowing day. Private or public occasional fasts can
not be iield on any of the holidays, or on a new
moon, or ou nuy of the minor festivals
Relation (see Festivals), orduringthe month of
to Sabbath. Nisan, or on the week-days of the fes-
tivals. The Megillat Ta'anit enumer-
ates many days of tlie year upon which no fast may
beheld, but the later Rabbis declare that one is not
bound by these laws, and that therefore fasts may be
instituted on any day except those mentioned (R. H.
19b). Ou a Sabbath it is forbidden to go without
food until midday (Yer. Ta'an. iii. 11), except
when one is accustomed to eat late in the day and
would injure himself by changing his custom (Orah
Hayyim, 288, 1, 2).
Except in regard to the Da}- of Atonement and
the Ninth of Ab, the command to fast applies only to
food and drink ; all other acts, such as washing the
body or anointing, are permitted. It is forbidden,
however, to indulge iu any unnecessary pleasures
on these days: one should meditate on the signifi-
cance of the fast and examine his own sins {ib. 568,
12). Even those who are permitted to eat, as preg-
nant or nursing women, should not have regular
meals, but should take only as much food as is nec-
essary, so that all may participate in the common
sorrow {ib. 554, 5).
The first nine days of Ab, and, with some, the
period from the seventeenth of Tammuz to the tenth
of Ab, are regarded as partial fasts, the eating of
meat and the drinking of wine alone being forbidden.
See Ab, Fifteenth Day of ; Atonement, Day
OF; Plkim; Ta'anit; Tammuz, Fast of; Tebet,
Fast of.
Bibliography: Maimonides, I'orf, Ta'a?iii/t/"'. i--v.; Shu\\ian
^Aruk, Ora/i Haytiini. 562-.580; Lanipronti, Pahad Yiz-
liak. Berlin, 1887; Hastings, Diet. Bible : Hamburger, U. B.
T.\ }s<jv;&ck. Hi hrUisilie Arcluioloyie. Leipsic, 1894; Siuend,
Alttestamentlivhe Rtiiiiionsgeschichte. ib. )S9:3; W. II.
Smith, Ret. of Sew. London, 1894; Monteflore, Hihhert Lec-
turcf. London, 1897 ; Oehler, Theologie des Alten Te^ta-
ments, Stuttgart, 1891 ; Dembitz, Jcii'it:?! Services i)i Si/na-
goQue and Home, Philadelphia, 1898.
E. C. .1. II. G.
Fasting, which had no place iu the oldest ritual
practises of Islam, dates from the Medinian period
of Mohanmied's career. The idea of
In Islam, fasting was not a spontaneous growth,
but was adopted from the Jewish cus-
tom. Consequently the tern)s "siuu" and "siyam"
had their original meanings altered to agree with
the Hebrew "zaum."
According to tradition, Mohannned at first intro-
duced only one fast-day. similar to the Jewisli Day
of Atonement, and called it "'Ashiha," wliich is
identical with the Judieo- Aramaic word " 'asor " ( 10th
of Tishri). Soon, however, he abandoned it (together
with other customs borrowed from the Jewish rit-
ual), and replaced it by an institution which he dis-
tinctly stated was adopted from an older custom (*' O
true believers, a fast is ordained unto you as it was
ordained unto those before you, that ye may fear";
Koran, sura ii. 179). Instead of distributing a num-
ber of fast-days through the year, he appointed the
month of Ramadan to form a continuous period of
fasting, the fast to be kept from sunrise to sunset.
To this he attached the following regulations, partly
following, partly altering Jewish customs: Eating,
drinking, and sexual intercourse were permitted
during the night " until you can distinguish a white
thread from a black thread in the dawn ; then keep
the fast until night ; do not mix with the women,
but retire to the places of worship " (ib. v. 183). It
is easily seen that most of these regulations are bor-
rowed from the Day of Atonement in its rabbinic
interpretation. Tradition has preserved the follow-
ing saying, attributed to Mohammed: "The breath
of a fasting man is pleasanterto Allah than the odor
of musk."
Bibliography: Geiger, TT'c/s Hat Moliammed aus dem Ju-
deiithume Avfuenommen :? Hirschfeld, New Researches into
the Composition and Exegesis of the Koran.
E. G. H. H. HiR.
FAT. — Biblical Data : The rendering in the
English versions of the Hebrew word "heleb,"an
animal substance of an oily character deposited in
adipose tissues. In Judges iii. 22 it is mentioned as
covering the human intestines. It is held to indi-
cate grossncss and wickedness of disposition (Job
XV. 27). A heart covered with fat is a sign of irre-
sponsiveness and indifference (Ps. xvii. 10, cxix. 70).
The fat of beasts is mentioned as rich food (Deut.
xxxii. 14). Figuratively, fat connotes the choicest
part of anything (of oil. Num. xviii. 12; of wine,
ib. ■ of wheat, Deut. xxxii. 14; Ps. Ixxxi. 17 [A. V.
16], cxlvii. 14).
The fat iu the thank-offerings belonged to Yhwh
(Lev. iii. 16; Ezek. xliv. 15; comp. Lev. iii.; Ex.
xxix.). Like blood, it was regarded as the seat of
life (Lev. iii. 17; Smith, "Rel. of Sein." 2d ed.,pp.
376 et seq.). In the description of the sacrifice at
the consecration of Aaron and his sons (Ex. xxix.
13) the fat covering the inwards, the caul, and the
two kidneys with the fat upon them are specified;
in Lev. iii. 3 "the fat that is upon the inwards" is
added to these. TJie parts mentioned represent:
the omentum (Josephus, "Ant." iii. 9, §2, t7r/'-/.oi'f);
the fat clinging to the intestines, i.e., net-like adhe-
sions to the colon (but see Paul Ilaupt, "Johns
Hopkins Circular," 1894, No. 114, p. 115); the kid-
neys, which, especially near the loins, are as a rule
surrounded by fat; and the"yoteret" (see Cacl),
a deposit of fat extending from the portal ("hazra")
vein of the liver along the hepatic-duodenal liga-
ment to the duodenum. In Lev. iii. 9 the fatty tail
of the sacrificial animal, if a sheep, is mentioned as
being among the jiortions which are to be burned
upon the altar. This part, as being the choicest,
was offered to the guest of honor (Budde, iu
"Z. D. P. V." 1895, p. 98; Geiger, "Urschrift,"
p. 380; I Sam. ix. 24). Again, iu Lev. vii. 23-25
tlie fat of three sacrificial animals, the cow, the
Fat
Father
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
350
sheep, aud the goat, is specitically prohibited as
food, the punishment for infraction being " karet "
(excision); but in the case of animals wliich have
died a natural death or have been killed by wild
beasts ("nebelah," "terefah"), the fat, while not
allowed for food, might be used for any other
domestic purpose. It is thus an open question
whether, when slaughtered for private (non-sacri-
ficial) use, the fat of the three animals enumerated
was prohibited, and it is not plain whether the
interdict applied to other animals.
In Rabbinical Literature : For the parts of
the sacrificial animal which belonged to Yhwh, and
which had to be burned, the Talmud has in addition
to D^^iri the term DniO'X, a word of disputed ety-
mology (Rapoport, " 'Erek Millin," s.v. ; 'Aruk, s.v.
IDN, 6, and nD, 2; Solomon Geiger, in "Zion," 1842,
p. 6, from "ION; comp. Suk. 55b), probably from the
Greek fio'ipai, fi>ipia {i.e., the choicest parts), of fre-
quent occurrence (Suk. V. 7; Yoma vii. 5; Pes. v. 10;
Zeb. 27b).
The precise delimitations of the Levitical pro-
hibition, violation of which entailed karet, were a
matter of controversy even among earlier Mishnaic
authorities (see Sifra, Lev. 3, the opinions of R.
Ishmael and R. Akiba ; comp. Hul. 49b, 50a, those of
R. Jose ha-Galili and R. Akiba; Tosef. , Hul. viii.)
and also among the Amoraim (Hul. 93a, Samuel [see
Rashi and RaN], and Hul. 55a, Abayah). The dis-
tinction is made between "shumen" and "heleb"
(see Ramban to Lev. iii.), the latter being separate
from the meat and consisting of a thin, close-fitting,
skin-like layer that may be peeled off (Hul. 49a, 50a;
see Wiener, " Die Jlidischen Speise Gesetzc," p. 149j.
The use of "heleb" in connection with the fatty tail
of the sheep caused confusion (Lev. iii. 9), the Kara-
ites— probably following an old Sadduccan interpre-
tation (see Wiener, I.e. p. 147, note) — extending to
the tail the prohibition against eating fat, but others
(Rashi, Targ. Yer., for example) explaining the word
in this connection as "the best that is in the tail,"
as does Rab Ashi (Hul. 117a; for the controversial
points see Hadasi, "Eshkol lia-Kofer," Alphabet
232 ; Ibn Ezra to Lev. iii. 9, vii. 23, and Nahmanides
to the same passages; also Bashyazi, "Aderet Eli-
yahu," pp. 118 et seq. ; Ibn Ezra in " Apirion," ed.
Neubauer, p. 24; " Lebush Malkut," p. 42; Aaron
ben Elijah. "Dine Shehitah"; "Orient, Lit." 1840,
No. 30). Maimonides ("Yad," Ma'akalot Asurot,
vii.) makes the point that "heleb" is used in con-
junction with the tail not to include it among forbid-
den food, but to assign it to the sacrificial cla.ss, and
that the parts so designated are to be lifted up and
burned (comp. Hul. 117; Ker. 4; Tosef., Hul. 92a,
s.v. "Amar Abayi"; Mak. 18a; Men. 78a).
In the Talmud the prohibition is not extended
to the heleb of a fetus (Hul. vii. 1, 92b); on the
principle that only such fat is forbidden asmight law-
fully have been offered up as a sacrifice, that cling-
ing to the animal's ribs may be eaten (Sifra, Zaw).
From the language employed it may be inferred
that the fat around the heart was regarded as not
subject to the prohibition. The general principle is
that fat which docs not close up a hole or puncture
beneath is unclean, but in the case of the lobe of
fat around the heart the inability to close up a pos-
sible puncture beneath is attributed not to its being
unclean fat, but to its helmet-like shape (Hul. 49b;
Wiener, I.e. p. 150; "Yad," Shehitah, vi. 10; Semag,
"Asin," p. 63). Five strings of fat, three on the
^ight and two on the left, in the flanks or haunches,
are not to be used (Hul. 93a). Three thin membranes
or layers of fat, one each on the spleen, the bowels,
and the kidneys, are also prohibited {ib.). The rule
that fat covered with flesh is permitted is qualified
by an exception in the case of fat that is uncovered
when the animal is in motion (Hul. 93a; Rashi, s.v.
NplSn 'pllQ; "Yad," Ma'akalot Asurot, vii. 7, 8).
As in the case of other Dii<:tary Laws, the hy-
gienic benefits of the enactment regarding fat have
been adduced to explain the prohibition and to de-
fend its enforcement for all time. Ibn Ezra (see
commentary to Lev. vii. 24; Deut. xii. 15) rightly
surmises that it was originally connected with the
sacrificial ritual, and applied only to animals and
parts destined and fit for the altar. Nevertheless,
declaring that the " tradition of the fathers " is his
support, he accepts the rabbinical decision according
to which all domestic animals are now included,
(!ven though by reason of defects they were unfit
for the altar (Bck. 15a), and even though at present
sacrifices are not offered. Judali ha-Levi (" Cuzari, "
iii. 11) also is of the opinion that the sacrificial use
of the fat underlies the prohibition. Nahmanides'
criticism of this theory in his commentary on Levit-
icus (vii. 25) is not convincing, and neither is Ibn
Ezra's. Maimonides (" ]Moreh," iii. 48), on the one
hand, looks upon this prohibition as a liealth-pro-
tective measure, but on the other (">Moreh," iii. 41)
agrees that it was effective in guarding the distinct
character of the altar's portions. Nahmanides is
another that ascribes to the observance certain sani-
tary advantages, as also do Aaron ha-Levi ("Hi-
nuk," § 47) and RaLBaG (commentary to Lev. vii.).
Albo ("Ikkarim,"iii. 16), however, does not hesitate
to suggest doubts as to the obligatory character,
since the sacrifices have ceased, of the injunction
not to eat the fat.
The final decisions on the eating of fat are these:
The fat of ox, sheep, and goat is prohibited ; that of
other animals is allowed; but that of the "koi," an
tuiidentitied hybrid (see Yoma 74), is forbidden.
Bj' "fat" is understood a thin, close-fitting layer or
membrane that may be peeled off, but meat (lean)
must not cover it. The fatty tail is allowed, but
the arteries (and muscles) on the iimer side must
be carefully removed. The fat on the loins and
on the membrane above them is forbidden, as is
that which is underneath the loins; and skill, at-
tainable only through practise, is required to remove
these forbidden portions. The fat upon the oma-
sum, the caul, and the intestines is prohibited.
Disregard of the prohibition entails excision, and so
does violation of tiie provision not to eat the fat
which is on tiie thick side of the spleen. What is
on the other parts of the spleen should not be eaten,
but the person that partakes of it is not liable to
<\(i.sion. Fat and meat must be neither salted
nor rinsed together; the vessels for rinsing must be
distinct, as must be also the knives for cutting
meat and fat. Butchers must exercise care in re-
351
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Fat
Father
moving the forbidden parts, and if careless they
must be admonished. If, after admonition, as much
as a grain of fat is found in the meat which tlie
butcher professes to have prepared, he shall be de-
posed ; and if the quantity overlooked is of the size
of an olive, he shall be punished with stripes and be
deposed (Shulhan 'Aruk, Yoreh De'ah, 64). See
Dietary Laws.
Bibliography: Commentaries on Leviticus; W. R. Smith,
Rel. of Sem.; A.Wiener, Die JUdischen Speise Gesetze,
Breslau, 1895.
E. G. H.
FATALISM : The doctrine that every event is
predestined and must inevitably take place. Ac-
cording to Josephus, the question of fate — or rather,
as he really means, of divine predestination — was one
of the points in which the Pharisees differed both
from the Sadducees and from the Essenes. The Phari-
sees held that not all things are divinely predestined,
but that some are dependent on the will of man;
the Sadducees denied any interference of God in
human affairs; while the Essenes ascribed every-
thing to divine predestination ("B. J." ii. S, § 14;
"Ant." xiii. 5, § 9). Thus the Pharisees left to man
freedom of will in his spiritual life, but denied any
independent initiative in his material life, which
they considered entirely subject to predestination.
This view is expressed in the Mishnah in the follow-
ing terms by Hananiah benDosa; "Everything is
foreseen, but freedom is given " (Abot iii. 15). The
same idea is expressed in other words by R. Hanina:
"All is in the hands of God, except the fear of God "
(Ber. 33a). Another saying of his is: "A man does
not hurt his finger in this world unless it has been
decreed above " (Hul. 7b). Similarly it is said :
" Tlie plague may rage for seven years, and yet no
man will die before the appointed hour " (Sanh. 29a ;
Yeb. 114b). "Forty days before the birth of a
child," says the Talmud, "a Bat Kol [heavenly
voice] proclaims: 'The daughter of A shall belong
to B; the field of C to D ; the house of E to F ' "
(Sotali la). In another passage it is said that the
angel who presides over pregnancy addresses God
in the following terms: "Lord of the world! what
shall come forth — a strong man or a weak one, a
wise one or an ignoramus, a rich man or a pauper? "
(Niddah 16b). The most striking example of fatal-
ism found in the Talmud is the legend concerning
Eleazar ben Pedat. This amora, being in very
straitened circumstances, asked God in a dream how
long he would suffer from his poverty, whereupon
God answered him: "My son, wouldst thou have
me overthrow the world 'i " (Ta'anit 25a), meaning
thereby that Elcazar's poverty could not be helped
because it was his fate to be poor.
Besides tliese fatalistic ideas, proceeding from an
exaggerated conception of divine providence and
predestination, another kind of fatal-
The As- ism was developed by some later doc-
trological tors of the Talmud. This was the be-
• ' Fatum." lief that every person had a particular
st:ir with which his fa(e was indissol-
ubly bound, liabba said: "Progeny, duration of
life, and subsistence are dependent upon the constel-
lations" (.M. K. 2Sal Strange as it may seem, (lie
leading idea of this form of fatalism was nothing
else than the deep-rooted belief in free will in matters
of religion and morality. Being embarrassed by the
ever-recurring question. Why does a just God so
often permit the wicked (who are responsible for
their acts by reason of their freedom of choice) to lead
a happy life, while many righteous are miserable?
some rabbis had recourse to the astrological " fatum "
which attempts to solve this problem. However,
in order not to leave anything beyond the control
of God they asserted that through prayer and de-
votion man was able sometimes to bring about a
change in his fate. For further information see
Astrology; Free Will ; Providence.
K. I. Br.
FATE-BOOKS. See Lots, Books of.
FATHER: The word 3K denotes primarily
the begetter or genitor of an individual. In a
looser sense it is used to designate the grand-
father or remoter progenitor in general ; also the head
of the household, family, or clan; or the origina-
tor or patron of a class, profession, or art ; or the
benefactor or protector. Hence arises the employ-
ment of this term as a title of respect and honor.
When used of God it generally refers to the cove-
nant relation between Him and Israel (compare
Murray's "Eng. Diet." s.?'.). Moses is called "the
father of wisdom " and " the father of the Prophets "
(Lev. R. i.). Rabbi Hoshaya is called "the father
of the Mishnah " (Yer. Yeb. 4d). The one next in
authority to the Nasi in the court of justice was
called "father of the bet din "(Hag. xvi. 6; com-
pare Rapoport, "'Erek Millin," p. 2); and in the
Middle Ages the head of the academy was called
" father of the yeshibah " (see Schechter, " Saadyana. "
p. 83; Bilchler, "Das Syuedrion in Jerusalem," p.
173, and Index, s.v. " Ab-Bet-Din"). In the plural
the word is used in the sense of famous men, celeb-
rities in Israel's history, especially of the three pa-
triarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Ecclus. [Sirach]
xliv., heading). In Mishnah 'Eduyot, Shammai and
Hillel are called "the fathers of the world," a title
which was also accorded to Akibaand Ishmael (Yer.
R. H. 56d).
The father was supreme over his children. His
power of life and death is attested by the proposed
sacrifice of Isaac (Gen. xxii.), the case of Jephthah's
daughter (Judges xi.), and the practise of sacrificing
children to Molech (Lev. xviii. 21, xx. 2-5; II Kings
xxiii. 10; Jer. xxxii. 35). A later limitation of that
right is the requirement in the case of a stubborn
and rebellious son, a glutton, or a drunkard, to
bring the matter before the elders. It was only by
their decision that the son was stoned to deatli by
his fellow citizens (Deut. xxi. 18-21). The father
could dispose of his daughter in marriage (Gen.
xxix.) and arrange his son's marriage (Gen. xxiv.),
or sell his children as slaves (Ex. xxi. 7; Neh. v. 5),
a law which was modified by the Rabbis so as to make
it almost ineffective (see Slaves and Slavery).
He had tlie riglit to chastise liis children (Deut. viii.
5, xxi. 18; Prov. xiii. 24), and could insist on the
utmost respect and obedience from them (Ex. xx.
12; Lev. xix. 3: Deut. v. 16; Prov. i. 8; vi. 26;
xxiii. 22: xxviii. 24; xxx. 11, 17; compare Ezek.
xxii. 7; Micali vii. 6). Smiting or cursing him was
punished by death (Ex. xxi. 15, 17; Lev. xx. 0).
Father
Fayer
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
352
Dent, xxvii. 16 invokes a curse on any one who is
disrespectful to his father.
The vow made by an unmarried daughter (Num.
XXX. G) could be disallowed by her father. He was
not allowed to sell her in slavery to a foreigner (Ex.
xxi. 8). To this the Halakah adds the further re-
striction that tlie buyer must not be related to
her in any of the degrees in which intermarriage
is forbidden (Maimonides, " Yad," 'Abadim, iv. 4).
Tlie father's right to punish his children Avas re-
stricted by rabbinical authorities to minor children.
For the beating of a grown-up son he is liable to be
put under the ban (M. K. 17a). Even minor children
must not be chastised in a manner or degree so as
to deaden their self-respect ("Yad," Mamrim, vi. 8).
The father may not exact obedience from his chil-
dren if lie thereby requires them to do anything
which is against the law (B. M. ii. 10).
It is the duty of the father to support his children
after they have been weaned by the mother — accord-
ing to the decision of the Synod of
Duties. Usha (2d century) at least up to the
third year; but according to a later
ruling, up to the sixth year, even if they have
property. From that age on the father can be held
to support them only in the same manner as he
could be held to contribute to charity (Ket. 49b,
65b; Shulhan 'Aruk, Eben ha-'Ezer, 71; ib. Yoreh
De'ah, 250). The father is also obliged to circum-
cise and redeem his son, to give him an education,
to teach him a tratle (according 1o some, even the
art of swimming), to secure him a wife, etc. (Tosef. ,
Kid. i. 11; Mek. to Ex. xiii. 11; Kid. 29a, b; Yoreh
De'ah, 245, 260, 305). See Abba In Theology;
Adoption; Child; Daugiitek in Jewish Law;
Education; Family and Family Life; Mar-
riage; Motheu; Parents; Vows.
s. s. C. L.
FATTORI (Sindachi, Gonfalonieri, Fattori
del Ghetto, D'3100) : The executive body of the
Roman community, consisting of three persons
elected for one, later for one half, year, by the repre
sentatives of the community. They called the meet
ings of the community ; their consent was necessarj-
in cases of excommunication ; they controlled the
treasurer, who could make no payments except on
their order. They were aided by a committee chosen
by the community; they reported to the commu-
nity every three months, and rendered an account
at the end of their 'term of ollice. The community
was represented by them at the Vatican, which held
them personally responsible. Thus they were im-
prisoned when a Jew escaped punishment by flight.
At least one fattore, in addition to the rabbi, was re-
quired to take part in the carinval homage to a sen-
ator, and to be present during the Sabbath sermons
for converts. Any attempt to shun this burdensome
and costly office was jiunished by a fine and sub-
sequently refusal to till it was strictly forbidden.
The office probably existed as early as the twelfth
century, although its functions can not be traced
definitely beyond the fifteenth century.
Bibliography: Vogelstein and Rieper. Grxch. rhr Jnden iv
Rom. i. ~'Ki 34:!; ii. V.IX, 311, :!19-;KH, 39:i; Berliner, dtsrli.dir
Jvilen i)i Hinii. ii. 32. 72; Ziinz, Z. G. pp. 5(111, 513; Uodoca-
nacbi, Le Snhit SUye ct las Juifs, pp. VS et scu.; Saimu'l Ka-
lai, Axles' '>t3Dl^'C r'Y<i\ p. 40a, No. 54: compare Giidemann,
Ges.ch. des ErziehinifjiiUiesensund der Kidtur der Jnden in
Italien, p. 308.
G. H. V.
FAUDEL-PHILLIPS, SIR GEORGE,
BART. : Lord mayor of London (1896-97) ; second
son of Sir I'enjamin Samuel Phillips; born in 1840.
George Phillips, who derived the name of Faudel
from his uncle, was educated at University College
School, completing his studies in Berlin and Paris,
lie then entered his father's business. In 1867 he
married Helen, daughter of Joseph Moses Levy,
the proprietor of the "Daily Telegraph," and
sister of Sir Edward Lawson, its present chief pro-
prietor. His sister Sarah is the Lady Pirbright. He
was appointed sheriff of London and Middlesex
(1884-85); succeeded
his father as alderman
of theAvard of Farring-
don Within (1888);
and became a gover-
nor of the Honorable
Irish Society (1894).
The following year he
Avas created high sher-
iff of the county of Lon-
don, and in 1896 he be-
came lord mayor of the
city of London.
As chief magistrate
of the city, Faudel-
Phillips received
Queen Victoria at Tem-
ple Bar on the occasion gj^ Qg^^gg Faudel-Phillips,
of the Jubilee thanks- g. C. S. l
giving service which
was held at St. Paul's Cathedral and subsequently
at the Mansion House. His year of office Avas one
of remarkable philanthropy. He raised funds
Avhich amounted, in the aggregate, to £1,000,000 for
the relief of the famine in India and for other char-
itable objects. He was the recipient of numerous
honors at the close of his term of office, Avhen he
was created a baronet, and, in recognition of his
services to India, received tlie Grand Cross of the In-
dian Empire. He also received numerous foreign
decorations He holds many municipal and charita-
ble offices in connection Avith the city of London.
Sir George Faudel-Phillips has served the Jewish
community as president of the Jews' Orphan Asy-
lum and of the Society for the Relief of the Jewish
Blind. The former institution celebrated its cen-
tenary during his mayoralty.
Bibliography: Y on na Israel, W97 \ TTlif/s THio, 1902.
J I. H.
FAULT (my^t'Q) : Harmful neglect of duty.
The "culpa" of Roman law is treated to some
extent under the heads of Accident and Bail-
ments, the former dealing Avith torts arising from
lack of care, the latter Avith the loss of goods or
animals through the lack of care or the dishonesty
("dolus") of the keeper.
Another important branch of fault or culpa arises
Avhere men entrusted with material to work up, or
Avith implements to repair, do their task badly, or
disregard the instructions of the owner, or injure the
353
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Father
Fayer
things entrusted to them. The principles governing
tiiis brancli are brictly laid down in the Mishnah (B.
K. ix. 3, 4); ''If one lias given [anything] to me-
chanics to repair, and they have ruined [it], they
must make compensation. If a wagon, a chest, a
platform, has been given to a carpeu-
Fault in ter to repair, and he has ruined it, he is
Work- held responsible. And the mason who
manship, has undertaken to take down a wall,
and in doing so breaks the stones, or
does damage, is likewise responsible. [If] he was
tearing down on one side, and it fell on another side,
he is free from liability; but if [it fell] from his
stroke, he is liable. When one gives wool to a dyer
and the kettle burns it, the dj'er must pay the price
of the wool. If he dyes it [so that it looks] ugly,
then if the improvement is greater than the outlay,
[the owner] pays the amount expended; if the outlay
is greater than the improvement, he gives the work-
man the value of the improvement. [If he gives him
wool] to dye black, and he dyes it red, or red and he
dyes it black, R. Mei'r says he [the dyer] gives him
the price of the wool, [keeping the dyed wool]. R.
Judah [whose opinion prevails] says: If the im-
provement is greater than the outlay, he [the owner]
pays him [the dyer] the outlay; if the outlay is
greater than the improvement, he gives the worth
of the latter."
The Gemara ad locnm (B. K. 98b-102a), comment-
ing on these two sections, discusses mainly the
(jueslion whether the workman, by making a change
in the object on which he is working, acquires title
thereto, and how this would affect the measure of
his liability; but the Halakah is against the view
of a change of title.
Maimouides, in "Yad," Sekirut, x. 4, and Hobel
u-Maz/ik, vi. 11, states the law almost in the words
of the Mishnah; adding to it for greater clearness a
few words from the Talmud • " Whether the owner
has given to the mechanic the wagon, etc., to put a
nail in [that is, to make a slight repair], or has given
him the timber to make the wagon, etc., the me-
chanic, if lie breaks the wagon, etc., must pay the
value of the wagon [of course deducting his wages
and outlays]." To the case of the dyer, IMaimonides
adds: " Or if he gives timber to a mechanic to make
a chair, and he makes a bad one, or makes a bench,
he must pay for a good chair. And as the workman
docs not acquire the ownership by change in the
material, the employer can not say, ' Let him pay
me for my timber or my wool ' ; nor can the me-
chanic clear himself by offering to pay the price of
the material."
A baiaita in the discussions on B. K. ix. 3 (99b)
takes up the wf)rkman's liability for lack of skill:
"If one gives wheat out to grind, and [the miller]
does not bolt it, but turns it into coarse meal and
bran ; flour to a baker, and he makes it into flat
loaves; a beast to the slaughterer, and
Fault by lie makes a carcass of it [kills it in
Lack an unlawful way], the workman is
of Skill. liable, because he is a taker of hire."
Maimonides quotes this (tb. x. 5),
and, following the reasoning of the Talmud, adds:
" Hence, if the slaughterer was an expert and slaugh-
tered without reward, he is free from liability; but
V.-23
if not an expert, though he did it for nothing, he is
liable. Thus, if 1 show a coin to a banker who is
well posteil, and he tells me it is good, whereas it
is bad, but charges me nothing, he is not liable for
the loss. But if he is not posted he is liable, though
he acted for nothing; for I ought to be able to rely
on a banker's opinion. And so in like matters."
There is in modern law a similar rule, that a quack
is liable for mistakes in medical treatment, where
a regular physician would not be liable.
In referring to the mason who does harm while
taking down a wall ("Yad," Hobel, vi. 11), Mai-
monides couples with him the smith who starts a
fire by sparks from his hammer; for a human being,
he says, is always "forewarned," whether he acts
wilfully or unwittingly, asleep or awake (see Ac-
cident).
Another rule connected with fault on the part of
workmen entrusted with material or goods is thus
stated in the Mishnah (B. M. vi. 6) : " All mechanics
are keepers for hire [and liable for loss or damage
as such] ; but all of them, when they say, ' Take thy
goods and give me my money,' become gratuitous
keepers. When [the owner] says, ' Keep this for me
[to-day] and I will keep for you to-morrow,' he is a
hired keeper. [If tiie owner saj^s], 'Keep for me,'
and he answers, 'It lies with me,' [he becomes] a
gratuitoTis keeper." R. Huna, in the Talmud on
this section, adds: "If he says, ' It lies before thee,'
the mechanic is no longer even a gratuitous keeper"
(B. M. 81b). And Maimonides (" Yad," Sekirut, ch.
X.) gives these propositions as the Halakah.
The following case, however, of acting outside
the line of strict law may be mentioned in this
connection, though it is not noted by the codifiers:
It happened to Rabba bar bar Hanah (others read
" bar Rab Hunah ") that the porters broke a cask
of wine belonging to him. Then he took away their
clothes in compensation. They went to Rab and
complained. Whereupon he said, "Rabba, return
them their clothes." The latter asked, "Is this the
law':*" Rab said, "Yes; as it is said, ' That thou
mayest walk in the way of the good ones ' (Prov. ii.
20). " He returned their clothes. Then the porters
said to Rab, " We are poor and labor the whole day,
and now we are hungry and have nothing." Rab
then said to Rabba, " Go and pay them their wages."
Rabba asked again, "Is this the law?" Rab re-
plied, "Yes; as it is .said, 'And keep the paths of
the righteous ' " (B. M. 83a).
As to a pawning of the finished commodit}% and
the pawnee's liability for a loss, see Pledges.
s. s. L. N. D.
FAYER, LADISLAUS: Hungarian jurist;
born at Kecskeme in 1842. In 1870 he received the
degree of doctor of law, three years later becoming
privat-docent at the University of Budapest. In
1886 be became professor of criminal law, which
position he still occupies. He founded the uni-
versity seminary for penal law. He wrote: "Blin
vadi Eljarasunk Reformjahoz " (1884); "B'lnvadi
Eljanis a Torveny Szekek Elott" (1885), "A Ma-
gyar Bilnvadi Eljaras mai Ervenyeben " (1887);
" Bliniigyi Esetek Seminariumi Hasznalatra " (1M91 ) ;
"Tanulmanyok a BiintetSjog es a Biinvadi Eljaras
Koreb5l " (f894). He edited the " Magyar Themis "
ij'ayyum
Fee
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
354
(1870-80) and the "Jogtudonianyi Kozlony " (since
1880). Fayer is secretary of tlie Society of Hun-
garian Jurists, and a corresponding member (elected
1894) of tlie Hungarian Academy of Sciences. He
has published several scientific works.
Bibliography : Szinnyei, yiaguar Irak Tiira, iv.
s. L. V.
FAYYUM. See Egypt.
FAYYTJMI, AL-. See Saadia ben Joseph Gaon.
FAYYUMI, NATHANAEL AL- : Tahimdic
scholar and philosopher; nourished in Yemen about
the middle of the twelfth century. He wrote a phil-
osophical work in Jud«o- Arabic, called " Bustan al-
'Ukul," which he divided into seven parts: (1) the
unity of God, (2) man as a microcosm, (3j the ne-
cessity of obedience to God, (4) repentance, (5) trust
in God, (6) excellencies of the Messiah, (7) the future
life. The author quotes Saadia, Bahya ben Joseph,
Solomon ha-Katon, and Judah ha-Levi, speaking of
the last two as men of his time. R. Gottheil sup-
poses that this Nathanael was the father of R. Jacob
b. Nathanael al-Fayyumi, who corresponded with
Maimonides about a certain pseudo-Messiah, and to
whom Maimonides addressed the " Iggeret Teman " ;
but Steinschneider declares this identification doubt-
ful.
Bibliography: R. Gottheil, in Steiyischneider Festschrift,
pp. 144 et aeq.; Steinschneider, in J. Q. R.x. .")22 ; idem, A in-
bische Literatur der Judoi, § 147.
S. S. M. Sel.
FEAR OF GOD ('''> nurW D^■!^K riNT): The He-
brew equivalent of " religion. " It is the mainspring
of religion, morality, and wisdom, and is productive
of material prosperity and well-being. Who fears
God will refrain from doing the things that would
be displeasing to Him, the things that would make
himself unworthy of God's regard. Fear of God does
not make men shrink from Him as one would from
a tyrant or a wild beast ; it draws them nearer to
Him and fills them with reverential awe. That fear
which is merely self-regarding is unworthy of a
child of God. The difference between fear of God
and fear of man is contrasted in Isa. viii. 12-13;
"Call ye not conspiracy all that this people calls
conspiracy, and that whicli they fear, fear not ye,
neither count it worthy of dread. Yhwh Sabaoth,
Him count ye holy; let Him be your fear; let Him
be your dread " (Hebr.).
Fear of God is identical with love and service.
"And now, Israel, what doth Yhwh thy God re
quire of thee but to fear Yhwh thy God, to walk
in all His ways, and to love Him, and to serve
Yhwh thy God with all thy lieart and with all thy
soul?" (f)eut. X. 12). "Thou shalt fear Yhwh thy
God and Him shalt thou serve " (Deut. vi. 13, Hebr.)
in acts of public devotion, the spontaneous outcome
of sincere reverence (Ex. xxiii. 25; Deut. x. 12, xi.
13, xiii. 4; comp. Job xv. 4).
Fear of God implies hatred of evil and wrong,
and makes for righteousness and peace. "Thou
slialt not curse the deaf, nor put a stumbling-block
before the blind, but shalt fear thy God" (Lev.
xix. 14).
When Abimelech upbraids Abraham for having
told him that Sarah was liis (Abraham's) sister,
Abraham excuses liim.self by saying: "I thought,
surely the fear of God is not in this place; and they
will slay me for my wife's sake" (Gen. xx. 11;
comp. xlii. 18). Of Job it is said that he was "per-
fect and upright, and one that feared God, and es-
chewed evil" (Job i. 1; comp. Ex. i. 17; Prov. iii.
7, viii. 13). "The fear of the Lord diiveth away
sins" (Ecclus. [Sirach] i. 21)
There exists an intimate relation between fear of
God and wisdom. The wise man knows how to
value, while the fool despises, the fear of God. Ec-
clesiastes asserts that the fear of God is the whole
duty of man (xii. 13). "The fear of the Lord is the
beginning of wisdom " (Ps. cxi. 10; Ecclus. [Sirach]
i. 18). Trust in God overcomes all fear and is a
protection in time of danger. "Fear not, Abram:
I am thy shield " (Gen. x v. 2). " Except the God of
my father Abram, He whom Isaac feared, had been
with me, surely now hadst thou sent me away
em|)ty" (Gen. xxxi. 42). "I will fear no evil: for
thou art with me" (Ps. xxiii. 4; comp. cxii. 7).
The fear of God is practical wisdom, productive
of bles.sings in life and death. Thus long life is
promised to him who fears Yhwh and keeps His
laws and statutes (Deut. vi. 2; Yoma ix. ; Ps.
cxxviii. 1-2; Ecclus. [Siracii] i. 11 et seq. ; Prov. xiv.
27). Blessings come not only to him who fears God,
but also to his posterity (Jer. xxxii. 39). Gratitude
for help and deliverance from danger leads naturally
to fear of God (Ex. xiv. 31 ; I Sam. xii. 24).
Fear of God may also be dread of God's punish
ment in consequence of sin and shame. Thus Adam
was afraid to meet God because he was naked ((Jen.
iii. 10). Job feels " the terrors of God " ; and of the
wicked it is said: "Terrors take hold on him as
waters" (Job vi. 4, xxvii. 20). At times fear is in-
flicted by God as punishment for man's disobedi-
ence (Deut. xxviii. G6; comp. Lev. xxvi. 17).
In the Talmud the conception of the fear of God
("mora shamayim ") is similar to that in Scripture.
Antigonus of Soko used to say: "Be not like
slaves that serve their master to receive a reward;
be like those that serve tlicir master without regard
to reward, and let the fear of Heaven be upon you "
(Abot 1. 3). "Everything is in the hand of Heaven,
except the fear of Heaven" (Meg. 25a; Ber 33b).
" He who has the Torali without the fear of God is
like a treasurer who has the keys to the inner treas-
ure, but not to the outer; how then can he reach
the inner?" (Shab. 31b). "He who fears God may
be likened to the wise artisan who keeps his tools
always ready for work" (Ab. R. N. xii.).
E. c A. G.
FEAR OF MAN (nnS, HQ-'N, HNT, K110) :
Respect of parents is especially enjoined by both
Scripture and Talmud (Ex. xx. 12; Deut. v. 16).
The Talmud makes reverence for parents equal
in importance to reverence for God (Kid. 30b),
for parents are God's representatives on earth
(Kid. 31a). There were special reasons for the
cultivation of reverence for parents in ancient Is-
rael. The machinery for the maintenance of pub-
lic order and for the administration of civil and
criminal justice was extremely simple. The fam-
ily was the basis of the national polity, and parents
were virtually magistrates. Resolute assertion of
355
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Fayyum
Fee
the authority of the parent was necessary to the
security of the state. " Ye shall fear every man his
mother and his father" (Lev. xix. 3). He who
smote or cursed his parent was put to death by judi-
cial authority (Ex. xxi. 15-17; comp. Prov. xx. 20).
Death was also meted out to the stubborn, rebel-
lious, or gluttonous son who would not obey the
voice of his father or mother, even though they had
chastened him (Deut. xxi. 18-21).
Respect is also enjoined for the aged, for the
learned, and for constituted authorities. " Honor the
face of the old man " (Lev. xix. 32). "The fear of
thy teacher is as the fear of Heaven " (Abotiv. 17b).
"Thou shalt not revile the judges nor curse a ruler
of thy people " (Ex. xxii. 28, Hebr.). " Pray for the
peace of the kingdom, since but for the fear thereof
we had swallowed up each his neighbor alive"
(Abot iii. 2; comp. Jer. xxix. 7). "As the big fish
swallow the little ones, so it would be among men
were it not for the fear of government " ("Ab. Zarali
iv. ; comp. Zeb. xix.).
Fear is looked upon as immanly, and is rebuked
in Scripture. Thus the faint-hearted of an army
were allowed to return home lest their presence
should have a demoralizing effect upon the other
soldiers (Deut. xx. 8; comp. Josh. ii. 11). "I will
mock when your fear cometh " (Prov. i. 26). " And
it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the
noise of the fear shall fall into the pit" (Isa. xxiv.
18). Fear is unmanly because it shows lack of con-
fidence in God (see Couk.a.ge). Thus the judges are
admonished: "Ye shall not respect persons in judg-
ment , ... ye shall not be afraid of the face of
man, for the judgment is God's" (Deut. i. 17; comp.
xvi. 19).
Fear is a natural consequence of an accusing
conscience. Thus Cain fears man because he is an
outlaw and God's curse rests upon him (Gen. iv. 12).
"The wicked flee when no man pursueth " (Prov.
xxviii. 1). "The fear of the wicked, it shall come
upon him" (//>. x. 24; comp. Job xxxix. 22).
E. c. A. G.
FEASTS. See Festiv.xi.s.
FEDER, TOBIAS GUTMANN : PoHsh poet
and grammarian, born at Przedborz about 1760;
died at Tarnopol, Galicia, 1817. He followed in
turn the professions of preacher, proof-reader, can-
tor, and teacher (1780).
Fcder was an ardent admirer of Elijah V/ilna, and,
like him, a bitter opponent of Hasidism and mysti-
cism. As a grammarian he was looked upon by J.
S. Biek as the successor of Ben Ze'eb ("Iverem
Hemed," i. 96). As a writer of polemics his satire
was keen and biting ; his humor was original ; and his
imitation of the language of the Zohar was excellent.
Feder wrote the following works: "Bayit Ne'e-
man," an ethical treatise on truth, Berlin, 1794
(Fiirst, "Bibl. Jud." i. 349, mentions also a Hebrew
grammar by Feder bearing this title, but he seems
to be incorrect in this); " Kol Xehi," elegv on the
death of Elijaii Wilna, AVarsaw, 1798;
His "Works. " Lahat ha-Hereb," attack on modern
Biblical criticism directed against A.
Wolfsohn and J. Satanov, Byelostok. 1804; "Me-
basscr Tob," introduction to Hebrew grammar, with
a criticism of the Masorah commentary "Menorat
Shelomoh," by Rabbi Phoebus of Dubrovno. Mohi-
lev, 1804; "Kol Simhah we-Sason," a song of triumph
written for the Jewish community of Berdychev
on the defeat of tiie French in Ru.ssia, Berdychev,
1814; "Hazlahat Alexander," an ode to Alexander
I. of Russia, after the departure of the French from
Russian territory, ib. 1814; "Kol Mehazezim," a
satire against M. Levin (Satanov), who tran.slated
the Book of Proverbs into JucUeo-German, ib. 1816;
2ded., with introduction and biography b}' A. M.
Mohr, Lemberg, 1853; "Zemir 'Arizim," a satirical
polemic against the Hasidimand their miracle-work-
ing rabbis; "Shem u-She'erit," literary epistles and
poems, edited by Abraham Gottlober, Lemberg,
1877; "Zohar Hadash lePiirim," humorous parody
for Purim in the language of the Zohar, in " Ozar
ha-Sifrut," iii. 1-15.
Bibliography : .A. finttlober, introduction to Shem u-She'erit ;
Motir, introduction UtKul Mehazezim, Lemberg, 1853; Gratz,
(rcsch. xi. .54K, note ji., 2; Furst.'BiW. Jud. i. 277,278,349;
Zeitlin, Bilil. PuM-Motdelx. pp. 81-82.
H. H. A. R.
FEDERATION OF AMERICAN ZION-
ISTS : Zionist association organized in 1897 under
the name of "Federation of Zionist Societies of
Greater New York and Vicinity." It graduallj- ex-
panded by absorbing societies outside New York,
and on July 4, 1898, a convention was held in New
York, the result of which was the founding of a
national organization luider the name of "Federa-
tion of American Zionists," incorporated by the New
York state legislature (1902, ch. 102). Tlie number
of societies originally enrolled in the federation was
twenty-four, comprising, approximately, a member-
ship of 1,000. At the convention held in Boston,
May, 1901, the .secretary's report showed 152 en-
rolled societies, with a membership of 8,000.
The federation, from its New York headqtiarters,
publishes a monthly magazine under the name of
"The Maccabean." found'ed Oct., 1902. It has pub-
lished also the following pamphlets: Richard Gott-
heil, "The Aims of Zionism"; Herbert Bentwich,
"The Progress of Zionism"; Rebecca Aitman,
"George Eliot as a Zionist"; Emma Lazarus, "An
Epistle to the Hebrews"; A. Tannenbaum, "Juda-
ism and Zionism." Prof. Richard Gottheil has held
the office of president since the organization of the
federation, and the successive secretaries have been
Stephen S. Wise, Isidore D. Morrison, and Jacob de
Haas. It has a subfedcration for the Western States
under the name of Knights of Zion, with head-
quarters at Chicago.
A. I. I). M.
FEE : A payment for service done or to be done,
usually for professional or special services, the
amount being usually fixed by law or custom. The
duties discharged by the Levites in connection with
the service of the Tabernacle and, afterward, of the
Temple were compen.sated by the tithes of Israel.
The priests in their turn received a tithe of the income
of the Levites, as well as a number of gratuities
known under the name of " the twenty-four gifts of
the priesthood " (Tosef., Hallah, ii. ; " Aruch Comple-
tum," K.v. "It^y). Samuel took naught of anj- man's
hand (I Sam. xii. 4). Elisha refused to accept any-
Fee
Feinstein
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
356
thing from Naaman, the Syrian captain, for curing
his leprosy, and cursed Gehazi for taking a gift
(II Kings V. 16-27). Yet Elislia did not object to the
furnished chamber prepared by the Shunammite;
from which tlie Talmud deduces that one may ac-
cept a gratuity, although the prophet Samuel taught
otherwise by carrying his household with him
whenever he traveled (Ber. 10b) so as not to be de-
pendent on others.
The learned professions were not stnctly delined
in Talmudic times, and the Rabbis treated the laws
pertaining to them under the laws of master and
servant. While a learned man need not reject a favor
or benefit, he must not demand payment for teaching
the Law\ Moses said : " Beliold I have taught you
statutes and judgments even as the Lord my God
commanded me " (Dent. iv. 5). All must follow the
example of God and of Moses and
Teachers, teach without reward. However, a
primary -school teacher may charge
for taking care of children, or for instruction in
the accents and the division of verses (B. B. 37a).
Maimonides allows the customary price for teaching
the Scriptures, but not for the common law(" Yad,"
Talmud Torah, i. 7; compare Shulhan 'Aruk, Yoreh
De'ah, 246). Nevertheless, the student must hire
A teacher, even if he can not obtain free tuition, as
the Proverbs say : "Buy the truth and sell it not"
(xxiii. 23). R. Zadok said : " Make not the Law thy
hoe . . . for whoever derives a benefit of the Law
loses his life in the world to come " (Abot iv.). R.
Tarphon, accused of theft and in danger of being
thrown into the river, saved himself by revealing
his identity; an act which he regretted all his life as
an unworthy use of the respect paid to him only as
a scholar. Jonathan b. Amram, a disciple of Rabbi
Judah, would not make himself known in order to
share in J udah's distribution of food to scholars at
a time of famine, but begged to be fed like a dog or
a crow (B. B. 8a). In Temple times teachers were ap-
pointed to instruct the priests in the details of the
service, and they received a stipulated sum from the
Temple treasury (Ket. 106a).
The physician, although frequently looked upon
as a communal official (see Health Laws), seems
not to have received any fixed salary,
Phy- but to have maintained himself by
sicians. casual fees. The fee incidental to an
illness caused by an assault was col-
lected from the assailant, who was also obliged to
make a further payment in compensation (see Dam-
age; Tout). The fee in this case, as in the case of
hired service, if not determined previouslj', was regu-
lated by legal custom (see Hiring and Letting).
Attorneys at law were unknown to Jewish juris-
prudence, and those who assumed their functions
were regarded with suspicion by the Rabbis (see
Abot i. 8; comp. Shab. 139a). The attorney who
was authorizei5 to represent his principal for tlie
pin-pose of receiving property from a bailee or trustee
was regarded as an agent, and tlie principal was
obliged to pay all his expenses (B. K. 70a). There
was no provision for his fee, which was probably
regulated by the general customs of hiring and let-
ling (see Attorney; Master and Servant).
The scribes of the court of justice or of the Tern
pie received an annual salary (Ket. 106a; comp.
Shab. 56a). There were, however, private notaries
who drew up deeds of .sale, bills of marriage or
divorce, promissory notes, and other
Notaries, legal documents. They received a
special fee for each service rendered.
The general principle was that the party to whose
advantage the transaction was presumably made
should pay the scribe's fee. Thus the borrower
paid the fee for the preparation of a promissory
note, the buyer for the deed of sale, the hirer or
tenant for the lease, and the bridegroom for the
engagement or marriage contract. The fee for doc-
uments prepared in connection with the litigation of
a case that came up in court was divided equally
between the litigants (B. B. 167b; Maimonides,
"Yad,"Malweh, xxiv. 2).
The judge was forbidden to take an}- fee for ren-
dering judgment; the decisions of a judge who ac-
cepted a payment should be considered void (Bek.
29a). The rendering of judgment was regarded by
the Rabbis as teaching the Law, for
Judges. which no payment might be accepted.
But a judge was permitted to demand
payment for loss of time, which payment was shared
equally by plaintiff and defendant. Thus Kama, a
justice of Babylonia, accepted a zuz from both the
complainant and the defendant, explaining that he
merely took his usual fee as a connoisseur of wine.
Another justice, R. Huna, when the litigants ap-
peared before him, said: "Pay me for the hire of a
man to irrigate the field in my place, and I will
sit in judgment" (Ket. lOoa). Those judges who
were appointed by the community and liad no other
occupation might take a salary from the communal
treasury (see "Yad," Sanhedrin, xxiii. 5; Hoshen
Mishpat, 9, 3). In Temple times the magistrates of
Jerusalem (niTTJ ^J^^T), whose duty it was to guard
the public safety, received an annual salary from
the Temple treasury (" terumat-ha-lishkah": Ket.
105a). There is no mention made of the salaries
which the members of the Sanhedrin, or the city or
government officials, received.
Later, when communities chose permanent minis-
ters, whose duty it was not only to decide questions
of ritual, but to render judgment in civil cases, it
became customary for both parties to pay a fee to
the minister for the decision rendered. In spite of
the opposition of many authorities to this custom, it
remained in force and is still practised. In the
Orient, however, and particularly in Jerusalem, the
custom still prevails not to charge the litigants any-
thing. Some pious and learned men would not de-
rive benefit from the Law by accepting a i)aying
rabbinical position. Isaiah Ilurwitz of Safed, in
his "zawwa'ah" (ethical will), admonished his sons
not to accept remuneration for any rabbinical posi-
tion beyond the amount necessary to maintain the
yeshibah ("Shelah," p. 183b, ed. Amsterdam, 1698).
On the other hand, the acceptance of fees is de-
fended by Simeon b. Zemah Duran ("Tashbaz," i.
142-148), by the Shulhan 'Aruk (Hoshen Mishpat.
9, 5), and by the glossarists, especially in a responsum
of Alfandari. The continuance of the custom, in
spite of much objection, is probably due to the fact
that the rabbis of those days received meager sala-
357
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Fee
Feinstein
ries, the fees being necessary to their maintenance.
The fee was not regulated by law or custom, but
was left entirely to the good will of the parties in-
terested (Hoshen Mishpat, 9, 5; Pithc
Ministers. Teshubah, ad loc. ; Hatam Sofer, Ho-
shen Mishpat, 164; Shebut Ya'akob,
i. 142). Fees were also given, notwithstanding the
opposition of many authorities, for the performance
of a marriage ceremony, the arrangement of a di-
vorce or a halizah, or for the performance of other
religious functions. The fees charged for a divorce
by the rabbis of Germany were sometimes very e.\-
orbitant (Obadiah de Bertinoro on Bek. iv. 6).
Bibliography: Blorh, Bcr Vertrag, Budapest, 1893; idem.
Das PoUtzeirecht, ib. 1879 ; Amram, Jewish Law of Divorce,
Philadelphia, 1896 ; Fnrbstein, Das Recht der Unfreien U7id
Prcien A.rbeiter, Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1896.
R. s. J. H. G.— J. D. E.
FEET, WASHING OF. — Biblical Data :
Since the Israelites, like all other Oriental peoples,
wore sandals instead of shoes, and as they usually
went barefoot in the house, frequent washing of the
feet was a necessity. Hence among the Israelites
it was the first duty of tlie host to give his guest
water for the washing of his feet (Gen. xvlii. 4, xix.
3, xxiv. 32, xliii. 24; Judges xix. 21); to omit this
was a sign of marked unfriendliness. It was also
customary to wash the feet before meals and before
going to bed (comp.Cant. v. 3); to abstain for a
long time from washing them was a sign of deep
mourning (II Sam. xix. 24). Though there are no
extant laws for laymen in regard to washing the feet,
such laws for priests are given in Ex. xxx. 19-21.
There mention is made of brazen vessels, placed
between the Tabernacle and the altar of burnt offer-
ing, in which the priests had to wash their hands and
feet on entering the Tabernacle or before approach-
ing the altar of burnt offerings: hence at all their
priestly functions. Just as no one is allowed to
approach a king or prince without due preparation,
which includes the washing of the hands and feet,
so the Israelite, and especially the priest, is forbid-
den in his unclean condition to approach Yiiwii, for
he who comes defiled will surely die.
E. G. n. W. N.
In Rabbinical Literature : This was a serv-
ice which tlie wife was expected to render her hus-
band (Yer. Ket. v. 30a); according to Rab Huna,
it was one of the personal attentions to which her
husband was entitled, no matter how many maids
she may have had ; likewise, according to the Baby-
lonian Talmud (Ket. Gla), besides preparing his
drink and bed, the wife had to wash her husband's
face and feet (comp. Maimonides, "Yad," Ishut,
xxi. 8; Shulhaa 'Aruk, Eben ha-'Ezer, 80, 4). The
priests were not permitted to minister unless they
had performed their ablutions, among which the
washing of the feet is especially mentioned (Zeb.
17b). According to Tosef., Men. i., the priests were
accustomed to rub and wash their hands and feet
in the basin twice, to insure the proper degree of
cleanliness.
On Sabbath and on Yom ha-Kippurim, as well as
on Tish'ah be-Ab, certain restrictions were placed on
washing of hands, face, and feet. Yet one who on
Tish'ah be-Ab came from a journey was permitted
to wash his feet (see Lampronti, "Pahad Yizhak,"
s.v. nvm).
s. s. E. G. H.
FEILBOGEN, JOSEPH: Austrian rabbi;
born 1784; died at Stiassnitz, Moravia, March 3,
1869. He officiated as rabbi successively at Piess-
ling, Pirnitz, Kanitz, Great Meseritz and HoUe-
schau. He was considered one of the keenest Tal-
mudists of Moravia, was a great pilpulist, and wrote
many novellae on various Talmudic treatises. While
at Great Meseritz he was the teacher of Isaac Hirsch
Weiss, the author of " Dor Dor we-Dorshaw. "
BIBLIOGRAPHY : U7iiv. Isr. 1869-70. p. 464 ; Der IsracUt, 1869;
I. H. Weiss, Zikronolhai, p. 17.
s. A. R.
FEILCHENFELD, GABRIEL FABIAN :
German rabbi and author; born at Schlichtings-
heim, Silesia, June 18, 1827. He received his first
training in rabbinical literature in Rawitsch, the
home of his father, and continued his studies in
Dresden under his brother-in-law, W. Landau, and
under Zacharias Fraukel. He subsequently studied
at the universities of Berlin and Halle, from which
latter institution he received the degree of doctor of
philosophy in 1857. A year previously he had been
appointed to the teaching staff of the "Religions-
schule" (Sabbath-school) in Berlin. He filled tlie
same office in Dresden from 1857 to 1858. In 1859
he was called as rabbi to Kulm, West Prussia ; this
position he held until 1876, when he was called to
Schwerin, where he still occupies the position of
" Landesrabbiner " of the grand duchy of Mecklen-
burg-Schwerin. He is principal of a seminary for
Sabbath school teachers. Feilchenfeld is the author
of the following works: " Anleitung zum Religions-
unterricht," 1881; "Ein Systematisches Lehrbuch
der Israelitischen Religion," 3ded., 1900 (translated
into English by Koppolowitz, Richmond, Va., 1894).
s. 1^
FEINBERG, SOLOMON: Russian financier
and philanthropist; born at Yurburg, near Kovno,
in 1821 ; died at Kouigsberg, Prussia, May 21, 1893.
He settled at Konigsberg in 1866. At the out-
break of the persecutions of the Jews in Russia in
the year 1881, Feinberg organized a committee of
relief for the Jewish emigrants passing through
Konigsberg, and took a leading part in the confer-
ence of the Alliance Israelite Universelle held in
Berlin in that year. A year later Feinberg was
elected by the Litliuanian Jews to represent them
at the conference of Jewish notables summoned by
Alexander III. at St. Petersburg.
Bibliography : Ahia.saf, 1893, p. 301.
H. R. I- Br.
FEINSTEIN, ARYEH LOB: Russian
scliolar; born at Damachcv, nearBrest-Litovsk, Dec.
6, 1821 ; died there Jan. 20, 1903. Feinstein studied
the Talmud for many years, and afterward accepted
the position of foreman with a firm at Brest. In liis
commercial traNsactions with Christian merchants
Feinstein acquired a knowledge of languages, and
he also studied llic secular sciences. Later he es-
tablished a business of his own and succeeded in
amassing a large fortune.
Feinstein has always taken a great interest in the
Feis
Felix
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
358
affairs of the Jewish community ; and has been for
many years its parnas.
He is the author of tlie following works: "Elef
ha-Magen," a commentary on the Haggadah of
Passover, Warsaw, 1870; "'Ir Tehillah," a history
of the Jewish community of Brest-Litovsk (in col-
laboration with Abraham Marcus Finkelstein), ib.
1886. The latter work, although not always reliable
because of its neglect of critical investigation into
the material at hand, contains some valuable contri-
butions to the history of the Lithuanian Jews in
general and of those of Brest-Litovsk in particular.
Bibliography : F.isenstadt. Dor Rahhanaw we-Soferaw. pJA,
Warsaw, 180.5 ; Zeitlin, BihJ. PoM-Mendelx. p. 83.
H. II. I- B>'-
FEIS, JACOB : German merchant and author ;
died on July 7, 1900, in London, where he had re-
sided for many years. He devoted his literary at-
tainments chiefly to rendering some of the English
classics into German, including Tennyson's " In Me-
moriam" and "(Enone," and various e.xcerpts from
the works of Ruskin. In 1884 he published in Eng-
lish " Shakespeare and Montaigne : An Endeavor to
Explain the Tendency of ' Hamlet ' from Allusions
to Contemporary Works." It was designed to prove
that the innovations in the later editions of "Ham-
let " were directed against the principles of the then
novel philosophical work, "The Essays of Michel
Montaigne."
Bibliography : Jeiv. Chron. Dec. 9,
J.
; July 13, 1900.
G. L.
FEISTEL, LEVY: French army officer; born
1789; died 1855. After receiving a Talmudic train-
ing, he went to Mayence in 1806, and was admitted
into the polytechnic school. He entered the army.
and became a captain of artillery in 1813, and a
major in 1835. He was in the retreat of 1848, and
took part in the Crimean campaign, after which he
retired with his family to Metz.
Bibliography: Arch. 7s?-. 1855, p. 445.
s. A. R.
FEIWEL (PHOEBUS), URI SHRAGA B.
SOLOMON : Rabbi of Dubrovno, government of
Mohilev, Russia, at the end of the eighteenth cen-
tury and at the beginning of the nineteenth; mar-
ried a daughter of Elijah Wilna. He is known
only as the author of "Miuhat Shelomoh," notes on
the Pentateuch (to supplement the omissions of R.
Jedidiah Solomon Raphael Norzi in his "Miuhat
Shai "), and of "' Menorat Shelomoh," on the Masorah.
Both works appeared together with "Adderet Eli
yahu," Elijah Wilna's commentary on tiie Penta-
teuch (Dubrovno, 1804).
Bibliography: Zedner, Cat. Hihr. Bnahs Brit. Mux. p. 11~;
Ben.lacot), Oznr hn-Sefnrim,Xi\iAtV^-f>\Q\ Walden, SVu i/i /ki-
(iediiUm lie-Hadashy part i. p. 114, part li. p. 47, Warsaw, lw;>.
s. s. ■ p. Wi.
FEKETE, JOSEPH : Hungarian journalist ;
l)orn in Kecskemet Nov. 19, 1854; studied law at
Berlin and Leipsic. At the latter city he founded
the critical review "Deutsche Rcichslaterne." In
1884 he went to Budapest, whore, together with
Josef Hevesi, he edited the "Magyar Szalon," a
monthly, of which he later (1891) became sole edi-
tor. He published the following works: "A/ Es-
klidtszeki Intezmenyrol " (1884); "A Magyar Nem-
zet Gazdasagi Tortenetc " (1887); "Magyar Festok
Miitermeiben " (1894) ; etc. Fekete is a convert to
Christianity.
BIBLIOGRAPHY : Szinnyel, Magyar Iruk Tura ; Pallas Lex.
s. M. W.
FELBERMAN, LOTJIS : Author and journal-
ist; born in Hungary in 1861. In 1881 he went to
England, and subsequently joined the staff of the
society journal "Life" (then owned by his brother),
of which he himself is now (1903) proprietor and
editor. Felberman is a knight of the Austrian Im-
perial Order of Franz Josef, and a fellow of the Hun-
garian Geographical Society, etc. He is also chair-
man of the Franz Josef Shelter Fund of London, and
the founder of the Society for the Encouragement
of Home Industries. He was a member of the Royal
Hungarian Commission for the Paris Exposition,
1900. His publications include : " Hungary and Its
People " ; " The Puszta " ; " Ancestors of Our Future
Queen " (a family history of the Duke of Teck) ; and
" Gipsy Czinka's Prophecy." Felberman has trans-
lated several of Jokai's romances.
Bibliography: Jacobs, Jeirte/i Year Book, 1899-1900.
J. T. Se.
FELD, JULIUS: Rumanian artist; born at
Botuschany, Rumania, June 21, 1871. At an early
age he went to France and studied at the Ecole des
Beaux Arts under Delaunay, Bonnat, and Gerome.
He quickly made his mark as a portrait-painter,
and has painted portraits, among many others, of
Zadoc Kahn and Prince Kalimaki. Feld has also
established a reputation as a decorator. For the
Paris Exposition of 1900 he painted four panels
for the Palais de la Feinme: "Le Champagne,"
"LaBiere," "Le Chocolat," and "La Liqueur."
Among Fold's pictures are "La Morte de Cleo-
patre," "La Reuonciation de Saint Pierre," and
" Rebecca Donnant a Boire a Eliezer."
Bibliography: Curinier, Dictionnaire National.
^ V. E.
FELD (ROSENFELD), SIGMUND : Hun-
garian actor and theatrical manager; born at Spacza,
Hungary, 1849. In 1867 he appeared at the Josef-
stfidtor Theater in Vienna. He studied in various
German theaters on an allowance given him by
lloinrich Laubo, who in 1872 engaged him for the
Vienna Stadttheator. In 1874 Feld wont to the
Deutsches Theater at Budapest, where he soon be-
came a favorite in character roles. In 1876 he was
made director of the summer theater in the Stadt-
waldchen, producing plays in German and in Hun-
garian. His principal creation is the part of the
pastor in Anzengruber's "Dor Pfarror von Kirch
fold. " The Hungarian poet E. Madach, and E.
Toth, the foremost Hungarian writer of national
comedies, were introduced by Fold to the German
stage.
Bini.iociRAPHY : Pa?/as Lf.r., vii.
t; M. W.
FELDKIRCH. Sec TvKOi,.
FELDMAN, WILHELM : Polish author;
born at Warsaw 1868. Since 1SK6 he has published
the following works, in which ho advocates the
359
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Feis
Felix
assimilation of the Jews with tlie people among
whom they dwell: " Assimilatarz^-, Sjonisci i Po-
laci " : " O Zargonie Zydowskim " ; *' Stasunek Mic-
kiewicza do Zydow"; "Kosciuszko "; and "Berek
Joselowicz." He acted as secretary of the Baron de
Hirsch Fund at Cracow (1891-94), devoted himself
to public affairs, and took part in forming the Gali-
cian Radical Progressive party. He was one of the
founders of "Ognisko," a journal for (he progressive
Polish youth. In 1895 he attended the lectures on
social science and philosophy at the University of
Berlin, but at the end of that year, being ac-
cused of propagating the scheme of "Great Poland,"
he was compelled to leave Berlin. He then went
to Cracow, where he founded the "Dziennik Kra-
kowski," a democratic newspaper for freethinkers,
which existed only a year and a half. He then set-
tled in Lemberg as a journalist.
Feldman has written a drama, " Sady Boze," whicli
was first played and printed at Warsaw in 1890, and
the following novels: "Pienkna Zidowka"; "Zid-
ziak,"1888; "Nowele i Obrazki," 1889; "W Oko-
wach,"1890; " Jak w Zycin," 1894; "Nowi Ludzie,"
1894; "Ananke," 1897.
Bibliography : Encyc. Pownzvchna, Warsaw, v., s.v.
II. n. V. R.
FELDMANN, LEOPOLD: German dramatist ;
born at Munich May 22, 1802; died in Vienna
March 26, 1882. He was one of the most prolific
farce- and comedy-writers in Germany, and his plays
have proved their worth by their long-continued
popularity.
Feldmann, whose early inclinations were toward
poetry, was apprenticed when a boy to a saddler,
but his strength proving insufficient for the work,
he was indentured to a shoemaker, and soon made
progress in his trade. His shoemaking career was
ended abruptly by an ill-appreciated effort at poetry,
addressed by him to a maiden of the vicinity, and
glued to the sole of one of her shoes, Avhich had
been repaired by the future dramatist. Despairing
of making a respectable cobbler of the boy, his
parents sent him to school again, where, at the age
of sixteen, he composed a tragedy, " Der Falsche
Eid," which was produced at tlie Volkstheater,
Munich.
He next engaged in business at Pappenheim, where
he remained until 1821, when he returned to ^lunich
and abandoned commerce for literature. Soon after-
ward he made the acquaintance of Safir, on whose
advice he gave free vent to his humorous inclinations.
In 1835 he published his "Hollenlieder," a satire on
a luckless love. After traveling through Greece and
Turkey for five years, Feldmann returned to Munich
and resumed his literary lal)ors. In 1850 he went to
Vienna, and was appointed dramatist of the Theater
an der Wien, a post which lie held for four years
and then resigned
Feldmann's best-known plaj's are: "Der Sohn
auf Reiscn " (comedy) ; " Reisebilder " ; " Das Portrilt
der Geliebtcn " ; " Die Freie Wahl " ; " Die Seelige
Griifin '" ; " Der Rechnungsrath und Seine Tochter " :
"Eiu Filz als Pras.ser": "Ein Hofli-lier Mann";
"Der Deutsche Michel"; "Die HeiniKehr' von der
Hochzeir "; and "Die Schwiegertochter."
Bibliography: Bornrauller, SchrifMeller-Lexiknn, 1882, p.
224 ; Der Jildische Plutarch, li. 43-52.
8.
E. Ms.
FELEKI, HUGO : Hungarian physician ; born
at Lovasbereny March 23, 1861 ; studied medicine
at the University of Budapest, where he became
privat-docent of urogenital diseases in 1889. The
instruments invented by him and bearing his name
are generally recognized by specialists. His work
on urogenital diseases appeared in 1890, in two
volumes (German transl. in 1894), under the title
"Die Klinik der Blasenkrankheiten." Feleki is on
the editorial board of the " Centralblatt fiir die
Krankheiten der Harn- und Sexualorgane " of Berlin,
and is vice-president of the dermatological section of
the Royal Society of Physicians of Budapest, and one
of the superintending physicians of the Polyclinic of
that city. He Avas instrumental in founding the
Teleia society of Budapest, the purpose of which
is, by literary and social institutions, as well as by
gratuitous medical services, to check prostitution,
and the spread of the diseases incidental to it.
s. L. V.
FELIX (ANTONITJS FELIX): Procurator
of Judea. Felix, who was a freedman of the em-
press Antonia, was administrator of Samaria, and
probably of Judea proper also, as early as the time
of the procurator Cumanus (Tacitus, " Annales," xii.
54; Josephus, "Ant." xx. 7, § 1). The two proc-
urators almost went to war with each other during
the conflict that broke out between the Samari-
tans and the Galileans; but Cumanus was recalled.
Felix was thereupon appointed sole procurator
of Judea by Claudius (52 c.e.) on the suggestion
of the high priest Jonathan, who had gone to
Rome with other nobles on account of the Samar-
itan disturbances (Josephus, "B. J." ii. 11, § 6;
"Ant." XX. 8, § 5). Felix was also entrusted with
the entire military command, as Suetonius ("Clau-
dius," ^ 28) and Victor ("Epit." § 4) distinctly
point out. Felix exercised, as Tacitus says, "the
royal prerogative in a slavish sense, with all manner
of cruelties and excesses"; it was he who excited
the bitter feelings of the Jewish patriots to the
highest pitch, and for this even his patron Jona-
than reproached him in the end.
Related to Claudius by a former marriage, Felix,
immediately on entering office, alienated the affec-
tions of the Jewish princess Drusilla, sister of
Agrippa II., from her husband. King Azizus of
Emcsa (Josephus, "Ant." xx. 7, § 2; comp. Acts
xxiv. 24). He sent the chief of the Zealots, Elea-
z.\u B. DiNAi, in chains to Rome, while taking re-
lentless measures against his followers, whom he
denounced as robbers, crucifying them in countless
numbers ("B. J." ii. 3, § 2; "Ant." xx. 8, ^ 5). On
the other hand, he tolerated the much more formi-
dable Sicarii, and used them for his own purposes,
as, for instance, in the murder of Jonathan {ib.). He
also proceeded rigorously against the would be
prophets that were disturbing the peace with their
fanaticism, especially against an Egyptian Jew
who, with several thousand followers, attempted to
drive the Roman garrison from Jerusalem, but who
was defeated ("B. J." ii. 13, i5§ 4-5; "Ant." xx.
8, 5; 6; comp. Acts xxi. 38; Eusebius. "Hist. Eccl."
P61ix
Felsenthal
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
360
ii. 21). His term of office was practically a reign of
anarch}'; for even the high-prieslly families were
at war Avith the lower j)riests ("Ant." xx. 8, >^ 8;
"Vita," §3).
During his term, the apostle Paul was taken pris-
oner at Cirsarea (Acts xxiii.-xxiv.). A tierce con-
test arose at that time between the Jewish and Syrian
citizens of C;e.sarea, and as Felix acted unjustly
toward tlie Jews, he was recalled by Nero ahout 60
c.E. ("Ant." XX. 8, g§ 7-9; "B. J.""ii. 12, S, 7). At
the intercession of Pallas lie escaped punishment
("Ant." f.r.). He is mentioned in rabbinical sources
(Krauss, "Lehnworter," ii. 459).
BiBLlOGRAPiiv : firiitz. Gcsch. 4th ed., iii. 43.'), 439; Schuivr,
Geacli. 'M I'd., i. r)71-.'>79 (where l)il)lioKraphy is given); Pro.sn-
pographia Imperii Ri»na)ti, ii. 95.
G. S. Kit.
FELIX, ELISA-RACHEL (better known as
RACHEL) : French actress; born in the Soleil d"Or,
the principal inn of the village of Munf, in the can-
Elisa-Rachel Felix.
(After the p.iiiitiiig by Ciiarpentier.)
ton Aargau, Switzerland, ]\Iareh 24, 1821 ; died at
Cannct, near Toulon, France, Jan. 3, 1858. Her
father was of German extraction, and lived by ped-
ling at Lyons, and afterward at Paris. In the lat-
ter city liis daughters sang on the streets for a living,
and it was there that Rachel was overheard by
Etienne Choron, who gave her free instruction, and
afterward took lier to Pagnon Saint Aulaire, a
dramatic teacher, who taught lier declamation.
Rachel obtained an engagement at the Comedie
Fran<;aise at a salary of 800 francs, but for sonieun-
ex]ilained reason the contract was cancelled, and the
actress went back to her studies, this time at the
Conservatoire. Her debut took place at the Gym-
nase (1837), where she appeared in Paul Dupont's
" La Vendeenne " ; but, achieving only moderate suc-
cess, she continued her studies for another year, at
the end of which she joined the company playing
at the Comedie Frau^'aise, taking the part of Camille
in "Lcs Horaces" (June, 1838). Here Rachel
created an extraordinary sensation. She acted in
"Cinna," " Andromacjue," and " Mithridate," taking
the i^art of Moninie in the last-named plaj'.
Rachel made Racine and Corneille's works pay
better than modern plays, and saved the Comedie
Frangaise from financial ruin. But her father now
put forward enormous claims upon the managers,
demanding what was then the unparalleled sum of
20,000 francs a year. This aroused the ill will of
several critics and of others connected with the
Comedie Fran9aise. When on Nov. 23, 1838, she
appeared as Roxane in Racine's "Bajazet," a clique
was formed against her, and she was coldly re-
ceived; but on the following night Rachel received
an overwhelming ovation. Thenceforth she was
indisputably the greatest actress of her day.
In 1841 Rachel went to London, and was received
with great enthusiasm. In the following year she
ap])eared in Belgium. Returning to Paris (Jan. 24,
1843), she appeared in the character of F/iedre, her
greatest success, and continued in the part for two
entire years. She also appeared as Jeanne d' Arc,
Fredegoade, Lucrke, MUe. de Belle Isle, Aiirjelo, and
Louise de Lignerolles. But her greatest popular tri-
umph was in 1848, during the Revolution, when she
sang the "Marseillaise" nightly at tlie Comedie
Fran9aise, then rechristcned " Theatre de la Repub-
liquc." Niglit after night the theater was crowded,
and each night the workmen in the audience sub-
scribed for her bouquets. Rachel always considered
this a far greater triumph than her success in
Phcdre; but by common consent Phedre was con-
sidered lier masterpiece, and has been described as
"an apocalypse of luiinan agony not to be forgotten
by any one who ever witnessed it."
In the following year (April 14) Rachel appeared
in the title role of "Adrienne Lecouvreur," a play
written especially for her by Legouve and Scribe,
and one in which she had immense success. Later
in the year she left the Comedie Fran(;ai.se to make
a tour of the French provinces. In 1853 she went
to Berlin and St. Petersburg, where she was en-
thusiastically received. In 1855 she went to Lon-
don again, and thence to America. On Sept. 3, 1855,
she appeared at the Metropolitan Theater, New
York. But though she was warmly welcomed,
the trip proved tinancially unsuccessful. While
acting in Philadelphia lier health, which had for
some time been precarious, gave way. She was
ordered South, acted for the last time at Charleston,
went thence to Cuba, and finally returned to France.
A trip to Egypt failed to cure her. She returned
home, and after lingering for three years, during
which time she was never able to appear, she died,
in her tliirty-seventh year.
Rachel's reputation was made in five or six roles
of the ()1<1 classic drama. Thirteen were specially
361
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Felix
Felsenthal
created for her, but of tliesc Adrieiine Lecouweur
has alone kept the stage.
Bibliography: Janin, Rachel et la Trayedie, Paris, 1858;
Mrs. Arthur Kennard, Rachel, Boston, 1885; Harper's Maga-
zine, Nov., 1855.
6. E. Ms.
FELIX, LTJDWIG: Austrian economist; born
at Horitz, Bohemia, Feb. 22, 1830. He attencied
lectures on commerce in Vienna, and devoted liini-
self to liistorical and economical studies. He wrote:
"DieArbeiter und die Gcsellschaft " (1874); "Ent-
wicklungsgeschichtedesEigenthums" (6 vols., 1883-
1903); " Wahrungsstudienniit Besonderer lUicksicht
auf Oesterreich-Ungarn " (1890); "Kritik des Sozia-
lismus"(1893).
s. A. Ki.
FELIX PRATENSIS : Jewish apostate ; born
at Prato, Italy, in the second half of the fifteenth
century ; died at Rome in 1539. He recteived a good
education and acquired a perfect knowledge of three
languages. In 1518 he embraced Christianity, be-
coming a member of the Augustine order, and there-
after devoted himself to the conversion of the Jews.
Like all his congeners, he displayed in his sermons
great intolerance of his former coreligionists, earn-
ing for himself the sobriquet " the Jews' scourge."
While still a Jew, Felix published a Latin trans-
lation of the Psalms, entitled "P.salterium ex He-
brsKO ad Verbum Translatum," Venice. 1515. He
also arranged the Masorah for the "Biblia Veneta"
(1518), published by his disciple Bomberg.
Bibliography : Wolf. Bihl. Hehr. i. 918, iii. 93o ; Steinschnei-
der. Cat. Bodl. col. ^111; Vogelstein and Rleger, Gcxch. dcr
Juden in Rom, ii. 37.
K. I. Br.
FELIX, REBECCA: French actress; born at
Lyons 1829; died at Eaux-Bonnes June 19, 1854.
She gave early evidence of talent, was trained by
her sister Rachel, and made her first appearance at
the age of fourteen, at the Odeou, in the role of
Chimeiie in "The Cid." Some time later she ioined
the Comedie Francaise, where she attracted attention
as Iphise in Voltaire's "Oreste," and as Junie in
"Britannicus." In 1850 she played Catarina to
Rachel's Tisbe in "Angelo." Then she played suc-
cessively Cecile de Cii'vy in "Louise de Lignerolles,"
Christine in "Bertrand et Raton," Dona Florinde in
"Don Juan," the title role in "Gabrielle," and the
Dauphin in "Louis XI." Her health, however, did
not permit her to continue these successes.
Bibliography: Jules Janin, in Journal des Debate, June,
1854.
s. M. Bl.
FELIX, SOPHIE (known as SARA) : French
actress; oldest of the sisters of Elisa-Rachel Felix
(Rachel); born in a small village near Frankfort-
on-the-Main Feb. 2, 1819; died Jan. 12, 1877. She
began as a singer in the cafes of Lyons and
Paris, later entering the Conservatoire to study for
the opera. Failing at the final examination, she
gave up this project, and resolved to attempt trag-
edy and comedy. After several attempts at tlie
Gaite and the Ambigu, she eiitcied the Odeon, but,
following her sister's wishes, she soon after entered
the Comedie Fianeaise, where she made her appear-
ance as Celimvnc in the " ^Misanthrope " (1849). Her
admission there had been premature, however, and
she returned to the Odeon. Here she played in
different pieces, finally achieving, in the role of Ca-
roline de Lusnan in Premaray's " Les Droits de
I'Homme," a success that enabled her to return to
the Comedie Franyaise. She appeared there (Oct.
29, 18.52) as Elmirc in "Tartuffe," and as the Mar-
quise in " La Gageure Imprevue " ; she took up again
the role of Caroline de Liissan, and created that of
the Dnchesse de Lcnoncourt in "Lys dans la Vallee."
Sophie, however, was much less gifted than her
sisters, and much less suited to the dramatic career.
After another season at the Odeon, and a journej' to
America in the company of Rachel, she abandoned
the stage. She was present at the last moments of
her famous sister, and wrote a last appeal to the
chief rabbi of France, Isidor, telling him of Rachel's
desire to die in the faith of her fathers, and to re-
ceive a minister of the Jewish religion.
8. M. Bl.
FELSENTHAL, BERNHARD : German-
American rabbi and author; born Jan. 2, 1822, at
Miinchweiler, near Kaiserslautern, Germany. He
was educated at the
Kreisgewerbschule
in Kaiser.slautern, the
Polytechnic High
School, Munich, and
the Teachers' Semi-
nary at Kaiserslau-
tern. After teaching
for a decade in a small
Jewish congrega-
tional school, he emi-
grated to America
(1854), and settled at
Madison, Ind., where
he remained for three
years as rabbi and
teacher. In 1858 he
moved to Chicago,
111., and accepted Bernhard Felsenthal.
employment in the
l)anking-house of Greeuebaum Brothers. In the
same year the Judische lieformverein was founded
(June 20), with Felsenthal as its secretary and guid-
ing spirit, in which capacity he published, in jNlarch,
1859, a pamphlet entitled " Kol Kore Bamidbar:
Ueber Judische Reform," which attracted attention
both in America and abroad. Felsenthal maintained
that the Bible was the product and not the source of
Judaism, and he emphasized the right of the indi-
vidual and of the congregation to autonomy in re-
ligious affairs.
The Reformverein developed into Sinai Congre-
gation, and in June, 1861, Felsenthal became its
first rabbi. After officiating for three years, he de-
clined reelection, and in Sept., 1864, took charge of
Zion Congregation, West Chicago, which had then
been recently founded upon the same platform as
Sinai Congregation. Felsenthal served tiiis congre-
gation until 1887, when he was relieved from act-
ive duty and jiensioned as rabbi emeritus. In 1886
Chicago University conferred upon Felsenthal the de-
gree of Ph.D., "honoris causa," and on his eightieth
Tence
Ferdinand
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
362
birthday the Hebrew Union College bestowed on
him the degree of D. D. In recent jears he has
identified himself prominently with the Zionist
movement.
Felsenthal's published writings include: "Jii-
disches Schulwesen in Amerika, " 1866 ; " A Practical
Hebrew Grammar," 1868; "Kritik des Christlichen
Missionswesens," 1869; "Zur Proselytenfrage,"
1878; " Judische Fragen," 1896; "The "Beginnings
of the Chicago Sinai Congregation " (containing also
A reprint of " Kol Kore Bamidbar "), 1899.
Bibliography : Reform Advacate, May 4, 1901 ; The Begin-
nings of the Chicago Sinai Congregation, Chieago/1898.
A. J. StO.
FENCE TO THE LAW. See Gezekah.
FENCES. See Boundaries.
F^NYES (FISCHMANN), ADOLF : Hunga-
rian painter; born at Kecskemet April 28, 1867; son
of J. H. Fischmann, rabbi of that town. Though he
first attracted attention as a caricaturist, he studied
law at the University of Budapest; at the end of
two years, however, he abandoned law and devoted
himself to art, studying at Budapest, Weimar, and
Paris. His principal works, awarded prizes in Paris
and in Budapest, are: "Prattling," "The Quarrel,"
" The Life of the Poor Man," and " The Old Man."
s. L. V.
FENYVESSY, ADOLF : Chief of the bureau
of stenography of the Hungarian Parliament; born
at Zala-Egerszeg 1837; completed his studies at
Szekesfehervar and Budapest; adapted the Stolze
system of stenography to the Hungarian language,
and became the founder of Hungarian stenography.
His first book on this subject was entitled "A Gy-
orsiras Kimerit5 Tankonyve" (Berlin, Budapest,
1863). When the Hungarian Parliament reopened
he organized its bureau of stenograph}-. He estab-
lished the stenographers' association, and organ-
ized the first stenographic classes in Hungary'. As
an economist he has contributed to the most prom-
inent Hungarian periodicals — "Budapesti Szcmle,"
" Nemzetgazdasagtani Szemle," etc. He was com-
missioned by the Hazai Takarekpenztar (Home
Savings Bank) of Budapest to write its history,
covering a period of fifty years; it appeared under
the title "A Pesti Hazai Takarekpenztar 50 Eves
Tortenete" (Budapest, 1890). He is a member
of the municipal government and an authority on
finance.
Bibliography : L. Gopcaa, A Magi/ar Guorsirds Aegi/ed
Szazada, pp. 15-17 ; Pa/ta.s Lex., vii.
s.
M. W.
FEODOSI PECHEBSKI. See Kiev.
FEBBER, BOBIS: Russian author; born in
Jitomir 1859; died in St. Petersburg 1895. He en-
tered the University of St. Petersburg, where he
took a course in law, but his inclinations not being
toward the legal profession, he willingl}- accepted a
position as instructor in the Jewish school of St.
Petersburg, where he taught successfully until poor
health compelled him to resign. His first literary la-
bors date back from shortly after 1880, when he pub-
lished several letters in the " Russki Yevrei. " Feiber
soon gained recognition by his sketches of Russian -
Jewish life— "Iz Khroniki Mvestechka Cherashni "
(in " Voskhod," 1890, xi., xii.), and " Okolo Lyubvi "
{ib. 1892, viii.) — and also by numerous critical essays
and feuilletons in various numbers of the same pe-
riodical for 1892 and 1893.
During a residence in Odessa in 1892-94 he took
part in the work of the historico-ethnographical
commission of the Society for the Promotion of Cul-
ture Among the Jews of Russia ; and there he wrote
his " Sketches of the History of the Jews in Eng-
land," and "Materials for a History of the Jewish
Community of London" (in "Voskhod," 1894).
Bibliography: Khronika Voskhoda, 1895, No. 18.
H. u. J. G. L.
FEBDINAND II. : Emperor of Germany ; born
July 9, 1578; elected Aug. 28, 1619; died Feb. 15,
1637. On the whole his reign was favorable for the
condition of the Jews in the empire, even though
they were subjected to the vicissitudes of the Thirty
Years' war, which began during his reign. He per-
mitted the erection of the synagogue at Hamburg in
1627, perhaps, however, merely with the view of ob-
taining similar privileges for the Roman Catholics of
that city, of whom he was a protector (Schudt, " Jild-
ische Merckwiirdigkeiten," i. 373). Nevertheless he
gave the same permission to the Jews of Vienna, who
were allowed by an edict issued December, 1624, to
build a synagogue on the payment of 17,000 florins.
He also issued a decree to his military officials,
ordering them to take particular care of the Jews
(Wolf, "Ferdinand II. und die Juden," Beitrag
xiii.). For this immunity the Bohemian Jews paid
40,000 gulden per annum, an amount which Wallen-
stein raised in 1628 to 48,000. When the municipal
council of Vienna petitioned for the expulsion of
the Jews from that city, the emperor settled them
in fourteen hou.ses on the other side of the river,
in the present Leopoldstadt; for this he demanded
of them 10,000 florins, of which only 4,000 Avas
paid. Similarly, he demanded between 40,000 and
50,000 florins for the piivilege he granted them of
dispensing with the badge; but after bargaining
they obtained the immunity for 20,000 florins. When
the Jews were driven out of Mantua, he ordered
them, at the request of three influential Austrian
Jews, to be reinstated.
It was Ferdinand II. who introduced the formal
appointment of court Jews, and in 1622 he raised
Jacob Basscvi of Prague to the nobility. The only
anti-Jewish action of a marked character taken by
Ferdinand was the order given in 1630 to the Jews of
Prague and Vienna to attend conversiouist sermons
on every Sunday. The Jews, however, managed
to make the order nugator}-. After he died the Vien-
nese Jews had to pay his widow 2,500 florins j'early.
Bibliography: Gratz, Gesch. x. 18, 3fi, 41-44: Wolf, Gei<ch.
der Jrtden in irirx, pp. 42-46, Vienna, ISTfi; P. Kaufinann,
Die Letztc Vertrediuiig der Jiidcn aii>i Uleii, pp. 1-ii; Ci.
Wolf, Feidinand II. und die Judot, Vienna, 18.i9.
J.
FEBDINAND HI. (the Holy) : King of Cas-
tile and Leon; son of Alfonso IX., King of Leon,
and the pious Beicnguela; born 1200; ascended the
throne 1217; died 1252. His reign may he regarded
as marking a turning-point in tlie destinies of the
Jews. Despite the opposition of the clergy, he re-
tained the Jewish chief tax-farmer, Don Meir, as well
363
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Fence
Ferdinand
as all the other Jewish tax-farmers, and sauctioiied
the "Concordia" which Archbishop Rodrigo of
Toledo made with the Jews of his diocese. Ferdi-
nand was the conqueror of Cordova, the old seat of
the califs. In recog-
nition of the services
rendered by Jews dur-
ing his expeditions lie
confirmed their privi-
leges in several cities.
Although he was not
very favorably inclined
toward Jews, they
shared in the distribu-
tion of land after the
capture of Seville. Az-
nalfarache, Aznalca-
zar, and Paterna, for a
long time called "Al-
deas de los Judios,"
were almost entirely
turned over to them.
Don Meir received Va-
lencia del Rio, several
thousand feet of olive
gardens, and 1,414
acres of land. The
tax - farmer Maestro
Zag; his sons Moses,
Zag, and Abraham; his
brother Salomon; the
king's physician
Joseph Abraham ha-
Kohen, and his son
Joseph; the inter-
preter, or physician,
Samuel of Fez; an in-
terpreter of Talavera;
and an \mknown rabbi
received in Paterna 40,000 feet of olive- and fig-
gardens and many farms in Aznalcazar. The kings
also granted Jews lands in Leirena, or Valfermoso,
Galichena, Valencina-Toston, Treya, and La Algaba.
He allowed the Jews of Seville to retain their syn-
agogue, and presented them in addition four small
mosques to be transformed into synagogues, wliile
Don Meir, Maestre Zag, Don Zag, and Don Josepli
received various houses.
The Jews of Seville presented Ferdinand (accord-
ing to some authorities, Alfonso X., whom Griitz
credits with the benefactions referred to) with a
large, artistically worked silver key, bearing- on one
side the inscription pxn ^D "I^D nnS' D"'3^nn 1^0
X12V find on the other side tiie same sentiment in
Spanish :
" Dios abrira, rey entr.'i.''
(God will open, the king will enter.)
Bibliography: Amador dP lo-s Rios, Hht. i. 3.56 et xcq.; Ad.
de Castra Hist, de hts Jiud'os cu Kspana. pp. •">- ct svq.;
Ersch and (iruber. Evci/c- seftion ii., part 27. p. :ilO; Gratz,
Gench. vil. i;3f). The key, now in the possession of the cathe-
dral in Seville, is represented in Zuriiga's Aiinlrs (h- iieviUn,
i. 47. and in Papenbroeck, Acta Viice S. FodiintinU, Ant-
werp, lt)S4.
G. >[ K.
FERDINAND IV. : King of Castile and Leon
(129~)-i;U2); son of Sanclio IV. ; came to the tlirone
in his youth. He had for liis confidential friend a
Key Presented to Ferdinand 111.
by the Jewish Community of
Seville.
(From Papenbroeck, " Acta Vitffi S. Fer-
dinand!," 16S4.)
Jew of Andalusia, Don Samuel, who acted as his
"almojarife mor," or farmer-general of taxes, and di-
rector of the royal finances, and exercised a power-
ful intluence over him (" Chron. de D. Fernando IV."
xix. 34). In contrast to his pious mother, Dona
Maria de Molina, who was regent during his minor-
ity, Ferdinand was very partial to the Jews. Soon
after his accession he ordered the city of Ocafia
tr) cease its attacks on and oppression of the Jews,
and to allow them to enjoy all their rights lui-
disturbed. He granted extraordinary privileges to
tiie Jews of Valladolid, to the great mortification of
his mother, with whom he had difficulties for sev-
eral years. He curtly denied the petition of the
Cortes to revoke the Jews' right of appeal in legal
disputes between Jews and Christians. Ferdinand
was considered an adversary of the clergy, but
for no other reason than that lie would not permit
the Archbishop and Chapter of Toledo to take the
Jews under their jurisdiction and impose heavy
jienalties contrary to law and justice. The Jews
rendered him considerable service during the differ-
ent wars that he waged with the King of Portugal,
the King of Aragon, and the Moorish king, espe-
cially at the conquest of Gibraltar. In recognition
of their services he granted the Jews of Gibraltar
complete exemption from taxes. He was finally
compelled to recede before the repeated and bitter
complaints brought against the Jewish and ecclesi-
astical tax-gatherers, and to promise that neither
Jew nor cleric should thenceforth till that post.
Bibliography : Rios, Hixt. ii. 64-88 et seq.
a.
M. K.
FERDINAND AND ISABELLA.— Ferdi-
nand V. the Catholic : King of Spain ; born
14.12; died 151G; son of Juan II. of Aragon by
Ids second wife, Juana Enriquez, daughter of Fred-
rique Enriquez, admiral of Castile, and grand-
daughter of the beautiful Jewess Paloma of Toledo.
While still heir to the throne Ferdinand had friendly
dealings with many Maranos. His marriage with
the much-admired Isabella of Castile was materially
ftn-thered by Jews and Maranos on the supposition
that he, himself of Jewish descent on his mother's
side, would prove, like his father, benevolent toward
tlie Jews. Abraham Senior of Segovia, the chief
farmer of the taxes, was specially concerned. He
had the young Ferdinand come secretly to Toledo,
although this afterward directed against him the
oi^position of a part of the Caslilian nobility. In
3Ionzon Ferdinand had to borrow twenty thou-
sand sueldos from his "beloved " Yayme Ram, who
was the son of a rabbi and one of the most impor-
tant jurists of his time.
Pedro de la Caballeria, a very rich and respected
Marano of Saragossa, was called upon to win over
the Archbishop of Toledo, Pedro Gonzalez de ]\Ien-
doza, the Bishop of Siguenza (later Primate of
Spain), and others, to this marriage of Ferdinand,
and tlie bridal gift, a costly necklace worth 40,000
ducats, was paid for largely by him. Yayme de la
Caballeria, son of Don Bonafos, was the trusted friend
of Ferdinand, and accompanied him on his first jour-
ney to Naples. Miguel de Almazan and Gaspar de
IJarrachina, son of Abiatar Xamos, were his private
Ferdinand
Ferrara
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
364:
secretaries; the Maranos Gabriel and Alfonso San-
chez, liis treasurers. He made Francisco Sanchez his
majordomo, and raised Francisco Gurrea, son-in-law
of Gabriel Sanchez, to the position of governor of
Aragon. As King of Aragon he liad recourse to
the Santangels when in need of money. Ferdinand
wrapped himself in a mantle of piety. The intro-
duction of the Spanish Inquisition, and the subse-
quent banishment of the Jews from Spain, although
decreed by the royal pair, were chiefly the result
of Ferdinand's work.
Isabella the Catholic, Ferdinand's wife (b. 1451;
d. 1504), was also surrounded by baptized Jews or
their sons. Her confidential advisers and secretaries
were Fernando Alvarez de Toledo, whose descendants
bore the title of Count of Cedillo, and Fernando del
Pulgar, author of a history of the reign of Ferdinand
and Isabella. Pulgar openly defended his corelig-
ionists and approved neither of the expulsion of
the Jews nor of the institution of the Inquisition.
The queen's confessor, Fernando de Talavera, was of
Jewish descent on his mother's side, and was perse-
cuted as a Marano by the Inquisition despite his
high office. Even avowed Jews (for instance, Don
Isaac Abravanel) enjoyed Isabella's confidence; but
she soon came entirely under the power of the
Dominicans.
Nor was she free from covetousness. Pope Sixtus
IV. says in a breve dated Jan. 23, 1483: "It seems
to us that the queen is urged to institute and con-
firm the Inquisition by ambition and a desire for
worldly goods rather than by zeal for the faith
and true fear of God " (Llorente, " Hist. Critique
de rinquisition d'Espagne," etc., i. 165). Isabella
not only endeavored to exterminate the Jewish race
from her own kingdom, but also compelled the petty
Italian princes to do the same; she made Henry
VIII. promise not to allow the Spanish Jews to
stay in England ; and she promised the hand of her
daughter to Dom Manuel of Portugal only on con-
dition that he would expel both the Spanish immi-
grants and the native Portuguese Jews.
Bibliography : Prescott, Hw^oriyo/ the Reian nf Ferdinand
and Imhella of Spain ; Adolfo de Castro, Historia de los
JndioK en Espafia, pp. 106 et seq.; De Vita et Scriptis Elite
Knpmlli Cnra et Studio M. Lattesii, pp. .56 et seq., Padua,
18()9; Kayserlinp, Sephardim, p. U.5; Idem, Cliristopher
Columlms, pp. 23 et seq.; Clemencin, Eingio de la Reuna
I»aheU In Mem. de la Real Academia, v. i.; Amador de Ins
Rios, Hist, ill.; Da Costa, hrael und die Vdlher, p. ~15,
Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1855.
G. M. K.
FERDINAND, PHILIP: Hebrew teacher;
born in Poland about 1555 ; died at Leyden, Holland,
1598. After an adventurous career on the Continent,
during which he became first a Roman Catliolic and
afterward a Protestant, he went to Oxford Univer-
sity, and later removed to the University of Cam-
bridge, where he was matriculated Dec. 16, 1596.
He claimed a pension from the "Domus Conver-
sorum." which was paid Feb. 3, 1598, and receipted
for by him in Latin, Hebrew, and Greek. The same
year lie was attracted to Leyden by Joseph Scaliger,
who obtained a professorship for him. Scaliger
himself acknowledges having learned much from
Ferdinand, in the short time he was at Leyden.
Ferdinand's only publication was a translation of
the six hundred and thirteen commandments as col-
lected l)y Abraham ben " Kattani " in the Bomberg
Bible (Cambridge, 1597).
Bibliography • Diet. National Biog.; Wood, Athence Qxn-
nicnscK^ ed. Bliss, i. 677; Cooper, Athence i^antahrigienseft,
ii. 239 ; Scaliger, EpintokB, pp. 208, 594. Leyden, 1627 ; Trana-
aeti(nii< Jew. Hist. Soc. Eng. i. 27.
J.
FERMOSA: A Jewess of Toledo named
" Rahel," afterward called "Fermosa" (The Beauti-
ful) because of her rare beauty. She held Alfonso
VIII. of Castile, husband of the beautiful and clever
Donna Leonora, under her spell for almost seven
years. With the consent of tlie clergy she was
seized in the presence of the king by members of tlie
Spanish nobility, and murdered, together with those
of her coreligionists who gathered about her. This
love-story, which had been relegated to the realm
of fable "by the Marquis de Mondejar ("Memorias
Ilistoricas," xxiii. 67 et seq.) and other Spanish
literary historians, is related as a fact by Alfonso
X., grandson of Alfonso VIII.« and by the latter's
son Don Sancho. It has been dramatized by Mar-
tin de UUoa, Vicente Garcia de la Huete, and other
Spanish writers, as well as by Grillparzer in hia
play, "Die Judin von Toledo."
Bibliography: St. Hillaire, Hi.'itriire d'Espagne, v. 181, 527
ct xeq.; Amador de los Rios. Hist. i. 335 et seq.; Kayserlingv
Die JUdifichen Frauen, p. 74.
G. M. K.
FERNANDEZ, MANUEL, DA VILLA-
REAL : Political economist and dramatist ; born
in Lisbon of Marano parents. He attended the Uni-
versity of Madrid, and served for a number of yeara
in the army, in which he became captain. Later he
removed to Paris as Portuguese consul-general, re-
turning to Lisbon about 1650. He was seized by
the Inquisition and garroted in Lisbon (Dec. 1,
1652).
He wrote: "El Color Verde a la Divina Celia,"
a eulogy on the physician Fernando Alvarez Bran-
dam, also a Portuguese Marano, Madrid, 1637; "EI
Politico Christianissimo : Discursos Politicos sobre
Aigunas Acciones de la Vida del . . . Duque de
Richelieu " (the first edition of which appeared
under the title " Epitome Genealogico del . . .
Duque de Richelieu"), Pamplona, 1642; "ElPriii-
cipeVendidoeVentadellnocente, y Libre Principe D.
Duarte, Celebrada en Viana a 25 de Junio de 1642,"
Paris, 1643; " Anti-Caramuel 6 Defensa del Mani-
festo del Reyna de Portugal a la Respuesta que
EscrevioD. Juan Caramuel Lobkovitz," Paris, 1643;
"Cinco Livros de Decada 12 da Historia da India,"
Paris. Fernandez's son Jose da Villa-Real was
professor of the Greek language in Marseilles (1682).
Bibliography: Barbosa, Bihl. Port. i. 668, iii. 910; Kayser-
ling, Sephardim, p. 229; idem, Bihl. Esp.-Port.-Jxid. p. 109.
G. M. K.
FERNANDEZ, PHILIP. See Ferdinand,
PlIITJP.
FERNANDEZ Y GONZALEZ, FRAN-
CISCO: Spanisli Orientalist; professor in the Uni-
versity of Madrid ; member of the Academia de la His-
toria. He is a son-in law of the historian D. Jose
Amador de los Rios. His great interest in the history
and literature of the Jews has been manifested in tlie
following works: " De la Escultura y la Pintura en
365
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Ferdinand
Ferrara
los Pueblos de Raza Semitica y Senaladainente
entre los Judios y los Arabes," iu "Kevista de Es-
paSa," 1871; " Institucioues Juridicas del Pueblo de
Ysrael en los Diferentes Estados de la Peninsula
Iberica desde su Dispersion en Tiempo del Empe-
rador Adriano hasta los Priucipes del Siglo XVI."
(vol. X. of the "Biblioteca Juridicade AutoresEspa-
fioles "), Madrid, 1881 ; " Ordenamiento Formado por
los Procuradores de las Aljanias Hebreas Perteneci-
eutes al Territorio de los Estados de Castilla en la
Asamblca Celebrada en Valladolid el Ano 1432;
Texto Hebreo Rabbinico . . . Traducido, Anotado
e lUustrado con una Introducciou Ilistorica, " Madrid,
1886 (from "Boletin de la Real Academia de la
Historia," vii.); "El Mesianismo Israelita en la Pe-
ninsula Iberica Durante la Priinera Mitad del Siglo
XVI.," in "Revista de Espana," xviii., Nos. 406 et
seq., treating of David Reubeni and Salomon Molcho.
Bibliography: Kayserling, Bihl. Enp.-Port.-Jnd. p. 45.
G. M. K.
FERNANDO, AARON : Teacher and reformer
at Leghorn, Italy ; died 1830. He held a position
under the first Napoleon, for whom he had the great-
est admiration; and iu tlie enthusiasm of tliat period,
he miagined that tJie eve of universal brotherhood
had arrived, and that the Jews must put themselves
in line by simplifying their ceremonial. The com-
mandments of the Law were to be reduced to sixty,
and most of the ceremonial laws abolished. He set
forth tliese theories in his " Progetto Filosofico di una
Completa Riforma del Culto e dell' Educazine Poli-
tico-Morale del Popolo Ebreo. Tiberiade 1810," of
which only the first of the two volumes was printed.
The Jews denounced the book to the authorities as
dangerous to religion. The publication was inter-
dicted, and all the copies of the first volume were
confiscated (July 14, 1814), bought up by the con-
gregation, and burned. The onlj' existing copy is
that of the author, which is now in the Stadtbiblio-
thek at Frankfort-on-the-Main.
BrBLior.RAPHY : Regpio, Ha-Torah weha-Filosofia, p. 148;
Josfs Annnlen, 1841, p. 72; Zunz, G. V. ~'d ed., p. 489; Ber-
liner, Ann Mciner BihJiuthch, p. 16.
P. G.
FERRARA (mXT'S, NIT'S) : City in central
Italy ; capital of the province and former duch}' of the
same name. The Jewish community of Ferrara was
one of the most flourishing and important in Italy,
and it gave to Judaism a number of prominent men.
It would seem that Jews existed at Ferrara in 1088,
but not until the thirteenth century was their num-
ber large enough to give them a status in history.
In 1375 an edict was issued in their favor, with a
chuise providing that neither the pope nor the duke
nor any other power might relieve the authorities of
tlieir duties toward tlie Jews. The community must
have been of importance at that time.
In the because many well-known men became
Thirteenth residents of the city with the view of
Century, winning members of the community
to support one side or the other of
the controversies then raging among the Jews.
Thus Hillel of Verona regarded Ferrara as a desira-
ble field for his efforts iu defending Maimonides'
plillosophy, and at tlie same time Solomon Petit
■considered the city a suitable place wherein to con-
duct his figlit against it. The tosafist Moses ben
Mei'r was probably an older contemporary of these
two rabbis (Zunz, "Z. G." p. 57). Moses' father, or
sou, Meirben Moses, was rabbi at Rome and a friend
of R. Isaiah di Trani, and is known for his liturgical
compositions (Vogelstein and Rieger, "Ge.sch. der
Juden in Rom," i. 376). Of the existence of Jews
in Ferrara during the fourteenth century the only
evidence is furnished by the name of a rabbi, Solo-
mon Hasdai, who was active at Bologna also.
Under the dukes of Este in the fifteenth century
the conmiunity developed rapidly. It was the aim
of these rulers to strengthen the economic condition
of their country by attracting settlers. The grow-
ing need of credit facilitated the settlement of Jews,
who probably were at first admitted here, as to other
states of Italy, as money-lenders, though they after-
ward became active as retailers, manufacturers, and
tradesmen. The Jews were allowed autonomy ; and
the government appointed a special judge to adjudi-
cate matters between Jews and Christians. Though
the Jews were permitted to dwell anywhere in the
city, most of them lived together in certain streets,
which were collectively called "La Zuecca." The
community of Ferrara was at that time large enough
to be represented at the rabbinical congresses of
Bologna (1416) and Forli (1418). It was the duty of
Elhauan ben Menahem Portaleoneand Joseph Heze-
kiah ben Moses, delegates at Forli, to see that the
enactments of the congress were carried out, and that
the money necessary to secure papal intervention
was paid at the proper time. The Jews of the
Romagna shared in the privileges granted by Mar-
tin V. in 1419 to secure to the Jews generally
the protection of their rights. Fanatical priests, it
is true, constantly sought, by threats of excommu-
nication, to incite the populace against the Jews, to
prohibit the sale to them of provisions, and to break
off all relations with them ; but upon the combined
requestsof the archduke Lionel and the Jewry, Nich-
olas V. assured tlie latter the fullest protection and
forbade all further iucitation to trouble on the part
of tlie priests. The same pope was
Under also petitioned in 1451 by Duke Borso
the Dukes for immunity for having extended
of Este. to tlie Jews, who had lived there
"from time immemorial," the priv-
ilege of further residence, and for having granted
them permission to build synagogues. In return for
tlie legal protection which Borso accorded the Jews,
the state imposed high taxes upon them, while the
princes no doubt borrowed money from them with-
out paying interest. The Jews were further called
upon on various occasions to undertake special tasks.
In 1456 Borso forced them, as a penalty "for insults
to religion," to lay out at their own expense a long
avenue of poplars. The dukes of Este not only pro-
tected the Jews, but even offered an asylum to those
who were persecuted. Thus in 1473 Duke Ercole I.
declared, probably in answer to the pope's request
for their expulsion, that in the interest of the duchy
he could not spare them, and that he would therefore
relieve them not only from all special burdens, but
also from the payment of the sums formerly ex-
torted as taxes by papal legates. On account, how-
ever, of the magnificent buildings which were being
Ferrara
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
366
erected, tlie burciou of the ordinary taxes had be-
come so heavy that Alfonso I., in confirming (1505)
the privileges of the Jews of Ferrara, decreed that
the communities of the province should bear a part
of that burden.
The expulsion of the Jews from Spain and Portu-
gal proved to be a matter of great importance to the
community of Ferrara. Ercole I., at the instance of
his wife, Eleanora of Naples, granted to twenty-one
families which had landed at Genoa the privilege of
settling in his territory and of leaving it at any
time. They were allowed to follow any trade, to
farm the taxes, and to be apothecaries; and the
duke even promised to secure for them papal
permission to practise medicine among Christians.
Their baggage was to be admitted free of duty ; but,
since the revenues were farmed, and the matter was
out of the jurisdiction of the state, the customary
rates had to be paid on merchandise. The refugees
were to share all the privileges of the other Jews,
with the exception of establishing loan-offices, though
afterward permits were granted even to do this.
On Nov. 20, 1492, the fugitives received their pass-
ports, and on Feb. 1, 1493, the final agreement was
made. Among those who signed this compact were
members of well-known families, like the Nahmias,
the Abulafias, and the Francos. The immigrants
were physicians, merchants, and artisans.
The kind treatment of the duke soon attracted to
Ferrara other fugitives.among whom were many Ma-
ranos from Portugal, who now open-
Settlement ly professed Judaism. The Christian
of Maranos. population gladly received the new-
comers (all of whom they called " Por-
tuguese"), since they were wealthy and intelligent
citizens through whom the flourishing city entered
into new commercial relations and was taught new
industries. By their share in the commerce of the
Spanish colonies, from which they brought Spanish
wools, silks, and crimson, as well as of India, whence
pearls were imported, they greatly developed the
commerce of the citj'. They likewise stimulated the
export trade by their transactions with .Maranos in
Flanders, Lyons, Rome, Naples, and Venice. The
population of Ferrara grew rapidly at this time.
Under Ercole the city doubled in population, and
there was a rapid development of industries, espe-
cially in silk and cloth. The Jewish community of
Ferrara is said to have coiisistetl of 8,000 souls.
The fact that the sum paid by it — 5 per cent of the
total property of the Jews — as "Turks' tax"
amounted to one-third more than that paid by the
community of Rome, is an indication of its develop-
ment and increasing resources.
It is true, however, that the Estes could not free
themselves from all the prejudices of the time.
They, also, regarded it as a " mark of respect " for
the Jews to be distinguished from the Christian
population; thus Alfonso I. *'in grazia loro " de-
creed that the Jews and Maranos should wear the
Jews' badge, an "O" with an orange-yellow stripe
a handbreadth wide. A "monte di pietA" (pawn-
shop)— one of the institutions established by Chris-
tian socialism in opposition to the Jews — was opened
at Ferrara in 1507, without, however, ruining the
Jews there as in other places. Religious disputa-
tions, also, were forced upon the Jews. Ercole I.,
his wife, and his bsother compelled Abraham Faris-
sol to dispute with several monks (after 1505), and
to write his arguments in Italian, so that his op-
ponents might examine and refute them. Under
Julius III. the Inquisition was allowed to proceed
against the Jews, and as a result the Talmud and
other rabbinical writings were burned (1553).
The compact between Ercole II. and the arch-
enemy of the Jews, Pope Paul IV., made the condi-
tion of the Jews worse. Taxes for the maintenance
of the House of Catechumens at Rome were then
rigorously exacted. Isaac Abravanel II., whom the
Estes highly esteemed as a physician and philan-
thropist, was imprisoned on a charge of treason, but
was found innocent and released.
But the princes were not so blind as not to per-
ceive the beneficial effect of Jewish immigration
upon the general welfare. In 1534 Ercole II., espe-
cially emphasizing the loyalty of the Jews, con-
firmed them in all their former privileges, allowed
the I\Iaranos free admission to his territories, and
granted thena permission to openly profess their an-
cestral faith. At a time when hatred of the Jews
was strongest and the fiercest persecution was gen-
eral, Ferrara remained a bulwark of religious liber-
ty, an asylum for "heretics"; the expelled Jews of
Naples and Bologna found a refuge there, as did
also the IMaranos from Ancona, the duke assuring
them perfect religious freedom. When Pius II.
wished to abolish the pawn-shops, Alfonso II. de-
cidedly opposed the step, because he felt that the in-
terest of his country demanded their retention.
In 1570 (Feb. 16-17) a terrible earthquake visited
Ferrara, " on wiiich occasion many houses and about
twelve churches, monasteries, and nunneries were
destroyed. Under the ruins of the houses about
200 persons met their death, but not
The Earth- a single Jew perished. The wealthy
quake and liberal Jews who owned houses,
of 1570. courts, or enclosed gardens, opened
them and received every one who
came, so that some of them harbored no less than 100
strangers; they cared for the needs of the poor, pro-
vided fuel for them, and clothed and fed them "
(Joseph ha-Kohen, " 'Emek ha-Bakah "). The Jews
felt themselves so closely connected with the house
of Este that when in 1581 Princess Leonora, the
friend of Tasso, fell sick, they offered public prayers
in the synagogue for her recovery. She herself was
a friend of the Jews and repeatedly protected them.
Her husband, Alfonso II., also showed his good will
toward them; during the famine of 1590 he dis-
tributed bread among 2,000 Jews and 200 Spanish
and Portuguese ^laranos.
The prosperous condition of the Jews, which
rested on tiie favor of the ruling prince, came to an
end wlien, in 1597, the last Este died without leav-
ing any direct male heir. The pope claimed the
duchy, and received it after a short resistance. Car-
dinal Pietro Aldobrandini taking charge of it in be-
half of the Curia. Amidst the shouts of rejoicing
which greeted the papal legate upon entering the
city, the cry was heard: "Down with the Jews!"
Great anxiety took possession of the community,
especially the Maranos, who dreaded the rule of the
367
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Ferrara
pope; and about one-half of the Ferrara Jews mi-
grated to Modena, Venice, and Mantua, so that the
census of 1601 showed only 1,530 Jews in a total
population of 33,860.
The new ruler, however, proved liimself more
just than the Jews had anticipated. The cardinal
soon became convinced of the importance of tlie Jews
for the commerce and industry of the city ; and he
granted to theMaranos a respite of five years, which
he had obtained with great difficulty from the pope.
On Feb. 17, 1598, was issued a constitution which
provided that the Jews in the city and duchy of
Ferrara were to be tolerated only on condition that,
commencing with JMay 24, both men and women
wore the Jews' badge. Permission to engage in
trade was renewed ; but the farming of taxes, the
keeping of animals, and the acquisition of real estate
were prohibited. Within five years all property in
the hands of Jews was to be sold— a provision which
was carried out in 1G02. The number of synagogues
was limited to one for each rite ; and for the per-
mission to sustain them the Jews had to pay a tax
to the House of Catechumens. They were allowed
to have only one cemetery (public obsequies be-
ing entirely prohibited), and to use Hebrew books
only when provided with the imprimatur of the cen-
sor. Every new arrival had to report himself to
the authorities within three days. Lending money
on interest and banking were forbidden to the Jews,
being permitted to the monte di pieta exclusively.
This provision, however, failed as early as 1599;
and the excited population was quieted only when
the Jews were again allowed to open banks, a
privilege which remained in force till 1683. Other
enactments tending to mortify the Jewsand to lower
them in the eyes of the populace were issued, and
finally the severest measure which the
The papacy ever adopted against the Jews
Ghetto. —the institution of the ghetto — was
extended to Ferrara (1624). A com-
mission of twelve noblemen appointed to protest
against the proposed measure gained nothing except
a short respite. During 1626-27 the Via Sabbioni,
Via Gattamarcia, and Via Vignatagliata, where the
greater part of the Jews had lived for many
years, were enclosed by five gates erected at their
expense. All Jews were obliged to take houses
there that they might be better protected and
guarded. The regulations for taking possession of
lodgings by the Jews and the newly established
" jus hazaka " w-ere published in sixteen paragraphs.
Among the decrees enacted by the papacy, likewise
"in the interest of the Jews," was one ordering one-
third of the male members of the community of the
age of twelve years and upward to be present at the
delivery of sermons directed toward their conver-
sion. The church in which these sermons were
preached was at a considerable distance from the
ghetto, and on the way thither the victims of intol-
erance were often grossly insulted. On this account
a more convenient place was chosen in 1695. Forced
baptisms, likewise, were not unknown. Jurisdiction
in the case of difficulties between Jews and Chris-
tians was still exercised by the "giudice d^ savi";
and the efforts of the bishop in 1630 to have the
powers of that officer annulled proved vain. Fur-
thermore, until 1708 tlie Jewish authorities were
allowed jurisdiction within the community, appeal
from their decisions being permitted only in cases
where more than five scudi was involved. In that
year, however, the united efforts of the lawj^ers were
successful in securing the abolition of this partial
autonomy.
It was natural that such treatment should reduce
the wealth of the Jewish population more and more;
the ghetto was too poor ; and high rents oppressed
the impoverished communitj'. Petitions to limit
the number inhabiting the ghetto and to reduce the
taxes were flatly refused. The result was that the
debts of the community and the interest charges
grew from year to year; and the richer Jews,
obliged to make ever greater sacrifices, emigrated.
According to a greatly overestimated report of the
papal legate made in 1703, among the 328 families
was one whose wealth amounted to 80,000 scudi ; ten
others possessed between 5,000 and 8,000 scudi;
while 148 tradesmen were unable to pay taxes, and
72 lived on alms ("R. E. J."xvi. 249). Naturally, the
repressive laws produced among the general popu-
lation a malicious disposition toward the Jews. In
1648 a Jew sentenced for murder was frightfully
tortured. The populace seized the opportunity to
commit greater outrages in the ghetto; and similar
excesses are reported in the years 1651, 1705, 1744,
1747, and 1754.
On such occasions, it is true, edicts to protect the
Jews were issued by the papal legates; but, on the
other liand, the populace was reminded of the exist-
ing strict laws, and all intercourse with Jews and
all services to them were forbidden. Thus at Fer-
rara the rigid Roman decree of 1732 referring to the
Jews was introduced; and in 1733 an edict was is-
sued prohibiting the employment of Christian serv-
ants and enjoining a strict censorship of Hebrew
books. Jews might neither travel nor visit fairs with-
out the permission of the Inquisition; and in their
journeys they were to wear the Jews' badge. This
last provision, how'ever, was abolished in 1735. That
in spite of such cruel laws and mental torment the
community nevertheless continued to exist was due
to the discrepancy between the law and its execu-
tion. The population was often more friendly than
the papal government to the Jews; and the offi-
cials quite frequently failed to enforce the laws.
These conditions changed in 1796 with the entry
into Italy of the French troops, who proclaimed in
Ferrara "the rights of man," so that all civil disabil-
ities were removed from the Jews. On Oct. 3, 1796-
— during the New-Year festival — the
Under French civil and military authorities
French visited the four synagogues, where
Rule. they were received with joy, being es-
corted back in triumph. The attacks
made by the Catholics against the emancipation of
the Jews were successfully refuted in pamphlets.
The Jews were admitted into the municipal guard;
and in 1797, at the instance of the French general
Latner, the gates of the ghetto were torn down. The
Jews proved themselves worthy of their new riglits
and duties, and in ashort time the municipal guard
included nine Jewish officers and the muuicii)ality
four Jewish officials.
Ferrara
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
368
The reign of liberty was, however, of short
duration. On May 23, 1799, Austrian troops entered
the city; the fury of tlie populace was directed
against the Jews, who had to be protected by the
soldiers, and for a whole week dared not leave the
ghetto. The community was sentenced to pay a
fine of 5,000 scudi, and all the ancient laws were
enforced. In 1803 the French returned as bear-
ers of liberty ; and equality of rights showed
itself in the election of three Jewish representatives
to the council of the Italian republic. Full liberty
was given for religious worship; and in 1808 the
clergy was advised not to receive Jews too hastily
for baptism. The Vienna Congress of 1814-15
restored the papal government; but times had
changed, and a new, liberal spirit permeated tlie
nations. In 1815 Pius VII. demanded tlie removal
of the Jews from public offices, but did not other-
wise interfere with their liberties. On the whole, he
showed a friendly disposition.
Under his successor, Leo XII., the tendency again
prevailed to torture and to kill the Jews, on the plea
that "they had tortured and killed Jesus." The
ghetto gates were restored at the expense of the
Jews, and closed on Jan. 13, 1826 ; many of the old
enactments were enforced, especiallj^ the prohibition
against keeping Christian servants. The military
guarded the ghetto to see that no one lighted fires
for the Jews on the Sabbath and on festivals; but,
more humane than the pope, the soldiers themselves
took pity on them and lighted the fires. Under
such circumstances many Hebrews left for the more
tolerant Tuscan}'. In 1827 several more of the pro-
visions of the old laws were renewed. The Jews
were prohibited from leaving the city without per-
mission, from having intercourse with Christians,
and from owning real estate after the short time al-
lowed for its sale had elapsed. When Leo died the
entire population felt relieved; and the vehement
hatred against the medieval papal regime showed
itself clearly in the revolutionary days of 1831,
when the gates of the ghetto were again torn down,
and the Jews received all rights as citizens. What
remained of the ghetto was enclosed by chains.
Gregory XVI. was on the whole friendly disposed
toward the Jews, but even his government allowed
them no liberties. When in 1837 a public funeral
procession took place on the occasion of the burial
of Rabbi Reggio, the community was severely pun-
ished. Nevertheless the liberal national movement
made rapid progress. The Jews enjoyed the friend-
ship and esteem of the better classes of Christians;
they participated more and more in public affairs;
and the most respectable "casinos" received them as
members.
With the election of Pope Pius IX. all the dreams
and hopes of the noblest and best were expected to
be realized. Italy was to be freed and united. His
accession was hailed with general jubilation, the
Jews being no less enthusiastic than
Hopes their fellow citizens. Dr. Moses Leone
Under Pius Finzi of Ferrara caused an allegorical
IX. painting to be executed for the occa-
sion with the inscription: "Mild in
punishment, a god in forgiveness — such is the true
picture of Pius." Supported by the citizens, the
Jews asked to be granted emancipation. The car-
dinal legate, Ciacchi, thereupon ordered the removal
of the ghetto gates, and only the pillars were allowed
to remain. These, also, were destroyed on March
21, 1848, by the professors and students of the
Athenaeum amidst great jubilation on the part of the
noblest and best of the citizens. General fraterni-
zation and removal of all religious differences was
the watchword of the time. Borsari wrote in de-
fense of the Jews; the Circolo Nazionale, which
advocated the union of Italy, sent Salvatore Anau as
delegate to Turin, and afterward elected him a mem-
ber of the constitutional national assembly at Rome;
while four Jewish representatives were elected to
the new provincial diet. Equality was obtained;
and the sacrifices of the Jews for the national cause
were justified. To be sure, the hour of final deliv-
erance had not yet come. In 1849 the pope was re-
instated by the Catholic powers, and Austrian troops
were charged with the protection of his dominions.
The Jews suffered most from the change ; for they lost
their briefly enjoyed liberty. They had to resign all
ofiices and to withdraw from all societies, and even
the old prohibition against leaving the city without
permission was enforced. In 1857 Pius IX. visited
the city. A deputation which asked for the abolition
of this decree was kindly received, and the old law
was soon abolished. This was the last time that the
community was compelled to ask a favor of the
pope ; for in 1859 the Assemblea Nazionale delle
Romagne at Bologna ratified the incorporation of
Italy with the kingdom of Sardinia under the scepter
of Victor Emmanuel II.
All civic differences between Jews and Christians
were immediately removed. The extension of the
Piedmontese constitution to the kingdom of Italy
admitted the Jews of Ferrara to full citizenship.
That emancipation was complete was shown by the
fact that some Jews wete at once elected to the
Consiglio Comunale. The first Jewish member of
the Parliament was Leone Carpi of Bologna, who
had had to pay with a long exile for his patriotic
participation in the national movement. Another
sign of the changed conditions was the attendance
of the highest authorities at the services held in
the synagogue to commemorate the reception of the
duchy into the kingdom of Italy. Since 1861 the
community has evidenced its warm patriotism in all
matters pertaining to the new kingdom, and has
given to the state a number of deserving citizens.
In 1891 the Jews of Ferrara numbered 1,465 in a
total population of 68,000.
Internal History : The Jewish community
of Ferrara had to develop under the legal conditions
described above. It is not known at what time it
was first organized nor what its first constitution
was. The first record of its activity dates from the
congress held at Forli in 1418. At that time the
community possessed all the usual institutions of an
organized commonwealth. In 1452 it exchanged its
old cemetery for a new one. In 1469 Jacob ben Eli-
jah of Cagli donated to the community a book of
prayer, accompanying it with a deed of gift. In
1481, tiirough the generosity of Sev (Ze'eb) Samuel
Melli of Rome, it secured in the Via Sabbioni a house
to be used as a synagogue, which still servos the
369
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Ferrara
same purpose. The same benefactor left a legacy
in 1485, the income of which was to be used for giv-
ing gratuitous instruction in Hebrew
The and in the Jewish religion, as well as
Constitu- for the support of the poor; and after
tionofthe Melli's death in 1486 the community
Com- organized its first benevolent institu-
munity. tions. The immigration fiom Spain
and Portugal brought the community
a. large increase in eminent, wealthy, and highly edu-
cated members ; but at the same time it brought dis-
cord and difficulties. The Spanish Jews not only re-
tained their own ritual and erected special houses of
prayer, but in every respect formed a separate com-
munity of their own. They had their own rabbi,
their own Talmud Torah, and in 1550 laid out their
own cemetery. In 1531 a house of prayer according
to the German rite was built.
The prevalent distress and continued persecution
warned the factions in the community to imite, and
union was easily brought about where the interests
of the whole coincided. Isaac ben Judah Abra-
vanel, grandson of Don Isaac, rendered great service
in this connection after 1550. Though true to Span-
ish traditions, he was everywhere recognized as
leader on account of his noble character and his un-
selfish devotion to the interests of the community ;
and he represented the community at the Ferrara
Congress of 1554, which adopted resolutions that
became binding upon the Jews throughout Italy.
After the earthquake the need of a new organization
for the community asserted itself. On April 5, 1573,
there was held under the leadership of Don Isaac
Abravanel a meeting which suggested that the entire
community, under the title of "Universita degli
Ebrei di Farrara," be placed under the control of
eighteen delegates to be elected by lot, such delegates
to c-hoose annually from among themselves a presi-
dent and a treasurer ; that each member who pos-
sessed more than fifty scudi should be
The " TJni- obliged to contribute toward the
versita communal funds; and that a com-
degli mission of eight members, among them
Ebrei." three rabbis, be appointed to fix the
sum to be raised and to make the
assessment. These propositions having been agreed
to, the community was at once organized, and
Abravanel was elected president.
The payment of the first assessment was effected by
each member placing his share in a sealed box, and
declaring under oath that it was the correct amount
due from him. Although at first intended for three
years only, this method proved so practical that it
continued to be followed for centuries. The next
beneficial result of the new organization was the
union of the German synagogue with the Italian,
and of the Bolognese with the Neapolitan, Naples
having a short time before expelled the Jews, who
had then been received by the dukes of Ferrara.
Under the popes the community had to limit the
number of its synagogues. The laying out of cem-
eteries was also made difficult. Tlie administration
of the communitj' was in the hands of a large board
of sixty-two members and of a smaller one of ten,
assisted by the rabbinate. Their main care was that
of the finances. Besides the ordinarj- taxes, the
v.— 24
community was obliged to pay high rents for the
houses in the ghetto, whether inhabited or not, and
whether the tenants themselves were able or unable
to pay the rentals. It thus came about that at the
end of the papal regime the community had a debt
of 33,450 scudi. Added to this, the ever-increasing
pauperism made necessary the expenditure of larger
sums in charity. In spite of great expenses, however,
instruction of the young was not neglected. In 1626
the school was reorganized ; besides the income from
the Melli legacy, it received congregational support.
In 1630 it was united with the Italian synagogue.
To defray all charges the taxes were naturally very
high, and many wealthy people on this account left
the city. The board, therefore, obtained in 1632
the right to prevent any one removing his wealth
from the city without permission, and it was later
on decided that those who should leave be required to
pay 2 per cent on their property toward liquidating
the communal debts. The.se resolutions brought
about continual friction ; but they were nevertheless
carried out, no doubt on account of the impoverished
condition of the community. Outside Jews who
did business in Ferrara had to pay a trade-tax. The
executive board of the community, called " massari,"
found their efforts warmly seconded by the papal
legate ; and obedience to them on the part of Jews
was often ordered by the authorities.
The changes under the rule of the French necessi-
tated a new organization. The members formed
themselves into a Societa del Pagatori,
New Con- within which four committees were
stitution. formed: (1) for the payment of debts;
(2) for administering the ghetto prop-
erty ; (3) for benevolence ; and (4) for worship and
instruction, the recommendation being made that
special attention be paid to instruction. In the
budget of 4,000 scudi there was needed 2,000 scudi
for charity alone; for the interest on debts, 1,500.
The new society entered upon its existence in 1798
under the leadership of An gelo PacePesaro; in 1807
some changes were made in its organization; for ex-
ample, the expenditure of a certain sum in monthly
pensions for soldiers was added to its budget. In 1808
the community became a part of the French consis-
torial organization, which continued to be in force
till 1815.
With the return of the popes was restored the an-
cient form of administration, including the former
obligations of the " gazaka " and the former taxes.
Two massari represented the community in extra-
communal affairs. Communal activity showed itself
especiall\' during the famine of 1854 and the cholera
epidemic of 1855.
Upon the union of Ferrara with the kingdom of
Italy the Ferrara community came under the Ra-
tazzi law of Piedmont, by which it is still governed.
The last relic of ancient times was the debt owing
to the House of Catechumens, payment of which
was demanded and made in 1865.
Synag-ogrues : In ancient times many places of prayer ac-
cording to the Iiiilian rite e.xisted in private houses. By the
donation of Sev Samuel Melli the community received in 1481
a special synaffoRue building, in addition to which the old places
of devotion continued in existence. After the year 1492 houses
of prayer for the Sephardic rite were built, and with the per-
mission of the Inquisition tlie (ierman Jews also opened a
Ferrara
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
370
synagogue in one of the existing houses of prayer (153:i). Each
congi egation had its rabbi and its own charity-budget. About
1570 the community had ten houses of prayer;
Communal and the Jews regarded as a visible sign of dl-
Institu- vine protection that during the earthqualie
tions. of 1570 churches and monasteries tumbled
down, but " in none of the ten houses of prayer
and small sanctuaries of the Lord in Ferrara was divine
service interrupted. True, fissures appeared in the walls, but
the people were not prevented from offering prayer in the
morning and evening" (Azariah dei Rossi, "Kol Elohim,"
toward the end). In 1573 the founding of the Universita degli
Ebrei di Ferrara, a fusion of the German and Italian congrega-
tions, took place. Under the papal regime there was only one
synagogue for each of the various rites ; in 1603 the German
synagogue was transferred to the building formerly occupied
by the Italian. In 1798 the latter was separated from the Melli
foundation and incorporated in the property of the community.
In 1842 and 1867 the building in the Via SabbionI, which had stood
for centuries, was thoroughly renovated. The beautiful Spanish
synagogue still has its own administration. Of the peculiar
religious usages in the Ferrara synagogues Isaac Lampronti
makes occasional mention in his "Pahad Yizhak." The syn-
agogue according to the German rile possesses a manuscript
list of the various minhagim, which is ascribed to Rabbi Olmo ;
another manuscript collection of Ferrara minhagim is in the
city library of Frankfort-on-the-Main.
Schools : Under the MelU foundation the community re-
ceived an annual income wherewith to provide a teacher for the
poor. From this was developed the Talmud Torah, in which
elementary instruction was supplemented by advanced courses
in the rabbinic academy. The Spanish had their own Talmud
Torah, which, through the efforts of Isaac Lampronti, was united
in 1739 with that of the general community. The great at-
tachment of the pupils for these institutions is shown by leg-
acies to the library and to the funds for poor pupils of the
Talmud Torah. Not only was instruction given in Hebrew and
in the Jewish religion, but the teaching of Italian was likewise
gradually introduced ; the latter, however, was abolished after
1859, when the general schools were opened to the Jews. Since
1849 the community has also had a kindergarten ("asili infan-
tili"). At all times great care has been bestowed upon the de-
velopment of the schools of Ferrara, the community as well as
individuals making great sacrifices to this end. A large, costly
library bears testimony to this day to the zeal with which studies
were once prosecuted.
Cemeteries : The oldest cemetery, situated beside the mon-
astery of S. Girolamo, was in 1452 exchanged by the commu nity
for another in S. Maria Nuova. The purchase of a cemetery In
1636 was rendered very difficult by the Curia. The Spanish rented
a special cemetery in 1550, and bought it outright in 1574 ; in 1600
they were obliged to lay out a new one, which was enlarged in
1647 ; sanction for a further enlargement in 1739 was obtained
only with great difficulty. The tombstones were demolished by
the populace, used as building material by the government, or
stolen and placed in Christian cemeteries with new inscriptions.
On this account no old inscriptions are preserved at Ferrara.
In 1869 the community laid out a new cemetery, toward the ex-
pense of which the city contributed. The Spanish then united
with the rest of the community and sold their old cemetery site.
The Saratov family alone still possesses a burial-place in the old
Spanish cemetery.
Foundations and Societies at Ferrara : Samuel
Melli of Rome left to the community for charitable purposes
the income from his house in the Via Sabbioni, and also his
goods and chattels. In 1626 the important society Arcicon Frater-
nity Ghemillud Assadim, afterward called " Misericord ia," was
organized to take care of the sick poor and to provide for
burials. In 1661 the society of bearers ("kattaflm"), and
in 1665 that of the grave-diggers (" kabbarim "), separated from
the parent organization. In addition smaller societies were
formed for the help of the sick and the dying, as the Marpe ha^
Nefesh (1700), Beruhe El (1750), Yedlde El (1810). The many
applications for charity made to the societies often caused
pecuniary embarrassment, which was relieved through contribu-
tions from the community and from individuals. Since 1877 all
these s<x!ietles have been united under the name "Anshe
Hesed," which organization, under the direction of the rabbi, is
managed by a commission.
In 1718 Rabbi Jacob Daniel Olno established the society Ha-
dashim li-Bekarim, whose object was to provide for the dally
minyan and study and U> keep certain of the fasts. With this
was afterward combined the duty of providing fuel for the poor
and of aiding them in paying their rent. This society is subven-
tioiied by the community. The Rahame 'Aniyim was founded
in 1830 by pupils of the Talmud Torah to provide candles in cases
of death ; with this were afterward combined other organiza-
tions of pupils which looked after the welfare of the school and of
their poorer fellow students, such as the Bikkur Holim (1743) and
the Malbish 'Arumim (1783) ; likewise the Shalom Rav, founded in
1698 by Rabbis Jacob and Angelo Kahalun for the purpose of de-
livering lectures on the Sabbaths, and enlarged by I. Lampronti
to a charitable organization. Besides the regular members, the
society, which was reorganized in 1856, admits ladies as honorary
members.
The Rahamim, a society for reading the Torah on holidays,
was established in 1800 by persons who met every Sabbath for a
repast, and who wished to give their society a religious character
also. Siinah {i.e., Siyyua ' 'Aniyim ), or II Soccorso, was estab-
lished in 18.50 for the purpose of making small loans to mer-
chants ; afterward it distributed books and money as prizes to
diligent pupils. A society known as "Mahzike Umanut" or
"Arti e Mestieri," founded in 1840, was dissolved, since under
the existing laws Jews found no masters and no employment.
In the same manner many religious and humane societies
which originated in former centuries have been dissolved.
Besides these benevolent societies several legacies for the
benefit of the poor are administered by the community. Joseppe
Benedetto Alatino and Abraham Raphael Feglio (1755) left a
legacy for poor brides. The Pesaro family made great sacri-
fices in 1737 in order to further the advancement of education.
Angelo Pace Pesaro maintained the theological school in 1800
at his own expense. Leone Vita Pesaro left an income for the
support of candidates for the rabbinate ; In 1837 his descendants
made this a permanent endowment, under the administration
of the rabbi, for the support of theological studies and for the
increase of the library.
As in 1416 and 1418, so also later the Ferrara com-
munity took an interest in general Jevi^ish matters.
Twice it had the honor of being the
Share meeting-place of an assembly of Italian
in General Jewish notables. Shortly after the
Jewish burning of rabbinical writings, June
Interests. 31, 1554, fourteen representatives from
Rome, Mantua, Ferrara, Bologna, Reg-
gio, Modena, Padua, and Venice met under the pres-
idency of Rabbi Meir Katzenellenbogen to deliberate
on some important social questions and to strengthen
the moral condition of the Italian communities. The
resolutions of this conference have remained in force
till the present time. In view of restrictions placed
by the censorship laws upon the printing of He-
brew books, it was decided to publish no new book
without the approbation ("haskamah ") of three or-
dained rabbis. Every Israelite who bought books
without an approbation was to be lined 25 scudi. It
was also resolved that lawsuits were not to be
brought by Jews in Christian courts without the
permission of the community or rabbi. Decisions
in civil suits were not to be recorded without
the permission of the parties concerned. No rabbi
might give a legal decision in the community of an-
other rabbi unless the latter had previously given
his permission and had refused to adjudicate the case
himself. The enactment of R. Gershon concerning
the perpetual right of lease was renewed and devel-
oped in Italy into the " jus gazaka," which was valid
everywhei-e in the ghettos, even in the most ancient
times. Gershom's prohibition of polygamy was also
enforced. Whoever betrothed himself to a girl
under ten years of age witliout the permission of the
parents or guardians was to be excommunicated to-
gether with his witnesses. Finally, another clause
was added, by which money-trading was condemned,
and usury was threatened with severe punishment.
The representatives of Ferrara who signed the
371
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Ferrara
' f»fi"» pWr> ^^(^W oioS'J) )i6o^DmJ p^DD)3 )3^6")D 'PW f»f
>>
protocol wereElhanan ben Isaac da Fano, Samuel b.
.Mazliah Finzi, ami Isaac ben Joseph Abnivanel.
The destnictioii of Hebrew literature ti)roii,i;h the
Inquisition likewise necessitated the interposition
of the Ferrara community. After the Council of
Trent tlie fate of Hebrew books was uncertain.
On this account
Abtalion ben
Monlecai da 31o-
dena, rabbi of
Ferrara, in 1581 \
visited Pope p
Gregory XIV. f
at Rome. After
many interviews
in Latin, one of I
which concern- >
ing the Talmud \
lasted more than ■
two hours, he ob-
tained a respite
of the confisca-
tion ; but this did
not remove the
danger perma
nently. Under
Sixtus v., who
showed the Jews
a toleration
which seems in-
credible for that
time, Jewish lit-
erature was
again untram-
meled. The Fer-
rara community
bore its share in
thesacriticesand
the difficult ne-
gotiations Avliich
the passage of
this measure had
made necessary.
It concurred in
the resolution of
the most promi-
nent Italian com-
munities to carry
out through a
commission a
previous censor-
sliip of their own
for Hebrew
books; after-
ward at the Con-
gress of Padua
it was resolved
to raise, b} a spe-
cial ta.\ to be de-
posited in a central treasury at Ferrara in the care of
Solomon da Fano, the amount neces-
Censorship sary to cover the expenses of this cen-
of Jewish sorslnp and of the reprinting of the
Books. Talnuid. A commission sent to Kome
under the leadership of Bezaleel Mas-
sari, which obtained permission to own and to
n
r
h
r-
s
■2
:3V
^
%)ir>ppp "JD^ fi'iVSpD phi Jppij Oj}.*' rbb
PSni , {»•?' ^\:b6i 'l')pr& pn pjjjip
Lust Page from Hasdai Crescas' "Or Adonai," Ferrara,
Abraham Usque.
(In the Columbia University Library, New York.)
print Hebrew books after a previous censorship
and expurgation, included deputies from Ferrara.
When new opposition to the printing of the Tal-
mud arose, further sums were raised by the com-
munities of ^lantua and Ferrara, which pledged
themselves to take 700 copies of the proposed Tal-
mud edition.
The commission
for the expur-
gation of He-
brew books was
formed in loOO,
and. Ferrara
having again
raised the neces-
sary funds, the
ban against the
Talmud was re-
moved. That
the Talmud was
saved from the
destruction to
which it had
been condemned
was probably
owing to the self -
sacrifice of the
Ferra ra and
Mantua comnui-
nities (Stern,
"Urkundliche
Beitrageiiberdie
Stellung der
Papste zu den
Juden," i., Nos.
141 et seq.). All
the later and less
important at-
tacks upon Jew-
ish literature
were easilj' re-
pelled after this
first victory.
It is not until
the nineteenth
century that the
community
again appears as
representative of
general Jewish
interests. Tlie
Ferrara physi-
cian Bondi - Za-
morain attended
the Sanhedrin in
Paris, and com-
posed an ode in
Hebrew and
Latin for the
opening of tlie council's first session. The Alliance
Israelite L'niversclle as soon as it was organized
found adherents at Ferrara, and, under the guid-
ance of Rabbi Ascoli and Advocate Leone Ra-
venna, almost the wliole communitv joined the new
union.
In oi<ler to adjust the aflfairsof the Italian commu-
I
J
1555, Bearing Iiupriut uf
Ferrara
Ferrus
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
372
nity to the changed conditions, thirtj'-one delegates
met at Ferrara on 'May 12, 18G3; they protested ener-
getically against the frequent forcible baptism of
Jewish children, and resolved to ask the government
for a reform of the laws of the community and for tlie
right of the rabbis to grant divorces. They further
proposed to make religious instruction obligatory,
in order to promote a sense of religious duty ; to
disseminate good books on Jew-s and Judaism; and
to found an Italian rabbinical seminary. Their reso-
lutions remained without effect, however, and the
congress wliich met at Florence in 1867, at which
Ferrara was again represented, was equally un-
successful.
The Jewish community of Ferrara takes pride in
its possession of names held in high repute in Jewish
history and in the world of letters. Moses b. Meir
of the thirteenth century, Solomon
Rabbis and Hasdai of the fourteenth, and Elia di
Scholars. Ferrara and Menahem b. Perez Tra-
botti of the fifteenth deserve especial
mention. In 1467 flourished the famous surgeon
Jacob, court physician to the Estes, who brought
Ercole I. through a serious sickness. In the six-
teenth century the number of learned men must
have been very great. In 1573 a rabbinical society
was organized for the education of rabbis and
teachers.
The Orientalist Emanuel Tremellius taught at the
university; lie was baptized, fled from Italy in 1542,
and is said to have returned to Judaism at Heidel-
berg. A few years later Abraham Gallo (Francese
Zarfati ?) held the professorship in Hebrew at the
Ferrara University. The Marauo Amatus Lusitanus
was a professor of botany and anatomy, and also one
of the prominent physicians of his time. Raffaello
Mirami was a physician and mathematician. Many
Jews attended the medical lectures of the famous
Brasavola. Elia Pirro (about 1535) is often men-
tioned as a Latin poet. The sons and grandsons of
Don Isaac Abravanel lived at Ferrara, and most of
them are buried there. Don Isaac II. rendered
especially important services to the community
(see above); and of equal prominence for a long
time was Donna Gracia Mendesia, who, with her
daughters Gracia and Eeyna, and her son-in law
Joseph of Naxos, took refuge under the mild rule of
the Estes. Under her protection lived the brothers
Usque (see Ferrar-v, Typography) and their rela-
tive, the poet Samuel Usque, author of the " Consola-
pamas Tribula(;oes de Ysrael " (e. 1565). Azariah dei
Rossi, author of "Me'or 'Enayiin," likewise lived
at Ferrara ; as did Abraham Colorni, architect and
mechanician, whose services were sought by many
courts of Italy and Germany, and Ronajuto Alatino,
who in April, 1617, was compelled to take part in a
public religious disputation.
During ghetto times there were among the rabbis
of Ferrara several who were also famous as philo-
Spphical writers and physicians. Among these Isaac
Lampronti occupies an lionorable position ; his
fame is conuueniorated b\' a tablet placed by the
city of Ferrara in 1872 in the wall of tlie house
in which he had lived. Of merchants Moses Vita
CoEN was prominent and highly honored by the
papal court. During the famine of 1764 lie supplied
the papal government with grain; a namesake of
his, Moses Coen, was mayor of the city during the
French occupation in 1799.
Leone Carpi and Enca Cavalieri are distinguished
modern representatives of the community, and are
also members of the Italian Parliament. Rossi and
Angelo Castclbolognesi, travelers and explorers,
should also be mentioned, as well as the Reggio
famil)', all of whom belong to Ferrara.
The following is a list of the rabbis of Ferrara:
Jacob b. Jekuthiel Corinaldo (beginning of sixteenth cen-
tury).
Judah Liwa (1511).
David Levi.
Zion Asher ben Eliakim Levi.
Eliezer ben Samuel Ventura (1534).
Menahem ben Perez Trabolti.
Perez ben Menahem Trabotti.
Solomon ben Moses Castelletto (1534).
Johanan Treves.
Joseph ben Hayyim (1546).
David Darshan Isaac al-Hakim (15.53).
Ishmael Hanina.
Abraham ben Daud da Modena.
Solomon Modena.
Jehiel II. ben Azriel II. Trabotti.
Benjamin Saul ben Eliezer dei Rossi.
Raphael Joseph ben Johanan Treves.
Barueh Uzziel ben Baruch Forti (1557).
Abraham beu Dia.
Isaac ben Joseph da Monselice (first rabbi after the founding
of the Academy).
Moses ben Israel Finzi da Arezzo.
Aaron ben Israel Finzi da Arezzo.
Jehiel Nisslm ben Samuel da Pisa.
Ishmael Hanina ben Mordecai Rofe da Valmontano.
Joseph Fikas of Fez.
Benjamin ben Ephraim Finzi (close of the sixteenth century).
Hezekiah ben Benjamin Finzi.
Abraham ben Yakar (1590).
Abraham Jaghel ben Hananiah da Monselice.
Jacob Moses Ayash.
Abtalion ben Mordecai of Modena (seventeenth century).
Moses ben Menahem da Terracina.
Eliezer David ben Ezekiel del Bene.
Mordecai ben David Carpaneti.
Hananiah Jaghel Monselice (1630).
Judah Azael ben Eliezer del Bene (1650-65),
Menahem Recanati.
Pelatiah ben Hananiah Monselice.
Isaac Jedidiah ben Samuel Borghi.
Mennhem ben Elisha Cases.
Phineas ben Pelatiah Monselice.
Hananiah Cases.
Jacob ben Isaac Zahalun.
Mordecai Recanati.
Isaac Lampronti.
Mordecai Zahalun (eighteenth century).
Sabbato Sanguinetti.
Raphael Emanuel Hal Rechl.
Felice Umano.
Joseph ben Isaac Jedidiah.
Samuel Baruch ben Joseph Hezekiah Borghl.
Elisha Michael Finzi.
Jacob Daniel ben Abraham Olmo (17.57).
Jacob Moses Ayash.
Joseph Mordecai Carpaneti.
Samuel Bar Shalom Finzi.
Nehemiah ben Baruch Coen.
Isaac ben Close Israel N'orsa.
Moses Isaac Hai Pesaro.
Jacob Hai Recanati.
Judah Hezekiah delta Vida (d. 1808).
Joseph ben David Bassani (1827).
Elhanan Sabbato Pesaro (1828).
Issachar Ezekiel Reggio (1837).
Leone Reggio ben Issachar (1870).
Isaac Elijah Menahem Ascoli (1875).
Benedeuo Levi (1880).
Giuseppe Jare ( ).
E. c. L E.
373
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Ferrara
Ferrus
Typography: Ferrara contained a Hebrew
printing-press as early as the tifteeutli century. In
1476, almost contemporaneously with Hegu;io and
Pieve di Sacco, Abraham b. Hayyim (D'^yuvn jO) of
Pesaro established a printing-press which competed
with Conat's at Mantua. Abraham, however, pro-
duced (1477) only two works there, Levi b. Gershon's
commentary on Job, and the greater part of the Tur
Yoreh De'ab, begun by Conat in 1475 (see Zunz,
"Z. G." pp.218 et seq.). Abraham then removed
to Bologna. In lOol Samuel Gullus established
a printing-house at Ferrara, and produced si.x
works, Isaac Abravanel's "Ma'yeue ha-Yeshu"ah "
(1551) and live others (1552), the last being R. Meir's
"Hilkot ha-Re'ah." In tlie latter year Abraham
Usque established a press, which existed until 1558.
In the first year he printed only Juda^o-Spanish and
Portuguese works; but in 1558-58 he printed, ac-
cording to De Rossi, twenty-seven Hebrew works,
the first being Simon b. Zemal.i Duran"s commentary
to the Sukkot "Hosha'uot" and the last R. Perez's
"Ma'areket ha-Elohut." Steinschneider and Cassel
(in Ersch and Gruber, "Encyc." section ii., part 28,
p. 45) state that the "Amarot Tehorot" must be
omitted, and the " Me'ah Berakot " and " Seder Ma'a-
madot " added to the list. Since 1558 only one He-
brew work is known to have been printed at Ferrara
— at Filoni's printing house — viz., "Siddur mi-
Berakah," the Italian liturgy (1693). The printers
of this book were Joseph Nissim and Abraham
Hayyim of Fano.
Bibliography: G. B. de Rossi, De. Typographia Hcbrcco-
Ferrar-iensi, Parma, 1780.
J. M. Sel.
FERRARA BIBLE. See Bible Editions.
FERRARA, MOSES BEN MEIR: Italian
tosafi.st of the thirteenth century. He was a con-
temporary of Eleazar ben Samuel and of Isaiah ben
Mali. No details of his life are known. He is
quoted three times as a tosafist in "Haggahot Mai-
muni " (" Tefillah," ch. xi. ; " Yom-Tob,"ch. iii., iv.) ;
according to this same work ("' Hamcz u-Mazzah,"
ch. 8), he copied R. Judah's tosafot to Berakot.
Bibliography: Mortara, Iiidice, p. 21; Zunz, Z. G. p. 57;
Heilprin, Seder ha-Di>rf>t, ed. Warsaw, 1889, i. 809 ; Benjacob,
Ozar ha-Sefarim, p. 625; Giideinann, Gcsch. dcs Erzic-
hungswesens. ii. 185.
s. s. A. Pe.
FERREOLUS : Bishop of Uz^-s, France (553-
581). As soon as he had obtained the bishopric he
showed great zeal in trying to convert the many
Jews of LTz^s. At first he treated them kindly, even
inviting them to his table. Complaint was brought
against him for this action ; and Childebert I. ban-
ished him to Paris for three years. In 558 Ferreolus,
having proved his innocence, returned to his dio-
cese, but changed his attitude toward the Jews. He
convoked a synod for the purpose of converting
them by persuasion or by force. Many embraced
Christianity, and those who resisted conversion were
driven from the diocese. After his death (581) sev-
eral of his converts returned to Judaism.
Bibliography: Aronius, Regesten z. Ge^ch. d. Jitrff?i,pp. 11,
12, Berlin, 1900 ; Marcus Antonius Dominici, Vita FerreoU,
p. 27, Paris. 1648; E. Niibling, DieJudengemeinden des Mit-
telalters, p. 113, Ulm, 1896; Gross, Gallia Judaica, p. 24.
G.
M. Sel.
FERRER, VICENTE: Spanish Dominican
preacher; boiu at Valencia Jan. 23, 1350; died at
V'annes, France, April 5, 1419. Basnage supposes
tliat he was of Jewish descent (" Ilistoire des Juifs,"
xiv. 701). He entered the Dominican order in Va-
lencia Feb. 5, 1374, and studied at the University
of Lerida (1382-84). From 1385 he preached in
the Cathedral of Valencia, and soon became famous
for his pulpit eloquence. In 1395 he became con-
fessor and private chaplain to the antipope Benedict
XIII. at Avignon. In 1398, however, he became a
wandering preacher, and traveled through Spain,
France, Italy, and Germany. He had a regular ret-
inue of about 300 Flagellants. At times the people
followed him in crowds of thousands, forsaking
temporarily their occupations to hear him preach or
to be cured by him. The appearance of Ferrer in
Spain was one of the principal factors leading to the
expulsion of the Jews.
Ferrer saw in the Jews the greatest impediment
to his holy mission, and in their conversion a daily
proof of it. Therefore he zealously endeavored to
bring them into the fold of the Church, imposing
upon them, as Jews, many limitations and burdens,
and promising them, in the event of conversion,
freedom and the pleasures of life. With uplifted
cross he forced his way into sj'nagogues and
dedicated them as churches, as in Valencia (1391),
Santiago (1408), and Alcaniz (1413). His first sig-
nificant conversion was that of the rabbi Solomon
Levi of Burgos, known as " Paulus Burgen.sis " (1390'
or 1391), who, with Ferrer, caused the promulga-
tion of the Castilian edict (Jan. 12, 1412), containing
twenty-four articles against the Jews, and creating
the " Juderias, " or ghettos. According to Rodriguez
de Castro, in 1412 Ferrer converted in Alcaniz Jo.shua
Lorki, known as "Geronimo de Santa Fe," who led
the discussion against the Jews at the disputation
of Tortosa (1413).
Bibliography : The biography by Razzano (1455) forms the basis
of the numerous later ones, fages, Hii<t. de Saint Vinceiit
FcrrieVy i. 86, Paris, n.d. (1894?) ; Heller, Vincenz Ferrer. Sein
Leben und Wirkeit, Berlin, 1855; Pradel, Saint Vincetit
Ferrier, 1864; Bayle, Vie de Saint Vincoit Ferrer, 1855;
P. Meyer, in Romania, 1881, p. 226; Antoine Thomas, in An-
nates du Midi, 1892, pp. ZHi. 380; Pastor, (rf.sc?!. dcr Piibate,
i.; Wetzer and Welte, Kirchenlexicon, xii. 978; Hixi. Jahrb.
der G6rresgef<elhf)iaft, 1896, p. 24; Kayserling, Gesch.der
Juden in Port^nial. p. 40.
G. M. Sc.
FERRET: The rendering in the Authorized
Version of the Hebrew "anakah" (Lev. xi. 30).
The Septuagint has fj-vya/.T] ("shrew-mouse"); but
from the context it appears that some kind of lizard
is meant. The Revised Version gives "gecko " (see
Lizard). Some identify the ferret Avith the "tela-
ilan," which the striped "tahash" is said to resem-
ble (Shab. 28a). The tela-ilan is described by the
'Aruk as a "small animal resembling a cat; unclean,
.striped, and trained to catch rabbits; called in Ara-
bic ' zabzib,' and in Greek jfj'x N^n [?]•"
Bibliography : L. Levysohn, Zoologie des Talnmds, p. 95.
E. G. H. I. M. C.
FERRUS, PETER : Jewish convert to Chris-
tianity ; lived in Spain in the fifteenth century. A
poet of ability, he exercised his talents in deriding
his former coreligionists. Juan Alfonso de Baena,
in his "Canzionero," cites four poems by Ferrus,
Ferussol
Festivals
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
374
one of which is directed against the rabbis of Alcala.
His attacivs did not remain unanswered, for Juan
Alfonso cites a poem written 1)y the rabbis in reply
to him.
Bibi.io(;kapiiy : Rodriguez de Castro. Bibliotlicca, i. 31(1;
Amador de los lUos, Estudios. pp. 421 et t>T(/.; Kayserling,
SeiJhnrdim, p. 73, Gratz, Gcscli. viii. 7\).
G. I. Bu.
FERUSSOL, COMPRAT VIDAL. See Fa-
uissoL, Jacob ben Hayyim.
FESSLEB, SIGISMTJND : Austrian lawyer
and author; born at Vienna Aug. 26, 1845; edu-
cated at the gymnasium and university of that city.
He was appointed (1868) judge at the Landes-
gericht, which office he resigned in 1870. Since
1875 he has practised law in Vienna. He was
elected secretary of the Museum fur Oesterreich-
ische Volkskunde in 1894.
Fessler has voyaged to the polar seas, Africa,
Palestine, Greece, and Italy, and has published
accounts of his experiences in various Austrian
and German dailies and magazines. He is the au-
thor of " Abarbanel " and " Die Letzten Tage von
Carthag " (dramas); "Juvenes dum Sumus" (hu-
morous novel) ; " Humoreskcn aus dem Ghetto von
Nikolsburg"; and "Ghetto Leute."
s. F. T. H.
FESTIVALS.— Biblical Data: The Hebrews
designated a festival by the word "hag" (the Arabic
"hajj "), originally implying a choragic rhythmic
procession around the shrine of an idol or an altar (see
Wellhausen, " Skizzen und Vorarbeiten," iii. 106);
but later, without specific reference to this usage,
connoting a day or season of joy ("hag" and "sim-
hah " are correlatives ; comp. Amos viii. 10 ; Deut.xvi.
14). As fixed festivals occurred at appointed times,
they came to be known as " mo'adim " or " mo'ade
Yhwh " ; and these became the technical terms for
the prescribed holidays, with one exception (Lev.
xxiii. 2) always connoting festivals to the exclusion
of the Sabbath and New Moon (Ex. xiii. 10, xxiii. 15,
xxxiv. 18; Num. ix. 2, 3, 7; xxviii. 2; Deut. xvi. 6;
Isa. i. 14, xxxiii. 20), while "hag" denotes more
specifically the three agricultural festivals (Ex.
xxiii. 14), or the Festival of Unleavened Bread and
Tabernacles (Lev. xxiii. 6, 34), or the latter only
(Judges xxi. 19; Ezek. xlv. 25; II Chron. v. 3; see
Bertheau on II Chron. vii. 8, 9).
Traces of old popular festivals indicative of the
manner of their observance show that sacrifices were
an important feature, usually leading up to feasting
(eating and drinking; see Ex. xxxii. 6). Marriage
games (see Dancing), probably imitative of former
marriage by capture (Judges xxi. 21), persisted even
down to the time of the Second Temple ; and de-
bauch and revelry were by no means rare (Amos ii.
7-8; comp. I Sam. i. 13-14).
The following are the religious festivals ordained
in the Law or referred to in the Old Testament:
The Sabbath (Ex. xx. 10; Deut. v. 14), marked
by the cessation of all labor (Amos viii. 15), regarded
as a day of joy (Hosea ii. 13), and observed with
offerings to Yhwh (Isa. i. 13; Ezek. xlvi. 4). See
Sabbath.
Rosh Hodesh, or simply Hodesh (Day of the
New Moon), mentioned in the prophetic writings in
connection witii the Sabbath (Hosea ii. 13; Isa. i. 3;
II Kings iv. 23; Isa. Ixvi. 23; Hag. i. 1), and
marked in the Law by special sacrifices (Num. xxviii.
14, xxix. 6; comp. Ezra iii. 5). See New Moon.
Pesah (Passover; Ex. xii. 1-28), the "Hag ha-
Mazzot" (Ex. xxiii. 14; Lev. xxiii. 4-8), in com-
memoration of Israel's liberation from Egypt. It
lasted seven days, from the fifteenth to the twenty-
second of Nisan, the first and the last day being
"holy convocations," with abstention from hard la-
bor and tlie offering of sacrifices (comp. Num. xxviii.
16-25 ; Deut. xvi. 1-8). On the second day the first-
fruit (barley) 'omer was offered (Lev. xxiii. 10).
Tho.se that were in a state of impurity or distant
from home were bidden to celebrate the festival in
the next succeeding month (Num. ix. 1-14). See
Passover.
Shabu'ot (Festival of Weeks; Ex. xxxiv. 22),
" the feast of the harvest, the first-fruits of thy
labors " (Ex. xxiii. 16), the day on which to offer, at
the conclusion of seven weeks counted from the day
after Pesah (Sabbath), the new meal-offering, ''two
wave-loaves . . . the first-fruits unto Yhwh," with
animal burnt-offerings and drink-offerings and sin-
offerings and peace-offerings (Lev. xxiii. 15-22, R.
v.; Deut.xvi. 10-12; Num. xxviii. 26-30). The
festival was marked by abstention fiom hard labor,
and by a holy convocation. See Pentecost.
Yom Teru'ah (Blowing of the Trumpets; Num.
xxix. 1; comp. ib. x. 10), or " Zikron Teru'ah"
(a memorial of blowing of trumpets; Lev. xxiii. 24),
the first day of the seventh month, a holy convo-
cation with cessation of hard labor and prescribed
fire-offerings. See New-Year.
Yom ha-Kippurim (Day of Atonement), the
tenth day of the seventh month, "a Sabbath of
rest" ("Shabbat Shab baton "), with fire-offerings,
and holy convocation, with absolute cessation of all
labor, under penalty of excision ("karet"), and with
fasting (Lev. xxiii. 26; Num. xxix. 7-11). See
Atonement, Day of.
Sukkot (Festival of Booths [" tabernacles " ;
Lev. xxiii. 34; Deut. xvi. 13J), lasting seven da3^s,
from the fifteenth to the twenty-second of the tenth
month (Tishri), the first day being a holy convoca-
tion. For seven days offerings had to be brought
(Num. xxix. 13), the eighth day being also a holy
convocation ("'Azeret"; Num. xxix. 35). Labor
ceased on the first and eighth days. This feast was
also known as "Hag ha-Asif " ("the festival of in-
gathering"; Ex. xxiii. 16). The celebration was
marked by the erection of booths, in which to dwell
during seven days, and by the waving of palm-leaves
with the fruit of the "'ezhadar" ("goodly tree";
Lev. xxiii. 40). See Tabernacles, Feast of.
Post-Biblical Data: In post-Biblical times
(in which "Yom Tob " as a technical term for "fes-
tival" comes into use) the character and appella-
tions of many of the Biblical festivals were modi-
fied, and their number was increased by the addition
of new semi-holida3's and by the investing with
sanctity of the days immediately following the holy
days prescribed in the Law, except in the case of
the Day of Atonement and the Sabbath. These
".second days," known as "the second holidays of
the Diaspora" (Yer. Ta'an. i. 62d; Bezah 4b), owed
375
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Ferussol
Festivals
their institution to tlie desire to have all Israel ob-
serve the festivals upon the same day (Sifra ix. 1).
But before the fixation of the calendar by calcula-
tion, the beginning of the doubtful months (those
having 29 or 30 days) and the intercalation of the
year depended upon the decision of the Jerusalem
authorities, which decision was based upon the ap-
pearance of the new moon and upon the state of the
crops. In the case of the mouths in which festivals
occurred (R. H. i. 3), the authorities announced their
decision to the outlying districts by means of fire-
signals and messengers. In order, therefore, to make
sure of not ignoring the proper day, the communities
in the Diaspora added a second holiday to the day
presumptively correct according to their calculation.
Later, when such doubt was precluded by the
method of determining the calendar by calculation,
the custom was nevertheless sanctioned on the
ground that the "minhag of the fathers" should be
scrupulously regarded (Bczah 4b). Even the first
of Tishri was extended to two days (considered,
however, as one long day), because during the exist-
ence of the Temple the second day of Tishri was
observed as holy, the witnesses to the appearance of
the new moon having arrived only in the afternoon
of the first of Tishri. These " second days " are not
observed in Reform congregations. See Second
Day of Festivals. The "semi-holidays" of later
origin than the Torah are :
Purim, generally on the fourteenth of Adar ; but
for tlie cities with walls dating from Joshua's days
(Meg. i. 1-3; Shek. 1. 1), on the fif-
Additional teenth. It is a day of rejoicing and
Festivals, merrymaking, in commemoration of
the events related in the Book of Es-
ther. See Esther; Purim.
Hanukkah. (Festival of Dedication), from the
twenty-fifth of Kislew to the third of Tebet, in
commemoration of the events recorded in I Mace,
iv. 59. According to II Mace. i. 9, 18; ii. 16; x.
8, it is a belated Tabernacles; called the "Festival of
Lights" by Josephus ("Ant." xii. 7, § 7; comp.
Shab. 21b; B. K. vi. 6; Yer. Suk. 53d). See Ha-
nukkah.
Josephus mentions ("B. J." ii. 17, § 6) a festival
in connection with the carrying of wood (comp.
Neh. X. 35, xiii. 31), on the fifteenth of Ab (see
Schurer, "Geschichte," 3ded.,ii. 260; Ta'an. iv. 5,
8; Meg. Ta'an. xi. ; Derenbourg, "Essai," pp. 443,
445).
The Alexandrian Jews observed as joyful memo-
rial days: (1) one to commemorate their escape from
the elephants of Ptolemy VII. Physcon (III Mace,
vi. 36) ; (2) one in honor of the translation of the
Bible into Greek (Philo, "Vita Mosis," ii. g 7).
The following modifications of the significance
and designation of the Biblical holidays in post-
Biblical times may be noted :
(n) The first of Tishri becomes. the "Rosh ha-
Shanah," in Aramaic " Resh Shatta " (R. H. i. 1). It
is the day of judgment (R. H. I.e.), and thus assumes
a more solemn character, though fasting is inter-
dicted (Ta'an. ii. 10; Yer. Ta'an.'eea). The blowing
of the shofar is invested with theological and mystic
significance ("Malkiyyot, Zikronot, we-Shoferot ";
R. H. iv. 5, 6, 9; Yer. R. II. 58d). See Shofar.
(b) On Pesah the Seder, or meal introducing the
festal week, takes the i)]ace of the paschal lamb
(Pes. X. ; Yer. Pes. 37d). The season itself has come
to be designated in the prayers as ljn"l"in jOT ("the
time of our liberation ").
(r) Shabu'()t(also 'Azeret). The proper counting
of the seven weeks was, between the Sadducees and
Pharisees, a point of controversy hinging on the
Biblical phrase "mi-mohoratha-Shabbat" (Lev.xxiii.
15), whicli, against the literal construction by the
former, was authoritatively and demonstratively ex-
plained to mean the day after the first day of Pesah
(Sifra, ed. Weiss, p. lOOd; Men. x. 3). The designa-
tion " 'Azeret" marks it as the concluding festival
of Pesah. In the later liturgy it is celebrated as the
"zeman mattan toratenu" (comp. Shab. 86b), the
memorial-tide of the revelation on Sinai.
((Z) The second or " minor " Pesah (" Pisah Ze'era " ;
see Num. ix. 1 et seq.) fell into desuetude after the
passing of the Temple service with its requirements
of jiurity and sacrifices.
((?) Sukkot becomes the "hag " par excellence. In
the liturgy it is denoted as " zeman simhatenu " (the
time of our joy). The eve of tlie second day, in the
Second Temple, was proverbial for the rejoicing
attendant upon the ceremonial drawing of water
("simhat betha-sho'ebah" ; Suk. v. 1), on which oc-
casion priests and Levites in stately torchlight i)ro-
cession, with singing, the blowing of trumpets, and
the plaj'ing of other instruments, made the circuit
of the Temple court to the eastern gate, reciting
and repeating there the declaration that while the
Fathers bowed eastward to the rising sun, they be-
longed to Y'nwH and their eyes were lifted toward
Him (Suk. v. 1-4). During that night Jerusalem
was brilliantly illuminated.
The seventh day of the festival is distinguished as
the " great Hosha'na " (the Gospel accounts of Jesus'
entry on Palm Sunday seem to have
Extension confused this with Pesah), or " the day
of Sukkot. of the palm- and willow-branches"
(Suk. 42-45). Carrying in their hands
branches at least eleven feet long, the celebrants
make seven circuits around the desk, chanting
"Hosha'na" (Ps. cxviii. 25), and then beat the fioor
with the branches. This custom, said to be of Mo-
saic origin, is undoubtedly an adaptation of a Baby-
lonian rite (Yer. 'Ab. Zarah iv.).
The eighth day, Shemini 'Azeret, is treated as
an independent holiday in regard to certain rabbin-
ical prescriptions (mourning, for example). It is a
"yom-tob bi-f'ne 'azmo." See Shemini 'Azeret.
The ninth day is styled " Simhat Torah " (joy of
the Torah), because it marks the conclusion of the
(annual) cycle of Pentateuchal lessons and the be-
ginning of a new cycle. See Law, Reading of
the; Si.mhat Torah.
(/) The New Moon, in Biblical times a holiday
(I Sam. XX. 18, 24-27; II Kings iv. 23), came to be
regarded as a day of penitence, owing to the circum-
stance that among the sacrifices prescribed is also a
sin-offering (Num. xxviii. 11-16). This sin-offering
was said to have been instituted on account of the
moon's jealousy of the sun (Sheb. 9; Gen. R. vi. ;
Hul. 60b; Zohar, Wayikra); or, according to others,
it is an atonement for the sins committed during
Festivals
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
376
the preceding month (Sheb. i. ) ; thus the day is called
in the liturgy "zeman kapparah " (the time of atone-
ment). Yet, 'vitlial, it remained a day of joy, on
which fasting was not permitted; women abstained
from petty manual occupations (Soferim xix.). But
by the cabalists in recent centuries it was changed
into the "MiuorDay of Atonement" ('' Yom Kippur
Katon ").
The days intervening between the "holy [convo-
cation] days " (the first or second and seventh or
eighth respectively) of Pesah and Sukkotare known
as " hoi ha-mo'ed " (" the week-days of the festival "),
entailing certain restrictions regarding work, mourn-
ing, the solemnization of marriages, and the like.
See HoL ha-Mo'ed.
The Biblical festivals readily fall into two groups:
(1) Those dependent upon the seasons or the har-
vest (Pesah and Shabu'ot in spring and summer,
and Sukkot in autumn). As tlie Law prescribes that
at those festivals " every male shall appear before
[correctly, "shall see"] Yiiwii " (Deut. xvi. 16), thus
demanding pilgrimages to the Temple, these com-
prise the "pilgrim festivals," the three "regalim"
(Ex. xxiii. 14) on which the "re'iy-
Classifica- yah," i.e., the visit to the Temple
tion of court, took place. The Mishnaic term
Festivals, fortius visit is"re'iyyatpanim " (Yer.
Peah i. 15a), or "re'ayon" (Peah i. 1),
or, as none was to come empty-handed, but must
bring a gift, "re'iyyat korban." This obligation
rested on all male Israelites, with the exception of
such as were under age or afflicted with deafness or
a mental defect. The gift had to be worth at least
two silver denarim according to Shammai's school;
while the Hillelites contended that a silver " ma'ah"
was sufficient (Hag. i. 1, 2a ; comp. ib. 6a). The num-
ber of visits was not fixed (Peah i. 1 ; but see Bezah
7a, and R. Johanan in Tosafot ad loc. ; Levy," Chald.
Worterb." iii. 406a). The character of these three
festivals is agricultural ; hence the fundamental note
is joy and gratitude (Deut. xvi. 11, 14, 15).
(2) Those connected with the moon : («) Sabbath ; {b)
New Moon ; (c) the New Moon of the seventh month,
and {d), in connection with the seventh month, the
tenth day thereof. The Sabbath and the New Moon
festivals were certainly days of joy ; but the first and
the tenth of Tishri developed into days for solemn
reflection, and in course of time in the synagogue
were designated as "yamim nora'im" (fearful [aw-
ful] days), though the endeavor to ascribe to them
also the nature of days of joy was not wanting
(see Mahzor Vitry, ed. Hurwitz, p. 360). The ten
days intervening are styled " 'aseret yeme teshubah "
(ten days of repentance); distinguished by additions
in certain parts of the liturgy.
It has been noticed that the Biblical festivals,
all of which occur within the first seven months of
the year, are seven in number, and that
The they are otherwise intended to bring
Influence of out the symbolic bearing of this the
Seven. sacred number. The Sabbath is the
seventh day ; the Sabbatical (" Shemit-
tah") year is the seventh year; the jubilee the first
after 7x7 years; 7x7 (—49) days elapse between
Pesah and Shabu'ot; Pesah and Sukkot each have
seven days; the seventh month has four holidays; the
first of the seventh month alone of all the New
Moon festivals being important. Of the seven fes-
tivals six are in a class requiring abstention from
only hard labor; on the seventh (the Day of Atone-
ment), as on the Sahl)ath, all labor is forbidden.
Hence both the Sabbath and the Day of Atonement
are "Shabbat Shabbaton " (Lev. xxiii. 24, 32, 39;
xvi. 31).
Critical View : When the Hebrews were still
nomadic shepherds they could not have observed
festivals having an agricultural background. Nor
before the establishment and recognition of one cen-
tral sanctuary, and the development of the sacerdo-
tal and sacrificial ritual, could fixed and well-defined
sacrifices have been the prominent feature of the
festal celebration. The laws in the Pentateuch that
bear on the festivals are, therefore, posterior to the in-
vasion and concjuest of Palestine ; and the analysis of
their contents and the comparison of their provisions,
with allusions to and descriptions of the festivals in
other Biblical books, demonstrate that the festal cycle
as finally regulated is the outcome of a long process
of growth in which the successive domination of
various social and religious influences may be clearly
differentiated. Of the pastoral period, the Sabbath,
the New Moon, and Pesah as the festival of the
.slaughtering of the young firstling of the flock, are
survivals, displaying even in their adaptation to
later social and theological circumstances the traces
of an anterior pastoral connection.
The moon was the beneficent deity of the shep-
herds in the region and climate where ancient Israel
had its ancestral home. Hence the
Pastoral many traces of lunar institutions in
Feasts. even the latest Israelitish cult and its
phra.seology ; c.r/., the "horn" (cres-
cent), the "face" (of Yhwii) in the benedictions, etc.
The Sabbath, as marking the end of the week, re-
veals its lunar origin ; the phases of the moon having
taught the shepherds, whose weal or wo depended
so largely upon the benevolence or malevolence of
the night season, to divide the period elapsing be-
tween two new moons into four equal groups
(weeks), the last day of each — in imitation of the
moon's coming to rest, as it were — becoming the
day of rest. Indications are not wanting that at first
the New Moon festival was not counted among the
seven days of the week (see Week) ; but after 7x4
(=28) days had elapsed, one or two days were inter-
calated as New Moon days, whereupon a new cycle
of four weeks began, so that the Sabbath was a mov-
able festival. Later the week and the Sabbath be-
came fixed ; and this gradually resulted in taking
away from the New Moon festival its popular
importance.
The Pesah lamb marks the spring festival of the
shepherd clans offering a gift to the deity, and
trysting their god at the common " family " feast,
before setting out for their several pasture-grounds.
In the appointments of tiie occasion, as described in
the chapter purporting to account for the institution
(Ex. xii.), the pastoral character is still dominant.
The " sprinkling of the blood " on the door-post re-
calls the "blood covenant" which insures safety to
both man and beast, and protects the flock from
harm. The Meccan hadj is, indeed, the old Semitic
377
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Festivals
Pesali — the limping dance in imitation of "skipping
rams." With the later agricultural spring festival
these pastoral customs were combined, but the Pesah
must originally have been distinct from the festival
of the Mazzot, which is clearly of an agricultural
nature.
The harvest is the natural provocation for the
farmer to rejoice and to manifest his gratitude to
the Godhead. Tiie oldest traditions
Agricul- (Judges xxi. 19; I Sam. i. 3) mention
tural a yearly festival of thanksgiving (" hil-
Festivals. lulim": Judges Ix. 27) after the vin-
tage; and it is this festival which even
later is called the festival (I Kings viii. 3, 65 ; xii. 32,
33; comp. Ezek. xlv. 25; Neh. viii. 14). It was cele-
brated first by dancing in the vineyards (Judges xxi.
21) ; later, by processions to festal halls (" leshakot " ;
I Sam. ix. 22), with music (Isa. xxx. 29) — at Shiloh,
for example (I Sam. 1. 3), at Beth el (I Kings xii.
32), and at Jerusalem (I Kings vi. 38, viii. 2; Isa.
xxix. 1). As these festivals increased, the necessity
arose of regulating them and of fixing them for cer-
tain seasons of the year; hence, in Isa. xxix. 1 allu-
sion is made to a regular cycle of the " haggim " cir-
cuiting the year.
The oldest code (Book of the Covenant), in Ex.
xxiii. \4:etseq., provides that three pilgrimages in
one year shall be made to the sanctuaries, not neces-
sarily to Jerusalem, as has been supposed, but to the
central shrine of the clan or tribe (comp. I Sam. xx.
6). The three festivals are purely agrarian; viz.:
the Hag ha-Mazzot (seven days), in the month of
Abib (Ex. xxxiv. 18, where there is no mention of
the slaughter of the lamb); the Hag ha-Kazir,
the wheat-harvest (Ex. xxxiv. 22a), for offering the
first-fruit ("bikkurim ") ; the Hag ha-
Traces of Asif, the old festival of the vintage
Devel- (see above). Deuteronomy retains
opment. this cycle, but makes pilgrimage to
Jerusalem imperative (Deut. xvi. 16).
It combines the old pastoral Pesah with the Mazzot
feast, but the offering of the firstlings (Deut. xvi. 2)
is merely intended as a sacrificial meal, the flesh
being boiled and not roasted (Deut. xvi. 7, against
Ex. xii. 8). Mazzot is historically connected with
the exodus from Egypt ("lehem 'oni"; Deut. xvi.
3). The second festival appears as "Hag ha-Sha-
bu'ot" (Deut. xvi. 10). The third is named "Hag
ha-Sukkot" (ib. xvi. 13), and lasts seven days (ti. 15).
In Deuteronomy the tendency Is manifest to give
these natural agrarian tides a religio-historical set-
ting. A further development is shown in the festi-
val scheme of Ezekiel, who divides the year into two
parts, each beginning with an expiatory celebration,
on the first day of the first and seventh months re-
spectively (Ezek. xlv. 18, 20; Cornill, "DasBuch des
Propheten Ezechiel," p. 494), and each celebration
followed after the lapse of fourteen days by a festi-
val of seven days (the spring or Pesah festival,
and the autnmn festival respectively) ; while stress
is mainly laid on the sacrificial cult. It may be
observed that Ezekiel neglects Shabu'ot.
Lev. xxiii. (P') marks another modification. The
three festivals are designated as the " Mo'ade YriWH "
(verse 2); and holy convocations are therefore the
distinguishing feature. Pesah is "la-Adonai," on
tiie fourteenth day, with exact regulation of the
time for slaughtering, followed by seven days of
the Mazzot, together with tlie offering of the first
of the barley (verses 9-11) and other sacrifices (verse
12b). The next festival is fixed for the fiftieth day
(verse 16) following, its distinguishing feature being
the offering of the two loaves of bread baked of
wheat (verse 17), in addition to other offerings (verses
18-20); but no name is given to this holiday. The
third festival is Hag ha-Sukkot (verse 34), lasting
seven days, with the addition of an eighth day (" 'aze-
ret " ; verse 36). Here the connection of this festival
with the history of Israel's desert-wanderings is first
mentioned (verses 42-43; comp. Hosea xii. 10).
P^ loses sight entirely of the natural bases of the
holidays. The historical and ritual aspect is ex-
clusively emphasized. In Num. xxviii. no mention
is made of the barley-offering characteristic else-
where of Pesah. Pesah is the memorial of the
Exodus (Ex. xii. 14), a ritual occasion ("'abodah,"
verse 26; "lei shinmiurim," verse 42). All details
concerning the lamb are scrupulously regulated,
and offerings are prescribed (Num. xxviii. 16-25).
Shabu'ot becomes the "Tom ha-Bikkurim" (Num.
xxviii. 26-31), without historical connection, but of
ritual significance. For Sukkot a very elaborate
sacrificial order is given (Num. xxix. 12-38).
From the foregoing it appears that the festivals,
in part originally pastoral and agricultural, gradu-
ally assumed a historical and ritual character: Pesah
and Mazzot, at first distinct, becoming
Summary, merged; Shabu'ot, originally the close
of the spring harvest, assuming his
torical significance only in Talmudic times (Pes.
68b) ; but, in the light of the Priestly Code, all three
festivals of the agricultural season being invested
with mainly sacrificial importance.
The pastoral moon festivals (Sabbath and New
Moon) underwent similar changes. Of the New
Moon festivals not mentioned in Deuteronomy, or
in JE, that of the seventh month alone survived as
an important holiday (see Lev. xxiii. 24 [P'J and
Num. X. 10 [P-^]).
Various reasons for this exceptional fate of this
New Moon festival are given. The fortuitous fact
that it was the new moon of the seventh month may
have lent to it a higher degree of sanctity from the
very beginning. Again, reckoning the beginning of
the ecclesiastical year from autumn, and not, as the
civil year, from spring (see Calendar ; New-Year),
may account for the survival. The building of the
wall under Nehemiah (Neh. iv.), and its dedication,
have also been brought (by Geiger) into connection
with the first day of the seventh month as a day of
memorial of the blowing of the shofar (Neh. xii. ;
comp. ib. viii. and ix.). Whatever may have been
the reason, the solemn celebration of this day is
post-exilic, probably even later than Ezra iii. 6 and
Neh. viii. 2.
The tenth day of the seventh month (see Atone-
ment, Day of) is not known to Ezekiel. It is in-
stituted in Lev. xxiii. 27. It was originally a
priestly day for the cleansing of the sanctuary (Sam-
uel Adler, in Stade's "Zeitschrift," iii. 178-185).
With it in course of time was combined an old
popular festival (see Dancing) : the late ritual is not
Festus
Feust
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
378
free from pagan (Edomite) survivals (see Azazei.).
The order of procedure, as giveu iu Lev. xvi., is a
very late addition to the Pentateuch. It is charac-
teristic of the very late introduction of this daj' as
the Day of Atonement that in Ezra's time (Neh. ix.
1) the twenty-fourth and not the tenth of the sev-
enth month was kept as a day of atonement.
In P the Sabbath is emphasized as a day of solemn
import (Ex. xvi. 27, xxxi. 12 et seq.)\ the New Moon
is held to be one of the cycle of feasts (Num. xxviii.
\\ et seq.); and in further extension of the ideas un-
derlying the Sabbath, the Sabbatical year and the
year of jubilee are instituted.
Bibliography : Wellhausen, Prolegomena, 4th ed., pp. 82-
117; SUide, Gesclt. ilcs }'olkcs Israel, 1887. pp. 497 et scq.;
Benzinger, Arch. pp. 404-478; Novvack, HebrUi-sche Anlui-
olngie, 1894, ii. 1:^8-203; Buhl, in Herzop-Hauck, Rcal-Enciic.
vii. 19; W. R. Smith, Tlic Old TrMamcnt in the JcwL^li
Church ; Green, The Hebrew Feasts, 1885 (atrainst the crit-
ical school); commentaries by Dillmann and Holzinger; Guthe,
Kurzes BibehoOrterb. s.v. Feste ; Hastings, Diet. Bible, and
Cheyne, Encyc. Bibl., s.v. Feai<ts; Riehm, Wurterb. s.v.
Feste; George, Die Aelt. Jlld. Feste, Berlin, 1835; Bach-
mann. Die Festgesetze des Pentateuclts.
E. G. II.
FESTUS, PORCIUS : Procurator of Judea
about 60-62 c.e., after Felix (Josephus, "Ant." xx.
8, § 9; "B. J." ii. 14, § 1). Although he was more
just than his predecessor, he could not allay the
intense bitterness of feeling among the Jews, caused
chiefly by their being slighted iu the affair of C-ESa-
UEA. Felix left him also the suit with Paul (Acts
xxiv-xxvi.), whom he sent to Rome (ib. xxvii.),
Paul having appealed to the emperor as a Roman
citizen. Festus proceeded Avitli rigor against the
SiCARii, pursuing them with infantry and cavalry.
He also took severe measures against a certain " ma-
gician," as Josephus calls him, but who was probably
one of the numerous prophets who enticed the people
into the desert, promising them salvation (compare
"Ant." I.e. ; "B. J." I.e.). When King Agiippa II.,
in order to be able to oversee the court of the Tem-
ple, erected a high wall in the former Ilasmonean
castle, the Jews in turn erected a higher wall to cut
oil' his view. Festus, however, for military reasons
would not allow this latter wall to stand ; but he was
just enough to permit the Jews to send an embass}' to
appeal against his decision to Nero, who decided in
their favor (•' Ant." xx. 8, § 11). Festus died after a
short term of office, and was succeeded by Albinus.
Bibliography: Gratz, Gesc/i. 4th ed., ili.441 ; Schiirer, Gcsch.
3d ed., i. 580; Buchler, Dos Synhedrion, p. 66, Vienna, 1902.
G. S. Kr.
FETTERS: Chains or shackles by which the
feet may be fastened either together or to some
lieavy object. The most usual term for fetters in
the Bible is " nehushtayim " (Judges xvi. 21; II
Sam. iii. 34; II Kings xxv. 7; Jer. xxxix. 7, lii. 11 ;
II Chron. xxxiii. 11, xxxvi. 6), indicating that they
were made of brass; the dual form shows that they
were made in pairs. There were also iron fetters,
called in Hebrew "kebel"; in Ps. cv. 18 this noun
is used in tlie singular, and in Ps. cxlix in the plural
construct state, which proves that the feet were
fastened by means of the fetters to some other object.
An additional Hebrew term for fetters is "zikkim"
(Job xxxvi. 8; Ps. cxllx. 8; Isa. xlv. 14; Nahum iii.
10), derived from a root meaning "to bind," and
which may be applied even to ropes. See Chains.
E. 0. " M. Ski..
FETTMILCH, VINCENT: Leader of the gilds
of Frankfort-on-the-Main against the Jews in 1612,
and instigator of the riots which led to the expulsion
of the latter from that citv in 1614; he was lianged
Vincent Fettmilch.
(From SchudI, " Judische Mcrckwurdigkeitco," 1"14-17.)
in 1616. Fettmilch came of a family of Calvinists,
and sought to revenge himself on the authorities,
who were Lutherans, by attacking the Jews. In
1595, being refused the-office of hos-
The Riot, pital clerk which he had solicited, he
became first a soldier and then a
" Lebkuchen "-baker. His boldness and energ}- won
for him the confidence of the rabble, and for four
years he was thus able to terrorize the magistrates of
Frankfort and the imperial commissioners. He called
liimself " the new Hainan " of the Jews, as though
he foresaw his end. His petitions for the expulsion
of the Jews from Frankfort being unsuccessful, he
with a large mob invaded the Jews' quarter on Aug.
23, 1614. Having removed the children and the
aged to the cemetery, situated at the fartlier end
of the street, the Jews, who numbered about 2,000,
took up arms and fought bravely. Several persons
Avere wounded, and two Jews and one Christian were
killed. The Jews were overpowered, and thej' left
the scene to protect their families. Fettmilch and
his men plundered the dwellings of the Jews and
burnt what they could not carry awaj'. The amount
of damage caused by this riot was reckoned at
176,919 florins.
The Jews who had sought shelter in the cemetery
were warned by Fettmilch to leave the town. The
Fishers' Gate was opened for them, and they era-
barked in small boats, some of them going up and
some down the River Main. Many who had been
sheltered by compassionate Christians were obliged
379
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Festus
Feust
to leave three daj's afterward, their protectors hav-
ing been threatened by Fettmilcli. Tlie total number
of Jews who left Frankfort was 1,380.
Finally, the patience of the emperor was ex-
hausted, and he issued au order for the arrest of
Fettmilch and his fellow agitators. Fettmileh, ow-
ing to his popularity Avith the rabble, ehuled the im-
perial commissioners for a long time, but he Avas
ultimately arrested and convicted. On ^Nlarch 10,
1G16, he was hanged and quartered, his house was
razed to the ground, and his family banished.
The Jewish community of Frankfort appointed
the twentieth of Adar to be a festival named
"Purim Winz," in memory of their deliverance, the
previous day being kept as a fast. The services of
FEUER, NATHANIEL : Hungarian oculist ;
born in [Szobotiszt, Hungary, Aug. 18, 1844. He
studied at the University of Vienna (M.D., 1872).
Assistant at the eye clinic of the Klausenburg Uni-
versity in 1873, he became i)rivat-docent at the same
institution in 1874. In 1875 he went as privat-
docent to Vienna, where he stayed till 1882; in that
year he was sent by the government as specialist to
There.sienstadt, where a severe epidemic of trachoma
was raging. In 188G he was appointed sanitary in-
spector at Budapest ; in 1891 privat-docent at the
university there ; and in 1895 assistant professor.
Feuer has written several important essays in
the ophthalmic journals, among which may be
mentioned "Das Trachom in der Oesterreichisch-
RioT Instigated by Vincent Fettmilch at Frankfort-on-the-Maix, Aug. 22, 1614.
(From H. M. Gottfried, "Chronica," 1042.)
this Purim consist of the singing of " Adou '01am"
to a special tune. R. Elhanan b. Abraham Helen
composed a long poem, in Judaeo-German and in
Hebrew, entitled "Megillat Winz," and in German
with the title " Das Vinz-Haus Lied," Avhich contains
the history of the persecution and the deliverance.
It used to be sung on Purim "Winz to the tune of
"Die Schlacht von Pa via."
Bibliography : Gratz, Gescli. 3d ed., x. 29, .35 ; Theodore Crei-
zenacb, in Mittlieihingen des Vereins fUrOench. nmi Al-
terth. der Stadt FrankfuH-a.-M. i. 34 : Moiiatsxchrift.lxxi.
23&-240, 324-328; Kracauer, in ZeiUrh. fllr Gr^'vh. der Juden
in Dent^chland, iv. 127-169, 319-.3a5; v. l-2t;: Sctnidt. Jll-
dische MerckvlirdMiheiten. 1715, ii. 51, iii. 9 62; Kriegk,
Gesch. V. Fraiihfnrt-n.-M. pp.;'37-417, Frankfort -on-lhe-Main,
1871 ; David Gans, Zemah Dawid, pp. 191-192, Warsaw, 189(1.
D. ' * M. Sel.
Ungarischen Armee," in " Klinische Zeit- und Streit-
fragen," 1890, and "Meine Gegeuwartige Trachom
Behandlung," in " Centralblatt fiir Praktische Aug-
enheilkunde," 1899. He is also the author of " Die
Trachom-Endemie im Toroutaler Comitat," in
"ISzemeszet," 1884, and "Die Verbreitung des Tra-
chom in Ungarn," Stuttgart, 1897.
Bibliography : Pagel, Biographisches Lexikon.
s. F. T. H.
FETJST, KABLi: German jurist; son of the
chief rabbi of Bamberg; born at Bamberg Oct. 9,
1798; died at Flirth Aug. 19, 1873. Having been
destined for a rabbinical career, he received a
Talmudic education. At the age of fifteen he en-
Fez
Fiametta
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
380
tered the Bamberg gymiuisiuni. In 1818 he went
to the University of Wiirzburg, wliere he studied
first philology, and later law, and whence he grad-
uated as doctor of law in 1822. Unwilling to change
his religicni in order to gain admittance to the bar,
he became editor of the " Aachener Zeitung. " A few
years later he was appointed to a minor office at the
judicial court in Bamberg. In 1831 he removed to
Furth, and became the secretary of the Jewish com-
munity. In 1848 he was finally admitted to the bar,
and became a counselor at Furth. Feust devoted
himself to writing on jurisprudence, the most im-
portant of his works being a translation of the eigh-
teenth, thirty-ninth, and forty-ninth books of the
"Pandects," (ed. Karl Sintenis, 1834). In 1868, on
his seventieth birthday, the King of Bavaria created
him a knight of the Order of Michael.
Bibliography : Allg. Zeit. des Jud. 1872, pp. 979-980.
B. M. K.
FEZ (pD,
the province
D''Q, DXQ ; Arabic, Fas): Capital of
of Fez in the sultanate of Morocco;
built in the year 808 by Imamldris II., who founded
in Morocco the first Shiite state. A small wadi,
known under various names, divides the city into
two parts, Old Fez, containing the palace and the
"Mellah" or Jewish quarter, and New Fez, which
contains the bulk of the modern city. Idris, finding
that his nomadic subjects were thoroughly averse
to a town life, colonized his new capital with 8,000
Audalusians and a number of Jews; the latter must
have been numerous even at this early date, since he
sought their aid in his rebellion against the ruling
king, Muhadi.
The Jews re-
ceived from
Idris a special
quarter, the Mel-
lah, and thence-
forth paid a spe-
cial tax of 30,000
denarii annually
in lieu of mili-
tary service. A
similar ta.\ exists
in Morocco to
the present daj'.
The Mellah has
high walls and a
single gate ; it is
very dirty and
unsanitary.
First mention of
the Jews of Fez
is found in Ju-
dah ibn Kore-
ish's letter on
Targum study,
which was ad-
dressed to them al)out 900. As several teshubot
show, they communicated with tlie Geonim. The
civil and political liberties of the Jews were restricted
by the Pact of Omar, and after the capture of Fez
by Yusuf ibn Tashtin in 1070 these restrictions were
rigidly enforced over all North Africa. In 1145
Fez fell into the hands of 'Abd al-Mu'min, the fol-
Group of Jews at Fez.
(From a photogr;t|ih by Count S. Adelman.)
lower of the fanatical Mohammed ibn Tuniart, and
an era of persecution began. On the capture of
Morocco in the following year the Jews were given
the alternative of conversion or banishment. Many
fled to Italy, Spain, and Palestine, R. Jehudab. Abun
b. Abbas among them ; the majority adopted the
semblance of Islainism.
It was during tliis time that the martyrdom is re-
corded of Judah ha-Kohen ibn Susan. From 1152
to 1165 IMaimonides' father, with his family, sought
refuge in Fez from the persecutions at Cordova,
attracted thither by the scholarship of Judah ha-
Kohen. In 1275 the mob attacked the Mellah, and
forty Jews were slain, after which Moors were
forbidden to enter the Jewish quarter. The emir
laid out New Fez, where the Jews were permitted
to dwell, and where they still reside. With the
inauguration of the Spanish persecutions of 1391
the influx of Jews increased until, according to
Bakuwi, a geographer of the fifteenth century, they
formed a majority of the population. Under the
merciful government of Maula Shaikh fugitives from
Spain found a resting-place here. Some years later
a great persecutiou took place, accompanied by pil-
lage and massacre, the king and his favorite Aaron
falling victims to the fury of the mob. But the next
king allowed the pseudo-Mohammedans to return to
their faith imiler certain conditions, Avhich are still
in force : they were forbidden to wear leather shoes,
to ride on horseback through the city, or to carry
arms. In addition to these restrictions the earlier
decree of ]\Iansur ordering that Jews should wear
black mantles and Jewesses yellow mantles and veils,
was enforced.
At the time of
the expulsion
from Spain
(1492) many
Jews fled to Fez,
but were ex-
pelled by the
natives, who
feared an in-
crease in the
price of provi-
sions. Some of
the refugees
died of starva-
tion ; the rest
Avere enslaved
by the popula-
tion, but Avere
later freed by a
decree of the
governor. Abu
Sa'id III. set
apart for them a
large district in
the new city.
The Arabic language, which had hitherto been
spoken by the Jews, was now replaced by Spanish.
At the beginning of the sixteenth century the Jew-
ish population, according to Bernaldes, amoimted
to 10,000, according to Leo Africanus to 5,000, ac-
cording to Meudoca to 1,000. In the first quarter
of the century the Jews had an influential states-
381
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Fez
Fiametta
man, Sliumcl al-Barensi, minister of the emir Sa'id
al-Watas, by whom several Jews were admitted
to tiie royal court. In tiie stru^^gle between tlie
Merinids and the Slierifs a Spanisii Jew, Samuel Al-
valensi, was a political parti/.an of the former.
The Jews of Fez also took part in the movement
coimected with tlie person of David Keubeni, wlio
appears to have
been cheated in
a transaction
entered into by
coirespondence
from Cairo with
R. Cohen, a
writer of Fez, in
1523. In ir);j2
the Franciscan
Andre of Spo-
letohada public
disputation with
the Jews, but
being unable to
make any con-
versions,he com-
mitted suicide.
Because of the
severe persecu-
ti<ms under Mu-
lai Mohammed
many Jewish
captives were
brought to Fez
and there ran-
somed by the
communitj'.
After the defeat of the Portuguese at Al-Kasr in
1578, many Portuguese noblemen were sold as slaves
to the Jews in Fez, who ransomed and treated with
kindness their former oppressors. In 1670 Fez
was tlie asylum of the Jews of Sus, expelled by
Mulai Arshid. In the reign of his successor, Ismail,
the Jews suffered greatly because of high taxes.
When in 1790 JMulai Sidi Mohammed was slain
through the sedition of his son Mulai Yazid, the
latter persecuted the Jews because they had not
helped him against his father. Houses and syna-
gogues Avere pillaged and the bones of the dead dis-
interred. The condition of tlie Jewish community
did not improve in tlie nineteenth centuiy. In 1834
a Jewish girl, a daughter of Sol Hachuel, was a
martyr to her faith, preferring death to becoming
the bride of the sultan. Her tomb became a place
of pilgrimage.
Out of a total estimated at from 100,000 to 150,000
the Jewish population of Fez a few j-ears ago was
9,000 according to Balbi, 2,500 according to Mordt-
mann, 8,000 according to Richardson, 10,000 accord-
ing to Horowitz, ard 30,000 according to ]\Ieakin,
while the Alliance Israelite Universelle phiced the
number at 12,000. Over 2,000 died recently in a
typhus epidemic, and their number is now esti-
mated at 8,000, most of whom live in New Fez.
There are nineteen synagogues, many of which
possess very old scrolls of the Law. Tliey are mostly
named after their founders, as Keneset Jonatlian
Severo, or Keneset Rabbi Judah Attar. Fez possesses
Interior of a Jewish
(Fr.'m a phnto;;raph by
a Talmud Torah attended by about 500 pupils, and
two schools founded by tiie Alliance in 1883 and 1899,
attended respectively by 103 boys and 80 girls. A
syuod of six rabbis whose salaries are paid from the
meat-tax takes charge of the spiritual interests of
the Jews. Tliere are no Jewish government ollicials.
The Jews of Fez are by preference shoemakers and
grocers. The
richer are mon-
ey-lenders. The
men wear cork-
screw curls be-
hind their ears,
shave the head,
and leave a pig-
tail pendent
from the top.
Thevvomen.who
are partly se-
cluded, wear aft-
er marriage a
black wig cov-
ered witli a ker-
chief. Women in
mourning wear
a red head-ker-
chief, leave the
feet bare, and
wear around the
mouth part of
the winding-
sheet of the
dead. Early
marriages are
the rule.
Fez has produced several writers. Prominent
among them are the grammarians Dunash ibn
Labrat, and Judah b. David Hayyuj ; Ai.fasi. and
the Karaite; Moses Alfasi and members of the Azulai
family, authors of various bibliographies of Jewish
literature. Hayjim Azulai emigrated from Castile
to Fez in 1492. Toward 1630 Vidal Zarfati, author
of "Zuf Debash," was chief rabbi of Fez, as was {c.
1755) Jacob ben Zur, author of "Mishpat Zedakah."
Fifteen j'cars later the chief rabbi was Elijah Zarfati.
A former rabbi of Fez, Jacob ben Na'im, became
chief rabbi of Leghorn, where he died in 1800.
Bibliography: Ersch and Grulier, Ejici/c. section 1., parts 43-44,
pp. 434 et ,sc(/.; Dozy, Gesch . dcr Manren, i. 294 et scq.: Griitz,
Gesch. vl. HI, 156 et scq. ; ix. 12. .524 ; Marcus Fischer, Toledot
Yeshurnn, Prague, 1817; Ibn Xer^a.. Shehet Yehiidcih, No.
30; Neubauer, Medieval Jewish Clirtniiclcs. 'i. 57, 106, 112 ; ii.
179, 189, 191.218; Josef ha-Kohen, Sefer Dibrc ha-Yamim.
transl. by BiuUoblotzky, Ii., No. 107,5, London, 1835 ; Samuel
Romanelii, 3/o.ssa', ed. Schiller-Szlnessy, pp. 61, &i ; Zedner,
Aiiswald Histor. Stiicke, pp. 96, 220 et seq.; Kayserling,
Gesch. dcr Juden in Fortuoal, pp. 136, 213, 260; Moses Men-
delssohn, Gesammelte Schriftcn, iii.212; Koticesct Extraitx
des Manuscripts du Rni, ii. 414 ; Leo Africanus, Descriptio
Africee; Richardson, Travels in Morocco, ii. 139 et seq.,
London, 1860; Rohlfs, Erster Aiifenthall in Marohko, p.
184; Pietsch, Marokko, p. 175; Conring, Marocco, p. 185;
Horowitz, Marokko, p. 188; Bulletin All. Isr. 19(X), p. 112;
1901, pp. 72, 115; Z. D. M. G. xviii. 329; R. E. J. xxxv. 306,
xxxvii. 120, xxxix. 315; J. Q. K. iv. 369; Jahresbericht des
Breslatier Seminars. 1894, p. 31 ; Steinschneider, Cat. Bodl.
cols. 837, 8.56, 897, 1087, 1149, 1:501, 1784, 2625; Poznanski, in
Ha-Zenrah, Ut03. Nos. 3-5, 7. 10, 12, 17, 25.
J. ■ M. Sc.
FEZ, DAVID OF. See Fkz.
FIAMETTA, JOSEPH BEN SOLOMON:
Uabbi t)f Aiicoua, Italv; tlied in 1721. His name is
Residence at Fez.
Count .S. Atielni.an.)
Fichel
Finance
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
382
written variously : Wolf, in the Latin transcription
of his name, gives "Flanineta"; Carmoly ("Hist.
dcs Medecins Juifs," p. 237) has "Piamita"; and
Delitzsch ("Zur Geschichte der Judischen Poesie,"
p. 74) gives "Piatita." He was the father-in-law
(Steinschneidcr says son-in-law) of Samson Mor-
purgo,rabbiof Ancona. Rewrote: " Widdui," atone-
ment prayers of the Italian rite, included in the " Tik-
kun Shobabim " of Moses Zacuto, Venice, 1712; "Or
Boker," containing prayers and selihot, Venice, 1709.
He wrote also an approbation to Nehemiah Hayun's
"'Oz le-Eiohim," Berlin, 1713, and a panegyric
poem on Abraliam Cohen's " Kehunnat Abraham,"
Venice, 1719. Among the Italian responsa there is
one regarding communal taxation signed by Shab-
bethai Panzieri and Joseph Fiametta.
Bibliography : Wolf, Bihl. Hchr. iii.. No. 976c. ; Fiir.st, Bihl.
Jud. i. 279; Nepi-Cihirondi, TnJedot Gednlc YisraeU PP.
33, 333; Steinschneider, Cat. Rodl. col. U60 ; Azuhn, Shcm
ha-Gedoliin, ii. 144 ; Mortara, Indicc, p. 22.
6. s. M. Ski..
FICHEL, BENJAMIN-EUGENE : Frcnc h
painter; born in Paris Aug. 30, 1826; died there
Feb. 7, 1895. After essaying historical painting he
turned his attention to producing small genre pic-
tures in the style of Meissonier, though he was a
pupil of Paul Delaroche. These be executed with
great skill in technique, historic correctness of cos-
tume being a characteristic feature of his composi-
tions. He received the Cross of the Legion of Honor
in 1870. Some of his genre paintings were exhibited
in Munich in 1879. "L'Arrivee a I'Auberge,"' one
of his best works, has been since 1863 in the posses-
sion of the Luxembourg museum at Paris ; " La
Joueuse de Luth " is in the Stettin museum. Other
works: "Le Numismate"; "Le Joueur du Vio-
lon"; "Une Fete Foraine en 1776"; "La Capture
d'un Espion"; " Le Savetier et leBanquier"; "La
Belle Marchande " ; " Une Partie d'Echecs " ; " Chan-
teurs Ambulants " ; " Le Rapport au General " ; " La
Dernifire Acquisition du Maitre." Among his his-
torical genre paintings maj" be named : " Le Due de
Choiseul chez I'Abbe Barthelemy"; "La Nuit du
24 Aout 1572"; "Fondation de I'Academie Fran-
Qaise " ; " Bonaparte et Eugene Beauharnais " ; " Dau-
benton dans Son Laboratoire " ; " Lacepede Ecrivant
I'Histoire des Poissons."
Fichel's wife, 7iee Jeanne Samson, a pupil of her
husband, has exhibited at the Salon since 1878.
BiBLiocjRAPHY : SingTPr, Ki'mxtlfr-Le.r. vol. i., .s'.r.t Liiroiisse,
Diet. 1st Supplement, p. ^17 ; 2d Supplement, p. 1248.
s. N. D.
FIDANaUE, JACOB BEN ABRAHAM:
English scholar; died at London in 1701. He was
one of the first Jews after the Return to busy him-
self with the study of rabbinic literature. He is
the author of notes on the commentary to the
Earlier Prophets by Isaac Al)ravanel, published
with the text, Hamburg, 1686. Fidanque revised
and published a second edition of the "Miklal
Yofi " by Solomon ben Melek, Amsterdam, 1685.
Bibliography: Fiirst, Bihl. Jud. i. 200; Steinschneider, Cat.
Bodl. No. 1211 ; Zedner, Cat. Hebr. Books Brit. Mux. p. 29ti.
J. I. Bu.
FIELDS. See Ac}K.\KiAN Laws; Landlokd and
Tenant.
FIG AND FIG-TREE: Tlie fig-tree (Ficus
Ciiiica) and its fruit are designated in Hebrew by the
same word, "te'enah" (Deut. viii. 8; Judges ix. 10;
Num. xiii. 23; II Kings xx. 7); the plural, "te'enim,"
indicating the fruit as distinct from the tree. Ac-
cording to Lagarde ("Mittheilungen," i. 58 et seq.),
the fact that the name is not found originally in
any other Semitic language indicates that the fig is
indigenous to the territory occupied by the Hebrew-
Aramaic Semites (see also Guidi, " Delia Sede
Primitiva dei Popoli Semitici," p. 85). "Te'enah"
is the common term for "fig"; in a special sense,
liowevcr, it denotes the figs wliieh ripen in Au-
gust and form the largest crop. Tlie early figs,
appearing in March or April and ripening in June,
are called "bikkurah." In the Revised Version this
word, in accordance with ilsetymology, is uniformly
rendered by "first ripe fig" (Isa. xxviii. 4; Micali
vii. 1 ; Hosea ix. 10). The early fig was considered
a great delicacy by the Hebrews. The late or green
figs, which sometimes ripen after the fall of the leaf,
and occasionally remain on the tree during the win-
ter months, are called "pag," whence the Greek
[ii)-&(payr] (" the house of green figs "). They are al-
luded to in Cant. ii. 13, where the Vulgate rightly
translates "paggeha" by "grossos suos," i.e., "its
green figs." The term "kayiz," primarily meaning
"the liarvest of fruits" and "summer fruits"
(Jer. xlviii. 32; Isa. xvi. 9), is sometimes used for
the fig itself, probably for the late fig (II Sam. xvi.
1 ; Amos viii. 12).
The fig Avas one of the principal fruits of Pales-
tine, .even before the entrance of the Hebrews into
the Promised Land (Num. xiii. 23). Figs were
sometimes dried and pressed into cakes, called " de-
belah " on account of their round shape. These were
used as food (I Sam. xxx. 12) and as a remedy for
boils (II Kings xx. 7;Isa. xxxviii. 21). "Fig leaves"
are mentioned as the material of the " aprons " of
Adam and Eve (Gen. iii. 7), these leaves being larger
than those of any other Palestinian tree.
The fig-tree was associated with the vine as an
emblem of peace and prosperity (^licah iv. 4; Isa.
xxxvi. 16). On the other hand, the failure of the
fig-crop and the destruction of the fig-tree were re-
garded as a misfortune and as a punishment from
God (Ps. cv. 33). In Jotham's parable (Judges ix.)
the fig is distinguished for its sweetness and good
fruit.
Bibliography: P. Bourdais, Flore de la Bible, Paris, 1879;
H. Tristram, Tltc Natural History of the Bible, London,
1889.
K. 0. H. H. H.
FIGAH (nrS) : River in the Damascene, affluent
of the Barada (the Biblical "Abana"). "Figah"
comes from the Greek 'n-riyrj, and is still to be found
in the name " 'Ain Fijah," the chief source of the
Barada. Reland has identilied it with Pliny's
"Pagida" ("Pala?stina," i. 290), and Schwarz,
wrongly, with the Biblical Pharpar ("Das Heilige
Land," p. 31). The Figah is spoken of in the
Mishnah (Parah viii. 10) as a troubled stream, the
water of which was unfit for sacrificial uses.
Nevertheless, it is supposed to be one of the four
rivers which surround Palestine (B. B. 74b).
Bibliography: Neubaucr, Geooraphic du Talmud, p. 32.
G. M. Sel.
383
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA,
Fichel
Finance
FIGO (PIGO), AZARIAH BEN EPHRAIM :
Preacher at Venice; died at Kovigo 1647. Figo
was an excellent scribe, and the scrolls which ho
wrote are highly prized. He was the author of
"Iggerot u-Teshubot," letters and responsa, pub-
lished in a similar work entitled "Be'er Sheba',"
Venice, 1614; "Giddule Terumah," a casuistic com-
mentary on Samuel haSardi's "Sefer ha-Terumot,"
lb. 1643; "Binah la-'Ittim," seventy -five sermons
for Saturdays and holidays {ib. 1647-48), a work
which went through many editions and is still very
popular with Eastern Jews.
Bibliography: Azulai, Shem ha-Gednlim, i. 77; Berliner,
Lvhot Ahariiin, p. 131, Frankfort-on-the-Maiu, 1881 ; Fiirst,
nuil. Jud. i. 280.
s. s. M. Sel.
FILEHNE. See Posen.
FILIPOWSKI (PHILLIP), HIRSCH : Math
ematician, linguist, and editor; born at Wirballen,
Russia, 1816; died in London, England, July 22,
1872. At an early age he showed gi-eat aptitude
for the study of mathematics and languages, and
was fortunate in finding a Polish schoolmaster who
secretly aided Mm in acquiring the rudiments of
a modern education. In 1839 he emigrated to Lou-
don. Here he was at first employed as teacher in
a Jewish school, at the same time preparing him-
self for his future career as a mathematician and au-
thor. His first work was " Mo'ed Mo'adim," on the
Jewish, Karaite, Christian, and Mohammedan cal-
endars, with tables from the Creation to the year six
thousand (London, 1846 ; republished 1863). In 1847
he edited a Hebrew annual, "Ha-Asif," containing
various essays on Hebrew literature and mathemat-
ics (London and Leipsic, 1849). He edited for the
Jewish Antiquarian Society the "Mibhar ha-Peni-
nim " of Ibn Gabirol ; appended to it is " Megillat
Anteyukas," Aramaic text, with Hebrew and Eng-
lish translations by the editor (London, 1851). He
edited also: "Sefer ha 'Ibbur," by Abraham ben
Hiyya (London, 1851); "Sefer Mazref la-Kesef," by
Azariah del Rossi (Edinburgh, 1854); "Mah beret,"
by Menahem ben Saruk (London, 1854) ; " Teshubot
Dunash ben Labrat," with critical notes by Dukes
and Kirchheim (London, 1855); "Sefer Yuhasin ha-
Shalem," by Abraham Zacuto, with notes by Jacob
Emden (London, 1857). Appended to the last-
mentioned work are: (1) Josephus, "Contra Apio-
nem"; (2) "Binyan Herodes," a description of
Herod's Temple; (3) " Iggeret Rab Sherira Gaon";
(4) "Iggeret Abraham Farissol,"on the Ten Tribes;
(5) "Iggeret Yehoshua' ben Nun."
Filipowski was also employed as an actuary at
Edinburgh. In this capacity he published a work
on " Anti-Logarithms " (1849), which established his
name among mathematicians. In 1857 he trans-
lated Napier's " Canon of Logarithms " from the
Latin into English, and in 1864-66 he edited Baily's
"Doctrine of Life Annuities and Assurance."
In 1862 he designed a font of Hebrew type with
the vowel-points attached to the letters, from which a
pocket edition of a Hebrew prayer-book was printed,
containing also an English translation by him. In
1867 he founded the "Hebrew National," a journal
which lived but six months. His last work was a
pamphlet entitled "Biblical Propliecies " (London,
1870), on the Jewish position in regard to the Biblical
prophecies and the Messiah. In appreciation of his
services to antiquarian research he was elected a fel-
low of the Antiquarian Society, and for his actuarial
work a fellow of the Society of Actuaries.
BiDLiOGRAPnY : Goldbere, in Ha-Magpid, 1872, pp. 'W el seq.;
idem, Brt Ozar ha-Sifrnt, i. 72-74 ; Fiirst, Bibl. Jud. iii. 85;
Zeillin, Bihl. Post-Mendels. pp. 83-85.
n. R. M. B.
FINANCE : The supplying of capital for large
undertakings, a characteristic of modern forms of
commerce. As distinguished from the more passive
side of banking, the reception of deposits, it may be
described as the active aspect of a banker's opera-
tions. The earliest beginnings of finance are probably
to be found in the monej'-lending of the Middle Ages
(see Usury). In the modern form, however, the ori-
gin of financial operations came with the need of large
sums to supply the armies of the Hapsburgsand the
Valois in the sixteenth century (see Ehrenburg,
"Zeitalter der Fugger "). Jews had nothing to do
with this except in so far as the Antwerp firm of
Mendes may have assisted Charles V. It was only
with the gradual accumulation of capital in Jewish
hands during the seventeenth and eighteenth cen-
turies, when such capital was to a certain extent free
from government interference, that anj' Jewish ac-
tivity in finance began. The court Jews of Ger-
many, who had acquired a certain amount of capi-
tal by the purchase of loot during the Thirty Years'
war, and the Jewish frequenters of the Amsterdam
bourse (of which the London exchange is only a
"filial") in the eighteenth century, were the earliest
examples of Jewish financiers.
When Napoleon captured Holland, the financial
center of the Anti-Napoleonic league was trans-
ferred to Frankfort-on-the-Main, where the house of
Rothschild obtained its prominent position in the
financial world.
With the peace of 1815 came the beginnings of
international finance, in which industrial operations
in one country were assisted by loans from financiers
of other countries. The Jews, through their inter-
national position, were the first to combine into syn-
dicates for such purposes, and the earlier stages of
national loans and the larger industrial operations
— especially those relating to railways — were largely
financed by means of Jewish capital. Even in cases
where, as in England and the United States, there
were large bodies of capitalists ready to advance
money, the actual operation was often conducted by
means of Jewish firms. The practise initiated by
the Rothschilds of having several brothers of a
firm establish branches in the different financial
centers was followed by other Jewish financiers, like
the Bischoffsheims, Pereires, Seligmans, Lazards,
and others, and these financiers by their integrity
and financial skill obtained credit not alone with
their Jewish confreres, but with the banking frater-
nity in general. By tliis means Jewish finan-
ciers obtained an increasing share of international
finance during the middle and last quarter of the
nineteenth century. The head of the whole group
was the Rothschild family, for whose operations see
Rothschild. Of more recent j^ars non-Jewish
financiers have learned the same cosmopolitan
Finance
Finder of Property
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
884
method, aud, on the wliole, the control is now rather
less than more in Jewish hands than formerly. For
further details see the respective countries and
Banking.
There is no evidence that Jewish financiers of one
country, or of all countries, are in any sense com-
bined to form one fund for financial operations. On
the contrary, Jewish firms compete very keenly
with one another, and the more ambitious among
the smaller firms aie always combining to divert
business from the larger and older institutions.
Still, the existence of branches of various firms in
different countries often enables them to obtain the
assistance of foreign Jewish capital in any large
operations to this extent.
As regards the special directions in Avhich Jewish
finance has been directed, during the first half of the
nineteenth century state and muni-
Special cipal loans in Europe were largely in
Activity. Jewish hands. Tlie Sterns and Gold-
smids, for example, financed Portugal
almost exclusively. In railways, however, Jewish
activity was not so prominent, though Baron de
Hirsch in Turkey, the Rothschilds in France,
Strousberg in Rumania, Poliakoff aud Speyer &
Co. in Russia, and more recently Kuhn, Loeb & Co.
in the United States, have been important factors in
railway financing. Jewish financial interests liave
rarely been connected with industrials, except as re-
gards some of the precious stones and metals, the
Rothschilds controlling mercur}-, Barnato Bros, and
"Werner, Beit & Co. diamonds, and the firms of
Lewisohn Brothers and Guggenheim Sons control-
ling copper, and to some extent silver. Perhaps the
most important operation financed bj' Jewish capi-
tal in recent years has been the great dam of the
Nile, the capital for which was furnished by Sir
Ernest Cassel. It is, however, mainly in the direc-
tion of foreign loans that there has been anj- definite
predominance of Jewish financiers, this being due, as
before stated, to the international relations of the
larger Jewish firms.
It is clear from the above account that Jewish
financiers could not have had much influence on the
various crises of the last thirty years, as has often
been charged against them by anti-Semitic writers.
Such crises have almost invariably been caused
b}' overspeculation in industrials, in which Jewish
capital has rarely been invested. It is for this rea-
son that they appear to be rarel}' affected by such
occurrences as the "Krach " of 1873 in Germany, or
the Baring panic of 1893 in England, which was
tided over mainly by the influence of the Roths-
childs. Indeed, the history of Jewish finance has
been remarkably free from any tendency to rash
speculation. The names of Mires in France, Strous-
berg in Germany, and Baron Grant in England arc
almost the only examples of reckless speculation on
a large scale among Jews, though the operations of
Baron de Hirsch are stated to liave been sometimes
characterized by remarkable financial audacit}', only
justified by success. As contrasted with the gen-
eral run of dealers in capital, Jews have shown them-
selves especially cautiotis, and no case is known of
any large "corner" having been attempted by
Jewish financiers.
Here it is only necessary to refer to one particular
organization with which Jewish financiers have been
especiallj' connected. The stock exchange finds its
function in modern capitalism in "ma-
The king a market " for all kinds of securi-
Stock ties. Here, undoubtedly, Jews have
Exchange, taken a prominent part, though at first
sight their numbers do not seem to be
exceptionally large. In the London Stock Exchange
thej^ were only 5 per cent in 1885 (Jacobs, "Stud-
ies in Jewish Statistics," p. 38), and in that of New
York the Jews appear to have only 128 out of the
1,150 members — a little more than 10 per cent;
whereas Jews form at least 20 per cent, of the
whole population of New Y'ork, aud much more
than that percentage of the business section. But
on closer examination it is found that the majority
of these are concentrated in the foreign market; and
here undoubtedly the Jews fill a particular function,
that is, in accommodating prices in international
finance. It has been stated that nearly 60 per cent
of the members of the foreign market at Frankfort,
and nearly as many at Berlin, are of Jewish origin.
The Prussian law against options w'as declared to
be influenced by anti-Semitic desire to undermine
the preponderating influence of Jews on these mar-
kets; but as their activity was mainly connected
with the Foreign Exchange or Arbitrage Market,
the law was ineffective, and is about to be repealed.
The activity of Jews in this latter direction is in-
timately connected with their work as foreign ex-
change-brokers, the movement of the precious metals
throughout the world being largely directed by
Jewish hands, and the rate of exchange between
one country and another being largely determined
by them. It is only in this direction that there can
be any mention made of Jewish finance as such.
The chief Jewish firms of financial importance, be-
sides the Rothschilds, are those of Camondo, Fould,
Pereire, and Bischoffsheim in Paris; Montague,
Sassoon, and Stern in London; Bleichroder, War-
schauer, and Mendelssohn in Berlin ; Glinzburg in
Russia; and Kuhn, Loeb & Co., Seligman, and
Lazard in the United States. The members of some
of these firms have terminated their connection with
the Jewish faith, but still maintain connections with
their Jewish relations. It is characteristic of these
and of most Jewish financial firms that they do not
lose their identity in joint-stock companies, but re-
tain personal control of the business. Be.sides these,
there are many other banking firms which have
no specific family heads but are mainly controlled
by Jews and run by Jewish capital, as, for instance,
the Dresdner Bank, the Handels Gesellschaft, and
National Union Bank of Berlin, and the Credit
Mobilier of Paris.
Bibliography: W. Sombart, Dcr Mode7-n6 Kapitalii^mus,
Leipsic, 1002.
J.
FINCKENSTEIN, RAPHAEL : German phy-
sician aud poet; born at Breslau Nov. 10, 1828; died
there Jidy 31, 1874. He was educated at the gym-
nasium and the university of his native town, re-
ceiving the degree of doctor of medicine in 1850.
The same year lie established liimself as a physician
in Breslau, and in 1854 became at the university
385
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Finance
Finder of Property
privat-docent in tlie history and geograph}" of modi-
cine and in epidemiology.
He contributed to the medical journals many
essays on his specialty, and is the author of several
works, among which may be mentioned " De Furori-
busEpidemicis," Breslau, 1858; and "ZurGeschichte
der Syphilis die AeltestenSpanischen Nachrichten
liber biese Krankheit und das Gedicht des Francesco
Lopez de Villalobos vom Jahre 1498," ib. 1870.
Finckenstein also wrote: "Dichter und Aerzte,"
Breslau, 1863; and "Bei Saarbriicken," 1870, a one-
act play, which was very successful on the German
stage.
Bibliography: Pagel. Biog. Lex. s.v., Vienna, 1901.
s. F. T. H.
FINDER OF PROPERTY: In law he who
finds and takes up lost goods acquires thereby a
special ownership as first occupant against all the
world excepting the true owner. The duty, how-
ever, to seek out the true owner and to restore the
lost things to him is imposed on the Israelite, first
as to lost cattle or beasts of burden, and then in
more general terms as follows: "and thus shalt
thou do to his garment: and thus shalt thou do to
all the lost property of thy brother which is lost
from him and thou mayest find, thou canst not
withdraw thyself" (Deut. xxii. 1-3, Ilebr).
Thus the law of things lost and found falls into
two parts: (1) respecting the person who is the true
finder and gains the qualified ownership ; (2) defi-
ning his duties to the owner. The latter part is
more a question of morals and of conscience than of
right to be determined by the courts. This is aside
from the question arising in regard to lost and
found documents.
1. The first part of the law has been developed
by the rabbinical authorities without the aid of
Scriptural texts. The qualified ownership depends
la the main upon such acts of occupation as in the
case of a purchase would vest title in the buyer —
i.e., upon the "kinyan" (acquisition), fully ex-
plained under Alienation and Acquisition. In-
animate things are " found " by seizing them, not by
seeing them (B. M. i.), while domestic animals are
"acquired " by leading or pulling them (26. Mishnah,
11 3, 4). Things may also be found by dependents:
everything found by a man's minor children, his
wife, or his bondmen belongs to him {ib. v. 5).
2. There are special laws relating to the finding
of lost writings, it being enjoined, on grounds of
public policy, that certain classes shall not be re-
turned to their owners. Foremost among these are
bonds for debt. The sages, overruling the opin-
ion of R. Meir, say such bonds should not be re-
turned, though they contain no lien clause; for the
court might declare the absence of
Xiost Deeds, such a clause a mere mistake of the
scrivener, and might thus enforce the
bond against innocent purchasers of the debtor's
land, after the amount of it had been paid off and
tlie document lost or thrown away by the debtor.
In the case of a bill of divorce, a deed of manumis-
sion, a last will, a deed of gift, or an acquittance,
the finder should not return the document; for it is
probable that after it had been written the grantor,
v.— 25
donor, etc., decided not to put it in force. A letter
of Appkaisement, however, a grant of alimony,
a deed attesting a halizah or refusal (a woman's re-
fusal to ratify a marriage concluded for her in
infancy; see Mi'un), a deed for selection of arbiters,
or any other judicial writing — all these the finder
should return. Writings found in a pocketbook, in a
writing-case, or in a bundle of deeds should be
returned; that is, when three or more are tied to-
gether (26. 8 ; compare Gemara afZ loc). Deeds or
bonds found among a man's own papers but which
he can not account for must be left there; that is,
must not be returned to the parties mentioned in
the deeds or the bonds, unless they bear some in-
dorsements or riders for his guidance {ib.).
The finder must, as a rule, advertise (" hakriz ")
for the true owner.
But some things which can hardly be identified,
and which the owner has presumably "given up
in despair" ("yi'esh"), the finder may keep with-
out advertising, e.g., grain, fruits, or
Finds to Be copper coins scattered about, small
Advertised, sheaves on the common thrashing-
ground, round cakes of figs, etc. But
when articles even of this class contain anything that
distinguishes them they must be advertised ; for in-
stance, if there is a piece of pottery among the figs.
Fowls tied together by their wings, found be
hind a hedge or behind a stone fence or on the foot-
paths of a field, must not be touched ; for should
they be removed and advertised, the owner would
have no means of identifying them. Articles found
covered up in a dung-heap must not be taken;
for they are evidently not lost, but hidden away.
Things found in a very old wall or stone-heap may
be kept, for they probably belonged, if found in the
Holy Land, to the ancient Canaanites, or to one of
some other forgotten nation. If found in a new
wall, and in the outer half of the wall's thickness,
they belong to the finder; if in the inner half, to the
master of the house. In the former case it is sup-
posed that some one passing on the highway has
placed them in the wall.
Things found before the counter in a store are the
propertj^ of the finder, having presumably been
dropped by a customer; what is found behind the
counter belongs to the storekeeper; and so with a
money-changer.
The Scripture text, it is explained, names specific-
ally a garment, because it is the best type of
an article that can be identified and for which an
owner is apt to look; hence every found article
which has these two characteristics
Garments must be advertised by the finder.
Typical. Nothing can be legally found that
has not first been lost. A cow or an
ass which is grazing along the highway is not
lost; an ass with his gear hanging upside down
or a cow grazing in the vineyards is lost ; and the
finder lies under the duty, enjoined by Scrip-
ture (Deut. xxii 1-2), of returning the beast; and
though it runs off even four or five times, he must
still bring it back, and he must not charge more
for his time than a workman out of employment
would be willing to take for the time occupied in
such a task. If the lost article is in a large basket
Finder of Property
Finland
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
386
or sack, and the finder is an old gentleman whose
dignity would suffer by carrying it along the street
or road, he is excused from carrying it himself to
the owner; but he should notify him of his find.
As regards the use of anything found, a beast that
" works and eats " should be set to working and eat-
ing while it waits for the true owner; one that
eats and does not work should be sold, and the pro-
ceeds laid away. The rules in detail as to the time
and mode of keeping sundry kinds of animals can
not be here discussed. Where money is raised by
the sale of lost and found things, the finder may use
the money, but in any event he is responsible for its
loss; but when money itself is lost and found he
should keep it unused; and he is not responsible
as a hired keeper would be, except for negligence.
Buch is also the liability for goods still unclaimed.
He who finds books should read from them once in
thirty days; if he can not read, he should turn them
over at such intervals; but he should not use them
for study, nor let another man read with him. He
who finds coverings {e.g., bedspreads) should shake
and spread them out once in thirty days — not by way
of display on his own behalf, but for better preserva-
tion. Silver and copper vessels the finder may put
to use, but not so as to wear or injure them. Vessels
of gold and glass he should not touch at all.
According to the Mishnah {ib. ii. 6), under the
prevailing opinion of R. Judah, the advertisement
— of course, by word of mouth — is to be continued
for the three festivals (Passover, Weeks, Booths)
next following, and for seven days thereafter. Dur-
ing the days of the Temple this was done with a view
to the possibility of the owner being absent on a pil-
grimage to Jerusalem; but by an "in-
Mode stitution " made by the sages after the
of Adver- Temple's fall, announcement was to
tisement. be made for a shorter time in the syna-
gogues and houses of study. At times
when men of violence (D'DJN) claimed all things lost
and found as perquisites of the crown, the finder
would be justified in doing no more than telling the
fact to all his neighbors and acquaintances (see
Bertinoro on the Mishnah, I.e. ; Shulhan 'Aruk, Hos-
hen Mishpat, 267, 3).
The announcement is made in very general terms,
such as: " Who has lost coins [or garments, or a do-
mestic animal], let him come and describe the marks
of identification." These marks should be very
clear, or the property should not be given up; and if
the applicant is known as a cheat, it should not be
delivered to him unless he brings witnesses. In lat-
ter days, when cheats became numerous, the courts
adopted the rule of calling on the applicant for wit-
nesses as to his good character ; otherwise, besides
describing identifying marks, he would have to prove
his ownership by witnesses. Between an applicant
who describes the identifying marks on a found arti-
cle and one who proves his ownership by witnesses,
the latter prevails.
The active duty of the finder to take care of lost
goods and to return them to the owner ("of thy
brother." Deut. xxii. 3), imposed by the words of
Scripture, applies only when the owner is an Israel-
ite ; in fact, no aid is to be given to an idolater by
such service. However, if the finder treats a Gentile
fairly ("to sanctify the Name") by impressing the
outside world with the honesty of Israel, he deserves
praise. An Israelite who denies his faith or defies
the Law is not entitled to the finder's active ciire
and work in returning lost property.
For the sake of peace, where a Gentile leaves his
implements at night in the open air, Israelites ought
to take them under cover to save them from thieves
(Yer. Git. v.). If the Gentile or infidel learns of the
whereabouts of his goods, his title is not affected by
his status.
Bibliography : Mishnah B. M. i., il.; Gemara on same ;
Vort, Gezelah, xl.-xviii. ; ShuUuin ^Aruk, Hoshen Mish-
pat, 259-371.
s. s. L. N. D.
FINES AND FORFEITURE (DJp): A fine or
forfeiture, iu the sense either that a sum of money
is to be paid, or that the whole or a part of a man's
property is to be turned over to the king or com-
monwealth by way of punishment for an offense, is
unknown to Jewish law as understood by the sages.
The general forfeiture of estate, in the case of polit-
ical offenders put to death by the king's government,
was a controverted point among the Rabbis. Ac-
cording to some rabbis the estate went to the king ;
but it seems that there was no real tradition con-
erning the matter, as the only precedent cited in
connection with this controversy is the case of Na-
both in I Kings xxi. 18 (Sanh. 48b; compare Tosef.,
ib. 4). The payment of a fixed sum is in some cases
imposed by the Mosaic law upon a wrong-doer; but
the money is paid to the injured party or his repre-
sentative, not to the sovereign or the community.
Four cases are given in the Torah in which a fixed
sum (the "mulcta" of Roman law) is to be paid
by the wrong-doer to the injured party: (1) where
an ox whose owner has been forewarned kills the
bondman or bondwoman of another, in which case
the mulct is thirty shekels (see ShekeI/). to be paid
to the master (Ex. xxi. 32); (2) where a man rav-
ishes a damsel (myj) who is not betrothed, the mulct
being fifty shekels, payable to the damsel's father
(Deut. xxii. 29); (3) where a newh^ married husband
untruly accuses his wife of having lost her virginity
before marriage, the mulct being a hundred shekels
(Deut. xxii. 19); (4) where a girl is seduced, the
amount of the mulct, given by inference only (Ex.
xxii. 16), being fifty shekels.
Cases 2 and 4 are fully treated in the Mishnah
(Ket. iii. 1-4). The ravisher and seducer are on the
same footing as to the mulct, though not as to the
time and circumstances of payment. Case 3, that of
him who " brings out an evil name," is the only one
in which an offender gets a twofold punishment,
paying a fine and receiving forty stripes.
As mentioned elsewhere, fines or mulcts may only
be imposed by a court made up wholly of ordained
judges. Maimonides, dealing with law already ob-
solete in his day, treats the subject iu his " Yad " as
follows: Case 1 in Hilkot Nizke Mamon; 2 and 4 in
Na'arah Betulah, 1, 10 et seq. ; 3 in Na'arah, 3.
While neither Bible nor Mishnah knows aught
of a fine payable to the community, a jurisdiction
grew up in the Diaspora by which the rabbinical
courts in an emergency would inflict fines, payable
into some communal funds, for some crying public
387
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Finder of Property
Finland
oflfense (Shulhan 'Aruk, Hosheu Mishpat, 2); for
instance, on men keeping false scales, weights, or
measures, and like {ib. 231, 2).
s. s. L. N. D.
FINGEB (Hebr. y^VN. pi. niyaVK; Aramaic,
Ny^V or Ny3T) : One of the digits. In the Bible the
term y^VK is sometimes used in a figurative sense,
denoting power, direction, or immediate agency.
"Thy heavens, the works of thy fingers [of thy
power]," says the Psalmist (Ps. viii. 3). "Tables of
stone written with the finger [by the direction] of
God" (Ex. xxxi. 18). On beholding the fourth
plague, which they were unable to imitate, the ma-
gicians said : " This is the finger [power] of God "
{ib. viii. 19). The finger is mentioned in the Bible
as a measure of length (Jer. lii. 21). Putting forth
the finger was an insulting gesture (Isa. Iviii. 9) —
l)robably the thumb between the first and middle
fingers.
Although each finger must have had a special
designation, the names of only three are found in the
Bible: (1) y^VN. which, besides being a common
name, means especially the index-finger; (2) jnS, the
thumb (in the Mishnah, ^IJX. Hii,
Names. NJV^X); and (3) pp, the ear-finger. In
the Talmud the names of the five fin-
gers are: 7T)J, the thumb; y^VX, the index-finger;
nON, t.he middle finger; nV'Dp, the ring-finger; and
n"lT, the ear-finger. Normal fingers and toes consist,
according to the Mishnah, of six joints (Oh. i. 8).
The fingers form the subject of certain Talmudical
laws relating to the priestly benediction (DK'K'J
D"'D3)- Only those priests whose fingers were with-
out blemish were allowed to deliver the blessing
(Meg. iv. 8). During its recital the priests stretched
out the fingers (Sotah 39b) ; in post-Talmudical
times, however, the custom was to separate the fin-
gers into pairs. A figurative image representing
this division is generally carved on the tombstones
of priests (" kohanim "). In rabbinical literature ex-
pressions in which the finger occurs are frequent.
To inquire into the mysteries of God is to put the
finger in one's eye; so long as the finger remains
therein the eye waters (" Batte Midrashim," 1. 18).
To put the finger in one's teeth is to give opportunitj
(Tosef., Nazir, iii. 287, §§2-G). "The finger of the
heathen is therein, " or " he has a share in it. " Simi-
lar to the English expression "He has more wit in
his little finger than j'ou have in your whole body,"
is the following, found in Ab. R. Natan (ed. Schech-
ter, p. 59). "The finger of Eleazar ben 'Arak out-
weighs all the scholars together."
The Haggadah sets forth the great value of the
fingers by inferring from the words of Lamech pro-
nounced on the birth of Noah, " This
Haggadic son shall comfort us . . . for the toil
Teachings, of our hands " (Gen. vi. 29), that Noah
was the first who was provided with
fingers (cited from the Mid rash Abkir by Isaac
Judah ha-Levi in "Pa'aneah Raza," ad loc). Each
finger of the right hand of God, says a haggadah,
had a special mission to fulfil: the ear-finger in-
structed Noah in the building of the ark; the ring-
finger smote the Egyptians; the middle finger wrote
the tablets of the Law; the index -finger showed the
form of the shekel to be emplo\ed ; the thumb and
the whole hand shall inflict punishment on Esau
(PirkeR. El. xlviii. ; Yalk., Gen. 153, 56d).
According to a legend, Abraham was fed by the
angel Gabriel, in the cavern where he was born, by
being made to suck milk from his finger (Beer, "Le-
ben Abrahams," pp. 3, 102). The same legend with
some variations is current among the modern Arabs
in the following form: In order to feed Abraham,
God made water flow from one of his fingers; from
another, milk; from a third, honey; from a fourth,
juice of dates; and from the fifth, butter (Beer, I.e.).
A parallel is drawn by the cabalists between the
ten fingers and the ten Scfirot. Because of this
connection, says the "Bahir," the priests deliver tlie
benediction with outstretched fingers (§ 48). Man
should not stretch out his fingers, except in prayer
or in the priestly benediction, because
Cabalistic of the mysterious connection existing
Views. between the ten fingers and the ten
Sefirot (Zohar iii. 145a). The victory
gained by Moses over Amalek through stretching
out his hands is explained by the cabalists in this
sense (Bahya, " Wayehi," 71d). In the midrashic lit-
erature the ten fingers correspond to the Ten Com-
mandments. Gershon ben Solomon and many other
writers of the Middle Ages drew a parallel between
the five fingers on each hand and the five senses.
Each finger, according to them, stands in a natural
connection with one of the senses.
Among the Jews of Germany and Austria it is
customary to bend the thumb of the dead toward
the palm of the hand in the form of a
Su- n, and to draw over it the tlrree middle
perstitions. fingers in the form of a ^, and to bend
the little finger in half as a ^, in order
that the whole may represent the name of God (ncj').
In Russia and Palestine, among the Ashkenazim as
well as among the Sephardim, it is customary to
stretch out the fingers of the dead. But if the de-
ceased was a prominent man, and there is a drought,
the fingers are bent in order that he maj^ be able to
carry a paper containing a prayer for rain.
The squeezing of the thumb was believed to be a
remedy against the evil eye. " He who fears an evil
eye," says the Talmud, "let him put the thumb of
the right hand into the left hand, and that of the
left into the right " (Ber. 55b). The belief that the
fingers have the power to cure maladies caused by
the evil eye is still prevalent among the Sephardim
in Palestine. Hands with outstretched fingers are
painted on the outer walls of the houses to protect
their inhabitants.
Bibliography : Low, Die Finger, In the Kaufmann Gedenk-
huch; Kr&uss, in Zeit.-<chrift fUr Ethiwlogie, xv. 89; Grun-
wald, in Mittheilungen de's Vereins fUr die JUdische Volkn-
ktuide, V. 66; Sefer Hasidim, p. 327.
s. s. I. Br.
FINLAND : Russian grand duchy ; formerly
part of Sweden. It has a small Jewish population,
which finds itself in a somewhat peculiar position
with regard to the law of the land. In 1772 Fin-
land was still a part of Sweden. The constitution
granted to the Swedish kingdom in that 5'ear pro-
vided that "the citizens must belong to the Lutheran
Evangelical Church." At that time the possibility
Finlana
Finzi
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
388
of the transfer of Finlaud from Sweden to Russia
had not been considered. The clause was inserted
for the protection of the country from
Laws of the Catliolic Church. On Jan. 26,
1779 and 1779, the Diet decided that the Jewish
1782. inhabitants (whose number did not ex-
ceed 2,000) "will not be permitted to
possess a synagogue except in the city of Stock-
holm, and in two or three other large cities, where
they can be under a more complete surveillance of
the police." On Jan. 25, 1782, the government passed
a special regulation allowing the Jews to possess syn-
agogues in Stockholm, Goteborg, and Malmohus.
They were also permitted to visit other towns, but for
commercial purposes only. According to this regu-
lation the Jews liad no right of permanent residence
in Finland. Notwithstanding this expressed pro-
hibition of residence, a number of Jews have been
living there for years, and no attempt has been made
to rigidly enforce the old law. The following table
shows the number and distribution of Jews in Fin-
land at the census of 1885 :
Total.
Helsingfors .
Tavastehus. .
Tammerfors.
Abo
Uleaaborpr. . .
Other plares
Tiital ...
Adults.
Children.
168
293
14
17
14
4
51
64
68
92
87
101
403
571
461
31
18
115
160
18»
973
Most of these were comparatively recent arrivals.
In 1807 a law was passed by the government of Fin-
land ordering all the Jews in Finland to settle in the
cities, where they were allowed to re-
Passport side on securing passports as foreign-
Law, ers. There were at that time living
in the country a number of Jewish
families bearing Swedish names and recognized as
Swedes. In 1862 a law concerning passports was
enacted in Finland, by virtue of which Jews were
permitted to travel in the country and to remain at
places for a short time for commercial purposes; but
they were absolutely forbidden to settle permanently
in the country districts.
In spite of this prohibition, Finland does possess
a permanent Jewish population. An imperial de-
cree dated March 29, 1858, granted to retired Rus-
sian sailors and soldiers, as well as to the widows
and children of such, the privilege of residing in
Finland. No discrimination was made as to religion,
and it was assumed that the decree included retired
soldiers and sailors of the Jewish faith. Further-
more, the officers of administration in Finland deemed
it improper to call the imperial decree in question.
Thus Finland came to have a Jewish population.
Tiiose in Finland who are opposed to the privilege
of residence being granted to Jews claim that the
decree of 1858 was not properly interpreted. This
decree grants to retired soldiers and sailors the right
to become citizens. But since by an older law-
Jews were forbidden to become citizens of Finland,
it is claimed that the decree of 1858 evidently aji-
plies to Christians only, and that therefore it is
illegal for Jews to live in Finland. In 1885 the
leader of the political party in power gave this in-
terpretation to the decree in question, and he intro-
duced in the Diet a resolution calling for an inves-
tigation of the subject by the Russian government,
or, should that be impracticable, praying the gov-
ernment to enforce the regulation of 1782 until the
following session of the Diet. The resolution was
referred to a commi.'^sion, which decided that it was
desirable to strictly enforce the old regulation until
tinal action by the Diet.
In 1894 the Diet petitioned the emperor to conlirm
a law granting to native and domiciled Jews the
right of citizenship, and toother Jews
Regu- the privilege of trading in the country,
lations of subject to the regulations concerning
1894. foreigners in general. The number of
Jews classed as "native" or "domi-
ciled " is very small, and applies to the Jewish sol-
diers of the time of Nicholas I. No other Jews have
a right to remain permanently in Finland. Excep-
tion is made, however, in favor of the necessary re-
ligious functionaries, as rabbis, shohetim, beadles of
synagogues, and instructors in the Jewish religion.
The regulation of 1894 has conferred on the Finn-
ish Jews the following rights: (1) they have the
same trading privileges as all other foreigners, ex-
cept that of visiting the fairs ; (2) they are granted
annual instead of semi-annual passports; (3) they are
allowed to live and trade only in the towns of Hel-
.singfors, Abo, and Wyborg; (4) their male children,
even on marrying "foreign" Jewesses, do not lose
the right of residence in Finland.
In all there were in Finland in 1895 about 120 Jew-
ish families (according to the " AUg. Zeit. des Jud."
1902, No. 16, 800 persons). Most of them are arti-
sans and small traders. As artisans they compete
successfully with both Finns and Russians.
The recent persecution of the Finns by Russia has
not in any way affected the status of the Jews of
Finland.
Bibliography : Razsvi/et, 1881, No. 5; Sovremennyua Izvm-
sfa/ci, 1882, No. 30; VoMmd, 1885, No. 5; Russki Yevrei,
1884, No. 26.
ir. R. J. G. L.
FINN, JULIUS : Russian - American chess-
player; born April 28, 1871, at Vladislavovo, gov-
ernment of Suwalki, Russian Poland ; emigrated to
the United States in 1887. » At a tournament played
in the city of New York November, 1895, he won
twenty-three games, losing two and drawing one.
In 1901 he won the chaftnpionship of New York state.
Finn is perhaps the most successful Jewish blind-
fold player; he engages in twelve simultaneous
games with facility.
II. K. A. P.
FINTA : A Spanish term signifying a tax which
is paid to the government. It is still used — for ex-
ample, in London by the Spanish and Portuguese
congregations to designate a part of their revenue,
levied by assessors ("fintadores") appointed for the
purpose. Every two years the elders fix the entire
amount to be raised as tinta; and this the fintadores
apportion among the individuals of the congrega-
tion. The highest finta may not exceed £40, and
the lowest may not be less than £1. There are mi-
389
TJIE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Finland
Finzi
nute rogulations witli regard to tlie tintii and the
election of tlic liuliidores.
BiBLiouRAi'iiY : Ascamot . . . of the Coimrenation <if Sintn-
ixli and Pi»tn(iHC'<e Jews . . . , pp. 3-5, l:i-14, 1H-:J(I, London,
187:i; Israel Ahrahiuus, JcwMi Life in tlic Mkldle Ages, p.
42 nnti. I
42. note I.
A.
M. Skj..
FINZI ("'VJ''3, ""^JD) : An ancient Italian family,
^vbiL■ll i>i()bal)ly derived its name from "Pinehas,"
through the Latin "Finea." The remotest known
bearers of the name of " Finzi " were Musetino del
fu Museto de Finzi di Ancona, who was con
cerned in establishing the tirst Jewish money-lend-
ing office in Padua in 1309, and his sous Emanuel,
Solomon, and Cajo, who bought real estate in
1380. Cajo is probably identical with the Isaac ben
Moses Finzi who represented his congregation at the
congress in Bologna in 1416. lie seems to have
been a scholar, for in a document of 1389 he is styled
" niagister gayus." A Bible mauu.script (Cod. Asher,
No. 2) belonging to Wolomon contains the genealogy
of the Finzi family. After his death in 1421 the
manuscript came into the hands of his son Abra-
ham (d. 1446), and after him into the possession of
his sou Mordecai, a physician, who flourished at
Mantua (1440-75), and who was distinguished also
as mathematician and astronomer. The library of
Turin contains many of his manuscripts. His as-
tronomical tables were published at Mantua under
the title " Luhot, Tabuhe Longitudinis Dierum,"
probably before 1480. He also wrote glosses to
Efodi's Hebrew grammar, "Heslieb ha-Efod." Jo-
seph Sarka, Efodi's pupil, was hospitably received
by the Finzis at Mantua.
To this oldest branch of the Finzis pi'obably be-
longed the following:
Judah Finzi, of Bologna: In 1399 he arranged
the sale of a Bible. Benjamin Finzi, of Piacenza:
Founder of a banking-house at Fano in 1439. Judah.
ben Moses Finzi : Author of a commentar}' on Mor-
decai Finzi's "Seder Mo'ed," written at Ferrara in
1457(Neubauer, "Cat. Bodl. Hebr. MSS." No. 1065).
Isaac Finzi da Ascoli : Corresponded with Joseph
Colon (Resjionsa, No. 171). Abraham Raphael
Finzi da Bologna : Promoter of Hebrew literature,
who had a copy made of a manuscript, now at Ox-
ford (No. 1229) and of MS. De Rossi, No. 1418; in 1449
he procured Codex Benziou 18. Hananiah Finzi
ben Solomon, of Gazuolo near Mantua: Rabbi and
poet. He was part owner in 1587 of a printing-oflice
at Venice, which issued the second part of the Mah-
zor Romi ; his poems are contained in the collection
"Kenaf llenanim." David ben Uzziel Finzi:
Rabbi at Mantua in 1721. His sermons, entitled
"Shetah ha-Oliel," of a cabalistic character, are still
in manuscript. In 1682 lie procured the manuscript
now known as Oxford No. 1403. He was the father-
in-law of Moses Haj^yim Luzzatto. Solomon ben
Eliakim Finzi: liabbi at Forli in 1536; he was
the author of " Mafteah ha-Gemara," reprinted in the
collection "Tummat Yesharim " (Venice, 1622). It
was republished in Bashuysen's "Clavis Talmudica
Maxima," with a Latin translation and notes by B.
Bittmeier (Hanau, 1714). He also wrote a disserta-
tion on the proper names in Gen. xxv. 13-15. Moses
Finzi : Translator from Hebrew and Arabic. He
translated into Latin Moses ibn Tibbon's Hebrew
version of Themistius' commentary on the twelfth
book of Arist()tle's " Metaphysics " (" Themistii Para-
])hrasis in Duodecimvnn Li brum Metaphy.sica! Aris-
totelis ex Inteipretatioue Hebraica Latine Vei'sa,"
Venice, 1558-76), and translated into Hebrew Abu
Kamit's "Algebra." He is probably identical with
Moses ben Israel Finzi da Arezzo. Hayyim ben
Jacob ben Judah Finzi da Forla : Physician and
rabbi at I'esaroand Ancona. At Pesaro, in 1581, he
wrote a eonunentarj' on the Psalms, called " ' Ez
Hayyim " (Neubauer, I.e. No. 2318). He was a pupil
of Isaac ben Gershom Treves. David Finzi, of
Mantua: Possessed a collection of ancient coins, of
which Azariah dei Rossi made use in his studies.
To the Da Recanati bianch of the Finzi family
belonged :
Abraham ben Foa, of Ancona: In 1455 he had
a copy of the "Libnat haSatir" made by Messer
Leon, rabbi at Mantua. Jacob ben Menahem :
Was teacher of Gedaliah ibn Yahya, author of " .Shal-
shelet ha-Kabbalah. " Jacob Israel ben Raphael :
Rabbi at Pesaro (1540-60); corresponded with Mo.ses
Proven(;al and Nathaniel Trabotti, and criticized
Azariah dei Rossi's chronology ; the latter defended
himself in "Ma'amar Zedek 'Olamin."
The Da Arezzo branch of this family is identified
chiefly with Ferrara, and among its members were
Joab Emanuel and his cousin David.
The The latter in 1477 had a copy made of
Recanati MS. Bodl. No. 2183. To the .same
and Arezzo family belonged Israel Finzi da
Families. Arezzo, owner of MS. Bodl. No. 656
("Shibbole ha-Leket"). His sons
were: (1) Aaron ben Israel, rabbi at Ferrara
about 1575. His responsa (MSS.) are in tlie Col-
legio Rabbinico Italiano. (2) Moses ben Israel,
rabbi at Imola and Ferrara.
To a parallel line belong: Benjamin da Arezzo
(1500). Eliezer ben Benjamin : Rabbi at Forli in
1536. Ephraim and Benjamin ben Ephraim,
both of Ferrara : Their decisions are contained in a
manuscript owned by the late David Kaufmann of
Budapest. At Cremona about 1586 David Finzi
and his son Ishmael ben David da Arezzo were
heads of the Talmudic academy. To this branch
belong the Finzis of Ferrara and Tuscany. One
of the greatest Talmudists of his time was Heze-
kiah ben Benjamin Finzi of Ferrara, teacher of
Leon da Modena.
The . branch of the Finzi family now living at
Florence is directly descended from Yehiel ben
Abraham Finzi, rabbi at Florence about 1660.
His responsa are mostly in manuscript. Samuel
Isaac ben Moses Hayyim Finzi, rabbi at Reg-
gio in 1686, was the author of "Sefer Tikkun
ha-Shulhan" (Codex Montefiore, No. 353). Gur
Aryeh ha-Levi ben Benjamin Finzi, rabbi at
Mantua about 1680, composed and collected ad-
ditions to the Shulhan 'Aruk, printed in the Man-
tua edition of 1722. Gur Aryeh Finzi, grand-
son of the preceding, edited and wrote an intro-
duction to "Gur Aryeh," a commentary on the
Shulhan 'Aruk (Mantua, 1722). He wa.s' rabbi at
Casale in 1711. Samuel Sar Shalom Finzi (d.
1791) was i-abbi at Ferrara; he was a pupil of Isaac
Lampronti, and was a famous preacher. His ser-
Finzi
Fire
THE JEWISH ENC^YC'LOPEDIA
390
mons are preserved in manuscript under tlie title
"Imre Emet." Alessandro (Elisha) Michael
Finzi, also a pupil of Isaac Lamprouti, was in 1721
secretary of tlie rabbinical academy of Ferrara.
Isaac Raphael ben Elisha Michael Finzi was
born at Ferrara in 1728, aud died at Padua in 1813.
He was one of the most famous preachers of bis
time. Christians were often seen among his hearers.
H(,' was a member of the Paris Sanhedrin in 1806, and
was made vice-president. His manuscripts are in
the library of the Jews' College in London. Solo-
mon Finzi was rabbi at Elba about 1800. He was
the author of "Messia Verra," a poem which resulted
in his imprisonment on the charge of attacking
Christian ministers. He was soon released, how-
ever, and afterward lived at Florence.
Jacob Levi ben Isaac Finzi probably took the
name of " Finzi " in Italy, but, being from Germany,
he added "Tedesco," and thus became the ancestor
of the Tedesco-Finzi family in Venice. He was the
author of "Dibre Agur" (Venice, 1605). Massimo
(Meshullam) Tedesco di Solomon Finzi was ap-
pointed by the Senate of the Venetian republic as
translator of Hebrew works, and officiated from 1771
to 1795. In 1780 he published "Sefer Me'ah Bera-
kot" for the German ritual; his son, Joseph Jacob
Tedesco-Finzi, prepared an edition for the Sephar
die ritual.
Besides those already mentioned there have been
a number of Finzis who may be regarded as the
modern representatives of the family:
Marco Finzi, mayor in Bozzolo in the time of
Napoleon I. (" Corriere Israelitico, "ix. 63). Isaac
Finzi, of Rivarolo, about 1800 (De Rossi, "MSS.
Cod. Ebr." i. 187). Moses Finzi, of Modena, about
1771 (Barbieri, "Dell' Origine della Poesia Rimata,"
p. 418; "IlVessilloIsraelitico,"1879, p. 367). Dott.
Moses Leone Finzi, physician aud politician, was
born at Ferrara Jan. 16, 1808, and died April 18, 1865
(Pesaro, "Memorie Storiche della Communita Israel,
di Ferrara," pp. 77, 82; "Corriere Israelitico," v.
294). Giuseppe Finzi (see below). Moses Finzi
(.see below). Daniel Finzi was rabbi at Jerusalem,
and wrote in 1830 a work on the zizit(Xepi-Ghirondi,
" Toledot Gedole Yisrael, " p. 74). Abraham Finzi
translated the "Leket ha-Zohar" into Judaeo-Span-
ish (Belgrade, 1859; Kay.serling, "Bibl. Esp.-Port.-
Jud."). Judah Finzi is "rabbino maggiore" in
Sarajevo.
BiBr.iofiRAPHY : Steinschneider. Letteratura ltaliana,p. 52:
idem. Cat. Bodl. cols. 632, 744. 982, 1211, 2312, 2864; idem,
Hebr. Uehers.; Mortara, r>idtfe, pp. 22-23; Mose (Antologia
IgraeUtica). v. 125, 191, 231, 30« : vi. 52, 263 et seq.; Shalahelet
hiv-Kahbalah, ed. Zolkiev, p. 52b (ed. Venice, p. 64b): Eisen-
stadt. Dn'at Kedonhim, pp. 1-36, 38, 48, 53,59 ; Nepi-Ghirondi,
Toledot Gedole Yi»rael, pp. 25-348 ; Zunz, Z. G. p. 256 ; idem.
In Kerem Hemed, v. 154, 156 ; Neubauer, Cat. Bndl Hebr.
MSS. Nos. 5a, b, 807, 1406, ZHH ; Michael, Or ha-Haiiyim.
No. 765: Geiger, Wiss. Zeit. Jlid. TJieol. iii. 286; Azariah
del Rossi, Me'or 'Enai/im, ch. 57: Benjacob. Ozar ha-
Sefarim, Nos. 61, 977 ; VoRelstein and Rieger, Juden in Rom.
li. 98 : Ha-Asif. iii. 218 ; Zacuto, Re^ponita, No. 37 ; Jeu\
quart. Rev. xiv. 770; IL Vessillo Israelitico, 1878, p. 380;
1879, pp. 3a5, ;W7 : 1880, pp. 211, 245 ; Pesaro, Memorie Storiche
della Communita Israel, di Ferrara, p. 75 ; Corriere Israel-
itico, X. 165; Monat&'ichrift, 1900: Luzzatto, ProJeyomena
ad Una Gramrnatica Ragionata, % 59.
D. I. E.
FINZI, FELICE: Italian Assyriologist ; born
at Correggio, 1847 ; died at Florence, 1872. While
studying law at the University of Bologna he devoted
himself to languages, and especially to the As-
syrian language and literature, on which he lectured
before the Istituto di Studi Superiori of Florence.
He founded with Paolo Mantegazza the Archivio
di Etnologia e di Antropologia ; was one of the
founders of the Italian Oriental Society, subse-
quently transformed into the Accademia Orientale,
and finally into the Societa Asiatica Italiana. He
is the author of " Alcuni Recenti Studi Intorno All'
Archeologia Etrusca," and of "II Brahui: Saggio di
Etnologia Liuguistica " (Florence, 1870).
Bibliography: De Gubematis, Materiaux pour Servir d
VHistoire des Etudes Orientates en Italie, pp. 426-428 ; Boc-
cardo, Enciclopedia.
s. U. C.
FINZI, GIUSEPPE : Italian patriot and par-
liamentarian; born at Rivarolo Fuori, province of
Mantua, 1815; died Dec. 17, 1886. He studied at
Padua from 1881 to 1835; in 1834 he joined the
secret organization Giovane Italia. In 1844 he met
Mazzini in London, who entrusted him with the
nationalist propaganda in Switzerland and Lom-
bardy. In 1848 Finzi fought behind the barricades
at Milan cluringthe "cinque giornate." After serv-
ing for a time in the army of Charles Albert, he or-
ganized a Bersaglieri regiment, consisting of Man-
tuans; he first fought at Novara against Austria,
aud afterward at Rome against the papal troops.
As an intimate friend of Mazzini, he was brought be-
fore an Austrian court martial at Mantua. While
many of his friends were condemned to the gallows,
he was sentenced to eighteen years' imprisonment;
but after a short term of imprisonment atTheresien-
stadt and Josephstadt, the amnesty of 1856 set him
at liberty.
When Lombardy was freed from Austrian domi-
nation, Finzi M'as appointed royal commissary for
the province of Mantua. He became the confidant
of Garibaldi, and was entrusted with the funds for
the expedition to Sicily. The voluntary contribu-
tions not being sufficient, Finzi appealed to Cavour,
who, on condition of strictest secrecy, supplied him
with state funds. Cavour urged Finzi to revolution-
ize Naples while Garibaldi was in Sicily. Accord-
ingly, with Zanardelli, Besana, and others, Finzi
went there, but had little success; nevertheless he
paved the way for Garibaldi's entry later. Ill
health compelled Finzi to resign the office of gen-
eral director of public safety for the southern prov-
inces, to which he had been appointed. He some-
times mediated between Garibaldi and Cavour when
their relations became strained. For about twenty-
five years — from 1860 onward — Finzi was a member
of the Lower House, and highly esteemed by all
parties. He was a man of unflagging energy, but he
was not an orator. June 7, 1886, he was made a
senator ; he was destined, however, never to enter the
Senate chamber.
Bibliography: Leone Carpi, 7? Risorgimento Italiana, Bio-
graHe Stori co-Pol itiche d'lllustri Itaiiani Contemporanei,
iv. Milan, 1888 ; Telesforo Sarti, 11 Parlamento Subalpino e
Nazionale, ProflU e Conti Biografici, Turin, 1890.
s. S. MuN.
FINZI, GIUSEPPE : Italian scholar and poet ;
born at Busseto Nov. 12, 1852. He has filled the
chair of Italian literature in various gymnasia and
391
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Finzi
Fire
academies, at Modena, Turin, and other cities of
Italy, and has written a number of works deal-
ing clnefly witli Italian literature. They include:
" L'Asino nella Legenda e uella Letteratura," Turin,
1883 ; " Saggi Dantcschi," ib. 1886 ; " Lezioni di Storia
della Letteratura," ib. 1888; "Principi di Stilistica
Italiana," ib. 1888; "Manuale Completo di Lettera-
tura Italiana," Verona, 1893; " Nel Golfodi Spezia,"
l)oenis. Spezia, 1899 ; " Nuova Grammatica Ra/.ionale
della Lingua Italiana," Verona, 1893.
Bibmo(;raphy : De Gubernatis, Dictionnaire des Eci-ivainx
diiJojtr.
s. U. C.
FINZI, MOSES: Italian lawyer; born at Flor-
ence in 1830. He studied law at Pisa, and was ad-
mitted to the bar in 1856. For some years he was
an associate of Mari. In 1900 the rabbinical title of
"maskil " Avas conferred upon him. He is professor
of political economy and statistics at the Istituto
Tecnico of Florence. His works include: a biog-
rapiiy of Adriano IMari, Florence, 1888; " Le Uni-
versitil Israelitiche c la Liberta di Coscienza," ib.
1898; and a short article on the " JusHazaka," in the
" Fest-schrif t zum Siebzigsten GeburtstageA.Berlin-
ers," Berlin, 1903.
s. U. C.
FIORENTINO, SOLOMON : Italian poet ; born
at Monte San Savino, Tuscany, .Marcli 4, 1743; died
at Florence Feb. 4, 1815. He studied at Sienna,
where he commenced to write. The reaction of
1799 brought him to prison, and when released he
lived in penury at Sienna and Florence. He after-
ward accepted the chair of Italian literature offered
him by the Jewish inhabitants of Leghorn, where
he taught until 1808.
His chief production is the "Elegie," written after
the death of his wife, Laura Gallico. He wrote also
"La Notte d'Etruria," upon the coronation of the
grand duke Leopold I.; "L'Anima," a didactic
poem; and a translation of Hebrew prayers. His
exchange of sonnets with Gorilla Olimpica is famous.
His son Angiolo, born at Monte San Savino in
1770, accompanied his father on all his travels, and
was a Hebrew instructor, first at Leghorn, afterward
at Florence, where he died (Oct. 23, 1845).
6. U. C.
FIORINO, JEREMIAH DAVID ALEX-
ANDER: German miniature-painter; born at Cas-
sci Feb. 20, 1796 (according to the catalogue of the
Dresden Gallery, 1793); died at Dresden June 22,
1847 (not Aug. 24, 1845, as HofFmeister says) ; son of
the merchant David Alexander Fiorino of Gottingen ;
studied undera porcelain-painter and at the academy
of Cassei, winning a medal in 1816. Fiorino went
to Dresden in 1824, where lie was appointed court
painter and received the title of "professor." The
following are among his works: the medallion of
Prince Maximilian of Saxony, in the Dresden Gal-
lery; two miniatu7-es in the Kunstgewerbe Museum
of that city; the medallion of King Albert of Sax-
ony, which he later reproduced as a lithograph; the
medallion of Prince Ernest of Saxony and the pov-
trait of the elector Wilhelm II. in the Bose Museum
at Cassei. The portrait of Fiorino's father, and
pastels of Fiorino's brother, the mechanician and
o|)tician Abraham David Alexander Fiorino, and
liis wife, in bridal costume, are also at Cassei.
Bibliography: HofTmei.ster, Gesch. der Haupt- iind Resi-
denz-Stadt rn.svsc/, Cas.sel, 1882; liuch der Dresdner Deer-
diginig!<brU,derschaft, and notes by Fiorino's nephew, Alex-
ander Fiorino.
s. A. W.
FIR or FIR-TREE : Tlie usual Authorized Ver-
sion rendering of CIIQ (once of nTl2, the North-Pal-
estinian pronunciation). In the Revised Version " cy-
press " has been adopted in almost every case in the
margin. Of the ancient versions the Vulgate almost
invariably gives "Abies, ligna abiegna "(fir-tree),
while the Septuagint and the Peshitta render it vari-
ously "cypress," "pine," "juniper," "cedar," and
" almond-tree. " The translation " fir-tree" is strongly
supported by the texts when studied in the light of
Syrian flora. In the great majority of passages in
which " berosh " occurs that tree is depicted as hav-
ing its home in the higher regions of Mount Lebanon,
where the cedar grows. This can not be said of
the pine or of the cypress, these being trees pecul-
iar to lower altitudes, and though they grow in
Palestine and on Mount Lebanon, they are never
seen in company with the cedar. On the other hand,
there is in the subalpine and alpine zones of Mount
Lebanon a species of fir-tree, the Abies Cilicica,
which compares favorably both in height (130 feet)
and in beauty with the cedar, its neighbor. There-
fore the presumption is strong that whenever in the
Old Testament "berosh" represents a tree or wood
of Mount Lebanon the fir-tree is meant.
In Hosea xiv. 9 (A. V. 8), however, "berosh " repre-
sents a tree with edible fruit; it must therefore be
sought for among the Coniferce, and the only possi-
ble rendering is "pine" — the stone-pine, or pignon-
piue {Pinus Pima), the kernel of which is used for
food in Palestine and in other countries in the Medi-
terranean zone. " Pine-wood " might be suggested
as an alternative for "fir-wood " in II Sam. vi. 5, as
both pine- and fir-wood make excellent sounding-
boards for musical instruments. It is probable,
liowever, that this passage should be corrected from
the parallel passage, I Chron. xiii. 8, so as to read
D^TK'll Ty"^33 ("with all their might and with
songs "), instead of D't^'"n3 'VJ? ^331 (" with all man-
ner of instruments made of fir-wood "). As for Na-
hum ii. 4 (A. V. 3), if "beroshim" in that passage
means "spears," "fir-trees" would be the only
acceptable literal interpretation. It is well known
that next to ash fir-wood makes the best spear-shaft.
Bibliography : Tristram. The Natural History nf the Bible;
G. A. Post, Flora of Siiria. Palestine, and binai; Low,
Aramaische Pflanzcnnamen; Payne Smith, Thcsatirus
Siii-iacus; Delitzsch, Assjirisches Handivdrterb.; Muss-Ar-
nolt, A Concise Dictioimru of the Afsi/rian Language:
Theophrastus, Hiatoria Plantantm I (with the notfs of Bo-
doeus and Scaliger), Amsterdam, 1644.
E. G. n. H. H.
FIRE.— Biblical Data: The ordinary process
of combustion, for which the Hebrew generally has
^a. in Daniel (Aramaic) "ilj, and, with reference to
the accompanying heat and glow, my3 and TlK;
while nt^N (n^X is a corrupt ana^ T^ydfievov), the
derivation of which from t^'X is not certain, is a tech-
nical sacerdotal term for burnt olTering. The ma-
terials for making fires (see Fuel) were wood,
charcoal, thorns, and dung. Rubbing pieces of
wood against each other, a primitive method of
Fire
Firkovich
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
392
gettiug tire, was apparently in use among tlie He-
brews. This at least seems to be the more probable
meaning of the word " mekoshesh " (gathering), used
in describing the act of the Sabbath- breaker (Num.
XV. 33-33; see I Kings xvii. 12, "shenayim 'ezim"
= " two sticks "). Jewish legend (see Adam, Book
OF) maintains that Adam and Eve were shown this
metliod of making fire. In II Mace. x. 3 reference
is made to the method of procuring fire by striking
steel against fiint. The fire-stone (" hallamish ") was
certainly known to the Hebrews, though the Biblical
references to it simply emphasize its hardness, and
give DO intimations concerning its use for the pur-
pose of ignition. In domestic life fire was kindled
to prepare food, to bake bread or cakes, to give
warmth (Ex. xii. 8; II Chron. xxxv. 13; I Kings
xvii. 12; Isa. xliv. 16; Jer. vii. 18, xxxvi. 22). The
ancient Hebrews rarely needed fire to heat their
tlvvellings. They occasionally used braziers ("ah "),
though the larger houses were provided with " winter
rooms" (Amos iii. 15), which had excavations for
tiie ah, the heat being preserved as long as possi-
ble by means of a carpet or rug placed over the
charcoal (Xowack, "Lehrbuch der Hebraischen
Archiiologie," i. 141; Benzinger, "Arch." p. 124).
On the Sabbath no fire for domestic uses could be
kindled (Ex. xxxv. 3). In refining, smelting, and
forging metals fire was extensively employed ; e.g., in
the making of the golden calf (Ex.
Uses xxxii. 24) and of idols (Isa. xliv. 12,
of Fire. liv. 16; Ecclus. [Sirach] ii. 5). Fire
wasa means of vengeance (II Sam. xii.
31 [but see commentaries on this passage] ; Jer. xxix.
22; Dan. iii. 11, 15; II Mace. vii. 5). Idols especially
were destroyed by fire (Deut. vii. 5; II Kings xix.
18). Cities were burned as a war measure (Josh.
vi. 24). Crops were set on fire to incite hostilities
(Judges XV. 4-5; II Sam. xiv. 30). If damage was
done to vineyard or field or crop by carelessness in
building a fire, the blamewortiiy party was held lia-
ble (Ex. xxii. 6). Books of an obnoxious character
were thrown into the fire (Jer. xxxvi. 23). For cer-
tain offenses the penalty was death by fire (Lev. xx.
24, xxi. 9; comp. Jer. xxix. 22; Capital Punish-
ment). Garments infected with leprosy were con-
signed to the flames (Lev. xiii. 52, 57). Animal
refuse and stubble were burned (Lev. iv. 12, vi. 30 ;
Isa. V. 24). Only in exceptional cases were human
bodies incinerated (see Ciiemation).
The fire on the altar, needed for the burnt of-
fering, was always kept burning (Lev. vi. 12).
"Strange fire," that is, fire newly kin-
Sacerdotal died or taken from profane hearths,
Use of Fire, was not permitted (Lev. x. 1 ; Num.
iii. 4, xxvi. 61; comp. Ariel). The
holy tire was believed to liave had a divine origin
(Lev. ix. 24; II Chron. vii. 1-3; comp. II Mace. i.
19-22). Fire as the means of offering human sacri-
fices is abhorred (Deut. xii. 31; II Kings xvii. 31);
its u.se for such infamous purpose is prohibited (Lev.
xviii. 21; Deut. xviii. 10), though it was in vogue
even among the Israelites (II Kings xvii. 17; Jer.
vii. 31), especially imdcr Aliaz and Manasseh (II
Kings xvi. 3, xxi. 6; see Topiiet, and Gen. xxii. 6).
Portions not consumed during the actual ceremony
of sacrifice were burned (Hx. xii. 10).
The phenomenon of lightning may perhaps under-
lie such expressions as "fire from heaven " and "fire
from before Yhwh " (Lev. x. 2; II Kings i. 10, 12);
indeed, fire and hail are associated (E.\.
Fire from ix. 23; Ps. cv. 32). Fire was re-
Heaven, garded as one of the agents of divine
will; it is a concomitant of various
theophanies (Gen. xv. 17; Ex. iii. 2; Deut. iv. 36; Ps.
Ixxviii. 14; see Elijah); and divine fire consumes
the acceptable offering (Judges vi. 21 ; I Kings xviii.
38). As a development of this conception, God Him-
self is called a consuming fire (Deut. iv. 24, ix. 3).
The appearance of fire on the Tabernacle is sig-
nificant of the divine presence (comp. Num. iii. 4).
Fire is the instrument of God's wrath (Num. xi. 1 ;
Deut. xxxii. 22; Amos i. 4; Isa. Ixv. 5), but God
Himself is not in the fire (see Elijah; I Kings
xix. 12).
Fire implies complete destruction (Isa. i. 7, v. 24,
ix. 18 ; Joel ii. 3). Fire is a burning, wasting disease ;
it consumes courage and pride (Isa.
Meta- X. 16, xxxiii. 11). Fire is insatiable
phorical (Prov. xxx. 16). It betokens danger
and Illus- (Ps. Ixvi. 12; Isa. xliii. 2; Zech. iii. 2).
trative It causes pain, and therefore it is the
Use. synonym of terrible punishment (Isa.
Ixvi. 24; Jer. xx. 9). Venomous rep-
tiles share the power of fire (Num. xxi. 6). Love
and lust (Cant. viii. 6; Ecclus. [Sirach] ix. 8, xxiii.
16), the slanderous tongue and cruelty (Prov. xvi.
27; Ps. cxx. 4; Isa. ix. 18), burn like fire; and even
so does God's word (Jer. xxiii. 29).
In Rabbinical Literature : Fire was created
on Monday (Pirke R. El. iv.), as was the fire of Ge-
henna: God blew the fire and heated the seven
chambers of Gehenna. According to others, it was
created on Sabbath eve, when Adam, overwhelmed
by the darkness, began to fear that this also was a
consequence of his sin. Whereupon the Holy One
(blessed be He !) put in his way two bricks, which he
rubbed upon each other, and from which fire came
forth (Yer. Ber. 12a). Again, fire is one of the three
elements (water, spirit, and fire), which preceded the
creation of the world. The water became pregnant
and gave birth to darkness; the fire became preg-
nant and gave birth to light; the spirit became
pregnant and gave birth to wisdom (Ex. R. xv. ;
comp. Freudenthal, " Hellenistisclie Studien," i. 71).
There are six kinds of fire: (1) fire that "eats" but
does not "drink," that is, does not consume water —
the common fire; (2) fire that "drinks" but does not
"eat" (the fever of the sick) ; (3) fire that both eats
and drinks (as that of Elijah, which both consumed
the sacrifices and licked up the water; I Kings xviii.
38); (4) fire that eats wet as well as dry things (that
arranged by the priests on the altar); (5) fire that
quenches fire (that of Gabriel, who, according to
tradition, was the angel sent down to the fiery fur-
nace in order to save Hananiah, Mishael, and Aza-
riah; Dan. ii. 25); (6) fire tiiat consumes fire (that of
the Shekinah). In the First Temple alone was the
fire of divine origin (Yonia 21b). The Torah given
by God was made of an integument of white fire, the
engraved letters were in black fire, and it was itself
of fire and mixed with fire, hewn out of fire, and
given from the midst of fire (Yer. Sotali viii. 22d).
393
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Fire
Firkovich
The Torali has two fires, the oral and the writteu
law (Cant. R. ii. 5); "in fact, all their words [the
sages'] areas coals of fire" (Ab. ii. 10). Study of
tlie Torah brings about certain effects like fire
(Sifrc, Deut. xxxiii. 2). The holy fire on the altar
liad the appearance of a lion — according to another,
of a dog (Yonia 21b).
Fire descended from heaven when God desired to
intervene in human affairs. It is thus that the keys
of the Temple which Jeconiah wished to keep from
Nebuchadnezzar are removed from earth (Lev. Ii.
xix.). What the Bible calls " strange fire " the Tal-
mudists denominate JTlDVlpin il^H, fire of the "com-
moners" (idiurai; Num. R. ii.). Though God prom-
ised not to visit earth again with a flood. He did not
specify what kind ; hence Abraham fears lest a flood
of fire may still be sent (Gen. R. xxxix.). Myth-
ical streams of fire are mentioned by the Rabbis (see
ANGELOLociY), by which angels and men are con-
sumed (Pesik. R. 20). Fire-worshipers ("habbarin")
are known to the Talnuidists (see Zoroastrianism).
Regarding the benediction over fire or light, tlie
Ilillelites declare that fire emits many colors, and
hence the plural should be used (K'Nn mso, " the
lights of fire"), while the school of Shammai pleads
for the singular (K'Xn "i^XO)". as fire holds only one
light or color (Ber. 52b). Two fire-animals are men-
tioned, the salamander (Rashi to Sanh. 63b), and
the "alitha," which extinguishes fire (Sanh. 108b).
The salamander's blood protects against fire (Hag.
26a), as is proved by the escape of Hezekiah, whose
fatlier had devoted him to Moloch (Sanh. 63b). The
later rabbis held the salamander to be the product of
a fire burning seven years.
Fire for domestic and industrial uses receives much
attention from the Rabbis in consequence of the Sab-
bath law. Quite a varietj'^ of fuel is mentioned —
different kinds of wood, reeds, willows, fruit-stones,
plaited weeds, pitch, sulfur, wax or cheese and
fat, straw, stubble, flax ; and various methods of
building a fire, with shavings, reeds bound together,
etc., are indicated. Stoves were known. The
"warming-hall" in the Temple enjoyed certain im-
munities from the rigorous Sabbath law. An open
coal-fire in a pan was used to bake cakes (Shab. i.
10, 22a, b). Torches of twigs were carried by way-
farers at night (Ber. 43b) and on festive occasions.
Great fires built on mountain-tops served as signals,
and were used to announce the beginning of the
new moon (Sanh. lib). "Fire" in time came to
denote " fever " (Yoma 29a ; Shab. 66b, 67a, et al. :
see Gehenna ; Light).
6. s. E. G. H.
riRE, PILLAR OF. See Pillar op Fiue.
FIRKOVICH, ABRAHAM B. SAMUEL
( Aben ReSheF) : Russian Karaite archeologist ;
born in Lutsk, Volhynia, Sept. 27, 1786 ; died in Chu-
fut-Kale, Crimea, June 7, 1874. He was educated
as a Karaite scholar, but later paid much atten-
tion to rabbinical literature, by which his Hebrew
style was influenced. In 1818 he was hazzan of liis
native city, an office which among both Karaites
and Rabbinites includes tiiat of cantor, reader,
teacher, and minister. In 1828 he lived in Ber-
dychev, and had controversies with some Rabbinite
Jews, the result being Ids anti-rabbinical work
" Masah u-Meribah" (Eupatoria, 1838). In later years
when he became closely connected with the Rabbin-
ites, he repudiated the sentiments contained in that
pamphlet. In 1830 he visited Jerusalem, where he
collected many Karaite and Rabbinite manuscripts.
On his return lie remained two years in Constanti-
nople, as teacher in the Karaite community. He
tiien went to tlie Crimea and organized a societ}' to
publisi) old Karaite works, of which several appeared
in Eupatoria (Koslov) with comments by him. In
1838 he was tlie teacher of the cliildren of Simhah
Babovich, the head of the Russian Karaites, who one
year later recommended liim to Count Vorontzov and
to the Historical Society of Odessa as a suitable man
to send to collect material for the liistory of the
Karaites. In 1839 Firkovich began excavations in
the ancient cemetery of Chufut-Kale, and unearthed
many old tombstones, some of which, he claimed,
belonged to the first centuries of the conmion era.
The following two years were spent in travels
through Caucasus, wliere he ransacked the genizot
of the old Jewish communities and collected many
valuable manuscripts. He went as far as Derbent,
and returned in 1842. In later years he made other
journeys of the same nature, visiting Eg\'pt and
other countries. In Odessa he became the friend of
Bezalel Stern and of Simhah Pinskcr, and while re-
siding in Wilna he made the acquaintance of Fuenn
and other Hebrew scholars. In 1871 he visited the
small Karaite community in Halicz, Galicia, where
he introduced several reforms. From there he went
to Vienna, w-here he was introduced to Count Beust
and also made the acquaintance of Adolph Jellinek.
He returned to pass his last daj's in Chufut-Kale,
of which there now remained only a few ruins.
The discoveries made by Firkovich, which were
first announced to the world in Pinner's "Prospec-
tus " (Odessa, 1845), gave rise to a whole literature.
The collection of stones, facsimile's, manuscripts,
and molds taken from tombstones, which was ac-
quired from Firkovich by the Imperial Library of
St. Petersburg, on the recommendation of Professor
Chwolson in 1859, was declared by some authori-
ties to consist partly or wholly of forgeries com-
mitted for the purpose of glorifying the Karaites and
of enhancing the value of Firkovich's discoveries.
As the full extent of his forgeries will probably
never be known, a list of the genuine and the
spurious in the collection is tlierefore impossible.
Briefly stated, the discoveries include the major
part of the manuscripts described in
His Pinner's " Prospectus der der Odessaer
Forgeries. Gesellschaft filr Geschichte und Ait-
erthum Gehorenden Aeltesten He-
braischen und Rabbinischen Manuscripte " (Odessa,
1845), a rather rare work which is briefly described
in " Literaturblatt des Orients" for 1847, No. 2.
These manuscripts consist of : (1) Fifteen scrolls of
the Law, with postscripts which give, in Karaite
fashion, the date and place of writing, the name of
the writer or corrector or other interesting data.
(2) Twenty copies of books of the Bible other than
the Pentateuch, some complete, others fragment-
ary, of one of which, the Book of Habakkuk,
dated 916, a facsimile is given. (3) Nine numbers
Firkovich
Firman
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
394
of Talmudical aud rabbinical manuscripts. Tlie
account of the contents of his second and more
important collection, which he sold for a very large
sum to the Imperial Library of St. Petersburg
in 1862-68 (see Filrst, "Geschichte des Karaer-
thums," iii. pp. 174 et scq., Leipsic, 1869), gives
more than 700 numbers of various Karaite and
Rabbinite manuscripts. Another collection of 317
Samaritan manuscripts, acquired in Xablus, arrived
in the St. Petersburg Imperial Academy in 1867
{ib. p. 176).
Probably the greatest service that Firkovich ren-
dered to Jewish sci-
ence was the awa-
kening of interest in
Karaite history and
literature, that led
to the discussion of
his alleged discov-
eries. His personal
contributions to it
are mostly of a bib-
liographical na-
ture, and great cau-
tion is necessar}'^ in
utilizing his ma-
terials. His most
sympathetic critic,
Chwolson, gives as
a resume of his be-
lief, after consider-
ing all controver-
sies, that Firkovich
succeeded in de-
monstrating that
some of the Jewish
tombstones from
Chufut-Kale date
back to the seventh
century, and that
seemingly modern
forms of eulogy and
the method of
counting after th<-
era of creation
were in vogue
among Jews much
earlier than had laeen hitlierto suspected. But even
on these points the opinions of authorities are far
from being unanimous.
S. L. Rapoport has pointed out some impossi-
bilities in the inscriptions ("Ha-Meliz," 1861, Nos.
13-15, 87); Geiger in his "Jiidische Zeitschrift"
(1865, p. 166), Scliorr in "He-Haluz," and Neubauer
in the " Journal Asiatique " (186^63) and in his " Aus
der Petersburger Bibliothek " (Leipsic, 1866) have
challenged the correctness of the facts and the
theories based upon them which Jost, Flirst, and
Gratz, in their Avritings on the Karaites, took from
Pinsker's "Likkute Kadmoniyyot," in wliich the
data furnished by Firkovich were unhesitatingly ac-
cepted. Further exposures were made by Strack and
Harkavy (St. Petersburg, 1875) in the "Catalog der
Hebr. Bibelhandschriften der Kaiserlichen OefFent-
lichen Bibliothek in St. Petersburg"; in Harkavy's
"Altjudische Denkmaler aus der Krim " {ih. 1876);
Abi-dbam ben Samuel Firkovich
in Strack's "A. Firkowitsch und Seine Entdeck-
ungen " (Leipsic, 1876); inFrankel's "AhareReshet
le-Bakker" ("'Ha-Shahar," vii. 646 et seq.); in Dei-
nard's " Massa' Krim " (Warsaw, 1878) ; and in other
places. Chwolson alone defended him, but he also
was forced to admit that in some cases Firkovich
had resorted to forgery. In his "Corpus luscrip-
tiorum Hebraicarum " (St. Petersburg, 1882; Rus-
sian ed., ih. 1884) Chwolson attempts to prove that
the Firkovich collection, especially the epitaphs
from tombstones, contains much which is genuine.
It must be admitted that Firkovich did much to
further the study
of Karaite and
Crimean Jewish
history, and that
after all deductions
are made his dis-
coveries still remain
of great value.
Firkovich's chief
work is his " Abne
Zikkaron," contain-
ing the texts of in-
scriptions discov-
ered by him (Wilna,
1872). It is pre-
ceded by a lengthy
account of his trav-
els to Daghestan,
characterized bj^
Strack as a mixture
of truth aud fiction.
His other works are
"Hotam Toknit,"
antirabbinical po-
lemics, appended to
his edition of the
"Mibhar Yesha-
rim " by Aaron the
elder (Koslov,
1835); "Ebel Ka-
bod," on the death
of his wife and of his
son Jacob (Odessa,
1866); and "Bene
Reshet," essays and
poems, published by Smolenskin (Vienna, 1871).
Gabriel Firkovich of Troki was his son-in-law.
Bibliography: Jellinek, ^hz-a/ifl/n Firkowitsch. . . ein Ge-
de7}khlatt, Vienna, 1875; Deiiiard, Toleilot Ehcn Rexhet, War-
saw, 187-} ; idem, Ha-Maggid, xix., Nos. 7, J2; Zeitlin, Bihl.
Post-Mendcls. pp. 8.')-86 ; Mandelstamm, Haznn la-Mr>ed,
iii. 18-20, Vienna, 1877; Gurland, Ha-Shahar. ix. 238-229;
McCIlntock and Strong, Cj/c. xii.. Supplement, s.v. See also
Lileraturhlatt des Orients, vlii. Nos. 1-2.
J. P. Wl.
FIRMAMENT. See Cosmogony.
FIRMAN, JOSEPH (the Elder): Grecian rabbi
and author; lived in the sixteenth century. Ac-
cording to Solomon Cohen, he was a native of Seres,
European' Turkey, whence he went to Salonica, be-
coming rabbi there. Later he went to tlie ]\Iorea in
Greece, and assumed rabbinical supervision of all
communities in that peninsula. He left many un-
jiublished decisions. Joseph Firman is mentioned
in the responsa of Moses di Trani and of Jacob ha-
Levi, as well as in those of his pupil Solomon
Q
Z
■J
.9
2 ?
^4 c*
2 ^
a. •—
a
H
Flrst-Born
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
396
Cohen. Besides Joseph Finnan tlie Elder there
is known a Joseph Firman the Younger, the
grandson of the former, by whom, as by Solomon
Cohen and Moses Alshech, lie is mentioned.
Bibliography : Conforte, Korc lia-Dorot, pp. 37-41.
s. s. N. T. L.
FIRST-BORN. See Puimogeniture.
FIRST-BORN, REDEMPTION OF: Accord-
ing to Talmudic tiaditiou, Uie tirst-born acted as
officiating priests in the Avilderness, until the erec-
tion of the Tabernacle, when the office was given to
the tribe of Levi (Num. iii. 12, 13, 45-51; Zeb. 112b;
compare Onkelos to Ex. xxiv. 5). In consequence
of the deliverance from the tenth plague, when " the
Lord slew" all the tiisl-boru in the land of Egypt "
but spared the first-born of the Israelites, the fol-
lowing commandment was given: "Sanctify unto
me all the first-born, whatsoever openeth the womb
among the children of Israel, both of man and of
beast: it is mine" (Ex. xiii. 2), which is explained
in greater detail in verses 12-15. The first-born of
clean beasts were thus made holy and were unre-
deemable, while the first-born of unclean beasts and
of man had to be redeemed from the priests (Num.
xviii. 15-18; Deut. xv. 19-22; compare Neh. x. 37).
I. The first-born male of a clean beast had to be
brought to the Temple as a sacrifice; its blood
sprinkled on the altar ; its fat burned ; and its flesh
given to the priest, who had to eat it with the
same sanctity as other sacrificial meats. If it had
some physical defect, through which it became un-
fit for sacrifice, it lost its holy character, and the
priest to whom it was given might eat it outside of
Jer'isalem, and even an ordinary Israelite might
partake of it. It was not necessary for the owner
to dedicate the first-born, as was the case with other
sacrificial animals, although it was considered proper
to do so. The first-born became holy at its birth,
and had to be offered on the altar (Bek. 13a; Mai-
raonides, " Yad," Bekorot, i. 7). The Rabbis recom
mended that the owner should keep the first-born in
his possession for some time (small cattle 30 and
large cattle 50 days) before giving it to the priest, so
that the priest be spared the trouble of attending
to it during the early days of its life. It had,
however, to be given away and sacrificed during
the first year of its birth (Deut. xv. 20; Bek. 26b;
Maimonides, I.e. i. 7-15.)
This law is valid for all lands and all times, even
since the destruction of the Temple, when all sacri-
fice ceased ; according to the Kabbis the first-born is
still holy and must be given to the priest, who,
however, ma}' not make any use of it until it has
suffered some physical defect. To cause a defect
in the body of the animal, or even to expose it
to the danger of receiving such a blemish, is strictly
forbidden. No work should be done
Animals, with it, nor should its wool be shorn
or any other benefit derived from it
(Deut. XV. 19). If, however, it receive a blemish
which a scholar or three prominent Israelites declare
to be of the kind whicli would make it unfit for
sacrifice, the animal becomes profane, and even an
Israelite may eat of its meat. However, it should
not be sold in the shop like other meat, and the
scholar who examines it and permits its use may
not, for obvious reasons, eat any of it (Bezah 27a;
Hul. 44b; Bek. 25a; Maimonides, I.e. i. 5, iii. ; Shul-
l.ian 'Aruk, Yoreh De'ah, 306-320).
II. The first-born of an ass had to be redeemed
Avith a sheep or a lamb, and ii: it was not re-
deemed its neck had to be broken (Ex. xiii. 13).
The sheep or lamb with which it was redeemed had
to be given to the priest, who might use it in any
way he desired. At the redemption the owner pro-
nounced the blessing, " Blessed art thou who . . .
commandeth us concerning the redemption of the
tirst-born of an ass." If he had no sheep or cattle
with which to redeem it, he might redeem it with
money, the smallest amount being three zuzim, and
the largest one sela' (Bek. 11a). If he did not wish
to redeem it, he had to break its neck, and even after
its death he might hav(; no benefit from its body,
but had to bury it. Although the Scriptural pas-
sages in this connection use the general expression
"unclean beasts," the Kabbis made the law apply
only to the first-born of an ass. The law is valid
for all times and places. The priests and Levites,
however, are excluded from the obligation (Bek. 5b;
"Yad," Bikkurim, xii. ; Yoreh De'ah, 321; compare
Lev. xxvii. 27 and Rashi ad loc).
III. Every Israelite is obliged to redeem his first-
born son thirty days after the latter's birth. The
mother is exempt from this obligation. The son, if
the father fails to redeem him, has to redeem him-
self when he grows up (Kid. 29b). The sum of
redemption as given in the Bible (Num. xviii.
16) is five shekels, which should be given to the
priest. This sum may be given
Men. either in money or in valuables, but
not in real estate, slaves, or promissory-
notes. The priest may afterward return the money
to the father, although such practise is not recom-
mended by the Rabbis. At the redemption the
father of the child pronounces the blessing, "Blessed
art thou . . . and commandeth us concerning the
redemption of a son," and then also the blessing of
" she-heheyanu. " It is customary to prepare a feast
in honor of the occasion, at which the ceremony is
made impressive by a dialogue between the priest
and the father of the child.
This law applies to the first-born of the mother
and not of the father. Hence the husband of several
wives would have to redeem the first-born of each
one of them, while the husband of a woman who
had had children by a previous marriage need not
redeem her child, although it was his first-born. Not
only priests and Levites, but also Israelites whose
wives are the daughters of priests or Levites, need
not redeem their first-born. Any doubt regarding
the primogeniture of a child is decided in favor of
the father (Mishnah Bek. viii. ; Maimonides, I.e. xi. ;
Yoreh De'ah, 305).
For the same reason as tliat which underlies the
sanctification of the first-born — i.e., the deliverance
from the tenth plague — the first-born are required
to fast on the day preceding Passover (Soferim xxi.
3; compare Yer. Pes. x. 1; Shulhan 'Aruk, Orah
Hayyim, 470). As long as the first-born son is too
young to fast, his father must fast for him; and
if the failier is also a first-born, some authorities are
SCENKS AT RKDKMPTION OF FlRST-BORN.
(From BodeDscbatz, " Kirchliche Verfaasung," 1148.)
First-Fruits
THE JEWISH ENCYC-LOPEDTA
398
of the opinion that both mother and father must
fast — he for himself, and she for her son. See
Inhekitance; Patriarchal Family.
Bibliography : Hamburger, R. B. T. s.v. Erstgeburt ; Saal-
schutz. Das Mosaische Recht, Berlin, 1853.
8. s. J. H. G.
FIRST-FRTJITS.— Biblical Data: As tlie
firstling among the cattle, so the first-fruits of the
field ("reshit," "heleb" [LXX. annfjxv], "bik-
kurim " [LXX. npuToyevvr/fiarn]), of corn, of wine,
and of oil belonged to Ynwn. According to Ex.
xxii. 28 (A. V. 29), the Israelite was not to delay
to offer " of his abundance," a phrase that is explained
in Ex. xxiii. 19 and xxxiv. 26 as meaning the choi-
cest products, the first-fruits of the land. These first-
fruits, as in the case of the first-born, were used for
a feast-offering, even at the time of the compilation
of the Deuteronomic code, according to which the
offering had to take place at Jerusalem. If the dis-
tance was too great, the gifts might be sold at home,
and a feast might be procured at Jerusalem with the
proceeds (Deut. xiv. 22 et seq.). This ordinance
agrees only in part with another given in Deut.
xxvi. 2 et seq., according to which the feast-offering
was prescribed for only two years. The first-fruits
of the third year were to be brought to Jerusalem
and given to the Levites, widows, orphans, and the
poor. This is probably an innovation due to the em-
phasis laid on charity toward the poor and the
Levites, a feature characteristic of the Deuteronomic
code.
In view of these ordinances it is remarkable that,
according to Deut. xviii. 4 (probably written at a
later date), the priest might claim the reshit of corn,
wine, oil, and wool. This is hardly intended to
supersede previous ordinances, the reshit being
evidently taken from the first-fruits set apart for
the feast-offering (comp. xxvi. 12 et seq.). The
same is probably to be inferred from Ezek. xliv. 30,
where a reshit of all the first-fruits of all things
("terumat kol") and of the first of the dough is
demanded for the priest. These ordinances, at all
events, form the transition to P, where both the first-
fruits and the first-born lose their original significa-
tion, and assume the character of a tax paid to the
priest. According to Num. xviii. 12, the priest's
reshit (called also " terumah, " ib. xviii. 27) was to con-
sist of the best of the corn, wine, and oil. In verse 13,
"whatsoever is first ripe in the land " (" bikkurim ")
is added. It is not clear what " bikkurim " means
here, although it may refer to the fruit which ripens
first.
The distinction made between "reshit "and "bik-
kurim " in post-exilic times is clearly evident from
Neh. X. 36 (A. V. 35), 38, where the congregation
agrees to deliver the reshit to the chambers of the
Temple, but to take the bikkurim to the house of
Yhwh in a solemn procession, and with the cere-
monies laid down in Deut. xxvi. 2 et seq. (comp.
Neh. xii. 44, xiii. 5 ; II Chron. xxxi. 5, 12). Besides
this double offering, the reshit of the dough is
demanded as terumah for Yhwh (Num. xv. 1 et
seq.). Just as the Israelites offered up grains from
the thrashing-floor, so they were to make an offer-
ing— a cake ("hallah") — from the dough.
Finally, Lev. xix. 23 decrees that the fruit of
young trees shiill not be eaten during the first three
years, and that in the fourth year all the fruit there-
of shall be given to Yhwh as a praise-offering
C'kodesh hillulini"). The reshit and bikkurim de-
veloped into the later institution of the tithe ("ma-
'aser "), which was originally identical with these,
as may be learned from Deuteronomy. While, ac-
cording to Deut. xiv. 22, the annual offering of the
tithe in the sanctuary is made the occasion for a
feast, in xxvi. 2 et seq. the word "reshit" appears to
designate the offering which is made obligatory for
two successive years at the central sanctuary ; the
tithe ("ma'aser") in the third year being given at
home to the indigent. The expression "ma'aser"
evidently arose in the endeavor to determine the
amount of the reshit, which depended on personal
option, and was not fixed by law. " Ma'aser," how-
ever, in earlier times may have signified merely an
approximate estimate. The expression perhaps re-
flects the customs prevailing at the sanctuaries
of northern Israel (comp. Amos iv. 4 et seq. ; Gen.
xxviii. 22). Thus the absence of any mention of
the tithe in the old laws is probably due to its iden-
tity with the reshit. Ma'aser is first mentioned as a
separate tax in connection Avith reshit and bikkurim
in P (comp. Num. xxviii. 21 et seq.). See Tithe.
E. G. H. W. N.
In Rabbinical Literature : The first-fruits
("bikkurim ") are known under three designations :
(1) "reshit kezirkem " (Lev. xxiii. 10), "the first-
fruits of your harvest " ; (2) " lehem ha-bikkurim "
(Lev. xxiii. 17-20), "the bread oif the first-fruits";
(3) "reshit bikkure admateka " (Ex. xxiii. 19), "the
first of the first-fruits of thy land," or "reshit kol
peri ha-adamah " (Deut. xxvi. 2), "the first of all the
fruit of the earth."
(1) The "first-fruits of the harvest" were offered
on the 16th day of Nisan, from that fruit which
ripened first in Palestine — barley (but see Men. 84a) —
and with considerable ceremony, in order to empha-
size dissent from the Sadducean interpretation of the
Scripture text, " the morrow after the Sabbath" (Lev.
xxiii. 11), which is, according to the Sadducees,
always Sunday (Men. 65b). The ceremony occurred
toward the evening of the first day of Pesah, in a
field in the neighborhood of Jerusalem, sheaves of
choice barley having been bound there before-
hand by men deputed to this work by the authori-
ties. In the presence of a vast throng, from the
neighboring towns as well as from Jerusalem, the
sheaves to the amount of three seah were cut by three
men with three sickles and placed in three baskets.
As soon as it grew dark the " harvester " addressed
to the assembly the following questions, repeating
each one three times, and receiving to each an affirma-
tive reply : " Has the sun set ? " " Is this the sickle ? "
"Is this the basket?" and on Sabbath, "Is this the
Sabbath day?" He next inquired thrice: "Shall
I harvest? " to which they answered : "Do harvest."
All this was to confound the Sadducean heresy.
The barley was then gathered into the baskets
and carried to the hall of the Temple, where it was
beaten out, not, asusuall}', with sticks, but with soft
reeds; or, according to a divergent opinion, it was
first roasted in a perforated vessel over a fire, so that
the heat might touch all parts evenly. Then it was
399
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
First-Fruits
spread out on the floor of the hall and winnowed in
the draft. Ground in a coarse hand-mill, an 'omer
of the finely sieved flour mixed with oil and incense
was "swung and offered up," and a handful was
burned as incense by the priest. The
Sale of rest was distributed among the priests
New (Jlen. x. 1-4; Maimouides, "Yad,"
Flour. Temidin, vii.). The completion of
this ceremony was the signal for open-
ing the bazaars for the sale of new flour and "kali "
(see Bread), somewhat to the displeasure of the
Rabbis (Men. x. 5). Israelites in distant districts, in
fact, were permitted to eat from the new crop from
midday on, a privilege withdrawn by Johanan ben
Zakkai after the destruction of the Temple (Men.
X. 5). The ceremony of the " reshit kezirkem " was
considered as an act of gratitude to God for His
provideutialcareof the fields (Lev. R. xxviii.).
(2) The " bread of the first-fruits " consisted of two
loaves baked of new wheat, though, according to
Akiba and Nathan, they were not unusable even if
baked of old wheat (Men. 8ob). No meal-offering
("minhah") could be brought before these two
loaves hud been offered up on Shabu'ot (Sifra to
Lev. xxiii. 16; Sifre, Pinehas). They had to be
exactly alike (Sifra, I.e.), the leaven rising from the
dough itself, though, according to another opinion,
the yeast was added to the dough (Men. v. ; Sifra,
I.e.); these loaves were offered by the whole com-
munity (at public expense).
(8) The third class of bikkurim embraced the first-
fruits of all the land . Laying stress on the words " thy
land" (Ex. xxiii. 19), the Rabbis provide that the law
is not applicable to fruit not literally grown on land
(Bik. i. 1), or to that grown on land not one's own
propert3\ Renters, in whole or in part, robbers, and
despoilers ("sicarii"), therefore, are exempt (so also
Mek. to Ex. xxiii. 19). For the reason that they
could not consistently recite the benediction (Deut.
xxvi. 5), slaves and women and persons of uncertain
sex, as well as proselytes unless their mothers were
Israelites, were permitted to offer up the first-fruits
without pronouncing the eulogy (Bik. i. 4; Mek.,
I.e.). The proselj'te praying by himself or with
the congregation pronounced a modified benedic-
tion (" the fathers of Israel " ; " the God of your
fathers"). The bikkurim were offered only from
the "seven" plants (comp. Deut. viii. 8); not from
dates grown in the mountains nor from fruits grown
in the valleys; not from olives unless they were
of the best quality (Bik. i. 3) ; and never before the
Feast of Weeks. But if one offered, between that
festival and the Feast of Tabernacles, fruit of the
"seven" plants, or fruit fro-m the mountains, pr
dates grown in the valleys, or olives from beyond
the Jordan, the offering was accepted and the bene-
diction was allowed {if>. i. 10). Olives and grapes
were accepted as fruits, but not in their liquid
state ("mashkim") as oil and wine ("Yad," Bik-
kurim, ii. 4; Ter. 59a; 'Ar. 11a; Yer. Ter. xi. 3;
Hul. 120a; Mek., I.e.). Fruit from beyond the
border of Palestine, "the land flowing with milk
and honey," was exempt; but Syria and the cities
of Sihon and Og were included ; not so Moab and
Ammon. Jose the Galilean therefore took excep-
tion to including in the Holy Land the district
beyond the Jordan (Gilead; Bik. i. 10). The law
of the first-fruit is held in abeyance, now that the
Temple is not extant and Israel is not in possession
of Palestine ("Yad," Bikkurim, ii. 1).
The following was the method of selecting fruits
for the offering: Upon visiting his field and seeing
a fig, or a grape, or a pomegranate tliat was ripe,
the owner would tie a fiber around the fruit, saying,
■' This shall be among the bikkurim." According to
Simeon, he had to repeat the express designation
after the fruit had been plucked from the tree in the
orchard (Bik. iii. 1). The fruits were carried in great
state to Jerusalem. Deputations ("ma'amadot "),
representing the people of all the cities in the dis-
trict, assembled in the cliief town of the district, and
stayed there overnight in the open
Procedure, squares, without going into the houses.
At dawn the officer in charge (the " me-
munneh ") called out: " Arise, let us ascend to Zion,
the house of Yhwh our God. " Those from the neigh-
borhood brought fresh figs and grapes, those from a
distance dried figs and raisins. The bull destined for
the sacrifice, his horns gilded and his head wreathed
with olive-leaves, led the procession, which was
accompanied with flute- playing. Arrived near the
Holy City, the pilgrims sent messengers ahead while
they decorated the first-fruits. The Temple officers
came out to meet them, and all artisans along the
streets rose before them, giving them thesalutation of
peace, and hailing them as brothers from this or that
town. The flute kept sounding until they reached
the Temple mount. Here even King Agrippa, fol-
lowing the custom, took his basket on his shoulder,
and marched in the ranks, until they came to the
outer court and hall. There they were welcomed by
the Levites, singing Ps. xxx. 2. The doves which
had been carried along in the baskets were offered for
burnt offerings, and what the men had in their
hands they gave to the priests. But before this,
while still carrj'ing his basket, each man recited Deut.
xxvi. 8 et seq. ; at the words "a wayfaring Aramaean
was my fatlier " the basket was deposed from the
shoulder, but while the owner was still holding its
handles or rims, a priest put his hand under it and
"sw'ung it" (lifted it up), and repeated the words
"a wayfaring Aramaean," etc., to the close of the
Deuteronomic section. Then placing the basket by
the side of the altar, the pilgrim bowed down and
left the hall.
The custom of having the section of the Torah
read by the priest and not by the pilgrim arose out
of the desire to spare the feelings of those that did
not know how to read. The rich brought their
fruits in gold and silver baskets, the poor in such
as were made of peeled reeds ; these baskets were
left with the priests. The fruit was decorated with
other fruits and plants, so that the offering really
consisted of the first-fruit, an addition to the first-
fruit, and the decorations. These additions had to
be eaten in purity like the first-fruit. Like other
property of the priest, the bikkurim could be util-
ized by him to purchase slaves, fields, or cattle; ami
he could settle his debts or pay his wife's dower
(" ketubbah ") with them. Judah holds that the first-
fruits were considered as the provincial offerings,
which the donor could give to anybody he liked. It
Pirst-Fruits
Pischer
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
400
was advisable he should give them to a "haber" in
exchange for thanks; while the majority of the
rabbis considered them as sacrifices of the altar,
which could be divided only among the men of the
watch — that is, the division of priests who hap-
pened to be on duty — and who should divide them
like other sacrifices (Bik. iii.).
The quantity of the first-fruits to be brought into
the Temple was in the Scriptures (Deut. xvi. 10)
left to the pleasure of the owner, but the Rabbis
afterward decided that it should amount to one-
sixtieth of the whole crop (" Yad," Bikkurim, ii. 17).
After the destruction of the Temple bikkurim could
not be offered, but the Rabbis regarded acts of phi-
lanthropy as a proper substitute (Yer. Peah 19a;
Lev. R. xxiv.), especially in the form of assistance
extended to men of learning (Ket. 104).
6. 6. E. G. H.
FIRST-FRUITS OF THE WEST, THE.
See Periodicals.
FIRXJZ. See Babylonia, Post-Biblical Data.
FIRUZ-SHABUR : City of Babylonia; the
"Sipphara" of Ptolemy and the Brjpaafiupa of Zosi-
raus; situated a few miles south of Nehardea; built
by Shabur I. about 250 c.e. In Berakot 59b it is
called "112^' '2. " Formerly one who saw the Eu-
phrates at the bridge of Babylon recited the blessing ;
but now, since the Persians have changed the course
of the river, he does not recite the blessing until he
sees it from Be-Shabur." It was the largest city of
Babylonia after Ctesiphon. During the war between
Julian the Apostate and Shabur II., Firuz-Shabur,
which contained many Jewish inhabitants, was be-
sieged and burned. Later, about 581, under Hormizd
IV., the academies of Sura and Pumbedita were
closed, and a new one was opened at Firuz-Shabur,
under Arab rule. According to Sherira Gaon, the
best-known school was that of his ancestor, Rab
Mali, son of Rab Dimi Ijmn. But under Yezdegerd
III. the Academy of Pumbedita was reopened, and
Rab Hanan of Iskia, the chief of the school of
Firuz-Shabur, left the latter for Pumbedita. R.
Hanan was succeeded by Rab Mari. The schools
continued till Ali, the fourth calif, took Firuz-
Shabur, in 656. The Jews of Firuz-Shabur sided
with Ali, and R. Sherira mentions the fact that Mar
Isaac, the chief of the school there, came with 90,000
Jews to meet the conqueror, and Avas received in
a friendly manner.
Bibliography : Gratz, Gesch. 3d ed., iv. 252, 347 ; v. 11 ; Neu-
bauer, O. T. pp. 336,351 ; Berliner, Beitriiqe zur Geographie
und Ethnografjhie Uabi/loniens im Talmud rmd Mi-
drasc/i, p. 60, Berlin, 1883 ; Furst, Die Judenin Asieyi, pp.6
et seq., Lelpsic, 1849 ; Sherira Gaon's Igyeret, in Neubauer's
Medimval Jewish Otroiiicles, i. 35-187.
o. M. Sel.
FISCHEL, ABRAHAM JEHIEL BEN
ZE'EB WOLF : German rabbi of the eighteenth
century. He was the author of a work entitled
" Imrah Zerufah." uovellje on several treatises of the
Talmud and on Maimonides (Berlin, 1755).
Bibliography: Steinschneider, Cat. Bodl. col. 690.
«■ 8. M. Sel.
FISCHEL, ELIEZER BEN ISAAC : Russian
j'alraudist and cabalist; lived at Strizhov (Striz-
hovka) in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
He was the author of many cabalistic and homiletic
works, among them being: " '01am Ehad," homilies
on the unity of God, Zolkiev; "'Olam Hafuk,"
explanation of contrasts, Zolkiev; "'Olam Barur,"
cabalistic homilies, Lemberg; "'Olam ha-Gadol,"
also called "Midrash li-Ferushim," seventy caba-
listic homilies on Gen. xxxiii. 18 (thirty on the
spheres and lights, and forty on the Jewish holi-
days), Zolkiev, 1800. Fiirst ("Bibl. Jud." i. 281)
and Benjacob ("Ozar ha-Sefarim," p. 539) ascribe
to Eliezer ben Isaac Fischel a work called " Para-
shat Eliezer," a commentary to "Karnayim," the
cabalistic work of Aaron b. Abraham, and to its
commentary, the " Dan Yadin " of Samson of Os-
tropoli. Jitomir, 1805.
Bibliography: Steinschneider, Cal Budl. col. 956; Walden,
Shem ha-Gedoliin he-Hadash, ii. 58; Fiienu, Keneset Yis-
raeU p. 131.
s. s. M. Sel.
FISCHELL, A. : Rabbi and historian; lived in
the city of New York in the middle of the nineteenth
century. He was for some time an assistant to Dr.
Raphall, minister of the Shearith Israel congrega-
tion. Concerning Fischell, whose name is also spelled
"Fischel" and "Fishell," but little is known: it is
believed that he died in Holland in the last quarter
of the nineteenth century. In 1859 Fischell read a
paper, " Chronological Notes on the History of the
Jews in America," before the New York Historical
Society. With this he prepared a chronological con-
spectus, which has been reprinted by the American
Jewish Historical Society ("Publications," ii. 99 e<
seq.). In the discussion which grew out of this paper
Fischell claimed that the early Jews enjoyed the
fullest measure of liberty under Dutch rule in New
Amsterdam, while George Bancroft maintained that
Roger Williams, in Rhode Island, was the first to
grant religious liberty in America. Fischell 's paper
was first published in the "Historical Magazine,"
1860 (vol. iv.).
Bibliography : Daly, The Settlement of the Jews in North
America, p. xiv., notes 32 and 85, New York, 1893.
A. A. M. F.
FISCHELS, MEIR : Austrian Talmudist, died
at Prague, Dec. 10, 1769. He was called " Fischels "
as the son of Ephraim Fischel of Bunzlau, while
some of his ancestors are mentioned in docu-
ments under the names of " Bimes " and " Mar-
golies." The family was a very prominent one,
tracing back its genealogy to R. L5w ben Bezalel,
the " hohe Rabbi Low " of Prague. Meir Fischels
was one of the greatest Talmudists of his time. Re-
fusing numerous invitations from the largest com-
munities in Europe, he remained in Prague as presi-
dent of the great bet din, and conducted there for
more than forty years a yeshibah that attracted stu-
dents from the most remote countries. His author-
ity stood so high that even the world-famous chief
rabbi of the communit}' deferred to his halakic deci-
sions (see "Noda' bi-Yehudah," "Yoreh De'ah,"
responsum No. 82, end).
In the great conflagration in the ghetto of Prague
in 1754 Fischels had the misfortune to lose the man-
uscripts of all his works, the fruit of years of devo-
tion to the study of the Torah ; and he never over-
came the grief occasioned by this loss. His death
401
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
First-Iruits
Fischer
•was mourned far and wide. He was buried in the
famous old Jewish cemetery of Prague, where, as is
customary in the case of especially prominent per-
sons, his grave is marked by a mausoleum, with sev-
eral stone slabs covered with inscriptions in verse.
Bibliography: K. Lieben, Gal. 'Ed, No. 114.
s, s. N. E.
FISCHER, BERNARD: Austrian rabbi and
author; born at Budikau, a village in the district of
Chrudim, Bohemia, Jan. 12, 1821 ; graduated from
the University of Prague (Ph.D., 1850); rabbi of
various small congregations in the district of Eger
(1854-G3). Besides preparing new editions of Bux-
torf 's rabbinic lexicon (1873) and Wiener's Chaldaic
grammar (1882), Fischer wrote: "Kochbuch der
Kalliope, eine Aesthetik fur Kunst und Theater-
Freunde," Leipsic, 1896; "Grundzilge der Philo-
sophie und Theosophie," ib. 1899; he also edited
" Bikkure ha-'Ittim," an illustrated Hebrew monthly,
Leipsic, 1863. S.
FISCHER, KARL : Christian censor of Hebrew
books iu Prague; born in Lichteustadt, Bohemia,
July 5, 1755; died at Prague Jan. 22, 1844. He
became assistant (1781), and finally successor, to the
imperial censor Leopold Tirsch. He possessed an
extensive knowledge of Semitic languages and liter-
atures, as appears from his introductory notes to
M. J. Landau's " Rabbinisch-Aramjiisch-Deutsches
WOrterbuch," dated 1818, and to L. Dukes' transla-
tion of Rashi, dated 1833. He maintained a corre-
spondence in Hebrew with Rabbi Eleazar Flekeles
of Prague.
His learning and impartiality are especially de-
monstrated in his " Gutmeinung liber den Talmud
der Hebraer," ed. Em. Baumgarten, Vienna, 1883.
Fischer acted for a time as librarian of the Univer-
sity of Prague.
Bibliography: Baumgarten's EinUituna to Fischer's Gut-
vieitiung iihcr den Talmud der Hehriler.
s. M. K.
FISCHER, MARCUS (MAIER) : Austrian
Hebraist; born in Vienna 1783; died at Prague
May 23, 1853; son of Moses Fischer, rabbi of the
Jewish community of Vienna. He wrote in He-
brew an able and comprehensive work on the his-
tory of the Jews under Mahdi and Imam Idris,
kings of Mauretania, entitled "Toledot Yeshurun
Tahat :Malke Moritaniyyu," Prague, 1818. He trans-
lated from Czech into German the so-called "Wal-
lersteiu Chronicle," a manuscript wiiicli was known
in Prague up to lifty years ago. but which has since
disappeared, and which contained a history of the
Jews in Prague at the time of the Hussites ("Zik-
karon le-Yom Aharon," by Moses Wolf Jeiteles,
Prague, 1828). This translation, unfortunately, has
also disappeared. It is said to have been last in pos-
session of the liistorian G. AVolf of Vienna.
s. A. Ki.
FISCHER, MORITZ VON : Hungarian porce-
hiin-nuuiufaeturer; born at Totis, Hungary, 1800;
died there Feb. 25, 1900. He rendered distinguished
service to Hungarian industry and art through his
porcf.'lain manufactory in Hercnd near Veszprim.
He was compelled to struggle agaiv>st iiuiunierable
difficulties before he succeeded in developing the
small factory which he founded in 1839. It. liow-
V— 26
ever, became a veritable art institute, comparing
favorably with the famous porcelain establishments
of Sevres, Meissen, and Berlin. It has been repre-
sented at a large number of international expositions
by interesting and artistic exhibits, which were in-
variably awarded first prizes. The establishment is
at present (1903) under the direction of Eugene von
Fischer, a grandson of the founder. In recognition
of the latter's services Francis Joseph I. raised him
in 1869 to the ranks of the Hungarian nobility.
s. S. S. W.
FISCHER, MOSES : Austrian rabbi ; born at
Prague about 1756; died at Eisenstadt, Hungary,
about 1833; son of the wealthy Talmudic scholar
Meifr Fischer, and father of Marcus Fischer. In ad-
dition to Talmud, Fischer studied philosophy and
mathematics, and was praised for his attainments in
logic and Hebrew grammar by Moses Mendelssohn,
with whom he corresponded, and to whom he com-
municated various observations on his Pentateuch
commentary. For nearly two decades he officiated
as rabbi (but without assuming the title) of the com-
munity of Vienna, which at that time was small.
In 1827 lie retired to Eisenstadt, a neighboring town.
Bibliography: J. Gastfreund, Die Wiener Bahbinen, p. Ill;
Kayserllng, Moses Mendelstinlui, Ungedruchles und Unhe-
ka'nntes, pp. 53 et seq.; M. Kunitz, Ha-Mezaref, No. 22.
s. M. K.
FISCHER, NICOLAUS WOLFGANG : Phy
sician and chemist; born Jan. 15, 1782, in Great
Meseritz, Moravia; died Aug. 19, 1850, in Bres-
lau. He studied at the universities of Vienna,
Prague, Breslau, and Berlin. Having obtained his
doctor's degree at Erfurt Oct. 10, 1806, he settled
there in the following year to practise medicine.
In 1813 he was appointed assistant professor of
chemistry at the University of Breslau, and a year
later was made professor, and at the same time was
put in charge of the Institute of Chemistry. He
tilled this office until his death.
Besides a large number of chemical disquisitions
which appeared in the ''Journal fiir Chemie und
Phy.sik," Schweigger's " Annalen fiir Chemie," " Ab-
handlungen der Akademie der Wissenschaften iu
Berlin " (Physische Classe), " Annalen der Plij^sik
und Chemie," and other publications, Fischer wrote:
"Medicaminum Mercurialium Prsecipua Classitica-
tio; Adjectis Nonnullis de Eorum Pnrparatione
Chem.-Pharmac. Aunotationibus," 1806; " De Modis
Arsenia Detegendi," 1812; "Ueber die Wirkung des
Lichtsauf das Hornsilber," 1814; "Ueber die Che-
mischen Reagentien, " 1816; "Chemische Untersu-
chungen der Ileilquellen zu Salzbrunn," 1821:
"Ueber die Natur der Metallreduction auf Nassem
Wege," 1828; "Das Verliiiltniss der Chemischen
Verwandtschaft zur Galvanischen Elektricitat, in
Versuchen Dargestellt," 1830; and "' Systematiseher
Lehrbegriff der Chemie, in Tabellen Dargestellt,"
1838. In 1815 Fischer and his entire family em-
braced Christianity, and from that time he became
an ardent supporter of the Christian mission which
then flourished in the Jewish section of Breslau.
BiBi.ioGKAiMiv : .1. C. PofrsrendorfT, Bioo.-Literariicheji Hand-
wi'irtrrburli ziir (lesrli.dcr K.rncten Wi,^senschnf(en,vo\. i..
Leipsic, ISO?; J. K. A. de le Roi. O'e-'c/i. der Evdnqelixcheti
Jude)imi!<xi,,ii. p. 'MO. ib. 1899; Constant von Wiiizbaoli, Biog.
Le.r. dcs Kainettlnims Ucstcrrcicli, iv., Vienna, 1858.
.s. B B.
Fischhof
Fish and Fishing:
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
402
FISCHHOF, ADOLF: Austrian writer and
politician; born at Alt-Ofen, Hungary, Dec. 8, 1816;
died at Emmersdorf, near Klagenfurth, Carinthia,
March 23, 1893. After studying medicine (1836-
1844) he was appointed physician at the Vienna
hospital. Fischhof was one of the leaders in the
revolutionary movement of 1848, commanding the
students' legion of Vienna and presiding over
the Committee of Public Security. He was es-
pecially prominent in the Constitutional Assembly
(Reichstag), in which he represented one of the Vi-
enna districts. In the Liberal cabinet of Doblhof he
was attached as counselor to the Ministry of the In-
terior. After the dissolution of the Kremsier Diet,
March 7, 1849, Fischhof was arrested, accused of
rebellion and high treason, but was acquitted after
an imprisonment of nine months. He devoted him-
self to the practise of medicine until about 1875,
when failing health compelled him to retire.
Witii Joseph linger, later a member of the Aus-
trian cabinet, he published in 1861 a pamphlet en-
titled "Losung der Ungarischen Frage," in which
he pleaded for the division of the empire into
Austria and Hungary. After the Austro-Prussian
war of 1866 Fischhof wrote "'Ein Blick auf Oester-
reich's Lage," and strongly advised an alliance with
Germany. In his " Oesterreich und die Bilrgschaften
Seines Bestandes," 1869, he recommended an auton-
omous constitution for Austria. In conjunction
with Walterskirchen he planned in 1882 the founda-
tion of a German-Austrian people's party, which by
concessions should act as a mediator in the question
of nationalities and unite all liberal elements of the
empire; but his efforts were frustrated by the resist-
ance of the constitutional parly. He also wrote:
"Zur Reduktion der Kontinentalen Heere" (1875);
"Die Sprachenrechte in den Staaten Gemischter
Nationalitat " (1885) ; and " Der Oesterreichische
Sprachenzwist " (1888).
Bibliography: Brockhaus, Konversations-Lexikoit : Meyers
Konversatinns-Lexikon : La Grande Encyclopedie; Die
Neuzeit, 1893, No. 13; Wurzbaoh, Biographisches Lexikon
der Oest .-Ungarischen Monarchie.
s. S. Man.
FISCHHOF, JOSEPH: Austrian pianist and
composer; uncle of Robert Fischhof; born April 4,
1804, at Butschowitz in Moravia; died at Vienna
June 28, 1857. In 1813 he began to study at the
lyceum of Briinn, at the same time receiving instruc-
tion in music from the pianist Jahelka and the
bandmaster Rieger. After having finished his stud-
ies at the lyceum, he went to the University of
Vienna to study philosophy and medicine. At the
Austrian capital, through the intercession of his
patron, Constantin von Gyika, he was instructed
in piano by Anton Halm and the famous bandmas-
ter, Ignatz, Ritter von Scyfried.
The sudden death of his father in 1827 changed
the career of Fischhof. He decided to devote him-
self from that time entirely to his art, and in 1833
became professor at the conservatory of music in
Vienna. He was one of the most popular pianists of
the Austrian capital, distinguishing himself particu-
larly by his rendition of the compositions of Bach,
Beethoven, Mendelssohn, and Chopin. Fischhof
was also active as a musical writer and composer.
Ho contributed to Schumann's "Cilcilia" the excel-
lent essay " Ueber die Auflassung von Instrumental
Compositionen in Hinsicht des Zeitmasses, Nament-
lich Beethoven 'schen Werken." He was the author
of "Versuch einer Geschichte des Klavierbaus"
(1853). He also published a string-quartet, many
pianoforte pieces (rondos, variations, fantasias,
dances, marches, etc.), variations for the flute,
and songs.
Bibliography : Jildi^cher Plutarch, 1848, ii. 52-55 ; Baker,
Bi(jg. Diet, of Musicians, 1900.
s.
FISCHHOF, ROBERT: Austrian musician;
born in Vienna Oct. 31, 1857. When onlj'^ seven years
old Robert Fisc'ihof played in public. He studied
at the Vienna Conservatorium under Anton Door
(pianoforte), and under Fuchs, Krenn, and Bruckner
(composition), and later took piano lessons from
Franz Liszt. He has played throughout Europe
under the leadership of Abt, Dessoff, Lassen, Grieg,
Reinecke, Hiller, Gade, etc., and at the courts of
Austria, Prussia, Sweden, and Denmark. In 1884
he became a professor at the Vienna Conserva-
torium. He has composed various pieces for the
pianoforte, and has played his own compositions in
Paris, Berlin, etc.
Bibliography : Eisenberg, Drt.s Geistige Wien, i., s.v.
s. N. D.
FISCHMANN, NAHMAN ISAAC : Austrian
author; died in 1873. His home was in Lemberg.
He wrote: "Eshkol 'Anabim," a collection of He-
brew poems (Lemberg, 1827); "Ha-Ro'eh u-Mebak-
ker Sifre Zemannenu," a criticism of the philological
and archeological works of S. L. Rapoport, S. D.
Luzzatto, and S. J. Reggio (Lemberg and Ofen,
1837-39); "Mappalat Sisera: Der Sturz Sisera's,
Oder die Befreiung Israels Durch Barak und De-
borah," a two-act Biblical drama (Lemberg, 1841);
"Safah le-Ne'emanim," a comprehensive commen-
tary on Job {ib. 1854); " Ha-'Et weha-Meshorer,"
poem {ib. 1870); "Kesher Shebnah," a five-act Bib-
lical drama {ib. 1870).
Bibliography : Zeltlin, Bihl. Post-Mendels. pp. 86-87.
8. N. D.
FISCTJS JUDAICUS : The yearly Temple tax
of half a shekel prescribed by the Law (Ex. xxx.
13; compare Shek. i. 1), and which the Jews of the
Diaspora contributed during the time of the Second
Temple. It was diverted by Vespasian, after the
destruction of the sanctuary in 70 c.e., to the tem-
ple of Jupiter Capitolinus at Rome, the amount be-
ing two drachmas (Josephus, "B. J." vii. 6, § 6;
Dion Cassius, Ixvi. 7). This was an affront to
Jewish religious feeling. Rabbinical law ordained,
although merely theoretically, that the half-shekel
need not be paid when the Temple no longer ex-
isted (Shek. viii. 8). Rome furnishes the best in-
formation of the manner in which this tax was
collected. Domitian proceeded with great rigor,
causing the names of those that lived a Jewish life
without paying the tax, or that sought to keep their
origin secret, to be reported to him (Suetonius,
"Domitian," § 12). The satirist Martial alludes to
the efforts of the Jews to hide the visible sign which
showed their nationality (vii. 82, vii. 35). An in-
scription of the time of tlie Flavian emperors men-
403
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Fischhof
Fish and Fishing
Reverse of Brass Coin of Nerva,
Bearing Inscription "Fisci
ludaici Calumnia Sublata."
(After Madden, " History of Jewish Coin-
age.")
tions by name a "procurator ad capitularia Judfe-
orum" (officer of the Jewish tax-lists; "C. I. L." vi.,
No. 8604). Rabbinical sources express the idea
that this tax was a punishment put upon the Jews
for not having paid tlie half-shekel during the time
of the Temple (Mek.,
Yitro, xii. ; Ket. 66b).
There was some re-
lief during Nerva's
short reign. One of
his coins, still extant,
bears the inscription
" Fisci ludaici calum-
nia sublata " (Proceed-
ings on account of the
tiscus imposed upon the
Jews are abolished).
But this put a stop
merely to the vexations
connected with the col-
lection of the tax, which
was still levied (Ap-
pian, "Syr."§50;Ori-
gen, "Ep. ad Africauum," § 14; Tertullian, " Apolo-
get." § 18). It is not known when it was formally
abolished. It was revived in the Middle Ages under
the name of Opferpfennig by the German-Roman
emperors.
Bibliography: Zorn, Historia Fi^ci Jtidaici, Altona, 1734;
Miinter, Der Jiidisvlie KricD, p. 5; Gratz, Gesch. 3d ed., iv.
24, 111 ; Schiirer, GescJi. 3d ed., i. 640, ii. 259, ill. 75 ; Vogelstein
and Rieger, Ga<ch. derJuden in Rom, pp. 37 et seq.\ Madden,
History of Jewish Coinage, p. 199 ; Reinach, Tcrtcs d''Au-
teurs Grecs et liomainti Relatifs au Judaianie, pp. 196, 333.
G. S. Kr.
FISH AND FISHING: The Bible does not
mention any particular lish by name. "Dag" and
" nun " are the generic terms covering all species,
thus designated as exceedingly prolific and always
to be found in shoals or in large numbers (comp.
blessing of Joseph, Gen. xlviii. 16). The large sea-
fish are collectively denoted as "tannin," though
in this category quasi-mythological creatures (see
Dragon) are also included. By the Dietary Laws
fish are divided into clean and unclean (Lev. xi. 8
Fishing in Egypt.
(From Wilkinson, " Ancient Egyptians.")
et seq.). The majority of fishes have scales and fins,
and therefore belong to the clean class; but, con-
trary to their natural order, eels are counted in the
unclean class ('Ab. Zarah 39a). Speculations on the
nature of the fish mentioned in the story of Jonah
(ii.1-11). or of that by which Tobit (vi. 3 et seq., viii.
3, xi. 13) was relieved of blindness, belong to the
category of Biblical curiosities.
Fish, both fresh and salted, constituted a favorite
dish among the Hebrews (see Cookery ; Food). On
this account the Talmudists value fish highly. Both
large and sinuil lish, salted or fresli, raw or cooked,
were considered delicacies (Ned. vi. 4). Chopped
fish-meat (e./7., tunny-fish) Avas offered for sale and
largely consumed, and the brine from the salted fish
("zir") was used, as well as the fat or oil (ib.).
A dish composed of pieces of fish was known and
much affected under the name "zahanah." As the
meaning of this name, "evil-odored," indicates, fish
was believed to be best when near decomposition
(M. K. 11a). Small fish were especially recom-
mended as wholesome food (Ber. 40a; 'Ab. Zarah
29a). During pregnancy women were advised to
partake of fish (Ivet. 61a). Water was regarded
mmmmsmm§m
#'':ir^Ss!--'Siv 3i'&
Fishing in Assyria.
(After I.ayard's " Nineveh.")
as the best drink after eating fish (M. K. 11a).
Young fish were deemed injurious to health (Ber.
44b).
Fish-oil was used for fuel (Shab. 24b), sometimes
mixed with olive-oil (Bek. 29b). The skin was util-
ized for various implements (Kelim x. 1) and as wri-
ting-material (Shab. 108a). Similar use was made
of fish-bones (Kelim x. 1). Certain medico-prophy-
lactic observations concerning the eating of fish at
certain periods — before being bled, while nursing a
child, while suffering from affections of the eye,
etc.— are recorded by the Rabbis (see 'Ab. Zarah
29a; Ket. 60b; Rashi to Ned. 54b). In the month
of Nisau a fish diet predisposes to leprosy (Pes.
112b; comp. Ber. 44b; Shab. 67a).
The biological knowledge of the Talmud concern-
ing fish was of a very primitive order, not only
in regard to embryology and propagation — whether
by spawn or like mammals (Bek. 7b,
Zoological Rashi) — but also as to the method of
Views. hatching (Rashi, I.e. , and to 'Ab. Zarah
40a; Ned. 30b); nor was its anatomical
knowledge of the piscatorial realm very accurate
(see Lewysohn, p. 245). According to the Rabbis,
there were in the East not less than 700 kinds
of unclean fish (Hul. 63b), but in the West one
need not scruple to eat the roe of any fish, be-
cause no unclean fish is found there ('Ab. Zardh
:59a). Fish arc said to be so prolific because
Fish and Fishing-
Flag-
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
404
they are not exposed to the evil eye (Ber. 2(ta).
Among other cities Acre seems to have been re-
garded as a great fish-market: lience the prov-
erb "Carrying fish to Acre," an equivalent of
the English " Carrying coals to Newcastle " (Ex. R.
126c). Stories concerning fish are not rare in the Tal-
mud (Kabba Bar Bar Hana ; 'Ab. Zarah 39a; B. B.
73b, 74a). Among the fish specifically mentioned in
the Talmud the following are the best known : the
Spanish mackerel ("colias "), the common tunny, the
triton, the swordfish, the herring, the sprat, the eel,
the murtena, the sturgeon, and the tonguefish.
In view of the fact that the Lake of Gennesaret
and the Jordan, if not the Dead Sea, were well
stocked with fish, it is reasonable to presume that
fishing was among the occupations of the ancient
Israelites, though comparatively few references to
it are found in the Old Testament. In Amos iv. 2
run designates "fishing," while the fisherman is
known as Jn (keri y^) in Jer. xvi. 16 (comp.
Ezek. xlvii. 10). Among the fishing-implements
mentioned are the " mikmeret, " a drag-net thrown out
from a boat, and which, loaded, sank to the bottom
(Isa. xix. 8; Hab. i. 15); and the "herem," a smaller
net which was thrown either from the boat or the
shore (Ezek. xxvi. 5, 14; Hab. i. 16, 17). Hook and
line were also in use ("hakkah," "sir," "zinnah";
Amos iv. 2; Isa. xix. 8; Hab. 1. 15). The "zilzal
daggim " mentioned in Job xl. 31 seems to liave been
a harpoon. Fishing was an occupation; at least a
fish-market (see Gate ; Jerusalem) is named in Neh.
iii. 3, xiii. 16. New Testament allusions show that
the Lake of Gennesaret was a good fishing-ground
(Mark i. 16; Luke v. 2 et seq.). Josephus ("B. J."
iii. 10, § 7) and the Talmud confirm this statement,
the Rabbis maintaining that Joshua obliged the
tribe of Naphtali to permit open fishing (B. K. 80b).
The name "Betlisaida" ("Zeyadta"), the Biblical
[Ha-]Nekeb (Josh. xix. 33), seems to be derived from
the fact that fishing was frequent in its neighbor-
hood.
Fishing-implements, as hook and line, sometimes
secured on shore so as to need no further attention
(Shab. 18a), and nets of various constructions (Men.
64a; Kelim xxiii. 5, "mezudat ha-sakkarin" ; Shab.
18a, "kukare"; with close meshes, "uzle," Hul. 51b),
are named in the Talmud, as is also a basket-like
receptacle ("akon," Kelimxii. 2, xxiii. 5) of wicker-
work in which to keep the fish. Lewysohn's state-
ment {I.e. p. 250) that ponds were drained for their fish
is not borne out by the passage quoted (M. K. 11a).
Biiii.ioGRAPiiY : Nowack, LehrJmch dcs Hehrdisfchen Archd-
(il(i(jie ; Benzinger, HehrillHche ArchUolngie ; Lewysohn,
Die ZodUigie des Talmuds; Tristram, Natural Hist, of
the Bible.
E. G. H.
FISHBERG, MAURICE: American physi-
cian; anthropologist; boin Aug. 16, 1872, at Kame-
netz, Podolsk, Russia; educated at the public school
of his native town. He emigrated to the United
States in 1889, and, arriving in New York, studied
iiu'dicinc at th(! university there. He received his
degree from New York University in 1897. Fish-
berg has been associated with Beth Israel Hospital,
New York, and is medical examiner of the United
Hebrew Cbaiities of that city. He has made a spe-
cial study of the anthropology and pathology of the
Jews, and is the author of " Comparative Pathology
of the Jews," 1890; "Health and Sanitation of the
Immigrant Jewish Population of New York City " ;
" Physical Anthropology of the Jews," 1902-03, and
has contributed various papers on general subjects
to the periodical press. F. H. V.
FITJME : Hungarian free city and Adriatic sea-
port, with a Jewish population in 1901 of about
2,000. That there were Jews at Fiume in the eigh-
teenth century is indicated by the existence there of a
Jewish tombstone dated 1746and a scroll of the Law
dated 1789. They were mostly Sephardim who had
emigrated from Dalmatia and the Levant, especially
from Ragusa and Spalato. Down to 1835 their min-
hag was that used at Spalato, and their prayer-book
was that of David Pardo, rabbi at Spalato. In
1835 Italian, Greek, German, and Bohemian Jews
settled in the city and introduced the minhag " Ita-
liani. " The records of the community were regularly
kept as early as 1824, but down to 1840 only Judaeo-
Spanish and Italian names are found therein. Begin-
ning with 1841 German names appear, and later
Hungarian names are met with.
The community grew considerably after 1879,
when the harbor improvements were begun and
trade commenced to increase rapidly. The com-
munity numbers now about 2,000 souls. Its institu-
tions include a hebra kaddisha (1885), a society
of Jewish women, and a society for clothing poor
school-children. The community owns an old and
a nev/ cemetery, and the hebra kaddisha also owns
a cemetery. The corner-stone of a new temple was
laid in 1902. There are more than 300 Jewish pupils
in the public schools of the city, instruction being
carried on in Hungarian, Italian, German, and Croa-
tian. Sermons are delivered in Hungarian, German,
and Italian. Of its rabbis are known: Mayer Ran-
degger; Solomon Raphael Mondolfo (d. 1872); and
Adolf Gerloczi (Goldstein), who has held the posi-
tion since 1882.
D. A. Bij.
FIVE SCROLLS. See Megillot, The Five.
FIXTURES : Things fastened to the ground,
directly or indirectly. Doubt may arise with regard
to them, whether or not they become in law part of
the land. This may be a question between the
landlord and the tenant, or between the seller and the
purchaser of the land. It can not, in Jewish law,
arise, on the death of the owner, between the heirs
of his land and those succeeding to his movables, as
the same law of descent applies to both.
For a discussion of the question concerning wri-
tings that convey, a house or other landed property
and concerning what passes as part of such house or
property and what does not, see Sale. In An-
glo-American law the important question as to fix-
tures arising between landlord and tenant is what
buildings, fences, machinery, etc., placed by the lat-
ter on the land during his tenancy, become part of
the freehold, and thus the landlord's property; and
what, as personalty, may be removed by the tenant.
This question could not often arise in Jewish law,
as, under the customs recognized by it, the tenant
405
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Fish and Fishing
Flag
was not expected to make, and seldom did make,
any substantial improvements or even repairs, either
in house or in farming property. Of the tenant
of a dwelling-house nothing was expected save the
placing of a railing about the roof; the putting of
the inscribed strips ("mezuzot") on the door-posts;
and the setting up of a ladder to the roof if lie
wished one. These tilings he could take with him
when he left (Shulhan 'Aruk, Hoshen Mishpat, 314,
based on a baraita to B. M. 101b). On a farm rented
either for a fixed rent or on shares, the landlord fur-
nished all the fencing (Hoshen Mishpat, 320). Hence
there was very little room for dispute over tenants'
fixtures; and the codes are silent about them.
s. s. L. N. D.
FLACCUS : Governor of Egypt ; enemy and per-
secutor of the Jews of Alexandria, for which reason
Philo, in 42 c.e., directed a special work ("In Flac-
cum ") against him. Philo only once (§ 1) gives
the full name, <i>Ad«:«:of 'AoviAAiog. This is copied
by Eusebius ("Chron." ed. Schoene, ii. 150) and
Syncellus (ed. Dindorf, i. 626; in i. 615 the name is
corrupted to <t>/'id/cKOf 'AahAamc). The full name,
" Aulus Avilius Flaccus," is found on an in.scription
from Tentyra in Egypt ("C. I. G." No. 4716); it is
found also on a papyrus fragment containing a de-
cree of Flaccus, though some scholars read " Lucius "
instead of " Aulus. " Flaccus grew up with the sons
of Augustus' daughter, and was in later years a
friend of Tiberius, under whom he was for five years
prefect of Egypt. Philo himself says (§3) that he
filled his office peacefully and uprightly, surpassing
all his predecessors. He remained in office under
Caligula not for one year, as Philo says, but for one
and a half years. Tiberius died in 37 ; but Macro,
whom Caligula forced to commit suicide, died in 38
(Philo, '' Legatio ad Caium," §§ 6-8 ; Dion Cassius.lix.
10; Suetonius, "Caligula, "§26); while the massacre
of the Jews took place in the fall of 38. It was only
after this event that Flaccus was suddenly recalled.
Regarding the persecutions see Alexanduia. It
may be noted here that Flaccus had previously
shown his ill will toward the Jews by keeping back
the deed of homage which they had addressed to
Caligula ("In Flaccum," § 12). His animus against
them was manifest also during the persecutions that
took place at the time of mourning for Drusilla.
Flaccus was recalled and banished to the island of
Andros, where he was soon after executed, in 39
C.E. (ib. ^§ 12-21).
Bibliography: Gratz, Ge»c/(. 4th ed., 111.331; Vogelsteln and
Rieger, Gesch. der Juden in Rom, i. 17; Schiirer, iiesch. 3d
ed., 1. 49ti; Nicole, Avilius Flaccus, Prefet d'Egypte, et
Phiinn d'Alexnndrie, in Revue de Ph i lolng ie, xxii. 18-27;
ProsopoQraphia Imperii Romani, 1. 190.
o. S. Kr.
FLACCUS, L. POMPONIUS: Roman gov
ernor of Syria (32-35 V); no particulars concerning
his life are known. When Agrippa (afterward King
Agrippa I.), while poor and suffering, Avas insulted
by his brother-in-law Herod Antipas, he applied to
Flaccus, with whom he had formed a friendship at
Rome.
Bibliography: Griitz, (iesch. 4th ed.. 111. 319; Schurer, Gesch.
3d ed., 1. 551 ; Prasojjographia Imperii Romaui, ill. 7r).
o. S. Kr.
FLACCUS, L. VALERIUS: Proconsul of
Asia Minor in 02-61 n.c. He is notorious in the his-
tory of the Jews for having seized for the public
treasury the Temple money intended for Jerusa-
lem; thus, at Ai'AMEA, nearly 100 pounds of gold
through the Roman knight Sextus Citsius; at Lao-
DiCEA, more than 20 pounds through L. Peducteus;
at Adramyttiuiii, an unknown sum through tiie
legate Cnaeus Domitius; atPERGAMON, a small sum,
as probably not many Jews were living there at that
time. Accused of extortion during his term of of-
fice, Flaccus was defended by Cicero (59), himself
opposed to the Jews. Cicero justified Flaccus in
reference to the Temple moue3' by using a clever
oratorical device to show that his edict, to the effect
that no money sliould be sent out of Asia, was a law
general in its application, and that the subordinates
of Flaccus, who were all men of good repute, had
proceeded openly and not in secret (Cicero, " Pro
Flacco," § 28). The outcome of the suit is not
known. It is not likely, however, that Flaccus
was punished.
Bibliography : Gratz, Gesch. 4th ed., ill. 166 ; Vogelsteln and
Rieger, Gesch. der Juden in Rom, 1. 8; Schurer, Gesch. 3d
ed., ill. 10, 70.
G. S. Kr.
FLAG: A standard or banner having a certain
color, emblem, and sometimes an inscription, and
carried before a marching army to distinguish its
nationality. Flags are of ancient origin. Accord-
ing to the Bible, each of the twelve tribes of the
Israelites had its special banner.
The Midrash (Num. R. ii.) on the passage "Every
man of the children of Israel shall pilch by his own
standard, with the ensign of their father's house"
(Num. ii. 2), explains that the emblems and colors
corresponded to the twelve precious stones set in
the breastplate worn by the high priest, as follows:
Tribe.
Repre-
sentative
Stone.*
Color of Banner.
Emblem.
Reuben
Sardliis
Topaz
Carbuncle ..
Emerald . . .
Sapphire .. .
Diamond ...
Llgure
Agate
Amethvst...
Beryl
Onyx
Jasper
Red
Green
Simeon
Levi
Tricolor of white,
black, and red.
Sky-blue
chem.
U r 1 m and
Judah
Thummim.
Lion
Issachar
Zebulun
Black
White
Sun and moon.
Ship.
Snake.
Dan
Blue
Gad
Gray .
Camp.
Hind.
Female Qgure
and olive-tree.
g; 1 Bullock.
Naphtali
Asher
Wine-color
Pearl-color
Jet-black
§■ Ephraim
?S j Mannsseh..
it i Unicorn.
^ i
Benjamin
The above colors
combined
Wolf.
The Targum Yerushalmi says that the flag of
Judah bore, over a roaring lion, the inscription
" Rise up. Lord, and let thine enemies be scattered ;
and let them that hate thee flee before thee " (Num.
X. 35). A legend ascribes the origin of the name
■' Maccabee " to the phrase " D^^N3 "JIDS ^D (abbre-
* Regarding the order of the stones in the ephod, see Ephod.
Flagrellauts
Fleck
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
406
viated "'2D0, Who is like tliee among tlie mighties,
O Lord "), written on tlie banner of tlie Hasmoneans.
In the synagogue at the Festival of the Rejoicing
of the Law it is customary for children to carry in
the procession together with the holy Scrolls flags
of various designs.
The Zionists have adopted a flag made up of a
wliite ground with a blue horizontal stripe on each
side, and the shield of David in the center in blue.
A. J. D. E.
FLAGELLANTS. See Ferrer, Vicente.
FLAGELLATION. See Stripes.
FLAMBEAU, LE. See Periodic .\ls.
FLATAU, THEODOR SIMON : German phy-
sician ; born at Lyck, province of East Prussia, June
4, 1860. He received his education at the gymna-
sium of his native town, at the Grauen Kloster
in Berlin, and at the universities of Berlin and
Heidelberg, taking his degree as doctor of medicine
at Berlin in 1883. In the same year he established
himself as physician in that city, where he now
(1903) practises, making a specialty of tlie treatment
of ear- and nose-diseases. He is teacher of the
physiology of tlie voice and the theory of singing at
the royal academical high school for music, and
holds similar oflices in connection with the courses
for teachers offered by the Ministry of Education,
and with the advanced courses for army physicians
given at the Kaiser Wilhelms Akademie.
Flatau is the author of several works, chiefly on
laryngology, among which are: "Die Laryngo-
skopie und Rhinoskopie mit Einschluss der Allge-
meinen Diagnostik und Therapie," Berlin, 1890;
"Die Nasen-, Rachen- und Kehlkopfkrankheiten, "
Leipsic, 1894 ; " Die Bauchrednerkunst " (with H.
Gutzmann), ib. 1894; "Die Sprachgebrechen des
Jiigendlichen Alters," Halle, 1896; "Die Anweu-
dung des Rontgenschen Verfahrens in der Rhino-
laryugoiogie," Vienna, 1899; "Prophylaxe der
Hals- und Nasenkrankheiten," Munich, 1900; and
" Intonationsstorungen und Stimmverlust," Berlin,
1902.
Bibliography: Pagel, Biographisches Lexikon, s.v.
s. F. T. H.
FLATTERY (Hebr. "helek," "helkah"; lit.
"smoothness"; Neo-Hebr. "hanufah"): Insincere,
obsequious, or venal praise. Flattery is condemned
by Jewish moralists as an offense against sincerity
(Ps. xii. 3). It spreads a net for man, and may work
his ruin (Prov. xxvi. 28, xxix. 5; compare ii. 16, vi.
24, vii. 21). "He is more blessed that rebuketh a
man than he that flattereth with his tongue " (Prov.
xxviii. 23, Hebr.). Evil-doers command their seers
to speak flatteries and prophesy deceits (Isa. xxx. 10 ;
Ezek. xiii. 10, 16; Jer. xxiii. 17); true prophets do
not smoothcn their words in reproving the people
for tiieir sins (Jer. xxiii. 22).
In the same spirit, the Rabbis praise truthfulness
of speech and frank reproof, suid condemn the insin-
cerity of flattery (Shab. 104a, 119b; Tamid 28a; B.
M. 49a). "Flattery causes degeneracy," said R.
Simeon b. Halafta. "The flatterer brings wrath
into the world; his prayer is not heard; he is ac-
cursed and is doomed to Gehinnom," said R. Eleazar.
"Despicable is the congregation which flatters."
"When Israel flattered Agrippa, it deserved anni-
hilation," said R. Nathan. "Upon flatterers the
Shekinah doth not rest " (Sotah 41b, 42a). It is
reprehensible to flatter the great (Ket. 63b, 84b).
" Hate him who lauds thee so that thy wisdom be
not lessened " (Derek Erez Zuta ix.). " A man should
not accustom himself to the use of flattery " (Mai-
monides, "Yad." De'ot, ii. 6).
In tlie Middle Ages the Rabbis frequently con-
demn flattery in their moral treatises and ethical
wills. R. Eleazar b. Judah of Worms (d. 1238) said :
"Mislead no one by flattery or untruth" (Zunz, "Z.
G." p. 134). "Flatter not even relatives or children
when they are not doing right. Especially should
the head of a congregation, the judge, the adminis-
trator of charity, be a candid man who would never
flatter from personal interest. Most blameworthy
is that flattery which aims at tempting another to
wrong-doing " (ib. p. 155). A.sher b. Jehiel (d. 1327)
said in his testament: "Flatter not your companion,
and speak no untruthful word to him; be sincere
with every one, also with those who are non-.Jews"
[ib. p. 148). Frequently testators request that no
eulogy ("hesped ") be delivered over their remains,
lest the preachers incur the guilt of falsehood and
flattery ("J. Q. R." iii. 469; Liebmann Adler's "Last
Will," in "History of Kehillath Anshe Ma'arabh,"
Appendix iv., Chicago, 1897).
K. J. StO.
FLAVIA DOMITILLA: Convert to Judaism
and martyr at Rome. An early branch of the im-
perial Flavian house was at one time inclined toward
Judaism and Christianity. Even Titus Flavins
Sabinus, Vespasian's elder brother, led during his
last years a life that may be called Jewish or Chris-
tian. One of his four children, Titus Flavius
Clemens, later consul and martyr, married Flavia
Domitilla, who was a granddaughter of his uncle,
the emperor Vespasian, and therefore a cousin of
Titus and Domitian. Clemens' two children, called
Vespasian and Domitian, were educated by the
famous Quintilian ("Institutio Oratoria," iv. 1, § 2),
and were secretly destined as successors to Domitian
(Suetonius, "Domitian," § 15). This arrangement,
however, was disturbed when it became known that
both Clemens and Domitilla leaned toward the de-
spised " Oriental superstition." Dion Cassius relates
that Domitian had many persons executed, including
the consul Flavins Clemens and his wife, Flavia
Domitilla, although both were his own relations.
He adds: "Both had been accused of atheism [di?ed-
r//c], a charge under which many who had followed
Jewish customs and laws were executed, while many
others were deprived of their property; Domitilla,
however, was only banished to the island of Panda-
taria" ("Hist." Ixvii. 13). Clemens and Domitilla
may be regarded as converts to Judaism.
The incident is alluded to in rabbinical writings.
An eminent senator, a son of Titus' sister, and hence
Doinitian's nephew, is said to have adopted Judaism ;
even traces of the name " Clemens " are vi-sible in
the account (Git. 56b). The tradition is again men-
tioned in 'Ab. Zarali lOb, but with the allegc-rical
name "Keti'a b. Shalom" (y'LSp = "circumcised,"
Dl^ti' ~\2 — " son of the world to come ") ; reference
407
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Fiagrellants
Fleck
is probably made to the same pious senator who
averted a misfortune which threatened the Jews at
Rome (Deut. R. xi.). It is curious that the Domitilla
chapel in the catacombs of Rome is arranged on a
Jewish pattern (N. Mliller, in Herzog-Hauck, " Real-
Encyc." 3d ed., x. 863). Clemens and Domitilla, how-
ever, on the authority of Eusebius ("Hist. Eccl."
iii. 18), are generally considered to have been Chris-
tians. But he mentions only the conversion of Dom-
itilla, saying that she was the daughter of Clemens'
sister, and that she was deported to the island of
Pontia (compare also his " Chronicle, " year 98). Eu-
sebius must refer to some other Flavia Domitilla.
Bibliography : Gratz, Die JlXdischen PrnseJyten im Romer-
reiche, pp. 38 et seq.; idem, Ge,sc?i. 3d ed., iv. 403; Lebrecht,
In Geiger's Jild. Zeit. xi. 273; Berliner, Gesch. der Juden in
Rom, p. 39 ; Kraus, Roma Sotterranea, p. 41, Freiburg-in-
Brelsgau, 1873 ; Reinach. Fontes Rerum Judaicayum, i. 195 ;
Prosopographia Imperii Romani, ii. 81.
G. S. Kr.
FLAVIA NEAPOLIS. See Shechem.
FLAVnjS CLEMENS. See Flavia Domi-
tilla.
FLAVITJS EBORENSIS or DIDACCO
PYRRHO : Poet ; born at Evora, Portugal, April
4, 1517; died at Ragusa, Sicily, 1607. He belonged
to the Adumim, an old Spanish family, the greater
part of which settled in Italy and assumed the
name "De Rossi." His parents, in order to avoid
persecution, pretended to adopt Christianity ; but
they inculcated in their son a love of Judaism, and
recommended him, when he was scarcely seventeen
years old, to leave his native country for a land
where he could openly profess his faith. In 1536
Flavins went to Flanders, then to Switzerland, and
in 1552 settled at Ancona.
He was considered one of the greatest Latin poets
of his time, and was the author of many valuable
poetical works, several of which were published.
These include : " Excerpta ex Flavii Jacobi Eborensis
Carminibus ad Historiam Sacram Rachusinam Ali-
quo Modo Facientibus " ; " Jacobi Flavii Eborensis
seu Didaci Pirrhi Lusitani Elegiarum Libri Tres ad
Dominicum Slatorichium," Venice, 1596; "Elegia in
Obitum P. Marci Vetranii," in the collection "Vitte
et Carmina NonnuUorum Illustrium Civium Racusi-
norum," «6. 1593; "Cato Minor," z6. 1592; "DeEx-
ilio Suo," Castelnuovo, 1583; "Carmina Selecta,"
Cracow, 1582.
Bibliography : Cherso, Delia Vita e degli Scritti di Didacco
Plirrho; Mortara and G runwald, in Jiklisches Centralblatt,
ii. 74; M. Lattes, Notizie e Documenti dl Letteratura e
Stoj-ifi Giudaice, pp. 32 et seq.; Leone Luzzatto. in Corriere
Ixraeliticn, xv. 12, 131 ; Griinwald and Casnacick, Didacco
Pyrrlio, auch Flaviiis Eborensis Genannt, Frankfort-on-the
Main, 1883.
G. I. Br.
FLAVIUS JOSEPHXJS. See Josephus Fla-
virs.
FLAVITJS (RAIMUNDUS) MITHRIDA-
TES : Italian scholar; flourished at Rome in the
second half of the fifteenth centurj'. His Jewish
name is unknown. About 1486 he lived at Fratta,
near Ferrara, in the house of Count Johannes Pico
de Mirandola, whom he instructed in Aramaic.
Flavius was charged by Pope Si.xtus IV. with the
translation into Latin of some cabalistic works
(thirty-eight fragments in Vatican MSS. Nos. 189-
191). He furthermore translated into Latin Maimon-
ides' epistle on resurrection, Levi ben Gershon's
commentary on the Song of Solomon, and Judah's
" Ma'amar ha-Hawayah ha-Hekkeshiyyah, " or " Ser-
mo de Generatione Syllogismorum Simplicium et
Compositorum in Omni Figura." He seems not
to have known that the last-named work was
really written in Latin by ^gidius, and that Judah
was only the translator of it. Flavius was the au-
thor of "De Tropis Ilebraicis," an original work
in Latin on Hebrew accents, which was highly
praised by Sebastian Munster and Imbonatus.
Some scholars think, but without sufficient reason,
that Flavius is identical with the cabalist Johanan
Aleinan ben Isaac, a contemporary and associate of
Johannes Pico de Mirandola.
Bibliography: Dukas, Recherches, pp. 46, 69, 72; Joseph
Perles, in R. E. J. xii. 249; idem, BeitrOge, pp. 178-196;
Brull's Jahrb. iii. 196; Salfeld. Das Hohelied, p. 117; Stein-
schneider, In Monatsschrift, 1898, p. 262 ; idem, Hebr. Uebere.
p. 492 ; Vogelstein and Rieger, Gcsch. der Juden in Rom,
ii. 75.
G. I. Br.
FLAX (Hebr. "pishtah"): The principal species
of the natural order Linacem, which includes more
than fifty other species. The culture of flax in
Palestine preceded the conquest of that country by
the Hebrews (Joshua ii. 6).
Some of the processes in its preparation for man-
ufacture into cloth are alluded to in the Bible. After
being pulled, the stalks of flax were spread out on
the flat roofs of the houses, and left to dry by expo-
sure to the heat of the sun (ib.); they were then
peeled and their fibers separated and sorted, an oper-
ation implied in the etymology of the word " pish-
tah " ; finally, the fibers were hackled or combed
and made ready to be woven into cloth (ib. xix. 9).
The flax or linen thread called " bad " — probably
the best variety, white, fine, and strong, was used in
making the vestments of the priests and other rich
clothing (Ex. xxviii. 42; I Sam. ii. 18). The plural
" baddim " (Ezek. ix. 2, 3) designates " linen gar-
ments," especially the garments of the priests
(comp. Lev. xvi. 4). The angels themselves are
described as being clothed in linen garments (Ezek.
ix. 2; Dan. x. 5).
The commoner kinds of linen were used in the
manufacture of various articles, such as cords (Ezek.
xl. 3), lamp-wicks (Isa. xlii. 3; comp. Matt. xii. 20),
etc. Linen used for clothing could not lawfully be
mixed with wool. "Thou shall not wear a mingled
stuff, wool and linen together" (Deut. xxii. 11).
The flax industry seems to have been held in high
esteem by the Hebrews ; for one of the character-
istics of the virtuous woman is that "she seeketh
wool and flax and worketh willingly with her
hands " (Prov. xxxi. 13).
Bibliography : P. Bon rdais, ia FZorc de to Bib?c, Paris, 1879;
H. Tristram, The I^atural History of the Bible, London.
1889; 1. Low, Aramiiische Pflanzenndmen ; Post, Flora of
Syria, Palestine, and Sitiai.
E. G. H. H. H.
FLEA. See Insects.
FLECK, JOHANN FRIEDRICH FERDI-
NAND : German actor; born atBreslau 1757; died
in Berlin Dec. 20. 1801. He made his debut in 1777,
at Leipsic, where he remained until 1779, when he
Fleckeles
Flesh
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
408
went to Hamburg. After a stay of four years iu
that city he went to Berlin.
Fleck was one of the leading actors of his time ;
and so highl}^ esteemed was he that on his death
Abramson was commissioned to strike a commemo-
rative medallion bearing the inscription, " Gross als
Kiinstler; bieder als Meusch." His best roles were
Wallenstein, Gotz, Karl Moor, Otto von Wittelsbach,
Essex, and Tancred.
Bibliography : Moniteur dcs Dates, p. 81 ; Fliiggen, BlUineii
Lexikon, pp. 85-86 ; G. Karpeles, Oesch. derJild. Lit. Index.
8. E. Ms.
FLECKELES : One of the oldest Jewish fam-
ilies in Prague; probably "Falkeles" originally,
from "Falk," a common name among Jews of the
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The name
occurs with various spellings (as " Felkeles " and
"Falkenes") on old tombstones iu the Jewish ceme-
tery of Prague (see Hock, "Die Familien Prags,"
1892, s.v. "Presburg"). The only known attempt
to construct a family tree was made by R. Eleazar
Fleckeles, who traced his ancestors to the ninth gen-
eration as follows: Eleazar (1723-98) b. David b.
Wolf b. Shalom b. Selig- b. David b. Wolf
(d. 1672) b. David b. Wolf. The last-named
was a son-in-law of David G.\ns, and is mentioned by
Heller in Tosafot Yom-Tob on Kilayim 3, Mishnali
1. From the above-mentioned work of Hock it
seems that Wolf was the son of David b. Judah, who
died in 1602, and who had another sou, Hiiscli
(d. 1605), and a daughter, Pessel (d. 1636). The Fleck-
eles family was connected by marriage with that of
R. Low of Prague and that of R. Heschel of Cracow,
as well as with other prominent families. Eleazar
Fleckeles' daughter was married to R. Isaac Spitz
of Bunzlau. Leopold Fleckeles, physician and writer
(in German) on medical subjects, was born in Vienna
1802, and died in Carlsbad 1879.
Bibliography: Ha-Maaoid, x. \97 etKeq. (biography of Elea-
zar Fleckeles by his grandson Yom-Tob Spitz) ; Kaufmann, De r
Stammhaum des R. Elcu<ar Fle'ckeleti, in Monatsschrift,
xxxvii. 378etseg.
n. R. P. Wi.
FLECKELES, ELEAZAR BEN DAVID:
Austrian rabbi and author; born in Prague Aug. 26,
1754; died there April 27, 1826. He was the pupil
of Moses Cohen Rofe, Mei'r Fischels, and Ezekicl
Landau. At the age of twentj^-four he became rabbi
of Kojetein, a small town in Moravia. In 1780 he
was appointed dayyan in his native city. Later he
accepted the office of rabbi of the bet ha-midrash
founded by Joachim Popper and 'Israel Frankel.
Fleckeles was renowned for his scholarship and ora-
torical gifts, and for his skill in worldly affairs. He
twice had audience with Emperor Francis I.
Fleckeles wrote: "'Olat Hodesh," in four parts,
containing sermons, a criticism of Mendelssohn's
tran.slation of the Pentateuch, and an address di-
rected against the followers of the pseudo-Messiah
Shabbethai Zebi, Prague, 1785-1800; "Teshubah
me-Ahabah," responsa, in three parts (the respon-
sum concerning Eleazar ha-Kalir is often quoted by
writers on Jewish hymnology), Prague, 1800-21 ; a
funeral sermon on the occasion of the death of
Joaciiim Edler von Popper, ib. 1795; "Meleket
ba-Kodesh," two funeral scnnons and two essays
on the holy names of the Lord Avhich occur in the
Scriptures; "Nefesh Dawid we Nefesh Hayyah."
delivered by the author
on the death of his par-
ents, ib. 1812; "Ma'ase
de-Rabbi Eliezer," a
commentary on the
Haggadah of Passover,
ib. 1812; "Mebasser
'Tob, " two sermons de-
livered by the author
on the occasion of the
victory of the Austrian
army at Naples in 1821,
ib. 1821; "Hazon la-
Mo 'ed," a part of his
"Sefer ha-Doresh," ib.
1824 ; " Mille de-Abot, " ^leazar Fleckeles.
a commentary on Pirke
Abot ; " Mille de-Oraita,'' sermons. Many of his ser-
mons were translated into German by J. Jeitteles,
Marcus Fisher, and Isaac Spitz.
Bibliography: Fiirst, Bibl. Jud. i. 283-284; Fuenn, Keneset
I'israd, p. Id2; Orient, Lit. 1840, p. 231; Yom-Tob Spitz,
BiograpMe desVerewigten Rahhi Elasar Fleckeles, Prague,
1827; Kaufmann, in Monatsschrift, 189G* pp. 378-392; Kauf-
mann Gedenkbiich, p. 560.
s. s. N. T. L.
FLEISCHER, MAX : Austrian architect ; born
in Pro-ssnitz, ]\Ioravia, March 29, 1841. After grad-
uating from the polytechnic liigh school of Vi-
enna, he entered the Vienna academy of fine arts,
where he studied under the architects Van derNull,
Storck, Roesner, and Friedrich von Schmidt. For the
part he had taken in the building of the new Vienna
town hall, he received from the emperor the golden
cross of merit with the crown, and from the common
council the freedom of the city ; and his bust was
placed upon the keystone of the entrance to the town
hall. After acquiring a competence he devoted him-
self chiefly to designing synagogues and tombs. He
planned the synagogues in the eighth and nineteenth
districts in Vienna, also those in Budweis, Krems,
Pilgram, etc. ; while others (e.g., those in Nikolsburg
and Luudenburg) were rebuilt under his direction.
The tombs of Wilhelm, Ritter von Gutmann, Salo-
mon Sulzer, Adolf Jellinek, Adolf Fischhof, and oth-
ers, at the Central-Friedhof, Vienna, are from his de-
signs. Fleischer is active in the atf airs of the Jewish
community of Vienna, of whose council he has been a
member since 1879. He is one of the founders and
trustees of the Gesellschaft fur Sammlung und Con-
servierung von Kunst- und Historischen Denkmd,-
lern des Judenthums.
Bibliography: Oesterreichische Wnchenschrift, March 29»
1901, p. 221; April 28, 1893, pp. 320-321, 483.
s. N. D.
FLEISCHL VON MARXOW, ERNST : Aus-
trian physician; born at Vienna Aug. 5, 1846; died
there Oct. 22, 1891. He received his education at
the universities of Leipsic and Vienna, graduating
from the latter as doctor of medicine in 1870. In
the following year he became prosector at the ana-
tomical institute of Vienna L^niversity under Roki-
tansky, and in 1873 privat-docent and assistant to
the cliair of physiology. In 1880 he was appointed
assistant jjrofessor, and in 1887 was elected a cor-
409
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Fleckeles
Flesh
responding member of the Imperial Academy of
Sciences in Vienna.
Fleischl invented several physiological instru-
ments, among whicli are tlie " Kapillarelektrometer "
and the "Hamometer." lie contributed many es-
says to the medical journals, and was also the au-
tlior of the following works:
" Ueber den Bau der Sogenannten Schilddriise des
Frosches," in "Sitzungsberichte der Kaiserlichen
Akademie der Wissenschafteu," 1868; "Eine Liicke
in Kant's Philosophic," Vienna, 1872; "Unter-
suchung liber die Gesetze der Nervenerregung,"
seven essays, in " Sitzungsberichte der Kaiserlichen
Akademie der Wissenschaften," ib. 1875-80; "Die
Doppelte Brechung des Lichtes in Fliissigkeiten," ib.
1884; "Die Deformation der Lichtwellenflaclie im
Magnetischen Felde, " ib. 1885. He also translated
C. Maxwell's "Matter and Motion," Vienna, 1887.
His " Gesammte Abhandlungen " were edited by
Exner, Vienna, 1893.
A mural portrait of Fleischl was placed in the
arcade of the University of Vienna in 1898.
Bibliography : Pagel, Biog. Lex. s.v., Vienna, 1901.
s. F. T. H.
FLEISCHMANN, JULIUS: American mer-
chant; mayor of Cincinnati, Ohio; born at River-
side, Ohio, June 8, 1872. Fleischmann was a mem-
ber of the staff of Governor McKinley (later President
of the United States), and also of the staffs of Gov-
ernors Bushnell and Nash. In the spring of 1900
Fleischmann was nominated as the candidate of the
Republican party for mayor of Cincinnati, and was
elected April 2. A unique feature of this election
was that the candidates of both of the principal
parties were Jews. Fleischmann was reelected by
a largely increased majority on April 6, 1903.
A. D. P.
FLESCH, ABRAHAM : Rabbi in Vienna at the
beginning of the seventeenth century. According to
G. Wolf, he is identical with Abraham Austerlitz.
Flesch is the author of a eulogy beginning with
the words "Arid be-Sihi," which appeared at the
conclusion of the " 31inhat Yizhak " of Isaac b.
Judah Lob Mentz of Nikolsburg (Amsterdam, 1688).
Bibliography: Steinschneider, Cat. Bodl. col. 1128; Lands-
hiilh, ^Amnmde ha-"Ahodah, p. 10; Zunz, Liter aturge>>ch.
p. 443 ; Wolf, Judcn in der Leopoldstadt, 1st Addenda.
P. M. K.
FLESCH, JOSEPH : German merchant ; born
in Rausnitz, Moravia; died there Dec. 17, 1839.
Flesch wrote excellent Hebrew, was a collaborator
of the "Bikkure ha-'Ittim," and translated into He-
brew several of the writings of Philo, notably
"Quis Rerum Divinarum Heres Sit" (under the
title "Ha-Yoresh Dibre Elohim," Prague, 1880) and
"DeVitaMoysis" (under the title "Hay ye JVIosheh."
ib. 1838). To the former work is added tlie ora-
tion which Joseph delivered at his father's funeral.
The list of Jewish scientists which he compiled
imder the title "Reshimat Anshe Mofet," and which
has appeared as an addition to M. J. Landau's
work on Isaiah, and also separately (Prague, 1838),
is faulty and iinreliable.
His father, Abraham Flesch (born Jan. 20,
1755; died Jan. 24, 1828), was rabbi in Rausnitz,
Moravia.
15IBLI0GRAPHY : Hocst, Cat. RoKenthol. Bihl. pp. 374, 932; Ap-
pendix. .Nos. 004, 1118, 1852 ; Furst, Bihl. Jud. i. 284.
J. M. K.
FLESH (-)i:'2) : The soft portions of the animal
body, internally connected with the skeleton of
bones and externally enclosed by the skin (Gen. ii.
21; Job X. 11). Flesh is an article of food (Dan. vii.
5), generally roasted over the fire or boiled (I Sam.
ii. 13, 15). Tlie word is also applied to the flesh of
birds (Num. xi. 33). Otherwise, the HebrcAv lias
usually the word IXL*' (Ex. xxi. 10; Ps. Ixxviii.
20, 27). In a graphic description of the oppressive
tactics of the powerful, Micah charges them with
eating the flesh (iStJ') of the people, preparing it
"as flesh ['^^2] for the caldron" (]\Iicali iii. 2-3,
Hebr.). Eating of flesh with the blood in it was as-
sociated with a riotous, gluttonous disposition (Piov.
xxiii. 20). A familiar but terrible menace is that
one's flesh shall be given over to the birds to eat
(Gen. xl. 19; I Sam. xvii. 44; Ezek. xxxii. 5).
In an enlarged sense, " flesh " assumes the meaning
of "body " (Ex. iv. 7; Lev. xiv. 9, xix. 28; II Kings
vi. 30; Zech. xiv. 12) or of parts of it (Lev. vi. 10;
Ezek. xliv. 7). Employed figuratively, " flesh," soft
and impressionable, is contrasted with "stone," hard
and unyielding (" stony heart " as against " heart of
flesh": Ezek. xxxvi. 26).
As the corruptible and weak part of the body,
"flesh" expresses weakness, as against "spirit,"
which indicates strength (Isa. xxxi. 3); in Job vi. 12
it is similarl}' contrasted with " brass." Thence also
its use as designating " man " (Jer. xvii. 5 ; Ps. Ixxviii.
39), especially in the phrase "all flesh " for "all man-
kind " (Gen.'vi. 12-13 [A. V. "every living thing"],
vi. 19, vii. 21; Num. xvi. 22; Job xxxiv. 15; Ps.
Ixv. 2, cxxxvi. 25; "All flesh is grass." Isa. xl. 6;
"the God of all flesh," Jer. xxxii. 27). "Flesh,"
therefore, denotes also a person ; " my flesh " =
"I"(Ps. xvi. 9, Ixiii. 2); one's whole being is ex-
])ressed by "my heart and my flesh " (Ps. Ixxxiv. 3).
The original meaning of "flesh" — clan — under-
lies its use in Adam's welcome to Eve and in the
designation of husband and wife as "one flesh"
(Gen. ii. 23-25). It is probable, if the correct read-
ing were given in the other parts of the passage, that
in Job xix. 26 "in my flesh " would be found to have
this meaning: His"go'er' (blood -avenger) even now
liveth; from his own clan will he arise. Not to "with-
hold thyself from thine own flesh " (Isa. Iviii. 7) ex-
presses, therefore, the obligation to help one's fellow
man. In Ecclesiastes " flesh " carries the implication
of carnal appetite, as the sensual part of man's being
(Eccl. xii. 12), a use very general in the New Testa-
ment. " Take my flesh in my teeth " (Job xiii. 14) is
an idiomatic ('(juivalent for running dangerous risks.
The word "it^3 is explained by the Talmudists as
composed of the initials 2 — " nflj, " shame " ; [^ = 0
= nnilD or ijixt^, "corruption" or "Sheol"; "i =
HD"), "worm" (Sotah 5a), an opinion Avhich reflects a
certain theological leaning toward the Pauline view
of the sinfulness of the flesh (Rom. viii. 1 ; Col. ii. 11).
Judaism knows nothing of the "mortification of the
flesh "(see Abstinence; Asceticis.m; Body); the
vows of castigation are called " nidre 'innui lia-
nefesh," not "ha-basar" (Yer. Ned. xi. 42c). The
" mortifications " on Yom ha-Kippurim consist in
Plexner
Flood
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
410
abstaining from eating and drinking, washing,
ointments, slioes, and cohabitation (Yoma 76a).
"Flesh and fisli" represents substantial food as
against a vegetable diet (Shab. 140b ; compare the
English expression " neither flesh, fowl, nor tish," or
the German " weder Fisch noch Fleisch ").
E. G. H.
FLEXNEB, SIMON : American physician and
pathologist; born at Louisville, Kentucky, March
25, 1863. He received the degree of doctor of medi-
cine at the University of Louisville, and continued
his studies at Johns Hopkins University and the
universities of Strasburg and Prague. Flexner was
formerly assistant professor of pathology at Johns
Hopkins University, and is now (1903) professor of
pathology at the University of Pennsylvania. He
has recently been appointed head of the Rockefel-
ler Institute of Preventive Medicine, New York.
In 1900 he served as a member of the Johns Hopkins
University Medical Commission to the Philippine
Islands, and in 1901 as a member of the National
Plague Commission. Flexner is a member of nu-
merous learned societies, among them being the As-
sociation of American Physicians, the American
Philosophical Society of Philadelphia, the Washing-
ton Academy of Sciences, and the Medico-Chirur-
gical Society of Bologna. He has published numer-
ous papers on medical subjects, principally original
researches in pathology and bacteriologj'.
Bibliography: Who's Who in America, 1902.
A.
FLISFEDER, D. I. : Russian physician and
scholar; born about 1850; died in 1885 at Kishinev,
where he had settled a few years previously. Flis-
feder was best known for his writings in Russian on
the Jewish question. When only twenty years old
he wrote for the "Novorosiski Telegraf" (1870,
p. 1) an article on the Jews of Kiev under the title
" Yevrel' v Kievye." Under the same title he wrote
also for the "Kievski Telegraf" (1872, pp. 120-130)
and for the " Kievlyanin " (1880, p. 206). His two im-
portant works on the Jewish question are " Yevrei
1 ikh Uchenie ob Inovyertzakh," St. Petersburg,
1874, an essay on the Jewish teaching concerning
people of other religions ; and " Yevreiskl Vopros
pred Sudom Istorii," ib. 1882, which bears on the
Jewish question.
Bibliography : Ha-Meliz, 1885, col. 696.
H. R. M. Sel.
FLOGGING. See Fines and Foukeiture.
FLOOD, THE (Hebr. ^UD; LXX. KaTaK^va/udg).
—Biblical Data (Gen. vi. 9-ix. 17): When God on
account of man's wickedness resolved to destroj' by
a flood all mankind and all the animal world, only
Noah and his family and two (or seven) pairs of
every living species were excepted. To save them
Noah was bidden by God to build a huge chest or
ark, in which they were hidden during the Flood.
When the waters abated and the ark rested on one of
the mountains of Ararat, Noah sent forth a raven and
doves, and when the .second dove returned with an
olive-leaf in her mouth, while the third dove did not
leturn, it was proof that the giound was dry. On
leaving the ark, Noah built an altar and offered
sacrifice, which God accepted, promising to curse
the earth no more. He blessed Noah and made a
covenant with him and his descendants, signified by
the rainbow. In later literature this event is alluded
to in Ezek. xiv. 14, 20; Isa. xxiv. 5, 18; liv. 9;
Ps. xxix. 10; Job xxii. 15 ct seq.
E. G. H. W. M.-A.
In Babbinical Literature : When Noah was
four hundred and eighty years old all the righteous
sons of men were dead, except Methuselah and
Noah himself. At God's command they both an-
nounced that one hundred and twenty years would
be given to men for repentance; if in that time they
had not mended their evil ways, the earth would be
destroyed. But their plea was in vain ; even while
Noah was engaged in building the ark the wicked
made sport of him and his work, saying: "If the
Flood should come, it could not harm us. We
are too tall ; and, moreover, we could close up with
our feet [which were of monstrous size] the springs
from below." (Being descendants of the "sons of
God, " they were of immense stature ; see Fall op
Angels; Giants). In fact, they resorted to these
tactics; but God heated the water, and their feet
and the flesh of their bodies were scalded (Pirke R.
EI. xxii, end).
According to another version (Midrash ha-Gadol,
ed. Schechter, p. 145), Noah was asked what kind of
flood was to come upon the wicked : if a flood of fire,
they had a fire-animal, 'alitha, the name of which
would act as a spell against fire ; if of water, they had
sheets of iron wherewith to cover the earth so that
no water could come through from below ; but in case
the waters descended from above, they had another
contrivance by which to escape — the "'akob" or
" 'akosh " (sponge ; Sanh. 108a, b). The sins of the
"men of the generation of the Flood " (Sanh. 38b et
passim) are variously given. They were proud and
therefore shameless, paiading the earth in a state of
absolute nudity (Tanna debe Eliyahu, xxxi.). They
were licentious and lascivious (Sanh.
Causes 108; Midrash ha-Gadol, pp. 142-146),
of Flood, so that even the animals followed
their example {ib. p. 153; Tan., Noah,
ed. Buber, p. 5). They were robbers; in daytime
they marked the houses of the rich with balsam, to
find them by means of the odor in the dark (Midrash
ha-Gadol, p. 142; Gen. R. xxi., xxvii.). They de-
nied God (Midrash ha-Gadol, pp. 144, 145). A re-
spite of 120 years was granted that Methuselah
might complete his allotted life {ib. p. 144 ; " Sefer lia-
Yashar," ii.); after his death seven more days were
allowed as days of mourning ("shib'ah "). During
these seven days God changed the natural order of
things, converting day into night and vice versa, to
remind the wicked of their perversion (Midrash ha-
Gadol, p. 155; Sanh. 108b).
Noah himself had not much faith ; he did not enter
the ark until the water had reached his knees (Gen.
R. xxxii.). God covenanted with liiiu that the fruit
he took with him would not spoil or mildew, or lose
color; also that none of the giants would stop up
the abyss. The lion came to him tamed and Avith
teeth dulled (Gen. R. xxxi.). As the waters rose the
true character of Noah's contemporaries became evi-
dent; with extreme crueltj' thev hurled their own
children into the abyss in an endeavor to stay the
411
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Flexner
Flood
rising flood (Tau., Noal.i, 10). To (■onviiico these
robbers and murderers tiiat they could not destroy
the ark, Noah had to enter it in full daylight (Mid-
rash ha-Gadol, p. 158; Gen. R. xxxii. 8; Sifre, p.
141a). Water was chosen as the instrument of de-
struction because man was made of dust, and water
is the exact opposite of dust; because it was the
tirst element to sing God's praises; because it enters
into the composition of all that has life; because it
recalled the haughty eye of the sinners (Midrash ha-
Gadol, p. 152; Mek., Beshallah, 37b; Gen. K. xxxii. ;
Sanh. 108). The waters from above met those from
beneath as though the former were male and the
latter female, their union producing new floods
(Pirke R. El. xxiii.).
By displacing two stars in the constellation of
Kimah (see Constellations) God brought on the
Deluge (Midrash ha-Gadol, p. 156; comp. Ber. 58b,
59a). The land of Israel was exempt from the Flood
(Pirke R. El. xxiii.). Noah was in the ark one Avhole
year, during Avhich time he did not sleep ; hence his
anxiety to be released (Tan., Noah,
The Ark. 14). He sent out a raven, which,
alighting upon a dead bod}" on a high
mountain, forgot its errand in the feast. The dove
brought back a twig of the olive-tree, which, though
bitter, she preferred, as coming from God, to anj-
sweet thing at the hand of man ; hence the proverb,
" A fool employ s an unclean messenger " (Pirke R. El.
xxiii.). Noah was exceedingly annoyed by the odor
of the beasts of prey (ib.). For the reasons for the
forty days and forty nights of the flood see Forty.
The year of the Flood is not included in Noah's
years (Gen. R. xxxii.). The number of tliose coming
out of the ark was exactly that of those who entered
it, none having been born in the meantime (Gen.
R. xxxi.). Twelve months was the duration of the
punishment of the generation of the Flood. The
rain lasted during the months of Heshwan and Kis-
lew ; the waters increased in Tebet, Shebat, Adar,
Nisan, and lyyar ; the ark rested in Siwan on Mount
Kartunja (see Midrash ha-Gadol, p. 161 ; 'Eduy. ii.
10; Seder 'Olam R. iv.). The confusing notation,
according to both solar and lunar years, in the Bib-
lical account is noticed by the Rabbis (Gen. R.
xxxiii.). The generation of the Flood has no share
in the world to come (Sanh. 108a). According to the
"Sefer ha-Yashar," severe storms frequently oc-
curred during Noah's voyage, frightening the beasts
as well as Noah and his family.
E. G. H.
Critical View : Tliis story has been shown, by
a careful study of the Hebrew text by scholars
throughout the last century (see Cheyne, "Founders
of Old Testament Criticism : Biographical, Descrip-
tive, and Critical Studies," New York, 1893). to be a
compilation by a lute redactor from two (or even
three) different sources, which, while agreeing in
general outlines, differ considerably in details, style,
and character of language. The collection or codi-
fication, in writing, of the oral traditions concerning
these legends was not done by one iiand nor at one
]ieriod, but in the course of a very long jirocess and
by several or many hands. Many collections must
liave been made from time to time. Among these
several have survived. Two stages are still notice-
able (J ' and .1 ■-'). to the earlier of which are referred
the collections of the Jahvist (J) document and the
Elohist (E) narrative; while the later
The is a thorough revision known as the
Sources "priestly writing" or "priests' code"
of the Old (P), whose common theme was "the
Testament choice of Israel to be the people of
Account. Ynwii" (Wildeboer). The oldest strata
of J did not know the story of the
Flood : it is preserved in the later strata (J '■*, about
G50 B.C.).
The sections of the narrative of the Flood (see Bud-
de, "Die Biblische Urgeschichte," pp. 2'i8etseq. ; Jii-
licher ; Holzinger ; Driver, " Introduction to the Liter
ature of the Old Testament," 7th ed., pp. 14e<«eg. ; W.
E. Addis, "Documents of the Hexateuch," London;
Carpenter andHarford-Battersby, "The Hexateuch.
According to Revised Version," etc.. New Y'ork) as-
cribed to .1"^ are: vi. 5-8 (after which a considerable
portion of the story is missing, as, for example, God's
first appearance and command to build an ark, there-
by testing Noah's trust and obedience); vii. l-2b
(God's second appearance to Noah), [3a], 3b, 4, 5, 10,
7 [8, 9], 16b, 12. 17b, 23ad, 22, 23b; viii. 6a, 2b, 3a
(after which a sentence is missing), 6b, 8-12, 13b,
20-22. To P are assigned : vi. 9-22 (14-16 and 17-22
correspond to J ■^'s account in vi. 8 and vii. 1 ; comp.
Budde, " Die Biblisclie Urgeschichte " ; Cheyne and
Black, "Encyc. Bibl." s.r. "Deluge"); vii. 6, 11, 13-
16a, 17a, 18-21, 24; viii. l-2a, 3b-5, 13a, 14-19; ix.
1-17, 28, 29.
The story of the Flood and similar stories show
that in J'^ are contained separate legends and legend
cycles; delicate and coarse elements exist side by
side ; they do not bear the stamp of a single definite
period or time, and still less of a single
General personality. There is a decided an-
Character- thropomorphic flavor in the account
istics. of J which is not found in P; ami yet
it is much purer and more spiritual
than the cuneiform account of the Deluge. P pre-
serves the more detailed account, aiming at legal
clearness and minuteness, having always the same
expressions and formulas, and observing a tone of
prosaic pedantry, dry and monotonous; giving the
early stories, and few of them at best, only as a sort
of preamble to the genealogies, the chief aim of this
collection. In his account P manifests a wide con-
trast with the vivid colors of the older narratives,
lacking all the concrete elements of a story. He at-
taches to the legends a detailed chronology which is
absolutely out of keeping with the simplicity of the
old legends. Noticeable, also, are the precise form of
God's promises and the sign of the covenant made
with Noah. Only the objective element is consid-
ered as the important feature of his religion, which
to him consists in the prescription of ceremonies,
etc. He does not. in the account of the Deluge, dis-
tinguish between clean and unclean. The theoph
allies are not of a character usually found in the Old
Testament: God appears, speaks, and then ascends;
and everything characteristic of other stories is
omitted (see Priestly Code). P was written from
its own definite point of view after the catastrophe
of the people and the kingdom of Judah, when,
overwhelmed by the tremendous impression of their
Flood
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
413
measureless misfortune, thej- recognized tliat their
fathers liad sinned and that a great religious reforma-
tion was necessary.
It is clear, then, that J^ contains the early popu-
lar legends, while P represents the later learned re-
daction, preserving at the same time some very old
traditions. To an entirely different collection may
have originally belonged viii. 7, which was inserted
when the two collections J (J '■*) and E were later on
combined by an editor, the Jahvist (Wellhausen),
prior to the addition of the still later priests' code. To
the tinal redactor (R) who united J, E, and P may
be ascribed some of the brief additions and glosses.
The accounts as found now may be grouped un-
der four headings;
I. The Cause of the Flood (vi. 5-8: J ^).
II. The Preparation of Noah (vi. 9-vii. 5): Here
there is a first and a second account.
(1) The first account (vi. 9-22: P) is incorporated
in the text entire, including the minute instruc-
tions concerning the building of an ark, or chest (see
also Ex. ii. 3), that would tloat on the water. The
Hebrew word n^n is of disputed origin ; it is trans-
lated by KiSui-og in the Septuagint and
The "area" in the Vulgate (see Gesenius,
Accounts of "Th." 13th ed. ; Jensen, in "Zeit. fur
J'-andP Assyr." iv. 273 et scq., explains the
Combined, word as of Babylonian origin). The
Babylonian Noah, Per -napishtim,
builds a ship. " It is most probable that the narra-
tor of P wishes to indicate that in the time of the
Patriarchs ships were unknown " (Mitchell). Le-
normant ("Begitmiugs of History," eh. viii.) and
others maintain that the Biblical narrative bears the
stamp of an inland nation ignorant of things apper-
taining to navigation. The ark is to be made of
wood, perhaps cypress (Lagarde, " Symmicta," ii. 93 ;
idem, " Mittheilungen," i. 227; idem, "Nominaliiber-
sicht," pp. 213, 218 et seq. ; Cheyne, in Stade's
"Zeitschrift," 1898, pp. 163e<s<'g.); it is to be built in
three stories and divided wholly into cells (Lagarde,
" Onomastica Sacra, " 2d ed. , p. 367 ; comp. the Baby-
lonian account of the building of the ship). The
seams are to be stopped by smearing outside and in
with bitumen or asphalt. Its length is to be 300
(comp. Ezek. xl. 5) cubits = 487.2 feet; itsbreadthSO
cubits = 81.2 feet; its height 30 cubits = 48.72 feet;
contents, 1,927,394.38 cubic feet. A roof is to be
constructed, capable of being turned from above on
a hinge, in order to admit of opening and closing
(see viii. 13b); a door is to beat the side of the Auk.
The making of the ark was God's test of Noah's
confidence and obedience. Noah did as he was com
mauded, and brought his family into the ark, and
two of every kind of living creature, male and
female, as well as food for himself and for them.
Notice the making of the first covenant (v. 18).
(2) The second account (vii. 1-5: J) is a mere frag-
ment. The story of the ark and its construction, no
doubt originally also in J, connecting it with vi. 8,
is omitted l)y the redactor as a mere repetition. Pre-
served is the command to enter into the ark with
the whole family and with representatives of the
whole animal kingdom, of clean animals by sevens
(or seven pairs ?) suitable for sacrifices and for food
(viii. 20), and of unclean by twos. The Hebrew
text says "two," perhaps indicating only one pair,
which would favor the interpretation of "by sevens"
as "three pairs and one [male V]." All this is to be
done in seven days.
III. The Waters of the Flood (vii. 6-viii. 14): (1)
Here is to be noticed the duration of the Flood
(vii. 6-24; P and J ^ combined). The two narratives
separated stand as follows : With P the Flood begins
(vii. 11) in the six hundredth year of Noah, the sec-
ond month and the twenty-seventh day (so with
LXX. ; Haupt, in Ball, "Genesis," p. 118). "This
gives exactly a lunar year for the duration of the
Flood (see viii. 14) instead of a year and eleven
daj'S, for which there seems no reason. Such er-
rors in numerals are common enough " (Haupt).
The waters rose for 150 days, and at the end of
these 150 days they began to subside. When the
Flood began Noah had lived for 600 years, i.e., a
Babylonian " neru. " To go further into details, Noah
had reached in liis life the six hundredth year,
the second month, and the twenty-seventh day,
when the Flood began; the six hundredth year,
the seventh month, and the twenty-seventh day
(LXX.), when the Flood was at its height; the
six hundredth year, the tenth month, and the first
day, when the highest mountain-peaks began to re-
appear; the six hundred and first year, the first
month, and the first day, when the waters had dis-
appeared [This number is important inasmuch as
P therewith indicates that the old world has ceased
to be; the new will now begin. This, and not the
beginning of the Flood, is the new terminus a quo.
This beginning of the year is not the old Israel-
itish New-Year's Day in the autumn, when the
rainy season sets in, but the beginning of the Babj'-
lonian year, the first of Nisan, when the wet season
ends. P usually reckons after the Babylonian sys-
tem.]; the six hundred and first year, the second
month, and the twenty-seventh day, when the earth
was dry, and he was able to leave the ark (see B. W^.
Bacon, "The Chronology of the Account of the
Flood in P, " in "Hebraica," 1892, viii. 79-88).
The Hebi'cw year originally began in the fall (see
Dillmann's " Leber dasKalenderwesenderlsraeliteu
vor dem Babylonischen Exil," in " Monatsberichte
der Berliner Akademie," Oct. 27, 1881 ; Muss-Arnolt,
" The Names of the Assyro-Babj'lonian Months and
Their Regents," in "Journal of Biblical Literature,"
xi. 72 et seq.) ; and since P cLsewhere (Ex. xii. 2) dis-
tinctly attributes to ]\[oses the change in the method
of reckoning time, lie would naturally reckon from
Tishri in the period preceding the advent of the
Lawgiver. The second month would be "Bui"
(I Kings vi. 38), later Marheshwau, beginning about
the middle of October; so that the twenty-seventh
of the month would correspond to the first half of
November, the period when the rainy season in Pal-
estine and the neighboring countries usually sets
in. With .7 - the Flood begins seven days after the
announcement by God. It lasts forty
Date of the daysand forty nights (vi. 4, 12). The
Flood. rain then ceases, and after seven days,
during which the waters begin to de-
crease (viii. 3a), Noah sends out the first dove (vii.
6b); after another seven days, another dove (vii.
10); after a third seven days, a third dove (vii. 12),
413
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Flood
wliich returns no more. He then uncovers the ark,
and lo! the face of the earth is dry. Then he dis-
embarks and offers a sacrifice, whicli in its descrip-
tion recalls very vividly the liahylonian account.
This account mentions seven days of preparation,
si.x (.seven?) days of storm, and seven days of wait-
ing after the flood-storm.
(2) The gradual subsidence is ilescribed in viii.
1-14, and belongs mostly to J-'. The waters had
risen fifteen cubits above the highest mountain-
peaks. As soon as they began to subside the ark
grounded on one of the moim tains of the land of
Ararat (the "Urartu "of the Assyrians; see Belck,
ia"Zeit. fiir Assyr." ix. 351; Jensen, in ib. pp.306
et seq. ; Belck and Lehmanu, tb. xii. 1-3 et seq. ;
Streck, ib. xiv. 103 et seq. ; Billerbeck, " Das Sand-
schack Suleimania und dcsseu Persische Nachbar-
landschaften zur Babylonischen und Assyrischen
Zeit," Leipsic, 1<S98; Lehmann, "Armenien und
Nordmesopotamien in Altertum und Gegeuwart,"
Berlin, 1900; Noldeke, "Untersuchungen zur Kritik
des Alten Testaments" ; Hastings, " Diet. Bible," i. ;
Cheyneand Black, "Encyc. Bibl." i. 288-290; Jew.
Encyc. ii. 173, 174), precisely as in the Babylonian
accoimt the ship rests on a mountain in the land
of Nisir (see Muss-Arnolt, "Concise Diet, of tiie As-
syrian Language," pp. 716, 717; "Zeit. fiir Assyr. "
XV. 272). Mount Mas(s)is (see Friedrich Murad,
" Ararat imd Masis, Studien zur Armenischen Alter-
tumskunde und Litteratur," Heidelberg, 1900; F.
C. Conybeare, in "American Journal of Theology,"
1901, pp. 335-387) is commonly identified with the
one on which the ark rested; it is 17,000 feet high
(so Targum, Syriac version; Berosus; see Cory,
"Ancient Fragments," p. 63). Others identify it
with Mount Judi in Kurdistan, southwest of Lake
Van. The fact that the ark grounded on the very
day the waters began to subside proves that the
narrator assumes that of the 80 cubits of the ark's
height, 15 were underwater. In this lie differs from
the Babylonian account.
(3) Birds are sent out as messengers (viii. 6-12: J).
After viii. 3a there must originally liave followed an
account of the settling of the ark on a mountain,
perliaps in the East (Babylonia? conip. xi. 2: "Well-
hausen). The sending out of the three doves isa proof
of the sagacity of Noah, who thereby shows himself
as the Old Testament equivalent of the Babylonian
Hasis-adra. The first dove returns at once; the sec-
ond, with a fresh olive-leaf, at eventide, when birds
return to their nests; the third does not return.
Ch. viii. 7 does not belong to the account of J
(Wellhausen, "Composition des Hexateuch," p. 15;
Gunkcl, p. 59; Mitchell, pp. 218, 214). It is imported
from another source, iierhaps b}' the redactor of J and
E (from the Babylonian story?). Ball (" Genesis," in
"S. B. O. T.") would retain the verse, but change
the order of sentences, placing verse 7 after 8 and 9.
"This arrangement has tlie additional advantage of
agreement with the cuneiform account, in which
version the dove comes first." But it is evident
that Ball's suggestion does not solve the ditficulties
as Avcll as does Wellliauseu's rejection of viii. 7.
The two accounts, J and the cuneiform story, agree
in the main — for instance, in tiie sending out of tiie
bird— but tlicv differ in di'tails. Wincklcr ('■Alturi-
entalische Forschuugen," 3d series, vol. i., part 1)
holds that in the present J there is tlie combination
of an older and shorter E account, according to
which there were seven days of preparation, forty
days of the Flood (the number of the Pleiades, the
rain-constellation), and seven days preceding the
sending out of the dove which returned no more.
This would make fifty-four days altogether, about
two lunar months. The other and longer account
speaks of the threefold sending out of birds, which
will have to be identified, in accordance with the
cuneiform account, as swallow, dove, and raven.
IV. The Future of the Survivors (viii. 15-ix. 17):
This includes: Noah's offering, composed of the
account by P of the exit from the ark (15-19),
.serving as an introduction to the extract from J*;
the sacrifice in which Noah expressed his gratitude
for deliverance (20-22); instructions given to Noah
on the sacredness of life, of men as well as of beasts,
stating emphatically that " whoso sheddeth man's
blood, by man shall his blood be shed " (ix. 1-7: P);
the making and proclaiming of a covenant, the sign
of which was to be God's bow, the lainbow (ix.
8-17: P). The Babylonian account
After does not have this last feature. It
the Sub- suggests the Hindu myth in which the
sidence. bow used by Indra in shooting bolts
of lightning at his enemies, when the
storm is over becomes the rainbow, a promise of
peace to mankind. It is also found among the Ara-
bians. P preserved this old mythological account
simply because he desired for the construction of
his world-scheme three covenant signs for the three
covenants made with Noah, Abraham, and Moses —
the rainbow, circumcision, and the Sabbath. Well-
hausen (" Prolegomena zur Geschichte Israels," 4th
ed., p. 317), Keil. and others stoutly defend the
statement of the author, which implies that hitherto
there had been no such thing as a rainbow ; others,
again, maintain that P is here explaining the origin,
not of the rainbow, but of its adoption as a sign (see
J. G. Murphy, "Genesis").
In proof of the separate origin of the two docu-
ments J^ and P, attention may be called to: (1) the
many repetitions; (2) the contradictions, such as vi.
19 et seq. and vii. 14-16 as against vii. 2 et seq. ; vii.
11 (a poetic and mythological description) as against
vii. 12 (a prosaic narrative); vii. 12 as against vii. 24
(the duration of the Flood) ; (3) the many linguistic
differences. On the other hand, there are also points
of agreement, such as (1) the cause of the Deluge, (2)
the persons saved, (3) the new relationship between
God and man, (4) the words for "flood" and "ark."'
"Mabbul" is perhaps from the same root as Assyr-
ian "nabillu" = "destroy," and corresponds to the
Assyro-Babylonian "abubu," whence perhaps its
vocalization (see Gesenius, "Th." p. 550, and the
literann-e cited in 3Iu.ss-Arnolt, I.e. p. 636. col. 2,
note). On"tebah" see above. But Budde ("Die
BiblischeT'rgeschi('hte,"pp. 417 efseq.. iGl etseq.) is
incorrect in maintaining that J' has been the only
source for P, nor is Cheyne riglit in making P de-
pendent on J -'. P, as it now stands, is fuller than
J •■' in (1) the announcement to Noah of the imix-nd-
ing Deluge, and the command to build an ark, whose
measureiuents are iriven in detail; (2) the notice of
Flood
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
414:
the place where the ark grounded ; and (3) the ap-
pointment of the rainbow as the sign of the cove-
nant between God and man.
Of the account in J '^ it may in general be said
that the tradition of tlie Flood was known very early
in Israel, but that, on the other hand, the present
form of the tradition is of a more recent date. The
traces of great antiquity arc: (1) the closing of the
ark by Yhwk Himself (vii. 16); (3) the sacritice
offered by Noah after the Flood, and especially the
expression " And YnwH smc^lled the pleasant odor " ;
(3) the sending out of the birds; (4) the terms for
"flood" and "ark." In the mixture of Noah the
pious and Noah the wise and prudent there is the
combination of a later and an earlier tradition, the
latter, perhaps, originally of a more secular, worldly
character, the remnant of an old hero-song.
Of the account in P it may in general be said that
there are now and then traces of very old traditions.
Thus, vii. 11 (and viii. 2a), the origin of the Flood,
which in the minute and on the whole prosaic ac-
count of P is all the nujre remarkable because of its
highly poetical coloring : (for example, the concep-
tion of the primeval man, just as in the Babylonian
tradition [see Creation account, Rawlinson, iv., lines
139, 140], of the waters above the heavenly expanse
held back by bars and sluices [comp. Gen. xlix. 25 ;
Ps. xxiv. 2]); the proverb or saying in ix. 6; tlie
very old story of the rainbow; the tradition con-
cerning the termination of tlie period of peace and
the new order of things; the account of the cove-
nant, including also the animal creation, alluded
to in Deutero-Isaiah liv. 9 (Kraetzschmar). Fur-
ther, the soiuces used by P also mentioned Mount
Ararat, and perhaps also the " 150 days. " These and
some minor points indicate for P a source very simi-
lar to that of J; but the considerations just given
weigh against the assumption that P was directl}'
dependent on J^ (Wellhausen, I.e., 4th ed., p. 399;
Budde, I.e. pp. 467 et seq.\ Holzinger, "Genesis,"
pp. 85 et ficq.\ Cheyne and Black, "Encyc. Bibl."
s.v. " Deluge, "§ 10). Nor can it be maintained with
Kosters ("Theol. Tijdschrift," xix. 335 et seq.) that
P is remarkably similar to the account in Berosus,
a view which would assume tlie later Babylonian tra-
dition as a source (see Dillmann, "Genesis," p. 136).
The tradition as found in P must have been known
in Israel in early times.
Many other nations have traditions of an early
flood. These have been carefully collected and
sifted by Richard Andree ("Die Flutsagen, Ethno-
graphisch Betrachtet," Brunswick, 1891), Hermann
Usener ("Die Sintfluthsagen Uutersucht," Bonn,
1899), Franz von Schwarz ("Sintflut und Volker-
wanderungen," Stuttgart, 1894), and Winteruitz
("Die Flutsagen dcs Altortums und der Natur-
volker," in " Mitteilungcn der Antiiro-
Other pologischen Gesellschaft in Wien,"
Flood- xxxi.. No. 6). Winternitz believes
Legends, tiiat the widely spread legends are the
outgrowth of local traditions based
on actual local occurrences. The fact that many
peoples have flood-legends can not justify the as-
sumption that they all go back to one great prehis-
toric event, for there are many other nations and
groups of nations without sucli legends.
Of greatest interest and importance for the study
of the Old Testament account, among all these
legends, is the cuneiform account of the Deluge.
This was mentioned and epitomized by Berosus and
Abydenus, preserved by Eusebius, " Chronicon," i.
19, edited by Schoene in " Fragiiienta Historicorum
GrjECorum," ii. 50 et seq., iv. 281 (translated by
Usener. "Flutsagen," pp. 13-15). and is fully known
since George Smitii's discovery, in 1872, of the cunei-
form text, on editions and translations of which see
Muss-Arnolt, " Assyrian and Babylonian Literature,"
pp. 350, 351, New York, 1902.
Per-napishtim, the ancestor of Gilgamesh and the
favorite of the gods, relates to Gilgamesh the story
of the Flood, in which he and his family and his
belongings were alone saved. Owing to the corrup-
tion of the citizens of Shurippak, the gods decided
to bring about a deluge, destroy ing all mankind.
In a dream the god Ea revealed their intention to a
man of the city named "Per-napishtim" (Scheil in
Maspero's "Pecueil des Travaiix," 1898, xx. 55 et
seq.),\i\io, in accordance with Ea's instructions, saved
himself, and his family, and every kind of beast,
by building a ship in which they escaped from the
Flood. The ship was built in seven days. Its sides
were 120 cubits liigh; its beam was 120 cubits also
(see Haupt in "Am. Jour. Pliilology," ix. 419 et
seq.). After Per-napishtim had stowed away his fam-
ily and belongings, and living creatures of every
kind, the storm, called "abubu," broke loose so
fearfully that even the gods became affrighted.
Everything was destroyed. The storm ceased after
the sixth day, and after twelve (double) hours there
rose out of the water a strip of land. To Mount
Nisir the ship drifted and stuck fast. And when
the seventh day drew nigh Per-napishtim sent forth
a dove. The dove flew hither and thither, but as
tliere was no resting-place for her, she returned.
Then he sent forth a swallow. The swallow flew
hither and thither, but as there was no resting-place
for her, she also returned. Then he sent forth a
raven. The raven flew away, saw the land emerging,
alighted upon it, waded about, croaking, and re-
turned no more (comp. with this the account of J^).
Per-napishtim then disembarked, and offered to the
gods a sacrifice, whose savor the gods smelled, gather-
ing like flies around the sacrificer. The anger of B§1,
the god who was the prime mover of the Flood, and
who was displeased at the salvation of P6r-napishtim,
is assuaged ; he goes up into the ship, takes Per-nap-
ishtim and his w ife, blesses them, and makes them
dwell far away at the mouth of the rivers. The
character and actions of B^l and of Ea, as described
here, appear united in Yiiwii by J^, whose account,
of course, is strictly monotheistic, purer, and loftier.
The Deluge fragment discovered by Scheil is
dated in the reign of Ammizadugga, one of the
last kings of the first dynasty of Babylon, and maj'
be ascribed to about 2100 n.c. It was found at
Sippar — where the Deluge is placed by Berosus — and
represents the local form of the legend current in that
city during this early period. Tablet seven of this
fragment mentions Per-napishtim, and tablet eight
speaks of Atrakhasis; both occur in the accovmt
which was found by Smith. Atrakhasis (Hasisatra)
is the "Xisuthrus" of Berosus (the "Sisithros " of
415
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Flood
Abydenus). The conjectures on the relationship
between the two names are given in Muss-Arnolt,
"Assyrian and Babylonian Literature," p. 358. On
the etymology of the two names see idem, "A Con-
cise Dictionary of the Assyrian Language," pp. 134,
712. See also Zimmern in "Zeitschrift fur Assy-
riologie, " xiv. 277 et seq. The story of the Deluge had
originally no connection with the story of Gilgamesh.
Here in general there is a similarity between J "^
and the Babylonian account, but as a vehicle of
moral and religious instruction the superiority of
the Old Testament account is at once apparent.
The Babylonian account is polytheistic, its gods
capricious, jealous, quarrelsome; the hero a favorite
of only one of these gods. The Old Testament tra-
dition, even in its earliest known form, is thoroughly
monotheistic; its God commands instant and unre-
served reverence; its hero is saved on account of
his righteousness.
It is maintained by many that the Hebrew tradi-
tion, especially as preserved in J'^ was directly bor-
rowed from the Babylonian at the
Source of time of the ascendency of Assyria,
the Hebrew that is, about 700 B.C., when Judah
Tradition, was a vassal kingdom of Assyria (see
Haupt, "Sintflut Bericht," 1881, p.
20; Usener, I.e. p. 256; Stade's "Zeitschrift," 1895,
p. 160; Budde, I.e. p. 457; "Am. Jour.of Theology,"
Oct., 1902, pp. 706, 707). It is, however, more cor-
rect to assume with Zimmern ("Biblische und Baby-
lonische Urgesch." p. 40) that these Babylonian
legends were first made known about the Tell el-Am-
arna period among the original Canaanite inhabitants
of Palestine, from whom they passed to the Israel-
ites when the latter settled in the land. Others as-
sume later Aramean or Phenician mediation (see
Gunkel, "Genesis," pp. 67, 68; Winckler, " Altorien-
talisclie Forschungen," ii. 140 et seq., 160 et seq.).
In the Babylonian, and especially in the Hebrew,
tradition there is the blending of two still earlier
lesrends, the one of the destruction of mankind,
wholly or in part, by the punitive judgment of the
divine powers, owing to man's wickedness — a legend
of a character similar to that of the destruction of
Sodom and Gomorrah, or the story of Philemon and
Baucis in classic lore; the other, that of a flood as
such, either local or universal. The Flood was not
in the tradition's view universal, as "universal"
would be understood at present, simply because the
world of the early writers was a totally different
world from that of to-day. Tliis latter legend again
undoubtedly goes back ultimately to a nature-myth
representing the phenomena of winter, which in
Babylonia especially is a time of rain. The hero
rescued iu the ship must originally have been the
sun-god. Thus the Deluge and the deliverance
of P^r-napishtim are ultimately but a variant of
the Babylonian Creation-myth (Zimmern; see also
Cheyne, a.v. "Deluge," §18).
Bibliography: Hermann Gunkel, Oenoiis Uehersetzt und
ErkUIrt, in Haiitlhi>inwe)itarzv>n AUen Testament, pp. 55-
71, GOttingen. ]9()1 ; H. Holzinger. Genesis ErkUlrt, In Kurzer
Hand-Commentnr zum Allen Testanioit, pp. 68-!<9, Frei-
burg, 1898; Dilliniinn, Gene.tis Ei-hlilrt.Wh ed., 1893. pp. 127-
156: Eng. transl.. 1. -'45-300, EdinliurRh. lHi)7; Fran/ Delilzsch.
Neuer Onnnientar liber die Genesis, r)t!i ed., pp. 146-191,
Leipsic, 1887: H. (i. Mitchell, nie ]yi>rUI liefore Ahraham
Accoi'dinii to Genesis i.~xi., willi an Intrit<lneti<>)i to the
Pentatemh,\)p. 84-90, 194-237, Boston. l'.H)l ; lUuidc, Die Bi-
blische Urgeschichte, 1893; Heinrich Zimmern, Dihlvtcheund
BabyUmische Urgesch. (= DerAHe Orie»it,il., No. 3), Leip-
sic, 1901 : Eng. transl., Tlie Hebrew and Babijlonian Gene-
sis, London, 1902; B. N. Bacon, The Genesis of Genesis;
Noldeke, Untersuehunacn zur Kritik, pp. 145 et seq., Kiel,
1869; Theophilus G. Pinches, The Old Testament in the
Lifihtof ttie Historical Records and Leuends of Assyria
and Babylonia., pp. 85-117, London, 1903; Schrader, K. A.
T. 3d ed., pp. 547 et see/.; Julius Wellhausen, Composition des
Hexateuch ; idem, Prolegomena zur Gesch. Israels ; idem.
History of Israel and Judah ; Winer, B. R. 3d ed., 1847, ii.
161-166 ; Diestel, Die Sintflut und die Flutsagen des Alter-
thums, in Sammluiig Ge nieinverstUndlicher Wissenschaft-
liclier VortrUge, series vi.. No. 137 (1871); E. Siiss, Die Sint-
fluth, a geological study, Prague and Leipsic, 188.3 (with an
important contribution by Professor Haupt); J. Prestvvich,
On Certain Phenomena Belonging to the Close of the Last
Geological Period, and on the Bearing upon the Tradition
of the Flood, New York, 1895; L. Duparc, Le Deluge Bi-
blique: Essai d' Interpretation Scientijique, Paxis, 1898; J.
E. C. de Kirwan, La Localisation du Deluge et les Peripe-
ties de la Q^iestion, pp. 45 et seq., Paris, 1899; idem, Un Ad-
versaire du Deluge et de Sa Localisation : Ri'ponse d S.
Reinach, pp. Het seq., Paris, 1899; Cheyne and Black, Encyc.
Bibl. s.v. Deluge; Hastings, Diet. Bible; Dilliriann, i'Uxd-
flut. in Scheniiel, Bibel-Lexikon,lS75,v. 434-437; A. Lolsy,
Notes sur la Genese: V., Le Deluge, in Revue d' Histoire
et de Literature Religieuses, 1898, pp. 167-183; Ch. Perga-
meni, line Explication Scientifique du Deluge, in Revue de
VUniversite de Bruxelles, No. 8, May, 1898; Th. Noldeke,
Der Mythus von der SUndfluth, in Im Neuen Reiche, 1872,
247-359; J. Hal(5vy, La Date du Deluge d'Apres les Textes
Principaux, in jimrnal Asiaticiue, April, 1899, pp. 3.53-356 ;
A. Gitfer, Les Ligendes du Deluge Levant VEtfinographie
et VHistoire, in Revue Belgique, Nov. -Dec, 1899; Paul Ca-
ms, The Legend of the Flood, in The Monist, July, 1901 : G.
F. Wright, TJie Geological Confii-matitnis of the Noachian
Deluge, in Bibliotheca Sacra. April and July, 1901; idem,
Geology and the Deluge, in McClure's Magazine, June,
1901. See Sunday Scliool Times, July 6, 1901 ; Science, June
21, 1901; Popular Science Monthly, Aug. and Sept., 1901;
Wright, in Advance, Aug. 29, 1901; idem, in The Independ-
ent, Aug. 8, 1901; M. Gander, Die Geologic und die SUnd-
flut, in Katholik. Dec, 1897.
E. G. n. W. M.-A.
— -In Mohammedan Literature : In the Koran
Noah is mentioned not less than eleven times. The
Koranic term for " flood " (" tufan ") betrays an Ara-
maic origin, and leads one to infer that Mohammed
had heard the story from Jews or Christians in Syria,
probably from both. The most concise and accu-
rate account is given in sura xxix. 13-14: "We sent
heretofore Noah to his people; he remained with
them one thousand years save fifty years. Then the
Flood seized them while they were acting wickedly.
But we rescued him and those who were in the ark,
and we made it a sign tinto all creatures." This
quotation shows that ]\Iohammed had not read the
account of the Flood in the Bible, but had heard it in
the form of the Jewish Haggadah. Accoi-ding to
the latter, Noah was bidden to spend one hundred
and twenty years in building the ark, so that peo-
ple might take warning.
Moslem tradition renders the story in a more elab-
orate form. Noah planted an ebony-tree brought to
him by Gabriel. After it had grown for many years
he cut it down and prepared the planks. When he
commenced to build the ark, the people taunted him
in the following words: "At first thou wert a
prophet; now thou hast turned carpenter. " As soon
as the ark was finished, Noah dug up Adam's body
and placed it therein. Then the rain poured down
for forty days and forty nights. All mankind and
all animals perished save those in the ark. Two
luminous disks in the walls of the ark marked day
and night, as well as the hours of prayer. For forty
days (according to other reports, seven times) the
ark floated round the Kaaba in Mecca; and after
six months it settled on the top of a mountain in
Mesopotamia. Noah sent out a dove, which re-
Flora
Florence
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
416
turned with an olive-leaf in its beak. When the
water had disappeared he saw the rainbow, and then
he knew that it was time to leave the ark. The
accounts in the Koran (suras xi. 42, xxiii. 27) end
with the words: "Then our decree came [true] and
the oven boiled." This is evidently a reproduction
of the Talmudical saying, "The generation of the
Flood was judged with boiling water" (Sanh. 108).
See Ark of Noaii in Mohammedan LrrKH.\TURE.
BiBLiOG RAPH y : Geiger, TT'os Hat Mohammed aiis dcm Juden-
tum Aufgennmmen? Bonn, 1833; Weil, Bihlisclie Leqen-
den der MiiselmUnner; Uehatsek, Raudat al-Safa, parti.,
1. 78 etseq., London, 1891-94.
E. G. H. H. Hill.
Firenze) : Capital of
FLORA. See Botany.
FLORENCE (•'VJn"'Q ;
=Fiorenza ; Florentia ;
Tuscany, Italy.
Jews settled here
probably before
14 0 0. They
were not needed
in this flourish-
ing commercial
city, the scene of
factional strife
between the
Guelfs and
Ghibellines ;
there was an
abundance of
capital, the Flor-
entines being the
greatest specu-
lators and the
most rapacious
usurers of the
Middle Ages.
But having ad-
mitted tlie Jews,
the Florentines
granted them
at once man}'
rights and priv-
ileges. In 1414
the republic
sent a Jewish
banker, " Valo-
ri " by name, to
I'epre.sent it at
Milan before the
Duke of Viscon-
ti. As the latter
refused to re-
ceive a Jewish
a m b a s s a d o r,
Florence de-
clared war against him. This friciully atlitude of the
Florentines, however, was as sul)ject to change as
their government; I lie Jews wei'e expelled and re-
admitted at the picasui'o of the Senate. That Jews
were in the city in 1441 is indicated by the fact that
a "mahzor " according to the Italian ritual was writ-
ten there and sold in tliat year(Zuii/,, " Kitus," p. 84).
One of tlie first Jews of Florence Unown by name
was Emanuel b. Uzziel da Cameriiio. I'( ir whom ( 'o(le\
Montefiore No. 219 was written (1458). A Jewish
physician by the name of " Abramo " was called in to
amputate a leg of Giovanni delle Bande Nere, the
ancestor of the house of Medici. The favorable at-
titude toward the Jews seems to have changed in
1472, for during the plague raging in
Expelled
During the
Plague.
Nook in the Florence Ulietto.
(From a photopr.iph.)
that year all the Jews were expelled.
Shemariah b. Abraham Jehiel wrote an
elegy in commemoration of the event
(Codex Merzbacher, Munich, No. 90).
When the plague subsided in 1473 the populace de-
manded that the Jews be recalled as money-lenders,
and for some years thereafter they lived in peace in
the city, protected by the Senate. When Bernardin
of Feltre was preaching in Florence in 1487, the
young men attempted to sack the houses of the Jews
and slay the inmates; the authorities, however,
expelled the
preacher, Avho
thereupon pre-
tended that they
had accepted
large bribes from
the Jews.
In the mean-
time the hou.se of
Medici had risen
to power, and
under Lorenzo
the Magnificent
Florence became
the center of art
and science. The
Jews also took
part in this
splendid life of
the Renaissance.
Lorenzo called
Jewish ph3'si-
cians and schol-
ars to his court,
among them
Abraham Faiis-
sol. Elijah Del-
niedigo took
part in a relig-
ious disputation
in his presence.
The philoso-
phers j\Iar.sili()
Ficino and Gio-
vaimi Pico della
]\Iirandola stud-
ied the Hebrew
language and
the Cabala, and
called a number
of learned Jews to Florence; among these Elijah
Delmedigo Avas esjiecially noted as an expounder of
tiie Aristotelian ])liiiosophy. Johanan Ailemanno,
a close observer of Florentine life, gives a good de-
scription of it in '■ Heshek Shelomoh," his com-
mentary to Canticles.
As foreign tratlic had widened the horizon of the
Florentines, they hosiiitabiy received the Spanish
refugees who, noted for llieir business experience.
417
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Flora
Florence
Settlement
of
Spanish
Refugees,
scholarship, and wealth, sought shelter in Italy. The
first comers were followed by many other Jews and
Maranos who had been driven by the
Inquisition from Portugal. The com-
munity of Florence now became an im-
portant one, and the city also derived
great benefit from the immigrants, who
were in close intercourse with their
coreligionists in Brabant, Lyons, Marseilles, Naples,
Venice, in Portugal and especially in the East,
and carried on
commerce in co-
lonial products,
silk and wool.
All opposition
to them was si-
lenced in face of
the services they
rendered to the
city. Expelled ,
in 1490 (accord-
ing to IbnVcrga,
"Shebet Yehu-
dah "), they were
recalled in 1492 ;
expelled again,
they were once
more recalled in
14 9 8, being
found indispen-
sable to the com-
merce of the
city. Among the
im
was
the aged Don Jo-
seph ibn Yah-
yaJi, whoarrived
at Florence with
his sons in 1494.
The condition
of the Jews was
a favorable one
under the first
princes of the
house of IMcdici;
the M a !• a n o s
were allowed
even the free ex-
ercise of their re-
ligion, and were
not attacked
during the plague of 1539.
Jews ; his wife, Leonora of
Portuguese
migrants
The Large Synagogue at Kloreuce.
(From a photograph.)
Cosimo II. favored the
Naples, had as teacher
Douua Benveniste Abravanel, to whom
Under the she was a lifelong friend. It was due
Medici, to her influence that Cosimo granted
extensive privileges to the Jews in
1551. They numbered at that time about 500,
the majority living in the Via dei Giudei, be-
yond the Arno: the street still bears that name.
The political differences between the Medici and
the pope were a direct advantage to the Jews,
as the Medici paid no attention to the cruel papal
decrees issued against them. The continual at-
tacks, however, bore fruit in the end; in 1570 the
v.— 27
Jews were enclosed in a ghetto. Some streets not far
from the Duomo, in the lowest and dampest part of
the city, the Via della Nave, were assigned to them,
and enclosed by gates; in 1571 an insulting inscrip-
tion was affixed to the gate of the ghetto. The
communities of the outlying towns of Montalcino,
Torricella, San Miniato, Monte Pulciano, and Prate
were obliged to move into the ghetto of Florence.
However, the anti-Jewish laws were never as
strictly enforced in Florence as elsewhere. The
wealthy Jews
were permitted
to live outside
the ghetto, the
inhabitants of
which were not
treated harshly.
Toward the
end of the seven-
teenth century
the city threat-
ened to force all
the Jews to live
in the ghetto,
probably be-
cause many
houses there
were vacant at
the expense of
their Christian
owners. The
community
therefore was
obliged in 1690
to pay the enure
rent of the ghet-
to. It was the
underlying prin-
ciple of Floren-
tine legislation
to treat the Jews
as mildly as was
consistent witii
the prejudices of
the seventeenth
and eighteenth
centuries. The
clergy combated
Judaism by ma-
king converts
rather than by
physical coer-
iinder thirteen years
Riots against the
cion; the baptism of children
of age was regulated by law
Jews occurred but seldom, and were
In the repressed by the government and the
Seven- clergy ; the attacks which were made
teenth and at the time of the French Revolution
Eighteenth in 1790 were quelled by the bishop.
Centuries. Dunng the Napoleonic regime the
community shared the varying for-
tunes of the city, freedom alternating with op-
pression, until its autonomy was recognized in
1814. The gates of the ghetto were opened, never
to be closed again, and the Jews were permitted
to live outside its limits. Although no civic rights
Florence
Plorus
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
418
were granted to them, the Jews of Tuscany were
treated so justly that they did not demand eman-
cipation, which came to them, however, in 1859,
when the grand duke was expelled and the provi-
sional government instituted; on this occasion San-
sone d'Ancona was appointed minister of finance.
When Tuscany was annexed to the kingdom of
Italy in 1861, the Jews received full citizenship
in conformity with the constitution of 1848. None
of the rights then conceded has since been abro-
gated, and since then the Jews have always had a
share in the government of the city.
In the fifteenth century the community had only
Sephardim have used the Portuguese language
in their documents and their service down to very
recent times. Other internal dissensions arose at the
time of the movement started by Shabbethai Zebi ;
in spite of their rabbi, Johanan Ghiron, the commu-
nity did not believe in the pretender, siding with
Zebi's two cliief opponents, Jacob and Immanuel
Frances, who were staying at that time in Florence.
Emanuel wrote in 1660 a duet for the Society of the
Anelanti ("Hebrat ha-Sho'afim"), which was sung
in both synagogues.
The earliest known scholars of Florence, given
in chronological order, are : R. Moses, preacher and
Pulpit and Reading-Df.sk of the Florenck Synagogue.
(From a photograph id the pussessioD of Maurice Herrmann, New York.)
one synagogue, with the Italian ritual ; but with the
advent of the Portuguese Jews the Sephardic ritual
also was introduced. The bitter strug-
Syn- gle ensuing between the two nation-
agogues alities was finally adjusted when both
and Rabbis, were recognized as of equal standing.
Two synagogues were organized, wii h
two rabbis, one for each ritual. The growth of the
community of Leghorn strengthened the Sephar-
dic party in Florence, which finally became domi-
nant, with the result that at present (1903) the ma-
jority of the community follows that ritual. The
commentator (c. 1472), whose works are included in
Codex Montefiore, No. 17, and his brother Abigdor;
Shemariah b. Abraham b. Jehiel and Raphael of
Florence (c. 1480), whose works are included in Codex
Merzbacher, No. 90; Jacob b. Jekuthiel da Corinaldo
(1510); Eliezer b. Solomon b. Zur (1512); Isaac b.
Joseph Monselice (1540); Moses b. Abraham Coen;
Azriel b. Jehiel Trabotti (1567); Jehiel b. Abraham
Finzi ; Solomon b. Samuel Montedelolmo ; Judah b.
Joseph Uzziel ; Moses b. Bassa da Blanes (seventeenth
century) ; Isaac and Raphael Calo ; Samuel and
David Piazza; Zechariah b. Ephraim Porto; Jo-
419
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Florence
Florus
hanan Ghiron; Isaac b. Samuel Baruch; Jacob de
Alba ; Hananiah b. Menahem Cases ; Hupbael b. Sam-
uel Corcos (eighteenth century) ; Abraham Jedidiah
Shalit; J udah Raphael b. Menahem Baruch Jaghel
di Monselice (1737) ; Raphael Lonsano (—1773) ; Men-
ahem Azariah b. Judah Mazliah Padova ; Abraham
Fonseca; Aaron Ash kenazi; Moses Hayyim b. Sam-
uel Rimini ; Daniel Terni ; Moses Hayyim Soschino ;
Mattithiah Nissim b. Jacob Israel Terni ; Hananiah
Hal Coen (nineteenth century); Castelnuovo; Sam-
uel Olper; Jacob David Maroni; S. H. Margulies,
occupying the position of rabbi since 1890.
For a time there was a Hebrew printing-press in
Florence. In 1700 the first part of Aaron ha-
Kohen's (?) "Orhot Hayyim" was published there,
and various works appeared about 1800.
In 1903 the community of Florence numbered
about 3,000 souls. It is governed by a council
(" consiglio ") composed of sixteen members, who
elect a committee of five from among
Present themselves. There are two syna-
Status. gogues — the large new Sephardic syn-
agogue, the "most beautiful syna-
gogue of Europe," built through the munificence of
the director David Levi (d. 1869), and completed
in 1883 (see Jew. Encyc. i. 430, illustration), and a
small synagogue (Italian ritual) in the Via dell'
Oche. The ritual in both is Orthodox ; in the larger
synagogue there are a choir and an organ, and the
sermon is preached in Italian. There are two ceme-
teries, an old one dating from the eighteenth cen-
tury, and a new one dating from about 1875. There
is a common school for boys and girls, in which
much attention is given to Hebrew, in addition to
the elementary studies prescribed by law. A He-
brew school prepares for entrance to the rabbinical
seminary. The following philanthropic institutions
are under the direction of the community: the
Jewish hospital on the Arno; the Jewish orphan
asylum, Achille Leone Athias; the Asili Infantili;
Ospizio di Marina; Malbish Arumim; the society
Arti e Mestieri. The societies Oav6 Tor^ (with
a large library), Ez Hajjim, and the more recent
Mekize Nirdamim are devoted to the study of the
Torah. The Mattir Asurim Society, founded for
the purpose of securing the release of Jews impris-
oned for debt, supports a second synagogue with
Sephardic ritual in a house in the Via dell' Oche.
There are a hebra kaddisha, societies for nursing the
sick, "misericordia," etc. Since 1899 the Collegio
Rabbinico Italiano is at Florence; it was completely
reorganized under the direction of Rabbi Margulies.
See Seminaries.
Bibliography : Depplnj?, Die Juden im. Mittelalter, pp. 368-
371: Ersch and Ci ruber, E«cj/c. s.v. Judc/i, p.l5*) ; Corriere Is-
raditico, x. 279; on the rabbis see Mortara, Indtce, passim.
G. I. E.
FLOBENTIN, HAYYIM SAMUEL: Rabbi
of Salonica; lived in the seventeenth century. He
was the author of a work entitled " Me'il Shemuel "
(Salonica, 1725), containing forty-five responsa and
ninety-one analectaon the Talmud. At the end are
some notes by his brother, Isaac Florentin, on
Maimonides. Hayyim wrote also some notes on the
Shulhan 'Aruk, Hoslicn Mishpat, which are found
in the collection " Moreh Zedek " by Michael b.
Moses ha-Kohen {if>. 1655).
Bibliography : Furst, Bihl. Jud. 1. 285; Benjacob, Ozur ha-
Sefarim, \>. 349.
B. S.
M. Sel.
FliORENTIN, ISAAC. See Florentin, Hat-
TIM Samuel.
FLORENTIN, SAMUEL. B. DAVID : Rabbi
of Salonica in the eighteenth century. He was a
nephew of Hayyim Samuel Florentin. He wrote:
"Bet ha-Ro'eh," a collection of the ritual laws prac-
tised in daily life, with an index and notes on the
Yad ha-Hazakah, Salonica, 1758; "Minhat Shemuel,"
responsa, homilies, and Biblical comments, ib. 1776.
Bibliography: Furst, Bibl. Jud. 1. 285; Benjacob, 0?nr /lo-
Sefafim, pp. 76, 343.
s. s. M. Set,.
FLORENTIN, SOLOMON B. SAMUEL:
Turkish Talmudist ; lived at Salonica in the seven-
teenth century. He wrote " Doresh Mishpat," a
collection from the marginal notes of Solomon ibn
Hassun, Solomon b. Isaac Levi, Daniel Estrumsa,
Baruch Angel, and Samuel Florentin the Younger
(Salonica, 1655). This book is an addition to the
" Moreh Zedek " of Michael b. Moses ha-Kohen,
which consists of marginal notes from the responsa
of the later rabbis.
Bibliography : Zedner, Cat. Hehr. Books Brit. Jftis. pp. 259,
538, 727 ; Benjacob. Ozar ha-Sefanm, p. 109.
6. s. ■ K T. L.
FLORIDA : The most southern of the United
States of America, forming a peninsula washed on
the east bj^ the Atlantic Ocean and on the west by
the Gulf of Mexico. Little is known of the early
history of the Jews in Florida. In 1825 a plan was
projected in London for the purpose of sending a
number of Jews to Florida as colonists, but it
proved abortive. However, that Jews settled in
the state somewhat later is known, for two of them
took part in the Civil war: Gus Cohen enlisted in
the Milton Artillery, and M. Daniel was a member
of Company A, 1st Regiment Florida Infantry; the
latter was captured. Daniel died at Elmira, N. Y.,
and was buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in that city.
In 1874 a congregation, named "Beth El," was
founded at Pensacola, and one named "Ahavath
Chesed " was founded in 1882 at Jacksonville, where
a Hebrew Benevolent Society had been formed in
1874. At Ocala in 1885 a similar societ}' was estab-
lished. Religious organizations were founded at
Tampa and Key West. Morris Dzialinsky was
twice elected mayor of Jacksonville, and Jacob A.
Huff held the office of city treasurer many years.
Among the names of the directors of the National
Bank of the State of Florida is found that of Bern-
hard M. Bacr. Philip Walter, who for many years
held the office of clerk of the United States court,
was elected a member of the state constitutional
convention in 1885. Florida has a Jewish popula-
tion of about 3,000, the total population in 1890
being 391,422.
Bibliography: Statistics nf the Jews of the United State-o,
p. 23, Philadelphia, 1880; Wolf, The American Jew as Pa-
triot, Soldier, and Citizen. Philadelphia, 1895; Markens.
The Hebrews in America, New York, 1888.
A.
FLORUS, GESIUS (or, incorrectly, Cestius) :
Last procurator of Judea (64-66). , Florus was
notorious for his cruelty and rapacity, and was
so much detested by the Jews that in comparison
Flour
Fly
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
420
with him Albinus was considered a just man.
Florus, indeed, hastened the outbreak of the revolu-
tion by rendering the condition of the Jews unbear-
able. He protected the Sicarii in return for a share
of their plunder, and during his administration many
towns were sacked. When the Jews of Caesarea op-
posed the obstruction of the entrance to their syna-
gogue by the Greeks, they bribed Florus not to
interfere. Florus accordingly went to Samaria.
Finding themselves overpowered, the Jews sent to
Mm an embassy of twelve, imploring his protection
against the Greeks; but Florus, instead, threw the
ambassadors into prison. Later he sent to Jerusa-
lem, demanding from the warden of the Temple
treasury seventeen talents of gold. His demand
being refused and even ridiculed, lie wont to Jeru-
salem and ordered his soldiers to attack the upper
market-place.
The Jews were killed, regardless of sex or age, and
the houses plundered. On that day (16th of lyyar,
66) more than 3,600 were slaughtered; many were
scourged and crucified. Queen Berenice in vain
implored him on her knees to stop the carnage.
Florus even demanded a friendly reception for the
troops appointed to seize the Temple. But the
people opposed him with so much vigor and deter-
mination that he left Jerusalem with the larger
number of his troops. When the insurrection had
broken out, Florus gave full liberty to the Greeks
of Caesarea to attack the Jews. The majority of
the latter were killed ; the remainder, by the com-
mand of Florus, were sent to the galleys.
Bibliography: Josephus, Ant. xx. 11, § 1; B. J. 11. 14, § 4;
Gratz, Gesch. 4th ed.. 111. 445-450 et seq.; Schurer, Oesch. 3d
ed., i. 585, 601 et scq.
G. M. Sel.
FLOTJB. : The finely ground substance of any
cereal. The earliest and most simple way of crush-
ing grain consisted in pounding it in a mortar, pro-
ducing a coar.se flour, or rather different grades of
grits (comp. the preparation of the manna. Num. xi.
8). In order to obtain fine flour the grain, it seems,
was pulverized between two stones (see illustration
in Erman, "Aegypten und Aegyptisches Leben im
Altertum," p. 268; Bliss, "A Mound of Many
Cities," p. 85). But as far back as can be traced the
Israelites used a mill for preparing fine flour. A
small hand-mill was used down to a late date, but
in the Gospels mills worked by asses are mentioned
(n'vloq bviKoq, Matt, xviii. 6, K. V., margin). Each
household prepared its own flour — hence the prohi-
bition to take a hand-mill in pledge from the poor
(Deut. xxiv. 6); the heavy work of grinding was
the task of the women and the female slaves (Ex.
xi. 5; Isa. xlvii. 2; Matt. xxiv. 41), or of captives
(Judges xvi. 21; Lam. v. 13).
The ancient mill could hardly have differed from
that now used in Palestine, which consists of two cir-
cular stones ("pelah"); hence the designation "re-
hayim" (lit. " the two millstones " ; comp. Deut.
xxiv. 6; Isa. xlvii. 2). The mill is also known as
"tahanah" (Eccl. xii. 4; "tehon," Lam. v. 15). At
present these stones, generally made of basalt, are
about 40-48 cm. in diameter and about 10 cm. thick.
The nether stone (" pelah tahtit ") is fixed and is espe-
cially hard (Job xli. 16). It is somewhat convex.
with a small plug of hard wood in the center. The
upper stone is correspondingly concaved on the
nether side, with a funnel-shaped hole in the center,
into which the plug of the nether stone is fitted.
On the edge isa peg (" yad ") used as a handle. The
upper stone is turned by the grinder around the
plug of the nether stone; hence its name "pelah
Modern Palestinian Hand-Mill.
(From a photograph by the American Colony, Jerusalem.)
rekeb," or merelj'' "rekeb" ("the wagon"; Judges
ix. 53; II Sam. xi. 21; Deut. xxiv. 6). The grain
is poured by hand through the funnel-shaped hole
of the upper stone, and the flour, dropping from
the edge of the nether stone, is collected on a cloth
spread beneath.
The grain commonly made into bread was barle,v
and wheat, especially the latter, spelt ("kussemet")
being evidently used in special cases only (Ezek. iv.
9). Wheat bread was the superior
Grain article, barlej^ bread being the food of
Used. the poor. In the ritual, barley flour
was used for the offering of jealousy
(Num. V. 15). Wheat flour was prepared in two
different grades. The flour that was generally used
for baking was called "kemah," being fine or coarse
as it fell from the mill ; and from this a finer flour
(which is probably the meaning of the term "solet"
= af-fi!6a?.ig) was separated by means of a hair-sieve.
This fine flour, the " fat of the wheat " (Deut. xxxii.
14; Ps. Ixxxi. 17, cxlvii. 14), was worth twice as
much as barley (II Kings vii. 1, 16, 18; comp. Erman,
I.e. p. 266, as to the two kinds of flour imported from
Syria into Egypt). With the one exception men-
tioned above, the use of fine flour ("solet") is pre-
scribed throughout in the ritual; the conclusion is
not warranted, however, that the ordinary flour used
for daily consumption was not employed for sacri-
fices in ancient times.
E. G. n. I. Be.
FLOWERS OF THE BIBLE. See Botany
and Plants.
FLOWERS IN THE HOME AND THE
SYNAGOGUE : As an agricultural people the
Jews in their own land appreciated flowers as a
means of natural decoration. The first crop of
421
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Flour
Fly
fruits offered at the altar in Jerusalem on the
Feast of Harvest (Ex. xxiii. 16) was crowned with
the choicest flowers (Bik. ii. 3). Among all the
flowers native to Palestine the rose was i>reeminent.
Solomon compared his Shulamite licioiue to the
"rose of Sharon." The Mishnah calls this the
"king's rose" (Kil. v. 8).
The festival day of the harvest (Shabu'ot) is desig-
nated as the judgment day of trees (R. H. i. 2).
This is supposed to be the origin of the custom of
decorating the house and the synagogue with flow-
ers on Shabu'ot. Jacob b. Moses Molin(d. 1427), in his
"]\Icharil," first mentions the custom of scattering
on the floor of the synagogue roses and other odor-
ous blossoms as an expression of joy in the festival
(see Shulhan 'Aruk, Orah Hayyim, § 494). The
" ]\Iagen Abraham '" says it is customarj- to place trees
in the synagogue. Elijah Wilua, however, prohib-
ited this innovation, since it would be aping the
Christian custom on Pentecost (Danziger, " Hayye
Adam," § 131, 13). In Palestinian synagogues
flowers are distributed to the worshipers as they
leave the services on Passover eve.
Isaiah Hurwitz, in his "Shelah" (p. 180a, Amster-
dam, 1698), relates a custom prevailing in Safed,
where the sexton distributed fragrant weeds to every
person during the morning service on Shabu'ot,
while the cantor recited " Ila-El bc-Ta'azumot."
That flowers were highly valued by the Jews is
further shown b}' the fact that nearly all their works
of art are distinguished by floral representations,
as the candelabra of the Tabernacle (Ex. xxv. 33),
the pillars of the Temple, and the molten sea with its
brim wrought with "flowers of lilies" (I Kings vii.
19-26). The Talmud states that Solomon's Temple
contained representations in gold of various aromatic
trees in full fruit, from which fragrant perfumes ex-
haled with the movement of the air (Yonia 391)).
A. J. D. E.
FLUTE, See ]Mtsic .\nd Musical Ixsthumexts.
FLY (Hebr. 3nT) : A two-winged insect, espe-
cially the common house-fly {Musca domestica). It is
referred to in Eccl. x. 1: "Dead flies cause the
ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stink-
ing savor." Since a fly in food is offensive, its
presence there is a ground for divorce ; according
to some, however, its presence is accidental, and is
not the fault of the liousewife (Git. 6b). In gen-
eral, if a fly falls into a cup of wine and is re-
moved, the wine is still fit to drink; fastidious
people, however, do not drink it, though the vul-
gar even eat of a dish into which a fly has fallen
(Tosef., Sotah, v. 9, Yer. 17a; Bab. Git.' 90a; Num.
R. ix. 12; ]S[i(lrash in Kohut Memorial Volume, p.
176). The Jews were censured because, while they
were willing to drink wine into which a fly had
fallen, they would not drink such as the king liad
merely touched (Meg. 13b).
The fly is extremely annoying when one is eating,
and since it persistently returns even after being
driven away it is the emblem of evil desires (Ber.
10b, 61a; Targ. Eccl. x. 1). The Egyptian fly (Isa.
vii. 18) is so dangerous that it maybe killed even on
the Sabbath (Shab. 121b). It is used as a symbol for
the Egyptian king Shishak (Seder '01am R. xx.),
and for Sennacherib (Ex. R. xxx. 5). It issupposwl
to be the species Cnlex iiioUni us (Yor?,]\s.\. "Descrip-
tiones Animalium," p. 85, Copenhagen, 1775). The
Mishnah (Parah ii. 3) mentions a kind of gadfly
(probably the Chrysops ccecutiens) against which
cattle are protected by a covering ; another kind,
the "baka," the animals drive away with their tails
(Shab. 77b). There were other kinds, especially the
gray fly, which the Talmudic writers regarded, ap-
parently, not as flies, but as worms (larvaj). Cur-
tains as a protection against flics were hung over
the beds (Yer. Suk. 53b; Bab. 26a; Rashi on M. K.
27a). There is a species of fly tliat lives onl}' one
day, while the common house-fly lives longer, al-
though not for an entire year. This fact is the sub-
ject of a pretty legend in the Talmud (Hul. 58b).
The fly occasionally became such a scourge in
Palestine tliat public prayers were ordered (Ta'an.
14a). Hence it is easy to understand that the Philis-
tines at Ekron worshiped a special god of flies,
Baal-zebub (II Kings i. 2); but there is no reason
to assume that the Aramaic word for "enmity" was
derived from it (Geiger. "Urschrift," p. 53). The
fly alights on gonorrheal persons and then infects
healthy people (Ket. 77b); it also alights on wounds
(Pesik. 26b). Strange as it may seem, there were no
flies in tlie abattoir of the sanctuary at Jerusalem
(Abot V. 5; Ab. R. N. i., xxxv.); Maimonides be-
lieves they were driven away by the smoke of the
incense; Rashi, however, attributes their absence to
the fact that the tables were of marble (see alsa
Mahzor Vitry, p. 538). According to another tradi-
tion, the "sons of Moses" are in a miraculous man-
ner kept from being troubled by gnats or flies (Cas-
ter, "The Chronicles of Jerahmeel," p. 196). The
sons of Eli were blamed for leaving the juicy part
of the offering to the flies (Yalk., Sam. 86).
The Haggadah often emphasizes the fact that the
fly serves a purpose in the world (Gen. R. x. 7; Ex.
R. X. 1, etc.); it is also said that a crushed fly is
good for a hornet's sting (Shab. 77b). The third
plague of the Egyptians, "kinnim" (Ex. viii. 12), is
commonly translated "lice." Modern investigation,
however, favors the view of the Septuagint that the
word means (jKvi<pec, which Philo ("De Vita Moysis,"
ed. Mangey, p. 97) and Origen (" Homilia in Exo-
dum," iv. 6) interpret as a species of gnat, an insect,
under the name " yittosh " or " yattush " (ynn""), often
mentioned in connection with "zebub" in rabbinic
sources. It is much more certain that the Bibli-
cal "'arob" (Ex. viii. 17-20; Ps. Ixxviii. 45) is a
species of fly, though even the Tannaim disputed as
to its exact meaning (Bacher, "Ag. Tan." ii. 252);
according to the Septuagint and Symmachus, who
translate it nwofivia, it is the dog-fly or stinging-fly,
described by travelers as a great scourge in Egypt.
According to the critical view, the plague of dog-
flies is merely a variant of that of the gnats.
Gnats are referred to in the simile in Matt, xxiii.
24. A fly dipping into the sea is the symbol for the
inexhaustibility of the divine doctrine (Soferim. xvi.
8). Titus was plagued by a gnat (Git. 156b ; comp.
Neubauer, "Med. Jew. Chron." i. 170), and so also
was the usurper Pahda (Seder '01am Zuta), after
whose removal the Jewish princes of the Exile bore
a fly in their escutcheon. Abraham ibn Ezra Avrote
a poem on the fly (ed. Rosin, i. 99).
Foa
Folk-Liore
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
422
An earlier expression, "karzit," found in tlie
Talmud (Git. 86b), is explained as a species of fly
living among stones; the word recalls "kerez" (Jer
xlvi. 20), translated " gadfly " by modern scholars.
The Rabbis take the expression " creeping things
among birds" to mean flies (Rashi on Gen. i. 20;
Targ. Yer. Lev. xi. 20; Deut. xiv. 19), but this inter-
pretation is contradicted by the addition of " going
upon all four," since insects have at least six feet.
Bibliography : Bochart. Hiernzoicon, Sive de Animalihiis
Scn'pfurce Sncrce, iii.346; Rosenmuller, HandbMc/i <ier Bi-
hlwchen Alterthilmer, Iv. 418, 431, 434; Lewysohn, Znaloqie
den Talmud», §8 426-435; A. Klnzler, Biblische Natur-
gexchichte, 1. 154-155, 9tli ed., 1884.
S. S. S. Kr.
FOA (FOI or FOY) : French family ; migrated
from Italy iu the eighteenth century. One branch
of the family has been authorized to assume the
name of " Margfoy." Solomon Foa, the first mem-
ber of the family to settle at Bordeaux, was the
father of David Hayyim Foy, a privileged mer-
cer, who received a permit from the parliament of
Navarre, Aug. 27, 1787, to establish himself at Pau.
His son, Israel Foy, bought for the community of
that city the Jevvisii cemetery, which was laid out
April 24, 1822. At Bayonne and Bordeaux the
name is spelled "Foy," while at Marseilles the form
" Foa " has been preserved. To the latter branch be-
long tlie explorer Edmond Foa, Captain Cremieu-
Foa, (Commander Leon Franchetti, and the en-
gineer J. Sciama.
Bibliography : Archiv. Municii). de Bordeaux, g. g. 800 bis,
Aug. 21, 1751, July 23, 1753, Jan. 22, 1768; Arret du Parle-
ment de Navarre qui Fait Defense de Troubler les Juifs
Portugais dans VExercise de Leur Commerce, Pau, 1787 ;
H. Leon, Hist, des Juifs Bayonne, p. 218; Le Si^cle, March
24, ls98.
G. C. DE B.
FOA, ELIEZER NAHMAN : Italian rabbi and
author; died in Reggio after 1641. He was a pupil
of R. Moses Isserles, and possessed an extensive
knowledge in Talmud and Cabala. He founded at
Reggio a societj' uhder the title "Hebrat ha-'Alu-
bim " (Association of the Modest Ones). Foa wrote
"Midrash Haggadah," a commentary on the Hagga-
dah of Passover, to which were added a preface by
tiie members of the above-mentioned society, and
some verses by a certain R. Moses Shalit. The book
was published by them during the lifetime of the
author (Venice, 1641). A corrected edition, -.vith the
addition of many novellae and a commentary on Hal-
lel, appeared in Leghorn in 1809. Foa also left in
manuscript a work named "Goren Arnon," contain-
ing five collections of sermons on the Pentateuch,
which were seen by Azulai and are mentioned by
him in his "Shem ha-Gedolim."
Bibliography: Elsenstadt-Wiener, Da''at Kedoshim, s.v. ;
Mortara, Indice, p. 54.
s. s. N. T. L.
FOA, ESTHER-EUGENIE (nee Rodrigues) :
French authoress; born at Bordeaux 1795; died in
Paris 1853. She was famous for her beauty. Un-
der the nom de plume " Maria Fitz Clarence " she
contributed to many Parisian periodicals. The fol-
lowing among her numerous novels may be men-
tioned: "Kiddushim, on L'Anneau Nuptial des He-
breux." 4 vols., Paris, 1830; "La Juive," 2 vols,
1835; "Contes Historiques," 1840, with notes by G.
A. Neven, London, 1868.
Bibliographv : Feret, Statistique de la Oironde, 111. 250 ; La
Grande E)icuclopedie, s.v.
S. C. DE B.
FOA, PIO : Italian pathologist; born at Sab-
bionetta Jan. 26, 1848. He attended the lyceum at
Milan; studied medicine at Pavia, and took post-
graduate courses at the universities of Turin and
Heidelberg. As Rizzozero's pupil in pathologic
anatomy, he was appointed in succession privat-
docent (1876), assistant professor (1878), and profes-
sor (1881) at Modena, and professor (1884) of patho-
logical anatomy and bacteriology at Turin. In 1868
he took part as a volunteer in Garibaldi's campaign
against the Southern Tyrol. He is a member of the
Accademia di Medicina (1886), of the Lincei of Rome
(1892), and of the Reale Accademia delle Scienze,
Lettere e Arsi, of Turin (1895). Among his numer-
ous works the following may be mentioned : "SuU'
Anatomia Patologica del Midollo e delle Ossa," 1873 ;
"Suir Anatomia Patologica dell Gran Simpatico,"
1874; "L' Anatomia Patologica e le Altre Scienze
Mediche," 1876 ; " Sulla Dottrina della Tubercolosi,
" 1876; " Suir Origine dei Globuli Rossi del Sangue,"
1879; "Sulla Fisipatologia del Sangue," 1881;
"Sulla Fisipatologia della Milza," 1883; "SuUe
Conquiste della Scienza Moderna," Modena, 1883.
He has also contributed papers on pathology and
biology to the medical journals of many countries
and to the reports of the Accademia delle Scienze,
Turin. In 1900 he was elected president of the
University Popolare Ditorino.
Bibliography : De Gubernatis, Les ^crivains du Jour.
8. I. E.
FOCHS, ANTON: Hungarian philanthropist;
died in Budapest May 31, 1874. A few years be-
fore his death he sent an anonymous letter to the
administration of the Jewish community in Buda-
pest, donating 43,000 florins for the founding of an
orphan asylum. Suspected of being the donor, he
denied the fact iu the press; it was established only
when his will was found to contain a request that
the asylum be named after his parents. His large
fortune (over 1,000,000 florins) he left to be distrib-
uted for the most part among humanitarian institu-
tions without distinction of religious belief. A fund
of about 60,000 florins was set aside to pay for the
education of any among the orphans of his institute
showing aptitude for letters or science. The con-
siderable sum of 300,000 florins went to establish a
deaf-and-dumb institute for Hungary and Transyl-
vania, open to both sexes. His was an eccentric
character : he was unmarried, incommunicative, pe-
nurious, and a recluse.
Bibliography : Arch. Isr. July l.'>, 1874; Univ. Isr. Aug. 1,
1874; AU(J. Zeit. des Jud. June 16, 1874.
6. N. D.
FODOR, ARMIN : Hungarian jurist; born at
Nagy Mihaly Jan. 27, 1862; studied law at Buda-
pest, was admitted to the bar in 1886, and was ap-
pointed district judge at Budapest in 1890. In 1895
he was called into the Ministry of Justice as legal
expert. His chief works are: " Die Motivirung des
LTngarischen Civil-Gerichts-Verfahrens " and " Hand-
buch des Civil-Gerichts-Verfahrens," Budapest,
1894-97.
Bibliography: Pallas Lex., yii.
8.
L. V.
423
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Foa
Folk-Iiore
FOGES, BARUCH BENEDICT: Austrian
author; born at Prague June 28, 1805; died Aug.
23, 1890, in Karolinenthal, a suburb of Prague,
where he was principal of a school. He is known
as the autlior of " Alterthtlmer der Prager Josef-
stadt," Prague, 1855; 3d ed., 1870.
s. H. B.
FOIA ISRAELITA. See Periodicals.
FOIX (Hcbr. K>»1D or D"1S) : Capital of the de-
partment of Ariege, France. In the Middle Ages
there were Jews here as well as in other towns in
the county of Foix, especially at Saverdun and Pa-
miers. The largest Jewish community in the district
was at Pamiers, which, toward the end of the thir-
teenth century, through Gaston de Foix and the
Abbot of St. Antonin, enjoyed special exemptions
in the matter of taxation. The community at Foix
seems to have been less important, for only two of
its members are known, Cresques and David Solo-
mon, both of whom lived at Perpignan about 1413.
Bibliography: Saige, ies Juifs de Languedoc, pp. 14, 40,
21~, 239. 279 ; Depping, Les Juifs dans leMoyen Age, p. 131 ;
R. E. J. xlv. 75.
O. S. K.
FOLIGNO, HANANEL DI : Jewish convert
to Christianity ; lived at Rome in the sixteenth cen-
tury. He made himself notorious by his slanderous
attacks upon his former coreligionists. With Vittorio
Eliano and Joseph Moro, two other converts, he
appeared, in 1553, before Pope Julius III. as an ac-
cuser of the Talmud, the result of which was that
many copies were publicly burned (Aug. 12, 1553).
A far graver accusation, and one which imperiled
the very lives of all the Roman Jews, was made by
him before Pope Marcellus II. in 1555. A Moham-
medan apostate had crucified his own ward for the
sake of getting possession of some property, and
had deposited the body near the Jewish cemetery.
Thereupon Foligno formally charged the Jews with
having committed a murder for ritual purposes.
Fortunately for the Jews, Cardinal Alexander Far-
nese, being convinced of the falsity of the accusa-
tion, instituted an inquiry, and succeeded in bring-
ing the real murderer to justice.
Bibliography: Joseph ha-Kohen, 'Emefc /ia-Ba7ca?i, German
transl. by Wiener, p. 91 ; Griitz, Gesch. ix. 338 ; Kaufmann, in
li. E. J. Iv. 88 et scq.
D. I. Bu.
FOLK-LORE : The science dealing with those
institutions, customs, literature, and beliefs of the
folk or uncultured people that can not be traced to
government origination or individual authorship.
In its larger sense it could claim as its province the
whole of institutional archeology, but in actual
practise it deals only with the "survivals " of prim-
itive institutions. Its special field deals with those
survivals known as superstitions (from "superstes"
= "surviving "), that is, those customs carried out
for no other reason than because persons respected by
the doer also perform them. Tlie modern method
is to attempt an explanation of such seemingly
irrational actions by tracing them back to ideas,
which in themselves often absurd, are current among
savages, and to which the customs are natural corol-
laries. Thus, for instance, the objection to horse-
flesh as a diet in some parts of Europe has been
traced back to the pre-Christian worship of Odin,
to whom the horse was sacred or taboo.
Folk-lore thus deals with the irrational element in
life, ti\ough often including some of its most imag-
inative aspects. The chief influences that have pre-
vented tlie further spread of folk-lore elements
among the people have been the Greek sense of rea-
son and the Jewish sense of right. It is conse-
quently difficult to deal with the subject from a
Jewish point of view, since in essence there is no
Jewish folk-lore; yet practically, for reasons which
will be indicated, there have been survivals of folk-
lore among the Jewish people in all stages of its
development. The human nature in Jews has
often led them to those manifestations of human
fear, hope, and joy with which folk-lore deals.
The Jewish people in Bible times undoubtedly
had beliefs and superstitions analogous to those
found among their contemporaries, and even among
modern uncivilized peoples. Professor
In Bible Robertson-Smith in his " Religion of
Times. the Semites" (see analysis by C. G.
Montefiore in "J. Q. R." ii. 179), at-
tempted indeed to derive many of the fundamental
institutions of early Israel from two folk-lore con-
ceptions, taboo and totem. Similarly, Gunkel in his
"SchOpfung und Chaos" attempts to prove that the
Hebraic views about the beginning of things and of
mankind are derived from those current in Baby-
lonia, and his views have been repeated in exag-
gerated form by Professor Delitzsch in his " Bibel
und Babel." In both cases, however, the evidence
adduced is so hypothetical that the conclusions
derived from it can not be regarded as proved.
Parallels found between Biblical and uncivilized
views can throw light on the former only when the
connection of the latter with some wider view is
established. Thus, when the Biblical principle that
blood is life is found among the Yorubasof the west
coast of Africa (A. B. Ellis, "Ewe Speaking Tribes,"
p. 68) the parallel is interesting, but has no further
instruction in it. When, however, the custom that
the younger sister must not marry before the elder,
found in the case of Leah and Rachel, is found also
among theNias (Rosenberg, " Malay ischeArchipel."
p. 155), among the Hahmalieras (Riedel, in "Zeit-
schrift flir Ethnologic," xvii. 76), in Java (Winter,
in "Tijdschrift Voor Nederl. Indie," i. 566), and
China (Gray, "China," i. 190), it becomes probable
that such a practise has natural roots in polygamous
societies. Again, the fact that the Iroquois Indians
had an annual ceremony for the expulsion of all evil
which was combined with a general confession of
sins (Frazer, " Golden Bough, " iii. 72), throws no
light upon the Day of Atonement except in so
far as it serves to show that such an institution is
natural to humanity. Maimonides went so far as to
grant that many of tlie practises commanded in the
Bible were really pagan in character, though per-
mitted to the Jews as a sort of concession to their
human weakness ("Moreh," iii. 32, transl. by Munk,
p. 252).
It is somewhat different with practises mentioned
in the Old Testament for purposes of condemna-
tion. The very condemnation is presumptive evi-
dence that the practises complained of partook of
Folk>IiOre
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
424
the character which is ascribed to folk-lore. The
custom of tattooing is probably repudiated in Lev.
xix. 28, and the fact of this repudiation renders it
higlily probable that in several cases the tattoo was
a sign of allegiance to some local deity. Similarly,
the "soul-hunting" referred to and reprobated in
Ezek. xiii. 17 et seq. was probably analogous to the
practise observed among tlie Canadian Indians by
the Jesuits ("Relations des Jesuites," 1637, p. GO.
quoted by Frazer, I.e. i. 139). The Canadian wizards
sent out familiar spirits to seek the souls of their
enemies, which they brought back in the shape of
stones, and the wizards then broke these with swords
or axes, and by this means destroyed their enemies.
Thus folk-lore by comparative research may throw
light upon certain Biblical practises, but they are
just those practises that are opposed by the Hebrew
prophets.
Similarly, the legendary stories of the Old Testa-
ment may at times be illustrated or paralleled by
the folk-lore of savages and uncivilized peoples.
The strong men of David live again in the paladins
of Charlemagne. It has been suggested by so prom-
inent an authority as De Goeje that the story of
Esther is found once again in the framework storj-^
of the Arabian Nights. At times it would seem
as if some of the legends of the Bible were explana-
tions of folk-lore customs, the object of which had
fallen into oblivion. Thus the story of the wres-
tling of Jacob with the angel is obviously intend-
ed to explain the practise of avoiding the sciatic
nerve as food; the original object was possibly
based on some fantastic folk-lore analogy. See
Foi.k-Tales.
The natural tendency to folk-lore, expelled as it
had been by the Prophets, returned with all the
greater force during the Talmudic period, probably
under the influence of Babylonian and Persian envi-
ronment. The "shedim" or demons
In the became as ubiquitous to the folk-mind
Talmud, of the ordinary Jew in Talmudic times
(see Demonology) as microbes, to
which they present remarkable analogies. Even the
Rabbis themselves were at times not free from shar-
ing in the popular beliefs. Yet there are found in-
stances of exceptional freedom from folk-lore influ-
ences. Thus, while there is a whole catalogue of
prognostications by means of Dreams in Ber. 55 et
seq. , and Rabbi Johanan claimed that those dreams
are true which come in the morning or are dreamed
about us by others, or are repeated (Ber. 5Gb), Rabbi
Meir declares that dreams help not and injure not
(Git. 52a, and parallels). The authorities of the
Talmud seem to be particularly influenced by pop-
ular conception in the direction of Folk-Medicine.
A belief in the Evil Eye was also prevalent in Tal-
mudic times, and occasionally omens are taken seri-
ously, though in some cases recognized as being
merely popular beliefs. Thus, while it is declared
to be unlucky to do things twice, as eating, drink-
ing, or washing (Pes. 109b), Rabbi Dunai recognized
that this was an old tradition (ib. 110b). Perhaps
the most remarkable custom mentioned in the Tal-
mud is that of planting trees when children are born
and intertwining them to form the huppah when
they marry (Git. 57a). Yet this is probably Persian,
and is found also in India (W. Crookes, in "Folk-
Lore," vii.)
A custom like that of walking on tlie sidewalks
when the plague was in the town, and in the middle
of the street when the town was healthful, might
have been founded upon some particular experi-
ence, but the reason given, that the Angel of Death
walks about openly in time of plague, and sneaks
near the houses at other times, is little more than a
metaphorical repetition of the experience (B. K. GOb).
On the whole, tlie list of folk-lore beliefs and customs
given in such a book as Brecher's " Das Trauscen-
dentale, die Magie und Heilarten im Talmud," is
comparatively meager.
In the direction of popular custom the Talmud
offers a field for wider investigation. It is possible
that several of the customs mentioned there could
be traced back to Bible times, as is indeed often
claimed for them. The importance attributed to
the burning of the " hallah " in the home of every
Jewess is possibly traceable to some early form of
hearth-worship, as parallels exist elsewhere (Cou-
lange, "La Cite Antique"). The extension of the
principle of not seething a kid in its mother's milk
to all kinds of meat is probably another instance of
Palestinian custom, only slightly represented in the
Bible. When the history of the Halakah has been
more systematically and critically carried out, it
may be possible to recover some of the folk-customs
of Bible times from this source.
Similarly it may be possible to distinguish in the
haggadic legends of Biblical character those por-
tions that probably formed part of the original ac-
counts from those that have been developed by the
exegetic principles of the haggadists. In the later
Haggadah there are some elements probably derived
from Indian and Greek fables (see Fable), while
others resemble the quaint plays of fancy found in
modern drolls in the so-called " Lligenmarchen " of
German folk-lore. In one particular direction the
Talmud is of extreme interest for folk-lore investi-
gation, namely, the transition from maxim to prov-
erb, which can be clearly observed. While there
is a considerable number of anonymous Proverbs,
there is a still larger number of wise sayings, which,
owing to the Talmudic principle, " say a thing in the
name of the man who saj^s it," can be traced to their
authors, and are therefore maxims; for example, the
saying "Descend a step to choose a wife; ascend
a step to choose a friend " would be considered a
proverb if it did not happen that one is able to trace
it to its original author. Rabbi Meir.
After the dispersion of the Jews it becomes in-
creasingly difficult to speak of specifically Jewish
folk-lore. Spread among all the peoples of the
earth, the Jews appear to have bor-
In Post- rowed customs from each of them,
Talmudic and when found among them to-day
Times. it is most difficult to determine: first,
whether the custom is at all Jewish;
and, secondly, if non-Jewish, whether it belongs to
the country where the particular folk-lore item is
found, or has been brought thither from some other
country. Thus among the Jews of Lithuania and
Austria is found the German remedy asrainst tooth-
aciie, to look at the hole of a mouse and pronounce the
425
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Folk-Liore
German formula commencing "Maiisele, Mausele!"
As tlie Lithuanian Jews still use this formula, the
custom has clearly been brought by them from Ger-
many. Or, again, as early as the twelfth century,
the Teutonic test of murder was to bring the sus-
pected murderer into the presence of his victim,
■when, if guilty, the wounds of the murdered man
bled anew. This is found in the Sefer Hasidim,
No. 1149, and, five hundred years later in Manas-
seh ben Israel's "Nishmat Hayyim," iii. 3. A va-
riation in custom is sometimes found between one
set of Jews and another which enables the inqui-
rer to determine the origin of them. Thus, Eng-
lish Jews sometimes show a disinclination to sit
down with thirteen at a table, probably copied from
their Christian neighbors who connect tlie supersti-
tion with the Last Supper of Jesus; whereas Rus-
sian Jews consider thirteen as a particularly lucky
number, as it is the gcmatria of TDK. the last and
most important word of the Shema'.
It is never safe to assume that a modern Jewish
custom is necessarily Jewish. Such a widespread
one as that of the "shaitel," or habit of shaving
the hair of women after they are married and re-
placing it by a wig, is found among the ancients
(see Pausanias, ed. Frazer, iii. 279-281) and among
the Fiji-Islanders and the Kafirs (Crawley, "Mystic
Rose," p. 366), and might seem to be a survival from
Bible times, yet it is not followed at all in Palestine
(M. Reischer," Shaare Yerushalajim "). When, there-
fore, the custom of covering mirrors after death,
usual among the Jews, is found also in Oldenburg
(Wuttke, "Der Deutsche Aberglaube," § 728), it
may be safely assumed that the Jewish custom was
derived from the German, and not vice versa.
Again, the custom of "sin-buying" observed among
the Jews of Brody ("Urquell," iii. 19) has its ana-
logue in the " sin-eater " of Wales("Folk-Lore,"iv.).
In the Jewish practise a ne'er-do-well would take
upon himself the sins of a rich man for a definite
sum. Cases have been known where a person who
has taken another's sins upon himself has felt com-
punction upon the death of the original sinner, and
has visited his tomb and in the presence of wit-
nesses deposited upon the tomb the sum originally
paid for the sin, begging the dead man to take back
his sins. Though found among Jews, there is little
probability of this practise being originally Jewish.
On the other hand, there are customs among Jews
which can be explained only from specifically Jew-
ish notions, and are rightly included in Jewish folk-
lore. Thus, in Minsk there is a belief that if for
thirty daj's you are not "called up " to the Law you
are ritually dead, and a Cohen must not approach you,
just as he must not approach a corpse. To ascer-
tain whether you are really dead or not, when you
are called up after the thirty days, look at the let-
ters of the scroll of the Law, and if you can discern
one letter from another there is some mistake and
you are not dead, for the dead when called up at
night in the synagogue can not read. Here the
whole conception is a development of Jewish ideas,
and so far it may be regarded as a genuine item
of Jewish folklore. Or, again, the curious belief
that the resurrection of the dead will take place in
tlie valley of Johoshaphat, and that, therefore, the
corpse must have a three-pronged fork to tunnel
his way to Jerusalem if buried out of the Holy
Land, is a specifically Jewish corollary to the ven-
eration of Jerusalem. Or, again, the belief that
any piece of iron will turn rusty if exposed on the
four " tekufot," or seasonal changes of the year, ap-
pears to be specifically Jewish, yet later than Tal-
mudic times.
When Jewish customs find their analogues in sav-
age practises, the problem of determining the source
of the custom becomes more complicated. Thus,
the Banks-Islanders, like the modern Jews, bury their
nail-parings ("Jour. Anthrop. Ins." x. 283). It is
obvious that the Jews could not have borrowed the
custom from the Banks-Islanders, yet they may have
borrowed it from races that had passed through
stages as savage as the Banks-Islanders. The prac-
tise is found referred to in the Talmud (M. K.
18a), and even there may be a borrowing from the
Babylonians.
For this reason it might seem likely that the Jews
would be favorable media for transplanting folk-
tales and customs from one nation to another, owing
to their continuous migrations; their social isolation,
however, has prevented much of this kind of inter-
mediation, and no decisive evidence has been ad-
duced in regard to it. On the other hand, in the liter-
ary transmission of Indian folk-tales from East to
West, Jews have played an important part. The
Bidpai literature was transferred from the Orient to
western Europe entirely by Jewish means (see Kali-
LAH w'a-Dimnah), and the same applies to the Sind-
bad, Barlaam, and other sets of Oriental tales. For
the medieval legends which relate to Jews see
Folk-Tales.
The mutual relations between Jews and Christians,
mostly antithetic, have given rise to a certain amount
of folk-lore, in which may be included the myths of
the blood accusation, and of host-piercing, besides
such tales as that of the "Three Rings" and of
"Shy lock." The Jews themselves have very little
folk-lore connected with Christians or Christianity,
the Jewish legends about Jesus in the "Toledot
Yeshu " being, as proved by Krauss (" Das Leben
Jesu nach JudischenQuellen," 1903), mainly derived
from Christian sources. Among the Russian Jews
it is considered unlucky to meet a priest, but a very
natural interpretation could be given to this belief.
To prevent the ill luck the remedy is to throw some
straw over the back.
Altogether there is considerable material for Jew-
ish folk-lore, but it must be used with extreme
caution, owing to the amountof "lateral tradition,"
i.e., customs derived not by descent but by borrow-
ing. Under the influence of Dr. M. Grunwald a so-
ciety has been founded at Hamburg for the pursuit
of the study, under the name of " Gesellschaft der
Jiidischen Volkskunde."
The following list of some of the folk-lore topics
in the Jewish Encyclopedia will indicate the ex-
tent of the subject:
^sop's Fables
ABkotnen
Am ram
Amulet
Ancestor Worship
Andreas
Angelology
Artbur LeRend
Asmodeus
Asusa
Baba Biich
Ba'al Sbem
Folk-Lore
THE JEWISH
Folk-Tales
Barlaam and Josapbat
Knots
Bat Kol
Korah
Beard
Lag ba-'Omer
Berechlah ha-Nakdan
Llllth
Betrothal
Lots, Books of
Blbliomancy
Lulab
Blood Accusation
Magic
Burial
Marriage
Cabala
Memory
Cat
Messiah
Caucasus
Mirror
Childbirth
Mourning
Cochin
Mouse
Cookery (cakes)
Nail
Cradle Songs
Name. Change of
Death, Angel of
Names
Demonology
Number
Dlbbukim
Omen
Dog
Ordeal
Door and Door-Post
Plague
Dragon
Proverbs
Dreams and Dream-Books
Riddle
Elijah's Chair
Sambation
Evil Eye
Shema'
Exorcism
Shofar
Eye
Shylock
Folk-Medlclne
Slndbad
Folk-songs
Solomon, in Legend and Folk
Folk-Tales
Lore
Forty
Superstition
Games
Talisman
Geomancy
Tashlik
Giants
Tekufah Drops
Golem
Three Rings
Habdalah
Tooth
Hair
Tree-Wedding
Hand
Vampire
Hanukkah
Vergil
Hosha'na Rabba
Wandering Jew
Host, Desecration of
Wachnacht
Holle Kreish
Water
Kalilah wa-Dimnah
Weather-Lore
Kapparah-Schlagen
Witches
Kissing
ENCYCLOPEDIA
426
Bibliography : Brecher, Das Trmiscendentale in Talmud ;
(iudemann, Gesch. 1. 326 et seq.; Leo Wiener, Yiddish Litei-
aturc ; Mitteihin(jen der GeselUchaft fUr Jildische Volka-
kunde, 1897-1903.
J.
FOLK-MEDICINE: Tlie ideas and remedies
common among uncultured people with regard to
the prevention and cure of diseases. They are found
among the Jews of all ages. Even in the Old Tes-
tament the use of the mandrake to produce fertility
is referred to as being efficacious (Gen. xxx. 14). In
Tobit vi. 78 the smoked liver, heart, and gall of a
fish are recommended for casting out a demon or evil
spirit.
In the Talmud there is ample evidence of the
spread of folk-medicine in Babylonia. Probably as
a protest against this, it is stated that Hezekiah had
hidden away a book of medical remedies (Ber. 10b).
The tertian fever was to be cured by an amulet con-
sisting of seven sets of seven things hung around
the neck (Shab. 67a). Amulets were used also
against epilepsy (Shab. 61a). The idea of transfer-
ring a disease to animals, found so frequently in folk-
medicine (see Frazer, "Golden Bough," iii. 13-15),
is found also in the Talmud. In fever the patient
was recommended to go to a cross-road and seize the
first ant with a burden that he saw crawling along.
He was to seize it and place it in a copper tube,
which was to be covered with lead and then sealed.
Then he was to shake the tube and say: "What
thou carriest on me, that I carry on thee " (Shab.
66b; see Medicine in Rabbinical Literature).
In the Middle Ages there is evidence of a much
wider spread of folk-medicine among Jews. Giide-
mann ("Geschichte," i. SIQ et seq.) g\ves a number
of folk-recipes that occur in the "Book of the
Pious " of the thirteenth century. Grunwald also
gives a long collection from manuscripts of the six-
teenth to the eighteenth century in " Mitteilungen
derGesellschaftfilr Jiidische Volkskunde," v. 44-65.
A number of these recipes were derived by the Jews
from their Christian neighbors. Thus, against pre-
mature birth the wife was recommended to carry
a portion of her husband's stockings or girdle,
a method which is recommended by German folk-
medicine also. (Wuttke, "Deutsche Aberglaube,"
p. 195).
When it is declared that a remedy against tooth-
ache is to carry an amulet with the word u^eXe on
it ("Mitteilungen," v. 47), it is clear that this is not
of Jewish origin, though found among Jews.
Against epilepsy, which, owing to its mysterious
character, seems to have attracted the attention of
the folk-doctors, the following is one of many reme-
dies. Put several crabs in a pot, pour some good
wine over them, and bury them for
Epilepsy threedaysand three nights; then give
and. Fever, some of the sauce thus made to the
patient morning and night for nine
days. ("Mitteilungen," V. 52). In modern times the
following recommendations have been given against
this disease: Let the patient carry a golden pea-
cock's feather under his shirt ("Urquell," v. 290);
or let him drink the blood of a black cat (Kovno);
or let his shirt, after having been pulled over his
head and taken out through the chimney, be buried
at two cross-roads (Minsk).
Fever is also a favorite subject of modern Jewish
folk-medicine. The remedies are sometimes simple;
as, to spill a can of water suddenly on the patient
("Urquell," v. 223), or to let him eat something he
does not like, or to lay a kreuzer on the bank of a
stream at sunset ; whoever finds it will take the fever
away with him. Curiously enough, the Christian
peasants of Galicia seem to trust for the removal of
fever to water in which a mezuzah which has been
stolen from a Jewish house has been placed (" Ur-
quell," V. 226). Similarly, the Polish peasants be-
lieve that the hand of a dead Jew is effective against
typhus, and a case occurred in which some peasants
exhumed a Jewish corpse for this purpose near
Cracow in 1892 (" Urquell," iii. 126-128). Dust from
the grave of a saint is also recommended, and may
have some Talmudic authority (Perles, in "Monats-
schrift," X. 389).
Jaundice is another disease with regard to which
many remedies, probably derived from their neigh-
bors, are current among the Jewish folk. Drinking
water in which something yellow has been cooked
is an obvious method, on the principle of sympa-
thetic magic; another remedy is to swing a dove
around the patient's head twice, saying at the same
time: "Dove, take this illness from N. ben N.,"
and then letting the dove fly ("Urquell," v. 290).
Strangely enough, blood, which is so frequently
used in general folk-medicine, is rarely, if ever, used
among Jews (compare Strack, "Das Blut," p. 127),
except in cases of nose-bleeding, when the actual
427
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Folk-Lore
Folk-Tales
blood thus lost is sometimes used, baked into a cake,
and, on the well-known sympathetic principle, given
to a pig ("Sefer Refu'ot,"14b).
Of Jewish popular views as to the cause of disease
it is difficult to speak. There are three current views
among the folk in general (W. G. Black "Folk
]\Iedicine," p. 4, London, 1883): the anger of an evil
spirit, the supernatural powers of an enemy, and
the ill will of the dead, of which only the first can
be definitely traced in Jewish folk-thought, and then
only through the power attributed to spells and ex-
orcisms. See Amtjlet ; Ba'al Shem ; Bibliomancy ;
Exorcism; Medicine; Spells.
Bibliography : Grunwald, Aits Hatuiapotheke und Hexen-
kUche, in Mitteilu7igen der Oesellschaft filr JUdische
Viilkskunde, v. 1-70.
J.
FOLK-SONGS : Songs or ballads originating
and current among the common people, and illus-
trating the common life. Jewish folk-songs exist
in languages and dialects other than Hebrew and
Judteo-German ; in Ladino, for instance. Traces of
Hebrew folk-songs may be found in the Talmud.
In Ta'an. 26b it is related that on the 15th of Ab
and on the Day of Atonement the daughters of
Jerusalem assembled in the vineyards to dance be-
fore young men, and sang :
" O young man, lift up thine eyes
And look before you choose ;
Look not for beauty.
But seek for good breeding.
False is grace, and beauty is vain ;
A God-fearing woman is alone worthy of praise."
A fragment of a bridal song is recorded in Ket.
17a, where Rab Dimi says: "Thus they sing before
a bride in the West " :
" Her eye without kohl.
Her face without paint,
Her hair without curl.
Yet a form full of grace."
A ballad of the narrative kind is the tale of the
" Pious Man" {n^DH K^'N) included in the hymns for
the termination of the Sabbath, universally sung by
Ashkenazic Jews. The balladic narrative is the
composition of an author whose name is acrostically
indicated in the last verses as ^3T)D 13 'J^^ ("Jesse,
the son of Mordecai "). It relates, in verse, the story
of a destitute pious man who became rich by the
favor of the prophet Elijah. Judfeo-German folk-
songs are those formerly current among the Jews in
Germany and those living in the mouths of Yiddish-
speaking Jews in Russia, Poland, and other coun-
tries. The former have been preserved in collec-
tions of Jewish folk-songs published in Germany,
particularly in that issued at Worms about 1595-
1605. One of the ballads contained in that collection
is given as an example by Dr. A. Berliner in his
" Aus dem Inneren Leben der Deutschen Juden im
Mittelalter" (Berlin, 1900). It was sung as an ac-
companiment to a particular dance, and it reads in
part:
" O young lady, will you not dance with me ?
I pray you will not take it amiss ;
Joyful I must be
As long as I can.
Your body, tender and young.
Has wounded me in love.
So have your eye serene
And your crimson mouth ;
Close, then, your arms.
Dear love, in mine
And my heart will recover."
But this is more an adaptation than a ballad of Jew-
ish origin.
The Judfeo-German ballads current in the Slavonic
countries lack no originality, though they may be
adaptations from German folk-songs or translations
and imitations of Slavonic compositions. Their
spirit, however, is Jewish. For instance, the idea
of remaining an old maid is a very sad one for a
Russo-Jewisli girl, and she sings :
" I sit upon a stone
And I am seized with weeping ;
All girls do marry.
But I remain alone."
Another begins:
" When the pleasant summer comes
We are playing with sand ;
Where our dwelling is
There is our laud.
Black cherries we are plucking.
Red ones we let stand ;
Handsome lads we are taking.
The ugly we let go I "
A ballad sung by children in some parts of Lithu-
ania runs:
" Little boys and little girls
Took one another ;
Ninth of Ab was wedding-day
And no one came.
Except Uncle Elijah
With his long cloak,
On his gray little horse.
With his long beard."
BIBLIOGRAPHY: No less than 375 Yiddish folk-songs are con-
tained in a collection by S. M. Ginzburg and P. S. Marek,
JUdische VolksUeder in Russland, St. Petersburg, 1901;
others are given in Wiener's Popular Poetry of the Russian
Jews, in Americana Germanica, vol. li.. No. 2, and in his
History of Yiddish Literature, pp. 53 et seq.. New York,
1899. A number of folk-songs in Ladino are given by Danon
in R. E. J. xxxii. and xxxiii.: others are contained in Ur-
QueiM. 206; vi. 28,97,158; iVetie Fo/fle, i. 45, 195 ; IL 27. See
Cradle Songs. See also Grunwald in Mitteilungen der
Oesellschaft fUr JUdischen Volkskunde, i. 50-67, ii. 37-49,
ill. 9-23, iv. 124-130, viii. 154-157.
J. A. Ha.
FOLK-TALES: Stories usually containing inci-
dents of a superhuman character, and spread among
the folk either by traditions from their elders or by
communication from strangers. They are char-
acterized by the presence of unusual personages
(dwarfs, giants, fairies, ghosts, etc.), by the sud-
den transformation of men into beasts and vice
versa, or by other unnatural incidents (Hying horses,
a hundred years' sleep, and the like). Of a similar
kind are the drolls of the nursery, generally con-
sisting of a number of simple "sells."
There is evidence of the existence of folk-tales
among the Jews at all stages of their history. Even
in the Bible there are Jotham's fable (see Fable),
the story of Lot's wife, and the combat between
David and Goliath, certain elements of which have
all the characteristics of folk-tales.
A number of haggadic stories bear folk-tale char-
acteristics, especially those relating to Og, King of
Bashan, which have the same exaggerations as have
the " LUgenmilrchen " of modern German folk-tales.
There are signs that a certain number of fables
Folk-Tales
Fouseca
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
428
were adopted by the Rabbis either from Greek or,
indirectly, from Indian sources (see Fable).
Though there is little evidence of Jews having
had folk-tales of their own, there is considerable
evidence of their helping the spread of Eastern
folk-tales in Europe. Petrus Alf onsi 's
In "Disciplina Clericalis" (about 1110)
the Middle contained the earliest specimens of
Ages. Eastern folk-tales in literature; and
they were very widely used to give
piquancy to sermons. But for Jews the very large
collection of stories connected with the names Kali-
LAii WA-DiMNAH and SiNDBAD would probably not
have reached Europe at all. As late as the sixteenth
century the "Schimpf und Ernst" of a Jewish con-
vert named Pauli became the source for comic stories
throughout northern Europe. It has been calcu-
lated that nearly one-tenth of the folk-tales of mod-
ern Europe have been derived from these sources.
For the part taken by Jews in compiling the " One
Thousand and One Nights " see An.\BiAN Nights.
Besides these tales from foreign sources, Jews
either collected or composed others which were told
throughout the European ghettos, and were collected
in Yiddish in the "Maasebllcher." Numbers of the
folk -tales contained in these collections were also
published separately (see the earlier ones given by
Steinschneider in "Cat. Bodl." Nos. 3869-3942). It
is, however, difficult to call many of them folk-tales
in the sense given above, since nothing fairylike or
supernormal occurs in them.
There are, however, a few definitely Jewish leg-
ends of the Middle Ages which partake of the char-
acter of folk-tales, such as those of the Jewish pope
(see Andreas) and of the golem (homunculus) of the
"Hohe Rabbi Low," or that relating
Legends, to the wall of the Rashi chapel, which
moved backward in order to save the
life of a poor woman who was in danger of being
crushed by a passing car in the narrow way.
Several of these legends were collected by Tendlau
(" Sagen imd Legenden der Jildischen Vorzeit ").
Of recent years a certain number of folk-tales have
been gathered among Jews or published from He-
brew manuscripts by Israel Levi in "Revue des
Etudes Juives," in "Revue des Traditions Popu-
laires," and in "Melusine"; by M. Gaster in "Folk-
Lore " and in the reports of Monteliore College; and
by M. Grunwald in "Mitteilungen der Gesellschaft
fiir Jiidische Volkskunde " (see Index to part vi., s.r.
" Erzahlungen ") ; by L. Wiener in the same period-
ical; and by F. S. Krauss in "Urquell," both series.
Altogether some sixty or seventy folk-tales have
been found among Jews of the present day; but in
scarcely a single case is there anything specifically
Jewish about the stories, while in most cases they
can be traced back to folk-tales current among the
surrounding peoples. Thus the story of " Kunz and
His Sliepherd" (Grunwald, "Mitteilungen," ii. 1)
occurs in English as " King John and the Abbot of
Canterbury"; and "The Magician's Pupil" (No. 4
of Wiener, in "Mitteilungen," x. 103) is also found
widely spread. The well-known story of the "Lan-
guage of Birds," which has been studied by Frazer
C'Archeological Review," iii., iv. ; comp. "Urquell,"
V. 266), is given in "Mitteilungen," i. 77. No. 4 in
the collection of Wiener is the wide-spread folk-tale
of "The Giant's Daughter," which some have traced
back to the legend of Medea. Two of the stories
collected by Grunwald, No. 13, " The Birds of Iby-
cus," and No. 14, "The Ring of Polycrates," appear
to be traceable to classical sources ; while his No. 4
gives the well-known episode of the "Thankful
Beasts," which Benfey traced across Europe through
India ("Kleine Schriflen," i.). Even in the tales
having a comic termination and known to the folk-
lorists as drolls, there are no signs of JeAvish origi-
nality. The first of the stories collected by Wiener
is the well-known "Man in the Sack," who gets out
of his difficulties by telling passers-by that he has
been unwillingly condemned to marry a princess
(see Jacobs, "Indian Fairy Tales").
As in other branches of folk-lore, modern Jews
give strong evidence of having borrowed from their
neighbors, and show little originality of invention.
A few folk-tales of the European peasantry deal
with the Jews, such as the wide-spread one explain-
ing why Jews do not eat pork ("Revue des Tra-
ditions Populaires," iv.-vii.).
Bibliography: J. Jacobs, Jewish Ideals, pp. 135-161.
J.
FOLLY AND FOOL (in Biblical Hebrew,
"kesil," "kislut," or "ewil," "iwwelet"; Neo-
Hebraic "shoteh," "shetut" ["nabal," "nebalah,"
however, do not signify "fool," "folly," as in A. V.
(Ps. xiv. 1, liii. 1, Ixxiv. 18 ; Isa. xxxii. 6 ; Gen. xxxiv.
7; Deut. xxii. 21, xxxii. 6; Judges xx. 6; Jer. xxix.
23), but "a vile man," "villainy"]): According to the
Jewish conception, folly is the antithesis of moral-
ity and piety (Prov. xiii. 19; Job xxviii. 28), as
well as of wisdom and prudence (Prov. xiii. 16, 20) ;
and the fool is an offender against religion and
ethics, and a hater of knowledge (Prov. i. 7, 22).
In fact, the fool is the subject of such frequent re-
buke in the Wisdom literature chiefly because his
folly leads to an untimely end (Prov. x. 14; Eccl.
vii. 17), brings unhappiness to others (Prov. x. 1,
xvii. 25), creates evil habits (Prov. x. 23) and bad
traits (Prov. xv. 5, xvii. 10), and causes sin (Ps.
Ixix. 6; Prov. xxiv. 9; Jer. v. 21) and a miscon-
ception of divine providence (Ps. xcii. 7, 8). Folly
promotes insolence (Prov. xiv. 16), conceit (Prov.
xii. 15), irreverence (Prov. xv. 20), contentiousness
(Prov. xviii. 6), anger (Prov. xxvii. 3), extravagance
(Prov. xxi. 20), and sensuality (Prov. x. 23).
To prevent folly and to correct it, the use of the
rod was recommended (Prov. xxii. 15, xxvi. 3).
The Rabbis also emphasized the ethical side of
folly. R. Joshua sees danger for society when
piety is linked to folly (Sotah iii. 4), and Resh La-
kish maintains that "a man sins only when the
spirit of folly enters into him" (Sotah 3a; compare
Maimonides, "Moreh," iii. 11). In rabbinical para-
bles reference is frequently made to the fool. R.
Johanan b. Zakkai likens those who are unprepared
for death to fools who are not ready for the banquet
when suddenly summoned by the Icing (Shab. 153a;
compare Matt. xxv. 1-14).
K. J. StO.
FOLZ, HANS : German playwright and physi-
cian of the fifteenth century ; said to have been bom
429
THE JEAVISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Folk-Tales
Fonseca
in Worms. He is mentioned as "Hans Falz zu
Nunnberk baJbirer." Folz wrote numerous farces
and " Fastnachtspiele " (Shrove Tuesday dramas),
and introduced here and there Jewish characters,
generally for comic purposes. The parts they play
are usually ridiculous and contemptible. In his
" Die Alt und die Neu Ee," where the religion of the
Talmudim and Midrashim is contrasted with Chris-
tianity, to the latter's advantage, Folz has certain
of his characters sing a corrupted version of the
"Adon '01am," which the rabbi of the play then
interprets. This fifteenth-century version is the
oldest German translation of the prayer in rime.
Folz's farce, "Der Juden Messias," introduces a
student who seduces a Jewish maiden and then
mocks at the parents and at the Jewish religion.
The cynic is made to appear as-a student because
Rabbi Isserlein of Wiener Neustadt, of whom Folz
had probably heard, always opposed the scholarly
and priestly classes to honest and God-fearing men
(Glidemann, " Geschichte des Erziehungswesens und
der Cultur der Juden in Deutschland," p. 206,
note 3).
Folz wrote also on Biblical subjects, e.g., "Busse
Adams und Evas" (1480). A disputation in rime
(1479) between a Jew and a Christian glorifies Chris-
tianity at the expense of Judaism. Folz was a
predecessor and master of Hans Sachs.
Bibmography: Karl Bartsch, in Allg. Deutsche Biographic,
vli. 151 ; (ioedeke, Qrundriss zur Gcsch. der DeuUschen DicTi-
tung, p. 99 ; ZcitscJtrift fUr Deutsches AUertum, viii. 507,
5.37. Folz's plays are given in Keller, Fastnachtspiele, v. 3,
Stuttgart, 18.33; idem, Nachlese, ib. 185S.
G. A. M. F.
FONSECA (FONSEaUA), DE or DA:
Jewish-Portuguese family of Amsterdam, Hamburg,
London, southern France, and America.
Abraham de Fonseca : Died at Hamburg July
27, 1671 (according to other authorities May, 1651);
hakam of the Portuguese community at Glilckstadt,
and later at Hamburg. He was buried at Altona.
Abraham was the author of " 'Ene Abraham," Am-
sterdam, 1627, an index of all the Biblical passages
explained in the ^lidrash Rabbah.
Abraham de Fonseca : Author of " Ortho-
graphia Castellana, "Amsterdam, 1663, dedicated to
J. Nufies da Costa.
Abraham de Fonseca : Lived at Amsterdam in
the seventeenth century. He was one of the found-
eis of the philanthropic institution, Maskil el Dal,
in that city. In 1682 he organized a school in
connection with the institution (D. L. de Barrios,
"Maskil el Dal").
Abraham de Fonseca : Son of Joseph b. Joshua
de Fonseca; born at Hamburg; died Jan. 21, 1727.
He was graduated in medicine from Leyden Uni
versity, his thesis being "De Peste," Leyden, 17r2
Abraham de Fonseca de Mattes : Graduated
in medicine from Leyden University July 4, 1753,
his thesis being "De Fractura," Leyden, 1753. He
practised in Hamburg, where he died 1809.
Abraham Hayyim Lopez de Fonseca : Buried
at Curasao in 1671 (Corcos, "Jews of Curasao,"
p. 10; "Publications Am. Jew. Hist. Soc." No. 7,
p. 57).
Antonio (Rodrigo) de Fonseca : Physician ;
born at Lisbon. He taught for many years at the
universities of Pisa and Padua, and practised medi-
cine in Flanders and the Palatinate after 1620. He
was the author of "Tractatus de Epidemia Febris
Grassante in Exercitu in Inferiori Palatinatu Ao.
1620, 1621," etc., Mechlin, 1623.
Daniel de Fonseca : The first person to have a
Hebrew printing-press at Amsterdam. He printed
in 1627 at his own expense the " Ene Abraham" of
his relative Abraham de Fonseca (Ersch and Gruber,
"Encyc." section ii., part 28, p. 64).
D. M. K.
Daniel de Fonseca : Marano physician and dip-
lomat ; born in Portugal in the second half of the
seventeenth century; died in Paris. His grand-
father had been burned as a Marano, and his father
escaped only by flight. Daniel, then eight years
old, was baptized with his brothers: he entered
the priesthood, but returned secretly to Judaism
as soon as he had reached the age of manhood,
continuing, nevertheless, to perform his sacerdotal
functions. The Inquisition, suspecting him, en-
deavored to seize him, but he escaped to France,
where he probably studied medicine. He then went
to Constantinople, where he returned publicly to
Judaism. A learned and talented man, the only
philosopher, perhaps, among the Jews of his time
(Voltaire, " Histoire de Charles XII." book v.), Fon-
seca succeeded in creating for himself a prominent
position in the Turkish capital among the statesmen
of the Ottoman empire. Thanks to his profession,
he obtained the confidence of viziers and pashas,
and rendered important services to the French am-
bassadors in Constantinople.
After the battle of Poltava, Fonseca adroitly aided
Charles XII. of Sweden in his intrigues at the Porte
against Russia and Poland. He was appointed
physician to the French embassy at Constantinople
under De Feriol, and kept this office until 1719.
In March of that year he left for Bucharest as
physician and adviser to the reigning prince, Nich-
olas Mavrocordato, with whom he seems to have as-
sociated in Constantinople when the prince was first
dragoman at the Porte. The oflice of physician
to the prince was only a pretext. Fonseca had ac-
cepted the post with the express permission of the
French embassy, in whose service he still continued,
and probably also with the consent of the Turkish
government, to aid Turkey against Austria. Thus
the representative of Austria at Constantinople,
Count de Virmont, expressed apprehension when
Fonseca took possession of his post : " He is a shrewd
intriguer, whom I distrust very much " (Hurmuzaki,
"Documente Privitoare la Istoria Romanilor," vi.
279).
After spending some years at Bucharest, Fonseca
returned to Constantinople, where he was appointed
physician to Sultan Ahmad III. He continued at
the same time in the service of France, receiving a
salary of 2,000 francs per annum. After the deposi-
tion of Ahmad III. (1730), Fonseca went to live la
Paris, where he associated with Voltaire, with the
Countess of Caylus, and with other distinguished
people of the period. He died at an advanced age.
Bibliography : Marquis d'Argens, Memoirex. pp. 114-115. Lon-
don, 1735; Cannoly, Hi.ftoirc dcs Medeci)ii< Juifs. pp. 198-199
(follows tlie Marquis d'Argens almost verbatim); E. de Hur-
Fonseca
Food
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
430
muzaki, Dncumente Privitoare la Istorta Romd>iili)r.
v., part il., 293; Supplement i., part i., 444. 459; Hamuier-
Purgstall, Histoire de V Empire Ottoman, xiv. 24, 159.
D. E. Sd.
Diego liOpez de Fonseca : Burned at Lima
Jan. 28, 1639, as an adherent of Judaism (" Publica-
tions Am. Jew. Hist. See." No. 4, p. 115).
Francisco de Fonseca Henriques : Pli3si-
cian; author of "Mcdiciuu Lusitana, Socorro Del-
phico," Amsterdam, 1731.
Isaac (Miguel) Henriquez de Fonseca : Law-
yer; lived at Avios, Portugal, in the seventeenth
century; was burned at Lisbon May 10, 1682, as an
adherent of Judaism.
Isaac Hezekiah Lopez de Fonseca : Hakam
or hazzan at Curasao about 1770 ; related to Jacob
Lopez de Fonseca.
Jacob Hayyim de Fonseca : German physician ;
born at Hamburg; died there Jan. 13, 1754. He re-
ceived the degree of M.D. from Leyden University,
his thesis being "De Chilificatione," Leyden, 1711).
He was a son of Joseph de Fonseca, and practised
medicine in Hamburg.
Jacob Lopez de Fonseca : Hakam at Amster-
dam; died after 1780. Several of his sermons were
published at Amsterdam in 1763 and 1780.
Joseph. Hayyim de Fonseca : Son of Joshua de
Fonseca; born at Hamburg; died Feb. 14, 1737; re-
ceived his doctor's degree from Leyden University
for his thesis, "De Dysenteria," Leyden, 1683.
Joshua de Fonseca : Practised as a physician
in Hamburg; died Dec. 7, 1701; son of Hakam
Abraham de Fonseca.
Manoel de Fonseca: Spanish interpreter in Ja-
maica; lived in London in 1661, in the house of the
Spanish ambassador, in order to learn English.
Moses Lopez de, Fonseca: Hazzan of Congre-
gation Shearith Israel, New York, in 1728 and later
("Publications Am. Jew. Hist. Soc." iv. 194, vi.
126).
Bibliography: Kayserllng, Bihl. Esp.-Port.-Jud. pp. 45 et
seq.; Idem, Sephardim. p. 305 ; Carmoly, Histoire des Mede-
cins Juifs, p. 226; Publications Am. Jew. Hist. Soc. No. 5,
p. 66 ; M. Grunwald, Portugiei<engriLber auf Deutscher Erde,
pp. 103 et seq.
D. M. K.
FONTAINEBLEATJ : French town in the de-
partment of Seine-et-Marne. The nucleus of the
community was formed about 1787. The oldest
document relating to it in the archives is dated
"Germinal 11, year 7" (March 31, 1799). At first
the devout families met in a house owned hy one of
their number. In 1819 the community purchased
for 1,200 francs a part of a house. This was
found inadequate, and on May 12, 1853, the commu-
nity acquired a site for the erection of a synagogue
at the point of entrance to the palace gardens, the
park, and the forest. Adjoining was a house used
as a parsonage. Nathan Salomon, the inspecting
architect of the castle and a member of the govern-
ment, made the plans of the synagogue and di-
rected the work without accepting any remunera
tion. The land cost 5,700 francs, the buihling
15,000. The emperor sent 1,000 francs personally,
the state and the town together contributed 3,200;
the community paid the rest, and in 1861 the
congregation was free from debt. The founda-
tion-stone having been laid by the subprefect in
May, 1856, the inauguration ceremony occurred on
Aug. 23, 1857. The ceremonies were presided over
by the chief rabbi of France, Isidor, taking place in
the presence of the subprefect and the authorities.
Beyond the synagogue is the cemetery, in the forest
at the foot of Mont Ussy.
The community, composed of merchants, day-
laborers, and small fund-holders, totals twenty-nine
families ; to these must be added seven families from
Melun, which belongs to the same district. In addi-
tion there are a certain number of Jews who take no
part in the affairs of the community. It is only at
the time of the grand festivals that the presence <;f
visitors, who spend the summer there, lends ar.y
animation to the religious life. The community is
frequently called upon to aid unfortunate coreligion-
ists to reach Paris or Havre on their way to Amer-
ica. At the time of the expulsion of the Russian
Jews, and later of the Rumanian Jews, it had to
meet many such appeals.
D. M. Lev.
FONTANELLA, DAVID. See Fenzi.
FONTANELLA, ISRAEL BERECHIAH
BEN JOSEPH JEKUTHIEL : Italian rabbi and
cabalist; lived at Reggio Emilia, later at Rovigo,
at the end of the seventeenth century and in the
first half of the eighteenth. He was also an emi-
nent Talmudist (see Lampronti, "Pahad Yizhak."
s.v. ^nx nXOItS). An adept in the Cabala, he edited
the "Maftehot ha-Zohar," Venice, 1744, a twofold
index to the Zohar, attributed to a certain Samuel.
The first volume contains an index of subjects; the
second an index of the Biblical passages quoted.
Bibliography: Educatore Israelitico, xxvlli. 248; Jlortara,
Lidice, p. 24 : Fuenn, Keneset Fi*ra€f, p. 700.
G. I. Br.
FOOD. — Biblical Data: There are two n:ain
divisions of food, vegetable and animal.
I. Vegetable Food : As among all the Oriental
peoples, and as is the case even to-day among the
fellaheen of Syria, vegetable food, and chiefly grain
("dagan "), occupied the first place in the diet of the
Israelites.
Cereals : The most important of the cereals was
wheat (" hittah " or " hittim "). (For the earliest mode
of preparing this, see Baking; Bread; Cookeuy;
and comp. "Z. D. P. V." ix. 3.) The grains were
at times reduced to grits (" gercs ") ; hence the pre-
scription that "'abib kalui " and "geres karmel"—
probably " geres " of garden grains, which are pala-
table and mature especially early — should be offered
as "minhat bikkurim." The grain w'as generally
ground into flour ("kemah"), the fine flour ("so-
let") being distinguished from the ordinary kind.
The flour was made into bread, either without leaven
("mazzah") or with it ("lehem"; Lev. vii. 13).
Barley ("se'orim") was used like wheat (comp.
II Sam. xvii. 28), being generally made into bread
(comp. Judges vii. 13; II Kings iv. 42; Ezek. iv. 9,
12). Spelt (" kussemet ") was apparently used much
less than wheat or barley. It appears, however,
from Ezek. iv. 9 that, besides millet, spelt also was
made into bread.
Vegetables (" yarak," because raised in the " gan ha-
431
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Fonseca
Food
Viuak " or garden; also '"eseb"; "orah," I Kings
iv. 39; or "zer'onim," Dan. i. 16): Lentils (" 'ada-
sliim ") were the principal vegetable, which many
considered especially toothsome (comp. Gen. xxv.
29 et seq.). There were several kinds of beans
(" pol ") ; two kinds are known at present in Syria,
the Egyptian and the South-European (comp. "Z.
D. P. V." ix. 4). Beans were occasionally made
into bread.
Cucumbers were manifestly also much used ; even
to-day the poorer inhabitants in the large cities
cf the East, as Damascus and Cairo, live largely
on bread and cucumbers or melons. Cucumbers
(■' kishshu'im " ; Num. xi. 25) are generally eaten raw,
and made into a salad with vinegar. The popular
watermelon (•' abattiali " ; Num. xi. 5; to-day called
"battikh ") also belongs to the cucumber species.
Num. xi. 5 mentions leeks ("hazir," which were
especially esteemed in Egypt), onions C'bczalim "),
and garlic ("shumim"), all belonging to the Allium,
genus. They were generally eaten raw with bread.
To-day in Syria ripe onion-bulbs are pickled like
cucumbers and eaten as a relish with meat (comp.
"Z. D. P. V." ix. 14). From Job xxx. 4 it is clear
that the poor also used orach ("malluah "), the young
leaves being either boiled or eaten raw.
Fruit : There was an early tig (" bikkurah ") and a
late tig ("te'cnim"), the latter being generally dried
and pressed into round or square cakes ("debelah ").
Grapes ("'anabim," "eshkol anabim ") were eaten
either fresh, or dried as raisins ("zimmukim ");
they were also pressed into cakes (I Sam. xxv. 18).
It is doubtful whether the Israelites knew grape-
sirup, thougli the fact that the Arabic "dibs," cor-
responding to the Hebrew "debash," is used to des-
ignate both the nat ural and this artificial honey or
sirup, shows that they probably knew the latter
(Gen.xliii.il; Ezek. xxvii. 17). Olives ("zayit")
were probably eaten, as to-day, both raw and pre-
pared. Mention may also be made of the pome-
granate (" rimmon " ; Deut. viii. 8; Song of Songs
iv. 3); thefruit of the mulberry fig-tree ("shikmah"),
eaten by the poor, and of the date-palm (" tamar "),
which is treated like figs and grapes; and, finally,
pistachio-nuts ("botnim"), almonds ("shekedim "),
and walnuts ("egoz"). The fruit of the carob
{Kepo.TLov) was used, while not quite ripe, for flavor-
ing water, though it was not a food proper. The
Israelites may have known apples, although the word
" tappuah " is of doubtful signification (see Apple).
Spices : The spices used by the Israelites include
cumin ("kammon"), dill ("kezah"), mint ())(iv-
onfidv), and mustard (aivam). Salt ("melah"), of
course, was very important even in early times. To
"eat the salt" of a person was equivalent to eating
his bread (comp. Ezra iv. 14); a covenant of salt
was inviolable (comp. Num. xviii. 19; II Chron.
xiii. 5).
II. Animal Food : In ancient times, as to-day,
mucli less meat was eaten in the East than among
Western peoples. It was served daily only at the
king's table (I Kings v. 3), and there because sacri-
fices were offered every day. Otherwise, animals
were probably slaughtered only for the great festivals
("haggim"). at the yearly sacrificial feasts of fami-
lies and tribes, at family festivals (such as circum-
cisions and weddings), for guests, etc. (comp. Gen.
xviii. 7; II Sam. xii. 4). Furthermore, only certain
kinds of animals were permissible as food, the re-
strictions dating back to very early times. For de-
tails see DiETAUY Laws.
Animals : The most important animals for food
were cattle, sheep, and goats, sheep ranking first
(comp. I Sam. xxv. 11, 18; II Sam. xii. 4; Amos
vi. 4; Isa. liii. 7). In addition to lambs (" karim " ;
Amos vi. 4), fatted calves ("meri'im") are often
mentioned (Isa. i. 11; Amos v. 22; I Kings i. 19,
25), especially those that were fatted in the stall,
as distinguished from cattle in the pasture (" 'egel
marbek"; Amos vi. 4; Jer. xlvi. 1; Mai. iv. 2).
From early times the eating of meat was allowed on
condition that the blood of the slaughtered annual
be taken to the altar, the meat not being eaten with
the blood (comp. I Sam. xiv. 33 et seq.) ; thus every
slaughtering became in a certain sense a sacrifice,
this being changed only when the worship was cen-
tralized by the Deuteronomic legislation. Meat was
generally boiled (Ex. xxiii. 19; Judges vi. 19;
I Sam. ii. 13; Ezek. xxiv. 3, xlvi. 20), though some-
times it was roasted, usually, perhaps, on the spit
(I Sam. ii. 15; Ex. xii. 8). Game was considered
as a delicacy (Gen. xxvii. 7).
Milk, Cheese, and Honey : Milk, of large as well as of
small animals, especially goat's milk, was a staple
food (Deut. xxxii. 14 ; Prov. xxvii. 27). It was kept in
skins (Judges iv. 19). "Hem'ah," designating cream
as well as bonnyclabber and cheese, is often men-
tioned (Prov. xxx. 33). Cream is generally called
" shefot " (II Sam. xvii. 29), though this reading is
uncertain. It was frequently offered as a present,
carried in cylindrical wooden vessels; and, sprin-
kled with sugar, it was eaten out of little dishes
with wooden spoons (comp. Riehm, "Handworterb."
pp. ni5 et seq.). Cheese made of sweet milk was
probably also used ("harize he-halab"; I Sam. xvii.
18, this passage in any case showing that "halab"
designated curdled as well as ordinary milk). The
proper designation for cheese is "gebinah" (Job x.
10).
Honey (" debash ") is frequently mentioned in con-
nection with milk, and is probably the ordinary bee's
honey ; that flowing of itself out of the honeycomb
("nofet ha-zufim") w^as especially relished (Ps. xix.
11; Prov. xvi. 24). According to Isa. vii. 15,- honey
seems to have been a favorite food of children.
Fish: Little is known of fish as food (Num. xi.
15), it being mentioned but rarely (Jer. xvi. 16;
Ezek. xlvii. 10; Eccl. ix. 12). Yet there can be no
doubt that it was a favorite diet. Fish were fried,
and prepared with honeycomb. They were proba-
bly more generally eaten in post-exilic times. The
fish-market, where fish, salted or dried in the sun,
were sold, was probably near the fish-gate (compare
Zeph. i. 10; Neh. iii. 3, xii. 39; II Chron. xxxiii. 14).
According to Neh. xiii. 16, fish were imported by
Syrian merchants, some fish coming from Egypt,
where pickled roe was an export article. In later
times fish were salted even in Palestine (comp. the
name "Tarichea," lit. "pickling").
Hardly anything is known of the price of food in
ancient times. At the period of the composition of
II Kings vii. 1, 16, the worth of one seali of fine
Food
Forest
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
432
flour or two seahs of barley was one shekel. In
Men. xiii. 8 the price of an ox, a calf, a ram, and
a lamb is given as 100, 20, 8, and 4 denarii respect-
ively (comp. Matt. x. 29).
e.'g. h. W. N.
In Talmudical Times : Merely a few of the
many data in the Talmud that throw a clear light
on the private life of the Jews can be mentioned
here. Bread was the principal food; and as in the
Bible the meal is designated by the simple term " to
eat bread," so the rabbinical law ordains that the
blessing pronounced upon bread covers everything
else except wine and dessert. Bread was made not
only from wheat, but also from rice, millet, and
lentils ('Er. 81a). Bread with milk was greatly rel-
ished. The inhabitants of Mahuza in Babj'lon
ate warm bread every day (compare Shab. 109a).
Morning bread that was eaten with salt is mentioned
(B. M. 107b; compare Ab. vi. 4). Wheat bread
makes a clear bead, ready for study (Hor. 13b).
The same result is obtained, according to another
reading, from bread baked over coals (ib.). Bread-
bakers are often mentioned, rabbis also following
that trade.
Meat was eaten only on special occasions, on Sab-
baths and at feasts. The pious kept fine cattle for
the Sabbath (Bezah 16a) ; but various other kinds of
dishes, relishes, and spices were also on the table
(Shab. 119a). A three-year-old calf with its kidne3-s
was considered excellent {ib. 119b). Nor were the
tongues of animals despised (Yalk. Makiri to Prov.
xviii. 21). Deer, also, furnished meat (Bek. iv. 29b ;
Hul. 59a), as did pheasants (Tosof., Kil. i. 8), chickens
<Shab. 145b), and pigeons (Pes. 119b). Fish was
eaten on Friday evening in honor of
Meat. the Sabbath (compare Griinbauni,
"Gesammelte Aufsatze zur Sprach-
und Sagenkunde," p. 232); sometimes it was pre-
pared in milk (Hul. 111b). Pickled fish was an im-
portant article of commerce, being called "garuni "
among the Jews, as among the Greeks and Romans.
Pliny ("Hist. Naturalis," xxxi. 95) says expressly
of a "garum castimoniale " (i.e., kasher garum) that
it was prepared according to Jewish law. Locusts
were eaten, though without blessing, as they signi-
fied a curse. Eggs were so commonly eaten that
the quantity of an egg was used halakicly as a
measure. The egg was broken (T. Y. iii. 2) and oc-
casionally dipped in wine (Hul. 6a). The unsalted
yolk of an egg eaten on ten successive days causes
death (" Alphabeta di-Ben Sira," ed. Steiuschneider,
p. 22b). A regular meal consisted of chicken stuffed
•with meal, fine bread, fat meat, and old wine (ib.
17b). The Talmudic axiom, " Without meat there
is no pleasure ; hence meat is indispensable on feast-
days," is well known.
As regards other dishes, the Jews were acquainted
■with most of those known in antiquity. The first
dish was an entree — something pickled, to stimu-
late the appetite (Ber. vi. 7); this was
Dinners, followed by the meal proper, which
was ended with a dessert, called in
Greek 6dp-pj/ia. Afikomen is used in the same sense.
Titbits ("parperet") were eaten before as well as
after the meal (Ber. vi. 6). Wine was an important
item. It was flavored with myrrh (compare Mark
XV. 23) or with honey and peppyer, the mixture
being called "conditum." There were vinegar
wine ('Ab. Zarah 30a), wine from Amanus, and
Cilicia (Tosef . , Sheb. v. 223), red wine from Saron,
Ethiopian wine (B. K. 97b), and black wine
(Abba Gorion i. 9). Wine in ice came from Leb-
anon. Certain wines are good for the stomach ;
others are not (Yer. Shek. 48d; see Wine). There
was Median beer as well as a beer from Egypt called
"zythos" (Pes. iii. 1), and beer made from a thorn
(Spina repia ; Low, "Araraaische Pflanzennaraen,"
p. 231 ; Ket. 77b). To eat without drinking means
suicide (Shab. 41a).
Fruit was always relished, and many kinds. Bib-
lical as well as non-Biblical, are often mentioned.
A certain kind of hard nut even the wealthy could
not procure (Pesik. 59b). The custom of eating ap-
ples on the Feast of Weeks (Targ. Sheni to Esth.
iii. 8) belongs to those minute observances that are
so numerous in Jewish life. In the same way fruit
and herbs were eaten on New-Year's eve as a good
omen (Hor. 12a). Children received especially on
the evening of Passover nuts and
Fruits roasted ears of corn (B. M. iv. 12;
and Vege- Pes. 119b). Olives were so common
tables. that they were used as a measure
(" zayit "). " While olives produce for-
getfulness of what one has learned, olive-oil makes
a clear head " (Hor. 13b). " Bread for young men, oil
for old people, and honey for children" (Yoma75b).
Herbs occupied a chief place on the evening of
Passover, and they were also a favorite dish on the
Sabbath (Ta'an. 20b), being eaten either dry or soaked
(Tosef., Sheb. iv. 6). Many vegetables were included
in the comprehensive name " kitniyyot " (Bezah 12b;
compare 'Uk. i. 5), especially beans. Other vegeta-
bles were cucumbers, melons, cabbages, turnips,
lettuces, radishes, onions, and garlic. The smell of
garlic, frequently mentioned in later times in asso-
ciation with the Jews, is referred to in the Talmud
(Sanh. 11a).
Talmudic as well as Biblical times give evidence
of a healthj', happy view of life. Sweets eaten dur-
ing meals are frequently mentioned (B. M. vii. 1;
Esth. R. i. 9). There is a saying of Rab (Abba
Arika) that a time will come when one will have to
render an account for all that one has seen and not
eaten (Yer. Kid. 66d). It is said, however, of Abba
Arika that, after having had all the precious tilings
of life, he finally ate earth. Eliezer b. Hyrcanus
is also reported to have eaten earth (compare the
" geophagi " [earth-eaters] of the ancient authors).
There is hardly any difference in food between Pal-
estine and Babj'lon; only some details referring to
the ritual are mentioned (Miiller, "Hilluf Minha-
g:rr.," Nos. 19, 67).
In the Middle Ages : The Jews were so widely
scattered in the Middle Ages that it is difficult to
give a connected account of their mode of living
as regards food. In Arabic countries the author of
the Halakot Gedolot knew some dishes that ap-
pear to have been peculiar to the Jews, e.g., "pas-
pag " (p. 60, ed. Hildesheimer), which was, perhaps,
biscuit; according to the Siddur Amram (i. 38), the
well-known "haroset" is made in those countries
from a mixture of herbs, flour, and honey (Arabic,
433
THE JEWISH E^X'YCLOPEDIA
Food
Foiett
"halikah"). Maimonides, in his "Sefer Refu'ot "
(ed. Goldberg, London, 1900), mentions dishes that
are good for health. He recommends bread baked
from wheat that is not too new, nor too old, nor too
fine (p. 8); further, the meat of the kid, sheep, and
chicken, and the yolks of eggs. Goats' and cows'
milk is good, nor are cheese and butter harmful.
Honey is good for old people; fish with white, hard
meat is wholesome ; so also are wine and dried
fruits. Fresh fruits, however, are unwholesome;
and he does not recommend garlic or onions (p. 9).
There is detailed information about Italian cook-
ery in the amusing little book "Masseket Purim."
It discusses (according to Abrahams, "Jewish Life
in the Middle Ages," p. 151) pies, chestnuts, turtle-
doves, pancakes, small tarts, gingerbread, ragouts,
venison, roast goose, .chicken, stuffed pigeons, ducks,
pheasants, partridges, quails, macaroons, and salad.
These are dishes of luxurious living. The oppressed
medieval Jews fared poorly rather than sumptu-
ously, indulging in joyous feasts only on Sabbaths,
festivals, circumcisions, and weddings. For exam-
ple, the Jews of Rhodes, according to a letter of
Obadiah Bertinoro, 1488, lived on herbs and vegeta-
bles only, never tasting meat or wine ("Jahrb. ftir
die Gesch. der Juden," iii. 201). In Egypt, how-
ever, meat, fish, and cheese were procurable (ib.
2C8); in Gaza, grapes, fruit, and wine {ib. 211).
Cold dishes are still relished in the East. Generally,
only one dish was eaten, with fresh bread daily (Ja-
cob Safir, in "Eben Sappir," p. 58a, Lyck, 1866).
Some characteristically Jewish dishes are fre-
quently mentioned in the Judaeo-German dialect:
from the twelfth century onward, "bratzel " (Glass-
berg, "Zikron Berit," p. 122, Berlin, 1892); "iok-
shen " (Abrahams, I.e. p. 152); "pasteten" (ib. p.
151; compare Yoreh De'ah, Bet Yosef, § 97);
"fladen" (Yoreh De'ah, ib.); "beleg" (z.e., goose
sandwich), still used (Y^oreh De'ah, "Pure Zahab,
§ 101, 11). The favorite "barscht" or "borshtsh"
sorp is a Polish dish (ib. § 96); best known are the
" b( rkes " or " barches " eaten on the Sabbath (Griin-
baum. I.e. p. 229), and "shalet" (Abrahams, I.e. p.
151), which Heine commemorates (" Werke," 1. 436),
and which the Spanish Jews called Axi. The Sab-
bath pudding ("kigl" or "kugel" in Y^iddish) is
also well known. For more detailed information
on several of these dishes see Cookery.
Bibliography: Krauss, Lehnu-6rter. ii. 640, s.v. MahJzeiten,
Sptisen, iLud Getrdiikex Wiener, Die JUdi.<chen Speixege-
Ktze. Breslau, 1895. For the Middle Apes : Giidemann, Gesch.
des Erziehungswesens . . . bei den Jiidcn, iii. 113. and pas-
sim; Berliner, Aus dem Inneren Leben der Juden in
Dentschland, v., vi.; Abrahams, Jeivish Life in the Middle
Age.^, ch. viii., London, 1896; several documents of Prague
regulating the high living of the Jews in the eighteenth cen-
tury are given in Neuzeit, 1891, No. 47, p. 481.
S. s S. Ku.
FORBIDDEN DEGREES. See Marriage
Laws.
FORBIDDEN FOOD. See Dietary Laws.
FOREIGN ATTACHMENT : In modern law,
the seizure of a debtor's property in a jurisdiction
within which the debtor him.self can not be found,
he having absconded, or residing elsewhere. Such a
proceeding has grown up in most countries under
the necessities of trade, in spite of the principle that
BO one should be condemned unheard. The Talmud
v.— 28
(Ket. 88a) records different opinions as to whether
exceptions should be made against this principle;
but the later authorities — Alfasi, Rambam, the Tu-
rim, and the Shulhau 'Aruk — deemed such excep-
tions necessary for the security of trade. The mode
of procedure in such cases is as follows: The holder
of an authenticated bond ('' shetar mekuyyam ") may
seek payment in the absence of the debtor if the
messenger of the court can reach the latter with
a notification and return within thirty days, his
wages, which are to be taxed as costs, being paid
by the plaintiff. But if it is impossible to go and
return within thirty days, the debt may be levied at
once from either lands or movables, the creditor ta-
king the proper oath, unless this is waived by a
clause in the bond. In such cases the following
facts must be proved: (1) that the bond is authen-
tic ; (2) that the debtor abides at a place too far for
service and return within thirty days; (3) that the
property to be levied upon belongs to the debtor
(Shulhan 'Aruk, Hoshen Mishpat, 106; Maimon-
ides, "Yad," Malweh, xiii.).
s. s. L. N. D.
FOREST: In the English versions the word
" forest " is employed for the rendering of four dif-
ferent Hebrew words: (1) "ya'ar," which occurs
more than forty times; (2) "horesh," five times;
(3) "horeshah," once; and (4) "pardes,"once. The
sense of "ya'ar" (LXX. fJpvudf; Vulg. "silva,"
"saltus") is now generally explained, from the Ara-
bic "wa'ar," to be "rough" (as of a road or of a
tract of land).
From the conditions now prevailing in Palestine
no conclusion can be drawn as to forest-growth in
the Biblical period. The following are the forests
mentioned or alluded to in the Bible:
1. The "forest of Ephraim" ("ya'ar Efrayim "),
where Absalom perished (II Sam. xviii. 6, R. V.).
It was east of the Jordan, in the neighborhood of the
city of Mahanaim in Gilead. The name "Ephraim "
is certainly surprising for the location.
2. The " forest of Hareth " (" ya'ar Haret "), in the
land of Judah, where David sought refuge on his
return from Moab (I Sam. xxii. 5).
3. The forest ("ya'ar ") on the road from Jencho
to Beth-el, whence the bears came out that avenged
Elisha (II Kings ii. 24). It was probably situated
along the present AVadi al-Kelt.
4. The forest ("ya'ar") where, in their pur-
suit of the Philistines, the Israelites foimd the
honey (ISam. xiv. 25). See, however.
Principal Wellhausen, and also Klostermann,
Forests of Driver, and Budde, in their commen-
the Bible, taries ad loe.
5. The forest ("horesh") in which
Jotham built forts and towers (II Chron. xxvii. 4)
must have been in the mountains of Judah, in high
places suitable for observation, very likely, as well
as for defense, and consequently can not have been
more than a copse of low growth.
6. The forest ("horeshah") in "the wilderness of
Ziph," where David took refuge (I Sam. xxiii. 15,
18, 19). This was probably a crest of the mountaia
(Gesenius, "Handw5rterbuch," 11th ed.) or a copse
(Klostermann. Commentary ad loc.); and "Hore-
shah " seems to have been its proper name.
Forest
Forli
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
434
7. The "forest of the south " ("ya'ar ha-negeb " ;
Ezek. XX. 46), which is probably nothing more than
a figure of rhetoric.
8. The " king's forest" (Neh. ii. 8) ; this was a reser-
vation or park rather than a forest proper; such, at
least, is the interpretation suggested by the word
" pardt's " (see Gesenius, " Thesaurus "). It might
have originated from the plantation of cedars which
Solomon made "to be as the sycamore trees that
are in the lowland" (II Chron. ix. 27, R. V.).
The passage just quoted shows that the forests
or groves of sycamores from which the city of
Sycaminum (the modern Haifa) was named were in
existence when the Book of Chronicles was written.
The name "Kirjath-jearim" (Josh. ix. 17 and
often elsewhere) means "the city of forests"; but
this is hardly sufficient to justify the supposition
that it was so named from the presence of forests
around or about it, or, at any rate, that such forests
were still in existence during the occupation of the
land by the Hebrews. In Isa. Ixv. 10 the Septuagint
translates "Sharon" hy Apv/ioc; but this is also too
weak a basis for assuming the presence of forests
in that plain, except, however, '"n post-Biblical times
(comp. Strabo, xvii. 758).
Existing' Forests in Palestine : There are
now two important centers of forests in Palestine,
one in Galilee and one in Gilead. By " Galilee " is
understood the region between the Mediterranean
Sea and the Jordan from a line running through
Janin in the south to another line running through
Tibain in the north. Over 13 per cent of that area
is wooded, this percentage being almost equally di-
vided between open and dense forests (7 per cent
and 6 per cent respectively). Of the latter one-
fourth consists of high wood, and three-fourths of
low. For details as to the precise location of the
forests (Mount Carmel and the hills east and north
of Nazareth), or the species therein occurring (Quer-
cns coccifera, Q. ^gilops. Arbutus unedo, A. An-
drachne, Pistncia Lentiscus, Ceratonia
Two Main Siliqua, Pistucia Terebinthns, Phillyrea
Centers Media, etc.), see Anderlind in "Z. D.
of Forest. P. V." 188o. In Gilead, from the
Shari'at al-]\Ianadirah (ancient Yar-
muk) to the Wadi Sarka (ancient Jabbok), espe-
cially in the northern portion of that region, there
is an abundant growth of oak forests. The trees be-
long to the same species as those of Galilee, but they
are of a much finer growth. South of the Wadi Sarka
the upper range of Gilead is oak and arbutus; tlie
central, arbutus and fir; the lower, valonia-oak (Q.
u^gilops). The ilex occurs throughout (see Stanley,
"Siuai and Palestine," p. 390). Outside of these
two great centers there are no forests proper of any
extent. Trees are fast disappearing from the Jaulan
(anc. Gaulanitis), once densely wooded (see Schu-
macher, "The Jaulan," p. 15). In the vast territory
of Bashan the oaks, for which it was famous in
Biblical times, though still plentiful, are too much
scattered to constitute forests. Ammon, in the
south, is outside of the range of forests.
North of Jerusalem as far as Mount Carmel, and
east and southeast to the vallej' of the Jordan and
to the Dead Sea, the country is entirely destitute of
trees of natural growth. West of Jerusalem there
are two small forests (3| and 12 acres respectively)
of pines (Pinus Ilalepensis \ see Anderlind, I.e.).
Southwest of Jerusalem there is still
Smaller a fair proportion of thickets or copses
Areas. consisting mainly of the species Quev-
cus coccifera. Arbutus, and Pistacia
Lentiscus. All along the valley of the Jordan, on a
terrace above the bed of the river, runs a thick jun-
gle, once the haunt of lions (Jer. xlix. 19, 1. 44-46).
It consists chietly of tamarisks and willows. Fi-
nally, in the plain of Sharon straggling coppices of
Turkey oaks (Quercus Cerris) mark the site of the
forest mentioned by Strabo (see above), and which,
under the name of "forest of Arsuf,"or " Arsur,"
became famous, during the Crusades, for the vic-
tory of Kings Richard I. of England and Guy of
Jerusalem over Saladin (1191).
Bibliography : Tristram, The NaUn-al Tlistorii of the Bihle:
Stanley, Sitiaiand Palestine; Post, Fhira of Si/ria, Pales-
tine, and Sinai; Anderlind, Einfluss der Gebirgsu-al-
dungen im NOi-dlichen PalUiiti)ia, etx'.., in Z. D. P. V. 18&3;
Bubl, Geographic des Allen PaUistina; Benzinger, Arch.
E. G. H. H. H.
FORFEITURE. See Confiscation and For-
feiture.
FORGERY : The act of falsely making or ma-
terially altering, with intent to defraud, any wri-
ting which, if genuine, might be of legal eflScacy or
the foundation of legal liability. The Mosaic law,
intended mainly for an agricultural people, in gen-
eral makes little mention of the legal status of docu-
ments. While it provides punishments for deceit in
selling (Lev. xxv. 14), for false weights and meas-
ures (Lev. xix. 35, 36; Deut. xxv. 13-16), it makes
no provision against forgery. The Rabbis, how-
ever, found it necessary to institute laws and regu-
lations for the preparation and execution of legal
documents, so as to make forgery impossible. But
even they did not attempt to set any definite pun-
ishment for it.
A legal document, whether a promissory note, a
deed of sale or of gift, a will, or a marriage con-
tract, had to be written on material upon which any
erasure could be instantly recognized ; and if it was
not written upon such material, the document was
invalid, even if it was to go into effect immedi-
ately (Git. 22b ; compare Jer. xxxii. 14). A space
of two lines, left between the body of the document
and the signatures of the witnesses, invalidated the
document; for it was apprehended that some addi-
tion might be made in such space which might
change the character of the document. Since, how-
ever, the witnesses could not always sign so close to
the body of the document that not even the space of
one line would be left, the Rabbis laid down the law
that anything written in the last line had no bind-
ing force, and that it should be reserved for a sum-
mary or enumeration of the contents of the document
(B. B. 161b; "Yad," Malweh, xxvii. 8, 4; Shulhan
'Aruk, Hoshen Mishpat, 44, 1; 45, 6).
If, at the writing of the document, some mistake
occurred which necessitated erasure or crossing out,
the mistake had to be noted and explained at the
end of the document, above the signatures of the
witnesses. A word expressing a number from three
to nine should not be placed at the end of a line,
where, by an addition of a letter or two, the sum
435
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Forest
Forli
might be increased, as the number ^'ptj* ("'slialosii '"
= 3), wliic'h could easily be made into D'Kvti'
C sheloshiiu " = 30) by the addition of Q\ The sum
should never be expressed by letters of the alphabet,
(each of which has its numerical value), but should
be written out in words (B. B. 167a; Maimonides,
I.e. p. 13; Hoshen Mishpat, 42, 4; 44, 5).
In spite of all these precautions, the apprehension
of forgery still existed ; and the debtor could easily
free himself from payment through the plea that
the document was forged. In such a case the court
entirely disregarded the existence of the document,
considering it merely as an oral claim ("milwah 'al
peh"), Avhen only the rabbinic oath (" hesset ") was
imposed. The Kabbis, therefore, established a new
institution with regard to promissory notes, namely,
the confirmation of the signatures of the witnesses
by a competent court ("kiyyum shetarot"), through
which the document assumed the character of a
judicial decision, and after which no plea of forgery
was admitted (see Evidence).
The Rabbis provided no special punishment for
the forger. Some authorities would disqualify him
from being a witness or from being believed on his
oath; but this opinion is not generally accepted (see
Hatam Sofer, Hoshen Jlishpat, 39, quoted in Pithe
teshubah to Hoshen Mishpat, 34, 17). Still he fell
under suspicion, and the court was warned to ex-
amine with greater care any document he might
produce. If two witnesses testified that a person
asked them to forge a document, any document pro-
duced by such person was considered forged, and he
could henceforth establish his claim only through
the testimony of witnesses (Hoshen Mishpat, 67, 2,
Isserles' gloss). The court was permitted to em-
ploy violent means, even public chastisement, to
compel the forger to confess his guilt (B. B. 167a ;
comp. Hoshen Mishpat, 43, 3; see also Clerical
Eimous).
Bibliorrapht: Bloch, Das PoUzeirecht, Budapest, 1879.
s. s. J. H. G.
FORGIVENESS ("iDn : Deut. xxi. 8; Jer. xviii.
23; Ps. Ixxviii. 38; rhO- I Kings viii. 30 et seg. ;
Lev. iv. 20 etseq.; Dan. ix. 9; Kti'J: Gen. 1. 17; Ex.
X. 17; I Sam. xv. 25, xxv. 28): Forgiveness is one
of the attributes ascribed toYnwH: "to the Lord
our God belong mercies and forgiveness" (Dan. ix.
9; comp. Ex. xxxiv. 6-7; Num. xiv. 18 eiscq.; Ps.
Ixxxvi. 5; Jonah iv. 2). The condition essential to
God's forgiveness of iniquity is, as the contexts of
the passages indicated show, repentance on the part
of the sinner for the offense committed. A further
essential condition is the intention to avoid rep-
etition of the offense. The fulfilment of these con-
ditions restores the sinner to his right relation toward
Yhwh. "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the
unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return
unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him:
and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon "
(Isa. Iv. 7; comp. Amos v. 14; Jer. iii. 14 et seg.;
Ezek. xviii. 21 etseq., xxxiii. 11-21 ; Hosea xiv. 1-4);
"For thou, Lord, art good, and readj^ to forgive;
and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon
thee" (Ps. Ixxxvi. 5; comp. Ixxviii. 38).
Under the sacrificial sj'stem as found in Leviticus
rc^jcntance and atonement are represented by tlie
animal sacrifice which a priest offers for the sinner
But the forgiveness to be attained through the sac-
rifice is only for sins committed unintentionally, and
for ignorance that has caused ritual defilement. No
.sacrifice could atone for wilful offenses. " But he
that sins knowingly . . . blasphemes Y'hwh; he
.shall be cut off from among his people " (Num. xv.
30, Ilebr. ). The main passage referring to sin-offer
ings is found in Lev. iv.-v. 13 (comp. Num. xv. 22
etseq.). In the Prophets and Psalms repentance is
wholly based upon change of heart. Forgiveness is
a free act of God's mercy and grace (Micah vii. 18,
19; Ps. ciii. 3; comp. Jer. xxxi. 34; Ezek. xxxvi.
25 et seq. ; Ecclus. [Siracli] xvii. 20 et seq., xviii. 11).
The Bible, which regards all men as created in the
image of God (Gen. i. 27) and makes holiness the
corner-stone of its ethical teachings, warns against
all manner of hatred and vengeance (Lev. xix. 2, 17,
18). This idea is also the basis of the Talmudic dic-
tum, " For certain sins repentance gives a respite,
and the Day of Atonement atones; but he who sins
against his neighbor must first be reconciled to him "
(Y'oma 85b).
Not only should one not harbor hatred and venge-
ance in his heart, but it is his duty to help his
enemy, which certainly presupposes forgiveness of
him (Ex. xxiii. 4, 5).
In the Wisdom literature and the Talmud espe-
cially are found many beautiful teachings concern-
ing the treatment of one's enemies (see Prov. xxv.
21; xxiv. 17, 29; Deut. xxxii. 35; Prov. xx. 22;
Ecclus. [Sirach] xxviii. 1).
" Be of the persecuted and not of the persecutors "
(B. K. 93b). "Who is strong? He who turns an
enemy into a friend " (Ab. R. N. xxiii.). " If a friend
be in need of your aid to unload a burden, and an
enemy to help him load, assist first the enemy, that
the desire for hatred may be stifled in you" (B. M. 32).
There are many passages in Biblical and post
Biblical literature that promise special favor from
God to him who is merciful and forgiving to his
fellow men (see 11 Sam. xxii. 26 ; Ps. xviii. 25 ; see
also Compassion). " He who has pity for men to
him God will be merciful" ('Er. xvii. 72; comp.
Y'oma 23). " He who has mercy for his fellow men
belongs to the descendants of A braham " (Bezah 32 ;
comp. Ecclus. [Sirach] xxviii. 2).
E. c. A. G.
FO"RIiI (p^-lID, ^^-112) : City in the Romagna,
Italy. It is mentioned for the first time in connec-
tion with Jewish history by Hillel of Verona, who
lived at Forli for some time about 1290, and there
wrote his circular letter to Maestro Gaio and his
work " Tagmule ha-Nefesh." The community then
seems to have been a small one : for Hillel felt like
an exile, rarely receiving news of the outside world
The community continued to exist, however, and in
1373 a Mishneh Torah was sold there to R. Jekuthiel
b. Abigdor of Forli (Cod. Oxford, No. 601). Forli be-
came noted through the congress of representatives
from the communities of Rome, Padua, Ferrara. Bo-
hjgna, Romagna, and Tuscany, held there May 18.
1418. In conformity with the resolutions formulated
at Bologna in Dec, 1415, it was decided to send a
deputation to Pope Martin V. at Rome to obtain
Forli
Fortis
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
436
from him new privileges and confirmation of the old
ones. A tax of 1^ ducats on every 1,000 ducats in
money and real estate was levied upon the communi-
ties in order to pay the heavy expenses of this em-
bassy and other expenses necessary for the common
good ; the individual members, with the exception
of tliose receiving alms, were also taxed ^ to li
ducats, according to their means. Provisions were
likewise made for regulating the collection of the
taxes and the organization of the communities.
The same congress issued several decrees pertain-
ing to the internal affairs of the communities, which
were evidently intended, on the one hand, to elevate
their moral tone, and, on the other hand, to avoid
everything that might attract the attention or the
envy of the Christian population. The people were
forbidden to play cards or dice or to permit the same
to be played in their houses; men and women alike
were forbidden to wear luxurious garments or orna-
ments, or to go through the streets together in large
numbers; display at banquets and family festivals
and the pompous escort of brides were greatly re-
stricted; sexual immorality in particular was se-
verely condemned. These decrees were to remain in
force till the end of 5186 (=1426); all violations
were to be punished by fines or by excommunica-
tion ; and the men were held responsible for the
women. The decrees Avere signed by the Jews of
Forli as well as by the foreign delegates.
Nothing is known of the subsequent history of the
conun unity of Forli. It doubtless shared the varied
fortunes of the other Jews in the Pontifical States in
the sixteenth century (compare Bologna), and was
dissolved when the Jews were expelled. Nor did
any Jews return to the city.
The following rabbis and scholars of Forli are
known : Elijah b. Menahem Alatrini ; Moses b. Je-
kuthiel Hefez, a member of the Zifroni famil}-, who
in 1383 copied for David b. Solomon Rofe the Codex
Almanzi No. 79; Elijah b. Moses Alatrini. who
copied (1389) MS. de Rossi No. 286 for Moses b.
Daniel of Forli ; Aaron Strassburg, 1486 ; Elias b.
Isaac da Mestre, who wrote a mathematical work in
1497 (Codex Michael, No. 185) ; Solomon b. Eliakim
Finzi, rabbi at Forli in 1586; Eiiezer b. Benjamin
Finzi of Arezzo, rabbi in 1537; and about the same
time Abraham b. Daniel da Modena and Asher b.
Isaiah da Montagna occupied the rabbinate.
Bibliography : On Hillel of Verona, comp. Tagmnlc hn-Nc-
fci^li, ed. Lyck, Introduction ; on the congress at Forli, Gratz
Juhdsrhrift, Hebr. text, pp. 53 et seq.; on the rabbis, Mor-
tara, hidice.
G. I. E.
FORMON, ZADDIK BEN JOSEPH : Turk-
ish Talmudist and translator of the middle of the
sixteenth century. He translated Bahya's "Hobot
ha-Lebabot" into Juda^o-Spanish (Ladino) under the
title "Obligacion de los Coragones." It Avas pub-
lished the first time in Roman characters by David
Pardo (Amsterdam, 1610), who represented that he
was himself the translator. Furst ("Bibl. Jud." i.
78, iii. 67) attributes the translation to Joseph Pardo,
rabbi of Amstei'dam. There also exists an edition
in Hebrew characters (Venice, 1713). Formon is
quoted in the responsa of his contemporary Solo-
mon Cohen (ii.. No. 118).
niBLiOGRAPHY: ContoTte, Kore ho-Domt, p.3db; Steinschnel-
der. Cat. Dodl. col. ^7-12; idem, Jewtah Literature, p. 234.
J. M. Sel.
FORMSTECHER, SOLOMON: German rabbi ;
l)orn at Offenbach July 28, 1808; died there April
24, 1889. After graduating (Ph.D. 1831) from the
Giessen University, he settled in his native city as
preacher, succeeding Rabbi Metz in 1842; he filled
this ofiice until his death. During his long min-
istry he strove to harmonize the religious and
social life of tlie Jews with the requirements of
modern civilization. His aims were expressed at
Brunswick, Frank fort -on -the -Main, Bieslau, and
Cassel in the conferences of the German rabbis.
The most important of his works is " Religion des
Geistes" (Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1841). It contains
a systematic analysis of the principles of Judaism.
The author endeavors to demonstrate that Judaism
was a necessary manifestation, and that its evolution
tends in the direction of a universal religion for civi-
lized mankind. Judaism, in contrast with paganism,
considers the Divinity to be a Being separate from
nature, and allows no doubt of God's existence.
Consequently any theogony, any emanation, any
dualism must be rejected. Formstecher concludes
his work with a history of Judaism which is a valu-
able contribution to Jewish religious philosophy.
Formstecher 's other works are : " Z wolf Predigten, "
Wilrzburg, 1833; " Israelitisches Andachtsbiichlein
zur Erweiterung und Ausbildung der Ersten Reli-
giosen Gef ilhle und Begriffe, " Offenbach, 1836 ; " Mo-
saischeReligionslehre," Giessen, 1860; "Buchenstein
und Cohnberg," a novel, Frankfort-on-the-Main,
1863; "Israel's Klage und Israel's Trost," Offen-
bach, 1835; "Ueber das Wesen und ilber den Fort-
gang der Israelitischen Gottesverehrung." Form-
stecher contributed to many periodicals, and edited
in 1859, in collaboration with L. Stein, the period-
ical " Der Freitagabend," and in 1861, with K. Klein,
the " Israelitische Wochenschrift."
BiBMOGRAPHY : Kayscfling, Bihliothek JlXdischer Kanzel-
rcdncr, ii. 137.
s. I. Br.
FORNARAKI AFFAIR : Accusation of ritual
murder which was made in Egypt in 1881, and
which agitated the European press for nine months.
On May 18, 1881, Evaugeli Fornaraki, a Greek child,
disappeared in Alexandria, and after some time the
body was found on the seashore. An international
commission consisting of thirty -four doctors and the
delegates of all the consuls examined the case, and,
with the exception of two Greeks, agreed that the
child had met with an accidental death. This was
substantiated by the fact that the grains of sand were
found in the lungs, showing conclusively that the
child was living at the moment it fell into the sea.
Nevertheless, a Jewish family named Baruch, of
Greek nationality, was accused by the Greeks of a
ritual crime, and despite the declarations of the com-
mission, the publication of a letter of protest by Jo-
achim III., Patriarch of Constantinople, on Ma)'' 13,
and a medical refutation by the Paris University, the
members of the Baruch family were transported to
Corfu, imprisoned, and ill-treated. On Jan. 4, 1882,
however, they were freed by the Corfu tribunal.
Bibliography: Didlctln All. Isr. 1881. pp. 64-09 ; 1892. pp. 28-29.
D. M. Fi{.
437
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Forli
Fortis
FORNICATION : Coliabitation between a man,
married or unmarried, and an unmarried woman.
While the common law speaks of intercourse be-
tween a married man and an unmarried woman as
adultery, followed herein by many American stat-
utes which grant a divorce for the "adultery of the
husband," the Authorized Version of the Old Testa-
ment uses the word "fornication" four times, always
in a figurative sense. In the New Testament it stands
for the Greek -KopvEia ; and as a husband is bidden not
to divorce his wife except for this offense, the word
is there evidently an equivalent for "adultery."
Fornication is the same in Jewish as in the com-
mon law. It is a much lighter offense than Adul-
tery or Incest, in which both participants are pun-
ished with death.
As to the gravity of this offense there is difference
of opinion. Deuteronomy xxiii. 18 (A. V. 17) says:
" There shall be no harlot [" kedeshah "] of the daugh-
ters of Israel." A kedeshah is, according to rab-
binic commentators, a woman who sells herself to
every comer, and stands far apart from the virgin
■who is "enticed "or seduced (Ex. xxii. 16). The
former is liable to flagellation, as breaking a nega-
tive law; the latter is treated as the injured party,
to whom the seducer must make amends ; and the
seducer is not liable to stripes, for his penalty is
named: he must marry the girl if her father will
consent.
The standard edition of the Sifre on Deuteronomy
xxiii. 18 throws no light on the text; but an old
manuscript of this work, referred to in Maggid
Mishneh in a gloss on Maimonides' " Yad," Ishut, i.
4, says that the text intends to forbid any sexual in-
tercourse between a man and a woman not his wife.
Maimonides himself {ih. ) holds that as a matter of
Mosaic law both parties are liable to stripes. Abra-
ham ben David dissents, taking the ground that a
woman who gives herself over to only one man is not
a kedeshah, but a concubine (•' pillegesh "), according
to the Bible (see II Sara. v. 13) — a wife without the
ceremony of betrothal and without jointure (see
Ketubah)— and that neither she nor her lover is
guilty of any Scriptural offense. The Shulhan
'Aruk (Eben ha-'Ezer, 26, 1) takes a middle ground,
admitting that the case in question does not fall un-
der the lieading of "kedeshah," but asserting that,
in the interest of modesty, both are forbidden by
custom and rabbinical law, and should be repressed,
if need be, by the infliction of stripes (" makkat mar-
dut "). It is even forbidden to be alone with a woman
in a room {ib. 22, 2).
Intercourse of a son or daughter of Israel with a
Gentile, or with a foreign slave, with whom there
can be no valid betrothal, is discussed by the au-
thorities in a twofold aspect: (1) If the relation is
permanent, making them in fact husband and wife,
it comes under the head of fornication only in so
far as Jewish law does not recognize such a relation
as a true marriage; the main objection, however,
arises in the religious interest of the children (see
Ex. xxxiv. 16). (2) Casual cohabitation, which stands
on different ground. The ^lishnah (Sanh. ix. 6)
names him "who cohabits with a Syrian woman"
(with a Gentile, an idol-worshiper) among those
whom the zealots may strike down; and while this
rule, based on the example of Zimri and Phinehas
(Num. XXV. 7), was rendered harmless by impossible
conditions, the rabbinical courts under an institu-
tion of the IIa.smoneans, attested in the Babylonian
Talmud by two of the later sages (Sanh. 82a), would
consider such an offender as deserving punishment
upon four distinct grounds, one of them being that
of implied idol -worship. This is based on the
words of the prophet Malachi (ii. 11, Hebr.): "For
Judah has profaned the sanctuary of the Lord which
he loved, and has cohabited with ["ba'al"] the
daughter of a strange god."
s. s. L. N. D.
FORSTENHEIM, ANNA: Austrian writer
and poetess; born at Agram Sept. 21, 1846; died at
Vienna Oct. 19, 1889. She went to Vienna in 1867,
and founded there the Society of "Women Writers
and Artists, of which she was the treasurer. She
wrote the following works: "Catarina Cornaro," a
drama, 1875; "Der Zauberring des Herzens," novel
in 3 vols., 1880; "EinNeues Furstenthum in Alter
Zeit," 1882; "DerWau-Wau," a comedy, 1882; "Die
SchoneMelusine," 1883; "Manoli," epic poem, 1883.
Bibliography : Ludwlg Eisenberg, Das Geistige TTien, 1. 123.
8. M. Sel.
FORT SMITH, See Arkansas.
FORT WAYNE. See Indiana.
FORT WORTH. See Texas.
FORTI (CHASCHETTO, ID^pTn), BARUCH
TJZZIEL BEN BARUCH: Italian rabbi and editor ;
lived at Ferrara and Mantua in the sixteenth cen-
tury. "Forti" is the Italian translation of "Hazak,"
the name of a Hebrew family to which Baruch
Uzziel belonged ; the Italian diminutive " Chaschet-
to" was formed afterward. On May 22, 1564,
Forti was named chief rabbi of Mantua. He is
quoted as an authority by several prominent rabbis,
as Moses Isserles (Responsa, No. 36) and Mei'r of
Padua (Responsa, No. 9). Forti edited Isaac Abra-
vanel's "Ma'yene ha-Yeshu'ah," to which he added
a preface consisting of Abravanel's biography (Fer-
rara, 1551) and IMoses Alashkar's strictures on Shem-
Tob's "Sefer ha-Emunot " {ib. 1556). He also sup-
plied an alphabetical index to the Mishneh Torah
(Venice, 1586).
Bibliography: Michael, Or ha-Hainiim, No. 634; Ziinz, in
Kerem Hemed, v. 155; Cannoly, in Ozai- Nehmad. ii. 62;
Mortara, Indice, p. 24.
D. M. Sel.
FORTI, HORTENSIUS (JOHANAN)
HAZAE: Jewish convert to Christianity ; lived in
the sixteenth century; born at Gorima, and settled
at Prague under Maximilian II. He wrote "Dikduk
LeshonKodesh," a Hebrew grammar, Prague, 1564-
1566, and "DeMystica Literarum Significatione," in
which he expatiates on the different ways of wri-
ting the Holy Name; the latter work was published
by Kircher in his "(Edipus ^gyptiacus," ii.
Bibliography : Wolf, Bibl. Hebr. ili., No. 821 ; Steluschneider,
Cat. Bodl, col. 983.
J. M. Sel.
FORTIS, LEONE: Italian critic, journalist,
and dramatist; born at Triest Oct. 5, 1828; died at
Milan 1895. He was baptized while a child, and
Fortress
Fould
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
438
educated at Padua. In liis early youth he wrote
poems and a story entitled "Luigia." In 1848
he was exiled to Triest for having written the
drama "La Duchessadi Prasliu." He subsequently
went to Venice, and then to Milan, where he founded
the papers "II Vero Operaio " and "II Pungolo";
the latter, however, was suppressed. In 1859,
again exiled to Triest, he went to Switzerland, and
later to Turin. In 1866 he founded "II Corriere
della Venezia " ; in 1870, "La Nuova Roma." His
dramas include: "Camoens," "Cuore ed Arte," "In-
dustria e Speculazione."
Bibliography : De Gubematis, Dizionario Biografico.
s. U. C.
FORTRESS : A permanent fort or fortified place.
Tiie Israelites, wlien advancing into the country
west of the Jordan, found a considerable number of
walled cities and fortresses which they could not
conquer (Num. xiii. 28; Deut. i. 28; Josh. xiv. 12).
Tliey were compelled, therefore, to settle in open
places; and when attacked they retired into forests
and caves (I Sam. xiii. 6). Becoming more profi-
cient in the art of war, they succeeded — especially
in the time of the Kings — in conquering the for-
tresses of the Canaanites, among them Jerusalem.
David fortified the captured city anew, i.e., the so-
called "city of David," on the steep eastern hill (II
Sam. v. 9; I Kings iii. 1, ix. 15, xi. 27). According
to II Chron. xxxii. 5, xxxiii. 14, Hezekiah and Ma-
nasseh were the first to surround with a wall the rest
of the city also. Later the Maccabeans and Hero-
dians built a third wall around it on the north and
northwest. The Israelites built new fortresses
("mibzar," "kiryah bezurah," "kiryat
Principa,! 'oz ") after the pattern of the Canaanite
Fortresses, fortresses, especially for the protection
of the frontiers and the approaches to
the country. Thus Solomon erected Hazor and
Megiddo as a protection against enemies from the
northeast; Gezer, Beth-horon, and Baalath against
those from the coast on the west; and Tadmor (Ta-
mar) against those from Idumea (I Kings ix. 15, 17
ef seg.). Asa fortified Geba and Mizpah against the
northern kingdom (I Kings xv. 21 et seq.). Accord-
ing to II Chron. xi. 5 et seq., Rehoboam fortified
fifteen cities to the south and west of Jerusalem as
a protection against Egypt. In the northern king-
dom Jeroboam fortified Shechem and Penuel (I Kings
xii. 25). Baasha tried to fortify Ramah as a point
of attack on the southern kingdom; but Asa pulled
down the half-finished fortification-walls and used
the material for fortifying Geba and Mizpah (I
Kings XV. 16 et seq.). The strongest fortress of the
northern kingdom was undoubtedly Samaria, which
had been built by Omri on top of a mountain, and
which the Assyrians v/ere able to capture only after
a three years' siege (II Kings xvii. 5). In later times
the Maccabeans especially built a number of for-
tresses, some of which, as Beth-zur, played an impor-
tant part in the wars of the Maccabees; and others,
as Jotapata, Masada, and Machsjerus, in the great
Jewish war (66-73).
All these fortresses were surrounded by walls
("homah") composed of large blocks of rock, often
without any cement. These walls were generally
so wide that not only the guards could stand upon
them, but also large numbers of people (Isa. xxxvi.
11 ; Neh. xii. 31 et seq. ; I Mace. xiii. 45). Fre-
quently they had battlements (" pinnot, " II Chron.
xxvi. 15; "shemashot," Isa. liv. 12), behind which
the archers could secure cover; and at certain inter-
vals there were towers built of large square stones
("migdal"). At the corners and above the gates
Avere placed the strongest towers (II Chron. xxvi. 9),
from which the guards could overlook the surround-
ing country (II Sam. xviii. 24 et seq.). The gates
were closed by heavy wooden folding-doors (Judges
xvi. 3), perhaps covered with brass (Isa. xlv. 2), and
provided with bolts of brass or iron
The (Deut. iii. 5, xxxiii. 25; I Kings iv.
Towers. 13). There was often a second wall
outside of the principal wall, with ex-
posed glacis ("hel"; I Kings xxi. 23; Lam. ii. 8;
Isa. xxvi. 1). The most favorable situation for a
fortress was on the edge of a precipice, as in the
case of Jerusalem, or in that of Samaria, where it
loomed up free on all sides on top of a mountain.
No ditches with water surrounded the fortresses of
the Israelites (compare Isa. xxxiii. 21 ; Nahum iii.
8), who, however, seem to have followed the custom
of the Syrians of building strong castles or citadels
in fortified cities, as in the case of Jerusalem, She-
chem, and Thebez (compare Judges ix. 46 et seq.,
51 ; viii. 9, 17). These castles were generally located
in the center of the city.
E. G. H. W. N.
FORTSCHRITT IM JUDENTHUM, DER.
See Periodicals.
FORTY, THE NUMBER : In the Bible, next
to the number seven, the number forty occurs most
frequently. In Talmudical literature it is often met
with, in many Instances having been apparently
used as a round number or as a concrete and definite
expression in place of the abstract and indefinite
"many " or "some," and hence becoming a symbol-
ical number. As regards the period of forty years,
the Jews seem to have shared with other peoples,
especially the Greeks, the notion that the fortieth
year was the height or acme of man's life ; and from
this fact forty years came to represent a generation
(compare Noldeke, " Untersuchungen zur Kritik
des Alten Testaments," p. 188).
The rain which brought about the Deluge lasted
forty days (Gen. vii. 4, 12, 17); the same period
passed between the appearance of the
Forty mountain-tops and the opening of the
Days. windows in the ark (Gen. viii. 6).
For the embalming of Jacob forty
days were required (Gen. 1. 3). Moses was without
food on Mount Horeb for forty days (Ex. xxiv. 18).
Elijah wandered without food for the same period
(I Kings xix. 8 ; compare also the fasting of Jesus
previous to his temptation, Matt. iv. 2). Ezekiel
was ordered to lie on his right side forty days, to
represent the forty years of the sin of Judah (Ezek.
iv. 6). Forty days were spent by the spies in Ca-
naan (Num. xiii. 25) ; Goliath challenged the army
of Israel for forty days (I Sam. xvii. 16 ; compare
Sotah 41b). The same number of days was granted
Nineveh for repentance (Jonah iii. 4). They also
form the period required for purification after the
439
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
""'ortresB
Fould
birth of a male (Lev. xii. 2, 4), -while after that of a
female it is twice that number of days {ib. 5).
Isaac married when foi-ty years old (Gen. xxv.
20) ; so also Esau (Gen. xxvi. 34). Caleb was of the
same age when sent as a spy (Josh.
Forty xiv. 7); and so was Ish-bosheth when
Years. commencing his short reign (II Sam.
ii. 10; compare Acts vii. 23, where the
age of Moses, when he was called to become the de-
liverer of his people, is given at forty years). Israel
sojourned forty years in the desert (Ex. xvi. 35, and
frequently elsewhere). The same period is given for
the rule of each of several of the judges (Judges iii.
11), and for that of Deborah (v. 31, viii. 28 ; I Sam. iv.
18), as also for the reigns of David, Solomon, and
Joash (II Sam. v. 4; I Kings ii. 11, xi. 42; I Chron.
xxvi. 31, xxix. 27; II Chron. ix. 30, xxiv. 1). So
also Israel was oppressed by the Philistines forty
years (Judges xiii. 1). In Ezek. xxix. 11-13 a deso-
lation of forty years is predicted for Egypt. A
multiplication of 40 by 3, or three generations, is
seen in the 120 years of the life of Moses (Deut.
xxxiv. 7; compare Gen. vi. 6). Some (compare
Wellhausen, "Prolegomena zur Gcschichte Israels,"
2d ed., 1883, i. 28")) are inclined to see in the 480
years which are stated (I Kings vi. 1) to have passed
between the Exodus and the building of the Temple
of Solomon a multiplication of forty by twelve, or
the round number of twelve generations.
Among the presents sent by Jacob to Esau were
forty cows (Gen. xxxii. 16). Ben-hadad sends
"forty camels' burden " as a gift for
Forty Elisha (II Kings viii. 9). The gov-
in Coiints ernors before Nehemiah extorted from
and the people forty shekels of silver
Measures. (Neh. v. 15). Abdon had forty sons
(Judges xii. 14) ; Solomon, forty stalls
of horses (I Kings v. 6). Barak's army consisted of
forty thou.saud men (Judges v. 8) ; as many Syrian
footmen were killed by David in battle (I Chron.
xix. 18); and forty stripes were inflicted on certain
evil-doers (Deut. xxv. 5). In the Tabernacle forty
sockets of silver supported the twenty boards (Ex.
xxvi. 19 et seq.; xxxvi. 24, 26); in the Temple of
Solomon each of the ten lavers of brass contained
forty baths ; and in the Temple described by Eze-
kiel the " hekal " and the side-courts measured forty
cubits in length (Ezek. xii. 2, xlvi. 22).
The fortieth year is the age of reason (" ben arba'im
la-binah," Ab. v. 26). Hillel (Sifre, Deut. xxxiv.
7; ed. Friedmaun, 150a), Johanun ben Zakkai (R.
H. 31b), and Akiba (Ab. R. N. vi.)
Forty in set out upon their rabbinical careers
the when they were forty years old. To
Talmud, them, as also to Moses, is ascribed a
life of 120 years, being divided in
each case into three divisions of forty years each
(Sifre, I.e.). Hillel's disciples were eighty in number
(Suk. 28a). A woman marrying after forty can
not bear children (B. B. 119b). Marriages are made
in heaven by the announcement of the Bat Kol
forty days before birth (Sanh. 22a ; compare Sotah
2b). Forty times' repetition renders a thing un-
forgettable (Pes. 72a; compare Yer. Git. vi. 47d).
Tl»e extravagance of Pekah is characterized by his
consuming forty measures of pigeons for dessert
(rmyo mjp; Sanh. 94b; Pes. 57a). Forty measures
was the weight of each stone carried into the Jor-
dan (Josh. vi. ; Sotali 34a). In connection with Ps.
xcv. 10 it is said that the Messianic age would last
forty years (Sanh. 99a).
The number forty had a fatal significance in con-
nection with the destruction of the Second Temple.
Forty years before this catastrophe the
Forty Sanhedrin " went into exile." that is,
in Temple left the premises of the Temple (Shab.
History, 15a; 'Ab. Zarah 8b). Rabbi Zadok
spent forty years in fasting to avert
the calamity (Git. 56a). In the war of Bar Kokba
forty measures of phylactery -blocks (ppsn ''VIVp)
were found on the heads of the slain at Bethar
(Git. 58a).
The ritual purification-tank ("mikweh") must
hold forty measures of water (Mik. ii. 1 et seq. ; com-
pare 'Er. 14a). The measure of the heave-offering
("terumah ") for a generous person (ns^ |'J?) is a for-
tieth part of the produce (Ter. iv. 3). A dry season
of forty days is the condition for ordering a public
fast (Ta'an. 19a). On the other hand, the forty
stripes of Deut. xxv. 5 are reduced to thirty-nine
(Mak. 22a; compare II Cor. xi. 24). Forty is also
given as the number is of the "principal labors"
(ni3x!?0 ni2N) which are forbidden on the Sabbath
(Shab. 69a, 73a).
Bibliography : Hirzel, Ueher Rundzahlen, In Bericlite der
PhUologiscli-HistnrischenCIassederKOniglich-StichM.'tchen
Geselhchaft der Wi^enschaftcn, PP- S-VO. Leipsic, 1885. On
the symbolism of numbers In general: Bahr, SymhoUk des
Mosaischen Kultus, i. 128 et .^eq.; Johann Helnricti Kurtz, in
Thenlogische SUidien und Kritihen, 1844, pp. 315 et seq.;
Kliefoth, Die ZahleusymhoUh der HeUigen Schrift. in The-
oloQische Zeituchrift, 1863, pp. 1 et seq., 341 et seq.. 509 et seq.;
Lammert, Zur Revision der Bihlischen Zahlensymbolik. in
Jahrbilcher filr Deutsche Theolngie. 1864, pp. 3 et seq. On
the number forty in particular: Rosenmuller, on Ezech.iv. 6;
Gesenius, LchrgehUude der Hehrilischeii Spracfie, p. TOO ;
Bruns, in Paulus' Memorabilia, vii. 53 et seq.; Bohlen, Gene-
sis, Introduction, pp. 63 e<>seq.; Grimm, Deuf.se/ie Rechtaalter-
thUmer, i. 219 et se(/. (i. 301 et seq., 4th ed., Leipsic, 1899);
comp. also Baraita, pp. 32 et seq., Warsaw, 1848.
J. JR. L M. C.
FOSTAT. See Egypt.
FOTJLD, ACHILLE : French statesman and
financier; born at Paris Nov. 17, 1800; died at
Tarbes Oct. 5, 1867. The son of a wealthy banker,
he studied banking, and afterward traveled exten-
sively. In 1847 he was chosen deputy for the town
of Tarbes; he sat on the ministerial benches, and
occupied himself with matters of finance. After
the Revolution of 1848 he retired and wrote three
pamphlets which excited considerable comment —
" Observations sur la Question Financiere, Adressees
a I'Assemblee Nationale," "Pas d'Assignats," and
"Opinion de M. A. Fould sur les Assignats." ' His
violent attacks upon the Garnier-Pages administra-
tion brought him into prominence, and on Juh' 8,
1849, he was elected to represent the people of Paris
in the legislative assembly. On Oct. 31 of the same
year he was appointed minister of finance by the
prince-president Louis Napoleon, whom he is said to
have aided financially. As minister he promoted
several important measures, including the abolition
of the income tax and of the taxes on rents and on
advances on mortgages; he also established the Al-
gerian Bank, and i)rovided for the pensioning of the
aged. During the ministerial crises of 1851 he was
Fould
Fragra
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
440
twice dismissed and recalled, but after the cor.p
d'etat (Dec. 2, 1851) lie retained his portfolio until
1852, after wLicli he became a senator and then min-
ister of state. His resignation was due to the decree
of the emperor regarding the property of the Or-
leans family.
Fould organized the Exposition Universelle of
1855. lu November, 1860, he became a member of
the privy council, and next year resumed the port-
folio of finance in order to deal with the increasing
deficit. Not succeeding any better than his prede-
cessors, he again retired (Jan. , 1867). In 1857 Fould
was elected a member of the Academy of Fine Arts.
He married into a Protestant family, and his children
were educated in that faith; but he never formally
abjured Judaism, though he was buried with the
rites of the Protestant Church.
His son Ernest Adolphe (1834-75) was deputy
for the Hautes-Pyrenees (1863-69). His grandson
Achille Charles (b. Aug. 10, 1861) was elected
deputy for Tarbes, Sept. 22, 1889.
His brother Louis (died at Paris in 1858) founded
(1857) at the French Institute a prize of 20,000 franc,-;
for the best work on the origin and history of art
prior to Pericles ("L'Uni vers Israelite," 1857-58, p.
419).
Bibliography: La Grande Encyclnpedie; Arch.Ifr.xxviu.
930, 970.
s. V. E.
FOULD, BENOIT : French politician ; born at
Paris Nov. 21. 1792; died there July 28, 1858. In
1827 he was nominated judge of the tribunal of
commerce. At the legislative elections of May,
1834, he was chosen to represent St. Quentin, and
devoted himself to financial questions. He was re-
elected Nov. 4, 1837, and again on March 2, 1830,
but failed in 1842 and in 1846. He took an active
part in Jewish communal affairs.
s. V. E.
FOULD, EDOUARD MATHURIN : Frencli
politician; born at Paris Dec. 18, 1834; died at
Moulins April 8, 1881. On June 1, 1863, he was
elected deputy for Allier, and supported the empire.
He resigned in 1868. In 1876 he was defeated by
the Republican candidate at Moutlu^on.
Bibliography : La Grande Encyclnpedie.
s. V. E.
FOULD, GUSTAVE EUGENE: French pol'-
tician and author; born at Paris Feb. 19, 1836; di( d
at Asnieres Aug. 27, 1884. On June 6, 1869, he was
elected deputy of the Basscs-Pyreufees, and during
the Franco-Prussian war served with the Scouts of
the Seine. Fould failed at the Paris municipal elec-
tions of 1872 and at the legislative elections of Octo-
ber, 1877, at Pan. He wrote "La Conversation"
and " Brulons le Grand Livre " (Paris, 1878). Under
the pseudonym "Olivier de Jalin " he collaborated
witli Alexandre Dumas in "La Comtesse Romani,"
a comedy which had a successful run at the Gym-
nase in 1876. He married Wilhelmine Josephine
Simon of the Theatre Fran(;ais, who wrote under
the name "Gustave Heller."
Bibliography : La Grande Encyclnpedie.
S. V. E.
FOUNDATION-STONE. See Cokner-Stonk.
FOUNDLING (Hebrew, "asuli"): A deserted
child whose parents are unknown. The question as
to the status of such a child in the Jewish commu-
nity was chiefly decided by the condition in which
it was found. If there was evidence that its parents
had abandoned it wilfully, its legitimacy was under
suspicion, and it was therefore treated as doubtfully
legitimate. If, however, there were indications that
its abandonment was caused by the inability of the
parents to support it, the child was regarded as
legitimate; the necessary indications migiit either
be furnished by the body of the child — as when it
was found circumcised, or with its limbs carefully
straightened, or its body anointed with oil, or its
eyes painted, or a talisman hung on its neck— or
might be obtained from the place where it was
found — as near a synagogue, or on the sidewalk
where many people passed, or on a tree where no
wild beast could reach it. Nobody might claim
the child as his or her offspring after it had been de-
clared a foundling, except in a year of famine, when
it was obvious that its parents only waited for some
one to take it up, so that it might have a home. If
they claimed it while it was still on the street thej
were believed in any case, and the child was consid-
ered as the offspring of a legitimate marriage (Kid.
73b; Maimonides, "Yad," Issure Biah, xv. 30, 31;
Shulhan 'Aruk, Eben ha-'Ezer, 4, 31, 32).
Those foundlings which were suspected of having
been born through illegitimate connections were
placed outside of the fold, and they might not inter-
marry with Israelites, nor with other foundlings or
illegitimates. The only persons whom they were
permitted to marry were proselytes and liberated
slaves; and the offspring of such marriages were in
the same status as the foundlings themselves (Kid.
74a; Maimonides, I.e. 33; Eben ha-'Ezer, 4, 86).
If a child was found in a place where Jews and
non-Jews lived, even if there were only a few of the
latter, he was considered, as regards intermarriage,
as being a non-Jewish child, until he had been
proselytized by the court or had become a Jew after
reaching his majority, when he became subject
to all the laws governing foundlings. In other
respects, however — as to the permission to give him
forbidden food, or as to the obligation of returning
to him any object that he lost, etc. — the majority
decided. If the majority of the inhabitants of the
place were non-Jews, the foundling was considered
a non-Jew; if the majority were Jews, he was con-
sidered a Jew ; and if they were half and half, he
was in a doubtful state (Mishnah Makshirin, ii. 7;
Ket. 15b; Yoma84b; Maimonides, ^.c. 25, 26; Eben
ha-'Ezer, 4, 33, 34).
The " shetuki " (the silent one) — i.e., a child whose
father is unknown — was placed in the same category
with the "asufl " (foundling), and might marry only
among proselytes or liberated slaves. Abba Saul
called such a child "beduki" (examined), one whose
status was established through the examination of
the mother. If she said nothing, or if she admitted
that the father of the child was an illegitimate, or if
she said that she did not know who the father was,
the child became subject to all the laws governing
foundlings. If, however, she said that its father
was a legitimate Israelite ("kasher"), she Avas be-
441
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Fould
Frag-a
licved, and the child might iutcrinarry even with
priests (Ket. 13a; Kid. 74a; Yer. Ket. i. 9; Maimon-
ides, I.e. 11, 12; compare ib. xviii. 13-16; Eben ha-
'Ezcr. 6, 17).
Altliough it was necessary to mention the name of
the fallier of tlie husband as well as of tlie wife in
a bill of divorce, the shetuki or the asiifi whose
father was unknown could write a bill of divorce,
mentioning only the name by which he himself was
known (Eben ha-'Ezer, 129, 9). If he died child-
less, since he liad no other heirs, his property was
"hefker" (vacant, ownerless), and any one could
appropriate it (see Geu). This law also applied to
the shetuki whose mother was known, for the rela-
tives on the mother's side were not considered lieirs
in Jewish law (Shulhan 'Aruk, Hoshen Mishpat,
27G, 4, Isserles' gloss). See Inheritance.
There is no trace of institutions for foundlings in
Talmudic literature. The custom probably pre-
Tailed that the foundling was taken into the house
of a childless couple who brought it up as their own.
a. s. J. H. G.
FOUNTAIN (Hebr. |iy) : A natural spring of
water. Although Palestine as a whole is scantily
supplied with water, it has a number of foimtaius.
These often spring up in the hollows of cliffs; but
sometimes wells have been dug. The Old Testa-
ment makes no sharp distinction between artificial
wells and springs. Among the best-known foun-
tains are the sources of the Jordan near Banias and
Tell al-Kadi (Dan), the sources of the Gihon (St.
Mary's Well) near Jerusalem, the Harod (Goliath)
fountains in the valley leading from the plain of
Je/.reel to Scythopolis, and those near Nazareth.
Numerous villages and towns have been named
after the fountains which gave rise to the settle-
ments, e.g.. En-dor, En-gannim, En-gedi, Enshe-
mesh, En-rimmon, and En-hazor.
E. G. II. F. Bu.
FOUR COUNTRIES. See Council of Four
Lands.
FOWLS. See Poultry.
FOX (^yitJ*). — Biblical Data : There are at pres-
ent two species of fox inhabiting Palestine: the
Canis flnvescens, found in the north, and the C. niloti-
cus, common In the central and southern regions.
But most of the passages of the Old Testament
in which "shu'al" occurs seem to apply rather
to the jackal (Canis aureus), the commonest beast of
prey in Palestine. On the other hand, there are two
special names for the jackal in the Old Testament,
both of which are found only in the plural,
"iyyim" and "tannim" (Isa. xiii. 23, xxxiv. 13 et
seq., xxxv. 7; Jer. ix. 10, x. 22, xlix. 33, etc.). It
may be that "shu'al" in the Old Testament is in-
tended as a general term for the whole family or for
several species of the Canidce, while "iyyim "and
"tannim" denote the jackal specifically as the
" howler " (comp. the Arabic " wawi, " or " ibn awa ")
and as the animal with the outstretched body. Ac-
cording to Tristram, even at the present day the two
animals are commonly confounded in Syria, though
the inhabitants are aware of their distinction.
Thus the catching of 300 shu'alim in the story of
Samson (Judges xv. 4) seems to refer to jackals
rather than to foxes, since the former are gregarious
and remain in droves, while the latter prowl singly
and are taken alive with difficulty. So also in Ps.
Ixiii. 11, the word probably applies to the jackal, as
it is characteristic'of the latter, but not of the fox,
to feed on dead bodies. Lam. v. 18 and Neh. iii. 35
are applicable alike to the fox and the jackal, as
both are in the habit of burrowing among rocks and
ruins; while Ezek. xiii. 4 and Cant. ii. 15 no d()ul)t
refer to the proverbial cunning of the fox ami its
fondness for grapes, though the jackal is equally
destructive to vineyards.
That foxes and jackals were formerly, as now,
common in Palestine, may be inferred from the
names derived from these animals, as "Hazar-shual"
(Josh. XV. 28) and "Shalim" (I Sam. ix. 4).
In Rabbinical Literature : There is no as-
certained reference to the jackal in the rabbinical
writings, while the fox is often spoken of. The
latter's term of gestation is six months; it prowls
among ruins, burrows in the earth, is even found to
inhabit a hollow gourd ; kills poultry and young
lambs and kids, and is noxious to vineyards (Bek.
8a; Mak. 24b; Ned. 811); Ket. 111b; Hul. 53a; B.
K. 92a; Eccl. \\. 98a, etc). In proverbial expres
sious the cunning and treacherous fox is often con-
trasted with the kingly lion: "Be rather the tail
[i.e., the last] among lions than the head of foxes"
(Sanh. 37a; Ab. iv. 15). Of one who belied his
great reputation it was said: "The lion has become
a fox" (B. K. 117a; comp. also B. M. 84b; Meg.
16b; Ned. 81b; Ab. ii. 15). The "fox fables"
("mishle shu'alim"), of which 300 were known to
R. Meir (Sanh. 38b; Suk. 28a), had no doubt esca-
pades of the fox for their themes (comp. Ber. Clb;
E.sth. R. iii. 1; Eccl. R. v. 14; L. Levysohn,
in "Jiidisches Volksblatt," vol. iii.). See ^sop'a
Fables Among the Jews.
The fox was also employed in the magic of the
time. The tail of a fox was suspended between the
eyes of the horse to protect it against the evil eye
(Shab. 53a) ; its tooth was carried to promote or pre-
vent sleep, according as it was taken from a live or
a dead animal (Shab. 67a, Rashi) ; while the passing
of a fox on one's left side was considered an evil
omen (Sanh. 65b).
Bibliography: Tristram, The Natural Histor)! of the Bible,
p. 8.5; L. Levysohn, Zoologie dcs Talmuds, p. 77.
e. g. h. I. M. C.
FOY : Branch of the family Foa, settled in the
southwest of France since the middle of the eight-
eenth century. Special mention may be made of
Solomon Foy, born at Bordeaux, Jan. 17, 1858,
a violinist and author of "Rimes Yoilees" (Bor-
deaux, 1877) and of various comedies and operettas.
Edmund Foy was president of the chamber of com-
merce in Bayonne.
Bibliography: H. L^on, Histoire des Juifs de Baxionne, p.
4~'8; Arch. Isr. 1841. p. 2.53; H. Mlnier and J. Delpit, Le T)ie-
dtre d Bordeaux ; Feret, Statistique de la Gir-oiide, iii. 257.
G.
C. DE B.
FRAGA : City in Aragon. In 1328 Alfonso IV.
confirmed all the privileges which the Moncadas
had granted to the Jews of Fraga. Four years later
he permitted his second wife, Leonora, to whom
he had presented Huesca and Fraga, to admit six
Franca
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
442
Jewish families to Fraga. The Jews are said to have
been persecuted there iu 1389 and 1391. In 1438 the
Jewish community was still us large as that in
Jaca, and, like it, paid 200 sueldos annually in taxes.
Fraga was the birtliplace of the baptized physician
Astruc Remoch. Isaac Arama served for several
years as a preacher in Fraga.
Bibliography: Shalshelet ha-Kahhalah, p. 93b; Amador de
los lUos, HM. ii. 83, 157; Jacobs, Sources, Nos. 9:i5, 1028;
Gratz, Gesch. viii. 83.
G. M. K.
FRANCE (formerly called Gaul) : Country
forming the most westerly part of Central Europe.
Roman-Gallic Epoch : The banishment of
Archelaus to Vienne in Gaul in the year 6 (Josephus,
"Ant." xvii. 13, §§ 2-3; idem, "B. J." ii. 7, § 3; Dion
Cassius Cocceianus, "Hist. Roma," Iv. 27; Strabo,
xvi. 2, 46), andthatof Herod Antipas to Lugdunum
(Lyons) in the year 39 (Josephus, "Ant." xviii. 7,
^ 2, but differently in"B. J." ii. 9, § 6), were assur-
edly not the determining factors in the Jewish im-
migration into the Gallic provinces. The immigra-
tion was due rather to economic causes and to chance
trading-journeys. There is no documentary proof
of the presence of Jews in this country dating earlier
than the fourth centurj^ but they were certainly
there before that period. Hilary of Poitiers (died
366) is praised for having fled from their society
(VenantiusFortunatus, "VitaS. Hilarii,"iii.). A de-
cree of the emperors Theodosius II. and Valentinian
III., addressed to Amatius, prefect of Gaul (July 9,
425), prohibited Jews and pagans from practising law
and from holding public offices (" militandi "), in
order that Christians should not be in subjection
to them, and thus be incited to change their faith
C'Constit. Sirmond." vi.,ed. Hoenel, "Corpus Juris
Antejustin." i. 458). At the funeral of Plilary,
Bishop of Aries, in 449, Jews and Christians mingled
in crowds and wept, while the former sang psalms in
Hebrew (Honoratus "Vita Hilarii," 22; "Prosper! et
Ilonorati Opera," ed. Salinas, p. 304, Rome, 1732).
From the year 465 the Church took official cogni-
zance of the Jews. The Council of Vannes (465) for
bade the clergy to partake of the meals of the Jews or
to invite them to their own, because, Christian food
being placed under the ban by the
Church Jews, the clergy would appear inferior
Laws to them if they accepted Jewish
Against food while the Jews refused to eat
Jews. the food which Christians offered them
("Concil. Vanet." can. 12; Mansi,
"Sacrorum Conciliorum Nova et Amplissima Col-
lectio," vii. 954). In 472 Sidonius Apollinarius rec-
ommended a Jew to Eleutherius of Tournai, saying
that "these people are accustomed to having good
causes to plead." On two occasions in 473 he made
use of the services of a Jew named Gozolas to send
a letter to one of his correspondents. At the same
date he recommended another Jew, who had been
baptized, to Nonnechius, Bishop of Nantes ("Sidon.
Apollin." ed. Baret, iii. 8, p. 252; i v. 8, p. 277; vi. 8,
p. 350; viii. 4, p; 410).
Jews were found in Marseilles in the sixth century
(Gregory of Tours, "Historia Francorum," v. 11, vi.
17; Gregory the Great, "Epistol. Greg." 1, 47;Migne,
Ixxvii. 50 >), ;it Aries (ih. vii. 24). at Uzes (" Vita Fer-
reoli "), at Narbonne (Gregory of Tours, viii. 1), at
Clermont-Ferrand (ib. iv. 12; v. 11), at Orleans
(Gregory, " Vit. Patr. " vi. 7), at Paris, and at Bor-
deaux (Gregory, " De Virt. S. Martini," 3, 50). These
places were generally centers of Roman administra-
tion, located on the great commercial routes, and
there the Jews possessed synagogues (for Clermont,
see Gregory of Tours, "Hist. Franc." v. 11 ; for Or-
leans, ib. viii. 1). In harmony with the Theodosian
code, and according to an edict addressed in 331 to
the decurions of Cologne by the emperor Constan-
tine, the internal organization of the Jews seems to
have been the same as in the Roman empire. They
appear to have liad priests (rabbis or hazzanim?),
archisynagogues, patersynagogues, and other syna-
gogue officials ("Cod. Theod." 4, xvi. 8: "Hieros et
archisynagogos et patres synagogarum et ceteros
qui synagogis deserviunt ").
The Jews were principally merchants (Gregory of
Tours, "Hist. Franc." iv. 12, 35; vi. 5, "Concil.
Matisc." can. 2; Mansi, ix. 932) and slave-dealers
("Epist. Greg." 7, 24; Migne, Ixxvii. 877); they
were also tax-collectors (Gregory of Tours, " Hist.
Franc." vii. 23), sailors {idem, " De Gloria Conf."
97), and physicians (idem, "Hist. Franc." v. 6).
They probably rem.ained under the Roman law
until the triumph of Christianity, with the status
established by Caracalla — on a footing of equality
with their fellow citizens. The emperor Constan-
tius (321) compelled them to share in the curia, a
heavy burden imposed on citizens of townships
("Cod. Theod." 3, xvi. 8). There is nothing to
show that their association "with their fellow citizens
was not of an amicable nature, even after the estab-
lishment of Christianity in Gaul. It is known that the
Christian clergy participated in their feasts ("Coun-
cil of Agda," 506); intermarriage between Jews and
Christians sometimes occurred (Council of Orleans,
533) ; the Jews made proselytes, and their religious
customs were so freely adopted that at the third Coun-
cil of Orleans (539) it was found necessary to warn
the faithful against Jewish "superstitions," and to
order them to abstain from traveling on Sunday and
from adorning their persons or dwellings on that day.
Merovingian Period : During this period the
Church endeavored to modify existing conditions in
the interests of Christianity. In the provincial coun
cils the bishops adopted a series of measures for the
purpose ( f creating a chasm between Jews and Chris-
tians, and of marking the inferiority of the Jews.
As stated above, the Council of Vannes proliibited
the clergy from taking their meals with them
(•'Concil. Vanet." can. 12; ]\Iansi, vii. 954; compare
the action of the Council of Elvira in 305). This
prohibition was repeated at the Council of Agda in
506 (" Concil. Agath." can. 40; ]Mansi,viii. 331), again
at the Council of Epaon in 517 ("' Concil. Epaon. " can.
15 ; Mansi, viii. 561), and once more at the third Coun-
cil of Orleans ("Concil. Aurel." iii. can. 13;Mansi,ix.
15). The second Council of Orleans (533), that of Cler-
mont (535), and that of Orleans (538) prohibited all
intermarriage of Jews and Christians. Christians
who would not agree to dissolve such unions were
to be excommunicated ("Concil. Aurel." ii. can. 19;
Mansi, viii. 838; "Concil. Arvern."can. 6; Mansi,
viii. 861; "Concil. Aurel." iii. can. 13; Mansi, ix
443
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
France
15). The Council of Clermont (535) forbade the ap-
pointing of Jews as judges ("Concil. Arvern." can.
9; Mansi, viii. 8G1). The third Council of Orleans
(538) and again that of Macon (581) decreed that
"since, b}' the grace of God, v,e live under the rule
of Catholic kings," the Jews should not appear
among Christians for four consecutive days after
Good Friday ("Concil. Aurel." iii. can. 30; Mansi,
ix. 19; "Concil. Matisc."can. 14; Mansi, ix. 934).
The fourth Council of Orleans (541) decreed among
other things tiiat whenever a Jew made a pros-
elyte (" advcna "), or reconverted to his religion a Jew
who had been baptized, or possessed
Decrees of himself of a Christian slave, or con-
Church, verted to Judaism any one born of
Councils. Christian parents, he should be pun-
ished by the loss of all his slaves. If
any one born of Christian parents became a Jew,
and obtained his freedom on condition of remaining
such, the condition must be considered void, for it
was unjust that one living as a Jew should enjoy
the freedom attaching to Christian birth ("Concil.
Aurel." iv. can. 31; Mansi, ix. 118). The Council
of Macon (581) reiterated the prohibition against
appointing Jews as judges, and closed to them also
the oi'.ice of tax-collector, " in order that Christians
may not be subjected to those whom God rejects"
("Concil. Matisc." can. 13; Mansi, ix. 934). To the
prohibition against appearing in public during Holy
Week were added the obligation to show reverence
to ecclesiastics and the interdiction against walking
before them. Those who broke this law were to be
punished by the local magistrates («'i. can. 14; Mansi,
ib.). Despite the decrees of previous councils, Jews
living in some of the towns continued to hold
Christian slaves. The Council of Macon, therefore,
decreed that such slaves were to be ransomed for
twelve sous, and either be set at liberty or continue
in servitude under their new masters. If the Jews
refused to free them, the slave, until his master
accepted the price of his redemption, should be
free to dwell among Christians wherever he chose.
If a Jew succeeded in converting a Christian
slr.ve to Judaism he lost his property rights over
that slave and the right of making him an ob-
ject of testamentary bequest {ib. can. 16; Mansi, ix.
935). The Council of Narbonne forbade Jews to sing
psalms at burials of their own people ; those who
transgressed this decree were compelled to pay a
line to the lord of the city ("Concil. Narbou." can.
9 ; Mansi, ix. 1016). The fifth Council of Paris (614)
prohibited the Jews from asking or from exercising
civic or administrative rights over Christians, unless
they and their families should accept baptism from
the bishop of the place ("Concil. Paris," v. can. 17;
Mansi, x. 542). The same prohibition was renewed
at the Council of Rheims in 624-625 ("Concil. Rem."
can. 11 ; Mansi, x. 596). This council returned to the
question of Christian slaves and decreed that if a
Jew converted or tormented his Christian slaves
they should revert to the state treasury (ib.).
It may be seen that these different measures were
not in any way founded upon the supposition that
the Jews were morally debased, but harmonized
rather with the views of theologians and politicians.
The Church, it will be observed, no longer content
with i.s.suing prohibitions concerning the conduct
of Christians with relation to the Jews, now placed
Jews them.selves, in certain cases, under its own ju-
risdiction, and at the same time made it to the inter-
est of the civil authorities to assist in carrying out
its measures. The council found it necessary also
to obtain the sanction of the temporal power for its
canons, an aim which it pursued unflaggingly and
with much success, for the Merovingian kings in
general showed themselves willing to accept its
authority. Yet tiieywere not all submissive to tiie
requests of the clergy. Pope Gregory the Great (599)
rebuked Queen Brunhilda, Thierry, king of the
Burgundians, and Theodebert, king of Austrasia,
for allowing the Jewsio hold Christian slaves. But
such resistance was infrequent: the power of the
Church at that time, in an almost barbarous state, is
well known. Childebert was the first fanatic king,
and he ratified the decisions of the third Council of Or-
leans concerning the presence of Jews in public dur-
ing Holy Week ("Concil. Matisc."
Under can. 14; Mansi, xiv. 836; according
Childebert to Boretius, liowever, it is not certain
and that the article became a part of the
Chilperic. constitution; (see "Beitriige zur Capi-
tularienkritik," p. 21). He banished
Ferreol (555), the Bishop of Uz6s, for having had
too friendly relations with the Jews ("Vita Ferreoli,
apud Marcus Antonius Dominicy, Ausberti Familia
Rediviva," App., p. 27, Paris, 1648). Chilperic was
similarly influenced. In 582 he drove many Jews to
the baptismal font, but they were not all sincere, and
many returned to their former "perfidy." He em-
ployed as treasurer or as purchasing agent a Jew
named Priscus, whom he had vainlj^ urged to be bap-
tized, and whom, happening once to be at Nogent-
sur-Marne, he even asked Gregory of Tours to con-
vert. Finally, he cast him into prison " in order to
compel him to believe despite himself." Priscus
promised to come to a conclusion in due time. In
the interval a dispute arose between Priscus and a
certain Phatir, a converted Jew for whom the king
had stood sponsor. While Priscus was on his way to
the synagogue with his companions Phatir slew him,
and took refuge in the basilica of St. Julien. The
murderer was afterward killed in the kingdom of
Gontran by the relatives of Priscus (Gregory of
Tours, "Hist. Franc." vi. 17). Gontran was in no
way inferior to Chilperic in point of fanaticism. On
the occasion of his entry into the city of Orleans
(585), as the Jews had joined with the population
in "singing his praises in their ow^n tongue," the
king said at table: "Wo unto this wicked and per-
fidious Jewish race, that thrives only by knavery.
To-day they were lavish w'th their blatant flattery;
all people, said they, should reverence me as their
lord, and this only to induce me to rebuild at the
state's expense their synagogue Avhicli the Chris-
tians destroyed long ago. That I shall never do, for
God forbids it" (Gregory of Tours, "Hist. Franc."
viii. 1). Clotaire II., who bad been raised to the
throne at a prelates' congress, hastened to legalize
(Oct. 18, 614) the canon of the fifth Council of
Paris (Oct. 10, 614) relating to the Jews (" Chlotar.
Edit." cap. X., ed. Boretius, i. 22). Gondebaud,
fourth king of the Burgundians, in his struggle
France
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
444
against Clovis (500) had been exposed to the en-
mity of tlie cle^g}^ Forced to submit, he agreed
to embrace Christianity. It was then that what
is known as the "Loi Gombette" was drawn up,
which among other things forbade all marriage be-
tween Jews and Christians, such unions, in accord-
ance with the law of Theodosius IX., being declared
adulterous by the "Loi Gombette" ("Lex Rom.
Burg." tit. xix. 4; "Monum. Germ. LL." iii. 609).
About the year 517 the same Gondebaud prescribed,
in the law which is attributed to him, that any Jew
who struck or kicked a Christian should be punished
by having his hand cut off, though he might com-
promise by pa3'ing a compensation of 75 sous and a
fine of 12 sous. For striking a priest the penalty
was death and confiscation of property ("Libr Leg.
Guudob." 102, 1-3; "Monum. Germ. LL." iii. 573).
In order to insure the public triumph of the
Church, the clergy endeavored to bring the Jews to
the acceptance of baptism. A certain
Conversion Simon who was converted about the
of Jews. year 350 even became Bishop of Metz
("Pauli ct Petri Carmiua," 25, 25:
Migne, "Patrol. Lat., Poet. Lat. Carol." i. 60).
The Council of Agda (306) determined the con-
ditions oii which Jews were admitted to baptism.
Ferreol, Bishop of Uzes, converted them by liv-
ing in familiar intercourse with them. Having
been severely rebuked for this by Childebert, Fer-
reol ordered the Jews of his diocese to meet in
the Church of St. Theodoric, and preached to them
a baptismal sermon. Some Jews abjured their
faith ; he forbade the others to remain in the city,
and expelled them from his diocese (558) (" Vita Fer-
reoli," I.e.). Saint Germain (568) converted a Jew
at Bourges named Sigerich (Veuantius Fortunatus,
"Vita S. Germ." cap. 62). Avitus, Bishop of Cler-
mont, strove long but vainlj'- to make converts. At
length in 576 a Jew sought to be baptized. One of
his former coreligionists poured fetid oil over his
head. The following Sunday the mob that accom-
panied the bishop razed the synagogue to the
ground. Afterward the bishop told the Jews that
unless they were willing to embrace Christianity
they must withdraw, since he as bishop could have
but one flock. It is said that five hundred Jews
then accepted baptism, and the rest withdrew to
Marseilles (Gregory of Tours, "Hist. Franc." v. 11 ;
Venantius Fortunatus, " Carm." v. 5, a poem written
at the command of Gregorj-)- The example of Avitus
was imitated by Virgilius, Bishop of Aries, and by
Theodore, Bishop of Marseilles, and it became nec-
essary for Pope Gregory the Great, on an appeal
from the Jews who were engaged in commerce at
Marseilles, to enjoin more moderation and the em-
ployment of only suasion for the conversion of the
incredulous ("Epist. Greg." i. 47; ed. Migne, Ixxvii.
509). Sulpicius, Bishop of Bourges (before 644), en-
gaged with equal ardor in the work of conversion
("VitaS. Sulpicii," i. 14).
The Jews were not unconcerned in the troubles
which devastated the country during the struggles
with the "barbarians." With their fellow citizens
they defended the city of Aries, which was besieged
in 508 by the Franks and the Burgundians. When
C;Bsarius, the bishop, gave evidence of Burgundian
leanings and one of his kinsmen passed over to the
hostile forces, the Jews and the Goths taxed the
bishop with treason. According to the historian,
he found a Jew to open negotiations with the enemy
and to propose the surrender of the city (" Vita S.
CiEsarii Episc. Arelat. " i., by S. Cyprius, Bishop of
Toulouse; ed. Migne, "Patrol. Lat." Ixvii.). This
story has been rightly mistrusted (see Israel Levi in
"R. E. J." XXX. 295 etseq.).
In 629 King Dagobert proposed to drive from his
domains all Jews who would not accept Christian-
ity. He was instigated to this step
Under by Heraclius, Emperor of the East, to
Dagobert. whom astrology had predicted the de-
struction of his empire by a circum-
cised people (Fredeg. " Chron. " 65, ed. Monod, p. 147 ;
comp. "Gesta Dagoberti," c. 24; Bouquet, ii. 586).
The story, fabulous in itself, was not invented until
after the Arab conquest in 632. It is known from
other sources that the clergy were never so powerful
under any Merovingian king as under Dagobert.
From his reign to that of Pepin the Short no further
mention of the Jews is found. But in the south of
France, which was then known as " Septimania" and
was a dependency of the Visigothic kings of Spain,
the Jews continued to dwell and to prosper. From
this epoch (689) dates the earliest known Jewish in-
scription relating to France, that of Narbonue ("R.
E. J. " xix. 75). The Jews of Narbonne, chiefly mer
chants, were popular among the people, wlio often
rebelled against the Visigothic kings. It is note-
worthy that Julian of Toledo ("Hist. Rebel. Ad-
versus Wambam Insultatio in Tyrann. Gallise," i.
25; ed. Migne, xcvi. 797)accuse3Gaulof being Juda-
ized. Wamba (672-680) decreed that all the Jews
of his realm should either embrace Christianity or
quit his dominions. This edict, which " threatened
the interests of the country," provoked a general
uprising. The Count of Nimes, Hilderic ; the abbot
Ramire; and Guimaldus, Bishop of Maguelon, took
the Jews under their protection, and even compelled
their neighbors to follow their example. But the
insurrection was crushed, and the edict of expulsion
was put into force in 673 {lb. 28). The exile of the
•lews was not of long duration, since in 681 the twelfth
Council of Toledo took cognizance of them, and at
the seventeenth, in 694, Egica demanded the punish-
ment of relapsed Jews, but excepted from this
measure those who inhabited the provinces of Gaul,
in order that they might assist these regions in re-
covering from the losses they had sustained, and, in
general, that the Jews who dwelt in the country
might help the duke who was its governor and might
contribute to the recstablishment of the province by
their talent and by their care and industry. But this
was always with the understanding that they be con-
verted to the Catholic faith (Dom Vaissette, "Hist.
Generale de Languedoc," ed. Privas, 1. 750-751).
Carlovingian Period : From a letter of Pope
Stephen III. (768-772) to Bishop Aribert of Nar-
bonne it is seen that in his time the Jews still dwelt in
Provence, and even in the territory of Narbonne, en-
joying hereditar}' allodial tenure, and being exempt
from high taxation in the towns and outskirts bj'' con-
cession of " the kings of France. " They owned fields
and vineyards and employed Christians (" Stephani
445
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
France
"King of
the Jews "
at
Narbonne.
PapseEpist."2; ed. Migne, cxxix. 857). This conces-
sion is probably connected with a curious episode in
the struggle with the Arabs. Tiie " Roman de Philo-
niene " (Dom Vaissette, ed. Du Mi^ge, addit. toiii. 30)
recounts how Charlemagne, after a fabulous siege of
Narbonne, rewarded the Jews for the part they had
taken in the surrender of the city ; he yielded to
them, for their own use, a i)art of the city, and
granted them the right to live under a "Jewish
king," as the Saracens lived under a Saracen king.
Meir, son of Simon of Narbonne (1240),
in his " 3Iilhemet Mi/wah" refers to the
same story. It is a well-known fact,
he adds, that at the siege of Narbonne
King Charles, having had his horse
killed imder him, would himself have
been killed but for a Jew who dismounted and gave
the king his horse at the cost of his own life, for he
was killed by the Saracens. A tradition that Charles
granted to them a third part of the town and of its
suburbs (Neu-
bauer, in " R. E.
J." X. 98-99) is
partly confirmed
by a document
which once ex-
isted in the ab-
bey of Grasse,
and which
showed that un-
der the emperor ^ , j- /w-t>'— - - ^ ■ t r-
Charlemagne a p^' J g;''0;i|^./(XET£i:M:.
"king of the
Jews" owned a
section of the
city of Nar-
bonne, a pos-
session which
Charlemagne
confirmed in
791 (Note of
Du Mege, "Me-
moires de la So-
eiete des Antiquaires," 1829, viii. 340). In the Royal
Letters of 1364 (Doat Collection, 53 e< seq. 339-353) it is
also stated that there were two kings at Narbonne, a
Jew and a Saracen, and that one-thii-d of the city was
given to the Jews. A tradition preserved by Abraham
iba Daud, and agreeing in part with the statement of
Benjamin of Tudela, his contemporary, attributes
these favors to R. Makir, whom Charlemagne sum-
moned from Babylon, and who called himself a de-
scendant of David (Neubauer, "Med. Jew. Chroni-
cles," i. 82). The Jewish quarter of Narbonne was
called "New City" ("Hist. Litter, de la France,"
xxvii. 561), and the "Great Jewry" (Tournai,
"Catal. du Musee de Narbonne").' The Makir
family bore, in fact, the name "Nasi" (prince), and
lived in a building known as the "Cortada Regis
JudiEorum" (Saige, "Hist, des Juifs du Langue-
doc," p. 44). The granting of such privileges would
certainly seem to be connected with some particular
event, but more probably under Charles Martel or
Pepin the Short than under Charlemagne. A similar
story of the surrender of Toulouse to the Saracens
by the Jews is rejected as a fable by Catel ("Me-
Under
Char-
lemagne.
Boretius).
were tried
Earliest Known Inscription Relating to the Jews of France, Dated Narbonne, (}S9.
moires de I'Histoire du Languedoc," p. 517), and
also by Dom Vaissette (iii. 252).
Whatever be the amount of truth in these stories,
it is certain that the Jews were again numerous in
France under Charlemagne, their position being
regulated by law. A formula for the Jewish oath
was fixed ("Capit. de Juda-is," cap. 4; Boretius, 1.
258). They were allowed to enter into lawsuits with
Christians ("Capit. Miss. Aquisgran. Alt." cap. 13;
Boretius, i. 152), and in their relations with the latter
were restrained only from making them work on
Sunday {ib.). They must not, however, take in pawn
goods belonging to the Church ("Capit. de Juda'is,"
jcap. 1-3; Boretius, i. 258: though it is
doubtful whether this paragraph dates
from Charlemagne). They must not
trade in currency, wine, or corn {ib. ;
also a doubtful paragraph according to
Of more importance is the fact that they
by the emperor himself, to whom they
belonged (ib.).
They engaged
in export trade,
an instance of
this being found
inthe Jew whom
Charlemagne
employed to
go to Pales-
tine and bring
back precious
merchandise
("Mon. Sangal."
i. 16; "Monum.
Germ., Scrip-
tores," ii. 787).
Furthermore,
when the Nor-
mons disem-
barked on the
coast of Narbon-
nese Gaul they
were taken for
Jewish merchants [ih. ii. 14; ii. 757). They boast,
says one authority, of buying whatever they please
from bishops and abbots ("Capit. Miss. Nuimag.
dat." cap. 4; Boretius, i. 131). Isaac the Jew, who
was sent by Charlemagne in 797 with two ambassa-
dors to Harun al-Rashid, Avas probably one of these
merchants ("Einh. Annal." ad ann. 801; "Monum.
Germ., Scriptores," 1, 190). It is a curious fact that
among the numerous provincial councils which met
during Charlemagne's reign not one concerned itself
with the Jews, although these had increased in num-
ber. In the same spirit as in the above-mentioned
legends he is represented as asking the Bagdad
calif for a rabbi to instruct the Jews whom he
had allowed to settle at Narbonne (" Sefer ha-Kab-
balah," ed. Neubauer, in "Med. Jew. Chron." i.82).
It is also stated that he wished to transplant the
family of Kalonj'mus from Lucca to Mayence
(" 'Emek ha-Bakah," p. 13). From this time forward
mention is made of rabbis. A certificate of the son
of Charlemagne is delivered to a rabbi, Domains,
Donnatus, or Dematus (see below). Hrabanus
Maurus, Bishop of Fulda, states that in compiling
France
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
446
Lis works he consulted with Jews wlio knew tiie
Bible (Mi^ne, cix. 10). Bishop Agobard relates that
in his diocese the Jews have preachers who go to
hear the Christians, and he tells of the opinions which
tiiey held and which they doubtless placed on
record in their writings (see below).
Louis le Debonnaire (814-833), faithful to the prin-
ciples of his father, granted strict protection to the
Jews, to whom he gave special attention in their
position as merchants. The language which he uses
in regard to them is characteristic ; it
Under is carefully weighed and free from all
Louis le fanaticism. Louis takes under his pro-
De- tection (before 825) Rabbi Domatus and
bonnaire. Samuel, his little son by Septimania;
he gives orders against their being
molested in the possession of their property, per-
mits them to change or to sell it, to live according
to their law, to hire Christians for their work, and
to buy and sell foreign slaves within the empire.
He prohibits Christians from diverting such slaves
from tlieir duties by offering baptism to them. These
Jews being under the protection of the king, any
who should plan or perpetrate their death were to
be punished. It was equally forbidden to submit
them to the ordeal by water or fire. The diploma
granting these privileges was to be shown not only
to civil officials, but also to the bishops, abbots, etc.
("Formul. Imp." 30; Roziere, " Recueil," No. 27;
Bouquet, vi. 649). Louis accorded his protection to
others also, and ("Formul. Imp." 31; Roziere, I.e.
No. 28) not alone to individuals, but likewise to the
Jews of the whole country. This is seen in an inci-
dent which occurred to the Jews of Lyons. Be-
tween 822 and 825 Agobard, bishop of the diocese
of that city, had come to the court of Louis to pro-
test against the law concerning the baptism of the pa-
gan slaves of Jews. The substance of his complaint
was that the privileges of the Jews were rigidly up-
held. The Jews had a master ("magister Juda'o-
rum"), that is to say, a preserver of their privileges,
appointed by the emperor, and charged with seeing
that they were carried out. This mas-
Agobard's ter of the Jews threatened Agobard
Account, with the arrival of " missi dominici "
who would punish him for his audac-
ity. In fact, these missi had come to Lyons, and
they showed themselves terrible toward the Chris-
tians, but gentle toward the Jews, who had charters
declaring that they were in the right. It was said that
the Jews, far from being objects of hatred to the
emperor, were better loved and considered than the
Christians (see Agobard).
Agobard, with two other bistiops, also wrote to
the emperor a memoir relating all that the Church
of Gaul and its heads, as well as the bishops, had
done to keep tlie two religions distinct. In the letter
to which he here makes allusion he refers to the "su-
perstitious ideas and absurd beliefs of the Jews,"
citing traits which recall the " Slii'ur Komah, " " Sefer
Yezirah," the Talmud, and divers iVIidrashim of late
date (it may be remembered that Hai Gaon, in
"Ta'am Zekenim," reports that the French Jews
boast of possessing mystical works from Natronai).
In their books these Jews, after their fashion, recount
the history of Jesus and Peter (he seems to refer to
a "Toledot Yeshu"); they pretend that the Chris-
tians adore idols, and that the powers obtained by
the intercession of the saints are in reality secured
through the devil. In a letter to Nibridius, Bishop
of Narbonne, Agobard begs him to work for the sep-
aration of Jews and Christians as he himself is
doing, enjoining upon the Christians to flee from
the society of the Jews at Lyons and in some of
the neighboring towns. Promiscuity is dangerous,
for as a matter of fact the Christians celebrate the
Sabbat h with the Jews, desecrate Sunday, and trans-
gress the regular fasts. Because the Jews boast of
being of the race of the Patriarchs, the nation of
the righteous, the children of the Prophets, the
ignorant think that they are the only people of
God and that the Jewish religion is better than their
own ("Agobardi Opera," ed. Migne, civ.; comp.
Bernhard Simon, "Jahrbiicher des Frankischen
Reiches Unter Ludwig dem Frommen," i. 393 tt
seq., Leipsic, 1874). The highly colored picture pre-
sented by the letter of Agobard shows not only
the policy followed by the Church — the separation
of Jews and Christians, and the reproaches then
hurled at the Jews — but also the prosperity which
the Jews enjoyed as merchants (not usurers), and
the commencement of their literary activity.
Agobard had a worthy successor in the person
of his disciple Amulo (Amolon), who in 846 pub-
lished a letter (" Contra Judoeos," ed. Migne, cxvi.)
which took up and carried to completion Agobard 's
arguments; his memoir affords new information on
the situation of the Jews of his diocese. The people
had not yet perceived the danger of intermingling
with the Jews, and the leaders were afflicted with
the same blindness. Wine, even for religious pur-
poses, was always purchased from the Jews; Chris-
tian freemen continued to take service
Amulo's with them, both in the city and elsc-
" Against where; the ignorant still claimed that
the Jews." the Jews preached to them better than
did the priests. He states that certain
converted Jews have informed him that in some
places Jewish farmers of revenue abuse their power
by compelling those of little spirit, the weak-minded,
to deny Jesus. It is in this way that the deacon
Bodon has been deceived into becoming a Jew. On
several occasions Amulo has ordered his flock to keep
aloof from the Jews, and has ordered the bishops to
come into closer relationship with their charges in
order that danger may be averted. Amulo like-
wise denounces the aberrations and superstitions of
the Jews, who devote themselves entirely to their
traditions, which they make the subject of discourses
and sermons every Saturday in the synagogues.
He mentions also the invidious expressions of which
they make use to designate the Apostles and the Gos-
pel, and their arguments in defense of their ]\ressi-
anic ideas (which accord with those of the " Sefer Ze-
rubbabel " and the " Ma'aseh of R. Joshua b. Levi ").
This memoir is contemporary with two synods which
met at ^leaux (June 17, 845) and at Paris (Feb. 14,
846). At these councils, in wliich Amulo took part,
the king was urged in the terms of the "Contra Ju-
da^os" to observe toward the Jews the ancient laws
and edicts ("Concil. Meld. "can. 73; Labbe, xiv. 836).
The king, however, paid little attention to the ex-
447
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
France
hortations of the bishops (Prudentius of Troyes,
" Annales," ed. Migne, cxv. 1399), and did not ratify
the canon on the Jews ("Capitularium Sparnaci ").
The attempt had failed once again. According to
the legend related in the Annals of Hincmar (ad ann.
877; "Monum.Gerni., Script()res"i. 504, 589), Charles
the Bald paid for this imprudence, being poisoned
in i\Iautua by his Jewish doctor Sedecias (Annaiista
Saxo, ib. 584). The king also employed Jews on
foreign missions (Diego, "Historia de los Condcs de
Sarcelona," p. 26). The Jews, who continued to
devote themselves to commerce, differed in their
privileges from the Christians only in the amount of
duty levied on them, paying one-tenth of the value
of the goods, while Christians paid one-eleventh
(Bouquet, vii. 104: if this capitiilary is authentic).
Ibn Kordadhbeh, who speaks of the southern French
Jews about 850, depicts them going as far as the
Indies and China ("Journal Asiatique," si.\th series,
V. 512). See Commerce.
From the middle of the ninth to the twelftli cen-
tury is certaiuly an important epoch; it was tlien
that French society became transformed by the de-
velopment of the feudal system and the organiza-
tion of the gilds ; the arbitrary rapacity of the one
oppressing the weak — agricultural serf and Jewish
merchant alike — and the jealous e.xclusiveness of
the other prohibiting the exercise of trades by non-
Catholics, while both invested all things with the
religious fanaticism which later expressed itself in
the Crusades. At the same time it is the epoch in
which the rabbinical schools, already mentioned in
Amulo's account, appeared in full light, when He-
brew literature in France produced its first works,
and when famous rabbis matie French Judaism illus-
trious and impressed upon it the character which it
was to retain for several centuries. Unfortunatelj',
however, but few details concerning this transition
period are known; they are as follows:
At Sens, about 876, the archbishop Ansegise, prel-
ate of Gaul, expelled the Jews and the friars from
his city — for a certain reason, according to an elev-
enth-century historian (Odorani, "Chron."ad ann.
888; Bouquet, viii. 237). As far as concerned the
Jews this is, perhaps, the first sign of the triumph
of feudalism. In 899 Charles the Simple confiscated,
for the profit of the church at Narbonne, all the
property held by the Jews and subject to the paj'-
ment of tithes (Vaissefcte. iii. 63). According to Saige
("Hist, des Juifsdu Languedoc," p. 9), this signifies
that the Jews might not possess land upon which
Church tithes were levied, but it did not abrogate
their right to hold free land. At any rate, in the
eleventh century they were in peaceful possession
of their landed property around Isarbonne.
The First Capets— 987-1137: According to
Richer, a historian who, as stated by Monod, in-
spires mistrust, Hugh Capet, "vrhose whole body
was covered with sores," was killed by the Jews in
996 ("Richeri Historia," lib. iv., toward the end, p.
308, ed. Giiadet). According to Guadet, Richer
merely means by this statement that the Jewish
physicians were the cause of his death. A Hebrew
document (Berliner's "Magazin," iv. ; "Ozar Tob,"
p. 49) states that a Jew of Blois, who had been con-
verted to Christianity, wished to destroy the Li-
moges community in 996, and accused the Jews of
emploj'ing on three holidays of the year a wax image
of the lord of the land, whicli they pierced in order
to bring about his death, just as they did in the
case of the host. But since the fable of the pierced
host came into existence several centuries later,
the story is open to doubt. Following the accusa-
tion of this convert, a priest appears to have coun-
seled his lord no longer to tolerate the Jews in the
city. In 1010 Alduin, Bishop of Limoges, offered
the Jews of his diocese the choice between baptism
and exile. For a month theologians held disputa-
tions with them, but without much success, for only
three or four of the Jews abjured their
Per- faith ; of the rest some fled into other
secution of cities, while others killed themselves
Jews in ("Chronicles of Adhemar of Cha-
Limoges bannes," ed. Bouquet, x. 152; "Chron.
and Rouen, of William Godellus," ib. 262, accord-
ing to whom the event occurred in
1007 or 1008). A Hebrew text also states that Duke
Robert of Normandy having concerted with his vas-
sals to destroy all the Jews on their lands who would
not accept baptism, many were put to death or killed
themselves. Among the martyrs was the learned
Rabbi Senior. A rich and esteemed man in Rouen,
Jacob b. Jekuthiel, went to Rome to implore the pro-
tection of the pope in favor of his coreligionists, and
the pontiff sent a high dignitar3'to put a stop to the
persecution (Berliner's "Magazin," iii. ; "Ozar Tob,"
pp. 46-48). Robert the Pious is well known for his
religious prejudice and for the hatred which he bore
toward heretics; it was he who first burned secta-
rians. There is probably some connection between
this persecution and a rumor which appears to have
been current in the year 1010. If Adhemar of Cha-
bannes, who wrote in 1030, is to be believed, in 1010
the Western Jews addressed a letter to their Eastern
coreligionists warning them of a military movement
against the Saracens. In the preceding year the
Church of the Holy Sepulcher had been converted
into a mosque by the INIohammedans, a sacrilege
which had aroused great feeling in Europe, and Pope
Sergius IV. liad sounded the alarm (" Monum. Germ.,
Scriptores, " iv. 137). The exasperation of the Chris-
tians, it seems, brought into existence and spread
the belief in a secret understanding between the
Mohammedans and the Jews. Twenty years later
Raoul Glaber (Bouquet, x. 34) knew more concern-
ing this stor}'. According to him, Jews of Orleans
had sent to the East through a beggar a letter which
provoked the order for the destruction of the Church
of the Holy Sepulcher. Glaber adds that on the dis-
covery of the crime the expulsion of the Jcavs was
everj'where decreed. Some were driven out of the
cities, others were put to death, while some killed
themselves; only a few remained in all the " Roman
world." Five years later a small number of those
who had fled returned. Count Riant says that this
whole story of the relations between the Jews and
the Mohammedans is only one of those popular leg-
ends with which the chronicles of the time abound
("Inventaire Critique des Lettres Historiques des
Croisades," p. 38, Paris, 1880). Another violent com-
motion arose about the year 1005. At this date
Pope Alexander II. wrote to the Viscount of Nar-
France
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
448
bouTiC, Bcranger, aud to Guifred, bisliop of the city,
praising them for having prevented tlie massacre
of the Jews in their district, and reminding tliem
that God does not approve of the shedding of
blood ("Concil." ix. 1138 aud 1154; Vaissette. 355).
A crusade had been formed against the Moors of
Spain, and tlie Crusaders had killed without mercy
all the Jews whom they met on their route.
During this period, which continues till the first
Cru.sade, Jewish culture was awakening, and still
showed a certain unity in the south of France aud
the north. Its domain did not em-
Franko- brace all human knowledge; it in-
Jewish eluded in the first place poetrj', which
Literature, was at times purely liturgical — the
echo of Israel's sufferings and the
expression of its invincible hope — but which more
often was a simple scholastic e.xercise without aspi-
ration, destined rather to amuse and instruct than to
move — a sort of dried sermon. Following this comes
Biblical exegesis, the simple interpretation of the
text, with neither daring nor depth, reflecting a
complete faith in traditional interpretation, and
based by preference upon the Midrashim, despite
their fantastic character. Finally', and above all,
their attention was occupied with the Talmud and
its commentaries. The text of this work, together
with that of the writings of the Geouim, par-
ticularly their responsa, was first revised and copied ;
then these writings were treated as a "corpus
juris," and were commented upon and studied both
as a pious exercise in dialectics and from the prac-
tical point of view. There was no philosophy, no
natural science, no belles-lettres, among the French
Jews of this period.
Several names of scholars and poets emerge from
the shadows of the tenth century: Makir, the gaon
Todros, and Moses b. Abbun, chiefs of the school of
Narbonne; Simon of Mans; his son Joseph and his
grandson Abbun the Great; Judah b. Meir ha-Kohen
(in French " Leontin "), teacher of Gershon ; Moses of
Aries. In the eleventh century there were many fa-
mous authors who played a role of the first impor-
tance in the development of Jewish civilization and
who left their imprint upon Judaism. The most illus-
trious of them was Gershon, called the " Light of the
Exile," who was originally from Mctz, but exercised
his activity at Mayence and establislied the study of
the Talmud upon the banks of the Rhine. He was a
poet, and his productions breathe an intense emotion,
due to the sorrows of the times. As grammarian, lie
turned his attention to the jNIasorah ; as Talmudist, he
was the author of the first. Talmudic commentary pro-
duced in Europe, as well as of practical treatises of
rabbinical casuistry and of responsa. As chief of
the school, inspired by circumstances Jie passed
measures (" takkanot ") of wide-reaching importance,
which have retained the force of law throughout
Occidental Judaism. He forbade polygamy and one-
sided divorce. He had pupils from France, among
others Judah b. ISIosesof Toulouse, Elias the Elder of
Mans, and Simoii the Elder of Mans, uncle of Rashi.
He corresponded with the French rabbis Simson
Cohen, Elias b. Elias, Daniel b. Jacob, Leon, Juston
(originally in all probability from Burgundy),
Samuel b. Judah, and Joseph b. Perigoros. Close
to Gershon must be placed Joseph b. Samuel Tob-
'Elem (Bonfils), rabbi of Limousin and Anjou, and
a remarkable Talmudist. He left to posterity many-
fine editions of the rabbinical writings of his pred-
ecessors. He was also an excellent poet, and the
author of interesting decisions and responsa. Litur-
gical poets, such as Joseph b. Solomon of Carcas-
sonne, Benjamin b. Samuel of Coutauces, and Elias
the Elder b. Menahem of Mans, were numerous.
Jewish France was so rich in men of learning that
she gave some of them to Germany, among them
Isaac ha-Levi of Vitr}', who became head of the
school at Worms, and Isaac b. Judah, who became
head of the school of Mayence. Both of these be-
came teachers of Rashi.
The great figure which dominates the second half
of the eleventh century, as well as the whole rabbin-
ical history of France, is Rashi (Solomon b. Isaac) of
Troyes (1040-1106). In him is personified the genius
of northern French Judaism: its de-
Rashi. voted attachment to tradition; its
naive, untroubled faith ; its piety, ar-
dent but free from mysticism. His works are dis-
tinguished by their clearness, directness, and hatred
of subtlety, and are written in a simple, concise, un-
affected style, suited to his subject. His commen-
tary on the Talmud, which was the product of
colossal labor, aud which eclipsed the similar works
of all his predecessors, by its clearness and soundness
made easy the study of that vast compilation, and
soon become its indispensable complement. His
commentary on the Bible (particularly on the
Pentateuch), a sort of repertory of the Midrash,
served for edification, but also advanced the taste
for simple aud natural exegesis. The school which
he founded at Troyes, his birthplace, after h;iv-
ing followed the teachings of those of Worms and
Mayence, immediately became famous. Around his
chair were gathered Simhah b. Samuel, R. Samuel
b. Meir (Rashbam), and Shemaia, his grandsons;
likewise Shemaria, Judah b. Nathan, and Isaac Levi
b. Asher, all of whom continued his work. In his
Biblical commentaries he availed himself of the
works of his contemporaries. Among them must
be cited Moses ha-Darshan, chief of the school of
Narbonne, who was perhaps the founder of exeget-
ical studies in France; Menahem b. Helbo; and,
above all, Joseph Caro. Thus the eleventh century
was a period of fruitful activity in literature.
Thenceforth French Judaism became one of the
poles of universal Judaism.
The Crusades : The Jews of France do not seem
to have suffered much during the Crusades, except,
perhaps, during the first (1096), when the Crusaders
are stated to have shut up the Jews of Rouen in a
church and to have exterminated them without dis-
tinction of age or sex, spariug only those who ac-
cepted baptism (Guibert de Nogent, ed. Bouquet, xii.
240; "Chron. Rothomag."; Labbe, "Novge Biblio-
thecoe, manuscript Lib." i. 367). According to a
Hebrew document, the Jews throughout France
were at that time in great fear, and wrote to their
brothers in the Rhine countries making known to
them their terror and asking them to fast and pray
(anonymous text of Maj'ence, in A. Neubauer and
Stern, "Hebraische Berichte fiber die Judenverfol-
449
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
France
gungen wahrend tier Kreuzziige," p. 47). Happily
their fears proved groundless.
At the time of the second Cru.sade, Jacob Tarn, the
grandson of Rashi, had cause to lament the actions
of the Crusaders, wlio burst into his house, sei/.ed
his possessions, destroyed a book of the Law, and
carried liim off into the open field Avith the inten-
tion of putting him to death. But perceiving one
of the nobles, he called him to his
R. Tarn in aid and was rescued. Ephraim of
the Second Boiui is the only writer who tells of
Crusade, this incident ; R. Tarn himself makes
no reference to it (" Judenverfol-
guugen," p. 64), and even Ephraim adds that in the
other communities of France no one was put to death
or compelled to abjure his faith. Nevertheless, the
consequences of the Crusades were terrible for the
Jews, for this great religious movement produced
an excitement of the popular imagination which had
dire results for them. It was about this time that
accusations of ritual murder were bruited ; mere
manifestations of a mental malady on the part of
majorities intolerant of the existence of a minority
who kept aloof froni them. From the economic
and social point of view this epoch was destined
to be for the Jews a turning-point. Until that
time the Jews had been chiefly merchants; hence-
forth they become known above all as usurers.
St. Bernard, abbot of Clairvaux, who preached tlie
second Crusade, and who intervened with great
courage to prevent the massacre of the German
Jews, asked King Louis VII. to prohibit the Jews
from accepting usurious rates of interest from those
who set out for the Holy Land. Moreover, in speak-
ing of their rapacity, and observing that in places
where there were no Jews the Christian usurers were
worse in their exactions, he saj'sthat on this account
the latter might ju.stly be accused of Judaizing
("Epistola,"363; ed. Migne, clxxxii. 564). Peter the
Venerable, abbot of Cluny, wrote in 1146 to the king
that even if he did not counsel the massacre of the
Jews, they should at least be punished by being
despoiled of their ill-gotten gains and thefts, and that
the army of the Crusaders should not spare Jewish
treasures ("Epistola," 36; ed. Migne, clxxxix. 366).
For having resisted these appeals Louis VII. was
accused bj'' a contemporary historian of having been
moved by cupidity ("Fragmentum Historicum
Vitam Lud. VII. Summatim Complectens," in Bou-
quet, xii. 286). Pope Alexander III. in a letter to
the Archbishop of Bourges (1179) addressed to him
the same reproach (Bouquet, xv. 968). According
to Ephraim of Bonn, the provisions of the bull of
Pope Eugenius IV. exonerating the Crusaders from
their debts to the Jews were carried out in France
(" Judenverfolgungen," p. 64).
The accusation of ritual murder in France was
closely connected with the Crusades. According to a
Jewish account of the second Crusade (" Judenverfol-
gungen, "p. 62), the Crusaders, in order
Blood Ac- to justify their saugviiuary exploits,
cusation. pretended at times that they were
punishing the Jews for the murder of
Christians. It was said that the Jews committed this
crime not because they had need of Christian blood
for ritual purposes, but in order to repeat the cruci-
V.— 29
fix ion of Jesus. At Pontoise it was said some time
before 1171 that they had crucified an adult Chris-
tian of the name of Richard. The dates given vary : it
was in 1163 according to Lambert Waterlos, who
died in 1170 (Bouquet, xiii. 520); in 1179 according
to Rigord ; in 1156 according to Geoffroy of the abbey
of St. Martial of Limoges, who died in 1184 (Bou-
quet, xii. 438; see also "Judenverfolgungen," p. 34).
The body was carried to Paris and worked numer-
ous miracles in the Church of the Holy Innocents,
where it was interred. Similar accusations were
made against the Jews at Epernay and at Janville
(department of Eure et Loire) about the same time —
that is to saj% about the year 1170 — but no details are
kno^yn ("Judenverfolgungen," pp. 34-33). The out-
burst at Blois is the most famous, and cost the lives
of 31 persons. The affair was of a most lamentable
nature. A man was watering a horse in the Loire.
Frightened at the sight of a Jew who was near, the
animal reared. This was sufficient to cause the man
to return at once and accuse the Jew of having
thrown into the stream the body of a Christian child
which had been crucified by the Jew's coreligionists.
He himself had been afraid of meeting the same
death, and the horse had instinctively recoiled.
Thibautde Champagne, Count of Blois, immediately
incarcerated all the Jews in the city. A priest sug-
gested that the man should be put to the test by wa-
ter, and as the test resulted in his favor, the proof of
the crime of the Jews was regarded as conclusive.
Having rejected baptism, 31 Jews were burned on
Wednesday, May 26, 1171. Jacob Tam, who was in-
formed of this sad occurrence, decided that this day
should be one of fasting, and the communities of
France, Anjou, and the provinces on the Rhine duly
observed it as such (statement of Baruch ben Meir of
Orleans; letters of the notables of Orleans; letter of
a Jew of Tours to R. Yom-Tob ; " Martyrology of
Ephraim of Bonn " ; letter of the notables of Paris in
"Judenverfolgungen," pp. 31 et seg.; Robert du
Mont, in Bouquet, xiii. 315). Robert du Mont also
says that Jews were burned in Paris likewise in 1177
for the murder of St. William. The belief in this
legend was destined to be most baneful to the Jews
of the entire kingdom of France. Philip Augustus,
Avho, in 1180, at the age of fifteen succeeded Louis
VII., his brother, had, according to his historian
Rigord, often heard the young nobles who were his
fellow students in the palace tell how the Jews of
Paris went year by year into subterranean retreats
on Passover or during the Holy Week, and sacrificed
a Christian in order to outrage the Christian relig-
ion. Often during his brother's reign (they said)
the guilty had been seized and thrown into the
flames. Immediately after his coronation, Saturday,
March 14, 1181, he ordered the Jews to be arrested
in all their synagogues, and despoiled of their money
and their vestments (an English chronicler, Raoul of
Dicet [ii. 14], says that he released them for a ran-
som of 15,000 silver marks). The Jews, adds Rigord,
were then very numerous, and many labbis (didas-
cali) had come to sojourn in Paris; they had be-
come eniiched to the extent of owning nearly half
of the city ; they were engaged in usury ; their
patrons were often despoiled of their possessions,
while others were kept on parole in the houses of
France
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
450
certain of the Jews. After having consulted a her-
mit who lived in the Vincennes forest, the king re-
leased the Christians of his domain from all their
debts toward the Jews, with the exception of one-
fifth which he transferred to himself. In the follow-
ing April, 1182, he published an edict
Expulsion of expulsion, but according the Jews
from a delay of three months for the sale of
France, their personal property. Immovable
1182. property, however, such as houses,
fields, vines, barns, and wine-presses,
he confiscated. The Jev/s attempted to win over
the nobles to their side, but in vain. In July they
were compelled to leave the royal domains of France ;
their synagogues were converted into churches (Ri-
gord, "GestaPhilippi Augusti,"i., vi. 12-17: ed. De-
laborde, pp. 14 et seq. ; see also Guillaume le Breton,
"Philippidos," i. 389e<5eg. ; ed. Delaborde, p. 23).
As may be seen, these successive measures were
simply expedients to fill the roj'al coffers. The
goods confiscated by the king were at once converted
into cash (Leopold Delisle, " Catalogue des Actes du
Regne de Philippe Auguste," 20, 21, 22, 27, 51, 58).
It is well to add that at that time the royal domains
were reduced to a very narrow strip of territory,
extending around Paris and Orleans.
During the century which terminated so disas-
trously for the Jews their condition was not alto-
gether bad, especially if compared with that of their
brethren in Germany. Thus may be explained the
remarkable intellectual activity which existed among
them, the attraction which it exercised over the
Jews of other countries, and the numerous works
produced in those days. The impulse given by
Rashi to study did not cease with his death ; his
successors — the members of his family first among
them — brilliantly continued his work. Research
moved within the same limits as in the preceding
century, and dealt mainly with the Talmud, rabbin-
ical jurisprudence, and Biblical exegesis. Rabbenu
Tam, to whom reference will again be made, inves-
tigated at least one section of Hebrew grammar ; he
undertook the defense of Menahem b. Saruk against
Dunash b. Labrat ; as innovator in another direction
he composed a poem on the accents and imitated the
versification of the Spanish Jews, which impelled
Abraham ibn Ezra to ask : " Who is this that has led
the French into the temple of poetry ? " But in this
he had no successors, and did not create a school.
Biblical exegesis, which continued to be distin-
guished by its simplicity and naturalness, now com-
menced to place too much importance on interpreta-
tions based on the numerical values of letters and
on analogous methods (gematria, notarikon). Litur-
gical poetry was constantly cultivated by a large
number of rabbis. Talmudic studies underwent a
marked transformation. Exposition of the Talmud
having almost reached a limit (for who could hope
to compete with Rashi 's work?), scholars no longer
confined themselves merely to understanding the
Talmud, but, just as had been done formerly with the
Mishnah, they selected f lom the Talmud their themes
for academic and juristic discussions. By the help
of parallel passages they shed new light on the text
of the Talmud ; by comparing analogous passages
they sought to establish rules of jurisprudence; and,
where the text contained contractions, whether real
or merely apparent, external or internal, they pointed
them out and sought to explain them away. On
the other hand, from the Talmud they deduced laws
applying to the conditions of con-
The temporaneous life. Their glosses or
' ' Tosafot." postils, known under the name of
"tosafot" (additions), were originallj''
simple appendixes to the commentary of Rashi, dis-
cussing, correcting, or completing them. They rep-
resent the result of the discussions of the schools
and of the teaching of the masters, and are notes
made by the professor or, as was more often the
case, collected by the pupils to carry with them
when they visited other schools. Study, considered
always as a means of salvation, became more and
more simple dialectics, aptly compared with that of
the scholastics of the time. But even in this ex-
travagant display of ingenuity, of subtlety, and of
erudition, the French rabbis, as their contemporaries
of Germany, preserved a moderation ignored by their
disciples, the Poles of the sixteenth and following
centuries. Subtlety did not exclude clearness; logic
never lost its rights; order ruled in the editing of
their notes. The production of tosafot became the
dominant and absorbing occupation of this period,
and impressed its distinctive character upon the
studies of the time. The work was participated in
by a whole legion of scholars, spread
Centers of over the north of France, Normandy
Rabbinic as well as the Isle of France, Cham-
Learning-, pagne as well as Burgundy and Lor-
raine. Champagne, however, was the
most active center. In these different provinces
schools were founded — at Piamerupt after Troyes, at
Dampierre, at Auxerre, at Sens, at Falaise, at Paris,
etc. To these centers of instruction, just as to the
French universities, hastened pupils from distant
countries, from Slavic lands, from Bohemia, and from
Germany. Like the traveling students of that period,
the pupils of the rabbis traversed the land, mocking
at distance, insensible to privation, going from one
master to another in their thirst for instruction.
The earliest masters who gave prestige to this form
of instruction were members of the family of Rashi:
Judah b. Nathan, his son-in-law and the continuer
of his commentary on the Talmud; Mei'r, another
son-in-law, who became director of the Troyes Acad-
emy after Rashi 's death; Jacob Tam (called com-
monly "Rabbenu Tam," the son of Meir) — the true
founder of the school of tosafists, a man of strong
will and energetic character, and known to his con-
temporaries as the supreme authority of French
Judaism ; his brother Samuel (Rashbam), an excel-
lent exegete, somewhat daring in parts of his Bib-
lical commentary ; Samuel de Vitry, a nephew of R.
Tam. To the same group belong Samuel de Yitry,
a disciple of Rashi, and author of the Mahzor Vitry ;
his great-grandson, Isaac b. Samuel the Elder, the
famous "RI," whose name occurs frequently in the
tosafot, and who was chief of the school at Dam-
pierre (to be distinguished from Isaac b. Abraham,
known as "RI ha-Bahur " (the Younger), who suc-
ceeded him); Elhanan, son of Isaac b. Samuel, mar-
tyred in 1184. To these names of famous tosafists
must also be added the following : Jacob of Orleans
451
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
France
(died in London in 1189), who was also an exegete;
Samuel b. Hayyim of Verdun, disciple of R. Tarn ;
Hoshaiah ba-Levi of Troyes; Menabem b. Perez of
Joigny, also an exegete ; Yom-Tob of Joigny (died at
York in 1190), a liturgical poet and Biblical commen-
tator; Samuel b. Aaron and Simon b. Samuel of Join-
ville ; Eliezer b. Samuel of Metz, author of the " Sefer
Yere'im"; Moses b. Abraham of Pontoise; Simon
b. Joseph of Falaise; Yom-Tob; Judah b. Yom-
Tob; Hayyim b. Hananel Cohen; the celebrated
judah b. Isaac, alias Sir Leon of Paris; Simson de
Cou^y, one of the most learned of tlie tosafists;
Judah of Corbcil; Joseph and Isaac b. Baruch of
Chsson; Eliezer b. Solomon; and the well-known
Simson (b. Abraham) of Sens, commentator of the
Mishnah and the Sifra. Side by side with these tosa-
fists may be cited a number of scholars renowned
for their vast knowledge, such as Joseph Caro, men-
tioned above in connection with the history of the
previous century; Shemaiah, commentator on the
Talmud ; Joseph b. Isaac of Orleans, better known
under the name of " Joseph Bechor Schor, " an ingen-
ious exegete ; Solomon b. Isaac and Eleazar of Or-
leans; Samuel b. Jacob of Auxerre; Aaron and Ben-
der d'Epernay ; Eliezer of Beaugency, an exegete of
authority ; Jehiel b. David and Jekuthiel b. Judah of
Troyes; Jacob and Isaac de Bray, who died in 1191 ;
David of Brienne ; Samuel de Joinville ; Joseph b.
Solomon de Dampicrre ; Joseph b. Joseph de Port
Audemer; Samuel b. Joseph of Verdun; Abraham
of Toul; Moses of Saumur; Joseph b. Moses and
Simson of Troyes; David of Chateau -Thierry ;
Meshullam b. Nathan of Melun; Nathan, his son;
Jedidia of the same town ; Solomon b. Abraham b.
Jehiel; Mattithiah b. Moses; Judah b. Abraham;
Samuel, Moses, and Jacob b. Samson; Elijah b. Ju-
dah of Paris ; Joseph Porat of Caen ; Joseph the Saint
and Samson of Corbeil ; Joseph b. Isaac of Chinon ;
Joseph of Chartres, poet and exegete; Moses of
Saumur; Isaac b. Solomon and Eliezer of Sens. This
list could be considerably prolonged if all the learned
men of the time were mentioned whose birthplace
is not exactly known, although they are certainly
French. It is sufficient to know that at a synod
held at Troyes under the presidency of Samuel b.
Meir and R. Tarn, rabbis came from
Synods. Troyes, Auxerre, the banks of the
Rhine, Paris and its environs, from
Melun, Normandy and tiie coast, Anjou, Pontou,
and Lorraine. These synods are distinctive of the
history of northern France in the twelfth century ;
in imitation of the local or national councils, and
principally at the instigation of R. Tam, the heads
of the Israelite community met several times, with-
out doubt at the time of the Champagne fairs, to
deliberate upon dubious cases of jurisprudence, or
to pass new laws necessitated by changed conditions.
Thus, they forbade Jews to buy or to take in pledge
crucifixes, church ornaments, or other objects con-
nected with the Catholic form of worship ; to sum-
mon their coreligionists to appear before non-Jewish
judges; to allow themselves to be nominated by the
civil authorities as provost or leader of the commu-
nity without having been previously proposed for
this office by the majority of the community. They
also decided that the prohibition of R. Gershom
against polygamy should be enforced, and that it
should not be revoked at any time in the future ex-
cept under urgent necessity and by a council of at
least a hundred rabbis from three different regions
— from France, Normandy, and Anjou. The com-
mand was renewed to excommunicate traitors who
brought false charges against their brethren. Fi-
nally a question connected with the matrimonial
laws was settled (Neubauer, "R. E. J." xvii. 66-73;
Gross, "Gallia Judaica," pp. 231 et seg.).
In the south of France the intellectual life of the
Jews was equally intense, and for similar reasons.
Never had their situation been more
In the happy ; rulers and people agreed in
South. treating them with kindness. At
Toulouse and at Beziers they had to
suffer, it is true, odious restrictions At Beziers, on
Palm Sunday, the bishop regularly exhorted the
people to take vengeance on the Jews, " who had cru-
cified Jesus. " He even went further and gave them
permission to attack the deicides and to raze their
houses. This the inhabitants always did with such
ardor that it resulted in blood.shed. The attack
commenced on the first hour of the Saturday before
Palm Sunday, and lasted until the last hour of the
Saturday after Passover. At Toulouse, as a pen-
alty for the alleged crime of having, in the time of
Charlemagne, delivered up the town to the Saracens
— a mere legend, since the Moors never entered
the town — thrice a year a Jew was compelled
to present himself before the church to have his
ears boxed. But these two customs were justly
abolished in the twelfth century ; the latter, at the
commencement of the century, was replaced by a
fixed payment to the canons of St. Saturniu (Vais-
sete, ii. 151); that of Beziers in 1160 by a tax to be
used in purchasing ornaments for the cathedral {ib.
iii. 813). The favor which the Jews in general en-
joyed at that time may be judged from the fact that
they were employed by the counts and inferior lords
in the position of "bailes." As such they had the
administration of lands dependent directly on their
lords ; they also had a large share in the administra-
tion of justice. " Above all, they filled the office of
farmers of revenue, and were allowed to farm out
the tolls, the receipts of the towns and fiefs, and
even certain, of the revenues of the chapters and
bishops " (Saige, " Les Juifs du Languedoc, " pp.15 et
seq.). But if, as is natural, Christian documents
impart this information, it does not follow that the
Jews drew their revenues exclusively from such
offices, for the Hebrew responsa show that they con-
tinued to practise the same trades as before. Their
prosperity was due altogether to the ever-kindly at-
titude of the people toward them, and to the liberal-
ism of the counts of Toulouse and the viscounts of
Beziers, who had taken them under their protection.
Raymond Trencavel and Roger II., viscounts of
Beziers, and Raymond V. and VI., were in turn
well disposed toward them, and entrusted them with
the duties of bailes. The Jews of Beziers took no
part in the popular conspiracy of that citj', which
in 1167 occasioned the assassination of Raymond
Trencavel, and they accordingly did not suffer in
the massacre with which that crime was avenged in
1169. At a later date, when Raymond VI. was at-
France
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
452
tacked by the Crusaders, one of the direct charges
brought against him was that of having, '' to the
shame of the faith," admitted Jews to public offices.
The lords of Montpellier alone were consistentlj- op-
posed to appointing Jews to the office of baile.
Among the Jews of this district science reached
heights even loftier than those to which it attained
iu northern France. The proximity
Provencal of Spain, the peaceful condition of
liearning. the district, and other circumstances
which will be mentioned later, made
Provence (a name then given to all the south of
France) a chosen land for Jewish science, and assured
it a brilliant part in the transmission of the civiliza-
tion of classic times. There, too, rabbinical science
was cultivated with ardor and produced remarkable
men. Its centers were Aries, Beziers, Lunel, Mar-
seilles, Montpellier, Narbonne, Nimes, Posquieres,
and St. Gilles. When in 1160 Benjamin of Tudela
on his way through Provence stopped at Narbonne,
"one of the towns which are most famous for their
knowledge, and whence the knowledge of the Law
has spread through all the land," he found there
Kalonymus, son of the nasi Todros, chief of the rab-
binical school ; Abraham Ab Bet Din, author of
" Sef er ha-Eshkol " ; R. Judah ; and other learned
men, all of whom had numerous pupils. lie also
found at Beziers another school, under the direction
of Solomon Halafta and Joseph b. Nathaniel; at
Montpellier he met Reuben b. Todros, Nathan b.
Simon, Samuel and Mordecai b. Samuel; at Pos-
quieres, the seat of a famous school, he saw Abra-
ham b. David (RABaD), who was renowned for his
knowledge, and who supported poor students at his
own expense, and also Joseph b. Menahem, Benve-
nuti, Benjamin, Abraham, and Lsaac b. Moses; while
at St. Gilles was a community comprising about a
hundred learned men, with Isaac b. Jacob, Abraham
b. Judah, Eliezer, Isaac, Moses, and Jacob b. Levi,
and Abba Mari b. Isaac at the head. At Aries was
a community of two hundred Israelites, including
Moses, Tobias, Isaiah. Solomon, Nathan, and Abba
Mari. At Lunel, says Benjamin, "is a holy brother-
hood which studies the Law day and night. The
celebrated Meshullam b. Jacob teaches there ; his five
sons, Joseph, Isaac, Jacob (Nazir), Aaron, Asher.
famous for their wisdom as well as for their wealth,
have withdrawn themselves from all worldly inter-
ests, pursue their studies unceasingly, and abstain
from eating meat. Moses b. Judah, Samuel he-
Hazzau, Solomon ha-Kohen, and Judah b. Saul ibn
Tibbon, the Spaniard, also live there, and pupils are
taught and supported gratuitously." Finallj' Ben-
jamin stopped at Marseilles, where he saw the wise
Simon b. Anatoli, the latter's brother Jacob, and
several other rabbis. Tlie number of famous rab-
bis mentioned in this chronicle as living in the same
year is worthy of note. To complete the list, how-
ever, there still remain to be mentioned Meir b.
Isaac of Trinquetailles, author of the "Sefer ha-
'Ezer"; the famous Zerachiah ha-Levi, originally
from Spain and author of the "Sefer ha-Ma'or," who
lived at Lunel; Abraham b. Nathan ha-Yarhi of
Lunel, author of the " Sefer ha-Manhig " ; the whole
Kalonymus family at Narbonne; Isaac b. Merwan
ba-Levi; Moses b. Joseph b. Merwan ha-Levi; etc.
A new method lent varietj"^ to the studies of these
Talmudists. Isaac Alfasi of Spain had composed a
sort of compilation of the Talmud,
Halakic omitting from it all matters not re-
Studies, lated to jurisprudence. This plan
soon found favor with scholars of a
methodical frame of mind, and the "Little Talmud,"
as the work of Alfasi was called, became the object
of devoted study in Provence. Abraham Ab Bet Din
was the first scholar there to follow its method and
to effect a codification of the contents of the Tal-
mud (" Sefer ha-Eshkol "). On the other hand, Zera-
chiah ha-Levi inhis"Ma'or" criticised the "Sefer
ha-Eshkol " severely. Abraham b. David thereupon
energetically undertook the defense of his ma.ster,
and was supported by his disciple, Mei'r of Trinque-
tailles, in his "Sefer ha-"Ezer." Much as these
ardent polemics agit^ited the south of France, they
were to be surpassed by others of which Abraham
b. David was destined to be the cause. To Alfasi's
summary was due the creation of a veritable " sum-
ma" of the Talmud, the profoundest work and the
most methodical that the Talmud ever inspired — the
Mishueh Torah of Maimonides, in which for the
first time the Talmudic rules were classified and
elucidated according to a scientific plan. The au-
thor, absorbed in philosophy, intended that this
"summa" should enable students to dispense with
a too absorbing study of the Talmud. RABaD, a
follower of tradition, was startled by such boldness,
for he saw iu the book, and perhaps correctl}', a
mortal danger to the intellectual activity of Juda-
ism, and the cessation of those studies which, though
narrow, furnished intellectual food for legions of
scholars. Furthermore, Maimonides, a reverential
pupil of Aristotle, and an ardent rationalist, did not
hesitate to submit to the judgment of reason the
theological opinions of the rabbis of the Talmud.
Everything which implied the materiality of the
Deit}^ or a belief in the resurrection of the body, and
all ordinances having, in his eyes, a superstitious
character, were disregarded in the Mishneh Torah,
and philosophic principles were placed
RABaD at the foundation even of the legal
and code. It was a revolution; Rabad
RaMBaM. understood this, and he undertook to
arrest it. He submitted the work of
Maimonides to a criticism, minute, bitter, and some-
times brutal, upholding with all his might the doc-
trine that absolute faith must be accorded to the
teachings of the Talmud. It was the battle of free
inquiry against the principle of authority, the re-
sistance of the conservative spirit to the audacity of
dangerous innovation. Learned as this criticism was,
and great as was the authority with which Rabad's
incomparable Talmudic knowledge and highly es-
teemed works had invested him, his opposition was
powerless against the prestige which Maimonides
had already gained in Provence. There portions of
the Mishneh Torah were received as the work pro-
gressed, and its completion was eagerly awaited (let-
ter to Joseph b. Aknin). Maimonides, indeed, was
consulted as an oracle in Provence ; from Marseilles
came requests for his opinion even in matters of as-
trologj'. Furthermore, he had written a theological
treatise, the "Guide to the Perplexed," of an audac-
453
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
France
ity remarkable for that time, and in which he ap-
plied to the Bible the methods of Aristotle and
sought for a rational explanation of the religious
ordinances. Far from being scandalized at this, the
communities, such as that of Lunel, asked him to
translate the work from the Arabic into Hebrew, in
order that they might study it thoroughly; and at
the end of the twelfth century the translation was
undertaken by an inhabitant of Lunel. Such a phe-
nomenon, new to France, is explained by the rela-
tionship which existed between the Jews there and
those across the Pyrenees, where free inquiry was
eagerly pursued. An event which rendered this
Spanish influence still more potent was the perse-
cution of the Almohades, who drove many Spanish
scholars from Spain into Provence, and thereby
brought about in miniature a renaissance similar in
its way to that which the conquest of Constanti-
nople afterward produced. Two families, the Ibn
Tibbonsand the Kinihis, transplanted into Provence
the Arabic-Jewish civilization of Spain, and the
medium for utilizing the forces thus
The Trans- presented was found in the person of
lators. Meshullani b. Jacob, who desired to
play the part of an intellectual Mae-
cenas, and who may justly claim to have been the
author of the scientific movement among the south-
ern Jews. He it was who called forth the talent
of Judah b. Saul ibn Tibbou, originally from Gra-
nada, then a fugitive at Lunel. Meshullam and his
sou Asher insisted that Judah should translate the
principal works of the Jews, which, being written
in Arabic, could not be read by all. With their
assistance Judah translated into Hebrew Bah3'a's
"Hobot ha-Lebabot," Solomon ibn Oabirol's "Tik-
kun Middot ha-Nefesh," Judah ha-Levi's "Cuzari,"
Saadia's "Sefer ha-Emunot weha-De'ot," and even
Ibn Janah's Hebrew grammar. Judah ibn Tibbon
became the head of a dynasty of translators who
spread through the Occident all the sciences cidti-
vated in Spain by the Arabs and the Jews. Con-
currently with Judah ibn Tibbon, Joseph Kimhi,
also a refugee from Spain, translated the " Hobot ha-
Lebabot." But while the talent of the Ibn Tibbons
was directed to translating, that of the Kimhis was
on the whole devoted to Biblical exegesis and gram-
mar. Through Joseph Kimhi and his sons Moses and
David were made accessible to Provence all those
treasures of exegetical and grammatical science of
which Jewish Spain hud enjoyed the benefit. The
simple haggadic exegesis current in the north of
France was replaced by a freer, bolder interpreta-
tion of the Bible based upon a knowledge of gram-
mar, and made profounder and more rigorous by a
comparative study of Arabic grammar. The Ibn
Tibbons finished the conquest of Provence com-
menced by Abraham ibn Ezra. When this Bohe-
mian genius entered the country, bringing with him
a whiff of the free air of Spain, and dazzling all with
his display of Biblical knowledge and with the orig-
inality of his interpretation, he was received with
enthusiasm; and his visit was long remembered.
Beside these two forces — conservatism on the one
side, knowledge freeing itself from tradition on the
other — appeared at this time a third, mj'sticism,
which was destined soon to show itself all-powerful.
Isaac the Blind, son of Abraham b. David (RABaD),
was the founder of Cabala, and Isaac's son Asher
was also a renowned cabalist, while even Abraham
himself manifested a tendency toward mysticism.
The same is true of the family of Meshullam b.
Jacob, whose sons Aaron and Jacob are likewise
reputed to have inclined toward such speculations
(Gross, in "Monat.sschrift," 1874, p. 173).
Thus from north to south French Judai.sm of the
twelfth century affords the spectacle of an intense
intellectual excitement.
Thirteenth Century. Northern France :
This century, which opened witli the return of
the Jews to France proper (then reduced almost to
the Isle of France), closed with their complete
exile from France in a larger sen.se. In the month
of July, 1198, Philip Augustus, "con-
Recalied trary to the general expectation and
by Philip despite his own edict, recalled the
Augustus, Jews to Paris and made the churches
1198. of God suffer great persecutions"
(Rigord). The king adopted this
measure from no good will toward the Jews, for
he had shown his true sentiments a short time be-
fore in the Bray affair. But since then he had
learned that the Jews could be an excellent source
of income from a fiscal point of view, especially as
money-lenders. Not only did he recall them to his
estates, but, as has been pointed out by Vuitry
("Etudes sur le Regime Financier de la France," i.
315 et seq.), he gave state sanction by his ordinances
to their operations in banking and pawnbroking.
He placed their business under control, determined
the legal rate of interest, and obliged them to
have seals affixed to all their deeds. Naturally this
trade was taxed, and the affixing of the royal seal
was paid for by the^ews. Henceforward there
was in the treasury a special account called " Pro-
duit des Juifs," and the receipts from this source
increased continually. At the same time it was to
the interest of the treasury to secure possession of
the Jews, considered as a fiscal resource. The Jews
were therefore made serfs of the king in the royal
demain, just at a time when the charters, becoming
wider and wider, tended to bring about the disap-
pearance of serfdom. In certain respects their posi-
tion became even harder than that of serfs, for the
latter could in certain cases appeal to custom and
were often protected by the Church ; but there was
no custom to which the Jews might appeal, and the
Church laid them under its ban. The kings and the
iords said "my Jews," just as they said "my lands,"
and they disposed in like manner of the one and
of the other (Vuitry, I.e. after Brussel, "Nouvel
Examen de I'Usage General des Fiefs en France,"
i., book ii., ch. xxxix., pp. 569 et acq., Paris, 1750;
"Ordonnances des Rois de France," i. 35, 44). The
lords imitated the king : " they endeavored to have
the Jews considered an inalienable dependence of
their fiefs, and to establish the u.sage ti)at if a Jew
domiciled in one barony passed into another, the lord
of his former domicil should have tlie right to seize
his possessions." This agreement was made in 1198
between the king and the Count of Champagne in
a treaty, the terms of which provided that neither
should retain in liis domains the Jews of the other
France
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
454
without the latter's consent, and furthermore that
the Jews should not make loans or receive pledges
without the express permission of the king and the
count (Vuitry, I.e.). Other lords made similar con-
ventions with the king (see Brussel, I.e.). Thence-
forth they too had a revenue known as the " Pro-
duit des Juifs," comprising the taille, or annual
quit-rent, the legal fees for the writs necessitated
by the Jews' law trials, and the seal duty. A thor-
oughly characteristic feature of this fiscal policy is
that the bishops (according to the agreement of 1204
regulating the spheres of ecclesiasti(!al and seigniorial
jurisdiction) continued to prohibit the clergy from
excommunicating those who sold goods to the Jews
or who bought from them. Indeed,
Innocent king and lords even took a firm stand
III. against Pope Innocent III. when he
protested in 1205 against this new con-
dition of affairs. The pontiff wrote to the king to
censure him for his indulgence. If he was to be-
lieve what he had heard, the Jews by their usurious
practises had gotten into their power the goods of
the Church, they occupied castles, they acted as
stewards and managers for the nobles, they had
Christian servants, and Chi'istian nurses on whom
they committed abominable crimes. The civil au-
thoiities attached more faith to a deed signed by a
debtor at the moment of the loan than to the wit-
nesses whom he produced denying this deed. At
Sens the Jews had been permitted to construct a
synagogue higher than a church near which it stood,
and there they sang so loudly as to disturb the serv-
ice in the church. On Easter Day they walked in the
streets and offered insults to the faith, maintaining
that he whom their ancestors had crucified had been
only a peasant. Their houses remained open till
the middle of the night and served to receive stolen
goods; assassination even occurred, as in the case of
a poor scholar who nad recently been found dead in
the house of a Jew ("Diplome de Brequigny," ii.
2, 610; Bouquet, xix. 471). The pope wrote in the
same spirit to the Duke of Burgundy and to the
Countess of Troyes and the Count de Nevers (1208;
Bouquet, xix. 497). But his efforts were of no
avail. Eudes, Duke of Burgundy, having been in-
formed by Philip Augustus that the pope had taken
the Crusaders under his protection and had exempted
those who set out for Jerusalem from the payment
of the interest due their creditors, replied that " the
pope can not, without the consent of the king, make
any arrangement which maj'' prejudice the rights of
the king and the barons," and he counseled the latter
to resist the innovations which would thus be intro-
duced into the kingdom. It is probably at this
epoch that the rule was established, "Li meuble au
Juif le roi sunt au roi," or "Li meuble
Under au Juif sunt au baron" ("Etablisse-
LouisVIII. ments de St. Louis," ed. Viollet, ii.
and 249-250, ch. 132-133, drawn from the
St. Iiouis. "Customs of Aujou "). Louis VIII.
(1228-1226), in his "Etablissement sur
les Juifs " of 1223 (" Ordonnances," i. 47), while more
inspired with the doctrines of the Church than his fa-
ther, Philip Augustus, knew also how to look after the
interests of his treasury. Although he declared that
from Nov. 8, 1223, the interest on Jews' debts should
no longer hold good, he at the same time ordered that
the capital should be repaid to the Jews in three
years and that the debts due the Jews should be in-
scribed and placed under the control of their lords.
The lords then collected the debts for the Jews,
doubtless receiving a commission. Louis further-
more ordered that the special seal for Jewish deeds
should be abolished and replaced by the ordinary
one (Petit-Dutailles, " Etude sur la Vie et le Regne
de Louis VIII." Paris, 1894, in 101st fascicle of the
Bibliotheque de I'Ecole des Hautes Etudes). In
spite of all these restrictions designed to restrain, if
not to suppress, the operations of loans, Louis IX.
(1226-70), with his ardent piety and his submission
to the Church, unreservedly condemned loans at in-
terest. He was less amenable than Philip Augustus
to fiscal considerations. Despite former conventions,
in an assembly held at Melun in December, 1230
("Ordonnances," i. 53), he compelled several lords
to sign an agreement not to authorize the Jews to
make any loan. No one in the whole kingdom was
allowed to detain a Jew belonging to another, and
each lord might recover a Jew who belonged to him,
just as he might his own slave (" tanquam proprium
servum "), wherever he might find him and however
long a period hatl elapsed since the Jew had settled
elsewhere. At the same time the ordinance of 1223
was enacted afresh, which only proves that it had
not been carried into effect. Both king and lords
were forbidden to borrow from the Jews. In 1234
the king went a step further; he liberated his sub-
jects from the third part of their registered debts to
the Jews. It was ordained that the third should be
restored to those who had already paid their debts,
but that the debtors should acquit themselves of the
remaining two-thirds within a specified time. It
was forbidden to imprison Christians or to sell their
real estate in order to recover debts owed to the
Jews (" Ordonnances, "i. 54). Theking wished in this
way to strike a deadly blow at usury. Before his
departure for the Crusade in 1249 his increasingly
stringent piety suggested to him the expulsion of the
Jews from the royal domains and the confiscation of a
part of their possessions, but the order for the expul-
sion was only partly enforced if at all (see on this ob-
scure question Bouquet, xxiii. 214 ; Matthew Paris, iii.
104 ; I. Loeb, in " R. E. J. " xx. 26). Later he became
conscience-stricken, and, overcome by scruples, he
feared lest the treasury, by retaining some part of the
interest paid by the borrowers, might be enriched with
the product of usury. Also in 1257 or 1258 (" Ordon-
nances," i. 85), wishing, as he says, to provide for
his safety of soul and peace of conscience, he issued
a mandate for the restitution in his
Increased name of the amount of usurious inter-
Restric- est which had been collected on the
tions Under confiscated property, the restitution
St. Louis, to be made either to those who had
paid it or to their heirs. Later, after
having discussed the subject with his son-in-law,
Thibaut, King of Navarre and Count of Champagne,
he decided to seize the persons and the property of
tiie Jews (Sept. 13, 1268). But an order which'fol-
lowed close upon this last (1269) shows that on
tiiis occasion also St. Louis reconsidered the matter.
Nevertheless, at the request of Paul Christian (Pablo
455
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
France
Cbristiani), hu compelled the Jews, under penalty
of a fine, to -wear at all times the " rouelle " or badge
decreed b}' the Lateran Council in 1215. This con-
sisted of a piece of red felt or cloth cut in the form
of a wheel, four fingers in circumference, which had
to be attached to the outer garment at the chest
and back.
The pious zeal of St. Louis manifested itself in other
ways also. One day, according to Joinville (" Vie
de Saint Louis," ed. De Wailly, pp. 18-19), a great
disputation between the clergy and the Jews was
held at the monastery of Cluny. A knight, having
demanded from the abbot permission to speak first,
said to the leader of the Jews: "Do you believe that
the Virgin IMary, Avho bore God in her body and
arms, gave birth while a virgin and was mother of
God? " On the reply of the Jew in the negative the
knight, calling himself a fool for having entered the
Jew's house, struck him. The Jews fled, carrying
their wounded rabbi with them. When the abbot
reproached the knight for his conduct, the latter
replied that it was a greater fault to hold such dis-
putations, since good Christians, through a misun-
derstanding of the arguments of the Jews, would be-
come infidels. With regard to this, St. Louis said to
the chronicler: "No one, unless he be very well in-
structed, shall be allowed to dispute with them, but
if a layman hear the Christian law reviled, he shall
defend it with his sword, of which he shall force
as much into his body as he can make
Disputa- enter." These controversies were
tions never sought for by the Jews, who
Between were well acquainted with the danger
Jews and of discussions. But the clergy and
Christians, the friars were possessed by the desire,
not so much to convert the Jews, as to
let Christians see the defeat of the Synagogue. The
very existence of the Jews was a subject which
troubled simple souls, and it was well to explain to
them that the obdurac}^ " of those rebels " was due
to the stupidity of their beliefs. With this end in
view, various treatises had as early as the twelfth
century been composed against the Jews, such as
"Annulus seu Dialogus Christiani et Judei de Fidel
Sacramentis," by Rupert ; " Tractatus Adversus Ju-
dseorum Inveteratum Duritiem," by Pierre le Vener-
able, but attributed wrongly to William of Cham-
peaux; " Tractatus Contra Judieum," anonymous;
"Liber Contra Perfidiem Judteorum," by Pierre de
Blois (on these works see Israel L^vi in " R. E. J." v.
239 et seq., and Isidore Loeb, "La Contro verse Reli-
gieuse Entre les Chretiens et les Juifs au Moyen Age
en France et en Espagne," in "Revue de la Histoire
des Religions." 1888, p. 17).
In the thirteenth century such treatises were com-
posed not only in Latin but also in French; e.g.,
" De la Disputaison de la Sinagogue et de la Sainte
Eglise" (Jubinal, "Mystdres duXVe Si6cle,"ii. 404-
408), and " La Disputaison du Juyf et du Crestien "
(" Hist. Litter, de le France," 23, 217). From Hebrew
works it is evident that the rabbis were sometimes
tormented by the Christians, generally by the mem-
bers of the clergy or of the orders (Geiger, " Proben
Judischer Vertheidigung Gegen Christ. Angriffe im
Mittelalter, " in Breslauer's "Jahrbuch," i. and ii.,
1850-51). Of interest for the Jewish side of the dis-
putations is a curious collection of the thirteenth
century containing replies made "to infidels and
Christians" by Joseph I'Official and several mem-
bers of his family (Zadoc Kahn, " Le Livre de Joseph
le Zelateur," in " R. E. J." i. 222 et seq., iii. 1 et seq.).
Among the Christian disputants were some of the
most distinguished members of the French clergy :
the Archbishop of Sens, the Chancellor of Paris, the
confessor of the queen, the bishops of Mans, of
Meaux, of Poitiers, of Angouleme, of Angers, of
Vannes, of St. Malo, the Abbot of Cluny, and the
Dominican friars. "The astonishing and extraordi-
nary point in their replies is the free spirit of the
Christian clergy and the free speech of the Jews."
The " infidels " to whom the responses of the Jews
were addressed were converts who with all the ardor
of neophytes showed themselves as the bitter ene-
mies of their former coreligionists. St. Louis favored
conversions; several of the proselytes were held at
the baptismal font by the king himself, and were
named after him. As the property of converts was
confiscated because of the loss which resulted to the
treasury from the ces.sation of the payment of the
taxes imposed on Jews, the king granted them pen-
sions (Tillemont, "Vie de St. Louis," ed. J. de
Gaulle, v. 296 et seq. ). In 1239 Nicholas Donin, a
convert from La Rochelle, brought before Pope
Gregory a formal accusation against the Talmud,
charging that it contained blasphemies against Jesus,
against God, against morality, and against the Chris-
tians, not to speak of many errors, follies, and ab-
surdities. The pope thereupon addressed bulls to
the bishops of France, England, and Castile, to the
bishop and to the priors of the Dominicans and the
Franciscans of Paris, directing that all copies of the
Talmud should be seized and that an investigation
of the contents of this work should be made. In
France alone, it seems, was this order obeyed. On
March 3, 1240, while the Jews were in the syna-
gogues, all copies of the Talmud were seized.
On June 12, 1240, a public debate was opened be-
tween Donin and four representatives of the Jews;
Jehiel of Paris, Judah b. David of Melun, Samuel
b. Solomon (perhaps Sir Morel de Falaise), and Moses
de Cou(;y. The most weighty arguments were ad-
vanced by Jehiel, who has left a proems verbal of the
controversy. After the disputation a tribunal was
appointed to pass judgment upon the Talmud,
among its members being Eudes de Chateauroux,
Chancellor of the University of Paris;
Burning' Guillaume d'Auvergne, Bishop of
of the Paris; and the Inquisitor Henri de
Talmud. Cologne. After the same rabbis had
been heard a second time, the Talmud
was condemned to be burned. Two years after (in
the middle of 1242) twentj-^-four cartloads of Hebrew
books were solemnly burned at Paris. Doubtless all
the copies had not been found, for in 1244 Innocent
IV. wrote to St. Louis to institute a new confiscation.
A little later, wliile at Ljons, the pope listened to
the complaints of the Jews, and in 1247 he asked
Eudes de Chateauroux to examine the Talmud from
the Jewish standpoint, and to ascertain whether it
might not be tolerated as harmless to the Christian
faith, and whether the copies which had been con-
fiscated might not be returned to their owners. The
France
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
456
rabbis had lepiescnted to him that without the aid
of tlie Talmud they could not understand the Bible
or the rest of their statutes. Eudes informed the
pope that the change of attitude involved in such a
decision would be wrongly interpreted; and on May
15, 1248, the Talmud was condemned for the second
time (Isidore Loeb in " R. E. J." i. 116, 247 et seq., ii.
248 et seq., iii. 39 et se •. ; A. Darmesteter, ib. i. 140;
Nom Valois, "Guillaume d'Auvcrgne," Paris, 1880).
Thiswasa fatal blow to Talmudic study in northern
France, and from that moment it began to decline.
Under a king so pious and so hostile to the Jews
as St. Louis, the Church could give free vent to
its desire for regulating their condition. Never
Avere so many councils occupied with their fate as
in his reign: those of Narboniie (1227), Cliuteau Gau-
tier (1231), Bt-ziers (1246), Valence (1248), Alby (1254),
Montpellier (1258), and Vienne (1207) all passed
decrees affecting the Jews (Labbe, xi. 305, 444,
685. 698, 737, 781, 863). A comparison of these
decrees with the ordinances of St. Louis shows
that usually the pious king merely' sanctioned the
measures dictated by the bishops. But at length,
in order to bring about the conversion of the
Jews, St. Louis compelled them in 1269 to listen
to the famous Paul Christian (Pablo Christiani,
a converted Jew who had become a Dominican),
to reply to the questions which he might put
to them pertaining to religion, and to show him
whatever books they had (Le Nain de Tillemont, v.
294 ; Ulysse Robert in " R. E. J. " iii. 216). According
to a Hebrew text (Neubauer la "J. Q. R." v. 718), a
controversy appears to have taken place at Paris in
1273 between this Paul (wrongly called " Cordelier ")
and some French rabbis having at their head Abra-
ham b. Solomon of Dreux ; some of the sessions were
held at the court of St. Louis' successor, Philip the
Bold (1270-85), and some at the monastery of the
Franciscans, the Archbishop of Paris and high dig
nitaries of the Church being present. The disputa-
tion appears to have provoked the massacre of more
than a thousand persons, but even this failed to ef-
fect the conversion of any of the Jews. No Chris-
tian text has recorded this occurrence.
Philip the Bold continued to treat the provisions of
the canonical law as though they were a part of the
common law. He reminded the royal officers that by
the terms of the ordonnance of 1269 the
Under Jews were compelled to abstain from
Philip the all usury and to wear on their coats a
Bold and colored badge (" Ordonnances," 1. 312).
Philip the At the Parliament of Pentecost in
Fair. 1280, in accordance with a resolution
adopted by the councils of 1279 and
1280, a new .statute was passed prohibiting Jews
from keeping Christian servants in their houses.
And finally, in his ordinance of April 19, 1283, the
king ordered the bailes to carr}' out the law pre-
venting the Jews from repairing their synagogues
and from possessing copies of theTalnuid(Langlois,
"Philippe le Hardi," p. 298). With Philip the Fair
the Jews reached tlie nadir of their misfortunes. Not
only had the ordinance requiring the wearing of the
badge been enforced, but accusations of sorcery had
been made (Ordonnance on the improvement of morals
of 1254); and now the belief in ritual murder was to
reappear. Since the previous century it had been
scarcely mentioned in France. At Valreas, however,
in 1247 it had caused several Jews to
Blood be sentenced to torture (" R. E. J. " vii.
Accusation 304) ; at Pons in Saintonge Jews seem
and Host to have been accused of the same
Desecra- crime, but at what date is not known
tion. (" Joseph le Zelateur " in " R. E. J. " iii.
15) ; and at Troyes on April 25, 1288,
for the pretended murder of a Christian child thir-
teen Jews chosen from among the richer mem-
bers of the community weie condemned by the
Inquisition to perish in the fiames. Several ele-
gies, and a very fine French ballad written in
Hebrew characters, commemorate this last event
(A. Darmesteter in "R. E. J." ii. 199 et seq.). Two
years later at Paris a Jew and his wife living
in the Rue des Billettes were burned together,
but this time on a new charge, that of piercing
the host. The heinous crime was discovered by
the clots of blood which sprang from the host and
which nothing could stop. Ballads perpetuated the
story of this miracle; the stained-glass windows of
many churches commemorated it ; and later, in the
controversies between Catholic and Protestant the-
ologians concerning the Real Presence, it furnished
an argument for the former iu favor of their thesis.
Even to-day the " miracle of the Rue des Billettes"
is recalled each year in the Church St. Jean-St.
Francois, Rue Chariot, Paris (Bouquet, xx. 658;
xxi. 127, 132; xxii. 32). But it was not superstition
which guided Philip the Fair, who was a very prac-
tical politician. Even before ascending the throne,
as Vuitry justly remarks (new series, i. 91), he had
perceived the value of the Jews from a financial
standpoint. In taking possession of Champagne in
1284 in the name of his wife, he received 25,000 livres
as a gift from the Jews of that province, in re-
turn for which he confirmed their terms of settle-
ment. In 1288 he even claimed that in his royal
capacity all the Jews belonged to him; but he was
compelled to recognize the right of the lords to the
possession of some of them (Boutaric, "La France
sous Philippe le Bel," p. 300). Submitted to his ca-
prices, the Jews were by turns protected and perse-
cuted, according to the interests of the moment. In
1288, considering that they were a fruitful posses-
sion for his demain, he refused to allow them to be
imprisoned upon the requisition of the Church with-
out the seneschal or the baile being informed ("Or-
donnances," i. 317). Advised iu 1302 that the Inquis-
itors wished to inquire into certain cases concerning
the Jews, on the plea that charges of usury and sor-
cery were involved, he forbade the officers and royal
judges to arrest or even disturb any Jew at the re-
quest of the Inquisitors (tb. 346). Nevertheless in
1290 he had expelled all the Jews coming from Gas-
cony and England {ib. 317), doubtless to avoid all
dispute with his powerful neighbor.
Increasing- the English king. In 1292 he levied,
Taxation, through the agency of the Jew Manas-
seh of Cr^cy, an extra tax on the Jews
(Boutaric, p. 300) ; in 1295 he arrested tiiem all, order-
ing that an inventory of their goods should be drawn
up, and that they should not be released without a
special order from him. Their money was to be
457
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
France
turned over to receivers; objects of value which
had been left in pawn with tiicm might be repur-
chased by tlu'ir owners during a period of eight days,
afterwhich they would be sold for the benefit of the
treasiuy (Boutaric, p. 301). Buttliiswasonly athreat
to compel the Jews to satisfy the royal demands.
In 1291) tlie king imposed on them another tax, and
at the same time rencAved the edict of 12;50 (•' Ordon-
nances," i. 333; Bru.sscl, p. 609). Again in 1303 he
imposed a ta.v upon them ; but the Jews alleged this
time that since tiiey had not been able to obtain the
payment of moneys due to them, they were not in a
position to pay the new tax punctually. The king
thereupon ordered his officers to compel the debtors
of the Jews to pay their debts (" Ordouuances, " i.545).
Thenceforth, although the Jews found themselves
unable to meet an j'
further exactions,
the demands of
Philip the Fair
became more im-
perious. Toward
the middle of 130G
the treasury was
nearly empty, and
the king, as he was
about todothefol-
lowing year in the
case of the Tem-
plars, decided to
kill the goo.se that
laid the golden
egg. He con-
demned the Jews
tobanishment, and
took forcible pos-
session of their
property, real and
personal (Bou-
quet, X X i. 2 7;
"Continuation de
Nangis," p. 355).
Their houses,
lands, and movable goods were sold at auction ; and
for the king were reserved any treasures found buried
in the dwellings that had belonged to the Jews. That
Philip the Fair intended merely to till the gap in his
treasury, and was not at all concerned about the
well-being of his subjects, is shown by tlie fact that
lie put himself in the place of the Jewish money-
lenders and exacted from their Christian debtors
the payment of their debts, which they themselves
had to declare. Furthermore, three months before
the sale of the property of the Jews the king took
measures to insure that this event should be coinci-
dent with the prohibition of clipped money, in order
that those who purchased the goods sliould have to
pay in undebased coin. Finally, fearing that the
Jews might have hidden some of their
Exile of treasures, he declared that one-fifth of
1306. any amount found should be paid to
the discoverer (Vuitr}-, " Etudes," new
series, i. 91 et seq. ; Simeon Luce, " Catalogue des
Documents du Tresor dcsChartresRelatifsaux Juifs
sous le Regne de Philippe le Bel "). It was on July
22, the day after the Ninth of Ab, that the Jews
Conference of Franco-Jewish
(.-Vfter & iriiDinture in the Bi
were arrested. In prison they received notice that
they had been sentenced to exile; that, abandon-
ing their goods and debts, and taking only the
clothes which they had on their backs and the sum
of 12 sous tournois each, they would have to quit the
kingdom within one month ("R. E. J." ii. 15 et xeq. ;
Saige, pp. 27, 2«, HI ct seq.). Speaking of this exile,
a French historian has said : " The expulsion of 1306
was, taking all things into account, practically the
revocation of the Edict of Nantes issued b}' the Louis
XIV. of the Middle Ages [i.e., Philip the Fair]. In
striking at the Jews Philip the Fair at the same time
dried up one of the most fruitful sources of the
financial, commercial, and industrial prosperity of
his kingdom " (Simeon Luce in " R. E. J." ii. 16).
Although the history of the Jews of France in
a way began its
course again a
short time after-
ward, it may be
said that in reality
it ceased at this
date. It was spe-
cially sad for
them that during
the preceding cen-
tury the king-
dom of France
had increased con-
siderably in ex-
tent. Outside the
Isle of France, it
now comprised
Champagne, the
Vermandois, Nor-
mandv, Perche,
Maine, Anjou,
Touraine, Poi-
tou, the ^Marche,
Ly onnais, Au-
vergne, and Lau-
guedoc, reaching
from the Rhone to
the Pyrenees — Provence, as the Jews called it. Tlie
exiles could not take refuge anywhere except in
Lorraine, the county of Burgundy, Savoy, Dau-
phine, Roussillon, and a part of Provence. It is
not possible to estimate tlie number of fugitives;
that given by Griitz, 100,000 ("Gesch." 3d ed., vii.
245), has no foundation in fact.
Thirteenth Century. Southern France : The
fate of the Jews of the south in the course of the
thirteenth century by no means resembled their
previous experience. It was a period of reaction.
The coalition of the pope, the Church, and the
enemies of the coimts of Toulouse now forced the
counts, who with their vassals had a century be-
fore protected the Jews so efficaciously, to yield to
the intolerance of the times. The crusade against
the Albigenses had partly for its cause the fact that
Raymond YI. and his vassals had confided certain
public offices to the Jews; and this Avrong was one of
those for wliicli the Count of Toulouse and a dozen of
his principal vassals made the amende honorable at
the Council of St. Gilles (1209), by swearing not to
entrust public or private offices to Jews in the future
Rabbis, Thirteenth Century.
bliothgque Nationale, Paris.)
France
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
458
(Vaissette, iii. 162-163). In his territory they were
not allowed even to lease the tolls, imposts, or other
revenues. At Narbonne, however, they continued
to act as brokers down to 1306. Their condition be-
came worse when in 1229 Raymond VII. had to give
up to Blanche of Castile, motlier of St. Louis, the
portion of Lower Languedoc extending from Car-
cassonne to Beaucaire; and still more precarious
when, after Raymond's death in 1249, his daughter
Jeanne, wife of Alplionse of Poitiers, the brother of
St. Louis, inherited the remainder of his dominions.
Alphonse of Poitiers' policy toward
Policy of the Jews was similar to that of his
Alphonse brother, with this difference, however,
of Poitiers, says Boutaric, his biographer (p. 318),
that, while St. Louis undertook to
drive usury out of his kingdom, Alphonse desired
to enrich himself. As Count of Poitou, in 1249 he
granted to the inhabitants of La Rochelle the privi-
lege of no longer harboring Jews in their city. He
even agreed to expel the Jews from Poitiers, St.
Jean d'Angely, Niort, Saintes, and St. Maxant, on
condition that those cities indemnify him for his
loss. But the Jews apparently offered larger sums
in order to be allowed to remain ; in a record dated
1350 it is in fact noted that the Jews of Poitou had
made a partial payment of 1,000 livres. Alphonse,
like his brother, ordered the Jews to wear the circu-
lar badge (1269), but he subsequently sold them ex-
emption from this law (Archives Nationales, J. J.
24d, fol. 720). Being in need of money, in 1268 he
again followed his brother's example and arrested
all the Jews in his domains, sequestrating their
property. He desired to do the same in the territory
of the barons, but the latter protested, since they
had received large sums from the Jews in return for
permission to dwell there ; and Alphonse was obliged
to yield (Boutaric, pp. 320,321). The arrest of the
Jews proved so obnoxious that the count consented to
liberate the poor, the sick, the children under four-
teen years, and all those that agreed to declare the
amount of their possessions. The seneschals received
orders to promise the prisoners liberty in return for
a ransom, and to bid them send two of the wealthi-
est among them to the count, who would confer with
them directly. A number of the Jews who had
made false statements in regard to their property
were kept close prisoners. Others, weary of confine-
ment, turned informers. One of these reported to
the seneschal of Poitou that certain treasures had
been hidden in cellars. This report proved true,
and the success of the search soon reached the ears
of the other seneschals. One of the informers in-
curred the enmity of Jews and Christians to such
an extent that he did not dare remain in the territory
of the count. The Jews were finally liberated on
payment of large sums, which those under each
seneschal's jurisdiction undertook to pay jointly,
as follows: those of Poitou 8,000 livres, of Saint-
onge 6,000 livres, of Rouergue 1,000 livres, and
of Auvergne 2,000 livres. Those of Toulouse prom-
ised to pay 3,500 livres, Alphonse having estimated
their possessions at only 1,300 livres, but he now or-
dered them to pay 5,000 livres (ib.). This spoliation
was not as profitable as the count had expected, for
his agents filled their own pockets with the sums
extorted from the Jews. In 1270 Alphonse again
harassed the Jews, commanding them to return to
their debtors all sums which they had received as
usury. He himself derived the benefit of this pro-
cedure, for the pope had authorized him to devote
such sums to defraying in part the expenses of the
Crusade. On the death of Alphonse of Poitiers his
estates came into possession of Philip the Bold,
and the Jews of these provinces now shared the
fate of their coreligionists of the north, whose his-
tory has been recounted above. (On the relation of
the Jews to the local seigniors, see Saige, passim.)
The Inquisition, Avhich had been instituted in
order to suppress the heresy of the Albigenses,
finally occupied itself with the Jews of southern
France also. The popes complained that not only
were baptized Jews returning to their former faith,
but that Christians also were being
Relations converted to Judaism. In March,
with, the 1273, Gregory X. formulated the fol-
Inquisition. lowing rules: Relapsed Jews, as well
as Christians who abjured their faith
in favor of "the Jewish superstition," were to be
treated by the Inquisitors as heretics. The instigators
of such apostasies, as well as those who received or
defended the guilty ones, were to be punished in the
same way as the delinquents. It was in accordance
with these rules that on Jan. 4, 1278, the Jews of
Toulouse, who had buried a Christian convert in
their cemetery, were brought before the Inquisition
for trial, and their rabbi, Isaac Males, was con-
demned to the stake (Vaissette, original ed., iv., doc-
uments, col. 5). Philip the Fair, as mentioned above,
at first ordered his seneschals not to imprison any
Jews at the instance of the Inquisitors, but in 1299
he rescinded this order (see Israel Levi, " Les Juifs
et I'lnquisition dans la France Meridionale, " 1891;
Lea, "History of the Inquisition," ii. 96).
When the edict of exile was suddenly pronounced
in 1306, the intellectual decadence of the Jews of
northern France was already far advanced. But
down to the time of the burning of the Talmud,
that is, down to the first half of the thirteenth cen-
tury, the rabbinical schools flourished and preserved
their prestige. Talmudic scholars continued the
work of the tosafists ; the school of Sir Leon (d.
1224) at Paris attracted many disciples, and flour-
ished still more under his successor.
The Jehiel b. Joseph, alias Sir Vives of
Schools of Meaux. Among the 300 pupils that
Paris and the latter gathered around him were
Elsewhere. Isaac of Corbeil, his son-in-law ; Perez
b. Elijah, of the same city ; Judah ha-
Kohen, probably of Mayence; and the celebrated
Meir of Rothenberg. On account of Jehiel 's emi-
nence he was chosen to direct the disputation re-
lating to the Talmud, referred to above. After the
condemnation of that work, however, the school of
Paris declined. Jehiel even sent an emissary to
Palestine to collect subsidies for his academy ; he
finally left France (r. 1260) to end his days in
the Holy Land. A part of his tosafot, consulta-
tions, and decisions have been preserved. Jehiel's
school ceased to exist after his departure. Samuel
of Evreux, a distinguished tosafist, and a contem-
porary of Jehiel, taught at Chateau-Thierry. His
459
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
France
elder brotlier, Moses of Evreux, was the author of
the "Tosafot of Evreux." Samuel b. Solomon of
Falaise, alias Sir Morel, who took part in the dispu-
tation of Paris, also conducted a famous school; he
was considered one of the most learned tosafists.
Judah b. David, Sir Morel's companion in the dis-
putation, taught at Melun. Moses of Coucy, the
fourth of the disputants, was distinguished for his
oratorical ability. In 1235-36 he traveled through
France and Spain, preaching the observance of the
religious ordinances, and the practise of justice and
charity toward all, Jews and non-Jews alike; and
in 1250 he edited a collection of Jewish laws (" Sefer
Mizwot Gadol," or "SeMaG") which had great au-
thority. His tosafot and his commentaries to the
Pentateuch added to his fame. Isaac of Corbeil,
Jehiel's son-in-law, who presided over the school of
Corbeil, published in 1277 an abridged edition of the
"Semag" under the title " 'Ammude ha-Golah"or
"Sefer Mizwot Katan" ("SeMaK"), a sort of Tal-
mudic breviary, containing a miscellany of religious
and moral reflections and some fables. Perez b.
Elijah of Corbeil, who also taught in that city, was
the last tosafist; a voluminous writer, he composed,
in addition to some well-known tosafot, Talmudic
commentaries and glosses, and several ritual collec-
tions. His contemporary, Isaac b. Isaac of Chinon,
was called "head of the Talmudic schools of
France." Previous to Perez b. Elijah, Nathaniel
the Holy had directed the rabbinic school of Chinon
(after 1224). Eliezer of Touques, likewise one of
the last tosafists, collected extracts from the tosafot
of Sens, of Evreux, and of other schools, and
added to them some of his own. The unsettled
character of the times induced the rabbis to be con-
tent with merely collecting the work of their prede-
cessors, so that the Talmudists of the second half of
the thirteenth century, in contrast to those of the
preceding century, were chiefly compilers. Nor can
the Bible commentaries of this century compare with
those of the preceding centurj^ ; the tosafot to the
Torah, Aaron b. Joseph's "Gan" (1250), Isaac ha-
Levi b. Judah's "Pa'aneah Raza," and Hezekiah
b. Manoah's " Hazkunni " (1240) are interesting com-
pilations, in which are contained many ingenious in-
terpretations, but In which the Haggadah, and to a
greater degree gematria, occupy a too prominent
place. Berechiah ha-Nakdan stands out from among
these men of somewhat limited views; he was inter-
ested in theologic questions, translated a lapidary
and Adelard of Bath's " Quaestiones Naturales," and
composed a charming collection of fables in rimed
prose intermixed with verse (I. Levi, in "R. E. J."
xlvi. 285).
The Jews of the south of France were meanwhile
studying not only the Talmud, the Bible, and ques-
tions pertaining to the ritual, but also
Jewish the humanities; and they even culti-
liearning vated poetry. Science was introduced
in in the form of translations from the
Southern Arabic. Samuel ibn Tibbon (flourished
France. 1199-1213) translated into Hebrew
Maimonides' "Guide" and several of
his smaller writings, Aristotle's "Meteorology," a
philosophical treatise of Averroes, and various
medical works; and also wrote original theses on
these subjects. His son-in-law, Jacob b. Abba Marl
b. Anatoli, who stood in friendly relation with Mi-
chael Scot, may be said, with the latter, to have intro-
duced Averroism into the West. He was also the
first to apply the rationalism of Maimonides to the
interpretation of the Bible. His " Malmad ha-Tal-
midim " is a collection of philosophic-allegorical
homilies on the Bible and the Haggadah. An ad-
vanced thinker, he attacked Christianity and Mo-
hammedanism, as well as in general the belief in
miracles, the monastic life, and the ignorance and
hypocrisy of his time. In his explanations of the
text of the Scriptures he does not hesitate to have
recourse to the erudition of "Michael, the great
scholar. "
Moses b. Samuel ibn Tibbon surpassed his prede-
cessors in the extent of his labors. He made acces-
sible to the Jews almost all the commentaries of
Averroes ; the " Principles " of Alf arabi ; Euclid ; the
"Almagest"; Avicenna's "Canons"; the "Apho-
risms" of Hippocrates, of Hunain b. Isaac, and of
Razes ; the medical works of Maimonides, as well as
all the latter's other works that had not yet been
translated. Samuel's grandson, Jacob b. Machiribn
Tibbon, called "Profatius," equaled Moses in pro-
ductivity as a translator, and in addition wrote
scientific works. Solomon b. Moses of Melgueil, the
translator of Avicenna, belongs to the same group
of scholars.
Secular poetry, escaping from the fetters of relig-
ion, flourished in this liberal atmosphere. Isaac Gorni
spread his compositions all over southern France,
and gave a vivid picture of Jewish life. The more
prolific Abraham b. Isaac Bedersi composed litur-
gical poems, elegies, satires, and didactic verse, in
which he often displays originality of expression
and delicacy of feeling. His master, Joseph b.
Hanan Ezobi, devoted himself to religious poetry,
while Isaiah, son of Samuel, and Phinehas ha-Levi b.
Yehosifya cultivated secular poetry as well. Je-
daiah Penini, son of Abraham Bedersi (alias En
Bonet b. Abraham or Bonet Profiat), who belongs to
the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, was a man of
science and a philosopher, as well as the most re-
markable poet produced in French Judaism. His
"Behinat '01am," which has been translated a num-
ber of times, is a world-poem of sadness and mel-
ancholy.
Controversy was introduced into Provence by the
Kimhis. Although northern France had the work
of Joseph the Zealot, this is merely a
Polemics collection of brief discussions entered
and Apolo- into in connection with certain verses
getics. of the Bible. Southern France, on the
other hand, produced regular treatises
in defense of Judaism against the attacks of Chris-
tianity. Joseph Kimhi, who wrote the "Sefer ha-
Berit" (Book of the Covenant), was followed by
Meir b. Simon of Narbonnewith his "Milhemet Miz-
wah" (Holy War), which contains much infor-
mation concerning the unfortunate condition of the
Jews of that time. Mordecai b. Yehosifya, in his
"Mahazik Emunah," defends Judaism against the
attacks of Paul Christian. But the Kimhis, curi-
ously enough, could not introduce into Provence
the severe and grammatical exegesis which they had
France
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
460
brought from Spain; for the advanced exegetes, like
Jacob Anatoli, Nissim of Marseilles, and Levi of
Villef ranche, mentioned above, went further than the
Kimhis in their free treatment of the text, and, dom-
inated by a boundless admiration for Maimonides,
could permit no other than the allegorical interpre-
tation of the Scriptures. The Talmud continued to
be assiduously studied by numbers of scholars; but
they were not leaders in the intellectual world, and
even their principal works contain nothing particu-
larly striking. Nevertheless, the following may be
mentioned: MeshuUam b. Moses of Beziers, with his
" Sefer ha-Shelomoh " ; Abraham ha-Levi b. Joseph b.
Benvenisti, with his novelise and his "Bedek ha-
Bayit," a criticism of Solomon b. Adret's "Torat ha-
Bayit " ; and Menahem b. Solomon Meiri (Don Vidal
Solomon), with his commentaries on the Talmud and
his "Bet ha-Nehirah," an introduction to the com-
mentary of Abot, and interesting for the information
it gives concerning the rabbis of the time. The
novellae ("hiddushim"), which were characteristic
of Provence, no longer showed any originality.
There was a fundamental difference between the
new learning originating with Maimonides and the
traditional learning centering in tlie Talmud ; and
this difference, as was to be expected, soon led to
controversies, which form one of the most interest-
ing chapters in the history of the Jews, not only of
southern France, but of entire Judaism.
The publication of Maimonides' Mishneh Torah
had aroused the indignation of Abraham ibn Daud,
as well as of the Spanish Talmud-
Maimon- ist Meir b. Todros Abulafia ha-Levi,
ists and nasi of Toledo. The latter wrote his
Anti-Mai- impressions to one of Maimonides'
monists. correspondents, Jonathan Cohen of
Lunel : he was especially scandalized
by the way in which Maimonides had juggled with
the doctrine of the Resurrection ; it had disturbed
the Jews, and was leading them to an absolute de-
nial of the future life. Aaron b. Meshullam of Lunel
came to the defense of Maimonides, answering the
Spanish scholar with much warmth. As Meir felt
that his views were not finding favor at home,
he turned to the rabbis of northern France, and
made Solomon of Dreux, Simson of Sens, Simson
of Corbeil, David of Chateau-Thierry, Abraham of
Touques, Eliezer b. Aaron of Bourgogne, and others,
judges in the dispute. They sided with Meir, but
their discussions were confined to an exchange of let-
ters, the dates of which are not known, though they
must have been written at least before 1210, since
Aaron b. Meshullam died in that year. But after
Samuel ibn Tibbon translated Maimonides' " Guide
of the Perplexed," the popularity of the works of the
Jewish philosopher thoroughly aroused the orthodox
rabbis of southern France, who regarded the dissem-
ination of Maimonides' rationalism as dangerous to
Judaism. The Talmudist Solomon b. Abraham of
Montpellier, assisted by two of his pupils, David b.
Saul and Jonah of Girona, threatened to excommu-
nicate any one who should read Maimonides' works.
This was the first time within Judaism that such a
step had been taken ; the Rabbis were doubtless in-
fluenced by the example of the Inquisition, which
then held sway in that region. The Jews of south-
ern France, who had been taught iroin infancy to
admire Maimonides, considered it presumptuous to
treat him as a heretic, and no rabbi of Provence
was found willing to join Solomon of Montpel-
lier in uttering the ban. The latter, at the in-
stance of Meir Abulafia, appealed for cooperation to
the French rabbis, who were known for their un-
swervable attachment to tradition ; he sent Judah
of Girona to them, and he obtained their promise to
support the sentence of excommunication. There-
upon all the Jews of Provence rose in protest ; the
rabbis of Lunel, Beziers, and Narbonne, and follow-
ing them those of all the communities of that region,
answered in kind, excommunicating Solomon and
his two disciples. The quarrel spread across the
Pj-renees, and the communities of Aragon and Cas-
tile sided with Maimonides (1232). The community
of Toledo alone did not respond ; this alarmed Solo-
mon's opponents, and one of them, the famous
David Kimhi, who had at first been suspected of ra-
tionalism by the rabbis of northern France, but had
succeeded in convincing them of his true position,
set out for Spain in order to bring the community
of Toledo into line. But before reaching that city
he learned that its foremost scholar, Judah b. Al-
fakar, with whom he had previously corresponded,
had published a letter in which he sided against
Maimonides, declaring that the doctrine of Judaism
had nothing in common with the philosophy of Aris-
totle. This letter had already provoked many re-
plies. But David Kimhi received at the same time
tlie astounding news that Solomon b. Abraham,
abandoned by almost all his followers, had, seem-
ingly in a fit of madness, denounced to the Inquisi-
tion in Montpellier the "Sefer Madda' " (the intro-
duction to the Mishneh Torah) and the "Guide"
of Maimonides. The whole city of Montpellier,
where the partizans and adversaries of Solomon had
carried their quai'rels even into the streets, was filled
with consternation when the books of the famous
Jewish theologian were solemnly burned (123-4 or
1235). The adversaries of Maimonides were con-
founded by their triumph. Some, including Jonah,
repented of their action in public; the vanquished
heaped scorn upon the victors. It even seems that
Jaime, seignior of Montpellier, who was greatly at-
tached to two partizans of Maimonides, caused to be
arrested and condemned for calumny those who had
attacked Maimonides and his followers. The ex-
citement in southern France was not allaj'ed for a
long time, and later, when the contest took place
between the liberal and orthodox parties, although
it too was based on Maimonides' teachings, no one
dared mention his name or attack his opinions. The
quarrel was in fact renewed in 1303 by Abba ]\Iari
b. Moses b. Joseph (also known as "En Astruc '") of
Lunel, assisted by Simon b. Joseph (" En Duran ") of
Lunel. In several letters addressed to Solomon b.
Adret of Barcelona, the foremost rabbinical author-
ity of the time, Abba Mari pointed out the errors of
the philosophical school, which interpreted as alle-
gories not only passages of the Talmud, but also
Bible stories. Thus Abraham and Sarah were taken
to signify the union of matter and form ; the twelve
tribes to mean the twelve planets ; etc. Furthermore,
the writer complained that instead of praying and
461
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
France
reciting the Psalms, the people read Aristotle and
Plato; and that on Sabbaths and festivals the young
people studied works devoted to dan-
Dispute gerous interpretations. He declared
About Phil- that steals must be taken to check this
osophical peril, and that the books dangerous to
Studies. the faith must be excommunicated.
Although Solomon b. Adret shared
the views of his correspondent, he did not dare to
take the initiative in so grave a matter, but desired
to wait until the communities interested in the ques-
tion should force the action upon him. Abba JVIari
then took the matter into his own hands, and wrote
successively to most of the rabbis of Provence.
Levi of Villefranche, a scholar who was visiting
Samuel Sulami, was charged with having inter-
preted the Scriptures allegoricall3s and his host no
longer dared to keep him in his house. Soon the
communities were again divided. A letter from
Barcelona, signed by Solomon b. Adret and fourteen
other rabbis, and threatening with excommunica-
tion anj^one who should engage in philosophic stud-
ies before the age of thirty, was brought to Mont-
pellier. This letter was not published immediately,
as the community desired to examine it first. After
long discussions Abba Mari, in spite of the opposi-
tion of the famous Jacob b. Machir, one of the Ibn
Tibbons, finally decided to read it in the synagogue
of Montpellier. But because many of the faithfxd
rallied to the support of Jacob b. Machir, Abba Mari
was forced to abandon the matter. The quarrel be-
tween the orthodox and the liberal factions became
ever more bitter, and both sides wrote to the rabbis
of Barcelona explaining the state of affairs. Solo-
mon b. Adret, frightened by the attitude of his ad-
versaries, did not dare to take part openly against
them, but asked Abba Mari to reconsider the matter,
being himself disposed to rest satisfied with the open
repentance of Levi of Villefranche, the only guilty
one. Solomon took this stand inconsequence of the
increasing number of protests that reached him. That
sent by Jacob b. Machir, imperious in tone, defended
philosophic studies and taxed Solomon b. Adret
with duplicity. Adret was hard pressed by Abba
Mari and the other rabbis, and finally, in the month
of Ab, 1305, the interdiction against studying
" Greek " books before the age of twenty -five, and
against interpreting the Scriptures allegorically, was
pronounced in the synagogue of Barcelona. The
liberal party of Montpellier, headed by Solomon of
Lunel, instead of confessing itself defeated, applied
to the governor of Montpellier, without whose au-
thorization the sentence of excommunication could
not be uttered against the Jews of the city ; and Solo-
mon then pronounced an anathema upon all who
should forbid their children the study of science.
The quarrel continued, and rabbis from all parts of
Provence took sides for or against the sentence of
excommunication pronounced by Solomon b. Adret.
The poet Jedaiah Penini wrote a strong letter to the
rabbi of Barcelona, entreating him for the honor of
Judaism and in the interest of science to revoke his
sentence of excommunication. At this point the
edict of Philip the Fair put a sad end to the quarrel.
Return of the Jews to France, 1315 : Nine
years had hardly jiassed since the expulsion of 1306
when Louis X. (1314-16) recalled the Jews. In
an edict dated July 28, 1315, he permitted them
to return for a period of twelve years, authorizing
them to establish themselves in the cities in which
they had lived before their banishment. He issued
this edict in answer to the demands of the people.
Geoffroy of Paris, the popular poet of the time, says
in fact that the Jews were gentle in comparison
with the Christians who had taken their place, and
who had flayed their debtors alive; if the Jews had
remained, the country would have been happier; for
there were no longer any money-lenders at all (Bou-
quet, xxii. 118). The king probably had the inter-
ests of his treasury also in view. The profits of the
former confiscations had gone into the treasury, and
by recalling the Jews for only twelve years he would
have an opportunity for ransoming them at the end
of this period. It appears that they gave the sum of
122,500 livres for the privilege of returning. It is
also probable, as Vuitry states, that a large number
of the debts owing to the Jews had not been recov-
ered, and tiiat the holders of the notes had preserved
them; the decree of return specified that two-thirds
of the old debts recovered by the Jews should
go into the treasury. The conditions under which
they were allowed to settle in the land are set forth
in a number of articles; some of the guaranties
which were accorded the Jews had probably been
demanded by them and been paid for. They were
to live by the work of their hands or to sell mer-
chandise of a good quality ; they were to wear the
circular badge, and not discuss religion with laymen.
They were not to be molested, either with regard
to the chattels they had carried away at the time of
their banishment, or with regard to the loans which
they had made since then, or in general with regard
to anything which had happened in the past. Their
synagogues and their cemeteries were to be restored
to them on condition that they would refund their
value; or, if these could not be restored, the king
would give them the necessary sites at a reasonable
price. The books of the Law that had not yet been
returned to them were also to be restored, with the
exception of the Talmud. After the period of twelve
years granted to them the king might not expel the
Jews again without giving them a year's time in
which to dispose of their property and carry away
their goods. They were not to lend on usury, and
no one was to be forced by the king or his officers to
repay to them usurious loans. If they engaged in
pawnbroking, they were not to take more than two
deniers in the pound a week; they were to lend only
on pledges. Two men with the title "auditors of
the Jews " were entrusted with the execution of this
ordinance, and were to take cognizance of all claims
that might arise in connection with goods belonging
to the Jews which had been sold before the expul-
sion for less than half of what was regarded as a
fair price. The king finally declared that ho took
the Jews under his special protection, and that he
desired to have their persons and property protected
from all violence, injury, and oppression (" Ordon-
nances," i. 604; Brussel, p. 617; Vuitry, I.e. p. 98).
Philip V. the Tall (1316-22) at first continued the
policy of Louis X. with regard to the Jews. By
his decrees of April, 1317, and Feb., 1319, he granted
France
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
462
them certain privileges, and somewhat ameliorated
their social status; but the financial consideration
that induced these measures is apparent. The king
modified the sentences that might be
Under pronounced upon them ; exacted the
Philip V. wearing of the circular badge only
in the cities ; placed the Jews under
the jurisdiction of their own bailiffs; determined
and regulated the financial operations in which they
might engage ; and even authorized them to own
houses ("Ordonnances," i. 646, 682; Vuitry, I.e.
101). But while he decreed that they should no
longer be subject to mortmain, and that their estates
were to descend to their families, still the same gen-
eral rule obtained as in the time of St. Louis, that
the property of the Jews belonged to the seignior
within whose domains they dwelt; and the king
expressly declared that they were to remain subject
to tallage and to pay taxes in proportion to the
amount of their fortunes. While they were enjoined
to sell only merchandise of a good quality, they
were to indemnify the treasury, and not the deceived
buyer, in cases of fraud.
Unfortunately for the Jews, this was a period of
physical and intellectual misery. In 1320 appeared
the Pastoureaux, a band of peasants and herds-
men, mostly less than twenty years of age, eager for
battle, adventure, and pillage. They were led by un-
scrupulous men — a priest driven from his church
on account of his misdeeds, and an unfrocked
monk — and they were reenforced by hordes of mis-
creants and bandits. To the number of 40,000 they
overran Languedoc, attacking principally the Jews,
whom no one dared to protect. Five hundred of the
latter sought refuge in the fortress of Verdun-sur-
Garonne, and defended themselves valiantly; but,
seeing their efforts useless, they decided that the eld-
est among them should put the others to death; he
was aided in this work of martyrdom by a vigorous
youth, and soon all had perished except the children,
who had not been given to the sword ; these were
baptized. The governor of Toulouse, attempting
to check this band of brigands, imprisoned some in
that city, but they were liberated by the mob, who
then turned to massacre the Jews. The Pastoureaux
were everywhere supported by the mob, and some-
times by the citizens, who either encouraged the
massacre or were afraid to protect the Jews. At
Alby the consuls tried to stop the horde at the city
gates, but the Pastoureaux forced their way in,
shouting that they had come to kill the Jews; the
populace received them as friends and brothers,
" for the love of Christ, against the enemies of the
faith."
At Lezat the consuls made common cause with
them. Even the officials sometimes shared the pop-
ular fanaticism. The progress of the Pastoureaux was
arrested only in the district of the seneschal of Car-
cassonne (P. Lehugeur, "Hist, de Philippe leLong,"
1897 ; Gratz, " Geschichte," 3d ed., pp.
Under 25betseq.). Charles IV. subsequently
Charles IV. appointed commissioners to inquire
into the affair in the districts of the
seneschals of Toulouse, Perigord, and Carcassonne ;
but his action was taken only because the royal
treasury had suffered as a result of the riots; the
cities in which the troubles had occurred were sen-
tenced to pay a fine. Various instances show both
the weakness of the authorities and the prevalent
hostility toward the Jews. At Chateau-Thierry in
1318 the synagogue was entered, the tabernacle
broken open, and the scrolls of the Law carried off
("ActesduParlementde Paris," v. 230). In 1319 cer-
tain impostors traversed the country, and, pretend-
ing to be the king's agents, searched the houses of
the Jews, and despoiled them in the name of the law.
At Troyes the Jews were accused of having entered
the churches, and also of having shouted so loudly
in their synagogues as to disturb divine services in
the churches; Philip the Tall thereupon (Feb. 26,
1320) directed the bailiff of Troyes to punish the
Jews so severely that in future they would cease
committing such outrages ("Bibliothequcde I'Ecole
de Chartres," 1849, p. 414). On July 12, 1317, the
king had ordered the arrest of several persons on
suspicion of having killed a child, and two Jews
of Chinon had been hanged on this charge. In Puy
tlie Jews were similarly accused (Mandet, "Hist, du
Velay," iv. 117). According to one historian, "the
people of that time were seized with a delirium
that begat epidemics of frenzy. The public mind
was disturbed by imaginary terrors; common gos-
sip treated of nothing but compacts, witchcraft,
and magic" (Fleury, "Hist. Eccl." p. 92). In their
excitement the people of Guienne imagined that
the lepers had formed a conspiracy to destroy their
countrymen, either by leaving the infirmaries in
order to infect the healthy, or by poisoning the wells
and fountains. Thereupon they seized some of these
unfortunates, and without any form of trial burned
them at the stake. The king, too weak to quell this
uprising, sought to profit by it. He instituted an in-
vestigation ; the lepers were arrested, and those that
yielded to torture and confessed were condemned to
the stake, and their property was confiscated. All
this happened before June 21. The Bishop of Alby
then took it on himself to follow the king's example,
but was forced to desist and mulcted in a fine. The
Jews, who, like the lepers, lived apart from the rest
of the communit}', and who, like them, were objects
of public dread, soon suffered from the same charges
as had been brought against the lepers. Some of
the latter, on examination, alleged that the Jews,
who themselves did not dare to poison the rivers,
had induced them to commit this crime. Accord-
ing to a later version of the storj% it was a Jew
who had thrown poison into the river
Conditions at Tours. When the king was in-
at Tours, formed of this alleged crime, he con-
demned the Jews to pay a fine of 150,-
000 livres; their goods were confiscated, and the
wealthiest among them were imprisoned as security
for the fine. Then letters were produced, alleged
to have been written by the kings of Tunis and
Granada to the Jews, and offering them commissions
to poison the Christians. These forgeries, however,
were dated July 2, i.e., after sentence had been
pronounced. According to one chronicle, some of
the Jews were condemned to the stake, but the
official documents disagree with this statement.
While the people had attacked the lepers before the
latter's condemnation, they attacked the Jews in
463
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
France
some places only after seuteuce had been pronounced.
On Aug. 27 one hundred and sixty Jews were
thrown into a burning furnace at Chinon, among
them being the famous rabbi Eliezer b. Joseph of
Chinon (Estorhi Farhi, " Kaftor u-Terah," written
in 1322; on the date see D. Kaufmann in "R. E. J."
xxix. 298). Doubtless other massacres took place
in Languedoc, and records of them have been pre-
served iu Kalonj^mus b. Kalonymus' " Eben Bohan "
(written in 1322). At Vitry le Brule forty Jews,
imprisoned and facing death, commissioned two of
their number to kill the remainder. In many places,
as at Tours, Chaumont, and Vitry, the Jews, like the
lepers, were put on the stand (a fact of which
Kalonymus bitterly complains), and were asked to
denounce their accomplices (Duples-Agier, "Rev. de
I'Ecole de Chartres," 1857, p. 267; Lehugeur, I.e.;
L. Lazard, in "R. E. J." xvii. 210; Vaissette, x. 616;
"Continuation de Guillaume de Nangis," Bouquet,
XX. 628-629; "Coutinuatio Chronici Gerardi de
FracliL'to," xxi. 56; Jean de Saint Victor, xxi. 674;
"Chron. de Saint Louis," xx. 704; "Chron. Ano-
nyme,"xxi. 140, 152; Mandet, "Hist, du Velay," iv.
117; Labbe, "Collectio Concil." xxv. 568; Brussel,
p. 607 ; " Actes du Parlement, Mandement du 8 Fe-
vrier, 1322 "). The entire chronology of these occur-
rences is obscure.
Charles IV., who succeeded Philip the Tall in 1322,
undertook to collect the fine which the Jews had
been sentenced to pay. While discussing this affair
with the seneschals of Languedoc on Feb. 20, 1322,
he foresaw that certain of the Jews would desire to
Jeave the country (Vaissette, x. 616). In fact, such
an exodus took place ; but, according to Brussel, it
was not a voluntary one. They were expelled on
June 24, 1322. In 1324 the property of Jews was
confiscated, either as a consequence of their expul-
sion, or as indemnity for the non-payment of the fine
(Brussel, p. 623). However this may be, there were
no Jews in France between 1322 and 1359 (see Isidor
Loeb in "Gratz Jubelschrift," pp. 51 et seq.).
After the disaster at Poitiers (1356) and the cap-
tivity of John the Good, France was in dire straits.
The ransom of the king had been fixed at 3,000,000
ecus in gold. Soldiers plundered everywhere ; there
were fields that had not been tilled for
Under three years; thesilver mark was worth
John tlie 102 livres. It was then that the regent.
Good. Duke Charles of Normandy, nego-
tiated with Manassier of Vesoul for
the recall of the Jews to France ; they were to re-
main for a period of twenty years, were to pay an
entrance fee of 14 florins gold for each family, and of
one florin and two tournois for each child or servant,
and a yearly tax of seven florins for each family,
and of one florin for each child or servant (•' Ordon-
nances," iii. 468, 469). The charter granted to them
by the dauphin Charles, and ratified March 1, 1350,
by King John ("Arch. Nat." J J 89, folios 316-320),
was very liberal, the Jews taking precaution to guard
against the ills and injustices from which they had
suffered on previous occasions. Even two guard-
ians of these privileges were appointed for them,
Robert of Outreloue for Languedoc, and the Count of
Etampes for the kingdom of France proper (" Ordon-
nances," iii. 351, 352. 471, 472). As the Jews who re-
turned to France at that time were chiefly engaged in
money-lending, the privileges accorded to them bear
chiefly on that calling ; they were permitted to lend
on interest at the rate of four deniers in the pound per
week. That the Jews were few in number is clearly
shown from the fact that between 1359 and 1394
there is scarcely any trace of Jewish intellectual
activity. While John was in the south of France
(Dec. 27, 1362) he permitted the Jews to practise
medicine and surgery, provided that they had passed
an examination before Christian instructors (" Arch.
Nat." J J 93, 163; comp. "Ordonnances," iii. 603).
But with his well-known duplicity he declared, in
Oct. , 1363, that the privileges had been abused which
had been granted, and were therefore annulled. Fur-
ther, he compelled them to wear the circular badge
again, and in defiance of the charter of 1360 made
them subject to the common courts in whatever dis-
trict they were living ("Ordonnances," iii. 603, 641).
Charles V. (1364-80), however, kept
Under the contract that he had made as re-
Charles V. gent. The Count of Etampes inter-
posed frequently in the Parliament of
Paris and in other civil and ecclesiastical tribunals,
on behalf of the Jews, to secure their freedom from
the general jurisdiction.
Meanwhile the Jews of Paris lived quietly in the
district of St. Antoine, near the dwelling of Hugues
Aubriot, the grand provost of Paris, who protected
them. Aubriot 's enemies subsequently explained
this good will by saying that he was fond of the
beautiful Jewesses. He was also reproached with
having restored to the Jews children that had been
baptized ("Chronique des Quatre Premiers Valois,"
p. 295). Thefts committed against the Jews were
promptly and severely punished, even when the
offenders belonged to the nobility (Simeon Luce,
"Rev. Hist." vii. 362 et seq.). But this state of af-
fairs excited jealousy, and the creditors of the Jews,
among whom Avere some of the noblemen of the
highest rank, again endeavored to have them ex-
pelled from the kingdom. Thus toward the end of
1367 or the beginning of 1368 King Charles issued
a decree of banishment, but revoked it before it had
been put into effect ("Mandements de Charles V."
ed. Delisle, No. 430, pp. 216, 217). In Languedoc,
where the distress was very great and the rate of
interest necessarily higher than in other parts of the
country, the Jews were more bitterly hated. At-
tempts were made to compel them to attend service
in the churches. On the complaint of Deys (or
Denis) Quinon, attorney -general for the Jews, Charles
V. put an end to this grievance on March 22, 1369,
because, unless this was done, " the Jews might suf-
fer great bodily harm " (" Ordonnances," v. 167, 168).
In 1370, when the king increased the general taxes,
he solemnly confirmed the privileges that he had
granted to the Jews, demanding of them only 1,500
francs. In 1372 he restored to them certain manu-
scripts which had been confiscated. But at the
same time he did not lose sight of his own interests,
and when he was in need of money, in 1378, he made
an agreement with the Jews in accordance with
which, in return for being exempted from all other
imposts, they were to pay him 20,000 francs in gold,
in four instalments, and 200 francs a week ("Ordon-
France
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
464
nances, " vi. 339). In 1379 he granted them an impor-
tant concession in connection with the fairs of Cham-
pagne and Brie. On visiting the fairs the Jews
were accustomed to take mortgages on the property
of tlieir creditors. But they could foreclose these
mortgages only when solvent Christians acted as
sureties, and they complained that, since they could
not in general find any one to act as surety, they al-
waj'S lost their claims. The king therefore decreed
that Jews might in future be accepted as sureties
("Ordonnances," vi. 439).
With the death of Charles V. in 1380, evil days
set in for this band of money-lenders, whose sojourn
in France was dependent on the interests of the
treasury and the enforcement of authority. On the
accession of the new king, Charles VI., the people
of Paris, impatient to have the special taxes levied
by Charles V. revoked, marched to the palace to
make their request. This being granted, they re-
tired ; whereupon certain of the nobles,
Under who had joined the crowd, proposed
Charles VI. that the expulsion of the Jews be de-
manded. Only a short time before,
the right of remaining had been granted to the Jews
on the payment of certain sums. As the chancellor
did not send an immediate reply, the people gathered
in the streets and seized the records and the money
in the public treasury. Then they rushed into a
district where the Jews occupied forty houses, pil-
laging and plundering on all sides. In this work
they were encouraged by the nobles and the bour-
geoisie, who had joined the mob in order that they
might seize such of their notes as were held by the
Jews. Pillaging was followed by slaughter; all the
Jews met were killed; such as escaped fled to
the Chatelet, where they asked to be confined with
the prisoners and thus be saved from the fury of the
mob. The king did not yield to the people; the
next day he ordered the Jews to return to their
homes, and commanded, under severe penalties, the
restoration of their propertj'. But very few obe^'ed
the royal order ("Chron. des Religieux de St.
Denis"; "Chron. de Charles VI." i. 53-57, in "Doc-
uments Inedits de I'Hist. de France "). In conse-
quence of this riot several Jews left Paris, while
others accepted baptism (Felibien-Lobineau, "Hist,
de Paris," iii.).
In 1382 there was another disturbance, known as
the "Riot of the Maillotins." This was caused also
by the exigencies of the treasury, a new tax having
been levied at the rate of a twelfth of the value of
all commodities. The rioters, armed with mallets,
fell upon the appraisers, and then attacked the
houses of the Jews, which they pillaged for four
days ("Arch. Nat." J J 123, fol. 55; 136, fol. 114).
The mob looked upon the Jews as accomplices of
the treasury ; indeed, as a matter of fact, a large part
of the usury which they exacted went into the pub-
lic coffers. This riot was followed by others outside
Paris. When the news came to Mantes the inhabit-
ants of that town, incited by the soldiers, who as-
sured them of the king's consent, pillaged the Jew-
ish quarter ("Arch. Nat." J J 122, fol. 96; Douet
d'Arcq, "Proems Inedites Relative au R^gne de
Cnarles VI." i. 45, 56). This time again the king
supported the Jews. In a letter of Charles VI. dated
1387 ("Ordonnances," vii. 169) the Jews of Paris and
of several other parts of the kingdom are said to have
represented themselves as having been despoiled of
their property and of the pledges which they had been
unable to restore to their owners (" Ordonnances," vi.
563) ; adding that they had become so poor and re-
duced in numbers that unless their coreligionists of
Languedoc were compelled to bear part of the bur-
den of the tax, they would be unable to pay the con-
tribution levied upon them (" Ordonnances," vii. 169,
233). In proportion to the needs of the treasury,
the Jews, in addition to paying the usual taxes, were
compelled to advance still greater sums to the king.
In return they received various dangerous conces-
sions. They had the privilege of exacting interest
at the rate of a denier in the pound per week, but
were forbidden to take compound interest. Yet
some thought they were authorized to exact this,
and the public prosecutor and the officers of justice
proceeded against the guilty ones, but when they
complained to the king the latter imposed " perpet-
ual silence " on the prosecutor and granted the Jews
immunity from all persecution for the period of ten
years ("Ordonnances," vii. 170). They also obtained
the suppression of the " letters of regret " which per-
sons indebted to them had caused to be issued by
royal authority. In 1388 the king declared that let-
ters of this class which had been signed by him would
in the future be regarded as void, but he demanded
of the Jews 10,000 livres for affixing his seal to this
concession (" Ordonnances," vii. 170). The judiciary,
however, jealous of its privileges, and dissatisfied
with having them set aside by the king to further his
own interest, imprisoned in the Conciergerie such
Jews as had been guilty of exacting compound in-
terest. In return for another subsidy the king de-
livered the Jews once again from persecution in 1394
("Ordonnances," vii. 643). Then, according to the
chronicler of St. Denis, an incident occurred that
brought matters to a crisis. The Jews of Paris were
accused of having induced Denis Machault of Ville-
Parisis, who had accepted baptism, to return to Ju-
daism. The case was tried before the provost of
Paris, assisted by various lawyers and theologians,
and seven Jews who had been arrested were con-
demned to be burned at the stake. But the Parlia-
ment changed this sentence, ordering that the Jews
should be publicly flogged on three successive Sat-
urdays, and should then be banished, and that their
propert_y should be confiscated (Felibien-Lobineau,
" Hist, de Paris ; Proems Justificative, " iv. 546 ; Joan-
nes Galli, in "Sauval," ii. 524).
On Sept. 17, 1394, Charles VI. suddenly published
an ordinance in which he declared, in substance, that
for a long time he had been taking note of the many
complaints provoked by the excesses
Expulsion, and misdemeanors which the Jews
committed against Christians ; and that
the prosecutors, having made several investigations,
had discovered many violations by the Jews of the
agreement they had made with him. Therefore he
decreed as an irrevocable law and statute that thence-
forth no Jew should dwell in his domains (" Ordon-
nances," vii. 675). According to the " Religieux de St.
Denis," the king signed this decree at the instance of
the queen (" Chron. de Charles VI. " ii. 119). The de-
465
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
France
cree was not immediately enforced, a respite being
granted to the Jews in order that tiiey might sell
their property and pay their debts. Those indebted
to them were enjoined to redeem their obligations
within a set time; otherwise their pledges held in
pawn were to be sold by the Jews. The provost
was to escort the Jews to the frontier of the king-
dom. Subsequently the king released the Christians
from their debts.
six Talmudists within the limits of old France.
Mattithiah b. Joseph Treves, who was acknowledged
as rabbi by Charles V. and as such exempted from
wearing the circular badge ("Responsa of Isaac b.
Shcshet," pp. 270-272; " Ordonnances," v. 498), en-
deavored to found a school in Paris, but trained only
eight rabbis. On his death his son Johanan was
called upon to resist the claims of a competitor, Isaiah
b. Abba Marl (Astruc of Savoj'), who, with the ap-
Map of France Showing Chief Towns Where Jews Dwelt Before the Expulsion of 1394.
The banishment of the Jews from Languedoc and
Languedoil put an end to a condition that had long
been precarious, and the number of them that went
into exile was probably not large. No references to
this exodus have been preserved in Jewish litera-
ture, j'et many traces exist to sliov.' the decline
of Judaism during the thirty-six years that elajiscd
between their return and their expulsion. At the
time of the return there were not more than five or
v.— 30
probation of Meir b. Baruch ha-Levi of Vienna,
claimed the sole right of ordaining rabbis in France.
Johanan was obliged to apply to the Spanish rabbis,
Hasdui Crescas, Isaac b. Sheshet, and Moses Halawa,
for aid in maintaining his rights, for at that time
Languedoc had neither scholars nor rabbis of au-
thority, and writers were found only in the Comtat
Venaissin, in Provence proper, and in Roumil-
lon. Nevertheless, Jewish science and literature
France
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
466
continued to prosper in Provence during the first
half of the fourteenth century. The ban tliat had
been laid upon scientific studies had stimulated, in-
stead of arrested, their progress. Rationalism was
never more potent, and philosophy was never more
eagerly listened to. Levi b. Gershon (RaLBaG) was a
Peripatetic who had attended the school of Averroes,
and, as Munk has pointed out (" Me-
Levi langes," p. 497), was the most daring
\). Gershon. of Jewish philosophers — he even ad-
mitted the eternity of the world. Few
scholars of the Middle Ages had such encyclopedic
learning; he wrote commentaries to most of the
works of Averroesi, and at the same time to the
Bible; he wrote on theology, into which he intro-
duced astronomy; he invented an instrument for
observation — the "staff of Levi." At the request of
Philip of Vitry he composed a treatise on har-
mony ; he was the author of works on arithmetic,
trigonometry, algebra, and geometry ; he was known
for his medical skill ; and at the same time he gained
the respect of rabbinical authorities by his knowl-
edge of the Talmud. His Biblical exegesis is re-
markable, being largely philosophical and ethical.
The stories of the Bible he regards as lessons which
he loves to cite and develop. Ecclesiastes is a
statement of various propositions from among which
the reader has the right to make his choice.
Moses Narboni of Perpignan was hardly less
daring in his conclusions; he also explained philo-
sophically the ethical treatises of the Bible, com-
mented on Averroes, wrote on philosophy, theology,
medicine, and the exact sciences ; but he veiled his
thoughts more skilfully, and selected the commen-
tarj' as bis vehicle for expressing them. Kalonymus
b. Kalonymus, who lived somewhat earlier than
these two scholars, was also one of the representa-
tives of Jewish civilization in southern France.
His relations with King Robert of
Narboni, Naples are well known. He contiu-
Kalony- ued the work of translation, and turned
mus, and into Hebrew many scientific works
Others. written in Arabic, including works on
medicine, geometry, mathematics, cos-
mography, astronomy, and various commentaries to
Averroes. He wrote also many original works on
philosophy and arithmetic. But among Jews he is
most famous for his satirical treatise on morals, in
which he derided the vices not only of the world in
general, but also of the mystics, astrologers, gram-
marians, poets, and Talmudists; and for his parody
on the treatise Megillah, in which he reviewed all the
eccentricities of mankind. Averroes was then in
vogue, and his commentaries were often translated,
as by Moses of Beaucaire, Kalonymus b. David b.
Todros of Aries, Samuel b. Judah, or Miles of Mar-
seilles (who was imprisoned at Beaucaire in 1822 in
connection with the affair of the lepers), and the pro-
lific translator Todros Todrosi. A number of others
translated Ghazzali and Ai'nault of Villeneuve.
Joseph b. Abba Mari, Don Bonafoux of Argentiere
(1279-1340), was one of the most prolific writers of
the time, a thinker of moderate views, opposed to
the exaggerations of the school of allegory, but a
firm supporter of science. His commentaries to the
Bible, his treatises on grammar and lexicography', his
philosophic notes to the Scriptures, his interpretation
of the " Moreh " arc clear and often apt, without pre-
tending at originality.
To the same school belong David of Roquemar-
tine, Abba Mari b. Eligdor, Sen Astruc of Noves,
David of Estella — all disciples of Maimonides. Re-
membering the controversies of 1303-06, they did not
touch upon the burning questions of Biblical history
or legislation, but dealt rather with the Wisdom
series — Proverbs, Job, ai.d Ecclesiastes — which lend
themselves more easily to philosophic speculations.
Nor was there a lack of scientists; such were the
physicians Abraham Caslari; Isaac Lattes, who was
also a theologian andTalmudist; Immanuelb. Jacob
of Tarascon, called "Bonfils," a mathematician and
astronomer, author of the treatise "Shesh Kena-
fayim " on conjunctions and eclipses, and the trans-
lator of a story of Alexander; Isaac b. Todros, the
hygienist; and Jacob Bonet, son of David Bon form,
the astronomer.
There were, however, fewer Talmudists. The
most famous, such as Aaron b. Jacob ha-Kohen of
Narbonne, the author of the ritual collection *' Orhot
Hayyim," and Jeruham, the author of a similar
work, "Toledot Adam weHawah," left France in
1306. Among those who remained — not in the terri-
tory of the king, but in the neighboring provinces —
were Simson b. Isaac of Ciiinon, the author of tlie
"Sefer Keritut," an Introduction to tlie Talmud,
and Isaac b. Mordecai Kimhi, or Petit of Nyous.
It should be noted that all these authors either wrote
before the expulsion of 1322 or did not live in Fran(;e
proper. The country beyond the Rhone and tlie
Pyrenean provinces that had not yet been incorpo-
rated with France were the refuge of Jewish science
and of its last French representatives. And soon tlie
Comtat Venaissin, which formed part of the Pontif-
ical States, was to be their last shelter; for the Jews
were expelled in succession from every new prov-
ince acquired b}' the French crown. See the articles
Brittany; Ciia.mpagne; Dauphine; Puovenci;;
Savoy.
Bibliography: Aronlus, Regesten; Bedarride, LesJuifs cn-
Frarice, en Italic et en Espauiic, Paris, 1867 ; Begin, Uif-
tnire des Juifs dans le Nord-Est de la France, in Kevvi
Orientals, yois. i. and ii.; Beugnot, Le.s Juifs d'Occideni,
ou Recherches sur VEtat Civil, le Commerce et la Litteni-
ture dcH Juifi< en France, en Et<pagne et en Italic, Pari.-«.
1824 ; De Boissi, Dissertations pour Sei-vir a VHistoire ili •<
Juifs, Paris, 1785; Bouquet (Dom Martin), Rccueildes Hi-
toricns des Gaules et de la France, 23 vols., Paris, 17:1' :
Carmoly, B(0(/rap?ii"6 des Israelites de Fra))ce, Frankfor-
on-the-Main, 1868; Depping, LesJuifs dans le Mouoi At/' ,
Paris, 1834 ; Geiger, Parschandatha, Die N(>rdfra)iz6susch ••
Exegetenschule, Leipsic, 1855; Gratz, Gesch.; Gross, Gall, i
Judaica, Paris, 1897; Gudemann, Gesch. i., Vienna, I8811;
Ordonnances des Rois de Fra)ice de la Trobficme Rari ,
Paris, 1723-1849; Vartz, Monumenta Gernianire Hititorica,
182«>-74 ; Renan-Neubauer, Lcs Rabbins Frangah<, Pans,
1877; Labbe, Collect io ConcilUtrum, Paris, 1071; Renan-Ncii-
bauer, Les Ecricains Juifs Frangnia, Paris, 1893; Sttiii-
schneider, Hebr. Uebers. Berlin, 1893; Vaissette (Doiih,
Hititoi7'c Gi'nerale de Languedoc; Weiss, Dor; Winter and
Wiiiische, Die JVidische Litteratur, vols. li. and iii., Treves,
1893-96; Zunz, Literaturgesch. Berlin, 1855; idem, Z. O.
Berlin. 1845*
J. I. L.
The edict of banishment of Charles VI. was en-
forced with the utmost sev^erity. Nobles whose iu-
tercots were injured by the expulsion were never-
theless compelled to obey the order. The Duke of
Foix, who was favorably inclined toward the Jew-
ish community of Pamiers, endeavored, though ui>
467
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
France
successfully, to maintain them in the duchy. An
exception was made in the case of Dauphine, because
in ceding this province to Charles VI.
The Rest Count Louis II. of Poitiers expressly
of France, stipulated that the Jews should be
allowed to continue there and to re-
tain their accustomed privileges. Tlie Jews of
Dauphine remained undisturbed until the end of the
sixteenth century, when the edict of expulsion was
extended to that proviitce also. However, most of
them had emigrated before Louis XI. (1461-83) had
been long on the throne; for, charging them with
excessive usury and with dealings with his enemies
while he was in Flanders, he liad imposed upon
them a fine too heavy for them to pay.
Seventeen years after the annexation of Provence
(1481) an edict of bjinishment was issued against the
Jews of that province. This edict, which probably
liad not been carried out with extreme severity, was
renewed by Louis XII. in 1501. After this date,
with the exception of Marseilles, where thej' suc-
ceeded in maintaining themselves until 1758, there
were no Jews in Provence. Portuguese and Span-
ish Maranos indeed settled in the sixteenth century
at Bordeaux, Bayonne, and in some other localities ;
but they were tolerated only as "new-Christians";
they began to profess Judaism openly only after
1730.
In the beginning of the seventeenth century Jews
began again to penetrate into France. This neces-
sitated a new edict (April 23, 1615), in which Louis
XIII. forbade Christians, under the penalty of death
and confiscation, to shelter Jews or to converse with
them. The Regency was no less severe. In 1683
Louis XIV. expelled the Jews from the newly ac-
quired colony of Martinique. In annexing Alsace
and Lorraine, Louis was at first inclined toward the
banishment of the Jews living in those provinces,
but thought better of it in view of the benefit he
could derive from them; and on Sept. 25, 1675, he
granted them letters patent, taking them under his
special protection. This, however, did not prevent
them from being subjected to every kind of extor-
tion, and their position remained the same as it had
been under tiie Austrian government.
While the Alsatian Jews were thus laboring un-
der barbarous legislation, the condition of tliose of
Comtat Venaissin (see Avignon ; Cakpentkas; Ca-
vaillon), which belonged to the Holy See, became
unbearable. All the additional measures devised
against them by the councils during the fifteenth
and sixteenth centuries were applied to the letter
in the second half of the seventeenth century and
afterward.
In the course of the eighteenth century the at-
titude of the authorities toward the Jews was
modified. A spirit of tolerance began to prevail,
which corrected the iniquities of the legislation.
The authorities often overlooked infractions of the
edict of banishment; a colony of Portuguese and
German Jews was tolerated at Paris. The voices of
enlightened Christians, like Dohni, who demanded
justice for the proscribed people, began to be heard.
An Alsatian Jew named Cerf Berr, who had rendered
great service to the French government as pur-
veyor to the army, was the interpreter of the Jews |
before Louis XVI. The humane minister ]\Iales-
herbes summoned a commission of Jewish nota-
bles to make suggestions for tlii; amelioration of
the condition of their coreligionists.
Beginnings This commission included Cerf Berr
of Eman- and eminent representatives of the
cipation. Portuguese Jews from Bordeaux and
Bayonne, like Furtado, Gradis, Isa<ic
Rodrigues, Lopez Dubec, etc. The direct result of
the efforts of these men was the abolition, in 1784,
of the degrading poll-tax and the iKTmission to set-
tle in all parts of France. Shortly afterward the
Jewish question was raised by two men of genius,
who subsequently became prominent in the French
Revolution — Count Mirabeau and the abbe Gregoire,
the former of whom, while on a diplomatic mission
in Prussia, had made the acquaintance of Mendels-
sohn and his school, who were then working toward
the intellectual emancipation of the Jews. In a pam-
phlet, "Sur Moses Mendelssohn et la Reforme Poli-
tique" (London, 1787), Mirabeau refuted the argu-
ments of the German anti-Semites like Michaelis, and
claimed for the Jews the full rights of citizenship.
This pamphlet naturally provoked many writings
for and against the Jews, and the French public
became interested in the question. On the proposi-
tion of Roederer the Royal Society of Science and
Arts of Metz offered a prize for the best essay in an-
swer to the question : " What are the best means to
make the Jews happier and more useful in France? "
Nine essays, of which only two were unfavorable to
the Jews, were submitted to the judgment of the
learned assembly. The prize was awarded jointly
to three essays, written respectively by Salkind Hur-
witz, a Polish Jew, interpreter at the Royal Library
of Paris ; Thierry , a member of Parliament for Nancy ;
and the abbe Gregoire. Of these three the most
important for the Jews was the essay of the abbe
Gregoire, because of the character of the author.
Meanwhile the Revolution broke out. The fall
of the Bastile was the signal for disorders every-
where in Alsace. In certain districts the peasants
attacked the dwellings of the Jews, who took refuge
in Basel. A gloomy picture of the outrages upon
them was sketched before the National Assembly
(Aug. 3) by the abbe Gregoire, who demanded their
complete emancipation. The National Assembly
shared the indignation of the prelate, but left unde-
cided the question of emancipation ; it was intimi-
dated bj' the anti-Semitic deputies of Alsace, espe-
cially by a certain Rewbell, who declared that the
decree which granted the Jews citizens' rights would
be the signal for their destruction in Alsace. On
Dec. 22, 1799, the Jewish question came again be-
fore the Assembly in debating the question of ad-
mitting to public service all citizens without dis-
tinction of creed. Mirabeau, Count Clermont Tan-
nerre, and the abbe Gregoire exerted
Debates all the power of their eloquence to
in the bring about the desired emancipation ;
National but the repeated disturbances in Al-
Assembly. sace and the strong opposition of the
deputies of that province and of the
clericals, like La Fare, Bishop of Nancy, the abbe
Maury, and others, caused the decision to be again
postponed. Only tlie Portuguese and the Avi-
France
THE JEWIbH ENCYCLOPEDIA
468
guonesc Jews, wlio bad hitherto enjoyed all civil
rights as naturalized Frenchmen, were declared full
citizens by a majority of 150 (Jan. 28, 1790). This
partial victory iufused new hope into the Jews of the
German districts, who made still greater efforts iu
tiie struggle for freedom. They won over the elo-
quent advocate Godard, whose influence in revo-
lutionary circles was considerable. Through his
exertions the National Guards and the diverse sec-
tions pronounced them.selves in favor of the Jews,
and the abbe Malot was sent by the General Assem-
bly of the Commune to plead their cause before the
National Assembly. Unfortunately the grave af-
fairs which absorbed the Assembly, the prolonged
agitations in Alsace, and the passions of the clerical
party kept in check the active propaganda of the
Jews and their friends. A few days before the dis-
solution of the National Assembly (Sept. 27, 1791)
a member of the Jacobin Club, formerly a parlia-
mentary councilor, named Duport, unexpectedly
ascended the tribune and said : " I believe that free-
dom of worship does not permit any distinction in
the political rights of citizens on account of their
creed. The question of the political existence of
tlie Jews has been postponed. Still the Moslems
and the men of all sects are admitted to enjoy polit-
ical rights in France. I demand that the motion for
postponement be withdrawn, and a decree passed
that the Jews in France enjoy the privileges of full
citizens. " This proposition was accepted amid loud
applause. Rewbell endeavored, indeed, to oppose
the motion, but he was interrupted by Regnault de
Saint-Jean, president of the Assembly, who sug-
gested " that every one who spoke against this mo-
tion should be called to order, because he would be
opposing the constitution itself."
Judaism in France thus became, as the Alsatian
deputy Schwendt wrote to his constituents, "noth-
ing more than the name of a distinct
During- the religion." However, the reactionaries
Reign did not cease their agitations, and the
of Terror. Jews were subjected to much suffer-
ing during the Reign of Terror. At
Bordeaux Jewish bankers, compromised in the cause
of t^ie Girondins, had to pay considerable sums to
save their lives; in Alsace there was scarcely a Jew
of any means who was not mulcted in heavy lines.
Forty-nine Jews were imprisoned at Paris as sus-
pects; nine of them were executed. The decree of
the convention by which the Catholic faith was an-
nulled and replaced by the worship of Reason Avas
applied by the provincial clubs, especially by those of
the German districts, to the Jewish religion. Syna-
gogues were pillaged, the celebration of Sabbath and
festivals interdicted, and rabbis imprisoned. Mean-
while the French Jews gave proofs of their patriot-
ism and of their gratitude to the land which had
emancipated them. Many of them fell on the field
of honor in combating in the ranks of the Army of
the Republic the forces of Europe in coalition. To
contribute to the war fund candelabra of synagogues
were sold, and man)' Jews deprived themselves of
their jewels to make similar contriliutions.
An attempt to destroy the good work of the Revo-
lution with regard to the Jews was made under Napo-
leon, who was himself not very favorably inclined
toward them. The reactionaries Bonald, Fontanes,
Mole, and others led a campaign against them, and a
pretext for curtailing their rights was easily found.
Charges of excessive usury were brought before
Napoleon while, on his return from Austerlitz (1806).
he was at Strasburg, where the deep-rooted preju-
dices against the Jews were still active. He then
charged the state council with the revision of the
existing legislation concerning the Jews. The ma-
jority of the members of this bodj' was not, how-
ever, inclined to enact restrictive laws against all
the Jews because of the misdeeds of some usurers.
Influential persons, among whom was the minister
of the interior, Champagny, endeavored to bring
Napoleon to a better opinion of the Jews. They
called to his attention how quickly they had be-
come proficient in the arts and sciences, in agricul-
ture and handicrafts. Persons were
Attitude of mentioned who had been decorated
Napoleon, with the Order of the Legion of Honor
for courage in war. But Napoleon, on
May 30, 1806, issued a decree by which he suspended
for a year the execution of the judgments rendered
in favor of Jewish money-lenders in Alsace and in
the Rhenish provinces. By the same decree he
summoned an assembly of Jewish notables, ostensi-
bly to devise means whereby useful occupations
might be made more general among the Jews, but
in reality to question the representatives of the Jews
concerning the moral character of the Mosaic law.
Among the 111 notables chosen, somewhat arbitra-
rily, by the prefects, were well-known men like Berr
Isaac Berr, his son Michel Berr, Abiaham Furtado,
Sinzheim, Abraham Vita di Cologna, and many
others, who were fully aware that they were called
to defend Judaism before the world. From the first
sitting (Saturdaj^ July 26, 1806), presided over by
Abraham Furtado, they disarmed the ill will of Na-
poleon by their tact and manifestation of patriotism.
Although advocating various religious opinions,
harmony did not cease to reign between the mem-
bers, and they were unanimous in their answers to
the twelve questions put before them by the com-
missioner of the government, the reactionary Mole
(see Sanhedrin, French). The chief point of the
question was whether the Jewish civil and matri-
monial laws, the prescriptions concerning the rela-
tions between Jews and non-Jews, and the regula-
tions in regard to usury were in accordance with the
spirit of modern times. On Sept. 18, 1806, the com-
missioner Mole announced to the Assembly that the
emperor was satisfied with the answers and that
he intended, in order to give a religious sanction to
the principles expressed therein, to call together a
Sanhedrin. Like the Sanhedrin of old.
The San- this Sanhedrin was to be composed of
hedrin. seventy-one members, two-thirds rab-
bis and one-third laymen, having at
their head one president and two vice-presidents.
On Feb. 9, 1807, four days after the dissolution of
the Assembly of Notables, the Sanhedrin, under the
presidency of David Sinzheim, held its first meeting
in a hall of the Hotel de Yille, especially decorated
for the occasion. The answers of the Assembly of
Notables were the main subject of its discussions.
After several sittings they were all approved and
469
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
France
drawn up in French and in Hebrew. Thenceforth
the principles laid down by the Assembly of Nota-
bles were to have legal force for all the Jews of the
French empire. But who was to sec to the enforce-
ment of these decisions? Hitherto the Jewish in-
habitants of every town formed a separate commu-
nity which had its own administration, without anj^
connection with the government. Napoleon there-
fore, in consonance Avith his general centralizing
tendencies, conceived the idea of organizing the
Jewish commimity on a legal basis, and of placing
corporate bodies and hierarchical functionaries at
its head. By a decree issued from Madrid on
March 17, 1808, lie instituted the sys-
The Con- tem of consistories which is still in
sistories. force in France. The spirit by which
the emperor was guided in this is seen
in the formula of oaths which the members of the
first consistories had to take: "I vow and promise
before God, on the Holy Bible, to show obedience to
the constitutions of the empire and loyalty to the
emperor. I promise also to make known anything
that I may hear contrary to the interests of the sov-
ereign or of the state." B3' another decree the Jews
were invited to adopt family names. They were
not allowed, however, to take names of towns or
Biblical names. These decrees, gratifying as they
were to the Jews, were unfortunately followed by
another, of the same date, wliich restricted for ten
years their commercial freedom. According to the
terms of this last decree no foreign Jew was allowed
to settle in the German departments, nor one from
those departments in any other district. No French
Jew was to engage in any trade without the per-
mission of the prefect, which permission was to be
granted only on the testimony of the civil magis-
trates and the consistory as to the good character of
the applicant. Contracts of Jews who could not
show a patent were to be null and void. No Jew
drafted into the army was to be allowed to procure a
substitute. Owing to the numerous complaints made
by the Jews and to the favorable reports of the au-
thorities, however, exemption from these restrictions
Avas shortly afterward granted to the Jews of Paris,
of Leghorn, of the dei>artment of the Lower Pj-r-
enees, and of fifteen other districts in France and
Italy. At the end of the ten years the restrictions
were not renewed, despite the efforts of certain en-
emies of the Jews.
The restoration of Louis XVIII. did not bring any
change in the political condition of the Jews. Such
of their enemies as cherished the hope that the
Bourbons would hasten to undo the good work of
the Revolution with regard to the
After Jews were soon disappointed. Since
the Resto- the emancipation the French Jews
ration. had made such progress tliat the most
clerical monarch could not find any
pretext for curtailing their rights as citizens. They
were no longer poor, downtrodden pedlers or money-
lenders, with whom every petty official could do
as lie liked. ]\Iany of them already occupied high
positions in the army and the magistracy, and in the
arts and sciences. And a new victory was won bj'
French Judaism in 1831. Of the faiths recognized
l)\ the state, only tlie Jewish liad to support its
ministers, while those of the Catholic and Protestant
churches were supported by the government. This
legal inferiority was removed in tiiat year, thanks to
the intervention of the Duke of Orleans, lieutenant-
general of the kingdom, and to the campaign led in
Parliament by the deputies Rambuteau and Viennet.
Encouraged by these prominent men, the minister
of education, on Nov. 13, 1830, offered a motion to
place Judaism upon an equal footing with Cathol-
icism and Protestantism as regards
State support lor the synagogues and for the
Recogni- rabbis from the public treasury. Tlie
tion. motion was accompanied by flatter-
ing compliments to the French Jews,
" who, " said the minister, •' since the removal of their
disabilities by the Revolution, have shown them-
.selves worthy of the privileges granted them." After
a short discu.ssion the motion was adopted by a large
majority. In Januar3% 1831, it passed in the Cham-
ber of Peers by 89 votes to 57, and on Feb. 8 it was
ratified by King Louis Philip, who from the begin-
ning had shown himself favorable to placing Juda-
ism on an equal footing with the other faiths. Short-
ly afterward the rabbinical college, which had been
founded at Metz in 1829, was recognized as a state
institution, and was granted a subsidy. The gov-
ernment likewise liquidated the debts contracted by
various Jewish communities before the Revolution.
Strangely enough, while the Jews had been thus
placed in eveiy point the equals of their Christian
fellow citizens, the oath " More Judaico " still con-
tinued to be administered to them, in spite of the
repeated protestations of the rabbis and the consis-
tory. It was only in 1846, owing to a brilliant
speech of the Jewish advocate Adolphe Cremieux,
pronounced before the Court of Ninies in defense of
a rabbi who had refused to take this oath, and to a
valuable essay on the subject by a prominent Chris-
tian advocate of Strasbuig, named Martin, that the
supreme court (Cour de Cassation) removed this
last remnant of the legislation of the Middle Ages.
With this act of justice the history of the Jews of
France merges into the general history of the French
people. The rapidity with which many of them
won affluence and distinction in the nineteenth cen-
tury is without parallel. In spite of the deep-rooted
prejudices which prevail in certain classes of French
society, many of them occupy high
As- jiositions in literature, art, science,
similation. jurisprudence, the army — indeed, in
every walk of life. Among them there
were men whose fame extended beyond the bound-
aries of their own country, as, for instance, Adolphe
Cremieux, Fould, Goudchaux, and Raynal, in ])oli-
tics: Fromenthal Halevy, Samuel David, Jonas Wald-
teufel, Leouce Cohen, und Ernest Calien, in music;
Solomon ]\Iunk, Joseph and Hartwig Derenbourg,
Michel Breal, Jules Opjiert, II. Weill. Solomon and
Theodore Reinach, Arsene and James Darmesteter,
and Joseph Halevy, in cla.'^sical philology and Orien-
tal languages and literatures; M.Loewy, Albert Levy,
and Gabriel Lippniann, in astronomy and science;
Betlarridcs, A. Bloch, and Lyon-Caen, in jurispru-
dence ; Georges Ilayeni and Germain See, in medicine ;
Adolphe Franck and H. L. Bergson, in philosophy;
Emile Soldi, Enmianuel Haimaux. and Z. Astruc,
France ,
Franche-Comte
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
470
in sculpture; EmileLevy, Jules Worms.E. Brandon,
Edouard Lifivre, Alphonse Ilirscb. and Fribourg, in
painting ; Joseph Hirscli, Maurice Levy, and L. Bach-
man, in engineering; Albert "Wolflf, Blowitz, Joseph
Beinacb, Arthur Meyer, Catulle blendes, Henri Ave-
nel, and Henri Michel, in literature and journalism;
Ad. d'Ennery, Abraham Dreyfus, Ernest Blum.
Hector Cremieux, Albin Valabregue, and Eugene
Manuel, in drama; Rachel, Anielie Ilirsch, Rosine
Bloch, Worms, and Berr as actors and actresses.
In the last decade of the nineteenth century the
reactionaries, having failed in every attempt to over-
throw the republic, had recourse to anti-Semitism,
by means of which they maintained a persistent
agitation for over ten years. The Jews were charged
with the ruin of the country and with all the crimes
which the fertile imagination of aDrumontora Viau
could invent ; and as the accused often disdained to
answer such slanderous attacks, the charges were
believed bj* a great number of people to be true. A
campaign was started against Jewish army officers,
which culminated in the celebrated Dkevfus Case.
This unhappy affair, which brought France to the
brink of ruin, opened tiie eyes of the Republicans
to the plans of the reactionists; and the heyday of
anti-Semitism in France is now fast disappearing.
In compliance with the decree of March 17. 1808,
the Jewish population of France was divided into
seven consistories, which contained a total of 46,1(50
inhabitants. ' Of this number 16,15.5 belonged to the
department of the Lower Rhine. 10,000 to that of the
Upper Rhine, and 20,005 to the rest of France. The
seats of the consistories were : Paris, Strasburg,
Wintzenheini (later Colmar), Metz, Nancy. Bor-
deaux, and Marseilles. With the increase of the
Jewish population new consistories were established
at Lyons (1857) and at Bayonne (1859). In 1845
three consistories were established in Algeria.
Through the Franco-Prussian war of 1870, French
Judaism lost the three most iiopulous consistories of
Alsace and Lorraine; but, owing to the great num-
ber of Jews who retained French nationality and
emigrated from those provinces to France, they
were replaced by three new ones established at
Vesoul, Lille, and Besancon. At present (1903) the
twelve consistories cnniprise 89 Jewish congrega-
tions, divitled among 33 rabbis, with a total popula-
tion of about 100.000 persons, of whom about 60,000
live in Paris.
Since the establishment of the consistories the
method of recruiting their members has undergone
many changes. At first they were chosen by the
civil autiiorities of the various depart-
Mode mcnts: in 1844 the rigiit of election
of Consis- was extended to the various municipal
torial and state functionaries ; tinally, a law
Election, was jiasscd in 1846 by virtue of which
every Jew who had attained the age
of twenty -five was placed on the list of electors.
In every congregation there exists an administrative
committee or synagogue administration, consisting
of five or six members elected either by the con-
sistory, as is the case in the district of Paris, or l)y
tlie suffrages of the congregation.
According to the terms of the decree of 1808, rab-
bis may be appnintcnl only to conirregations num-
bering at least 200 members. Where several con-
gregations in separate towns do not possess the
number of Jewish inhabitants required by law,
they may join together for the purpo.se, and the seat
of the rabbi is fixed in the most important commu-
nities. Since 1872 the election of rabbis is con-
fided to the departmental consistories, which are
assisted by a certain number of delegates from the
various congregations. When the choice is made
the name of the candidate is sent to the Central
Consistory of Paris. The latter body, after confirm-
ing the selection, submits it to the government for
final ratification. At the head of each departmental
consistory stands the departmental chief rabbi. The
supreme chief of the I'abbinical hierarchy of France
is the rabbi of the Central Consistory of Paris (Le
Grand Rabbin du Consistoire Central des Israelites
de France), who is elected by a college composed of
the twelve members of the Central Consistory and
two delegates chosen by universal suffrage from
each of the twelve departmental consistories. This
office has been held in succession by the following:
Segre D. Sinzheim, Abraham Vita di Cologna, Em-
manuel Deutz, Marchand Ennery, LTlmann, Isidor,
and the present (1903) Rabbi Zadoc Kahn.
The Reform movement, which between 1830 and
1840 divided German Judaism into two hostile
camps, found but. a feeble echo in France. The at-
tempts at Reform made by O. Ter-
Reform quem, who in a series of pamphlets,
in France, called " LettresZarfatiques," attacked
all religious institutions and tradi-
tions, failed to produce any effect. This is due
partly to the indifference of the French public to
logical discussion and partly to the spirit of tolera-
tion which is innate in the most devout in France.
However. Jewish ritual ceremonies and prayers have
been given a more modern form. As early as 1831
the Central Consistorj- had prohibited the preaching
of sermons in any other language than French. In
1856 Ulmann summoned to Paris all the i-abbis of
the con.sistories to discuss the reorganization of the
ritual for French Judaism. Among the innovations
introduced by this assembly the most noteworthy
are : the permission to employ the organ in the
synagogue; the bringing of new-born children to
tlie synagogue to receive the benediction of the rabbi ;
the religious initiation ; the covering of coffins with
flowers, the placing of hangings at the entry of the
mortuary, and the employment of more luxurious
hearses; the a<1o]ition of an official dress for rabbis
resembling that of the Catholic priest, with the
slight difference that the band is of white. Besides
these innovations the assembly revised the prayer-
book and sujipressed some of the prayers.
Bibliography : Gratz. Oesch. xi., passim ; .lost, Neuere Ge-
schirhte, passim ; Ttieodnre Rfinach, Hii<ti>irc dcx Israelites,
PP.30.T et seq.: Ahrnhdux Cahen, Les Jiiifs (lanx lesCohmics
au XVIIl Sieck, in Rev. Et.Jiiives. iv. 127, 236 ; v. 68, ZV ;
Leon Bardinet. Antiquite et Organimtimi <ks Juiveries dii
Comtat Venaissin, i. 262. vi. 1, vii. 139; Bninschwicg, ics
Juifs de Nantes et dn Pans Xantais, xiv. 80, xvil. 12.5, xi.x.
294; Debr^. in Jew. Quart. Revieir.iu. 3t)6 et seq.; Bedar-
ride, Les Juifs en France, en Italie ct en Espagne, pp. 3.52
et seq.; Leon kahn. Le.'< Jiiifs a Paris Dep>tis le VI Si^cle,
passim; idem, Les Juifs de Paris Pendant la RevolutUm,
passim; idem, Z/p,s Juifs de Paris soiui Louis XV passim;
Lucien Brun, La Condition des Juifs en France Depvis
1780 ; Breslau, Les Juifs en France, in Arch. Isr. xlv. 117.
K. C. I. Bk.
471
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
France
Franche-Comttf
FRANCES, IMMANUEL BEN DAVID:
Ituliai) poet and rabbinical scholar; born in Mantua
July 22, 1618 (V); died at Leghorn after 1703.
He received his instruction from his elder brother
Jacob and from Joseph Firmo of Ancona. In 1674
he was chosen by some Italian communities to repre-
sent them in a case against the heirs of K. Zacliariah
Porto. A responsum by him in this matter is found
in "She'elot u-Teshubot 3Iayim Rabbim," iv.. No.
41. Another responsum is cited in Lampronti's
"Pahad Yizhak,"«.r. nn'D nnnD niVC Both he
and his brother Jacob were determined opponents
of the followers of Shabbethai Zebi, against whom
they wrote a volume of poems entitled "Zebi Mud-
dah " (ed. Mortara, in " Kobez 'al Tad " of tlie Me-
Kize Nirdamim, Berlin, 1885). Immanuel also op-
posed the cabalists, creating so strong a feeling
among the rabbis of Mantua that they destroyed his
brother's published poems and forced him (Imman-
uel) to leave the citj'. He wandered from place to
place, even to Algiers, settling finally in Leghorn.
He wrote to his friend Abraham Kokab to protest
against Iiis busying himself with classical literature.
In addition to many occasional poems Fiances
wrote, in conjunction with his brother Jacob,
" Wilvkuah Itiel we-Ukal," a dialogue on woman,
and "Wikkuah Libni we-Shim'i," on his brotlier's
poem against the cal)alists. Two of Immanuel's
l><)ems were published by Nepi-Ghiroudi in " Toledot
Gedole Yisrael" (pp. 291-293), others by Abraham
Baruch Pipernoin " Kol Tgab," Leghorn, 1846. Im-
manuel's best-known work is "Metek Sefatayim"
(written in Algiers), a treatise on Hebrew prosody,
in which he makes use of a number of his own
verses. It has been edited by H. Brody ("Ilebr.
Prosodie von Immanuel Frances," Cracow, 1892), and
translated and thoroughly discussed by Martin Hart-
maun ("Die Ilebriiische Verskunst," Berlin, 1894).
An approbation of Frances is found in Jacob Haggis'
"Halakot Ketannot," Venice, 1704. His epitaph,
composed by himself, is to be found in Ugolino,
"Thesaurus," xxxiii., cols. 1463-1464; in Wolf,
"Bibliotheca Ilebnta," iii. 1794b; and in David
Kahana's biography, p. 13.
KiBLiOGR.vPHY: Steinsehneider, VerzeiclDiUis dcr Hebiii-
ischcn Hmidschriftni, etc.. i. 34, Berlin, 1878; Neubauer,
t'at. Bndl. Hehr. MSA. col. (iSl ; David Kaliana, Srfcr Or
icn-Hoghck. in (iriiber's Maflnzi'n flir Hrl>r<lixchf Litcra-
tiir und WisKnischaft. vol. i., Jaroslav, 18S7.
G.
FRANCES, JACOB BEN DAVID : Italian
scholar and poet; born at Mantua in 1615: died at
Florence in 1667. After having been thoroughly
grounded in the Talmud l)y his father, he continued
his studies with Shemaiah de Medina (D lL*n) at
Venice. His reputation as a poet is founded mainly
on his satires, whicli vehemently attacked Shabbe-
thai Zebi and his following and warned against his
agents. Together with his brother and pupil, the
poet Immanuel Frances, he vainly called upon the
rabbis, especially those of Smyrna, to take measures
against the imi)ostoi-. The followers of Shabbethai
in turn scattered pamjihlets broadcast denouncing
him as a heretic. His house was attacked, and at-
tempts were even made upon iiis life. As Frances
traced the error .=! of Shiibbethaiau teaching to caba-
listic speculations on the kingdom of the Messiah, he
published a poem in which he condemned the study
of Cabala by the uninitiated and ridiculed the aber-
rations of mysticism. The cabalists, and especially
tlie rabbis of Mantua, demanded that tlie poem be
burned. The impending controversy was cut short
by the author's death. His faithful brother Im-
manuel ben David Frances carried on his defense.
Bibliography: Piperno, Kol 'Uqab, 78b; Nepi-Ghlrondi.
Tiiledot Gedole Yixracl, p. 184; Frances, Metek Sefatauirn,
ed. Brodv, pp. 06 et 8eq.
<■• I. E.
FRANCES, JOSEPH: Spanish scholar; lived
at Ferrara, Italy, about the middle of the sixteenth
centur}'. He was Ihe author of a commentary to
Jedaiah Bedersi's "Behinat ha-'Olam " and "Bakka-
shat ha-Memin," published with the texts (Ferrara,
1552).
Bibliography : Furst, Bihi. Jud. 1. 287 ; Kayserling, Sephar-
diin, p. 314.
a. M. Sel.
FRANCHE-COMTE : Ancient province of
France, also called " Haute-Bourgogne " or " Comte
de Bourgogne " ; now divided into the departments of
Ilaute-Saone, Doubs, and Jura. There is little men-
tion of Jews in Franche-Comte before the thirteenth
century. Not until Philip Augustus drove them out
of France at the end of the twelfth century, and at the
time of the wars of ]\leranie, did they begin to settle
there. They very soon attracted the suspicion of
the clergy. Scarcely half a century after their arri-
val a new sect came into existence, called "Judai-
ziiig Christians " because they observed Saturday in-
stead of Sundaj' and refused baptism. The general
Council of Lyons (1245) took action against these
heretics, and the Bishop of Besangon was asked to
watch over the Jewish propaganda and to compel
every Jew in his diocese to wear a badge. Twenty
years later Pope Clement IV. addressed a bull to
Jean de Chalon, the "Sire de Salins," who was al-
most incontestablj^ master of the county of Bur-
gundy, to excite his zeal against the Vaudois and
against Judaizing Christians. The diocesan statutes
contained clauses forbidding Christians to engage
Jewish servants (especially nur.ses, bccau.se they
taught children to hate the Christian religion). The
clergy kept the Jews at a distance from ecclesiastical
domains; for instance, the cure of Luxeuil changed
the day of the hay market to Saturday to prevent
the Jews from taking part in it.
The nobles, however, made advances to them,
partly, perhaps, because the Jews were an impor-
tant source of revenue. Jean I. de
Favored by Vergy, Sire of Champlitte and Au-
Nobility. trey, took them under his special pro-
tection, gave them safe-conducts, and
even released them from statute labor, from paying
tolls, from the riding-tax, and from other imposts.
Jean I. de Chalon-Arlay established a Jewish colony
near his chateau in the village of Lombard, and
there is still an ancient cemetery in this vicinity in
which the skeletons are found face downward, and
which tradition recognizes as the old Jewish ceme-
teiy. The members of each organized community
paid an annual tax, varying from twenty to one
hundred sols. Continually at strife with one another
or with the King of Fmnce. or even with the Em-
Franche-Comt6
Franck
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
47J
peror of Germany, most of the nobles of Franche-
Comte were in debt, and had need of Jewish money.
About 1296, Jews furnished money to Chalon-Arlay
and the Count of Montbeliard to support them in
their struggle witli Philip the Fair. At this time
the material condition of the Jews appears to have
been fairly prosperous. They had their open ac-
counts at Vesoul, Besan9on, Gray, Salius, etc.
Many of the nobles had to place their domains in
pawn with the Jews. Thus the market-town of Mar-
nay, which belonged to the important family of
Chalon, was given over to the Jews of Dole and Vil-
lars for five years. One rich Jew of Vesoul, Elias
or Helyon, was the creditor of the greatest nobles of
Franche-Comte. Vesoul was a center for money-
changers, and must have contained a large contin-
gent of Jews. A beautiful synagogue stood in the
center of the town ; it was still in existence in the
sixteenth century, as was also the liouse of Helyon.
The general expulsion of Jews in 1306 does not
appear to have affected those in Bourgogne, though
their conmierce received a blow from
Ac- which it never recovered. But soon
cusation the Jews of Franche-Comte also were
of "Well- forced into exile ; they and the lepers
Poisoning', were accused of poisoning the wells.
Their goods were confiscated. The
house of Helyon was given by Queen Jeanne, wife
of Philip the Tall, to a lady of her suite, who sold it
at the death of the queen and built a chapel with
the proceeds. Most of the exiles went to Besan^on,
at that time an imperial city, thus escaping the au-
thority of the King of France. It is possible that a
certain number were allowed to remain on relin-
quishing their claims to the debts due them. But
the exiles soon returned to Franche-Comte. In 1331,
at the death of Queen Jeanne, the county of Bur-
gundy passed into the hands of Duke Eudes, but
the queen's will caused dissatisfaction, and all the
barons arose against him. He had need of the Jews,
and recalled them. The account of expenditures
in 1332-33 shows that their number was increased by
thirty-two families. In 1348, however, the Black
Death broke out. Gollut, the historian of the six-
teenth century, states that the Jews of Franche-
Comte shared tiie fate of the Jews in other countries
and died under extreme torture. This is erroneous.
Their oppressors were content with expelling them
after having taken away their property. From Oc-
tober 28 to 30 they proceeded to arrest the Jews of the
bailiwick of Amont (Ilautc-Saone) and to take an in-
ventory of their possessions; but the revenue de-
partment, which wished to refill its empty treasury,
was disajipointed. Certain Jews of Vesoul, Synion,
Rubininer, and Hebrelin escaped, but were recap-
tured and imprisoned. Some of them were hidden
away. Finall}', after about one hundred days of
imprisonmmit, everything that could be found Avas
taken from them, and the ducal treasury rerei\(<l a
net increase of 41)4 fioriiis.
On Jan. 27, 1349, the Jews, furnished with a safe
conduct, were driven out of the county of Burgundy
and escort(!d as far as ^lontbozou. A short time
afterward tlie Jews of Doubs, Jura, and ]\Iontl)e-
liard were ordered to leave within five months. It is
doubtful whether tills decree was ever executed, be-
cause in 1355 the Archbishop of BesanQon renewed
the ordinance against the employment of Christian
servants. From this time on there is little mention
of Jews. In 1360 Manasseh of Vesoul, who negoti-
ated the return of the Jews to France at this time,
settled in Paris, where he became steward to the
king. In 1374 the Jews were driven out of Salins.
On Nov. 21, 1384, Philip the Bold regulated the
status of the Jews. He permitted fifty -two families
to settle in the towns of his domain on payment of
an entrance fee and an annual tax. He fixed the
rate of interest ; henceforth a Jew was to be believed
on his oath, and the evidence of a single apostate
was declared invalid. The chiefs of the Jews were
called "masters of law "; the Jewish cemetery was
separated from the others, and a noble of the court
was instituted guardian of the Jews.
The general expulsion of the Jews from France in
1394 put an end to their presence in Franche-Comte.
Israel Levi has proved that a certain number of
well-known rabbis lived in this province in the first
half of the fourteenth century — for instance, Joseph
b. Jacob Tournoy and Joseph de Musidan.
Bibliography: .1. Morey, Les Jiiifs en Franche-Comte au
XlVe Steele, in B. E. J. vii. 1 ei seq.; Israel Levi, Un Re-
rueil de ConxuUations Ineilites, in ib. xliii. 237 ct seq.
(.. L S.
FRANCHETTI, AUGUSTO : Italian lawyer
and historian; born at Florence July 10, 1840; at-
tended the lycee at Marseilles; studied law at Pisa,
where he was admitted to the bar in 1863 ; and then
settled at Florence. As dramatic critic of " La Na-
zione " and the " Nuova Antologia, " he devoted much
time to the drama, and especially to Aristophanes,
whose works he translated into Italian verse. In
1874 he was appointed professor of modern history
at the Istituto di Scienze Sociali. In view of his
services rendered to Italian literature and especially
to the study of Dante, he was elected corresponding
member of the Accademia della Cruseaof Florence.
Since 1872 Franchetti has been a member of the
Consiglio Comunale; and since 1886 he has been
almost continuously in the municipal council. For
forty years he has been one of the directors of the
Jewish community of Florence (president 1870-99),
rendering valuable services while the new synagogue
was being built. In 1899 he was elected president
of the Florentine commission of tlie Collegio Rab-
binico Italiano, taking a prominent part in the reor-
ganization of the institution.
Franchetti's works include; " Le Nuvole di Ari-
stofane Tradotte in Versi Italiani con Introduzione
e Note di Domenico Clomparetti," 1881; " Storia
d'ltaliadal 1789 al 1799," 2d ed., Milan, 1903, a large
and valuable work ; and many historical e-ssays rela-
ting to the French Revolution, published in " Ras-
segna Settimanale," "Nuova Antologia," and "Ar-
chivio Storico Italiano."
l!:ni,iO(;RAriiv : De Gubematis, Les Eerivaiiis du Jour.
s. I. E.
FRANCHETTI, LEOPOLDO, BARON : Ital
iaii deputy; boiii at Florence in 1847; studied law
at Pisa. In company with Deputy Sidney Sonnino
lie undertook a journey to Sicily for the purpose of
studying the social, political, and economic condi-
473
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Franche-Comttf
Frauck
tions of that island; their observations wen; subse-
quently published in two volumes. In 1878 lie to-
gether with Sonniuo founded the weekly "Riissegiia
Settimanale," which was later converted into the
daily "La Rassegna" and published at Rome; it
was subsequently discontinued for lack of circula-
tion. In the last decade of the nineteenth century
Franchetti became governor of the East-African
colony Eritrea. On his election to Parliament
Franchetti interested himself especially in the affairs
of the nav}\ and has published many parliamentary
reports.
Bibliography : De Gubernatis, Lei Kcrirahia du Jmir.
s. I. E.
FRANCHI, GUGLIELMO DEI : Jewish con
vert to Christianity; born at Rome; died there
about 1600. Embracing Christianity, he joined the
monastic order of Vallombrosa, and devoted himself
to the dissemination of knowledge of Hebrew
among Christians. In 1596 he published at Rome a
Hebrew alphabet (" Alphabeticum Hebraicum "),
giving the rules for the reading of Hebrew; and
three years later a short Hebrew grammar, *' Sole
della Lingua Sancta, nel Quale Brevemente si Con-
tiene la Grammatica Hebniea " (Bergamo, 1599).
Bibliography : Wolf, Bihl. Hehr. iii. 564 : Hetzel, Gesch. der
Hehrdinchen Sprache, p. IW; Steinsehneider, BihUogra-
p}mc}ie>i Handhuch, p. 48.
D. I. Bk.
FRANCIA : A family of Spanish descent, whose
arms, according to D'Hozier, were: Argent, a crown
bearing the letters "G. F. R." sable, surrounded by
two palms sinople, with branches saltire.
Members of the Francia family emigrated in the
seventeenth century to London, where they became
influential and wealthy. Tlie founders of this
branch were Simon Francia (c. 1677) and Do-
mingo Roderigues (Roiz) Francia, died 1688.
The latter left two sons, Francis and Simon, Jr.
His grandson was George Roderigues Francia,
known in the synagogue of which he was parnas
as "Abraham Francia," who says in his will, "I doe
order my interment in the buriall place of my nation
at Mile End with the usual decencies." He died
1695, leaving five sons and five daughters, one of
whom married a son of David Pinto in Amsterdam.
It was one of liis sons, Francis Francia, who was
tried for high treason Jan. 22, 1710, as an adherent
of the Old Pretender, the so-called James III. (Ja-
cobs and Wolf, "Bibl. Anglo. -Jud." p. 95). He was
acquitted because he was an alien, having been born
in France. His elder brother was Simon Francia.
A number of other members of this family appear
in the court records of the time. Their coat of
arms — a lion rampant, carrying a standard per pale,
five fleurs-de-lis, tlie shield surmounted by a hel-
met— is to be seen on several of their gravestones.
The arms, however, seem never to have been re-
corded.
The widow of George Francia caused his armorial
bearings to be registered at Bordeaux Nov. 29.
1697. His son Abraham signed as elder the com-
munal regulations of Bordeaux in 1760. Benjamin
Francia figures in the list of notables of Bordeaux
in 1809.
The family had a special synagogue at Bordeaux,
which was closed in 1812.
Bibliography: Guienne, Armnrial Oaieral, p. 911, No. 174
(MS. fn the Bibllotheque Natlonale. Paris); Liiclen Wolf,
Crupto-Jewx, pp. 9, 12 ; The Jcutji of the Restorat ion, p. 11 ;
Gaster, Hist, of Zicrj's Marhsf, pp. 17, 51, 81 ; Arcyiivies Muni-
cipahide Bordeaux, GG 80 hrx, fol. :5; H. L<^on, Histoire des
Juifs de Batioinie, p. 392; Malveziti, Hiatoire den Juifs de
Bordeaux, p. 3(H1: Jn(\ Chroii. Deo. 3, 1897, p. 9.
G. C. DE B.
FRANCIA DE BEAUFLEURY : A Jew of
Spanish descent, who went to Bordeaux, probably
from London, about 1760. He is the author of va-
rious works, among them being "Choix de Poesies
Fugitives," Paris, 1783, and "Histoire de I'Eta-
blissement des Juifs a Bordeaux Depuis 1500," Paris,
1797.
Bibliography: Bomadan, Hifitoire de Bordeaux Depuis
167Ci, xi. !^1 : Feret, Statistique de In (rironde, iii. 50.
G. C. DE B.
FRANCISCANS. See Fiuaks.
FRANCK, ADOLPHE: French philosopher;
born at Liocourt, department of the Meurthe, Oct.
9, 1809; died at Paris April 11, 1893. Destined for
the rabbinate, at the age of fourteen he was com-
mitted to the care of Marchand Ennkhv ; at the same
time he obtained a sec-
ular education. Fail-
ing to win a rabbinical
scholarship, he dallied
awhile with medicine,
and at length tui-ned to
philosophy, in which
he found his proper
field. In 1833 Franck
became "agrege" of
philosophy, taking the
first position on the
list. He then taught
successively at the col-
leges of Douai, Nancy,
and Versailles, and in
1840 at the College
Charlemagne at Paris, where among his pupils
were Edmond About and Francisque Sarcey. The
same year he began a complementary course of
public lectures at the Sorboiuie. In 1842 he was
appointed assistant curator of the Biblioth^que
Royale. After a visit to Italy (1843), necessitated
by his health, he began his "Dictionnaire des
Sciences Philosophiques," his principal work. In
1844 he Avas elected member of the Institutde France
(Academic des Sciences I\Iorales et Politiques) in
recognition of his "Esquisse d'une Histoire de la
Logique " and his work on the Cabala, which latter
became very popular and was translated into Ger-
man by Adolf Jellinck (Leipsic, 1844).
In 1847 Franck again took up his work at tlie
Sorbonne and started a course in social philosophy.
After a few months he was asked by Bartlielemy
St. Hilaire, whom the revolution of 1848 had drawn
into the ]iolitical arena, to take his ]ilaee at the Col-
lege de France. Franck was himself alTected by the
political turmoil of the time, and in 1848 became
candidate for tl.e ^eputyship of the department of
the Meurthe, bui kh' 1 of election. In 1856 he be-
came incumbent of the chair of natural and civil
.^flolplie Kraiirk.
Franck
Frank
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
474
law, a position wliich lie held for tliirty years. He
became president of the Anti-Atheist League, and
took deep interest in the work of the Society for the
Translation of the Scriptures, which he joined at its
inauguration in 1866. He founded and controlled the
" Paix Sociale, " the organ of the Anti-Atheist League,
Avrote for the "Journal des Debats," and was one of
the editors of the " Journal des Savants. " An active
defender of Judaism, his lecture at the College de
France entitled " Le Role des Juifs dans Ic Devel-
oppement de la Civilisation " was reprinted in the
"Archives Israelites" of 1855, to which journal he
contributed for fifty years, and in which he pub-
lished the two essays " De la Creation " (1845) and
" Le Peclu; Original et la Femme " (1885). He was
a patron of the Societe des Etudes Juives, and be-
came its president in 1888. Chosen member of the
Consistoire Central des Israelites de France for
Nancy in 1844, he soon became its vice-president.
Under the empire lie Avas tlie representative of Ju-
daism at the Conseil Superieurde I'lnstruction Pub-
lique, resigning in 1874 on a question of organization.
He was al.so one of the founders and presidents of
tlie Ligue de la Paix.
Franck's work met witli speedy recognition. He
became chevalier of the Legion of Honor in 1844,
olHcer in 1862, and commander in 1869. The revo-
lution of 1870, however, prevented his reaching
tlie Senate, a position to which the emperor had
wished to elevate liim.
The following are Franck's best-known woiks:
La Kabbale ou Philosophic Religieuse des Hebreiix. Paris,
lS+3 ; 2d ed., 1889.
Dic'tionnaire des Sciences Philosophiques. 1843-52, 6 vols.;
new ed., 187.").
Esquisse d'une Histoire de la Logique. 1838.
De la Certitude. 1847.
Le Communisme Juge par THistoire. 1849.
Pnracelse et I'Alchimie an XVI. Siecle. 18.").
Etudes Orientales. 186L
Reforaiateurs et Publicistes de I'Euiope. 3 series, 1863-93.
Philosophie du Droit Penal. 18(i4.
Philosophie du Droit Ecclesiastiqu^^ 1864.
Philosophie du Droit Civil. I860.
La Philosophie Mystique en France au XVIII. Siecle. 1866.
Philosophie et Religion. 1867.
Morale pour Tous. 1868.
La Vraie et la B'ausse Egaliti'. 1868.
Moralisies et Philosophes. 1871.
Le Capital. 1872.
Projet de Constitution. 1872.
La Religion et la Science dans le Judaisme. 1883.
Essais de Critique Philosophique. 188.5.
Nouveaux Essais. 18'.H).
BiBi.iOGRAniv : Arcli. Tsr. April, 184«, April, 1893 ; LaGra)ide
Kiicych}pi'(1}r; Lc NatioiuiUVeb. 5, 1891; Le Temps, April
12, 1893; U)iii\ Isr. May 1, 1893; Vapereau, Dictiniinaire
(leu C(>i>tenii>tn'niiis. 1880; Hartwig Derenhourg, Elofic
(rA(hillilieFra)ul.\ in /.'. K. .) . Iv., pp. iii.-xi.
s. L B.
FRANCO: A Jewish family Avhich deriv'ed its
name from a place near Navarre, Spain. There were
Francos at Amsterdam, Venice, Tunis. Constantino-
ple, Adrianople, Silistria, Magnesia, Smyrna, Bi-usa,
and. in the islands of Crete and Rhodes. According
to tlie family traditions, the Francos of Constanti-
nople, who are Austrian subjects, are the descend-
ants of two Jews of Prague, the brothers Abraham
and Moses, who settled in Constantinople in 1780.
Daniel Franco: Rabbinical judge of Tunis
about 171)7 (Ca/es, "Notes Bibliograi)hiques").
D. M. Fi{.
David. Franco (^t^sn) Mendes: Hebrew poet;
born at Amsterdam Aug. Vi, 1713; died there Oct.
10, 1792. A business man, he devoted his leisure
hours to the study of the Talmud, in which he be-
came very proficient. He knew several languages,
and was especially well versed in Hebrew. For six
months preceding his death he was honorary sec-
retaiy of the Spanish-Portuguese community at
Amsterdam.
David Franco Mendes was, next to Moses Hayyim
Luzzatto and Naphtali H. Wessely, the most im-
portant Neo-Hebraic poet of his time. Delitzsch de-
scribes his poems as traditional in subject, national
in spirit, and artistic in form. He followed Racine
in his historical drama "Gemul 'Atalyah," Amster-
dam, 1770; Vienna, 1800; Warsaw, 1860. Under
the title " Teshu'at Yisrael bi-Yede Yehudit " (Rodel-
heim, 1840) he translated into Hebrew Pietro Meta-
stasio's " Betulia Liberata. " He was a frequent con-
tributor to " Ha-Meassef , " in which he published
some poems and short biographies of eminent
Spanish-Portuguese coreligionists. He left several
manuscripts, written partly in Hebrew, partly in
Portuguese and Spanish, most of which are in pos-
session of the seminary of the Spanish-Portuguese
community at Amsterdam. They include : " Bi'at
ha-Mashiah," on the advent of the Messiah ; " Nir le-
Dawid," respousa, several of which are printed in
the collection "Peri 'Ez Hayyim"; a collection of
Hebrew epitaphs; and "Kinnor Dawid," a large
Collection of poems by liim and others. His " Me-
morias do Estabelecimento e Progress© dos Judeos
Portugu^'zes e Espanhoes nesta Famosa Cidade de
Amsterdam; Recapilados de Papeis Antigos Ira-
pressos e Escritos, no Ao. 5529 = 1769 " (MS. No. 220,
pp. 4), " Memorias Succintas da Consterna9ao de
Nosso K. K. de Amsterdam nos TribulagolSs desde
Cidade e Provincia, no Ao. 1787" (MS. No. 34,
pp. 4), and " Collecao de Antiguidades" (manu-
script) are of historical value.
Bibliography : Ha-Maggid, xii. 77, a5, 109, 157, 369 ; Delitzsch,
Z^^r Gesch. der Jiid. Poesie, pp. 1 11 et seq.i Gratz, Gesch. xl.
134 et seq.; De Castro, De Sjjtiaaoge, p. xvii. ; Kayserling,
Bih'i. Ei^p.-rm-t.-Jud. p. 47.
G. M. K.
Mendez Mordecai Franco : President of the
Portuguese Jewish community of Amsterdam about
1684. '^
Moses Franco : Historian and schoolmaster in
the employ of the Alliance Israelite Universelle ; born
at Constantinople 1864. He studied at the Ecole
Normale Orientale Israelite, Paris, was principal of
seveial Jewish schools in the East, and founded the
Jewish schools at Safed, Palestine. In collaboration
with Col. Rushdi Bey he has compiled three French
readers that have been ofllcially introduced into the
Turkish schools of tlie Ottoman empire, namely:
" Alphabet Fran^ais," 1889 ; " Premier Livre de Lec-
ture," 1888; and "Cours Moyen de Lecture," 1889.
He is the author of "Histoire des Israelites de
I'Empire Ottoman," Paris, 1897; and "Les Sciences
Mysticpies chez les Juifs d 'Orient," ib. 1900. In
1901-02 he published "La Communaute Israelite de
Safed " (in " Revue des Ecoles de I'Alliance Israelite
Universelle"). For si.vteen years Franco has con-
tributed to two Anglo-Freiicli periodicals of Con-
475
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Franck
Frank
stantinople, " Stainboul " (1886-97) and " Le ]\Ioniteur
Oriental " (1897-1903). He is now director of the
Alliance Israelite Univorselle School at Shumla,
Bulsraria. S.
Pinhero Aaron Franco : Dutch mathemati-
cian; lived at Ainsteidani in tiie seventeenth cen-
tury; author of the astronomical work "Lunario
Perpetuo Calculado," Amsterdam, 1657 (Kayser-
ling, "Bibl. Esp.-Pnrt.-Jud." p. 47).
Bahamim Franco : Talnuidist and chief rabbi
of Hebron; born 1833; died 1896. In 1851, when
Rhodes was devastated by a terrible earthquake,
Franco went to Europe to collect subscriptions for
tlie victims of tlie disaster. On his return lie set-
tled at Jerusalem, and toward the end of his life at
Hebron, where he officiated for seven months as
chief rabbi. He was the author of three works, two
of which are still in manuscript. The third is a
book of respnnsa entitled " Sha'are Rahamim." Jeru-
salem, 1881.
Samuel Franco : Turkish cabalist, and chief
rabbi of Salonica in 1492.
Solomon Franco : Printer at Constantinople,
and founder of a press which existed there for nearly
fifty years. Rashi's commentary on the Bible with-
out the text was the onlj^ work printed during Solo-
mon's lifetime (1639). Joseph of Trani's responsa,
which appeared next year, were published by his
son Abraham. In collaboration with his brother
Jacob Gabbai, he printed the " Bet Aharon" of Aaron
Souroujon, 1678, and other Avorks. The last book
printed by him was the "Zehab Sebali " of Solomon
Algazi (1683). Abraham Franco was enabled,
through the generosity of Kissim ben David, to
cast a new set of fonts for the " Leb Sameah " of
1652. Before that time, he states, none in Constan-
tinople but his father Solomon had known how to
cast type.
Bibliography: Steinsehneider, Cat. Bndl. Xos. sioo, 8101;
idem, in Ersrh and (iruber, Eiicyc. section ii., part 28, p. C3.
D. M. Fk.
FRANCOLM, ISAAC ASHER : German
preacher and religious teacher; born at Breslau
Dec. 15. 1788; died there July 1, 1849: Ph.D., Leip-
.sic, 1817. After conducting a Jewish elementary
school at Breslau for three years, he was called in
1820 to the community of Konigsberg, Prussia, as
preacher and religious teacher (one of his rivals for
the position being Ztinz), and was confirmed in his
office by the government.
Francolm did much to modernize the synagogue
service and religious instruction, and he introduced
into Germany the confirmation of girls. Some Or-
thodox members of the conmrunit}- brought this
matter before the government, and Francolm was
forbidden not only to confirm girls, but also to in-
troduce any other innovations into the service, espe-
cially preaching in the vernacular. On the expira-
tion of liis contract in 1826 he declined a reengage-
ment, and accepted tlie position of chief inspector
and principal of the Konigliche "VVilhelmsschule, a
Jewish institution at Breslau, in whicli office he re-
mained until 1847.
Among Francolm's numerous works are: " Der
Alte Bund : Aufsatze fur Israeliten zur BefOrderung
<les Uichtigen Verstandnisses der Bibel," a religious
weekly of w hich only ten numbers weie published,
1820; "Die Grundziige der Religionslehre aus den
Zehn Geboten Entwickelt," Neustadt-on-the-Oder,
1826; "Die Mosaische Sittenlehre: Zum Gebraucli
beim Religionsunterricht," Breslau, 1831; "Worte
eines Juden nacli Beendeter Landestrauer um den
Konig Friedrich Wilhelm III. : An Seine Christlichen
Brilder Gerichtet." ib. 1840; "Die Juden und die
Kreuzfahrer in I^ngland Unter Richard Lowenherz."
Besides these he published works of fiction and
some books on mathematics and pedagogics.
Bibliography: H. Jo\ov;icz, Gesch. der Juden in KOnigs-
heru. pp. 12",) et seq.; Jost, Neuere Gesch. der Israeliten, iil.
162, 190; VogeLstein, BeitrUge ziir Ge-sch. de.t Uiiterricht»-
wesens in der JUd. Gemeinde zn KOnigshei-g, pp. 21 etseq.,
Konigsberg, 1903.
s. F. P.
FRANGI, HAYYIM (surnamed Hayyim
Menahem) : Turkish rabbinical author; born in
1833 at Constantinople ; died there in 1903. He
has published two Hebrew Avorks: "YismahLeb"
(2 vols., Salonica, 1867-83), containing responsa
and sermons ; and " Matteh Lehem " (Constan-
tinople, 1902), a collection of all the juridical de-
cisions rendered by the author in the twenty-five
years during which he has exercised the functions
of president of the rabbinical tribunal. He has
also edited the work of one of his teachers, Eliezer
of Toledo, under the title " Mishnat Rabbi Eliezer "
(2 vols., Salonica and Smyrna, 1853).
s. ' M. Fr.
FRANK, BAR B. GERSHON : Hungarian
scholar; born in Presburg about 1777; died there on
the second day of the Feast of "Weeks, 1845. He was
shohet and teacher in his native city for more than
forty years. He wrote ten works, of which the
following, some in German with Hebrew characters,
and some partly in Hebrew, were published: "Me-
gillat Matityahu," Vienna, 1806, 1822; "Matteli
Mosheh," an allegory after the Talmud and the Mid-
rash, Presburg, 1834; "3Iahaueli Yisrael," observ-
ances for Jewish women, together with moral pre-
cepts from the Talmud, Vienna, 1816; "Mahaneh
Yissakar," ib. 1822; "Hut ha-:\Ieshullash," regula-
tions for Sliema', zizit, and tefillin, tb. 1829; "Ma-
haneh Levi," Prague, 1827. The last three are
compilations of "diuiin." His last work was "Or
iia-Einimah," tales from the Pentateuch, with notes
in Hebrew, Presburg, 1841.
Bibliography: Preface to Or ha-Emunah; Benjacob, Ozar
ha-Sefarim, s.v.; Weisz, Ahne Bet ha-Yozer, pp. 19, 77.'
s. P. Wi.
FRANK, EVE. See Fk.xnk, Jacoi-.. and the
Fhankists.
FRANK, JACOB, AND THE FRANKISTS :
The F'rankists were a semi-Ciiristian religious organ-
ization which came into being among the Jews of
Poland about the middle of the eighteenth century.
This organization was the ultimate result of two
causes: (1) the 3Iessianic movement Avhich agitated
the Jewisli world after the appearance of Shab-
bethai Zebi, tlie pseudo-Messiah from Smyrna, and
which degenerated later into religious mysticism;
and (2) the soc'ul and economic upheaval in the
life of the Po isl Jewr}-. The spread of the Mes-
sianic movemen; (i"')0-70) occurred in the period
following the harry'ug and killing of the Jews in
Frank, Jacob
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
476
the days of Bogdan Chmielnicki. Hundreds of
ruined communities, in which almost every family
mourned its martyred dead, awaited aid from
Heaven. They were inclined to see in the Ukraine
massacres the pre-]Messianic sufferings (see Es-
cnATOLOGY), and in Shabhethai Zebi the coming
Messiah-Deliverer. The fall of the false ]Messiah
and his conversion to Mohammedanism estrange<l
him from many of his followers, but among the
more uncultured portion of the Jewish people the
belief in the mystic mission of Shabbethai persisted
for a long time.
Having lost its political significance, Messianism
at the end of the seventeenth century assumed a
mystical coloring, and the open popular movement
was transformed into a secret sectarian cult. A
half -Jewish, half -Moham-
medan sect of Shabbe-
thaians was established in
Turkey. In Poland, and
particularly in Podolia
and Galicia, there wen-
formed numerous secret
societies of Shabbethaiaus
known among the people
as "Shabbethai Zebiists,"
or "Shebs" (according to
the Western pronunciation
of " Shabbethai "). In ex-
pectation of the great Mes-
sianic revolution the mem-
bers of these societies
threw off the burden of
strict Jewish dogma and
discarded many religious
laws and customs. The
mystical cult of the Shebs
included the elements of
both asceticism and sensu-
ality: some did penance
for their sins, subjected
themselves to self-inflicted
torture, and " mourned for
Zion"; others disregarded
the strict rules of chastity
characteristic of Judaism,
and at times gave themselves over to licentiousness.
The Polish rabbis attempted the extermination of the
" Shabbethaian heresy " in the assembly of licmberg
(1722) and elsewhere, but could not fully succeed,
as it was kept alive mostly in secret circles which
had something akin to a Masonic organization.
The spread of mysticism was favored by the dis-
tressing social-economic condition of the Jews in
Podoliaand Galicia during the firsthalf
The of the eighteenth century, when Po-
Shabbe- land was falling into decay, and the
thaian Haidamak movements destroyed in
Heresy, many Jewish centers security of per-
son and property. The resulting de-
cline of the rabbinical schools and of mental ac-
tivity was on the whole favorable to the growth
of mystical doctrines, which among the masses as-
sumed at times the most monstrous forms.
From among these secret circles of the Shab-
betliaians came the founder of tlie Frankist sect.
.l;icnl) Fiiiiik
Jacob Frank, born in Podolia about 1726. His fa-
tlier was expelled from the community for belong-
ing to the secret society of Zebiists, and moved to
Wallachia, where the influence of the Turkish Shab-
bethaiaus was strongly felt. While still a boy at
school Frank displayed an aversion to Jewish learn-
ing founded on tiie Talmud, and afterward often
styled himself " a plain man " or " an imtutored man. "
In the capacity of a traveling merchant he often
entered Turkey; there he was named "Frank," a
name generally given in the East to a European ; and
there he lived in the centers of contemporary Shab-
bethaianism — Salonica and Smyrna.
In the beginning of the fifth decade of the eigh-
teenth century he became intimate with the leaders of
the sect and adopted its semi-Mohammedan cult. In
1755 he appeared in Podo-
lia, and. gathering about
liim a group of local sec-
tarians, began to preach
to them the revelations
whicli were communicated
to him by the successors
of the false Messiah in Sa-
lonica. In their secret
gatherings was performed,
under the leadership of
Frank, much that was di-
rectly oj) posed to the re-
ligious-ethical conceptions
of the orthodox Jews. One
of these gatherings ending
in a scandal, the attention
of the rabbis was drawn
lo tiie new propaganda.
As a foreigner, Frank
was obliged to leave Po-
dolia, while his followers
were given over to the rab-
bis and the " kahal " au-
thorities (1756). At the
rabbinical court held in
the village of Satanor
many of the sectarians-con-
fessed to having broken
the fundamental laws of
morality ; and women confessed to having violated
their marriage vows, and told of the sexual looseness
which reigned in the sect under the guise of mys-
tical symbolism.
As a result of these disclosures the congress of
rabbis in Brody proclaimed a strong "herem" (ex-
communication) against all impenitent heretics, and
made it obligatory upon every pious Jew to search
them out and expose tlieni. The jjersecuted secta-
rians informed the Catholic Bishop of Kamenetz-
Podolsk that the Jewish sect to which thej' belonged
rejected the Talnuid and recognized only the sacred
book of the Cabala, the Zohar, which they alleged
admitted the truth of the doctrine of the Trinity.
Tliey claimed that they regarded the Messiah-
Deliverer as one of the llirce divinities, but failed
to state that by the >lcssiali Iliey meant Shab-
bethai Zebi. The bishop took sei'iously the "Anti-
Talmudists," or"Zoharists," as the sectarians began
to style tliemsclves, and in 1757 arranged a religious
477
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Frank, Jacob
discussion between them and the rabbis. The
Anti-Tahuudists presented their equivocal theses, to
which the rabbis gave a very lukewarm and unwill-
ing reply for fear of offending the
The Church dignitaries who were present.
Anti-Tal- The bishop decided that the Talmud-
mudists. ists had been vanquished, and or-
dered them to pay a tine to their oppo-
nents, and to burn all copies of the Talmud in the
bishopric of Podolia.
After the death of their patron, the bishop, the
sectarians were subjected to severe persecution by
the rabbis and the heads of the kahals. The Anti-
Talmudists succeeded in obtaining from Augus-
tus III. (1733-63) an edict guaranteeing them safety ;
but even this did not avail to free them from tlie
unfortimate position of men who, having parted
from their coreligionists, had not 3-et succeeded in
identif\'ing themselves with another faith.
At this critical moment Jacob Frank came to Po-
dolia with a new project; he posed as a direct suc-
cessor of Shabbethai Zebi, and assured his adherents
that he had received revelations from Heaven. These
revelations called for the conversion of Frank and
his followers to the Christian religion, -which was to
be a visible transition stage to the future ''Mes.siauic
religion." In 17")9 negotiations looking toward the
conversion of the Frankists to Christianity were
being actively carried on with the higher represen-
tatives of the Polish Church ; at the same time the
Frankists tried to secure another discussion with the
rabbis. The Polish primate Lubenski and the papal
nuncio Nicliolas Serra were suspicious of the aspira-
tions of the Frankists, but at the instance of the ad-
ministrator of the bishopric of Lemberg, the canon
Mikulski, the discussion Avas arranged. It was held
in Lemberg, and was presided over by Mikulski.
This time the rabbis energetically repulsed their
opponents. After the discussion the Frankists
were requested to demonstrate in practise their ad-
herence to Christianity (1759); Jacob Frank, who
had then arrived in Lemberg, encouraged his fol-
lowers to take the decisive step. The
Baptism of baptism of the Frankists was cele-
the biiited with great solemnity in the
Frankists. churches of Lemberg, members of the
Polish nobility acting as god-parents.
The neophytes adopted the names of their godfathers
and godmothers, and ultimately joined the ranks
of the Polish nobility. In the course of one year
more than 500 pei-sons were converted to Christian-
ity in Lemberg, among them tlie intimates and the
disciples of Frank. Frank himself was baptized in
Warsaw, Augustus III. acting as godfather (1759).
The baptismal name of Frank was "Joseph." The
insincerity of the Frankists soon became appar-
ent, lioAvever, for they continued to intermarry only
among themselves, and held Frank in reverence,
calling him "the holy master"; and it Avas also dis-
covered that Frank endeavored to pass as a ]\Io-
hammedan in Turkey. He Avas therefore arrested
in "Warsaw (1760) and delivered to the Churcii's tri-
bunal on the charge of feigned conversion to Cathol-
icism and the spreading of a pernicious heresy.
The Church tribunal convicted Frank as a teacher
of heresy, and imprisoned liini in the monastery
in the fortress of Cheiistochov, so that he might not
communicate Avith his adherents.
Frank's imprisonment lasted thirteen years, yet it
only tended to increase his influence with the sect
by surrounding him Avith the aureola of martyrdom.
Many of the Frankists established
Frank in themselves in the vicinity of Chen.sto-
Prison. chov, and kept up constant communi-
cation Avith the "holy master," often
gaining access to the fortress. Frank inspired his
folloAvers by mystical speeches and epistles, in Avhich
he stated that salvation could be gained onl^- through
the " religion of Edom," or " dat" ( = " law"), by Avhich
was meant a strange mixture of Christian and Shab-
bethaian beliefs. After the first partition of Poland
Frank Avas released from captivity by the Russian
general Bibikov, Avho had occupied Chenstochov
(1772). Until 1786 Frank lived in the Moravian
tOAvn of Briinn, and was surrounded by a numerous
suite of sectarians and " pilgrims " Avho came from
Poland. For many of the pilgrims tliere Avas
great attraction in the person of Eve, the beautiful
daughter of Frank, Avho at this time began to play
an important role in the organization of the sect.
Accompanied by his daughter, Frank repeatedly
traveled to Vienna, and succeeded in gaining the
favor of the court. The pious Maria Theresa re-
garded him as a disseminator of Christianity among
the Jews, and it is even said that Joseph II. was
favorably inclined to the j'oung Eve Frank. Ulti-
mately the sectarian plans of Frank A\'ere found out
here also; he was obliged to leave Austria, and
moved Avith his daughter and his suite to Offen-
bach, a small German tOAvn. Here he assumed the
title of " Baron of Offenbach," and lived as a Avealthy
nobleman, receiving money from his Polish and
Moravian adherents, who made frequent pilgrimages
to Offenbach. On the death of Frank (1791) Eve
became the "holy mistress" and the leader of the
sect. As time Avent on the number of pilgrims and
the supply of money constantly diminished, while
Eve continued to live in her accustomed luxury.
She finally became involved in debt, and died neg-
lected in 1816.
The Frankists scattered in Poland and Bohemia
Avere gradually transformed from feigned to real
Catholics, and their descendants merged into the
surrounding Christian population. Tlie sect dis-
appeared without leaving any traces in Judaism be-
cause it had no positive religious-ethical founda-
tion. Attempts to formulate the teachings of Frank
upon the basis of a collection of his utterances pre-
served in manuscript ("Biblia Balamutua") have
so far failed. There is no doubt, however, that
Frankism consisted in a negation of the religious
as Avell as of the ethical discipline of Judaism. "I
came to free the Avorld from the laAVS and the regu-
lations Aviuch have hitherto existed," says Frank
in one of his cliaracteristic utterances. In tiiis
movement A'isionary mysticism degenerated into
mystilication, and ^Messiainsm into an endeavor to
get rid of the "JeAvish sorrow" by renouncing
Judaism. See Bakucii Y.\a'.\x.
BiBi.io(iT!.\pnv : A.Theiner, Vetera Mtmumeiita Polnuia- . . .
ex Talntlarii.f Vnt tenuis CoHecta. iv. 1.58-165. Rome. 1S60;
Skimborowicz, Ziwct, Shon ii Xaukn Fniiilia, Warsaw, IStHi;
(iiiitz, Fiaiili }uul(lif Finiildsten, Breslau. IStki; J. Eiiiden,
Frank. Kathi
Frankel, Elkan
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
478
Sefer Shimmuah, Altona, 1758-6? (Hebr.); S. Diibnov, Yakiw
Frank i Yevo Sekta KhristiaiustvuyiDichikh, Nos. 1-10,
In Voskhod. 1883; idem, Istoriya Frankizma po Novn-
Otkrytym iKtochnikam, Nos. 3-5, in ib. 1896 ; Z. L. Sulima,
HUstorya Frcuika i Franldstuw, Cracow, 1893; A. Kraushar.
Frank i Frankisci Policy, 1726-1816, i.-ii., ih. 1895 (baseil
on many newly discovered documents, and with the portraits
of Frank and his daugfiter).
H. R. S. M. D.
FRANK, KATHI (KATHARINA
FRANKL) : Austriaa actress; boru at Bosiug,
near Presburg, Oct. 11, 1852. She appeared for the
first time at the Viktoria Theater at Berlin in 1871.
After acting at Potsdam and Bremen, she joined
(1872) the Vienna Stadttheater and in 1875 the Burg-
theater (imperial court theater), returning in 1876
to the Stadttheater. From 1882 to 1899 she ap-
peared successively at Hamburg, Riga, Vienna
(Carltheater), Stuttgart (court theater), and Frank-
fort-on-the-Main. During 1900 and 1901 she trav-
eled, playing at the German theaters at Moscow, at
St. Petersburg, and at the Irving Place Theater in
New York. She is at present (1903) playing in New
York. Her principal roles are: Maria Stuart,
Judith in " Uriel Acosta," Jane Eyre in " Die Waise
aus Lowood," Tungfrau von Orleans, Martha in
"Demetrius," iMdy Macbeth, Iphigenie, Sappho, Deb-
orah, etc.
BiBLiOGRAPHv; Eisenberg, Biographisches Lexikon .
8. F. T. H.
FRANK, MENDEL : Polish rabbi of the first
half of the sixteenth century. He was at first
rabbi of Posen, and a decision rendered by him
there on a question of divorce is mentioned by R.
Shaknah of Lublin (see " Helkat Mehokek" on Eben
ha-'Ezer, 45). Later he became rabbi of Brisk or
Brest-Litovsk, and an order issued by King Sigis-
mund I. (Sept. 4, 1531) commanding the Jews of
Brest-Litovsk to submit to R. Mendel's jurisdiction
proves either that he was not popular in that place,
or, as Bershadski contends ("Litovskie Evrei," p.
377, St. Petersburg, 1883), that the Jews of Lithu-
ania did not like the newly instituted rabbinical
jurisdiction over their affairs, preferring to submit
their differences to the general authorities. There
is also extant a letter from Queen Bona, dated May
28, 1532, ordering the starost of Brest not to recog-
nize appeals of Jews from the decisions of R. Men-
del Frank and not to interfere with him in any way.
The interest which the king and the queen took in
R. Mendel, and the antagonism of the Jews, make
probable the conjecture that he was not chosen
rabbi by the community, but was forced upon it by
Michael Esofovich, who was made chief of the Jews
of Lithuania in 1514, and had, among other privi-
leges conferred upon him by the king, the right to
appoint rabbis.
Bibliography : Feinstein, 'Ir Tehillah, pp. 21-22, 164, 202, War-
saw, 1886 Bershadski, Ruski Evreiski Archive,-i., No. 139,
St. Petersburg, 1882.
s. s. P. \Vi.
FRANK, NATHAN: American lawyer; mem-
ber of the national House of Representatives; born
in Peoria, Illinois, Feb. 23, 1852; educated in the
public schools there, at Washington University, St.
Louis, and at the Harvard Law School, from which
he graduated in 1871. He has since practised law in
St. Louis, and is the author of a work on bankruptcy
law. He was the Republican nominee for the 50th
Congress, but was defeated ; was renominated for
the 51st Congress and elected.
Bibliography: Opicial Congressional Directory 5lst Cnn-
(/rfs8, 1st session, 3d edition.
A.
FRANKAU, JULIA {nee JULIA DAVIS) :
British author and novelist; boru in Dublin,. Ire-
land, July 30, 1864. Julia Frankau was educated
by Madame Paul Laf argue, daughter of Karl Marx.
Writing under the pseudonym " Frank Danby , " she
has achieved conspicuous success as a novelist. Her
first work, "Doctor Phillips: A Maida Vale Idyll,"
a story of Jewish life in the West End of London,
was published in 1887, and created quite a sensa-
tion b}" its realistic treatment. It was followed by
"Babes in Bohemia" (London, 1889) and "Pigs in
Clover" (ib. 1903), also with Jewish characters.
Under her own name Julia Frankau issued, in 1900,
an elaborate treatise on color-printing entitled
"Eighteenth Century Color-Plates," and, in 1902,
"The Life and Works of John Raphael Smith."
She is a prolific contributor to the periodical press,
and has written a number of critical essays for "The
Saturday Review."
J. F. H. V.
FRANKEL (FRANKEL) : A family of schol-
ars and Talmudists, the earliest known member of
which was Koppel Frankel (1650), the richest
Viennese Jew of his time. In 1670, when the Jews
were banished from Vienna, Koppel Frankel's chil-
dren settled at Fiirth ; only one of his four daugh-
ters was married — Esther, to Benjamin Wolf b.
Asher Anschel Spiro, preacher and head of the ye-
shibah of Prague, and a descendant of Jehiel Michael
Spiro, who flourished about 1560. The children
from this alliance, the first of whom was Simon,
chief (DIO^IS) of the community of Prague, bore the
compound name of Frankel-Spiro. A short time
later another alliance was made between these
two families: Jacob Benjamin "Wolf Frankel, of
Fiirth, a descendant of Koppel Frankel on the male
side, married Rebekah, daughter of Elijah Spiro, a
cousin of Benjamin Wolf, the founder of the Fran-
kel-Spiro branch. This latter branch also subse-
Koppel Frankel
Asher Anschel Spiro of Prague
David Isaac Seckel
of Fiirth
Issachar Barmann
I
.Jacob Benjamin
Wolf = Rebekah,
daughter of Elijah
Spiro (d. 1740)
I
Simon Frankel
I
Issachar Barmann
(d. 1811)
I
Jacob Koppel Frankel
Esther = Benjamin Wolf
(d. 1720) (d. 1715)
Simon Frankel-Spiro
(d. 1745)
I
Ritschel = Mei'r Flschel
(d. 1769)
I
Lob Fischel
I
Estlier
Zechariah Frankel
quently married into the main Friinkel branch, and
from this triple alliance descended the well-known
scholar Zechariah Frankel, whose father adopted
479
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Frank, Kathi
Frankel, Elkan
the name of "Fraukel." The pedigree of Zechariah
"Frankel may therefore be constructed as on the
preceding page.
Bibliography: M. Brann. in Monatsachrift, xlv. 193-213;
xlvl. 450-473, 55<>-5«;o ; idem, in Kaufmann Gedenhbuch,
p. 399.
J. M. Sel.
FBANKEL, ALBERT: German physician;
born March 10, 1848, at Frankfort-on-theOder. He
received his education at the gymnasium of his na-
tive town and at the University of Berlin, whence
he graduated as doctor of medicine in 1870. After
having been assistant to Kussmaul, Traube, and
Von Leydeu in Berlin, he settled in the German
capital, becoming lecturer at the university in 1877.
He was a nephew of Traube (d. 1876), the third vol-
ume of whose " Gesammelte Beitrage zur Pathologic
und Physiologic " he published in 1878. Frankel
received the title of " Professor " in 1884, and be-
came director of the medical department of tlie Am
Urbanplatz Hospital, Berlin.
Folio wing in the footsteps of Traube, Fraukel's first
works were on experimental pathology, among them
being the following : " Ueber den Einfluss der Ver-
minderten Sauerstoffzufuhr zu den Geweben auf den
Eiweiszerfall," in Virchow's "Arcliiv," vol. Ixvil. ;
with Von Leyden, " Ueber die Grosse der Kohlen»
saureausscheidung im Fieber," ib. vol. Ixxvi. ; with
J. Geppert, " Ueber die Wirkungen der Verdiinuten
Luft auf den Organismus," Berlin, 1878.
After becoming lecturer at the university his field
of special research was the diseases of the lungs and
the heart. Of his essays and works in this depart-
ment may be mentioned: "Bakteriologische Mit-
theilungen ilber die Aetiologie der Pneumonic," in
"Zeitsch. fur KlinischeMedizin," vols. x. and xi., in
which essay he was the first to expound the theory
of the micrococci of pneumonia ; " Pathologic und
Therapie der Krankheiten des Respiratlonsappara-
tes," 1890-1902; " Ueber Septikopyamische Erkran-
kungen, Speciell Akute Dermatomyositis," 1894;
"Ueber Akute Leukamie," 1895; "Zur Pathologi-
schen Anatomic des Bronchialasthma, " 1898. His
writings have appeared in the "Charlte Annalen,"
"Zeitschrift filr Klinische Medizin," "Berliner Kli-
nische Wochenschrift," and " Deutsche Medizinische
Wochenschrift."
Bibliography : Pagel,'Bw)(;rap?ii.sc/ies Lerikon, s.v., Vienna,
lyui .
^^■ F. T. H.
FRANKEL, ALEXANDER: Austrian phy-
sician; born at Vienna Nov. 9, 1857. After attend-
ing the gymnasium and university of that city, he
received the degree of doctor of medicine in 1880
and joined the sanitary corps of the Austrian army.
As surgeon of the Teutonic Knights he took part in
the Servian-Bulgarian war of 1885-86. He resigned
from the army in 1890, becoming lecturer on surgery
at the University of Vienna. Since 1893 he has
been chief surgeon at the Vienna Karolinen Kinder-
spital, and since 1895 assistant chief surgeon of the
general dispensary there.
In 1896 Frankel became editor-in-chief of the
" Wiener Klinische Wochenschrift. " He has written
many essays for tiiis journal, and al.so for the
"Wiener Medizinische Wochenschrift," "Wiener
Klinik," "Zeitschrift fur Heilkunde," " Centralblatt
fur Chirurgie," and other publications. Frankel
has embraced Cliristianity.
Bibliography : Pagel, Biographischex Lexiknn, s.v.
8- F. T. H.
FRANKEL, BENJAMIN: Russian scholar;
lived at Warsaw in the first half of the nineteenth
century. He traveled in Germany and England. He
published the following works : (1) " Teru'at Melek,"
on patriotism and the obligation of loyalty, published
together with a German translation, Breslau, 1833;
(2) "Nezah we-Hod," treating of the immortality
and perpetual peace of the soul according to the
prophets and philosophers, published together with
an English translation, London, 1836; (3) "Ebel Ka-
bcd," an elegy in Hebrew and English on the death
of Baron Nathan Rothschild, ib. 1836.
Samuel Ghirondi, who made the acquaintance of
Frankel in Italy, highly praises his learning and
piety.
Bibliography: Nepi-Ghirondi, Toledot Gedole Yisrael,p. 62?
Fuenn, Keneset YinraeJ, p. 172.
n. K. I. Bk.
FRANKEL, DAVID BEN NAPHTALI
(known also as David Mirles) : German rabbi;
born at Berlin about 1704; died there April 4,
1762. For a time he was rabbi of Dessau, and
became chief rabbi of Berlin in 1742. Frankel
exercised a great influence as teacher over Moses
Mendelssohn, who followed him to the Prussian
capital. It was Frankel wlio introduced Men-
delssohn to Maimonides' "Moreh Nebukim," and it
was he, too, who befriended his poor disciple, pro-
curing for him free lodging and a few days' board
every week in the house of Hayyim Bamberger.
As a Talmudist Frankel was almost the first to-
devote himself to a study of the Jerusalem Talmud,
which had been largely neglected. He gave a great
impetus to the study of this work by his " Korban ha-
'Edah," a commentary in three parts (part 1, on the
order Mo'ed, Dessau, 1743; part 2, on Nasliim, Berlin,
1757; part 3, on Nezikin, ib. 1760). His additional
notes on the Jerusalem Talmud and on Maimonides
were published, together with the preceding work,
under the title "Shiyyure Korban," Dessau, 1743.
Bibliography : Azulai, Shem ha-Gednlim, ii. 94 ; E. Cannolv,
Notices Bingraphiques, in Revue 0/ienfaic, iii. 315; Stein-
schneider. Cat. Bodl. col. 882; G. Karpeles. Oesch. der Jii-
dischen Litteratur, pp. 1060, 1071, IKX); J. H. Dessauer,
Gesch. der Israeliten, p. 498 ; Graetz, Hist. v. 293-294 ; Land-
shuth, Tolednt Aushe ha^Shem, pp. 35 et .set/., Berlin, 1884;
Kayserling, Mnnen Mendelssohn, pp. 9ct seq., Leip.sie, 1862.
s. s. A. R.
FRANKEL, elkan : Court Jew (1703-12) to
the margrave William Frederic of Brandenburg-
Ansbach; died in the state prison of Wiilzburg,
near Weissenburg on the Sand, in 1720. His family
was among the exiles of Vienna in 1670, his father
being R. Enoch Levy, his mother a daughter of the
wealthy Koppel Ritschel in Vienna. Elkan is first
mentioned in 1686 as a member of the Jewish com-
munity of Fiirth. There he took charge of the
financial interests of the Margrave of Ansbach, who
had a part of the Fiirth Jews under his protection ;
he was appointed by the margrave parnas of
Fiirth in 1704, and chief parnas of Ansbach in
1710. Frankel acquired great influence at court; hi»
Frankel, Ernst
Frankel, Simon
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
480
advice was asked in important political affairs, and
he helped many to secure official positions.
The Jews of the margravate had every reason to
be grateful to him; they owed to him, for exam-
ple, the remission of a heavy fine which had been
imposed upon them after an official investiga-
tion into their practise of usury (1708). He also
boasted of having prevented a contemplated confis-
cation of Hebrew books (1702). His enemies later
on made use of this assertion to complete his ruin ;
for he was much hated by Jews and Christians for
his haughty demeanor. In 1712 Frankel was de-
nounced by a converted Jew for being in possession
of blasphemous books, for making use of his influ-
ence at court for encroaching upon all branches of
political life, and for having defrauded the public
revenues. The investigation conducted on behalf
of the government by a personal enemy of Frankel
was most partial ; all these accusations Avere de-
clared to be true, although no proofs were adduced,
and even the pretended deficit could not be detected.
The margrave did nothing to protect his favorite,
but sentenced him to be scourged in the market-
place and to be imprisoned for life. He died in
prison, as stated above; his fortune was confis-
cated, and his family expelled.
Bibliography: Hanle, Gesch. der Juden im Ehcmaligen
Fllrstentlium Anxbach, Ansbach, 1867; Ziemlich, Eine
BUcherconfiscation zu FUrth im Jahrc VOii, in Kauf-
mann Oedeukbuch, p. 457.
D. A. Fe.
FRANKEL, ERNST : German physician ; born
at Breslau May 5, 1844 ; studied medicine at the uni-
versities of Berlin, Vienna, and Breslau (M.D. 1866).
He took part in the Austro-Prussiau war in 1866 and
in the Franco-Prussian war in 1870-71 as assistant
surgeon. In 1873 he established himself as phy-
sician, especially as accoucheur and gynecologist,
in his native town. In 1873 he became privat-
docent at the Breslau University, and in 1893
honorary professor. He has taken an active part in
the politics and government of the city, and in
1903 was elected alderman of Breslau.
Frankel has written several essays for the medical
journals, among which are " Diagnose und Opera-
tive Behandlung der Extrauterinsclnvangerschaft,"
in Volkmann's "Sammlung Klinischer Vortrage,"
1882 ; and " Die Appendicitis in Ihren Beziehungeu
zur Schwangerschaft, Geburt und Wochenbett, ib.
1898. He is also the author of "Tagesfragen der
Operatlvon Gynakologie," Vienna and Leipsic,
1896; "Die Allgemeiue Therapie der Krankheiten
der Weiblichen Geschlechtsorgane," in Eulenburg's
" Haiidbuch der Allgemeinen Tiierapie und der
Therapeutischeu Methodik," Berlin and Vienna,
1898-99.
BiBi.ioiiRAPHV : Pagel, Butgrapliixchrs Le.riknn, s.v.
s. F. T. H.
FRANKEL, GABRIEL: Court Jew of the
margraves of Ansbach about 1700. He was very
influential at court, and highly esteemed by the
Jews of the margravate. He maintained his promi-
nent position until his death. In reward of liis
faithful services all the privileges granted to him
were continued to his heirs by a special charter
(1730).
Bibliography : Hanle, Gesch. der Juden im Ehemaligen
FUrxtetithum Anabach, Ansbach, 1867.
D. A. Fe.
FRANKEL, HIRSCH : Chief rabbi in the mar-
gravate of Ansbach, with residence at Schwabacb,
1709-13; died in prison 1723. He was a brother of
Elkan Frankel, and was accused with him of pos-
sessing blasphemous and superstitious books. After
a searching investigation, and in accordance with
the judgment of the University of Altorf, he was
sentenced to imprisonment for life.
Bibliography; Hanle, Gesch. der Juden im Ehemaligen
FlirMenthum Ayisfiach, Ansbacb, 1867.
D. A. Fe.
FRANKEL, JONAS: German banker and phi-
lanthropist; son of Joel Wolf, grandson of David
Frankel, the author of " Korban 'Edah " ; born at
Breslau at the end of the eighteenth century;
died there Jan. 27, 1846. Owing to his great com-
mercial ability he rose from extreme poverty to
affluence, and became one of the leading bankers
of Breslau. As an acknowledgment of the services
rendered by him in the development of commerce
and industry in Germany, the Prussian government
awarded him the title of " Komraerzienrath." Not-
withstanding his numerous occupations, Frankel
was an indefatigable communal worker. He was
the director of many charitable institutions, to the
support of which he contributed liberally ; he erected
at his own expense a hospital, to which were annexed
an orphanage, a bet ha-midrash, and a synagogue.
Being childless, he bequeathed part of his fortune to
a family foundation, which provides dowries for por-
tionless girls of the Frankel family ; but the greater
part of his wealth he left to charitable institutions,
especially to the erection of a Jewish seminary. This
seminary, which bears his name, was inaugurated at
Breslau in 1854 and became the greatest J'ewish in-
stitution of its kind ; in it most of the leading Jew-
ish scholars of the second half of the nineteenth cen-
tury were educated. See Seminaries, Rabbinical.
Bibliography: Der Orient, 1846, Nos. 4, 9; Fuenn, Keneset
Yi.^racl.
J. I. Br.
FRANKEL, LUDWIG: German writer; born
at Leipsic Jan. 24, 1868. He studied at the uni-
versities of Leipsic and Berlin, and in England, re-
ceiving the degree of doctor of philosophy in 1889.
Heis the author of most of the articles pertaining to
literature in the fourteenth edition of Brockhaus'
" Konversations Lexikon." He became secretary of
the German National Museum at Nuremberg in
1892. In 1893 he resigned this position to become
docent at the Technical High School of Stuttgart
(1893-1895). At present (1903) he is instructor in
Munich.
Friinkel is a prolific writer on literature, modern
languages, German history, bibliography, and folk-
lore. His book, "Warum Heisst Rom die Evvige
Stadt?" may be specially mentioned. It received
the Witte prize in 1886, and was published in 1891
under the title "Rom, die Ewige Stadt der Welt-
geschichtc, und die Deutsciien." His editions of
Uhland appeared, together with various treatises, in
1888, 1889, 1893, 1894, 1903; those of Shakespeare.
1889-1894, 1893, 1895-1896; that of Schiller's " Wal-
481
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Frankel, Ernst
Frankel, Simon
lenstein," 1902; a German edition of Mauzoni, "I
Promessi Sposi," 1893; and of Bojurdo, "Orlando
Inamorato," 1895. He also wrote articles on main'
Jewish subjects for several German journals,
s. F. T. II.
FRANKEL, LTJDWIG F. : German physi-
cian; born May 2'S, 1806, at Berlin; died there July
6, 1872. He received his education at the Univer-
sity of Berlin, from which he graduated in 1830, in
the same year becoming physician in that city, with
water-cure as his specialty. In 1840 he was called
to Ebersdorf, in the principalit}- of Reuss, as chief
physician of the water-cure ho.spital ; but he re-
mained there only four jears, when he removed to
Magdeburg, Prussia, where he practised until 1848.
He then became chief physician of the water-cure
hospital in Berlin (Heilanstalt dcr Wasserfreunde),
resigning this position in 1867 on account of his
extensive private practise.
From 1856 to 1857 Frankel edited in Berlin the
"Journal filr Naturgemiisse Gesundheitspflege und
Heilkunde, mit Besonderer Beziehung zurWasser-
heilkunde." He has published essajs in " Jahresbe-
richt des Vereins der Wasserfreunde " and " ^ledizi-
nische Centralzeitung," and has written the follow-
ing separate works: "Die SpecicUe Physiologic,"
Berlin, 1839; "Aerztliche Bemerkungen liber die
Anwendung des Kalten Wassers in Chronischen
Krankheiten," ib. 1840; "Das Wesen und die Hei-
lung der Hypochondrie," ib. 1842; "Arznei oder
Wasser?" Magdeburg, 1848; "Behandlung der Fie-
berhaften Hautausschliige iind der Primaren Syphi-
lis mit Wasser," Berlin, 1850.
Bibliography: Hirsch, Bii>(iraphi>ichcfi Lexikou, s.y.
s. F. T. II.
FRANKEL, MOSES BEN ABRAHAM:
German rabbi ; father of David Frilnkel ; born at
Berlin June 30, 1739; died at Dessau Feb. 20, 1812.
In 1787 he settled at Dessau, where he filled the
office of rabbi ; he was at the same time " Messrabbi-
ner " at Leipsic during the periodical fairs. Possessed
of some means, he not only refused a salary, but
also supported young Talmudical students. In cases
of inheritance submitted to him for decision, he
often, when the amount was not large, satisfied both
parties by paying out of his own pocket the dis-
puted sum. Frankel was the author of "Be'er
Mosheh," responsa, dealing chiefly with cases of
inheritance (Berlin, 1803) ; and " Ha-Bi'urim de-Dibre
Kohelet," a twofold commentary — cabalistic and
Talmud ic — on Ecclesiastes (1809).
BiBLionRAPiiY: Sidnmith.Yo]. ix., part 1, p. 95; Steinschnei-
der. Cat. Bndl. col. 1815; Freudenthal, Ans iter Heimat
Mendclssohn'f, p. i:!l, Berlin, 1900.
s. I. Br.
FRANKEL, SECKEL ISAAC: German
banker; born at Parchim, Mecklenburg-Schwerin,
Jan. 14, 1765; died at Hamburg June 4, 1835.
He acquired by private study not only a high de-
gree of general culture, but also a thorough knowl-
edge of nine languages, ancient and modern, sup-
porting himself at the same time by teaching. He
subsequently went to Hamburg, where he became
bookkeeper in one of the larger banking-houses. He
soon founded a bank himself and accumulated a
considerable fortune. Although not unfavorablv
A' _:^1
disposed toward Reform, Frankel opposed the intro-
duction of Eduard Kley's German liymn-book, con-
sidering it too radical a departure from the past of
Judaism. With M. J. Bresslau, heading the Re-
form Tempel Verein, he issued a prayer-book, the
"Ordnung der Oeffentlichen Andacht" (Hamburg,
1819), in which Hebrew prayers were interspersed
with the newly introduced German hymns. Fran-
kel translated the apocryphal books from Greek into
Hebrew (Leipsic, 1830), and wrote a poem in Hebrew
on the sojourn of the French in Hamburg, entitled
" Heble lia-Moniyyah we-Kin'at El " (Altona, 1815).
BiBLiocRAPHY : Zedner, Cat. Hehr. Bookn Brit. Mus. p. 253;
Fiircit, Bibt. Jnd. i. 29:J ; Fuenn, Keneset Yisracl, p. 335.
s. s. A. Pe.
FRANKEL, SIGMUND: Austrian physician
and chemist; born at Cracow Maj'' 22, 1868. After
completing his course at the gymnasium of Gratz
(Styria), he studied medicine at the universities of
Prague, Freiburg in Baden, and Vienna, graduating
from the last-named In 1892. After working at the
zoological station at Triest and in Strasburg and
Cambridge, he went to Vienna, where he lectured
on physiological chemistry and pharmacology at
the university.
Frankel has written essays in Pflilger's " Archiv
fiir Pliysiologie," Hoppe-Seyler's "Zeitschrift fiir
Physiologische Chemie," "Wiener Klinische Wo-
chenschrift," " Wiener Medicinische Blatter"; "Mo-
natshefte fiir Chemie " ; and the " NeW York Medical
Record. " He has also published the following works:
"Ueber Spaltungproducte des Eiweisses bei der
Peptischen und Tryptischen Verdauung," Wiesba-
den, 1896; and " Arzneimittelsynthese," Berlin, 1901.
Bibliography : Papel, BingrnpJiisches Lexihon. s.v.
s. F. T. H.
FRANKEL (FRANKEL-SPIRA), SIMON
WOIiF : Head of the Jewish community in Prague
for two decades beginning May 20, 1724, and a
stanch defender of his oppressed coreligionists; died
June 9, 1745. He was wealthy b}^ inheritance, and his
extensive business interests brought him often into
contact with the great of the land; he thus gained a
knowledge of the laws of the country which raised
him high above the mass of his brethren. He
founded an orphan asylum, and won lasting popu-
larity by elevating the standard of the Jewish school
sj'stem. He was, however, very fond of display,
and not free from ambition. At the birth of Arch-
duke— afterward Emperor — Joseph in April, 1741, he
furnished at his own expense a costly public festi-
val and parade in the Jewry of Prague, on which
occasion lie appeared in a carriage draAvn by six
horses and surrounded by footmen and horse-guards.
This fondness for show aroused the envy of the
mob, which some years later found vent in unre-
strained pillage of the Jewry, several Jews be-
ing murdered and man}' more severely wounded.
Following upon this came Maria Theresia's order
expelling all Jews from Bohemia. Simon AVolf
Friinkel, who was insulted and slandered, collapsed
completely under the burden of mental and spiritual
troubles. Only a few days before his death he signed
a petition for aid addressed to the London Jews.
His successor as the head of the community was a
Frankel, Wolfgang:
Frankel, Zecharias
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
482
son of his brother Koppel, Israel Frankel. His
valuable services to the community in advancing tlie
home manufacture of silk, and in improving the
"Invalidenbrauhaus," of which he for a long time
was the lessee, were recognized by the Bohemian
"Landesgubernium." Israel Frankel, who was a
devoted student of the Mishnah, died in his birth-
place, Prague, on April 15, 1767.
Bibliography: Podiebrad-Foges, AUerthilmer der Pragei-
Judenstadt, pp. 89 et seq., 150; Hock-Kaufmann, Die FamU
lien Pragn. nach den Epitapfden des Alten JUdischoi
FYiedhofs, Nos. 4858, 4866 ; Monatsschrift, xlv. 202 et aeq.,
212 ; Jahrb. Oesch. der Jud. Iv. 226.
l>. M. K.
FRANKEL, WOLFGANG BERNHARD :
German physician; born at Bonn Nov. 11, 1795;
died at Elberfeld March 5, 1851. He took an active
part in the campaigns of 1812, 1813, 1814, and 1815
as an officer in the middle-Rhenish army, fighting at
first with, and later against. Napoleon. Returning
to his native town in 1815, Frankel studied at the
gymnasium and the university, receiving his degree
as doctor of medicine in 1824. He then settled in
Elberfeld, where he practised until his death. He
embraced the Christian religion in 1840. Frankel was
the author of " Die Flechten und Ihre Behandluug, "
Elberfeld, 1830, 3d ed. Wiesbaden, 1855; "Das Be-
kenntniss des Pioselyten, das Ungllick der Juden
und Ihre Emancipation in Deutschland," Elberfeld,
1841 ; " Die UnmOglichkeit der Emancipation der
Juden im Christlichen Staat," e6. 1841; "DieRab-
biner Versammlung und der Reformverein," ib.
1844.
Bibliography : De le Rol, J^idenmisswH, i. 340, Leipsic, 1899;
Hirsch, Biog. Lex. vl. 793, Vienna, 1884.
s. F. T. H.
FRANKEL, ZECHARIAS: German theolo-
gian ; born at Prague Sept. 30, 1801 ; died at Breslau
Feb. 13. 1875. Frankel was the founder and the
most eminent member of
the school of historical
Judaism, which advocates
freedom of research, while
in practical life it upholds
the authority of tradition.
Frankel was, through his
father, a descendant of
Vienna exiles of 1670 and
of the famous rabbinical
Spira family, while on his
mother's side he descended
from the Fiscliel family,
which has given to the
community of Prague a
number of distinguished
Talmudists. He received
his earl}' Talmudic edu-
cation at the yeshibah of Bezalel Ronsperg (Dan-
iel Rosenbaum); in 1825 he went to Budapest,
where he prepared himself for the university, from
which he graduated in 1831. In tiie following year
he was appointed district rabbi (" Kreisrabbiner ") of
Leitmeritz by the government, being the first rabbi
in Bohemia with a modern education. He made
Teplitz his seat, where the congregation, the largest
in the distriot, had elected him rabbi. He was called
Zecharias Fiaukel.
to Dresden in 1836 as chief rabbi, and was confirmed
in this position by the Saxon government. In 1843
he was invited to the chief rabbinate at Berlin,
which position had been vacant since 1800, but after
a long correspondence he declined, chiefly because
the Prussian government, in accordance with its
fixed policy, refused to officially recognize the office.
He remained in Dresden until 1854, when he was
called to the presidency of the Breslau seminary,
where he remained until his death.
The atmosphere of Prague was wholly favorable
to the development of the romantic love for the past
that is at the bottom of the principle of historic
Judaism which Frankel advocated.
Relig-ious He furthermore hold firmly the belief
Attitude, that reason based on scholarship and
not mere desire on the part of the laity
must be the justification for Reform. In this sense
Frankel declared himself when the president of the
Teplitz congregation expressed the hope that the new
rabbi would introduce reforms and do away with
the " MissbrSuche " (abuses). He stated that he
knew of no abuses ; and that if there were any it
was not at all the business of the laity to interfere in
such matters (Braun, in his " Jahrbuch," 1899, pp.
109 et seq.). Still he introduced some slight modifi-
cations in the worship, as the abrogation of the
piyyutim, the introduction of a choir of boys, and
the like. He was, however, strenuously opposed to
any innovation which was ol)jectionable to Jewish
sentiment. In this respect his denunciation of the
action of the " Landesrabbiner " Joseph Hoffmann of
Saxe-Melningen, who permitted Jewish high-school
boys to write on the Sabbath, is very significant
("Orient," iii. Z^Setseq.). His position in the con-
troversy on the new Hamburg prayer-book (1842)
displeased both parties ; the Liberals were dissatisfied
because, instead of declaring that their prayer-book
was in accord with Jewish tradition, he pointed out
inconsistencies from the historical and dogmatic
points of view ; and the Orthodox were dissatisfied
because he declared changes in the traditional ritual
permis.sible (I.e.. iii. 352-363, 377-384). A great im-
pressiou was produced by his letter of July 18, 1845,
published in a Frankfort-on-the-Main journal, in
which he announced his secession from the rabbinical
conference then in session in that city (see CoNFEit-
ENCES, Rabbinicat.), and stated that he could not
cooperate with a body of rabbis who had passed
a resolution declaring the Hebrew language un-
necessary for public worship. This letter made
Frankel one of the leaders of tiie conservative ele-
ment. In opposition to the rabbinical conferences,
he planned conventions of scholars. His principles
were enunciated in his monthly "Zeitschrift filr die
Religiosen Interessen des Judenthums," which he
published from 1844 onward. But Frankel's con-
ciliatory attitude was bound to create for him
enemies in the camps of the extremists on both
sides, and such was the case with both Abraham
Geiger and Samson Raphael Hirsch.
As the man of the golden mean Frankel was
chosen president of the new rabbinical seminary at
Breslau (Aug. 10, 1854). Geiger, who had inspired
Jonas Frankel, the president of his congregation, to
found this institution, opposed the appointment vig-
488
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Frankel, "Wolfganer
Fraukel, Zecharias
orously, and wlien the examiuation questions given
by Frankel to the first graduating class appeared,
Geiger published them in a German translation with
the evident intention of ridiculing the casuistic
method of Talmudic instruction (Geiger, "Jud. Zeit."
i. 169 et scq.). Samson liaphael Hirsch, immediately
on the opening of the seminary, addressed an open
letter to Frankel, demanding a statement as to the
religious principles Avhich would guide the instruc-
tion at the new institution. Frankel ignored the
challenge. When the fourth volume
Attacks on of Gratz's history appeared Hirsch
His impeached the orthodo.xy of the new
Orthodoxy, institution (1856), and his attacks be-
came more systematic when Frankel
in 1859 published his Hebrew introduction to the
Mishnah. The first attack began with the letter of
Gottlieb Fischer, rabbi of Stnhhveissenburg, pub-
lished in Hirsch's "Jeschurun," 1860. Hirsch him-
self began in the following year a series of articles
in which he took exception to some of Frankel's
statements, especially to his definition of rabbin-
ical tradition, which he found vague; he further
objected to Frankel's conception of the rabbinical
controversies, which were, according to Frankel, im-
properly decided by certain devices common in par-
liamentary bodies. It can hardly be denied that
Frankel evaded the clear definition of what " tradi-
tion " meant to him. He contented himself with prov-
ing from Rabbenu Asher that not everything called
a "law," and reputed as given by Moses on Mount
Sinai, was actually of Mosaic origin. Hirsch was
seconded by various Orthodox rabbis, as Solomon
Klein of Colmar and B. H. Auerbach, while some
of Frankel's supporters, like Rapoport, were half-
hearted. Frankel but once published a brief state-
ment in his inagaziue, in which, however, he failed
to give an outspoken exposition of his views
(•' Monatsschrift, " 1861, pp. 159 ct seq. ). The general
Jewish public remained indifferent to the whole
controversy, and Frankel's position was gradually
strengthened by the number of graduates from the
seminary who earned reputations as scholars and as
representatives of conservative Judaism.
Frankel began his literary career i-ather late. His
first independent publication was his work on the
Jewish oath, "Die Eidesleistung bei den Juden in
Theologischer uud Historischer Be-
liiterary ziehung " (Dresden, 1840, 2d ed. 1847).
Activity. This work owed its origin to a polit-
ical question. The law of Aug. 16,
1838, had improved the position of the Jews in Sax-
ony, but still discriminated with regard to the Jewish
oath, which was to be taken under conditions which
seemed to involve the supposition that a Jew could
not fully be trusted in his testimony before a civil
court. Frankel proved that no Jewish doctrine
justified such an assumption, and owing to his work
a new regulation (Feb. 13, 1840) put the Jews on
the same basis as Christians as regards testimony in
court. His second great work was his " Historisch-
Kritische Studien zu der Septuaginta Nebst Bei-
triigeu zu den Targumim : Vorstudien zu der Sep-
tuaginta" (Leipsic, 1841). To the same category
belong three later works: " Ueber den Einfluss
der Paliistinensischeii Kxegese auf die Alexandri-
nische Hermeueutik " (Leipsic, 1851) ; " Ueber Palas-
tinensische und Alexandrinische Schriftforschung,"
published in the program for the
Septuagint opening of the Breslau seminary
Studies. (Breslau, 1854) ; " Zu dem Targum der
Propheten" (Breslau, 1872). In all
these works it was his object to show that the exegesis
of the Alexandrian Jews, and with it that of tha early
Church Fathers, was dependent on Talmudic exege-
sis. In this investigation he became a pioneer, and
many of his disciples followed him with similar in-
vestigations, not only of the Sepluagint, but also of
the Vulgate and of the Peshitta. A political mo-
tive was involved in his study on legal procedure,
"Der Gerichtliche Beweis nach Mosaisch-Talmud-
ischem Rechte: Ein Beitrag zur Kenntnisdes Mosa-
isch-Talmudischen Criminal- und Civilrechts: Nebst
einer Untersuchung liber die Preussische Gesetz-
gebung Hinsichtlich des Zeugnisses der Juden "
(Berlin, 1846). The law of Prussia discriminated
against the Jews in so far as the testimony of a Jew
against a Christian was valid only in civil cases, and
in these only when they involved a sum less than
fifty thalers. It was due to Frankel's work, which
was cited as an authority in the Prussian Diet, that
the new law of July 23, 1847 referring to the Jews,
abolished this discrimination.
Frankel's duties as professor of Talmudic litera-
ture showed him the necessity of modern scientific
textbooks upon rabbinical literature
Introduc- and archeology. To this necessity are
tion to due his introduction to the Mishnah,
Mishnah. "Darke ha-Mishnah" (Leipsic, 1859),
with a supplement and index under
the title "Tosafot uMafteah le-Sefer Darke ha-
Mishnah" (1867). Of the storm which this book
created mention has been made already. It is one
of the most valuable attempts at a systematize*!
exposition of the liistory of early rabbinical litera-
ture and theology, and has largely inspired subse-
quent works of that kind, as those of Jacob Brilll
and Isaac H. Weiss. His outline of rabbinical mar-
riage law, " Grundlinien des Mosaisch-Talmudischen
Eherechts" (Breslau, 1860), was likewise meant to
serve as a text-book on that subject, as was also his
attempt at a history of the post-Talmudic literature
of casuistry, " Entwurf einer Geschichte der Litem-
tur der Nachtalnuidischen Responsen " (Breslau,
1865), which, however, is the weakest of his works.
Frankel's studies in the history of Talmudic liter-
ature had convinced him that the neglect of the
Palestinian Talmud was a serious drawback in the
critical investigation of the development of Tal-
mudic law. To this field he determined to devote
the remainder of his life. In 1870 he published his
introduction to the Jerusalem Talmud under the
title "Mebo ha-Yerushahni " (Breslau). He after-
ward began a critical edition of the Palestinian Tal-
mud, with a commentary, but only three treatises
had appeared, Berakot and Peah (Vienna, 1874) and
Demai (Breslau, 1875), when his death intervened.
He wrote frequently for the two magazines which
he edited, the "Zeitschiift fiir die Religiosen Inter-
essen des Judenthums" (Leipsic, 1844-46), and the
"Monatsschrift," begun in 1851, and which he edited
tmtil 1868, when Griilz succeeded him as editor.
Frankenberg:
Frankfort-on-the-Main
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
484
Though a son of the rationalistic era which had
two of its iutensest partizans, Peter Bp:er and Hcrz
HoMBEHG, in his native city, Franlcel developed,
partly through opposition to shallow rationalism
and partly through the romantic environments of
the ancient city of Prague, that love and sympathy
for the past that made liim the typical expounder
of the historical school which was known as the
" Breslau school. " His marriage Avith Rachel Meyei-
was childless.
Bibliography : Monatsuchiift, 1875, pp. 97-98, 145-148 ; 1870,
pp. 12-26; Rabhinowitz, Rahhi Zcchariah Frankel, Warsaw,
1898-1S)02 (in Hebrew); Menorah, 1901, pp. 329-3(J6. Much
material is contained in Mimatsftrhrift, 19()1, to which seveml
of his disciples contributed, and which contains a complete
bibliography of Frankel's writings by Branii (pp. 3:56-352).
S.
D.
FRANKENBERG, ABRAHAM VON : Ger-
man mystic of the seventeenth centurj^ ; friend and
correspondent of Manasseh ben Israel. He was a
nobleman and the most influential personage in the
district of Oels in Silesia. A disciple of Jacob
Bohme, he said : " The true light will come from the
Jews; their time is not far distant," etc. He also
wrote: "Ilebnti liabent fontes, Gri^eci rivos, Latini
paludes " (cited by Griltz, " Geschichte "). He wrote
to Manasseh ben Israel on the coming glory and
salvation of the Jews; and his mystic writings un-
doubtedly influenced his countrymen. As a token
of his friendship, Manasseh presented Frankenberg
with a portrait of himself bearing the emblem of a
wanderer and a torch (the printer's device of Manas-
seh), and the circumscription (in Hebrew), "Thy
word is a Limp unto my feet " (Ps. cxix. 105).
BiBLiOGRAPiiv: (iriitz, fici^ch. x. S3, and note 2; M. Kayser-
ling, MoKWse hoi Tsnirl, in Jahrhitcli fllr die (iescli.ihr
Juden und des Jiidoitliums, ii. 120, and note 109, Leipsic,
1861 ; Cat. Avu^'^-'Tf^o. Hi^•^ Exii. frontispiece.
I). A. M. F.
FRANKENBURGER, WOLF: German dep-
uty; born at Obbach, Bavaria, June 8, 1827; died
at Nuremberg July 18, 1880. While a student at
Wiirzburg he took part in the political agitation of
1848, and soon obtained a reputation as a public
speaker and a friend of the peoi)le. He began to
practise law in Nuremberg in 1861 ; in 1869 he was
elected to the Bavarian Diet, of which he remained
a member imtil his death. For one term (1874-78)
he was a member of the German Reichstag, taking
as such an especially active part in the discussions
preceding the legal reforms of that period.
Frankenburger, after the beginning of the Franco-
Prussian war (1870-71), strongly advocated the
union of the southern and the northern states of
Germany; and when, after the conclusion of peace,
his ability and rectitude secured for him the po-
sition of Liberal leader, he threw all the Aveight
of his influence against the sectionalism of the Ba-
varian Center and in favor of a strong central gov-
ernment. He Avas especially well qualified to deal
with financial questions, and rendered important
services as regular reporter on the army budget for
tlie Bavarian House of Representatives, for wliich
services the king rewarded him with the Michaels-
orden I. Class.
Frankenburger omitted no opportunity to chani-
l)ion the rights of his coreligionists. In ISHOlic was
instrumental in abrogating the taxes Avhich, in many
parts of Bavaria, the Jews had been compelled to
pay to pastors and mayors. These taxes had many
curious names, as " Beichtgroschen, " " Schmattgeld, "
and "W5lfelsteuer," and were principally of the na-
ture of surplice-fees (" Stoyageblihr ") and New-
Year's gifts. It was also on his motion, which re-
ceived the unanimous vote of the Chamber of Dep-
uties, that the sum of 5,500 florins for the betterment
of the poorly endowed rabbinical ofllccs of Bavaria
was included in the budget of April 19, 1872. By
tills measure at least the semblance of state consid-
eration for Jewish worship was obtained.
Bibliography: Eckstein, Die Bayrischen Parlamentarier
Jlldifichcn Glaxthens {Im Deutschen Reich, 1902); FrU/nh-
iKcher Kvrier, July 18, 1889.
s. A. E.
FRANKENHEIM, MORITZ L.UDWIG :
German physicist; born in Brunswick June 29,
1801 ; died in Dresden Jan. 14, 1869; educated at the
gymnasia of Wolfenblittel and Braunschweig, and
the Berlin L'niversity (Ph. D. 1823). He was privat-
docent at the Berlin University (1826-27); assistant
jirofessor of physics, geography, and mathematics
at Breslau University (1827-50); professor there
(1850). He wrote: "Dissertatio de Theoria Gaso-
rum et Vaporum," Berlin, 1823; "Populiire As-
tronomic," Brunswick, 1827-29; "De Crystallorum
Cohajsione," Breslau, 1829; "Die Lehre von der
Cohasion," ib. 1835; " Krystallisation und Amor-
phic," ib. 1852; and " Zur Krystallkunde. I. Charac-
teristiken der Krystalle," Leipsic, 1869; also nu-
merous papers in various professional journals.
BiBLior.RAPnY: Poggendorff, BingraphiKch-Literarisches
Handirorterh. i. and iii., s.r.; Le Roi, GcHclt. der Evan-
yelLsclKii JudetimiKxioti, part i., p. 215.
s. N. D.
FRANKENTHAL, ADOLPH L. : United
States consul at Bern, Switzerland; born July 1,
1851, at Li'ibeck, Germany. Frankenthal was edu-
cated at the public and high schools of his native
town, and received instruction in Hebrew from the
local rabbi. When fifteen years of age he entered
commercial life in Hamburg. Five years later
(1871) he emigrated to the United States and settled
in Boston, where he engaged in business as a mer-
chant. He soon took an active part in public life,
especiallj' in Jewish circles, being particularly promi-
nent in various Jewish orders. In 1898 he Avas ap-
pointed United States consul at Bern, Switzerland,
Avhich position he still (1903) holds.
A. F. T. H.
FRANKFORT-ON-THE-MAIN : City in the
Prussian province of Hesse-Nassau, Germany. The
date of the organization of its JcAvish community is
uncertain. Probably no Jcavs were living in Frank-
fort at tlie time of tlie first and second Crusades, as
the city is not mentioned among the places Avhere
Jews were persecuted, although references occur to
jiersecutions in the neighboring cities of Mayence
and Worms. A Jcav of Frankfort is mentioned in
connection Avith the sale of a house at Cologne be-
tween 1175 and 1191. Eliezer b. Nathan, rabbi at
]\Iayence toward the end of the twelfth century, says
that there Avere not then ten adult Jews in Frank-
fort. The first reliable information concerning
485
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Frankenberg
Frankfort-on-the-Hain
Frankfort Jews dates from 1241, on May 34 of wliicli
year 180 Hebrews were killed during a riot and many
fled, this being the first " Judenschlacht." As the
affair wj'S detrimental to the ineome of the emperor,
he was incensed with the city for seven years, and
King Conrad IV. did not forgive the citizens until
May 6, 1246. The emperor distributed so liberally
among the princes and his retainers the income
he derived from the Jews that he had nothing left
for ])imsclf; yet the Jews remained
In the under his protection. In 1286 King
Thirteenth Rudolf pledged to Count Adolf of
Century. Nassau 20 marks yearly from the
income derived from the Frankfort
Jews. When Adolf was made king under the title
of "Adolf of Nassau," he pledged these 20 marks to
the knight Gottfried of Merenberg (1292) ; and tlie lat-
a crime and cruelly persecuted, and many fled. The
king then confiscated the houses and other property
of the fugitives, and sold them to the municipal coun-
cil for 3,000 pounds of hellers. Those that returned
had tlieir pi-operty restored to them; and, as the
Jews had been treated unjustly, the king promised
not to pimish them again, but to be content with
the verdict of the municipal council. The Jews
were required, however, to pay to the king a new
impost, the"goldeue Opferpfennig."
During the Black Death (1349) the Jews of Frank-
fort were again persecuted. At the beginning of
these outbreaks the circumspect Carl IV., who
feared for his income, pledged the Jews to the city
for more than 15,000 pounds of hellers, stipulating
that he would redeem them, which he never did.
The Flagellants, on coming to Frankfort, destroyed
Plan of Frankfort-on-the-Main in 155:i. Star Shows Position of Jewisli Quarter.
(From the ** Arthiven fur Frankfurter Geschichte UDd Kunst.")
ter again pledged 4 marks of this sum to the knight
Heinrich of Sachsenhausen. King Adolf also gave
25 marks to Gottfried of Eppstein as a hereditary
fief; and from 1297 he gave 300 marks yearly of the
Jews' tax to the Archbishop of Mayence, adding to
this sum 500 pounds of hellers in 1299. As early as
1303 the archbishop pledged 100 marks of this
amount, and thus tlie Jews of the city of Frankfort
became subject to the archbishop. The emperor,
however, attempted to exact still more money from
the Jews, and it was due only to the resistance of the
city that King Adolf did not succeed in 1292 in ob-
taining from t hein the sum re(|uired for his coronation.
The Jews were subject not only to the emperor
and to the archbishop, but also to the city; in 1331
King Ludwig recommended his "beloved Kam-
merknechte " to the protection of the municipality.
Under Ludwig the Frankfort Jews were accused of
nearly the entire communitj', the Jews in their
distress setting fire to their own houses. Their
property was confiscated by the coun-
In the cil by way of indemnity. Jews re-
Fourteenth turned to Frankfort very gradually.
Century. In 1354 Carl IV. renewed his pledge
to the city ; three years later the Arch-
bishop of Mayence again advanced his claims, but
the Jews and the coimcil came to an agreement
with him in 1358. In 1367 the city was again in full
possession of the income derived from the Jews, but
this did not prevent the emperor from occasionally
levying extraordinary taxes; for example, Sigis-
mund (1414) exacted a contribution from the Jews
toward the expenses of the Council of Constance.
The Jews were under the jurisdiction of the
mimicipal council. Beginning with 1488, privileges
("JudenstJittigkeiten") were issued that had to be
Frankfort-on-the-Main
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
486
renewed every three years. The Jews lived origi-
nally in the vicinity of the cathedral, this part of the
city being necessary for their commerce ; but Chris-
tians also lived there. Hence it was a hard blow to
the former when they were forced (1462) to settle
ontside the old city ramparts and the moat. At
Medal Commemorating the Great Fire in the " Judengasse "
of Frankfort-on-the-Main in 1711.
first the citj' built their dwellings, but later they
were required to erect their own houses. The " Ju-
dengasse " originally consisted merelj' of one row of
houses; and when this became overcrowded, a part
of the moat was filled in, and houses were built upon
the new ground thus obtained. There were three
gates in the street: one at each end and one in the
center. The cemetery of the community, which was
situated on the Fischerfeld, and which is still in ex-
istence, is mentioned for the first time in 1300, but a
tombstone dated
July, 1272, has
been preserved.
Among the com-
munal buildings
were the syna-
gogue (called
also the " Juden-
scliule"), the
'•Judenbad-
stube," the"Ju-
den -Tanzhaus"
or "Spielhaus,"
and the hospital.
Tlie Jewish in-
habitants were
more numerous
in the early years
of the commu-
nity than later
on: in 1241 they numbered about 200; in 1357 there
■were 12 tax-paying families; from 1357 to 1379, not
more than 14 on the average; from 1401 to 1450, an
average of 12; while in 1473 there were 17 families.
Toward the end of the Middle Ages the number
of the Frankfort Jews was considerably increased
by emigrants from Nuremberg (1498); and Frank-
fort took the place of Nuremberg as the leading
Jewish community in the empire. This is seen in
From the
Fifteenth
to the
Seventeenth
Century.
Enactment of the " Judenordnung " by Frankfort Jews.
(From Schudt, **Judiache MerckwurdigkeiU^D," 1714-17.)
the numerous requests made by other cities to the
magistrates of Frankfort for information concerning
their metliod of procedure in cases affecting Jews
(see Neustadt in "Zeitschrift fiir Geschichte der
Juden in Deutschland," i. 190). Civil cases were de-
cided by a commission of twelve, with the chief rabbi
at its head. The reports of this commission from
1645 to 1808 are in the archives of the community.
In 1509 the Jews were threatened with confiscation of
their Hebrew books by Pfefferkorn, who arrived
in the city Avith an imperial edict ;
on April 10, 1510, they were obliged
to surrender all their books, which
were not restored to them until June
6, after they had sent a special em-
bassy to tlie emperor. In 1525 the
impending danger of expulsion was
averted by the municipal council ; but the Jews were
restricted in their commerce, and were forbidden to
build their houses higher than three stories. Al-
though this measure crowded them more closely,
there were 43 Jewisii families in Frankfort in 1543,
and 454 in 1612. (A list of these families was pub-
lished in 1614; 2d ed., Mayence, 1678; republished
in the "Israelit," Aug. 17, 1899).
Hard times were now approaching. In 1612 the
Jews of Frankfort sutfered much on account of some
persons who were heavily indebted to them, chief
among these being Fettmilch. On Aug. 22, 1614,
these men headed an attack on the Jews' street,
sweeping away everything in the space of thirteen
hours ; and the unfortunate Jews, who had sought
refuge in the cemetery, begged for permission to de-
part. On the following day 1,380 Jews, glad to have
saved even their lives, left the city and went to Offen-
bach. Hanau, and Hochst. The synagogue as well
as the Torah-scrolls was destroyed, and the cemetery
was desecrated.
When the em-
peror heard of
the affair he pro-
scribed Fett-
milch; but the
Jews were not
brought back
until Feb., 1616,
wlien their street
was placed un-
der the protec-
tion of the em-
peror and the
empire, as an-
nounced in a no-
tice affixed to
each of the three
gates. By 1618
there were 370
families, living in 195 houses, of which 111 lay to the
right of the Bornheimerpforte, and 84 to the left. The
houses wore of wood, with stone foundations, and
were named according to signs suspended in front.
The names were tliose of animals {e.(]., ox, duck,
wild duck), of fruits (apple, red apple), of trees
(fir, elder, nut), or of miscellaneous objects (tongs,
scales, winecup) ; but sometimes a house was named
simply from tlic color of the shield, e.g., red
487
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Frankfort-on-the-HCain
= •' KothschiUl " ; black = " Schwarzschild," etc.
The main synagogue was built in 1462; a smaller
one was erected in 1603. Among the other commu-
nal buildings were tlie bath, to the east of the
synagogue, the dance-house, the inn, the slaughter-
house, the bakehouse, and the hospital.
"With their return to Frankfort a new epoch in the
history of the Jews of that city begins. They were
still debarred from acquiring real estate, but they
loaned money, even accepting manuscripts as
pledges. The rate of interest, formerly as high as
24 per cent, was now reduced to 8 per cent. As the
unredeemed pledges were sold, trafTic in second-
hand goods arose, which was further stimulated by
the fact that the Jews Avere not permitted to sell
new goods. They were also forbidden to deal in
spices, provisions, weapons, cloth, and (from 1634)
corn. But in spite of these interdictions their com-
merce gradually increased. During the Thirty
Years' war the Jews fared no worse than their
neighbors. In 1094 there were 415 Jewish fami-
Tbe "Neuschule," Frankfort-on-the-Maln.
(After an old wortdcut.)
lies; of these, 109 persons were engaged as money-
lenders and dealers in second-hand goods; 106 dealt
in dry-goods, clothes, and trimmings; 24 in spices
and provisions; 9 retailed wine and beer; 3 were
iimkeepers; and 2 had restaurants. Besides these
there were the communal officials.
The importance and status of the community at
the beginning of the eighteenth century are indicated
by the gracious reception accorded to
In the the deputation that offered presents
Eighteenth to Joseph I. on his visit to Heidel-
Century. berg in 1702. On Jan. 14, 1711, a fire
which broke out in the house of
Rabbi Kaphtali Cohen destroyed the synagogue
together with nearly the whole Judengasse. The
rabbi was accused of having caused the fire by
cabalistic means, and was forced to leave the city.
The 8,000 homeless Jews found shelter either in the
pest-house or with compassionate Christians. The
synagogue and the dwelling-houses were speedily
rebuilt, and the street was widened six feet. In
1715 the community issued an edict against luxury.
From 1718 onward the " Residenten," or representa-
tives of the community of Frankfort at "Vienna,
wereaccorded official recognition. In 1721 part of the
Judengasse was again destroyed by fire. About the
2
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Ed -Jl
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o
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Frankfort-on-the-Maiu
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
488
same period conflicts witli tlie Shabbetliaiaus caused
excitement in the community. In consequence of
tlie denunciation of a baptized Jew tlie edition of
the Tahnud publishetl at Frankfort and Amsterdam
between the years 1714 and 1721 was confiscated;
and certain prayer-books were likewise seized on
account of the " 'Alenu " prayer. Tlie books were
restored, hoAvever, on Aug. 1, 1753, chiefly through
the efforts of Moses Kann.
The middle of the century was marked by the dis-
sensions between the Kann and Kulp parties. Tlie
Kulp party, to
which many in-
fluential men
belonged, en-
deavored to
harmonize the
ancientconstitu-
tion of the com-
m u n i t y with
new measures
for thebenefltof
the people; but
their efforts were
thwarted by the
wealthy Kann
family, whose
influence was
predominant
both in the gov-
ernment of the
community and
among the peo-
ple. In 1750 the
two parties ef-
fected a compro-
mise, which was,
however, of but
short duration.
The community
was further ex-
cited by Jona-
than Eybe-
schiltz's amulet
controversy. In
1756 the Jews re-
ceived permis-
sion to leave
their street in
urgent cases on
Sundays and
feast-days for the purpose of fetching a physi-
cian or a barber or of mailing a letter, but they
were required to return by the shortest way. In
1766 the Cleve divorce controversy began to ex-
cite the rabbinate of Frankfort also. At the cor-
onation of Joseph II. the Frankfort Jews were
permitted for the first time to appear in public,
when they swore allegiance to the emperor (]\Iay
28, 1764). The community of Frankfort rendered
great service in suppressing Eisenmenger's "Ent-
decktes Judenthum," confiscating ail the copies
in 1700. Eisenmenger sued the community for
30,000 gulden. Although he lost his case, pro-
ceedings were several times renewed with the aid
of King Frederick I. of Prussia, and only in 1773
Interior of the " Neuschule," Fiankfort-on-tbe-Main
(After an old woodcut.)
The
Cemetery.
was the community finallj' released from all claims
brought by Eisenmenger's heirs.
In 1753 there were 204 houses, built on both sides
of the Jews' street. On May 29, 1774, a fire des-
troyed 21 dwellings, and the homeless again found
shelter in the houses of Christians. When their
houses were rebuilt the Jews endeavored to remain
outside of the ghetto, but were forced to return by
a decree of Feb. 13, 1776. One hundred and forty
houses on the Jews' street were destroyed by tire
when the French bombarded the city in 1796.
The cemetery,
as stated above,
is situated on the
old Fischerfeld.
In 1349 the cem-
etery was en-
closed within
the city moat
and walls, which
were fortified
with jetties. Be-
ginning with
1424 the neigh-
boring commu-
nities also buried
their dead there ;
but this privi-
lege was with-
drawn by the
magistrate in
1505. When
Frankfort was
besieged during
the interregnum
in 1552, a garri-
son with cannon
was stationed in
the cemetery,
and an attempt
was even made
to force the
Jews to sink the
tombstones and
to level the
ground; but
against this they
protested s u c-
cessfully (July
15, 1552). Dur-
ing the Fett-
milch riots the whole community spent the night
of Sept. 1, 1614, in the cemetery, prepared for
death, and thought themselves fortu-
nate when they were permitted to
leave the city through the Fischerfeld
gate on the following afternoon. In
1640 a dispute in regard to passage through the
cemetery was decided in favor of the Jews. The
community occasionally paid damages to Christians
who were injured by the oxen ("bekorim": tlie
fir.st-born that may not be used; comp. Ex. xiii.
3) which grazed within tlie cemetery Avails. In
1694 a neighboring garden was bought for the
purpose of enlarging the cemeter}'. During tin;
great fire of 1711 the Jews sought refuge with
489
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Frankfort-on-the-Main
in W ^tM ijf(a)Tcii wt\)cn, urn iii mm S;,au\c, cht auf
mm Cjci'iiftc, nid)t abcr aufjbcr Strafe, bic 6cpcrlld)v
t Sf ^ctcUt 1790,
Sranffurt am 5!)?at)r
all their possessions among the tombs of tlie
fathers. The communal bakiug-oveus, which be-
fore the lire were behind the synagogue, were trans-
ferred to a new site acquired in 1694. The only build-
ing preserved
from the flames
was the hosi)ital
for the i)()or, near
the c e m e t e r}' ;
behind it an-
other hospital
was built in 1715
to replace the
one in the Ju-
deugasse that
had been des
t r o y e d . A
slaughter-house
for poultry and a
fire-station were
erected between
the ovens and
the cemetery.
The fire-station
existed down to
1882; the site of
the ovens is now
covered by the
handsome build-
ing of the Sick
Fund, and that
of the Holzplatz
and the garden
by the Philauthropin schoolhouse. On the site of
the two hospitals the Neue Gemeiude-Synagoge was
built in 1882. The cemetery, covering more than five
acres, was closed in 1828 ; its epitaphs have been pub-
lished by Dr. M. Horovitz.
The end of the eighteenth century marks a new
epoch for the Jews of Frankfort. In 1796 they re-
ceived permission to live among Christians. In 181 1
Permit Granted to a Frankfoit Jew to View the Coronation Procession of Leopold
II., 1790.
(la the possession of C. H. Bjerrejjaard, New York.)
Medal Struck in Cotnineinoration of the Erection of the Frank-
fort Synagogue in 1852.
the prince-primate granted them full civic equality.
In 1809 they were already scattered throughout the
city and had taken surnames. A reaction, however,
came in 1816, when the city, on regaining its auton-
omy, completely excluded the Jews from the munic-
ipal government. In 1819 there were riots to the
cry of " Hep-hep ! ", and the magistrate discus.sed the
advigiibility of restricting the number of Jews to not
more than 500
families and of
assigning to
them a special
part of the city.
These schemes,
however, were
not carried into
effect. In 1853
tJie civic rights
of tlie Jews were
enlarged, and in
1864 all restric-
tions were re-
moved. The
synagogue that
had been rebuilt
after the fire of
1711 in the Ju-
dengasse was
torn down in
1854, and a new
synagogue was
erected on the
site (1855-60).
The synagogue
on the Borne-
platz was conse-
crated in 1882.
The Israelitische Religionsgesellschaft, an independ-
ent congregation founded in 1851 (incorporated
1900), built a synagogue in 1853, and enlarged it in
1874. In 1817 there were in Frankfort 4,309 Jews;
in 1858, 5,730; in 1871, 10,009; in 1880, 13,856; in
1890, 17,479; and in 1900, 22,000 in a total popula-
tion of 288,489.
The following rabbis and scholars of Frankfort
may be mentioned :
Simeon Darshan, author of " Yalkut Shim'onl."
Alexander Susslin, author of the collection " Aguddah."
R. Isaac b. Nathan, a victim of the first '* Judenschlacht'*
U241).
Anselm, 1288.
Abraham of Hanau, 1332.
Gumprecht, martyr in 1349.
Joseph Lampe, 13t)3.
Asher, 1374.
Meir b. Samuel of Nordhausen, 1385 ; took part in the conven-
tion of rabbis at Mayence in 1381.
Susslin of Speyer, 1394.
Nathan Levi, 1430-60.
Simon Cohen, a relative of Moses Minz.
Israel Rheinbach ; held office till 1505.
Isaac b. Eliakim ; took part in the convention of rabbis at
Woritis in 1.542.
Naphtali Treves, author.
Herz Treves, son of the preceding ; also an author.
Akiba Frankfurt; widely known as a preacher; died in 1597.
Levva b. Bezalel, chief rabbi of Prague, delivered the funeral
oration.
Simon of Aschaffenburg, author of a supercommentary to
Rashi's Pentateuch commentary ; lived at Frankfort until his
death.
Elia Loanz, pupil of Akiba Frankfurt ; wrote a song, "Streit
Zwischen Wasscr und Wein," to the melody of " Dietrich von
Bern," and many other works ; was a native of Frankfort.
Eliezer Treves.
Abraham Naphtali Herz Levi.
Frankfort-on-the-Main
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
490
Samuel b. Eliezer of Friedberg, during whose incumbency the
most important event was the convention of rabbis held at
Frankfort in 1603.
Isaiah Hurwitz ; called *o Frankfort in 1606 ; went to Prague
In 1632. He was the author of the cabalistic work " Shene Lu-
tiot ha-Berit."
Joseph Juspa Hahn, author of a work dealing with the liturgy
and with the chief phases of religious life ; officiated up to the
time of his death in 1637.
Samuel Hildesheim ; elected in 1618.
I'ethahiah ; elected 1633 ; author of the cabalistic work " Sefer
ha-Kawwanot," which relates the events in
Rabbis and connection with the Fettmilch riot, and which
Scholars, was approved by Elhanan Helen, author of
the " Megillat Winz."
Hayyim Cohen of Pi ague, grandson of Lewa b. Bezalel; offl-
Cla'ted in 1628.
Shabbethai Hurwitz, son of Isaiah Hurwitz; elected in 1633.
He was the author of " Wawe ha-'Aiumudiin," the introduction
to his father's work. In 1643 he went, like his predecessor, to
Posen.
Meir Schifl, author of novelise to the Talmud ; bom at Frank-
Moses Frankfurter, author of a commentary to the Mekilta.
Joseph b. Moses Kossmana, author of " Noheg ke-Zon Yosef,"
a work on the ritual of the community of Frankfort.
Pethahiah b. David Lida, who issued in 1727 at Frankfort his
father's " Yad Kol Bo." The book was confiscated, but was re-
stored with the approval of several professors and preachers.
Naphtali Cohen's successors in the rabbinate of
Frankfort were as follows:
Abraham Broda of Prague ; died in 1717 ; famous both as a
writer and as a scholar.
Jacob Cohen Popers of Prague ; called from Coblenz to
Frankfort. He was noted for his many pupils, and for his
learned correspondence, which is included in the responsa col-
lection " Sheb Ya'akob." He became involved in the current
controversies in regard to Shabbethaism.
Jacob Joshua Falk (1741-56); known to Talmudists through his
valuable Talmud commentary "Pene Yehoshua'," and to histo-
rians through his conflict with Jonathan Eybeschiitz. During
his rabbinate occurred the Kann-Kulp controversy mentioned
above. Kulp's party was opposed to the rabbi and sided with
Eybeschiitz. Falk had to leave the city in consequence of this
The "Judengassk" of Frankfort-o.\-the-Main.
(From a photograph.)
fort in 1605; died while rabbi of Fulda in 1641, Just after he had
been called to the rabbinate of Prague ; was buried at Frank-
fort.
Mendel Barr of Cracow; elected In 1644; died in 1666. He
was a pupil of Joel Sirkes, and inclined toward the Cabala.
Among his prominent pupils were Hayyim Jair Bacharach and
Meir Stern.
Aaron Samuel Kaldanowerof Wllna; called to Frankfort In
1667; went to Cracow in 1677. He was the author of " Birkat
ha-Zebah," commentary to some treatises of the Talmud.
Isaiah Hurwitz, son of Shabbethai Hurwitz, and grandson of
Isaiah Hurwitz. David Griinhut, cabalist, cited by Eisenmenger
and Schudt, was his contemporary. Hurwitz went to Posen.
Samuel b. Zebl of Cracow ; elected 1690. He added valuable
references to the Frankfort edition of the Talmud (1721). His
son, Judah Aryeh Lob, known as a writer, was associate rabbi ;
Lob's father-in-law, Samuel Schotten, though rabbi at Darm-
stadt, was living at Frankfort as '" Klaus " rabbi, and after
Samuel b. Zebi's death (1703) he became president of the rab-
binate.
Naphtali Cohen ; called in 1704. As stated above, he was ac-
cused of having caused the Are of 1711, and, being compelled to
leave the city, he wandered about for many years.
disturbance. He died at Offenbach In 1775, at the age of 75, and
was buried at Frankfort.
Moses Kann, Moses Rapp, and Nathan Maas took charge of
the rabbinate until 1759. Maas was the real leader in the con-
troversy in which the rabbinate of Frankfort engaged with ref-
erence to the divorce granted at Cleve (referred to above), as
his opinion was authoritative.
Abraham Lissa ; elected in 1759 ; died in 1768. He was a nota-
ble Talmudist, and the author of " Birkat Abraham " ; he also
studied medicine. Maas again acted as deputy rabbi from 1769
to 1771 ; he is also known through his commentary to two trea-
tises of the Talmud.
Phineas Hurwitz ; elected 1771 ; died 1805. He was the author
of " Hafla'ah " and other Talmudic works. Prominent scholars
were at that time living at Frankfort; among them David
Scheuer. who became rabbi at Mayence, and Nathan Adler, a
strict ritualist, who gathered about him a group of men that
attempted to introduce Hasidism into Frankfort. The commu-
nity, with the consent of the rabbi, soon found it necessary to
proceed against Adler. Hurwitz also opposed the school of Men-
delssohn.
Hirsch Hurwitz, son of Phineas Hurwitz; died Sept. 8, 1817.
He was the author of several haggadic and balakic works.
491
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Frankfort-on-the-2Cain
Leopold Stein; elct-ted 1844; officiated down to iS02; also
known as poet and writer.
Abraham Geiger, Samson Rapliacl Hirsch, Breuer, Nehemiah
BruU, M. Horovitz, and Rudolph I'laut succeeded Stein in the
■order named ; Selissohn was elected to the office In 190;5.
Among the pliilanthropic institutions of Frank-
fort the following aie important :
Achawa (\ erein zur Briiderlichkeit ; 1864).
The SynapoKue in the " Judengasse," Frankfort-OD-the-Main.
(From a photo^Rph.)
Almosenkasten der Israelitischen Gemelnde (1845).
BikkiirHolim {\mj).
Hersheim'sche Stiftung (for education of poor boys; 1865).
Georgine Sara von Rothschild'sche Stlftung
Philan- (1870; hospital, 1878).
thropic In- Gumpertz'sches Siechenhaus (1888).
stitutions. Israelitische Religionsschule (1890).
Israelitische Volksschule (1882).
Israelitische AVaisenanstalt (founded 1873).
Israelitischer Hiilfsverein (1883).
Israelitischer Kranken-Unterstiitzungs Verein (1843).
Israelitisches Frauen-Krankenhaus (society, 1761 ; hospital,
1831).
Israelitisches Gemelnde-Hospital (1875).
Israelitisdies Kinderhospital.
Jiidische Haushaltungsschule.
Kindergarten fdr Israeliten (1890).
Leinaan Zioii, I'alastlnensischer Hiilfsverein.
Madchenstift (1877).
Realschule der Israelitischen Gemeindc (Phllantbropln ;
founded by Sigmund (ielsenheimer 1804).
Realschule der Israelitischen Religionsgesellschaft (1883).
sigmund Siern'sche Waisenstiftung (1874).
Suppenanstalt fur Israelitische Arme.
Verein zur BefOrderung der Handwerke.
Verein fiir Judische Krankenpflcgerinnen.
Versorgungs-Anstalt fiir Israeliten (1845).
Waisenhaus des Israelitischen Frauenvereins (1847); and a
number of private " Stif tungen " established for various pur-
poses.
For Jewish physicians sec Horovitz, "Jiidische
Aerzte. "
Bibliography: Krlegk, Bilrgerzwiste : Stobbe, IMe Juden in
Deutschland, Brunswick. 1866 ; Karl Bucher, Die BevOlhe-
iiing von Fra7ihfurt-am-Main, Tiibingen, 1886; Horovitz,
Frankfurter Eabhinen: idem, Inschriften des Alteii
Friedhufs . . . zu FrankfuH, Frankfort, 1901 ; Schudt, JU-
dische MerekwUrdifikeiten, Frankfort. 1714-17 ; Baerwald,
Der Alte Friedhnf der Israelitischen Gemeinde zu Frank-
furt,KSS; Horovitz, Die Frankfurter Rabbinerversamm-
hmg vom Jahre 160S, lb. 1897 ; Frankfurter Israel. Volks-
Kalender, 1882 et seq.
G. A. F.
Typography : The law of this free city that
no Jew sliould establish a printing-house there,
greatly impeded the development of Hebrew
typography in Frankfort. Many books pub-
lished there, especially prayer-books, appeared
without place of publication or publisher's name.
Owing to this restriction the printing requirements
of Frankfort were in large measure met by Jewish
presses established in neighboring towns and vil-
lages, as Hanau, Homburg, Offenbach, and R5del-
lieim, the last-named place being specially notable.
Besides the local wants of Frankfort there was the
yearly fair which was practically the center of
the German- Jewish book- trade. In a measure the
presses of the above four towns were really intended
to supply the fair trade of Frankfort.
According to Wolf ("Bibl. Hebr." ii. 1385), the
history of Hebrew typography at Frankfort-on-the-
Main begins with 1625, in which year selihet were
printed there. But Steinschneider and Cassel de-
clare this statement doubtful. The chronogram of
a certain prayer-book seems to show that it was
printed there in 1656, but this chronogram is known
only from references to it in a second edition printed
at Amsterdam in 1658 ("Cat. Bodl." Nos. 214&, 2152).
It may be said with certainty, however, that Hebrew
printing began in Frankfort not later than 1662,
when the Pentateuch with a German glossary was
printed. The books printed at Frankfort up to 1676
do not bear any printer's name.
From the year 1677 till the beginning of the
eighteenth century there existed at Frankfort two
Christian printing establishments at which Hebrew
books were printed : (1) The press owned till 1694
by Balthasar Christian Wust, who began with David
Clodius' Hebrew Bible ; his last work was the un-
vocalized Bible prepared by Eisenmenger, 1694; up
to 1707 the press was continued by John Wust.
Among his typesetters who worked on the " Amarot
Tehorot " (1698) and the responsa " Hawwot Yair "
were two Christians: Christian Nicolas and John Kas-
par Pugil. (2) That of Blasius Ilsnerus, who printed
in 1682 the " Hiddushe Haggadot " of Samuel Edels.
Frankfort-on-the-Main
Frankfurter, Naphtali
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
492
Many works wliicli appeared in the last quarter of
the seventeenth century without bearing the names
of either printers or publishers belong probably to
the publications of Isaac and Seligmann, sons of Hirz
Reis, who published in 1687 a beautiful edition of
the Yalkuf. But though the proprietors of the
presses were Christians, the publishers M^ere often
Jews; among them may be mentioned Joseph Trier
Cohen (1690-1715), Leser Schuch, Solomon Hanau,
and Solomon and Abraham, sons of Kalman, who
in 1699 published through John Wust the Alfasi
in three volumes.
But the most flourishing period in the liistory of
Hebrew typography in Frankfort was the first quar-
ter of the eighteenth century. Hebrew books were
printed in several establishments, including those of
Mat. Andrea (1707-10), Jo. Ph. Andrea (1716), Nico-
las Weinmann (1709), Antony Heinschcit (1711-19),
and, above all, John Kolner, who during the twenty
years of his activity (1708-27) furnished half of the
Hebrew works printed at Frankfort up to the mid-
dle of the nineteenth century. Among the more
important works printed by Kolner may be men-
tioned the "Bay it Hadash," in 5 vols., corrected
by Samuel Dresles (1712-16), and the continuation of
the Babylonian Talmud (1720-28) begun at Am-
sterdam, between which city and Frankfort there
was a sort of partnership in printing. Kolner printed
with the same Amsterdam type the " Yeshu'ah
be-Ylsrael " (1719-20). He then conceived the idea
of printing the Alfasi after the model of the
Sabbionetta edition of 1554, a copy of which was
bought for 40 thalers. He resolved upon printing
1,700 copies at the price of 10 thalers each; the
expenses, 11,000 thalers, were to have been obtained
by means of a lottery; that is to say, each sub-
scriber was entitled to a copy of the book and to a
lottery ticket; but the whole plan miscarried.
Between the years 1726 and 1786 no Hebrew
printing appears to have been done in Frankfort,
and during the last three-quarters of the eight-
eenth century very few Hebrew works were printed
there. Among these were: "Toledot Adam," a
Hebrew letter-writer printed in 1736; and in 1743
the responsa '' Sheb Ya'akob," the three Babot of
the Jerusalem Talmud, and the second part of the
"Pene Yehoshua'," the third part appearing in 1756.
Abraham Broda's "Eshel Abraham" was issued in
1776. Hebrew printing has continued at Frankfort
up to the present day.
Bibliography: ScbudU JUdiscJw Merck wUrdigheitn}. iv.;
Appendix, ii. 148 et seq.; Steinschneider and Cassel, JU-
dvichc Typographic, In Ersch and Gruber, Encyc. section
il., part 28, pp. 78 et seq.
J. M. Sel.
FRANKFORT-ON-THE-ODER : Chief town
of a district of the same name in the Prussian prov-
ince of Brandenburg, and situated on the left bank of
the River Oder. It is very likely that the fairs held
in the city drew a number of Jews there at an early
date. Obscure though their early history may be, it
is at least known that there was an organized com-
munity in Frankfort in the fifteenth century ; for in
1506 the Frankfort synagogue was affiliated with a
university founded there in that year under Elector
Joachim I. Later, in the si.xteenth century, the
Jews of Frankfort obtained certain privileges from
Elector Joachim II., in spite of the opposition of the
town council, the members of which were antago-
nistic to the Jews. Thus in 1546 the elector ordered
the council to permit the Jew Simon to slay animals
according to the Jewish rite for himself and his fam-
ily. In 1551 by an edict of the elector the Jews
were granted free access to a fair called " Reminiscere-
messe," and the council was directed not to impo.se a
too burdensome taxation upon the Jews. Tlie coun-
cil, however, resented with much indignation an
edict which allowed Jews from abroad to come to
Frankfort, while it wished to get rid even of those
already there. Not desiring to set the council against
him, the elector explained his edict to mean that
while the foreign Jews might deal at the fairs of
Frankfort they might not settle there. Still in the
following year by another edict the council was
again ordered not to tax the Jews too heavily. This
edict was due to a complaint made by the Jews that
the council required them to pay, in addition to the
annual protection-fee of 30 gulden, 60 gulden per
annum as revenue; the Jews were willing to pay
only half of that sum. From time to time the elec-
tor granted permission toother members of the Jew-
ish race to settle at Frankfort. In 1568 the inhabit-
ants of that town petitioned the elector to expel the
Jews from Frankfort, charging them with exorbitant
usury and with blasphemy in their synagogues
against the Christian religion, but the petition had
no effect.
It was about this time that there lived at Frank-
fort the rich Michael Juda, who, owing to liis im-
mense wealth, afterward became the subject of leg-
ends. He is supposed by some to have been a
knight or a count, and by others to have been an of-
ficiating rabbi at Frankfort.
The Jews did not long enjoy their privileges.
By command of the elector John George all the
Jews of Brandenburg were compelled to leave the
country in 1573. As the inhabitants of Frankfort
were more prejudiced against the Jews than were
those of any other town, not one Jew was allowed to
remain, even under secret protection, nor were the
Jews soon readmitted, as was the case in other towns
of Brandenburg. The elector Frederick WiUiam per-
mitted some rich Jews of Hamburg, Glogau, and
other towns to settle in Brandenburg in 1671, and
these founded the new communities of Frankfort-on-
the-Oder and Landsberg. Frederick William carried
his liberality further by ordering the authorities of
the University of Frankfort to admit to the lectures
two Jewish students, Tobias Cohen and Gabriel Felix
Moschidcs, allowing them an annual subsidy. The
community of Frankfort soon came into conflict with
that of Landsberg on account of a certain Hayyim,
rabbi of Neumark, whose friends worked for his elec-
tion as chief rabbi of Brandenburg. Notwitiistand-
ing the liberality of the elector, the inhabitants of
Frankfort were not less averse to the Jews than they
had been in former times, for in 1688 they again peti-
tioned the elector to expel them from Frankfort, alleg-
ing sixteen reasons for such a course. The result of
this petition was that the dishonoring "Leibzoll,"
from which the Jews had formerly been exempt,
was imposed. This Leibzoll, or poll-tax, was re-
493
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Frankfort-on-the-Main
Frankfurter, Naphtali
pealed in 1787, and strangers (who, as may be seen
clearly from the "Memf)iren" of Glilckel von Ha-
nu'ln [pp. 222, 233], were allowed to frequent the
fairs soon after the readniissiou of the Jews to Frank-
fort) were also exempted from it. The number of
tlie Jewsof Frankfortin 1688 was twenty authorized
and twenty-three unautliorized. The Jewish popu-
lation of Frankfort-on-the-Oder in 1890 was 775 in
a. total population of 55.738.
Bibliography: Grat/;. Gesch. 2(1 ed., xi. 146: 3cl ed., .\. 243;
Ad. Koliut, Geschiilitc tier Dcutscheit Judeit, pp. 298,476,
540-544, 612.
D. M. Sel.
-Typography : Hebrew printing at Fraukfort-
on-the-Oder began toward the end of the sixteenth
centurj'. In 1595-96 the Bible was printed by
Joachim and Friedrich Haitmann, and in 1597 Hai
Gaon's " Musar Haskel," by Eiclihorn. But Hebrew
printing proper dates only from 1677, in which
year the Bible and two works of Shabbethai Cohen,
"Tokpo Kohen " and "Nckudat ha-Kesef," were
printed; in 1679 appeared Joseph Darshan's "Yesod
Yosef , " without printer's name. From 1681 onward
the owners of the printing establishments were
Christians, mostly professors at the university, who
left the actual work in care of Jewish typesetters
and correctors. The first owner was Joseph Christian
Beckmann, who opened his printing-house in 1681
with the " Arba' Horashim " of Issachar Bar b. El-
hauan. In 1695 Michael Gottschalk became pos-
sessor of the printing-house, and continued with the
same type till 1732. The most important works
produced by Gottschalk were the Talmud (1698) and
Midrash Rabbah (1704). The print was not particu-
larly good, being in many places faint; the type
was small and plain, the paper gray. Professor
Grilo owned a printing-house from 1740 (in which
year he printed the Zohar) till 1767, when it was
continued bj'' his widow (1767-88) and afterward by
his daughter (1792-97). Tlienit passed to Professor
Eisner, wlio conducted it till 1818, when Frankfort-
on-the-Oder lost both its university and its Hebrew
printing establishments. Among the Jewish type-
setters special notice must be given to a young
girl Ella, daughter of ]\Ioses, who worked with
Gottschalk on the Talmud edition and other books
printed in 1700. She is mentioned in tlie colophon
to the treatise Niddah.
BlBi.iOGRAPnv : Steinschneider and Cassel, JudiscJii' 2'fipo-
graphic, in Ersch and Gruber, Encyc. section ii., part 28,
p. 88; Steinschneider, Cat. Bodl. col. 28a5; Ad. Kohut,
Ocsch. (kr D< utsrlioi Jvdoi, p. 47(j.
J. M. Skl.
FRANKFURT (known also as Guenzburg),
AKIBA B. JACOB: German preacher ami au-
thor; died at Frankfort-ou-the-Main 1597. He was
tlie son-in-law of R. Simeon Guenzburg of Frank-
fort, with whose congregation he was associated as
preacher, and by whose name he came to be known.
Frankfurt wrote: "'Tehinnot be-Kol Yom," prayers
for the days of the week, published by Elijah
Loanza, Basel, 1599; "Zemirot we-Shiiim le-Shab-
bot," songs for the Sabbath, some of whicli have
been translated into Judao-German, with notes in
Hebrew: "Wikkuah lia-Yayin we ha-^Iayim," a
dispute between wine and water, in verse, Avith a
translation in JutheoGermin. published together
with the two preceding, and separatelj', Amsterdam,
1759; "Zemirot le-Lel Shabbot," songs for Sabbath
evening, Berlin, 1713.
Bibliography: Eisenstadt-Wiener. Da'af Kednahim. p. 199;
Zedner. Cat. Hebr. B(joks Brit. Mu.s. pp. 38, 301, 404 ; Furst,
BU)l. Jud. i. 27.
s. s. N. T. L.
FRANKFURTER, BERNHARD : German
teacher and writer; son of Rabbi Moses Frankfurter;
born at Herdorf March 15, 1801; died Aug. 13,
1867. In 1822 he became a teacher in the Israeli-
tischer Volksschule at Nordstetten, Wlirttemberg.
Among his pupils was Berthold Auerbach, with
whom he remained on terms of the most intimate
friendship until his death. Auerbach commemorates
his teacher in tiie tale "Der Lauterbacher," one of
his " Schwarzwiilder Dorfgeschichten," for which
Frankfurter furnished him considerable material.
Bibliography : Allg. Zeit. des Jud. xxxii. 467, 487 et seq.
s. M. K.
FRANKFURTER, JUDAH LOW B. SI-
MON. See JuDAU Lob b. Simon.
FRANKFURTER, MOSES BEN SIMON:
Dajyan and printer of Amsterdam; born 1672; died
1762. It appears from his epitaph (Mulder, ''Jets
over de Bergraafplaatsen," p. 15) that Frankfurter
assumed in his old age the name of "Aaron." In
1720 he established a printing-press at Amsterdam,
from which he issued some of his own works. He
was the author of: "Nefesh Yehudah," a commen-
tary on Isaac Aboab's "IMenorat ha-Ma'or," with a
Judseo-German translation (Amsterdam, 1701); "Zeh
Yenahamenu," a short commentary on the Mekilta
(ib. 1712); " Sha'ar Shim'on," prayers for the sick,
a compendium of his father's " Sefer ha-Hayyim,"
in two parts, the second in Judieo-German {ib. 1714);
"Sheba' Petilot," the moral teachings of the "Meno-
rat ha-Ma'or," in seven chapters {i/j. 1721); "Tob
Leket," glosses to the Hilkot Semahot of the Shul-
han 'Aruk, Yoreh De'ah {tb. 1746); "Be'er Heteb,"
glosses on Shulhan 'Aruk, Hoshen Mi-shpat, similar
to those of Judah Ashkenazi on the three other
parts of the Shulhan 'Aruk {ib. 1749). Frankfurter
also edited several works, the most important being
the rabbinic Bible entitled "Kehillat Mosheh."
which contains many commentaries not found in
other editions. It includes his own glosses to the
Pentateuch {ib. 1724).
Bibliography : Aziilai, ^hem ha-Gedoliin, i. 142; Steinschnei-
der, Cat. Bndl. cols. 181.5, 181f); Steinschneider and Cassel,
Jlldi.<iche Tiipr)(irap)iie. in Ersch and Gruber, Encyc. section
ii., part 28, p. 73a.
s. s. M. Ski..
FRANKFURTER, NAPHTALI : German
preacher; brother of Bernhard Frankfurter; born at
Oberdorf Feb. 13, 1810; died April 13, 1866; stud-
ied at the universities of Heidelberg and Tubingen,
graduating (Ph. D.) in 1833. For a time acting rabbi
at Lehrensteinfels, he was called as rabbi to Brauns-
bach in Wlirttemberg, and in 1840 to Hamburg as
preacher of the temple. He was also very active
in educational matters. In 1848 his fellow citizens
elected liim to the Hamburg Parliament ("Constitu-
ante "). Frankfurter belonged to the extreme (re-
ligious) Reform party. Besides the' "Gallerie der
Ausgezeichneten Israeliten AUer Jahrhuuderte; Ihre
Frankfurter, Simon
Frankl, Ludwig
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
494
Portraits und Biographien," issued conjointly with
bis friend Berthold Auerbach (1838), and the pam-
phlet " Stillstand uud Fortschritt: Zur Wiirdigung
der Paiteien im Heutigen Judenthume" (Hamburg-
1841), he published a volume of his sermons.
Bibliography : Kayserling, Bibliotheh JUd. Kanzelredner,
i.'i'Setseq.; Schroder, Lexiknn Hamburger Schriftsteller ;
AUg. Zeit. des Jud. xxx. 266.
8. M. K.
FRANKFURTER, SIMON BEN ISRAEL :
Dutch rabbinical scholar; father of Moses Frank
furter; born at Schwerin, Germany; died at Am
sterdam Dec. 9, 1713. He was the author of a
V; ork in two parts, containing the rites and prayers
for the use of the sick and the mourning, the first part
in Hebrew under the title " Dine Semahot," the sec-
ond in Judseo-German with the title " Alle Dinim
von Freuden " (Amsterdam, 1703). It was repub-
lished by Moses Frankfurter under the title of
"Seferha-Hayyim " (ib. 1716). C. Rehfussof Heidel
berg published it with a German translation (Frank-
fort-on-the Main, 1884), and Benjamin H. Ascher of
London translated it into English under the title of
"The Book of Life" (London, 1847).
Bibliography: Steinschneider, Cat. Bodl. col. 2610; Wolf,
Bibl. Hebr. 1., No. 2180; iil.. No. 2180.
S. S. M. Sel.
FRANKFURTER, SOLOMON: Austrian li
brarian and archeologist ; born at Presburg, Hun-
gary, Nov. 9, 1856. He studied at Vienna (Ph.D
1883) and Berlin, devoting himself especially to phil-
ological, historical, and archeological studies. In
Berlin he attended lectures at the Hildesheimer Rab-
binical Seminary. In 1884 he was made an officer
of the Vienna University Library, where he now oc-
cupies the position of scriptor. In addition to vari-
ous contributions on philological, archeological, edu-
cational, and bibliographical subjects in reviews and
magazines, he published: (with W. Kubitschek)
"Fiihrer Durch Carnuntum," Vienna, 1891 (4th
ed., 1894); "Die Berliner SchulreformConferenz "
(Dec. 4-17. 1890), Vienna, 1891; "Die Preus-
sische Mittelschulreform uud das Oesterreichische
Mittelschulwesen," Vienna, 1892; "Graf Leo Thun-
Hohenstein, Franz Exner und Herm. Bonitz:
Beitrage zur Gesch. der Oesterreichischen Unter-
richtsreform," Vienna, 1893; "Graf Leo Thun-
Hohenstein," 1895; " Die Organisation des Hoheren
Unterrichts in Oesterreich," Munich, 1897; "Die
Qualifikation fur den Staatlichen Bibliotheksberuf
in Oesterreich," Vienna, 1898; "Register zu den
Archaeologisch-Epigraphischen Mitteilungen aus
Oesterreich-Ungarn," Vienna, 1902.
S.
FRANKINCENSE (njU^, incorrectly rendered
"incense" in Isa. xliii. 23, L\. 6; Jer. vi. 20, A. V.)
Frankincense was not indigenous to Palestine — the
assumption that the tree from which it is derived
was at home in the Lebanon Mountains rests merely
on the similarity of the name (" lebanon " = "kijiavog) —
though gardens for the cultivation of the exotic
plant may hav6 existed there (comp. Cant. iv.
6, 14; the gardens of Jericho, En-gedi, Zoar: Jose-
plius, "Ant." viii. 6, §6; ix. 1,§2; Pliny, "Historia
Naturalis," xii. 31). Frankincense was imported
mainly from Arabia (especially from Saba; Isa. Ix.
6; Jer. vi. 20), and as it was needed for sacrificial
purposes (according to the critical school, only after
the priestly codification: see Incense), stores of it
were kept in the Temple (I Chrou x. [AV. ix] 29;
Neh. xiii. 5, 9). Voluntary offerings of it are men-
tioned (J.er. xvii. 26, xli. 5, R. V). It is also re-
ferred to as among the luxuries of the wealthy
(Cant. iii. 6), and may have been \ised as an ingre
dient in the perfumes burned in honor of dead kings-
(see Chemation; Jer. xxxiv. 5; II Chron. xvi. 14,
xxi. 19).
In southern Arabia (Sprenger, " Die Alte Geogra-
phic Arabiens," 1875, pp. 296-297; Glaser, "Skizze
der Gesch. und Geographic Arabiens," 1880, ii. 167-
168), in a mountainous district, is found a tree of
shrub-like appearance, with compound leaves, five-
toothed calyx, five petals, ten stamens, and a trian-
gular, three-celled fruit, with winged seeds (i\\eBos-
icellia sacra). This tree, which was known even
to the classical writers, furnishes frankincense. It
is, however, also very likely that in remote antiq-
uity (according to Egyptologists, in the seventeenth.
pre-Christian century) Somaliland was one of the
countries whence this coveted luxurj- and sacerdotal
necessity was imported. India, too, produced it. In
the latter country it is the Boswellia thurifera or
Boswellia serrnta which furnishes the resin (oliba-
num). The bark is slit and the gum oozes out.
hence the Greek name arajoi'/nf. Sometimes palm
mats are spread on the ground to catch the exuding
gum ; otherwise no further care is required (see Pliny,
I.e. xii. 32; Theophrastus, "Plants," ix. 4). The In-
dian product is perhaps the finer and purer — i.e., the
" white " — frankincense (hence the name nj13?, from
pb, "white"), called "lebonah zakkah " (Ex. xxx.
34; LXX. fi/a(^ai'//f ; Vulg. " lucidissimum ") ; it was
one of the ingredients of the holiest incense (comp.
Matt. ii. 11), and was identical, it seems, with that
which was used by the Arabs in their sacrificial
ritual (Doughty, "Arabia Deserta," i. 452, ii. 144,
Cambridge, 1888). It is white, brittle, and bitter ta
the taste, while the ordinary species is a gum of yel-
lowish color.
In the Talmud this frankincense is enumerated as
one of the eleven components of the incense (Ker.
6a, b). It was not to be sold to an idolater ('Ab
Zarah i. 5). It is also mentioned as an ingredient in
the preparation intended to stupefy an individual
about to undergo capital punishment (see Crucifix-
lox; Sanh. 43a).
Bibliography: Hastinps, Diet. Bi7>ic; (beyne and Black.
Encyc. Bibl.; Tristram, Natural Hist, of the Bible, p. 3.56,
London, 1889; F. A. Fluckiger, Pharmakognosie des Pflan-
zenreichex, 2d ed., 188;J; Levy, Die Semitischen Fremdwiirt-
er, 1895, pp. 44-45; Guthe, Krvzes Bibelwdrterb., 1903, s.v.
]]'eihr(U(ih ; Linv, Aranulisclu Ptlaiizcnnainoi. 1881, p. 23.5.
E. G. H.
FRANKISTS. See Frank, Jacor.
FRANKL, LOTHAR AMADEUS, RITTER
VON HOCHWART : Au.strian neuropathist; born
at Vienna June 13, 1862; son of Ludwig August
Fkankl; educated at the Schottengj^ninasium and
at the university of his native town, graduating as
doctor of medicine in 1886. Until 1888 Frankl
was assistant at the First Medical Clinic ; and until
1889, at the psychiatrical hospital of the university,
in which year he became chief of the neuropathical
495
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Frankfurter, Simon
Frankl, Liudwi^
dispensar}' of the First Medical Hospital. In 1891 he
was admitted, as privat-docent of neuropathy, to
the medical faculty of Vienna University, receiving
in 1898 the appointment of assistant professor.
Frankl has published many works and essays on
neurology, especially upon tetanus, Meniere's ver-
tigo, and nervous diseases of the bladder, all of
which appeared in Nothnagel's "Handbuch der
Specie! len Pathologic und Therapie." To the medical
journals he has contributed articles upon trigeminus
neurology, the anatomy of the brain, intentional
convulsion, and traumatical neurosis, and (with Dr.
Frohiich) experimental studies on the innervation
of the rectum, paralysis of the facial nerves, psy-
chosis after ocular operations, etc.
s. F. T. H.
FRANKL, LUDWIG AUGUST, BITTER
VON HOCHWART: Austrian poet and writer;
born at Chrast, Bohemia, Feb. 3, 1810, died at Vi-
enna March 12, 1894. He received his early educa-
tion at the Piarists'
gymnasium of Prague
and at the Piarists'
college of Leitomischl,
liis teacher in Hebrew
being Zecharias Fran-
KEL. During 1828-37
lie studied medicine at
Vienna and in Italy,
and received the de-
gree of M.D. from the
University of Padua.
During his stay in Italy
lie became acquainted
with Thorwaldsen,
Mezzofanti, Leopardi,
Niccolini, and other
men of renown. He
practised but a short
time as physician. In 1838, upon the advice of
his friend Josef Wertheimer, he accepted the po-
sition of secretary and archivist of the Vienna
Jewish congregation. This position he held over
forty years. His first poetical production, "Das
Habsburglied, Historische Balladen " (Vienna, 1832),
gained him an acknowledged position among Vien-
nese writers. These patriotic songs were followed
by "EpischLyrische Dichtungen" (Vienna, 1834);
"Sagen aus dem Morgenlande" (Leipsic, 1834), an
imitation of Oriental poetry; and the romantic epos
" Christoforo Colombo " (Stuttgart, 1836). He trans-
lated Byron's "Parisina" (Leipsic, 1835), and "Para-
dise and the Peri," part of Thomas Moore's poem
" Lalla Rookh " (Vienna, 1835). He was editor of the
" Oesterreichisches Morgenblatt " in 1841, and pub-
lished Josef Emanuel Hilscher's poems after the
latter's death. A collection of his " Dichtungen "
appeared in 1840 (Leipsic), the Biblical-romantic
poem "Rachel" in 1842 (7th ed., Vienna, 1880), and
"Elegien," in which he gave expression to his feel-
ings on the unhappy condition of his Jewish breth-
ren, likewise in 1842. At the same time he founded
the " Sonntagsblatter," one of the best literary organs
in Austria. He edited it until March, 1848, wiien it
was suppressed by the government. In 1846 ap-
Ludwlg August Frankl, Uiiter
von Hochwart.
peared an epos by him entitled "Don ,Tuan de
Austria" (Leipsic; 3d ed., Prague, 1884).
The Vienna Revolution of March, 1848, was
greeted by Frankl with the enthusiasm of an idealist.
His poem " Die Uni versitat, " reechoing
The the liberal ideas of that great move-
Revolution nieut, was set to music by nineteen
of 1848. composersand circulated to the extent
of 500,000 copies in Austria and Ger-
many. As a member of the Students' Legion he
was wounded (Oct. 6, 1848) in the uprising against
the govej'nment. Under the title " Gusle " he pub-
lished, in German, a collection of Servian national
songs (Vienna, 1852). In the following poems:
"Hippocrates und die Moderne Medicin " (5th ed.,
Vienna, 1860), "Die Charlatane" (3d ed., ib. 1862),
"Hippocrates und die Cholera "(3d ed., ib. 1864),
"Medicin und Mediciner in Knittelversen " (7th ed.,
Vienna, ib. 1861), "Nach 500 Jahren: Satire zur
Sakularfeier der Wiener Universitat" (Leipsic, 1865),
he satirized medical charlatanism. His "Zur Ge-
schichte der Juden in Wien" appeared in Vienna
in 1853. In the poem " Der Primator " (Prague,
1861), published in many editions, he gives a touch-
ing description of the persecutions and sufferings of
Jews. Other productions of his prolific pen are :
Helden- und Liederbuch. Prague, 1861 (2d ed., 1863).
Ahnenbilder. Leipsic, 1864.
Libanon, ein Poetisches Famllienbuch. Vienna, 1867 (4th ed.).
Tragische KOnige, Epische Gesange. Vienna, 1876 (2d ed.,
1880).
Lyrische Gedichte. Stuttgart, 1880 (5th ed.).
Episches und Lyrisches. Stuttgart, 1890.
Beitrage zu den Biographien Niliolaus Lenau's, Ferdinand
Raimund's, Frledrlch Hebbel's, Franz Grlllparzer's. Vienna,
1883-85.
Andreas Hofer im Liede. Innsbruclj, 1884.
Biographic des Malers Frledrich von Amerling. Vienna, 1889.
Lenau und Sophie Lowenthal, Tagebuch und Brlefe des Dich-
ters. Stuttgart, 1891.
Gesammelte Poetische Werke (except the satirical poems).
3 vols., Vienna, 1880.
His correspondence with Anastaslus Griin (184.5-76) was pub-
lished by his son Bruno von Frankl ("Aus dem 19ten Jahrhun-
dert," vol. i., Berlin, 1897).
At the request of Elise v. Herz-Lamel he went to
Jerusalem (1856), and with her help founded there
a Jewish school and philanthropic in-
Phil- stitution. His journeys in Asia and in
anthropic Greece are vividly depicted, in verse
Work. and prose, in a work of two volumes,
"Nach Jerusalem" (Leipsic, 1858),
which has been translated into several languages,
among them Hebrew. Later he added a third volume,
" Aus Aegypten " (Vienna, 1860). Frankl advocated
the erection of an asylum for the blind near Vienna,
on an eminence called " Hohe Warte." The institu-
tion was established mainly through the gener-
ositj' of Baron Jonas von Konigswarter. Through
Frankl 's efforts a European congress of superin-
tendents and teachers of asylums for the blind, over
which he presided, was convened at Vienna in 1873.
The Schiller monument in Vienna was also the result
of his initiative. On the day of its dedication, Nov.
10, 1876, the emperor Francis Joseph, in recognition
of Frankl's great services, conferred on him the
hereditary title "Ritter von Hochwart"; in 1880
Vienna honored him with the freedom' of the city.
In 1851 he was appointed professor of ethics at the
Frankl, Otto
Franks
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
496
Conservatorium der Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde
of tlie Austrian Empire ; later he became a member
of the Vienna school board.
True to the impressions of his youth, he kept in
remembrance the Jewish life of his parental home,
which he visited only a few weeks before his
death ; his feelings on that occasion found expres-
sion in a poem entitled "Chrast," his swan-song.
Another of his later poems is the touching elegy
which he dedicated to the memor}'- of Adolf Fisch-
hof (March 28, 1893), a fellow patriot in the stormy
days of 1848.
Bibliography: Wurzbach, Biographisches Lexikon der Oes-
terreichisch-Unuarischen Monarchic ; Brockhaus, Konver-
sations- Lex ikon ; Meyers Konversations-Lcxikon; La
Graiule Encychypedic; Die Ncuzcit, 1894, No. 11; Oester-
rcichischc WochenKchi-ift, 1894, No. 11.
e. S. Man.
FRANKL, OTTO: Austrian jurist; born in
Prague Oct. 4, 1855 ; studied at the universities of
Prague, Gottingen, and Leipsic; made privat-doceut
<1883), and professor of law at Prague (1891). His
principal sphere lies in mining and bankruptcy law.
Among his most important works are : " Die Form-
erforderni.sse der Schenkung nach Oesterreichi-
schem Rechte," Gratz, 1883; "Der Freischurf,"
Prague, 1885; "Der Concurs der Offeuen Handels-
gesellschaft," Prague, 1890; "Die Haftpflicht fiir
Bergschaden nach Oesterreichischem Rechte,"
Bonn, 1892; "Zur Revision des Oesterreichischen
Concursrechtes, " Vienna, 1896. He is also one of the
editors of the " Juristische Vierteljahrsschrift " and
of the " Grundriss des Oesterreichischen Rechts in
Systematischer Darstellung " (Leipsic). S.
FRANKL, PINKUS FRIEDRICH : German
rabbi; born at Ungarisch-Brod, Moravia, Jan., 1848;
died at Johannisbad Aug. 22, 1887. After attend-
ing the yeshibah at Presburg, Fraukl prepared him-
self for the rabbinate at the seminary in Breslau,
and at the same time studied Orientalia at the uni-
versity of that city, graduating (Ph.D.) in 1870. In
1875 he became the secretary of the Wiener Israeli-
tische AUiauz, and in 1877 succeeded Abraham Geiger
in the rabbinate of Berlin. Four years later Frankl
added to his rabbinical duties those of teacher in the
Lehraustalt filr die Wissenschaft des Judenthums.
At that time he became the associate of Gratz in the
publication of the "Monatsschrift." He wrote:
"£in Mutazilitischer Kalam aus dem X. Jahrhun-
dert," first printed in the " Sitzungsberichte " of the
Vienna Academy of Science, 1872; "Studien liber
die Septuagiuta und Peschitta zu Jeremiah," 1872;
"Karaische Studien," 1876; a series of articles in
"Ha-Shahar," 1876-77, under the title "AharReshcf
le-Bakker," beinga criticism on Pinsker's "Likkute
Kadmoniyot"; "Beitrage zur Literaturgeschichte
der Karaer, 1887; "Predigten," 1888. Frankl also
published some piyyutim of Eleazar ha-Kalir, under
the title "Piyyute ben Kalir," in the "Zunz Jubel-
schrift" (Hebrew part, pp. 201-207), Beriin, 1884.
Bibliography : Abraham Yafeh, in Sokolov's Ha-Asif, iv. 74;
F. de Sola Mendes, in Ameriran Hchreu\ Sept. 9, 1887.
s. M. Skl.
FRANKL-GRUN, ADOLF: Austrian rabbi;
born at Ungarisch-Brod, Moravia, Jan. 21, 1847.
He received his education at the schools of liis na-
tive town, at Leipnik, and at Eisenstadt (Hun-
gary), where he became teacher of Hebrew at Dr.
Hildesheimer's rabbinical school. He then attended
the universities of Breslau and Jena and the theo-
logical seminary at Breslau, receiving in 1877 the
degree of doctor of philosophy from Jena and the
rabbinical degree from Breslau. In the same year
he became rabbi at Kremsier, Austria, and religious
teacher at both colleges of that city. He still (1903)
occupies both positions.
He is the author of several volumes pf sermons
and has written numerous essays. His principal
works are: "Die Ethik des Juda Hallewi," 1885;
"Geschichte der Juden in Kremsier," 3 vols., 1896;
" Varianten in Parallelen der Bibel " ; and " Jildische
Zeitgeschichte und Zeitgenossen," Vienna, 1903.
s. F. T. H.
FRANKLIN, BENJAMIN A.: Jamaica mer-
chant; born at Manchester, England, 1811; died at
Kingston, Jainaica, April 26, 1888. He went to the
island about the year 1837, and engaged in business,
becoming a magistrate and consul for Denmark.
The tonnage dues on shipping were abolished mainly
at his representation. Franklin founded the He-
brew Benevolent Society in 1851, and promoted the
union of the Sephardic and Ashkenazic communities.
He was for many years chairman of the Hebrew
National Schools, and aided in establishing the
Kingston Sailors' Home (in 1864). After return
iug for ten years to England, he went back to Ja-
maica and died there.
Bibliography : Jewish Chronicle, June 1, 1888.
J. G. L.
FRANKLIN, FABIAN : American mathema-
tician, editor, and author; born in Eger, Hungary,
Jan. 18, 1853; son of Morris Joshua and Sarah Heil-
prin, of a family which has had several distinguished
representatives in the United States. He was grad-
uated B. A. from Columbian University, Washington,
D. C, in 1869, and engaged in civil engineering and
surveying up to 1877. In that year he became, by
invitation, a fellow of Johns Hopkins University
(Ph.D. 1880), where he exhibited unusual ability in
mathematics, being successively appointed assistant,
associate, associate professor, and professor of mathe-
matics in that university (1879-95). Franklin has
always been greatly interested in economic and
public questions, and in 1895 he retired from his
professorship and assumed editorial charge of the
"Baltimore News." He has contributed to the
"American Journal of Mathematics" and other
mathematical publications, to the "Nation," and to
the " North American Review. " Franklin is an asso-
ciate fellow of the American Academy of Arts and
Sciences, Boston.
Bibliography: Lamb. Bioqraphical Dictionary of the Uni-
ted states; ir/io'js Who in America.
A.
FRANKLIN, JACOB ABRAHAM: English
journalist and philanthropist; born at Portsmouth
1809; died Aug. 3, 1877. On his retirement from
business he went to London and took an active part
in communal affairs there. lie established a weekly
periodical, "The Voice of Jacob " — the first organ in
the Anglo-Jewish community— in which to express
497
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Frankl, Otto
Franks
his views against the Reform movement of 1842.
Franklin represented the Mancliester community at
the board of deputies ; was chairman of a committee
of the Jewisli board of guardians; was a founder of
the Anglo-Jewish Association, and a member of its
executive. Animated by a zeal for Jewish educa-
tion, he was anxious to establish a Jewish board-
school in London, and succeeded in obtaining partic-
ipation by the Jewish schools in parliamentary
grants. He was a fellow of the Societj' of Arts, and
read a number of papers on decimal coinage, educa-
tion, etc., being examined on the latter subject be-
fore a parliamentary committee. At his death he
bequeathed the bulk of his property for the carry-
ing out of certain educational projects, among them
the publication of Jewish text-books. Under the
auspices of the Franklin Fund appeared such works
as N. S. Joseph's "Natural Religion," Lady Mag-
nus' "Outlines of Jewish Histor}^" and Friedlan-
der's "The Jewish Religion."
Bibliography : Jciv. Chnm. Aug. 10, 17, 1877; Nov. 13, 1891 ;
Jew. World, Aug. 10, 1877.
J. G. L.
FB.ANKS : American Jewish family which in-
cluded a number of officers of some distinction en-
gaged on both sides in the American Revolutionary
war. The earliest known member appears to have
been Jacob Franks, a merchant who settled in New
York at the beginning of the eighteenth century.
David Franks : Loyalist in the war of the Ameri-
can Revolution; born in New York Sept. 23, 1720;
died in Philadelphia Oct., 1793; the son of Jacob
Franks. He went to Philadelphia early in life, and
soon became well known in both business and social
circles. He was elected a member of the provincial
assembly in 1748; during the French and Indian
war he was engaged by the government to supply
the army with provisions; in 1755, upon the defeat
of General Braddock, he helped to raise a fund of
£5,000 for the further defense of the colony ; on Nov.
7, 1765, he signed the Non-Importation Resolution ;
his name is also appended to an agreement to take
the king's paper money in lieu of gold and silver.
During the war with England he was an intermediary
in the exchange of prisoners as well as an "agent to
the contractors for victualing the troops of the King
of Great Britain." In 1778 Franks was imprisoned
by order of Congress, his intentions being considered
" inimical to the safety and liberty of the United
States " ; he was shortly released, only to be arrested
two years later as an enemy to the American cause.
Later, ruined in fortune, he left for England, but
returned in 1783 and engaged in the brokerage busi-
ness in Philadelphia, in which he continued until his
death from yellow fever during the epidemic of
1793.
Bibliography : Hyman Polock Rosenbach, The Jews in Phila-
delphia Prior to ISOO, Pbiladelphia, 1883; Morris Jastrow,
Jr., in Publications Am. Jew. Hist. Soc. vol. i.; Herbert
Friedenwald, ib. vols. 1. and vi.; N. Taylor Phillips, ih. vol.
iv.; Max J. Kohler, Rebecca Fraiiks. 1894; Henry S. Morals,
The Jews of Philadelphia; Joh/-/i«?.s of the Continental
Congress; Westcott, History of Philadelphia; Pcnnsiil-
vania Archives, Colden Papers, in New York Hi.':t.S<>c.
Col.; Pennsylvania Magazine; Records of Christ Church,
Philadelphia (MS.).
David Salisbury Franks : American diplo-
matic agent, and officer in the American Revolu-
tionary array. He probably left England at an
early age, for he is described as a "young English
merchant" in a document of 1775; he settled in Mon-
treal, Canada, in 1774, and engaged in business.
He was active in congregational affairs, and in 1775
was president of the Shearith Israel congregation
(see Canada). He early evinced an attachment for
the American cause, and on May 3, 1775, was ar-
rested for speaking disrespectfully of the king, but
was discharged six days later. When General Mont-
gomery took possession of Montreal, Franks ad-
vanced money for the support of the arm}'. In 1776
General Wooster appointed him paymaster to the
garrison at ]\Iontreal, and when the army retreated
from Canada he enlisted as a volunteer, and later
joined a Massachusetts regiment. Upon the recom-
mendation of the Board of War he was ordered in
1778 to serve under Count d'Estaing, then com-
manding the sea forces of the United States; upon
the failure of the expedition he went to Philadel-
phia, becoming a member of General Benedict
Arnold's military family. In 1779 he went as a
volunteer toCharlestown, serving as aide-de-camp to
General Lincoln, but was recalled to attend the trial
of General Arnold for improper conduct while in
command of Philadelphia, in which trial Franks was
himself implicated. He was aide-de-camp to Arnold
at the time of the Litter's treason in Sept., 1780; sus-
picion was directed against him, and on Oct. 2 he was
arrested, but when the case was tried the next day,
he was honorably acquitted. Not satisfied with this,
he wrote to Washington asking for a
Trial for court of inquiry to examine into his
Treason, conduct; on Nov. 2, 1780, the court
met at West Point and completely ex-
onerated him. In 1781 he Avas sent by the superin-
tendent of finance, Robert Morris, to Europe as
bearer of despatches to Jay in Madrid and Franklin
in Paris ; on his return Congress reinstated him in
the army with the rank of major. On Jan. 15, 1784,
Congress resolved "that a triplicate of the definitive
treaty [of peace] be sent out to the ministers pleni-
potentiary by Lieut. Col. David S Franks," and he
left again for Europe. The next year he was ap-
pointed vice consul at Marseilles; in 1786 he served
in a confidential capacity in the negotiations con-
nected with the treaty of peace and commerce made
with Morocco, and on his return to New York in 1787
brought the treaty with him. He applied to Wash-
ington in 1789 and to Jefferson in 1790 for a position
in the consular service, but nothing came of these re-
quests. On Jan. 28, 1789, he was granted four hun-
dred acres of land in recognition of his services during
the Revolutionary war. Major Franks was one of
the original members of the Society of the Cincin-
nati, Pennsylvania division.
Bibliography: Oscar S. Straus, New Light on the Career of
Colonel David S. Franks, in Publications Am. Jew. Hist.
Soc. vol. X.; Abraham S. Wolf Rosenbach, Documents Rela-
tive to Major David S. Franks While Aide-de-Camp to
General Arnold, ib. vol. v.; Herbert Friedenwald, ib. vol. i.;
Max J. Kohler, ib. vol. iv.; Leon Hiihner, ib. vol. x.; Jour-
nals of the Continenial Congress; Pennsi/lvania Archives
and Colonial Records; Proceedings of Coint Martial of
General Arnold. Philadelphia, 1780; Magaziyie of Ameri-
can History, viii. 717-733; Wharton, Diplomatic Corre-
spondence of the American iic roh/f ioji . i v. 752-754, 784;
V. 121 ; Archives of the Department of State ; The Remem-
brancer, 1775 ; Massacfmsetts Soldiers and Sailvrs in the
H'a" of the Revolution, vl. 19, Boston, 1899; Journals of
Congress, 1775, 17T6, 1782, 1784.
Franks
Fraternities
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
498
Col. Isaac Franks.
Isaac Franks : Officer in the American Revolu-
tionary army; born in New York May 27, 1759;
(lied ill Philadflpliia March 4. 1822. At the out-
break of the war in June, 1776, when only seventeen
years old lie enlisted in Colonel Lesher's regiment.
New York Volunteers, and served with it in the
battle of Long Island ; on Sept. lO of the same year
he was taken prisoner at the capture of New York,
but effected his escape
after three months' de-
tention. In 1777 he was
appointed to the quar-
termaster's department,
and in Jan., 1778, he was
made forage-master, be-
ing stationed at West
PointiintilFeb. 22, 1781,
Avhen he was appointed
by Congress ensign in
the Seventh Massacliu-
setts Regiment; he con-
tinued in that capacity
until July, 1782, when
he resigned on accoimt
of ill health. In 1789
Franks was appointed a
notary and tabellion pub-
lic of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania; in 1794
Governor Mifflin commissioned him lieutenant-colo-
nel of the Second Regiment, Philadelphia county.
It was in his house at Germantown, a suburb of
Philadelphia, that President Washington resided
during the prevalence of yellow fever in the city in
1793. He was appointed in 1795 a justice of the
peace for the townships of Germantown and Rox-
borough. On Feb. 18, 1819, he was made prothono-
tary of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, and
help that position until his death three years later.
Colonel Franks' portrait was painted by Gilbert
Stewart, and is now in the Gibson Collection of the
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadel-
phia, with whose permission it is reproduced here.
Bibliography : Morris Jastrow, Jr., Documents Relating to
the Career of Col. Isaac Frankti, in Piihllcationst Am. Jew.
Hist. Soc. vol. v.; Leon Huhner, in ib. vol. x. 168-170 ; Massa-
chusetts Soldiers and Sailors inthe War of the Revolution,
vi. 20, Boston, 1899 ; Papers of the Supreme Court of Penn-
sylvania (MSS. in the possession of the Pennsylvania His-
torical Society, Philadelpbia).
Michael Franks: Private in the French and
Indian war; his name is included in a list of Cap-
tain van Biaam's company, dated July 9, 1754, and
in a list of those " who have received His Excel •
lency's bounty money."
Bibliography : Cyrus Adler, in Puhllcations Am. Jew. Hist.
Soc. ii. 180-181 ; Journal of Colonel Oeorge Washington,
ed. by J. M. Toner, pp. 177, 194, 203, Albany, 1893.
Rebecca Franks : Prominent member of Phila-
delpliia loyalist society during the Revolution; born
in Philadelphia about 1760; died in Bath, England,
March, 1823; daughter of David Franks. During
the Revolutionary war her sympathies, like her
father's, were with the mother country, and during
the British occupation of Philadelphia in 1778 she
assisted in the "Meschianza," the celebrated fgte
given in honor of General Howe, and at which
Major Andre presided. "The Times, a Poem by
Camilio Querno, Poet Laureate of the Congress," a
loyalist composition, has been attributed to her.
Her literary ability, as well as her vivacity and
wit, were well known ; she carried on a correspond-
ence with prominent men, and General Charles Lee,
of the Continental army, addressed to her a letter
which attracted much attention, being published in
the magazines of the day. In 1782 she married, in
New York, Lieutenant-Colonel, afterward General,
Henry Johnson, G.C.B., and removed to England,
residing in Bath until her death.
Bibliography: Max J. Kohler, Rebecca Franks, an Ame7-i-
can Jewish Belle of the Last Century, New York, 1894 ; Hy-
man Polock Rosenbach, The Jews in Philadelphia Prior to
ISOO, Philadelphia, 1883 ; Henry S. Morals, The Jews of Phil-
adelphia; Edward Langworthy, Memoirs of the Life of the
Late Charles Lee, Esq., London, 1792; Lossing's ^Imfr/caM
Historical Record, vol. ii.; Mary E. Robins, in Jewish Ex-
ptonent, Feb. 6, mri.
A. A. S. W. R.
FRANZOS, KARL EMIL : Austrian author;
born Oct. 25, 1848, in the Russian government of
Podolia. His childhood was spent at Czortkow,
Galicia, the "Bariiow" of his stories. Fianzos at-
tended the German gymnasium at Czernowitz and
studied law at the universities of Gratz and Vienna.
After passing the state examination he devoted him-
self to journalism, and traveled (1872-76) through
Europe, Russia, the countries of the Danube, Tur-
key, Asia Minor, and Egypt. In 1877 he settled in
Vienna, and published as the fruit of his travels
"Aus Halb-Asien" (Leipsic, 1876; 4th ed., Berlin,
1900), '• Vom Don zur Donau " (Leipsic, 1878; 2d ed.,
1890), and "Aus der Grossen Ebeue " (Stuttgart,
1888). In these three books, which have been trans-
lated into many European languages, he gives bril-
liant sketches of the social conditions of the coun-
tries he visited. From 1882 to 1885 he edited the
"Neue Illustrirte Zeitung," and in 1886 founded the
"Deutsche Dichtung," which he edited himself. In
1887 he moved to Berlin.
Franzos' childhood was spent in a Jewish-Polish
village, surrounded by the narrowness of Orthodox
Galician Judaism.
His father had seen
German life and re-
ceived a German edu-
cation. Returning to
Galicia as a district
physician, he became
a benefactor to his
poor countrymen,
who, although they
loved and admired
him as their physi-
cian, stood aloof from
him, unable to under-
stand how he, one of
themselves, could dis-
pense with regula-
tions which for them
were religion. Of these Galician Jews Karl Franzos
gives a vivid description in "Die Juden von Bar-
now " (Stuttgart, 1877; 6th ed., Leipsic, 1900) and
in "Moschko von Parma" (Breslau, 1880; 8d ed.,
1898). In 1888 he published in Breslau "Judith
Trachtenberg " (4th ed., 1900), also dealing with
a Jewish subject. Franzos claims the author-
ship of the well-known epigram, "Every country
Karl Einil Franzos.
499
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Franks
Fraternities
has the Jews that it deserves" (Jedes Land hat
die Juden die es verdieut). Differing from Auer-
bach, Bernstein, and Kompert, Franzos lays stress
on the tragic sides of Jewish life, the fateful conflict
of old and new, of internal and external forces.
Although his fame is based on his remarkable
sketches of life and cliaracter in Galician ghettos, he
is not merely a ghetto novelist. His pen secured
him a place among the chief authors of contempo-
rary Germany. In 1887 appeared his most impor-
tant work," Ein Kampf ums Reclit, " Breslau, 4th ed.,
1900, in which he describes tlie fight of a Bukowina
farmer for what he imagines his right, and the con-
flict between his traditional race-right and the law
of the many-tongued modern Austrian empire.
Besides the works mentioned Franzos wrote:
Junge Liebe, Breslau; 1878; Von den Tiirken in Europa (a
translation of James Baker's "Turkey in Europe"), Breslau,
1878; Stille Gesehichten, Dresden, 1880 ; Mein Franz, a short
story in verse, Lelpslc, 1881 ; Der Prasident, Berlin, 1884 ; Die
Reise nach dein Schicksal, Stutteart, 1885; Trug, Stuttgart, 1885;
Die Sc.hatten, Stuttgart, 1888; DerGott des Alten Doktors, Jena,
1892; Die Suggestion und die Dichtung. a collection of literary
studies, Berlin, 1893 ; Der Wahrheitssucher, Berlin, 1893; Unge-
schickte Leute, Berlin, 1894 ; Ein Opter, Berlin. 1894 ; Der Kleine
Martin, Berlin, 1894; Leib-Weihnachtskuchen und Sein Kind,
Berlin, 1894; Allerlei Geister, Berlin, 1895; Mann und Weib,
Berlin, 1899; Heine's Geburtstag; Aus Anhalt und Thiiringen,
both Berlin, 1900 ; Ernst Schulze und Caecille, Berlin, 1901.
In 1879 Franzos published "Georg Buchner's
Sammtliche Werke und HandschriftlicJier Nach-
lass " ; in 1883 he edited " Deutsches Dichterbuch aus
Oesterreich " (Leipsic) ; in 1895, " Die Geschichte der
Erstlingswerke " (Berlin), autobiograpliical sketches
of the first efforts of contemporaneous German au-
thors ; in 1899, " Konrad Meyer " (Berlin), a study of
that well-known German novelist. Nearly all of
his books have been translated into English, French,
and other European languages.
Franzos has always taken an interest in Jewish
affairs, and has held several communal offices in
Vienna and Berlin. His wife is Ottilie Benedikt,
born at Vienna Sept. 24, 1856, who published (un-
der the nom-de-plume "F. Ottner") two novels:
"Das Adoptivkind und Andere Novellen" (1896)
and " Schweigen " (1902).
Bibliography : Leixner, Gesch. der Deutschen Litteratur,
pp. 1040 et seq., Leipsic, 1894; Meyers Konversations-Lexi-
kon.
S. F. T. H.
FRAT MAIMON or SOLOMON BEN
MEN AHEM : Provenpal scholar ; flourished in the
second half of the fourteenth century. The name
"Frat" is, according to Neubauer, abbreviated
from "Frater." Frat Maimon was the author of
four works, which are known only by quotations
made from them by three of his disciples: (1)
"'Edut le-Yisrael," probably a controversial treatise
on religion ; (2) " Nezer Matta'i, " on the philosophical
explanations of the haggadot found in the Talmud ;
(3) a commentary on the poem " Batte ha-Nefesh"
of Levi ben Abraham; (4) comments on Genesis.
Bibliography: Zunz, G.S. ii. 34; Steinschneider, Hebr. BibL
xvl. 126; Geiger, Jtid. Zeit. iil. 285; Renan-Neubauer, Leu
Ecrivains Juifs Fran^ais, p. 753.
G. L Br.
FRATERNITATEA. See Periodicals.
FRATERNITIES : Societies for mutual benefit.
If it be true that " the origin of the friendly soci-
ety is probably in all countries the burial club "
("Encyc. Brit." ix. 780), Jewish organizations of
that nature may be traced back nearly two thousand
years. Fraternities for the burial of the dead are
mentioned in the Talmud (M. K. 27b). The hebra
kaddisha, or burial society, was known in its pres-
ent form early in the fifteenth century, and numer-
ous associations resembling it more or less closely
have existed ever since. But the modern fraternal
organization witli its insurance or endowment fea-
tures belongs with few exceptions totiie second half
of the nineteenth century. The history of such
Jewish fraternities, whether ancient or modern, still
remains to be written (Steinschneider, " Allg. Ein-
leitung in die Jlid. Lit. der Mittelalters," in "J. Q.
R." XV. 314, 315). There are many thousands of
Jewish societies scattered among communities in
all parts of the world ; but the present article is
restricted to the larger "orders," which flourish
mostly in the United States. These orders not only
offer pecuniary benefits and cheap insurance, but
also serve as social centers, and have afforded the
machinery for national Jewish organization through-
out the United States. Besides the B'nai B'rith (see
Jew. Encyc. iii. 275) the most important are:
Ahavas Israel, Independent Order: Founded 1890;
124 lodges; 121,499 members (1902).
American Israelites, Independent Order : Founded
1894 ; 3,000 male and 2,500 female members (1899). Headquar-
ters in New York.
American Star, Order : Founded 1884 ; 5,500 members
in 1899. (Defunct?)
B'nai B'rith, Improved Order: Founded 1887; 40
lodges and 1,500 members (1901).
B'rith Abraham, Order: Founded 1859; 288 lodges;
42,000 members of both sexes. Headquarters in New York.
B'rith Abraham, Independent Order : Founded
1887 (an offshoot of the preceding) ; 302 lodges ; 56,949 members.
Headquarters in New York.
Free Sons of Benj8>min, Independent Order :
Founded 1879; 192 lodges ; 14,088 male, 1,:^1 female, members
(1901). Headquarters in New York.
Free Sons of Israel, Independent Order : Founded
1849 ; 103 lodges ; about 11,000 members. Headquarters in New
York. There are also an "Improved Order" and a "Junior
Order" of the same name.
Free Sons of Judah, Independent Ordc* : 119
lodges; 6,447 members (1901).
Kesher Shel Barzel, Order : Founded 1860 (ofTshootof
Order B'rith Abraham); dissolved 1903.
Progressive Order of the West: 1,082 members (1901).
Sons of Abraham, Independent Order : Founded
1892 : 2,400 members (1899). Headquarters in New York.
TTnited Israelites, Independent Order : Founded
in Philadelphia 1886 ; reported to have had 200 lodges in 1894.
Western Star, Independent Order : An offshoot of
Order American Star ; about 5,000 members, chiefly in Chicago
and other parts of the West.
England is probably the only other countr}^ which
has Jewish fraternal organizations of this kind.
"The Jewish Year Book" for 1901-02 records, be-
sides four Jewish "courts" of the Ancient Order
of Foresters and seven Jewish " beacons " of the
Order of Ancient Maccabeans, the following
fraternities :
Ancient Order of Mount Sinai : Six lodges.
Grand Order of Israel : Fourteen lodges.
Hebrew Order of Druids : Seven lodges.
Order Achei Berith : Sixteen lodges.
There are, besides, numerous lodges of Freemasons
and other nominally non-Jewish fraternal societies
which are composed wholly or mostly of Jews.
Many Jews have attained high rank in such bodies.
Fraud and Mistake
FrauenstSdt
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
600
as, for instance, Max Selanick, who is at present
(1903) the highest official of the Knights of Pythias
in the state of New York. See Fkeemasonky.
Bibliography : Stevens. CucIoperUa of Frateriiittex, pp. 206,
210, New York, 1899; Morais, The Jews of Philadelphia, pp.
184-187, Philadelphia, 1S94; American Jeu'i,s?t Year Hook,
UflO-01, 1901-02, ]9(r_M«; Levi, Proper Function of Jewi-ah
Fraternal Oraaiuzatioiiti, in Jewish Comment, April 12,
1901.
A. P. Wl.
FRAUD AND MISTAKE : Where in a trans-
action one of the parties loses by the fraud, i.e., tlie
misrepresentation, of the other, or by his suppression
of the truth, the law gives relief either by rescind-
ing the contract or by awarding damages. In some
cases such relief is afforded ^\lleu the loss occurs
through mistake, without any evil intent on the part
of him who gains by it. The Mosaic and rabbinical
law forbids many fraudulent practises under relig-
ious and punitive sanctions. The law also sets aside
some sales or purchases simply for excess or defi-
ciency of price. The implied warranty that an
article sold will come up to its description in quality
and quantity may also be treated in connection
with the subject of fraud and mistake.
1. Forbidden Practises: 1. The written law is
very severe against the use of false measures of
length, false weights, false hollow measures, and
untrue scales (Lev. xix. 35, 86); and it speaks of the
possession of twofold weights or measures, one great
and one small, as an abomination to the Lord (Deut.
XXV. 13-16). This law applies in dealings with
Gentiles as well as Jews (B. K. 113b). It is the
duty of the courts to appoint inspectors of scales,
weights, and measures (baraita to B. B. 89a), and
to punish offenders by floggings, and, in later times,
by fines also (Shulhan 'Aruk, Hoshen ]\Iishpat,
231, 2). A deficient bushel should not be kept in
the house for any purpose, lest somebody measure
with it. In many places the custom required all
measures to be sealed by authority.
2. It is as unlawful to cheat a Gentile as an Is-
raelite. If there is a blemish in an article about to
be sold, the buyer must be informed. Flesh or hide
of a " fallen " beast must not be sold, even to a Gen-
tile, as that of a slaughtered beast. "They must
not furbish up man or beast," says the Mishnah (B.
M. iv. 12). Thus, one must not dye a bondman's
beard black; nor drug an animal so as to raise and
stiffen its hair; nor paint old iinple-
Adultera- ments to make them look like new.
tion. Man}' similar tricks are natued. Bad
grain should not be mixed with good
grain and the whole sold as good. Water must not
be put into wine at all. A merchant may put corn
from five thrashing-floors into one bin, and pour wine
from many presses into one barrel ; for all know tiiat
he does not grow his grain or his grapes (B. ]M. 60a).
3. A man must not assume false appearances to
gain his neighbor's good opinion (nyT iJIJ) ; thus,
for instance, though good manners force }'ou to in-
vite to dinner even one who, as you well know, can
not accept, vou must not press such a one to accept
(Hul. 94a)
4. For special rules as to weights and measures
see Weights and Measures; but the moral aspect
may be stated here, namely, that the heavenly pun-
ishment of the falsifier is very hard ; for his is a sin
for which there can hardly be real atonement ; since
he is a robber of the public, and he can not restore
the money to those he has wronged, which is the
first condition for receiving pardon (B. B. 88b).
II. Grounds for Rescission : Whenever a sale
is made, a mistake in measure, weight, or number,
no matter how small it may be, gives to the in-
jured party the right to have the transaction set
aside, to have the goods returned to the seller, and
the price to the buyer, whether the mistake was
made in the goods or in the money ; and tliis at any
time when the mistake is discovered. For it is a
" purchase by mistake " ; and such a purchase is void
(Kid. 42b ; Git. 14a). He who receives money from
his neighbor, whether as the price in a sale, or as a
loan, or as a pajMuent, and finds an excess, must re-
turn it, even unasked (B. M. 63b). On
Blemish, the other hand, in the sale of land or
of slaves or of chattels, if the thing
bought has a blemish in it which was unknown to
the purchaser, the latter may return it at any time.
Maimouides deduces this from the authorities given
above as to mistake in weight or number. But
whenever the purchaser uses the thing with knowl-
edge of the blemish, he is barred (by analogy to the
case pvit in Ket. 76a). Neither party can, without
consent of the other, ask a reduction or proportional
return of the price: the seller must take back his
goods; the buyer must return them or pay in full.
However, if houses at a distance have been sold, and
it turns out they have been injured by trespassers
before the sale, the injury being such as can be
remedied by repairs, the seller may, by deducting
the cost of repairs from the price, make the sale
stand good ; for here the blemish is temporary (Tur.
V. 96, 6, on the authorit}' of Asheri; see Hoshen
Mishpat, 232, 5).
What is a blemish within these rules depends in
the main on the custom of the place. Every buyer
has the right to expect that the thing bought is free
from all blemish. Even if the seller proclaims that
he will not be responsible for any fault, the buyer
may still rescind on finding a blemish that has not
been specially declared ; for the waiver of the buyer
is void unless he knows what he waives.
When the seller names several blemishes in the
thing on sale, and it has only one of them, the court
may conclude that the other faults were named only
to put the buyer off his guard, and may rescind the
contract (see the illustrations of a cow and a bond-
woman in B. M. 80a). In a bondman or bondwoman
only such blemishes are to be considered as interfere
with his or her capacity for v/ork ; for slaves are not
kept for pleasure. It is a blemish in a bondman
that he is an ''armed bandit," or that he is "inscribed
to the king" (for punishment), but not that he is a
thief or a gambler or a drunkard ; for slaves are not
presumed to be very moral (B. B. 92b).
III. Fitness for a Purpose : The Mishnah (B.
B. vi. 1) says: "If one sells grain to his neighbor,
and he sow^s it, but it will not sprout, the seller is
not liable on a warranty. Simeon b. Gamaliel says
(not contradicting what precedes): 'For garden
seeds that are not eaten, he is liable. ' " In other
words, the seller must have either actual notice of
501
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Fraud and Mistake
Frauenstftdt
the purpose for which tne article is bought, or im-
plied notice in the nature of the article. It seems
that there is no implied warranty that
Adapt- flaxseed will sprout; for though it is
ability to most frequently bought to be sown, it
an End. is also bought for linseed-oil ; and "in
money matters we do not go by the ma-
jority of cases. " So also, when an o.\ is bought, and
it turns out vicious, the seller may not be liable, for
he can say, "I have sold it for butchering." But
herein tlie great masters Rab and Samuel differed,
the former insisting that farmers buy oxen so gen-
erally for the plow that the seller should presume
this as the purpose.
"Where the goods sold do not meet the description,
there is no sale (Mislinah B. B. v. 6). Either jiarty
may object. So, when red wheat is delivered tor
white, or white for red; olive-wood for sycamore, or
sycamore for olive, etc., either party may insist that
there was a mistake; for every man has his own
preference. But when the mistake is made of deliv-
ering a low grade for a high grade, the seller may
not rescind ; or if a high grade instead of a low one,
the buyer may not rescind — even though, by rea-
son of a great rise or fall in the market price, it
may be of advantage to do so.
rV. Damages : Cases have been enumerated in
which a return of the faulty article is impracticable,
because it has been consumed before the fault is dis-
covered ; it might also be at such a distance that the
cost of bringing it back would exceed the value. In
these cases the seller must return the price, deduct-
ing only so much thereof as the buyer has been
benefited. On the other hand, where the seller has
sold an article unfit for the purpose for which the
purchaser procured it, with knowledge of the pur-
pose and of the unfitness therefor, he is liable not
only for the return of the price, but also for the use-
less outlays to which the buyer has been put, such
as in the sowing of seeds or in the transportation of
goods to a foreign market. This liability for extra
damages is asserted, though without authority in
the Talmud, by the Turim and the Shulliau 'Aruk
(Hoshen Mishpat,232, 21).
Full details are also found in the codes for cases in
which the goods sold by fraud or mistake are lost or
are further injured in the hands of the buyer, before
or after the discovery of the blemish {ib. 232, passim).
V. The Talmud takes notice not only of direct
fraud between two parties dealing with each other,
but also of wrongs done through their collusion
(X''313'p=KO(vwv('a) to third parties. Hence the rule not
to return a lost bond; because it may have been re-
deemed alreadj\ yet the debtor and creditor may col-
lusively put it in force against the purchasers of the
former's lands (see Finder). Under Execution it
has been shown (1) that the debtor, to clear himself
from the ban, must satisfy the court that no propert}'
is held by another, as ostensible owner, for his benefit,
and (2) that any property held is bound for his debts ;
in short, that feigned convej'ances of the debtor's
property are void as against his creditors. While
fraudident conveyances and the remedies against
them occupy such a wide field in English and Ameri-
can law, the Talmud says nothing, and the codes
hardly anything, as to how the creditor may proceed
to overcome a fraud thus attempted against his
rights.
Bibliography: Sfiulhnn 'Aruk, Hoshen 3Hshpat.sect\oaa
quoted above, and sections 328-3:39, passim ; Ya'd hOrHa-
zakah, especially Mekiiah.
s.s. L. N. D.
FRAUENSCHUL or WEIBERSCHUL : That
part of the synagogue which is reserved for women,
whether an annex, as in the Altneuschul of Prague
and in the synagogue of Worms, or a gallery; the
latter is generally iu the rear of the building, on the
west side, but sometimes on the north or south side.
Modern synagogues have often two galleries, one
above the other.
The separation of the sexes iu sj'nagogues is most
likely coeval with synagogal services, although it is
not mentioned iu the old sources, and the ruins of
ancient synagogues found iu Palestine are not in
such a state of preservation that conclusions can be
reached in regard to their interior arrangements.
According to Talmudic reports, which most likely
present a genuine tradition, there was in the Temple
at Jerusalem a women's gallery, so built that its
occupants could witness the ceremonies, while a
grating hid them from the view of the men (Sukkah
V. 3, 51b; Tamid ii. 5; Maimonides, "Yad," Bet ha-
Behirah, v. 9).
The rabbinical codes are silent in regard to the
Fraucuschul. Joseph Saul Nathansohn (d. 1875), in
discussing the question whether the sexton of a
sjmagogue who lived in the building was permitted
to make use of the women's synagogue as a dining-
room on the occasion of the circumcision of a chil'd,
quotes no precedent on the subject, but decides that
the women's synagogue has not the same degree of
sacreduess as the part reservetl for men ("Sho'el
u-Meshib," vi. 1, No. 3, Lemberg, 1890).
Modern synagogues of the Reform rite frequently
have pews for men and women on one floor, as in
some synagogues in Vienna and in the Reform syn-
agogue of Berlin. In America, family pews have
been introduced in the Reform synagogues; and
even some of the conservative congregations, other-
wise following the old ritual, have adopted the prac-
tise of seating men and women in the same pews.
See also Gallery.
Bibliography : Schurer, Ge,sc7i. 3d ed., li. 450.
A. D.
fratjenstAdt, christian martin
JULIUS : German student of philosophy ; born at
Bojanowo, Posen, April 17, 1813; died at Berlin
Jan. 13, 1879. He was educated at the house of his
uncle at Neisse, and embraced Christianity in 1833.
Studying theology and. later, philosophy at Ber-
lin, he formed the acquaintance of Schopenhauer,
and took up his residence in Berlin in 1848.
Frauenstadt was a disciple of Schopenhauer, as
is shown by his works. He wrote : " Studien und
Kritiken zur Theologie und Philosophic, " Berlin,
1840; "Ueber das Wahre Verhaltniss der Vernunft
zur Offenbarung," Darmstadt, 1848; " Aesthetische
Fragen," Dessau, 1853; "Die Naturwissenschaft in
Ihrem Einfluss auf Poesie, Religion, Moral, und
Philosopliie," ib. 1855; "Der Materialismus. Seine
Wahrheit und Sein Irrthum," ib. 1856 (written
against Bilchner) ; " Briefe iiber die Natilrliche Re-
ligion," ib. 1858; "Lichtstrahlen aus Immanuel
Frauenthal
Freemasonry
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
502
Kant's Werken," ib. 1872. Schopenhauer made
Frauenstiidt his literary executor, to undertake the
editing of liis works. Among Frauenstadt's works
relating especially to Schopenhauer are :
"Briefe iiber die Schopenhauer 'sche Philosophic, "
Leipsic, 1854; "Lichtstrahlen aus Schopenhauer's
Werken," i^>. 1862, 7th ed. 1891 (with Otto Lindner);
"Schopenhauer, von Ihm und iiber Ihn," Berlin,
1863; "Aus Schopenhauer's Handschriftlichem
Nachlass," Leipsic, 1864; "Das Sittliche Leben," ib.
1866; "Blicke in die Intcllektuelle, Physische, und
Moralische Welt," ib. 1869; " Schopenhauer-Lexi-
kon," ib. 1871; "Neue Briefe iiber die Schopen-
hauer'sche Philosophic," ib. 1876. He edited
" Gesamnitausgabe der Werke Schopenhauer's," 6
vols., ib. 1873-74, 2d ed. 1877.
Bibliography : De le Roi, Gesch. lUr Evangelhclicn JucJen-
Missioit, p. 215; Meyers Konveisations-Lexikini.
8. F. T. H.
FRAXJENTHAL, MAX: American soldier;
born at ]\Iarienthal, Rheinpfalz, Bavaria, in 1836;
emigrated to America in 1851 ; lived for a time in
Texas and Louisiana, finally settling in Brook-
haven, j\Iiss. On the outbreak of the Civil war
he, with several coreligionists, enlisted at Summit,
Miss., in a company subsequently known as "Com-
pany A, Sixteenth Regiment, Mississippi Volun-
teers." Frauenthal accompanied Gen. Stonewall
Jackson through the valley of Virginia, and served
till the end of the war, escaping with slight wounds.
In the presence of several officers. General Ewell
among the number, Frauenthal was highly compli-
mented by his colonel. " If I had ten thousand men
like Frauenthal," said the colonel, "I would drive
the Yankees into the Potomac before night. " Frau-
enthal particularly distinguished himself at the
"Bloody Acute Angle " in the battle of Spottsylva-
nia Court House (May 12, 1864). In a letter to the
"Galveston Daily News," Colonel A. T. Watts, now
judge at Dallas, Texas (who was a private in the
same company as Frauenthal), contributes an ac-
count of the " grand, terrific, sustained fighting in the
Angle of Livid Hell and Darksome Death." After
describing in detail the formation of the "Acute
Angle, " Judge Watts concludes : " Frauenthal, a lit-
tle Jew, had the heart of a lion. For several hours
he stood at the immediate point of contact (the apex
of the angle), amid the most terrific hail of lead, and
coolly and deliberately loaded and fired without
cringing."
Frauenthal is now (1903) living in Conway, Ark.,
and is commander of the Conway Camp of United
Confederate Veterans.
Bibliography: H. Cohen, A Modern Maccahean, in PuhU-
catioiis Am. Jetv. Hist. Soc. No. 6, 1897; Oalveston Dailtj
News, July 15, 1893.
A. H. C.
FREDERICK II. (surnamed the Great) : King
of Prussia; born 1712; reigned from 1740 till his
death in 1786. He was not friendly to the Jews,
although he issued a " Schutzjude " patent to Moses
Mendelssohn in October, 1763.
During the early years of Frederick's reign the
Jews were left in comparative peace under the law
of 1730. Soon after Frederick had made a treaty
of peace with Maria Theresa of Austria, he
proceeded to issue a series of anti-Jewish edicts.
His policy was to maintain tlie proportion between
Jews and Christians in Prussia at a definite, fixed
ratio. On April 17, 1750, a " neue revidierte General-
privilegiuin und Schutzbrief vor die
The Judenschaf t in Preussen und der Mark
"General- Braudeuburg " was enacted, but was
privi- not promulgated till 1756. It was
legium," particularly oppressive. The Berlin
1750. community, consisting of 333 families
(estimated at 1,945 souls), at this time
had the number of its Schutzjuden fixed arbitrarily
at 150; and only the eldest sons could succeed to
their fathers' rights. All other Jews were declared
to be "extraordinary," which meant that they were
not allowed to transmit their privilege of lesidence
to their children. Throughout the kingdom this
law was enforced with much rigor. In Silesia and
West Prussia no Jews could live in the open country
(" plattes Land "). Jewish servants were not allowed
to marry ; and Jewish beggars and pedlers were i<u-
hibited.
During Frederick's entire reign the Prussian Jews
continually protested against harsh edicts, but with-
out much success. In 1763, however, succession to
the rights of the Schutzjuden was extended to
second sons on condition that these take up manu-
facturing. For this privilege the Jews had to pay
70,000 thalers. For further privileges the Jews had
to purchase a definite number of pieces of porcelain
from the royal porcelain manufactoi y. These pieces
Avere often specially made in grotesque shapes, as in
the form of apes, and for this reason were afterward
much valued by collectors. In addition to such ex-
actions the Jews paid regular taxes.
While the Jews were prohibited from following
certain trades and occupations (flax-spinning, 1761 ;
agriculture, 1763; flour and wood industries) be-
cause of the jealousy of Christian competitors, they
were compelled in 1768 to take charge of the stocking
and cap manufactories at Templin and to become
absolutely responsible for their financial success.
By the rescript of 1750, severe penalties were
imposed on those Jews who practised usury. In
1752-53 interest rates were fixed at 12 per cent per
annum, and in 1755 at 6 per cent and 7 per cent.
Bankrupts were harshly dealt with; and the entire
Jewish community of a locality was made responsi-
ble for the Climes conmiitted by Jewish thieves
(1773). In 1770 the oppressive usury laws were
somewhat modified by repeal acts.
Payments of protection-money often caused trou-
ble for the Jews in Frederick's reign. During the
Seven Years' war Frederick would
Restrictive have no Jewish soldiers in his army ;
Measures, a yearly tax was paid instead. The
Jews had also to bear a share of the
ransom imposed on Berlin by the Russian invaders
of 1763. During the war, moreover, the Jews had
to lend large sums of money to the king. In 1765
the 438 Jewish families in Berlin had to pay a tax of
25,000 thalers; hitherto an annual tax of but 15,000
thalers had been paid for 250 families. In 1770 the
Jews were not allowed to pass buckets at fires; a
yearly tax was imposed instead. In 1773 the Jews
had to deliver a certain quantity of silver to the
503
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Frauenthal
Freemasonry
royal treasury. Additional edicts were promulgated
in 1773, 1777, 1782; and as late as 1785 a law was
passed against surreptitious begging by Jews.
Although Frederick declared that absolute justice
must be meted out to Jews in the law courts, the
" more Judaico " was required again (1747). Jews had
to take this oath in the synagogue in the presence of
ten adults and be clothed with the "arba' kaufot"
and tefillin. On especially solemn occasions they
had to sit on coffins and hold slaughtering-knives.
This requirement was modified, however, in 1782.
There were nineteen factories and mills owned by
Jews during Freder-
ick's reign, among
them Daniel Itzig's
lead-factory at Sorge
and his oil-mill at
Berlin (Geiger, "Ge-
schichte der Juden in
Berlin," ii. 93).
Among the king's
Jewish mint-masters
(" Mlinz juden ") were
Ephraim,1754 ; Moses
Isaac and Daniel It-
zig, 1756; Daniel It-
zig and Ephraim,
1758; and Veitel
Heine Ephraim, 1773.
With the inner life
of the Jews Freder-
ick had nothing to do.
Although in 1771 he
struck Mendelssohn's
name from the list of
members of the pro-
posed Berliner Aka-
demie der Wissen-
schaften, yet in 1783
he spoke of him as
"the famous Jewish
scholar." Dohm's
"Ueber die Biirger-
liclie Verbcsserung
der Juden" (1781)
failed to influence
Frederick toward a
greater liberality in
the treatment of his
Jewish subjects. It
was Voltaire's some-
what ambiguous
transactions with
Abraham Hirsch or Hirschel which caused Frederick
to break off relations with him (Carlyle, "Frederick
the Great," book v.).
Bibliography : Hans Jungfer, Die Juden Unter Friedrich
dem Grossoi, Leipsic, 1880; Ludwig Geiger. Gesch. der Ju-
den in Berlin, i. passim, ii. 88 et .seq., Berlin, 1871 ; Adolph
Kohut. Gesch. der Deutuchen Juden, pp. 691, 096, 700f, 7~'9,
732, 735, 759, 780 ; Gratz, Gcsch. xi. 5, U, 17, 20, 54, 79 ; Beu-
lah Brylawski Amram, Anti'Jewish FAlicta of Frederick
the Great, in Jewish Exponent, Jan. 31, 1903.
D. A. M. F.
FREEMASONRY : The institutions, rites, and
principles of a secret societj'' devoted to the promo-
tion of fraternal feeling and morality among the
h]^ ben ^Jrcufcn; ^arggraf ^ S3ranbcn»
utifr£burffi»ft{c.:c.ic.
tft©flrruft! £)abif Srfobningt)itlfdltjg gpjtujettat, itoS
btf juc ffbnftHdjrn 5?f Iinicn ijbf rgfgan^fne ^uben / i:i^
foBobl aiis itflbmi ^bf unb iautfjn ^b(i(bt<n, tli r,t,
jnrbr a\i6 unecinubuii l|nbia(ifi;n get^flnbelt i f» ^co S&tt ju h..
fdilKflrii griubct :
Sat fnnt ^iibui )ihn Untnriibt ia in STbrlQIitbtn JRrligion ad-
grnrmnKn tonbrn fi>Urn> bi^nii^t Con ibcrm unAr^UKtrn 3G.an*
tt\ fi*rtf 9:a(bricbtfn nn^fjogen, uKb boiiibet fcjtiftliie glau^*
buftc Attefte rujrmcbet itMbfn.
5br ttfrbrt guib bietnad) gpborfjmH jn oitfli iBilTen , unb nnffangt
ten bifffr gebrurf ten SJnctbnunci Exemplaria , urn fol4{ ex offitio
on bir !&pb6tbf untet Surrr Unc«cfJirift «feif>fii ju (offoi. ©mb 2U(J
mit Qiabcn gtrooam. ©rjfbtB jn SBctlin / bfn 20. Julji 1774,
2(uf ©cinft ^'ml mmt aUcrsnafcigHen
Spccial-SJefe^L
t.^ixft. l».!llhifli^vfe& ».3A{^
Sn b«« ffl)W'SS4r*tt» CaififtoriBm,
iii3iri(bni an Mt Sicgiimntni sib
Edict of Frederick the Great with Regard to the Conversion of Jews.
members of the order. In its modern form it ap-
pears to have arisen in London in 1717, and thence
spread thi'ough the British Isles to the Continent,
reaching North America about 1729. In the pre-
liminary stages which led up to freemasonry, there
are traces of tlie influence of Judah Templo, the con-
structor of a model of Solomon's Temple, who vis-
ited England in the reign of Charles II. A coat of
arms said to have been used or painted b}' him re-
sembles greatly that adopted later by the freemasons
of England ("Transactions Jew. Hist. Soc. Eng."
ii.). The society claims affiliation with the ancient
craft of working ma-
sonry, and bj' this
means traces back
much of its symbol-
ism and ritual to the
building of the First
Temple by Solomon.
So far does this tend-
ency go that G. Oli-
ver, in his "Antiqui-
ties of Freemasonry "
(London, 1823), at-
tempts to show that
Moses was a grand
master. One of the
higher grades of the
order is connected
with the legend of
the death of Hiram
"Abif " (a misunder-
standing of II Chron.
ii. 13). According to
Masonic legend, he
was killed by three
workmen just at the
completion of the
Temple ; and there is
a mj'stery about his
death as represented
in the Masonic rites.
This may possiblj'
trace back to the rab-
binic legend that
while all the work-
men were killed so
that they should not
build another temple
devoted to idolatry,
Hiram himself was
raised to heaven like
Enoch (Pesik. R. vi.
25a, ed. Friedmann). In the early stages of free-
masonry, however, nothing was said of Solomon
(Fort, "Early History and Antiquities of Freema-
sonry," p. 181, Philadelphia, 1875), and nothing is
said of the Hiram legend in the earliest printed con-
stitution of 1723 (R. F. Gould, "History of Free-
masonry," iv. 365).
The technical language, symbolism, and rites of
freemasonry are full of Jewish ideas and of terms
Hke "Urim and Thummim," "Acharon Schilton,"
"Rehum," "Sephirot," "Jachin," "Ish Chotzeb"
(comp. I Kings v. 18, list of terms on following
page), but these may have been derived, without
Freemasonry
Free Will
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
504
any Jewish intermediation, from commentaries on
the Old Testament. Many of these terms are de-
rived from tlio Biblical account of the building of
Solomon's Temple (I Kings v. etseg.), and the two
pillars Jachin and Boaz take a predominant position
in Masonic symbolism. In the Scottish Rite the
dates of all official documents are given according
to the Hebrew months and Jewish era, and use is
made of the older form (Samaritan or Phenician)
of the Hebrew alphabet. The impostor Cagliostro
appears to have introduced some of the terms of the
Cabala into his "rite of jMisraim," but this again
might have been derived from the Christian Cabala.
Modern anti-Semites, especially among the Roman
("atholics, attempt to identify freemasonry Avith
Jewish propagandism, going so far as to state that
the whole movement is ruled by five or six Jews
acting secretly as its head. But the only specific
instance of Jewish influence mentioned by them is
the introduction of the degree of "kohen" by one
Martinez Paschalis. There is, however, no evidence
that he was a Jew. Mackey ("Encyclopedia of
Freemasonry ") states that he was a German who
made himself acquainted with the Jewish Cabala
during his travels in the East. It is also claimed
that Stephen Moriu, founder of the Scottish Rite in
America, was a Jew. There is no evidence of this,
but it is probable that M. M. Hays and Isaac da
Costa who derived tiie degrees from Morin, and in-
troduced them into South Carolina about 1801, were
Jews; yet so far the only evidence of specifically
Jewish influence consists in the fact that this par
ticular branch of a certain section of freemasonry
appears to have been introduced into South Caro-
lina by Jews.
There is even some doubt about this affiliation.
Freemasonry itself was introduced into South Caro-
lina as early as 1736 (De Saussure, "History of
Freemasonry in South Carolina," p. 5, Charleston,
1878). The Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite, with its
additional thirty-third degree, appears to have been
instituted in 1786 at Charleston, though the actual
organization of the higher council was not efifected
till 1801. But the Jews who received their degrees
directly or indirectly from Morin never appear to
have reached any higher degree than the twenty-fifth,
of the Rite of Perfection, as can be seen from the
following genealogy derived from Steven's "Cyclo-
pedia of Fraternities" (p. 50, New York, 1899):
All the later stages had gone out of Jewish hands
before 1801. It is also claimed that the Jews in-
troduced freemasonry into Rhode Island
Jews have been most conspicuous in their connec-
tion with freemasonry in France since, the Revolu-
tion. One of the branches of the craft, the Supreme
Council of the Orient, had Adolphe Cremieux as its
S.G.C. (Sovereign Grand Councilor) from 1868 to
1880. He introduced the practise of having the
S.G.C. confirmed by the lodges instead of being arbi-
trarily selected by his predecessor. In Germany for a
long time Jews were not permitted entrance into the
lodges. In 1836 the Amsterdam Grand Lodge pro-
tested to the Grand Lodge of Germany against the
refusal to admit some of its membei's because they
were of the Jewish faith. From 1868 to 1876 the
question of the affiliation of Jewish members was
discussed with some heat. Although in the latter
year the majority of the lodges favored the affilia-
tion, the requisite two-thirds majority was not ob
tained (Gould, I.e. v. 248-250). In England a num-
ber of lodges exist formed exclusively of Jews, but
as a rule the latter have joined the ordinary lodges,
in which some of them have reached a very high
rank.
The following list contains the chief technical
terms of freemasonry which are connected with
Jewish ideas and expressions;
Abaddon.
Abda (I KiDRslv. 6).
Abll.
Adonai (see dOD, Names of).
Adon Hiram (see Adoniram).
Ahiah (I Kings iv. 3).
" Ahiman Rezou " (title given
to the book of constitutions
of the Grand Lodge of An-
cient York, supposed to be
Hebrew for " the Law of the
Selected Brethren ").
Aholiab.
Bagulkal (significant word in
the higher degrees, supposed
to be Hebrew).
Bel (used erroneously to repre-
sent the Tetragrammaton).
Bendekar (I Kings iv. 9).
Bereith.
Breastplate.
Cedars of Lebanon.
Cherubim.
Chesed.
Cohen.
Dedication of the Temple.
Emeth.
Enoch.
Ephod.
Ephraimites.
Ezel (ISam. XX. 19).
Gabaon (see Gibeon and
GiBEONITES).
Gedaliah.
Giblira (I Kings v. 18).
Haggai.
High Priest,
Hiram Ablf (architect of Solo-
mon's Temple) .
Hiram, King of Tyre.
Holy of Holies.
Horns for the Altar.
I Am What I Am.
Immanuel.
Jachin.
Jacob's Ladder.
Jah.
Jehoshaphat (place where the
lodge is built).
Jehovah.
Eabbala.
Kadosb.
Stephen Morin, 25°,
Inspector for America, Rite of Perfection, Paris, 1761
Henry A. Francken, 25°, Jamaica, 1762,
deputy inspector for North America
Aug. Prevost, 26°, Jamaica, 1774,
deputy Inspector
M. M, Hays, 25°, Boston, 1767-70,
deputy Inspector ifor North America
I ' 1
John Mitchell. 25°, Charleston, 1795. B. Spitzer, 2.5°, Philadelphia, 1781,
deputy for South Carolina deputy for Georgia
P. le B. du Plessis, 25°, Philadelphia, 1790,
deputy inspector
Germain Hacquet, 25°, Philadelphia, 1798
r
Abraham Jacobs, 25°, Jamaica, 1790 M. Cohen, 25°, Philadelphia, 1781
Hyman 1. Long, 25°, Philadelphia, 1795
A. F. A. de Grasse Tilly, 25»,
Charleston, 1796
505
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Freemasonry
Free Will
Kamea ("amulet").
Lebanon.
Levltes.
Maacha (I Kings 11. 39).
Manna, Pot of.
Melchized'jk.
Melee ti.
Miter.
Mizraira, Rite of.
Naauiab.
Peleg (supposed to be the
architect of the Tower of
Babel ; twentieth degree of
the Scottish Rite).
Pentalpha (see Solomon's
Seal) .
Rabbanaim.
Rabboni.
Sabbaoth.
Sanhedrin.
Seal of Solomon.
Sephiroth.
Shaddai
Shamir.
Shekel.
Shekinah.
Shem Hamphoresch.
Shiboleth.
Shield of David.
Signet of Zerubbabel.
Tabernacle.
Temple.
Tetragrammaton.
Tomb of Adonirain.
Tubal Cain.
Twelve-Lettered Name.
Two-Lettered Name.
Zabud (I Kings iv. 5).
Zadok.
Zedekiah.
Zeredatha.
Zerubbabel.
The majority of the above names and terms, de
rived from Mackey's" Lexicon of Freemasonry, "are
mostly used in the higher degrees of the Scottish
Rite, sometimes erroneously, as can be seen by re-
feiTing to the separate items in this Encyclopedi.\.
Bibliography : A de la Rive, Lc Juif dans La Franc-Ma-
qonnerie, France. 1895; A. Tilloy. Le Peril Judeo-Maqo-
nique, Paris, 1897 ; D. M. Hormalin, Ha-Yehudim weha-
Bonim ha-Hofeshim, New York, 1894; Addis and Arnold,
Catholic Dictionary.
A. J.
FREETHINKERS AND FREETHOUGHT.
See R.\TioNALisTs; Skeptics.
FREE WILL: The doctrine that volition is self -
originating and unpredictable. That man is free to
choose between certain courses of conduct was re-
garded by rabbinical Judaism as a fundamental prin-
ciple of the Jewish religion. Although generally
following the ethical system of the Stoics, Philo, in-
fluenced by Judaism, professed the doctrine of free
will ("Quod Deus Sit Immutabilis," ed. Mangey, p.
279), and Josephus states that the Pharisees main-
tained it against both the Sadducees, who attributed
everything to chance, and the Essenes, who ascribed
all to predestination and divine providence ("Ant."
xiii. 5, § 9; xviii. 1, § 5). "All is in the hands of
God except the fear of God " is an undisputed
maxim of the Talmud (Ber. 33b ; Niddah 16b).
The discussions that arose between the Kadarites,
the Islamic partizans of free will, and their oppo-
nents, the Jabbarites, attracted the attention of Jew-
ish thinkers, who thereupon endeavored to reconcile
the principle of free will with a belief in divine
providence and omniscience ; the latter was consid-
ered by the Jewish pliilosophersof tlie
Influence Middle Ages the most important ob-
of Islam, jection to the doctrine of free will.
Saadia propounds the difficulty thus:
'If God, in His omniscience, knows beforehand all
•vents. He must necessarily know who will disobey
Him; in that case the very fact of God's knowledge
compels man tor.ct accordingly " (" Kitab al-Imanat
wal-I'tikadat," iii. 154). To this Saadia answers
that God's knowledge is not causative; for, were it
so, everything that comes into existence must have
existed from eternity, since God's knowledge of it
was from eternity. But may it be inferred that man
can act contrary to the knowledge of God ? " No, "
says Saadia, "because God knows things as they
really are." As soon as man makes a choice be-
tween alternatives God knows it. In other words,
the decision of man precedes God's knowledge
Bahya contented himself with asserting the prin-
ciple of free will without discussing the details of
the subject. He passes over without comment the
objection raised by the fact of God's omniscience,
and evades that of divine providence by declaring
the problem too complicated for solution (" Hobot
ha Lebabot," iii. 8). J udah ha-Levi followed Saadia
with regard to God's omniscience. For him, too,
the decisions of man precede God's knowledge,
which he divides into two categories, creative or
causative, and accidental ("Cuzari," ed. Cassel, p.
418). However, he went, further than Saadia in
that he endeavored to reconcile the principle of
free will with the belief in divine providence, which
was entirely neglected by the author of "Emunot
weDe'ot." Following the doctrine of the Stoics on
this subject, Judah ha-Levi distinguishes between
principal and secondary causes. To the first belong
the immutable laws of nature, which proceed di-
rectly from the first cause; to the second belong
natural causes, which are traceable to the first cause
through a series of linked causes. Man's freedom
is the last link in the chain of secondary causes, and
is also traceable indirectly to the first cause. The
act decided upon being thus an effect of tlie second
ary cause, free will, which presupposes alternatives,
comes into play ; but as it is indirectly traceable to
the first cause, man's freedom of choice does not
limit the freedom of divine providence.
Abraham ibn Daud resolves the problem of divine
providence in the same waj^ as Judah ha-Levi, but
otters a simpler solution of the problem of God's
omniscience. He distinguishes two
Abraham kinds of possibilities: a subjective
ibn Daud. one, which has ignorance for cause,
and a relative one. For instance, for
one who is sojourning in Spain there may be doubt
whether at the moment the King of Babylon is alive
or dead: either is a possibility. But for one who is
in the presence of the king there is no possibility:
one or the other is a certainty. Such subjective
possibility must be eliminated from God as quite
irreconcilable with His omniscience , but the notion
of possibility in the strictest sense is by no means a
limitation of His omniscience. It is perfectly con-
ceivable that from the beginning God so regulated
creation that in certain cases both alternatives should
be possible events. It is not detracting from God's
omniscience to believe that in order to give room to
man's will to assert itself freely He left certain
actions undecided ia His own mind ("Emunah
Ramah," p. 96).
So far the solution of the problem of God's omni
science is in a certain degree the same; a greater or
smaller limitation of God's knowledge with regard
to human actions. Such a solution could not be ac-
cepted by Maimonides, for, according to his theories
of the divine attributes, God could not at any given
time acquire knowledge which He had not previously
possessed. God's knowledge of human actions,
therefore, must date from the beginning. The ob-
jection made to the principle of free will on the
ground of God's omniscience i-ests, according to Mai-
monides, on an error. Misled by the use of the term
Free Will
Frenkel
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
506
"knowledge," people believed that all that is requi-
site for their knowledge is requisite also for the knowl-
edge of God. The truth is " that the
Mai- fact that God knows things while they
monides. are in a state of possibility — when
their existence belongs to the future
— does not change the nature of ' possible ' in an}'
way; that nature remains unchanged; and the
knowledge of the realization of one of several pos-
sibilities does not yet affect that realization " (" Mo-
reh," iii. 20). As to the question of divine provi-
dence, Maimonides did not even attempt to bring
it into harmony with the principle of free-will.
Abraham ben David of Posquieres reproaches
Maimonides with having in his " Yad " heaped ques-
tions around the piinciple of free will without offer-
ing any reasonable solutions. Indeed, this reproach
is not unfounded, for on this point Maimonides for-
mulates a dogma rather than gives reasons. His the-
ory may be summed up thus: The principle of free
will must be admitted, for otherwise there would
be neither punishment nor reward. The question of
God's omniscience can not be conceived any more
than can His essence, for His knowledge is quite dif-
ferent from ours. Abraham ben David proposes
therefore the following solution: Being a micro-
cosm, man is subjected to sidereal influences which
determine his fate. This fate, however, is not im-
mutable, for through his freedom of choice he has
the power to change it by his religious and moral
conduct. God, indeed, knows the decrees of the
constellations and the resolutions of man; still, in
annulling the stellar decrees man is acting in oppo-
sition not to God, but to the constellations.
The weakness of this solution is evident. Whether
God's knowledge of man's fate be direct or indirect,
the fact remains that it may turn out otherwise than
God foresaw it. A more rational solution in this
direction is furnished by Levi ben
Gersonides. Gershou. According to him, all sub-
lunary events are determined by the
celestial bodies. Man, however, may successfully
oppose their determinations in so far as his own per-
son is concerned. God knows all that is determined
by the celestial bodies; but as man's freedom may
annul their determinations He knows them only as
possibihties. "To affirm that God knows the possi-
ble only as possible is not detracting from His su-
preme intelligence, for to know things as they are
means to know them well" ("Milhamot," iii. 106).
The same solution maybe applied to the question of
divine providence, since through freedom of choice
man can annul the stellar determinations.
Moses Narboni devoted to free will a special trea-
tise entitled " Ma'amar bi-Behirah. " It was directed
against Abner of Burgos' "'Iggeret ha-Gezerah,"
in which the convert propounds the Asharitic doc-
trine of predestination. Narboni 's solution is in es-
sence, if not in form, the same as that given by Abra-
ham ibn Daud with regard to the question of God's
omniscience, and as that given by Judah ha-Levi with
regard to the question of divine providence. A new
stand was taken by Hasdai Crescas, who, in opposi-
tion to all his predecessors, inclined toward the re-
jection, or at least toward the limitation, of free will.
According to him, the law of causality is so univer-
sal that human conduct can not escape its operations.
Man, unconscious of the cause, may believe his choice
is a free one, but in reality it is not, be-
Hasdai cause there exists always that which
Crescas. determines his resolution. Still the
Torah teaches freedom of choice and
presupposes self-determination. Crescas, therefore,
concludes that human will is free in certain re-
spects, but limited in others. Will acts as a free
agent when considered alone, but operates by ne
cessity when regarded in relation to the remote cause ;
or will operates in freedom, both per se and with re-
gard to the provoking cause, but it is bound if ana-
lyzed with reference to the divine omniscience. Man
feels himself free; therefore he is responsible, and
must be rewarded or punished. The praise or blame
attachable to good or evil actions is proportionate
to the willingness of those by whom they are per-
formed ("Or Adonai," ii. 4 et seq.). Crescas' views
had considerable influence on Spinoza.
Albo follows Maimonides both in the question of
God's omniscience and in that of divine providence
(" •Ikkarim," iv., ch. 3, 7-10). The Zohar repeatedly
asserts the principle of free will, and solves the prob-
lems of omniscience and providence by adopting the
Aristotelian view that God has a knowledge of uni-
versalsonly, and not of particulars (see Jew. Encyc.
iii. 473).
Like the Motazilites, the first Karaite teachers
called themselves " Ashab al-'Adl wal-Tauhid," be-
cause professing the principles of free
Karaites, will. Joseph al-Basri and Aaron of
Nicomedia treated of the relation be-
tween free will and God's omniscience and provi-
dence, but they contributed nothing original to the
solution of the problem, merely cop3'ing the views
of the Rabbinite thinkers, chiefly Saadia.
Bibliography: Munk, yielanges, p. 463; idem, Introdvction
to Vie Guide, p. iv; J. Guttmanii, Die ReJigionsphilosophie
des Ahi'aham ibn Daud aus Toledo, pp. 197 et seq.; Joel,
Levi hen Gersnn, p. 59; Isidore Weil, Philosophic lieligi-
eutie de Levi ben Gersnn, pp. 1132 et seq.; Rosin, Die Ethik
des Maimonides, pp.62 et seq.; Stein, Die Willensfreiheit
xind Ihr Verhdltniss zur GottUchen Prascienz xind Provi-
dc)iz hei den JUdischen Philosoplien des Mittelalters. Ber-
lin, 1882; Kaufmann, Die Attributenlehre, pp. 248 et seq.;
Joel, Do7i Chasdai Creskas' Religionsphilosophische Lehren
in Ihrem Geschichtlichen Einfluiise, pp. 46 et seq.; Philip
Bloch, Die WiUenafreiheit von Chasdai Kreskas, 1879.
J. I. Bk.
FREE-WILI. OFFERING ("nedabah"): A
term applied to gifts presented out of the benevo-
lence or religious impulse of heart of the giver,
and not in fulfilment of any obligation, promise, or
vow. It is used as the term for the contributions of
Israel to the construction and furnishings of the
Tabernacle in the wilderness (Ex. xxxv. 29, xxxvi.
3); for the materials presented for the building of
the First Temple (I Chron. xxix. 5b-9, 14); for the
gifts for the support of the Temple service under
King Hezekiah (II Chron. xxxi. 14); for the con-
tributions toward the building of the Second Tem-
ple in Jerusalem, mentioned in the decree of Cyrus
(Ezra i. 4) ; for the gifts of Israel in its own land
toward religious services (Ezra iii. 5) ; and for the
material wealth carried back by Ezra (viii. 28).
A free-will offering may be a burnt offering or a
peace-offering (Ezek. xlvi. 12 ; Lev. xxii. 18, 21) ; the
term is also used of promises or vows made by the
507
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Free Will
Frenkel
worshiper (compare Deut. xxiii. 21-23; Ps. cxix
108).
A further classification is made (Lev vii. 11 etseq.)
wherein the Peace-Offeuing includes the praise
oflfer'ng ("zebah ha-todah"), the votive oflering
("zebah neder"), and the free-will offering ("zebah
nedabah "). The ceremonial of these offerings (Lev.
vii. 29, 30, 34) provided that the fat parts should be
burned as in the regulations of the Burnt Offer-
ing, but that the breast should be Aaron's and his
sons' (verse 31), and the other flesh should be eaten
only on the day of sacrifice in the case of the praise-
offering, but also on the second day in the case of
the votive and free-will offerings (Lev. vii. 16; xix.
5, 6). According to the general statement (Lev. xxii
21, 22) the animal presented must be perfect, with
no blemish. But in tlie next verse (23) an exception
is made in favor of the free-will offering, which
may have "au^-tLing superfluous or lacking" in its
parts. In Lev. xxii. 18-21 there seem to be but
two divisions of the peace-offering, namely, (1) the
votive and (2) the free-will offering; while in
Num. XV. 8 " peace-offerings " is apparently used
as synonymous with "free-will offering" (compare
verse 3).
Free-will offerings were made especially on great
feast-days: (1) the Feast of Unleavened Bread (II
Chron. xxxv. 7-9; compare xxx. 24), (2) the Feast
of Weeks (Deut. xvi. 10; compare xxvi. 1-11), (3)
the Feast of Tabernacles (Ezra iii. 4, 5; compare
Num. xxix. 39; Lev. xxiii. 37, 38).
Bibliography : Nowack, Handbuch der Hebrdischen Archii-
nlogic, 1894, ii. 238 et seq.; Benzinger, Hebriiische Archa-
ijlofjie, 1893, pp. 445 et seq.
J. JR. I. M. p.
FREIDTJS, ABRAHAM SOLOMON: Bibli
ographer; born in Riga, Russia, May 1, 1867. He
went to Paris in 1886, and thence to the United
States in the autumn of 1889 In March, 1897, he
entered the service of the New York Public Library
as assistant cataloguer, and was soon assigned to the
department of Hebraica and Judaica, of which he
is still (1903) in charge. This department now in-
cludes 15,000 volumes and pamphlets, and has be-
come one of the most frequently consulted Jewish
collections in the world. Freidus' scheme of classi-
fication of the Jewish department contains nearly
500 subdivisions, and may be considered the first
elaborate scheme of classifying Jewish literature for
library purposes (see Bibliography ; Library Clas-
sification).
Bibliography: Wiemik, in Jewish Co?nmen(, Dec. 22, 1899;
Mandelkern, in AUg. Zeit. des Jud. Oct. 19, 1900 (Eng. transl.
in The American Hebrew, Feb. 8, 1901); M. Raisin, in Ha-
Shiloah, 1901, viii. 551-553 ; Publius, in The Jewish Exponent,
July 25^Aug. 1, 1902; B. Eisenstadt, Hakme America, 81-82.
A. P. Wl.
FREIHEIM, J. B. : American lawyer and sol-
dier; born in Bavaria 1848; died at Camden, Ark.,
Aug. 22, 1899. Freiheim was an early Jewish resi-
dent of Louisiana, where he was reared. He stud-
ied at the Louisiana State Military Academy, and at
the outbreak of the Civil war enlisted in the Con-
federate army. He curved in Company F, Twelfth
Louisiana Infantry, throughout the struggle. At
Franklin, Tenn., he led his company — he had been
promoted to sergeant — after every commissioned
officer had been killed.
At the close of the war Freiheim returned to
Louisiana, and later settled in Arkansas. Although
not twenty-one years of age, he was admitted to the
bar and began to practise law at Camden, Ark.,
where he resided for the rest of his life. In later
years he was register of the local land-office of the
United States.
Bibliography: Tlie Jewish Mensenger (New York), Sept. 8,
1899, p. 3: Simon Wolf, The American Jew as Patriot, Sol-
dier, and Citizen, p. 191, Philadelphia, 1895.
A. A M. F.
FREIMANN, AARON : German librarian and
historian; born Aug. 5, 1871, at Filehne, Posen.
He is the son of Israel Meifr Freimann, and grand-
son, on his mother's side, of the chief rabbi of Al-
tona, Jacob Ettlinger. He attended the high school
of Ostrowo, and in 1893 entered the University of
Berlin (Ph D., 1896), where he studied history and
Oriental languages, devoting himself at the same
time to the study of archival and library systems.
Since 1897 he has been chief of the Hebrew depart-
mentatthe Stadtbibliotek in Frankfort-on-the-Main,
and since 1900 one of the editors of " Zeitschrift filr
Hebraische Bibliographic." He is the author of
"Die Isagoge des Porphj'rius in den Syrischen
Uebersetzungen " (1896). and " Geschichte der Israeli-
tischen Gemeinde Ostrowo " (1896). To the " Kobez
al-Yad," a collective work published bj' the Mekize
Nirdamim SocietJ^ he contributed articles on the
history of the Jews in Prague S.
FREIMANN, ISRAEL MEIR: German
rabbi; born Sept. 27, 1880, at Cracow; died Aug.
21, 1884, at Ostrowo. He received his education
from his father and in various Talmudical schools of
Hungary. After a short stay in Leipsic (1850) he
went to Breslau ; from 1856 to 1860 he studied phi-
losophy and Oriental languages He graduated
(Ph.D., Jena) in 1860, and was called in the same
year to the rabbinate of Filehne, Posen. On Sept.
7, 1871, he was made rabbi of Ostrowo, which office
he occupied until his death. He declined the posi-
tion of rector of the rabbinical seminary of Breslau
after Zachariah Frankel's death. The great esteem
in which he was held by his fellow citizens is shown
by the naming, in 1900. of a street "Freimann-
strasse " His edition of the midrashic work " We-
Hizhir" (1st part, Leipsic, 1873; 2d part, Warsaw,
1890), to which he added some valuable notes, is in-
disputable evidence of his learning. The response
(" Binyan Ziyyon ") of his father-in-law Jacob Ettlin-
ger contain many of his essays.
Bibliography: Solomon Cohn, in Jiulische Presse, 1884; A.
Freimann, Gesch. der Isrnclitischen Gemeinde Ostrowo,
1896, p. 16.
S.
FREITAGABEND, DER. See Periodicals.
FRENKEL, ISRAEL : Russian Hebraist and
teacher; born at Radom, Russian Poland, Sept. 18,
1853. He was a pupil in Talmudic literature of
Samuel Mohilever, chief rabbi of Radom ; and at the
same time studied Hebrew, German, and French.
Frenkel has been a teacher in the Talmud Torali at
Radom since its foundation in 1882. His transla-
tions into Hebrew include: Lessing's drama "Miss
Sarah Sampson," under the title " Sarah Bat Shim-
shon," Warsaw, 1887; the songs in metric verse in
Frenkel
Freund
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
508
Radner's translation of " Wilhelm Tell," Wilna, 1878 ;
(from tlie Polish) Kozlovski's "Esterka," under the
title "MasFa' Ester," drama in six acts, the hero-
ine of which is Esther, the Jewish mistress of Casi-
mir III. the Great, Warsaw, 1889. Frenkel is a cor-
respondent of "Ha-Zefirah."
Bibliography: Sokolov, Se/er Zi/cfcaron, p. 96 ; Zeitlin, Bi'W.
Post-Mendels. pp. 93, 286, 437.
H. R. M. Sel.
FRENKEL, ISRAEL : Russian physician ;
born at Ryp'u, government of Plotzk, June 29, 1857.
At the age of twelve he had received only a re-
ligious education. One of his teachers, however,
Kalman Pivover, who from a simple "melammed "
became later a distinguished physician, had inspired
him with a desire for secular knowledge. Frenkel
graduated from tlie gymnasium of Plotzk, and then
studied medicine at the University of Warsaw.
Graduating in 1885 as an M.D., he settled in War-
saw. He was greatly attracted by Hebrew studies,
and began contributing to Jewish papers while still
attending the gymnasium. Afterward, at the uni-
versity, he contributed to IIel)rew scientific papers
articles on recent discoveries in medicine and biol-
ogy. Later Frenkel became a regular contributor
to "Ha-Zefiiah," and published a Hebrew work on
nervous and venereal diseases entitled " Shomer ha-
Beri'ut," Warsaw, 1889.
Bibliography: Sokolov, Sefer Ztkkaron, p. 200; Zeitlin,
Bihl. Poat-Mendelit. p. 93.
H. R. I. Br.
FRENSDORFF, SOLOMON: German Hebra-
ist; born at Hamburg Feb. 24, 1803; died at Hano-
ver March 23, 1880. While pursuing his studies at
the Johanneum gj-mnasium in his native city, he
was introduced into Hebrew literature by Isaac Ber-
nays, who exerted considerable influence upon his
later attitude toward Judaism and religion in gen-
eral. He studied philosophy and Semitic languages
at the University of Bonn. In that city he became
acquainted with Abraham Geiger, who, in various
letters to his friends, repeatedly expressed the high-
est esteem for Frensdorff "s character and learning.
In 1887 Frensdorff became head master of the Jew-
ish religious school at Hanover, and in 1848 was ap-
pointed principal of the new Jewish seminary for
teachers in that city, which position he held until
his death.
Frensdorff throughout his career devoted himself
chiefly to the critical examination and publication
of Masoretic works. His writings on these are val-
ued highly for their accuracy. They are: "Frag-
mente aus der Punktations- uud Accentlehre der He-
braischen Sprache," with the Hebrew text ("Darke
ha-Nikkud weha-Neginot"), ascribed to R. Moses
Punctator, Hanover, 1847 (dedicated to Bernays);
"Oklah we-Oklah," tb. 1864; " Die Massora Magna,"
part i. : "Massoretisches Worterbuch," Leipsic and
Hanover, 1876; "Aus dem Sefer ha-Zikronot des
Elias Levita," in "Monatsschrift," xii. 96 et seq.
Bibliography: Ludwlg Geiger, Ahr. Geiqer's Lehen in
Brief en. Index, s.v. FrenscU>rJf, Breslau, 1865 ; Alio. Zeit. des
Jud. 1873, pp. 245 et seq. ; ih.. March 20, 1903 ; S. Grone-
mann, PrediQt zur Feier des 100. Oefmrtstages von Prof.
Dr. S. Frensdorff, 1903; L. Knoller, Wurte der Erinnerung
an Prof. Dr. S. Frensdorff, 1903.
8. H. M.
FRESCO, DAVID: Turkish writer; descend-
ant of Spanish exiles; born at Constantinople about
1850. He edited successively five Judseo-Spanish
periodicals: "El Nacional" (1871 : changed in 1872
to " El Telegraphe," later [1872] to " El Telegrafo ") ;
"El Sol" (1879); "El Amigo de la Familla" (1886);
"El Instructor" (1888); "El Tiempo " (1889); the
last is the best edited and most widely circulated
paper in the East. Fresco, who is very popular, has
translated many works into Ladino. Among them
are: "Los Judios y la Sciencia," from Schleiden's
"Die Bedeutung der Juden fiir Erhaltung imd
Wiederbelebuiig der Wissenschaften im Mittelalter "
(Constantinople, 1878); "La Ley Natural," from
Volney's "Natural Law" {ib. 1879); "Jerusalem,"
from Mendelssohn's "Jerusalem" {ih. 1879); "Amor
de Sion," from Abr. Mapu's work of the same name
(tb. 1880); "Los Marafios deEspafia," from Pliilipp-
son's " Die Marranen " (ib. 1880) ; " La Calomuia de la
Sangre," from the Hebrew {ib. 1880); "Una Victima
de la liioranza" {ib. 1881); "Los Mysterios de Paris,"
from the original of Eugene Sue. He also translated
several novels by Emile Richeljourg, and other
Fre'ich writers.
BiBLiociRAPHV : PYanco, Essai sur rUistnire des Israelites de
i'Enipire Ottoman, pp. 273-281.
s. M. K.
FRESCO, MOSES: Turkish Talmudist; born
at Constantinople 1780; died there 1850. He suc-
ceeded Samuel Hayyim as hakam bashi (chief rabbi)
of the Ottoman empire (1839). He is the author of
a collection of responsa, " Yadaw shel Mosheh," Sa-
lonica, 1818, much quoted by the rabbis of the East.
Bibliography : Franco, Essai sur VHistoire des Israelites de
VEmpire Ottoman, pp. 151, 266.
s. M. Fr.
FREUD, SIGMTJND: Austrian physician;
born May 6, 1856, at Freiberg in Moravia. He
received his education at the University of Vienna,
where he was graduated as M.D. in 1881. He was
admitted to the University of Vienna as privat-
docent in 1885. From 1885 to 1886 he attended the
lectures of Charcot at Paris, and, returning to
Vienna, became a specialist of neuropathy. In 1903
he received the honorary title of professor from the
university. Freud has published various medical
works, especially on histology, anatomy of the brain,
and nervous diseases, the most noteworthy being:
"Ueber Coca," 1884; "Zur Auffa.ssung der Apha-
sien," 1891; and, together with J. Breuer, "Studien
liber Hysteric," 1895.
Bibliography : Pagel, Biographisches Lexikon, s.v.
s. F. T. H.
FREUDENTHAL, BERTHOLD : Professor of
law at the Academy of Frankfort-on-the-Main ; born
at Breslau, Aug. 23, 1872; son of Jacob Fkeuden-
THAL. Freudenthal received his education at the
gymnasium of Breslau and the universities of Bres-
lau, Berlin, Halle, and Tubingen, becoming a mem-
ber of the judicial court of his native city in 1898,
and lecturer at the university there in the following
year. In 1901 he was called to the same position,
and in 1903 was appointed professor, in the Akade-
miefiir Sozial-und Handelswissenschaften at Frank-
fort-on-the-Main. He has published : "DieWahlbe-
stechung, cine Strafrechtliche Untersuchung," Bres-
509
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Frenkel
Freund
lau, 189G; "Die Begegnuugsdelikte, ein Beitrag zur
Lehre von der Nothwendigen Theilnalime," ib. 1899;
" Die Notbwendige Theilnahme am Verbrechen," ib.
1901.
s. F. T. H.
FREUDENTHAL, JACOB: German philoso-
pher; born June 20, 1839, at Bodeufeldc, province
of Hanover, Prussia. Freudentlial received his edu-
cation at the universities of Breslau and G(3ttingen,
and at the rabbinical seminary of Breslau. After
graduating from the University of Gottingen (1863)
he became teacher of the Samson school in Wolf-
enbiittel (1863-64), whence he removed to Breslau
as teacher in the rabbinical seminary there, a posi-
tion wliich he resigned in 1888. In 1875 he became
lecturer in philosophy at the University of Bres-
lau ; in 1878 he was elected assistant professor, in
1888 professor, of philosophy. He was a member
of the senate of the university in 1894-96, and
dean of the philosophical faculty in 1898-99. The
Prussian Academy of Science sent him to England
in 1888 to study English philosophy, and in 1898 to
the Netherlands to prosecute researches on the life
of Spinoza.
The results of these voyages were his " Beitrage
zur Englischen Philosophic," in the "Archiv fiir
Geschichte der Philosophie" (iv. 450 etseq., v. 1 et
seq.), and "Die Lebensgeschichte Spinoza's," Leip-
sic, 1899. He has contributed various essays to the
publications of the Prussian Academy of Science,
to the "Rheinische Museum," to the "Archiv fur
Geschichte der Philosophie," to "Hermes," to the
"J. Q. R.," to " Monatsschrift Allg. Zeit. des Juden-
thums," etc. He published, besides the above-
named works: "Ueber den Begriff der ^avracia bei
Aristotelcs" (1863); "Die Flavins Josephus Bei-
gelegte Schrift fiber die Herrschaft der Vernunft,"
1869; " Hellenistische Studien " (1875-79) ; and " Ue-
ber die Theologie des Xenophanes" (1886).
s. F. T. H.
FREUDLINE. See Names.
FREUND, ERNST: American jurist; born in
New York Jan. 30, 1864; attended gymnasia at
Dresden andFrankfort-ou-the-Main, and the univer-
sities of Berlin and Heidelberg, receiving from the
latter the degree of J.U.D., and later, from Colum-
bia University, New York, the degree of Ph.D.
Freund was lecturer on administrative law at Co-
lumbia University (1892-93) ; instructor, assistant
professor, and associate professor of jurisprudence
and public law at the University of Chicago (1894-
1902), and is now (1903) professor of law at the Uni-
versity of Chicago Law School. He has published
"The Legal Nature of Corporations" (1897), and
contributed to the "Political Science Quarterly,"
the "Harvard Law Review," and the "American
Law Review." A.
FREUND, ERNST : Austrian physician : born
at Vienna Dec. 15, 1863 ; educated at the University of
Vienna, whence he was graduated as M.D. in 1888.
Soon afterward he became physician at the Allge-
meine Krankenhaus, continuing at the same time
his studies in the chemical laboratory of Professor
Ludwig. In 1891 Freund was appointed chief of
the chemical laboratory' of the Rudolfinum. His
scientific activity has centered in medical chem-
istry ; and he is the author of the following works :
"Zur Diagnose des Carcinoms," Vienna, 1885; "Ein
Beitrag zur Kentniss der Blutgerinnung," in "Medi-
cini.sche Jahrblicher," 1886 ; " Ueber das Vorkommen
von Cellulose in Tuberkeln und im Blute bei Tuber-
culose," ib.; "Ueber die Ursache der Blutgerin-
nung," ib.; "Ueber Zusammensetzung der Blut-
asche," in "Wiener Medicinische Wochenschrift,"
1887, No. 40; "Ueber die Ausscheidung von Phos-
phorsauerem Kalk als Ursache der Blutgerinnung,"
ib. 1889; and, with F. Obermayer, " Ueber die Chem-
i.sclie Zusammensetzung Leukilmischen Blutes," in
"Zeitschrift fur Physiologische Chemie," 1891.
Bibliography : Ludwig Eisenberg, Das Geistige Wien, p. 134.
s. I. Br.
FREUND, SAMUEL BEN ISSACHAR
BAR : Bohemian Talmudist ; born at Tuschkau
Dec, 1794; died at Prague June 18, 1881. After
studying under Eleazar of Triesch and Baruch Frftn-
kel of Leipnik he went to the yeshibah at Prague,
where he studied under Bezalel Ronsperg (Rosen-
baum). A few years later Freund became rabbi of
Lobositz. In 1832 he was called to Prague, where
he was appointed assistant dayyan to Samuel Lan-
dau, son of Ezekiel Landau When Landau died
(1834) Freund acted alone as chief dayyan until
two colleagues w^ere appointed to share his labors.
He officiated up to 1879, when he resigned.
Freund wrote: "Zera' Kodesh," a commentary on
the treatises Berakot, Peah, and Demai (Prague,
1827); "Musar Ab," a commentary to Proverbs
(Vienna, 1839); "Keren Shemu'el," a responsum re-
garding the eating of leguminous plants on Pass-
over (Prague, 1841) ; " 'Et le-Henenah," a treatise on
the Mishnah division Mo'ed and its commentaries
{ib. 1850); "Hesped," a funeral oration on the death
of Joseph Liebeu (ib. 1857) ; " 'Ir ha-Zedek," a com-
pendium of the " Sefer Mizwot ha-Gadol " (SeMaG),
with notes and glosses of his own (ib. 1863);
"Amarot Tohorot," glosses and corrections to the
commentaries on the Mishnah division Tohorot (ib.
1867); "Ketem Paz," a commentary to Abot (ib.
1870).
Bibliography: Der Israelit. 1881, pp. 609, 636-638; Zedner.
Cat. Hchr. Banks Brit. Mus. p. 2.58; Van Straalen, Cat.
Hebr. Books Brit. Mus. p. 81.
S. S. M. Sel.
FREUND, WILHELM: German philologist
and lexicographer; born Jan. 27, 1806, at Kempen,
province of Posen; died June 4, 1894, at Breslau.
He studied in Berlin and Breslau from 1824 to 1828,
when he opened a Jewish religious school in the lat-
ter city, but was forced to close it on account of the
opposition of the Orthodox. From 1848 to 1851 he
was provisional director of the gymnasium of Hirsch-
berg, Silesia, and from 1855 to 1870 of the school of
the Jewish community of Gleiwitz, which he or-
ganized according to plans of his own. He then
devoted himself exclusively to literary labors in the
field of philology.
Freund's principal work, " Worterbuch der Latein-
ischen Sprache"(4 vols., Leipsic, 1834-45), supple-
mented by his "Gesammtworterbuch der Latein-
ischen Sprache" (2 vols., Breslau, 1844-45) and the
"Lateinisch- Deutsche und Deutsch - Lateini.sch-
Freund
Friedberg'
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
610
Griechische Schulworterbuch " (2 parts, Berlin,
1848-55), was the foundation of all the Latin-Eng-
lish dictionaries now in existence, and the standard
book of reference of its kind for a generation of
scholars. It was translated and edited by E. A. An-
drews in 1850, and has been from that time in exten-
sive use throughout England and America. Its
competitors in the schools and colleges of both
countries are substantially reprints or abridgments
of Freund's work.
Besides his magnum opus, Freund has published
Cicero's "Pro Milone," with a facsimile of the
"Codex Erfurtensis," Breslau, 1838; the"Prapara-
tionen zu den Griechischen und Romischen Schul-
klassikern," in small-sized and cheap instalments,
which proved a very popular auxiliary handbook
for many generations of German and Austrian stu-
dents. Together with Marx he attempted, but with
less success, a similar work on the Old Testament,
7 parts, Leipsic, 1862-93.
His "Prima," a collection of essays in letter form;
"Wie Studiert Man Philologie?" 5th ed., Leipsic,
1885; and "Triennium Philologicum, oder Grund-
ziige der Philologischen Wissenschaften," 6 vols.,
2d ed., 1878-85, place Freund among the most emi-
nent educators in the department of classical philol-
ogy. Mention should also be made of his " Tafeln
der Griechischen, Romischen, Deutschen, Englisch-
en, Franzosischen, und Italienischen Litteraturge-
schichte," ib. 1873-75 ; " Cicero Historicus," ib. 1881 ;
and " Wanderungeu auf Klassischcm Boden, " 5 parts,
ib. 1889-92.
Freund took an active share in the inner struggle
of the Jewish community of Breslau, as well as in
the movement for the emancipation of the Jews of
Prussia. He was the most influential factor in
bringing Abraham Geiger to Breslau. He also edited
(1843-44) a monthly under the title "Zur Juden-
frage in Deutschland," which contains many im-
portant contributions by prominent writers, and is
of permanent value for the history of both the
movements with which Freund identified himself.
The " Preussisches Judengesetz " of July 23, 1847,
which still to-day forms the basis of the legal status
of the Jewish communities in Prussia, was one of
the consequences of Freund's activity.
Bibliography : Meyers Konversations-Lexiknn ; AUg. Zeit.
des Jud. 1886, pp. 93, 108; Ahiasaf, 1894-95, pp. 466-4(57.
8. A. R.
FREUND, WILHELM ALEXANDER: Ger-
man gynecologist ; born at Krappitz, Silesia, Aug.
26, 1833. He studied medicine at the University of
Breslau, where he received his degree in 1855, enga-
ging in practise as gynecologist in that city in the
same year. In 1857 Freund became privat-docent
and in 1874 assistant professor in the medical faculty
of his alma mater. Since 1879 he has been professor
at and director of the obstetrical-gynecological hos-
pital at Strasburg University.
Freund is one of the leading gynecologists of Ger-
many, and has published many essays in the med-
ical journals. Among his works may be mentioned :
"Beitrage zur Histologic der Rippenknorpel," Bres-
lau, 1858; "Der Zusammenhang Gewisser Lungen-
krankheiten mit Primiiren Rippenknorpelanoma-
lien," Erlangen, 1858; "Eine JSTeue Methode der
Exstirpation desUterus," inVolkmann's " Sammlung
Klinischer Vortrage," 1885, No. 133; "Die Gyna-
kologische Klinik," with a map, Strasburg, 1891.
Bibliography : Pagel, Biog. Lex. s.v., Vienna, 1901.
s. F. T. H.
FRIARS: Before the institution of the mendi-
cant friars the monastic orders did not play a promi-
nent part in Jewish persecutions. The Cistercian
Bernard of Clairvaux actively supported the
Jews at the time of the Crusaders' massacres in 1147.
On the other hand, it was the Cistercian Arnold who
led his Crusaders to the massacre of the Toledo Jews
in 1212. The establishment of the Dominicans and
Franciscans early in the thirteenth century changed
the whole aspect of affairs ; the former order consti-
tuted themselves tlie sword of the Church, and from
that time Dominicans were in the forefront of nearly
every persecution for four hundred years. Even
the Franciscans, who were not so aggressive,
showed in many wa3's their antipathy to Jews.
Thus on first going to Cambridge they obtained pos-
session of the synagogue (Brewer, "Monumenta
Franciscana, " pp. 17, 18). But it was the Domini-
cans who came more often in conflict with the
Jews, to procure whose conversion Gregory IX.
arranged for a distinctive propaganda on the part
of the Dominicans.
The chief agent of Gregory IX. in Aragon and
Castile was the Dominican general Raymund de
Penaforte, the confessor to James I. of Aragon; he
began by erecting seminaries for the teaching of
Hebrew, in the hope of subduing his adversaries
with their own weapons. Among his disciples was
a baptized Jew named Pablo Chris-
Dominican tiani, who held a public disputation
Raymund with Moses Nahmanides at Barcelona
de in 1263. Nahmanides was afterward
Penaforte. banished for publishing an account of
the disputation, and the consequence
was that Christiani was appointed a traveling mis-
sionary to the Jews at their own expense. His
efi'orts meeting with small success, in the following
year a commission of Dominicans and Franciscans
was appointed by the papacy to examine the Tal-
mud. On this commission were Peiiaforte, Pablo
Christiani, and three other Dominicans, one of
whom, Raymund Martin, was the author of several
anti-Jewish works, the " Pugio Fidei " being the
most important. The result of this commission was
the censorship and extirpation of offending parts of
the Talmud, and holocausts of copies.
In every country subject to Rome the Dominicans
were entrusted with the execution of her policy. In
England the Dominicans had equal malice but less
power. Ever since the time of the
Action of first Norman kings the English mon-
Fran- archs had resisted papal aggression,
ciscans. and, furthermore, the Franciscans,
elsewhere ready to assist the Domini-
cans in their zealous works, appear to have been in
a state of rivalry toward the latter. When a num-
ber of Jews were imprisoned in tlie Tower of Lon-
don in 1255, awaiting execution for the supposed
murder of Hugh of Lincoln, the Franciscans ("for a
consideration," says Matthew Paris) interceded for
them ; nevertheless eighteen were hanged (the "An-
511
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Freund
Friedberg:
nals" of Burton, however, attribute this interven-
tion to the Dominicans). A few years later the
Franciscans figure again in the liistory of the Eng-
lish Jews, this time in opposition to them. In the
year 1270 the Jews petitioned the king and council
that they might retain the right of advowson with
their estates. This request was being favorably
considered when one of the Franciscans cried out
that it was contrary to the honor of God that Chris-
tians should be subject to Jews, at the same time
accusing the Jews of plotting secretly against the
Church. The result of this was that fresh anti- Jew-
ish legislation was adopted (see England).
The English Dominican Robert de Reddinge,
studying Hebrew for the purpose of better oppo-
sing Judaism, became converted, took the name of
"Haggai," and a few years afterward married a
Jewess. Edward 1. handed him over to the Arch-
bishop of Canterbury for punishment, but in some
manner he escaped. Enraged at this, the Domini-
cans persuaded the queen-mother to inaugurate a
series of persecutions and expulsions of Jews from
various cities under her influence, notably Cam-
bridge.
In France and England the persecutions came
mainly from the crown, in Germany from the pop-
ulace, but in Spain it was the papacy that directed
the attack. The rise of the Flagellants had been
attended b}'' Jewish massacres. Among these fa-
natics was the Dominican Vicente Fekkek (since
canonized), w-ho had given up a life of ease to wan-
der through Europe with his bands of ascetics. The
Spanish Jews, then at the height of their power, he
completely humbled by compelling the issue of hu-
miliating restrictions. In the years 1412 and 1418 he
caused the conversion of about 20,000 Jews in Ara-
gon and Castile. Don John I. of Portugal, however,
stood out resolutely against him and threatened him
with death should he cross the frontier.
In Bohemia the crusade against the Hussites was
made the excuse for a fresh attack upon the Jews by
the Dominicans. The alleged crucifixion of a Moor
in Majorca was the excuse for the persecution of the
large Jewish community in that island. A mixed
court of Franciscans and Dominicans investigated
the affair, and the Jews saved themselves from
death only bv going over in a body to Catholicism
(1391).
But the Dominicans were not the only fanatics.
In the later years of the fifteenth century Bernar-
DiNus OF Feltre, a Franciscan, went up and down
Italy denouncing the Jews. In Holy Week of 1475
the body of a child was found caught in a grating
in the River Adige, close to a Jew's house. The
usual story of ritual murder was set afloat, and all
the Jews were burned, except four who accepted
Christianity ; this was brought about by Bernardi-
nus, aided by the Franciscans and Dominicans. In
other parts of Italy he was not so fortunate. The
Duke of Milan forbade him to preach. In Florence
and Pisa, and then in Venice and Padua, he was
also prohibited, and ordered out of the country.
Another Franciscan who devoted his life to Jew-
ish persecution was John of Capistrano, a man of
the same type and life as Ferrer. He visited all the
provinces of Germany, and incited the fanatical
dukes Louis and Albert of Bavaria to the issue of
fresh laws against the Jews. Even in Ratisbon,
where the Jews had long been almost on a footing
with their fellow citizens, his influence was felt.
Bishop Godfrey of Wiirzburg, who had granted the
Jews most favorable treatment, was constrained to
expel them from his diocese. Capistrano thence
went to Silesia. A host-tragedy was immediately
bruited abroad ; all the Jews of Breslau were impris-
oned, of whom forty-one were burned and the rest
banished (1454). Even in Poland, where the Jews
had long enjoyed exceptional privileges, they were
degraded to the level of their coreligionists in the rest
of Europe, through the influence of Capistrano.
For the part taken by the Dominicans in Spain after
the capture of Granada see Inquisition. The chief
Dominican actors were Alfonso de Ojeda, one of
the chief agents in its establishment; Miguel Mo-
rillo, the inquisitor of Roussillon; and Thomas de
Torquemada. For the share of the Dominicans in
the Reuchlin-Pfeft'erkorn controversy see Pfepfer-
KORN, John; Reuchlin, John.
Bibliography: Graetz, if fst. iii. 519 et aZ.; Liber de Antiquis
Legihiis.
J. V. E.
FRIDAY. See Sabbath.
FRIEDBERG, ABRAHAM SHALOM
(*' HAR SHALOM ") : Russian Hebraist ; born at
Grodno Nov. 6, 1838 ; died in Warsaw JMarch 21, 1902.
At the age of thirteen he was apprenticed to a
watchmaker; three years later he went to Brest-
Litovsk, and afterward to southern Russia, spend-
ing two years in Kishinef. On returning to Grodno
in 1858 he acquired a knowledge of German and
Russian, and became a teacher in w^ealthy families.
Later he engaged in business, but was financially
ruined in 1881-82. He then devoted himself exclu-
sively to literary work. In 1883 he became associ-
ate editor of "Ha-Meliz " in St. Petersburg; in 1886
he accepted a similar position on " Ha-Zetirah," and
settled in Warsaw ; in 1888 he became editor of " Ha-
Eshkol," a Hebrew encyclopedia, of which only a
few instalments appeared. In the same j-ear he be-
came government censor of Hebrew books in War-
saw, which position he retained until 1891.
Friedberg's first Hebrew work w'as " 'Emek ha-
Arazim" (Warsaw, 1875; 2d ed., ib. 1893), an adap-
tation of Grace Aguilar's "Vale of Cedars." His
"Rab le-Hoshia'" (Warsaw, 1886), which was first
published in " Ha-Zefirah," is a translation of Samm-
ter's "Rabbi von Liegnitz." In the j-ear-book
"Keneset Yisrael " for 1886 appeared his " 'Ir u-Be-
halot," a translation of L. Lewanda's humorous
story "Gnev i Milost INIagnata"; and in the "Ha-
Asif " of the same year his translations of three short
stories by Daudet, Turgenef, and D. Levy respect-
ively. His " Korot ha-Yehudim bi-Sefarad " (War-
saw, 1893) is a history of the Jew^s in Spain, com-
piled after Gratz, Kayserling, and other authorities.
His "Zikronot le-bet Dawid " (3 vols., ib. 1893-95) is
an adaptation of Rekkendorf's "Geheimnisse der
Juden." His last work was "Ha-Torah weha-
Hayyim," a translation of Glidemann's "Geschichte
des Erziehungswesen," with notes, additions, and a
preface (3 vols., ib. 1896-99). He also wrote a
pamphlet of memoirs, and an interesting article on
Friedberg
Friedjung:
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
512
his experiences with J. L. Gordon and Zederbaum
in St. Petersburg, besides numerous articles, feuil-
letons, and translations.
Bfbliography: Sefer Zikkaron, pp. 94-95, Warsaw, 1890;
Lippe, Bihlingraphisches Lexicon, new series, p. Ill, Vi-
enna, 1899; Sokolov, In Sefer ha-Shanah for 5660 (= 1900),
pp. 238-2.53.
H. R. P. Wl,
FRIEDBERG, BERNARD: Austrian Hebra-
ist; born at Cracow Doc. 19, 1876. Besides numer-
ous contributions to Hebrew and other periodicals,
he has published the following works, most of them
being written in Hebrew " Rabbi Joseph Karo "
(1895); "Epitaphien von Grabsteiuen des Israeli-
tischen Friedhofes zu Krakau, Nebst Biographischen
Skizzen" (1897; 2ded., 1903); "Abraham Braude
und Seine Nachkommenschaft " (1897) ; " Shabbcthai
Kohen: l"E^" (1898); "Nathan Spira of Grodno"
(1899) ; " History of Hebrew Typography in Cracow"
(1900); "Contributions to the History of Hebrew
Typography in Lublin" (1900); "History of the
Family Schorr " (1901) ; " Die Raszower Rabbinen"
(1903). S.
FRIEDBERG, HEINRICH VON: German
statesman; born at Miirkisch-Friedland, West Prus
sia, Jan. 27, 1813; died at Berlin June 2, 1895.
Friedberg studied law at the University of Berlin,
taking his degree in 1836. He was attached to the
Kammergericht at Berlin, where he became district
attorney in 1848. Transferred to Greifswald, he
was appointed (1850) attorney, and became privat-
docent at the university. In 1854 he was called to
the Prussian Department of Justice in Berlin. He
became member of the Prussian Upper House (1872) ;
assistant secretary of the Prussian Department of
Justice (1873) : and " Kronsyndikus " (treasurer of the
crown of Prus.sia 1875;) was appointed (1876) Ger-
man secretary of j ustice (" Reichs justizminister) , and
received (1879) tlie same portfolio for Prussia. In
1888 he was knighted and decorated with the Prus-
sian Order of the Black Eagle. He resigned from
his official positions in 1889.
Early in his career Friedberg became a Protestant.
Among his works may be mentioned "Entwurf einer
Deutschen Strafprozessordnung," Berlin, 1873
Bibliography : Meyers Knnversations-Lexikon, s.v.
6. F T H
FRIEDBERG, HERMANN: German physi-
cian, born at Rosenberg, Silesia, July 5, 1817, died
at Breslau March 2, 1884 He studied at the uni-
versities of Berlin. Vienna, Prague, Paris, and Bres-
lau, receiving from the last-named the degree of
doctor of medicine in 1840 From 1849 to 1852 he
was assistant at the surgical hospital of the Univer-
sity of Berlin, and in 1852 was admitted as privat-
docent in surgery and pharmacology to the medical
faculty of the Berlin University, at the same time
conducting a private hospital for the treatment of
surgical and ophthalmological diseases. In 1866 he
wasappointed professor of pharmacology at the Uni-
versity of Breslau
Friedberg wrote many essays on surgical and
pharmacological topics, but latterly devoted him-
self especially to medical jurisprudence He was
a collaborator on Eulenberg's "Handbuch des
Oeffentlichen Sanitatswesens " and a contributor to
the "Vierteljahressch rift fiir Gerichtliche Medizin
und Oeffentliches Saiiitatswesen" and to Virchow's
"Archiv filr Pathologische Anatomic und Physiolo-
gie und fur Klinische Medizin." He is also the au-
thor of; " Pathologic und Therapie der Muskellah
mung," Vienna, 1858 (2d ed., Leipsic, 1862); "Die
VergiftungDurchKohlendunst," Berlin, 1866; "Ge-
richtsarztliche Gutachten, Erste Rcihe," Brunswick,
1875; " Gerichtsarztliche Praxis. Vierzig Gutach-
ten," Vienna and Leipsic, 1881.
Bibliography : Hlrsch. Biog. l/cx.s.v.; Pagel, Biog. Lex. s.v.
s. F. T H
FRIEDENTHAL, KARL RUDOLPH : Prus
sian statesman ; born in Breslau Sept. 15, 1827 ; died
on his estate, Giesmannsdorf, near Neisse, March 7,
1890. He was a nephew of Markus Bar Frieden-
thal, the author, and later became a convert to
Christianity. He attended the gymnasium at Neisse
(1839-44), studied law at Breslau, Heidelberg, and
Berlin, and became (1854) " Kammergerichtsassess
or." He also made himself practically acquainted
with agriculture in the management of his property.
In 1856 Friedenthal was elected district deputy
from Neisse, and in 1857 deputy to the Prussian
Landtag In 1860 he published the pamphlet " Salus
Publica Suprema Lex," urging the reorganization
of the army. Elected to the Reichstag of North Ger-
many in 1867, he joined the " Altliberalen," but after
the following election he became a " Freiconserva
tive " (" Reichspartei"). Successively member of the
Zollparlament and of the imperial Reichstag, Frie
denthal was prominent in the propo.sal and passage
of many bills. During the Franco-Prussian war he
took part, on Bismarck's invitation, with Blanken-
burg and Bennigsen in the deliberations at Versailles
on the constitution of the empire. He was elected to
the Prussian Chamber of Deputies in 1870, and be-
came in 1873-74 its second vice president. In 1874 he
was appointed minister of agriculture; and in 1879
the Department of Domains and Forests, till then
under the minister of finance, was put in his charge.
From Oct., 1877, to March, 1878, during the absence
of Eulenberg, he was head of the Ministry of the
Interior. In 1879, being unable to accept Bismarck's
new economical policy, he resigned, declining a
patent of nobility. The same year he was elected
member of the Upper House, but in 1881 resigned,
and retired to the management of his estate. Be-
sides his doctor dissertation, " De Rerum Litigiosa-
rum Alienatione ex Jure Romano," 1845, Friedenthal
published " Reichstag und Zollparlament "
Bibliography: Brockhaus. Knnversations-Lexikon, 1902;
Metiers Konversatix}ns-Lcx ikon.
s." N. D
FRIEDENTHAL, MARKTJS BAR: German
banker and scholar ; born in 1779 ; died at Breslau
Dec. 3, 1859. Although one of the leading bankers
at Breslau, he devoted much time to study and to
communal affairs. His special interest lay in the
field of religious philosophy and dogma, which he
treated rather in an apologetic than in a purely
scientific manner. His works nevertheless betrayed
great sagacity, and had the merit, coming as they
did from a conservative, of opening to the Talmud-
ists the field of modern critical studies. Friedenthal
613
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Friedberg:
Friedjun^
wrote: " 'Ikkare Eraunah," on the dogmas of Jew-
ish religion, proving that Mosaism is in accordance
with the aims of humanity (Breslau, 3 vols., 1816-
1818); "Yesod ha Dat," a characterization of Jewish
law {ib. 7 vols., 1821-23); "Mishpat ha-Ahizah we-
Mishpat ha-Zekiyyah," on the law of property, a
summary of the preceding work (ib. 1838); "Miktab
le-Hakme Yisrael," an open letter to Jewish scholars
concerning Jewish dogmas (ib. 1825); "Ma'amar
Mordekai, " a defense of the institutions of the great
synagogue at Breslau, with notes on the use and
form of the prayers (ib. 1834); "Ha-Hokmah, ha-
Tebunah, Aveha-Dat," on intelligence, comprehen-
sion, and religion, in 4 parts (ib 1843-46). Several
of these works were translated into German by R.
J. Flirstenthal and by Wilhelm Freund. Frieden-
thal was also the author of many pamphlets written
in German, dealing with the communal affairs of
Breslau.
Bibliography : Ally. Zelt. des Jud. 1860, No. 1.
B.
I. Br.
FRIEDENWALD : An American Jewish fam-
ily, established in Baltimore, Md., by Jonas Frieden-
wald. His children were Bernard Stern, stepson
(1820-73); Betzy Wiesenfeld (1820-94); Joseph
(1826-) ; Isaac (1830-), who established a well-known
printing press in Baltimore; Moses (1838-89); and
Aaron Friedenwald (1836-1902).
Aaron Friedenwald : Physician ; youngest son
of Jonas Friedenwald ; born in Baltimore Dec. 20,
1836; died there Aug 26, 1902. He early entered
upon a business career, but devoted his spare time to
the studj^ of mathematics, general literature, and Ger-
man, French, and Hebrew. At the age of twenty-
one he began the study of medicine at the Uni-
versity of Maryland He graduated in the spring
of 1860, and soon afterward sailed for Europe to con-
tinue his studies at Berlin, Prague, Vienna, and
Paris. He devoted himself especially to ophthal-
mology throughout his professional life. In July,
1862, he returned to Baltimore, and entered upon
the practise of medicine. In 1873 he was elected to
the professorship of diseases of the eye and ear in
the College of Physicians and Surgeons in Baltimore,
which chair he held until his death. He soon became
a prominent member of the local medical societies
and president of the Medical and Chirurgical Faculty
of Maryland (1889-90), and was a member of the
medical staffs of a number of hospitals
One of his most important medical achievements
was the calling into being of the influential Associa-
tion of American Medical Colleges in 1890 He was
among the most active workers in all the local and
national Jewish charities and othec a.ssociations. was
a founder, and for thirty-three years a director, of
the Baltimore Hebrew Orphan Asylum, chairman
of the Baron de Hirsch committee in Baltimore, pres-
ident of the Baltimore branch of the Alliance Isra-
elite Universelle, one of the founders and vice-presi-
dent of the Jewish Theological Seminary Association,
of the Jewish Publication Society, of the Federation
of American Zionists, of the Union of Orthodox Con-
gregations of America, etc. In 1898 he visited the
Holy Land to study the conditions of the Jewish
colonies. He was a successful lecturer, and made
Important contributions to medical literature. His
v.— 33
publications of general interest are a number of ad-
dresses on the stud}' of medicine, the history of hos-
pitals, Jewisli immigration, and the Jewish colonies
in Palestine, the most important of them is "Jew-
ish Physicians and the Contributions of the Jews to
the Science of Medicine " (" Publications, Gratz Col-
lege," vol i., 1897)
Harry Friedenwald: Physician; son of the
preceding, born in Baltimore 1864. He was edu-
cated at Johns Hopkins University, and graduated
(M.D., 1886) from the College of Physicians and
Surgeons, Baltimore, at which he became professor
of ophthalmology and otology. He has contributed
numerous articles to medical literature, and is prom-
inent in Jewish communal work.
Herbert Friedenwald : Son of Moses Frieden-
wald; born in Baltimore 1870. He was educated
at Johns Hopkins University and at the University
of Pennsylvania (Ph.D., 1893) He was the tirst
superintendent of the manuscript department of
the Library of Congress after its reorganization, and
has edited a separate calendar of the Washington
papers in the National Library. He has devoted
himself specially to the study of the early history
of the United States, his writings being chiefly upon
the history of the Continental Congress He has been
one of the secretaries of the American Jewish His-
torical Society since its organization, and has made
numerous contributions to its publications.
Jonas Friedenwald: Born 1801, died Sept 2,
1 893. He emigrated to America during the winter of
1831-32, from Altenbusick, near Giessen, Germany,
accompanied by his aged father, Hayyim, his wife, a
stepson, and his three children In Baltimore he soon
entered actively upon the communal work of the
small Jewish community, devoting the latter half
of his life entirely to philanthropic and congrega-
tional work. He was among the most active in
founding the Hebrew Benevolent Society (for many
years he was its treasurer), the Hebrew Hospital and
Asylum, and the Hebrew Orphan Asylum. Sece
ding from the Baltimore Hebrew Congregation be-
cause of innovations introduced into the service, he
founded the Orthodox congregation Chizuk Emunah
(1871), and was for many years its president.
Julius Friedenwald : Physician . son of Aaron
Friedenwald, born in Baltimore 1866 Hewasedu
cated at Johns Hopkins University, and graduated
from the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Balti-
more (M.D., 1890) He is clinical professor of dis-
eases of the stomach, and director of the clinical
laboratory, at the College of Physicians and Sur-
geons. His writings are limited to subjects con-
cerning internal and experimental medicine.
A. H Fr
FRIEDJirNQ, HEINRICH: Austrian jour
nalist and author, born at Rostschin, Moravia, Jan.
18, 1851; studied at Prague, Berlin, and Vienna
(Ph.D.) In 1874 he was appointed professor at the
Vienna Handelsakademie, but was obliged to resign
in 1881 for political reasons. In 1883 he became
editor of "Die Deutsche Wochenschrift," founded
by himself; and in 1886 was editor in-chief of "Die
Deutsche Zeitung," organ of the German club of the
Austrian Chamber of Deputies From 1891 to 1895
Friedland
Friedlander, Friedrich
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
514
he was a member of the Vienna municipal council.
He has been a regular contributor to the Munich
"AUgemeine Zeitung,"and a correspondent of other
influential journals. His chief publications have
been: "Kaiser Karl IV. und Sein Antheil am Geis-
tigen Leben Seiner Zeit" (Vienna, 1876); "Der
Ausgleich mitUngarn " (Leipsic, 1877); "Ein Stuck
Zeitungsgeschichte" (2d ed., Vienna, 1887); "Der
Kampf um die Vorherrschaft in Deutschland " (2
vols., 1896; 5th ed., Stuttgart, 1902). He has be-
sides edited "Benedek's Nachgelassene Papiere "
(Leipsic, 1901).
Bibliography : Eisenberg, Das GeistUje Wien, 1., 8.i\ ; Brock-
haus, K(»iiiersatioiis-l,exikon, 1902, vii. ; Meyers Konversa-
tions-Le.cikon.
6. N. D.
FRIEDLAND : A family which came presu-
mably from Friedland in the German duchj' of
Mecklenbuig-Strelitz (or perhaps from the Bohe-
mian town of that name), and settled in Prague.
Nathan Friedland, " head of the kahal and of the
country of Bohemia," was the earliest known mem-
ber of the Prague branch of the family, of which
the following is the genealogy :
Nathan (d. c. 1670)
Bezalel Rahel Gltele
(d. 1686) (d. 1678) (d. 1698)
Hayylm
(d. 1706)
I
Nathan (d. 1712) Fromet (d. 1702)
L6b (d. 1743) Miriam (d. 1762) Esther (d. 1786)
Fromet (d. 1740) FrOdel (d. 1775)
All these belong to Prague. Me'ir of Ziilz had a
son, Mordecai (d. 1742), and a daughter, Rebecca,
who married the dayyan Lipman Kadish (d. 1736) ;
both lived in Prague. Israel Issar, son of Phinehas of
Ziilz, was a prominent man in Frankfort-on-the-Oder
in 1708, as is narrated in the last note of Eliezer b.
Joseph's "Mishuat de-Rabbi Eliezer," which was
printed there in that year.
There is also a Friedland family of Russia, whose
geneaology is as follows :
Abraham of Slutzk
I
Ze'eb Wolf
Ephraim Moses
(d. in Bobruisk) (d. 1844)
Samuel Zanwll
(d. 1855)
Moses Meshullam Felwel Noah
(d. 1835) (1804-54) (d. 1876)
Abraham (d. 1894)
Me!r Moses L8b Jehlel Michael Mordecai' (d. 1874)
(d. 1902) (b. 1826) | |
I I Felwel FredericaF.
six children six children
It is supposed that the founders of this family,
and MeYr and Phinehas Friedland of Ztilz, Silesia (end
of seventeenth and first half of eighteenth century),
were related to the Bohemian branch of the Fried-
lands. The most prominent members of the Russian
branch were the philanthropist Meir and his brother
Moses Aryeh Lob Friedland ; the earliest known
member was Abraham of Slutzk (government of
Minsk). Meshullam Feiwel Friedland settled at
Dwinsk in 1846, but his sons removed to St.
Petersburg.
BiBLiORRAPHY : Eisenstadt- Wiener, Da'at Kedofihim, pp. 233-
245. St. Petersburg, 1897-98.
J. P. Wi.
FRIEDLAND, MOSES ARYEH LOB : Rus-
sian philanthropist; born at Dunaburg, government
of Vitebsk, Jan. 8, 1826; died at St. Petersburg
Nov. 21, 1899. He was for more than thirty years
general army -contractor for the Russian government ;
he was an honorary citizen of St. Petersburg, and
received several medals from the government. An
orphan asylum, to which a school of handicrafts is
attached, was founded at St. Petersburg by Fried-
laud, as well as a home for aged Jews (Moshab
Zekenim) at Jerusalem. But his name is chiefly
connected with the Bibliotheca Friedlandiana, a large
libmry of Hebrew books, whicii Friedland presented
(1890) to the Asiatic Museum of the Imperial Acad-
emy of Sciences. It contains three hundred volumes
in manuscript, most of them on parchment, and
more than ten thousand printed volumes, represent-
ing altogether 14,000 works, a great many of which
are incunabula. The catalogue was compiled by
Samuel Wiener; at present (1903) only the first four
fascicles (through the letter p, Nos. 1-3711), printed
at the expense of Friedland, and under the title of
"Kehillat Mosheh," have appeared.
Bibliography : Kehillat Mnsheh, Preface to part ii., St. Peters-
burg, 1896; Jew. Chron. Dec. 8, 1899.
H. R. M. Sel.
FRIEDLANDER, CAMILLA : Austrian
painter; born in Vienna Dec. 10, 1856; daughter
and pupil of Friedrich Friedlander. She has devoted
herself to still-life subjects, producing many pictures
of church and house interiors, etc. Her oil-paint-
ing " Orientalische Gegenstande," exhibited at the
twentieth annual exposition of the Kiinstlerhaus in
Vienna, was bought by the Emperor of Austria.
Bibliography : Singer, Kilnstler-Lexikon, 1., s.v.; Elsenberg,
Das Geistige Wien, i., s.v.
s. N. D.
FRIEDLANDER, DAGOBERT : Member of
the Prussian Upper House ; born in Kolmar, Posen,
Feb. 19, 1826. From 1846 to 1857 he conducted a
book business in Wollstein ; in the latter year he re-
moved to Bromberg, exchanging his former occupa-
tion for that of a banker. He was a member of the
Prussian Upper House from 1874 to 1881. During
his term of membership the law concerning the with-
drawal of members from the Jewish communities in
Prussia, to which he offered an amendment, was
passed. Since 1882 Friedlander has resided at Villa
Breitenstein, near Erraatingen, in Switzerland.
S.
FRIEDLANDER, DAVID: German writer
and communal leader; born at KOnigsberg Dec. 6,
1750; died Dec. 25, 1834, at Berlin, where he had
settled in 1771. As the son-in-law of the rich banker
Daniel Itzig, and the friend and pupil, and subse-
615
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Friedland
Friedlander, Friedrich
quently the successor, intellectually, of Moses Men-
delssohn, he occupied a prominent position in both
Jewish and non-Jewish circles of Berlin. His en-
deavors in behalf of the Jews and Judaism included
the emancipation of the Jews of Berlin and tiie vari-
ous reforms connected therewith. Frederick William
II., on his accession, called a committee whose duty
was to acquaint him with the grievances of the
Jews, Friedlander and Itzig being chosen as general
delegates. But the results of the conference were
such that the Jews declared themselves unable to
accept the reforms proposed, and not until after
the French Revolution did the Jews then living on
Prussian territory succeed in obtaining equal rights
from Frederick William
III. (edict of March 11,
1812).
Friedlander and his
friends in the commu-
nity of Berlin now turned
their attention to the re-
form of worship in har-
mony with modern ideas
and the changed social
position of the Jews.
The proposition in itself
was perfectly justified,
but the propositions of
Friedlander, who had
meanwhile been called
(1813) to the conferences
on the reorganization of
the Jewish cult held in
the Jewish consistory at
Cassel, were unaccepta-
ble to even the most
radical members, as they
tended to reduce Juda-
ism to a mere colorless
code of ethics.
Friedlander was more
successful in his educa-
tional endeavors. He
was one of the founders
of a Jewish free school
(1778), which he directed
in association with his
brother - in - law, Isaac
Daniel Itzig. In this school, however, exclusively
Jewish subjects were soon crowded out. Fried-
lander also wrote text-books, and was one of the
first to translate the Hebrew prayer-book into Ger-
man. But in spite of all these labors he was
not filled with the true Jewish spirit, being more
concerned with endeavors to facilitate for him-
self and other Jews entry into Christian circles.
This disposition was evidenced by his anonymous
petition to the " Oberconsistorialrat " Teller "in
the name of many Jewish heads of families," who
agreed to accept Christianity and even baptism,
if they were not required to believe in Jesus and
might evade certain ceremonies. Teller, who did
not even suspect Friedlander of this lack of char-
acter, answered with due severity. This "Send-
schreiben an Seine Hochwiirden Herrn Oberconsis-
torialrath und Probst Teller zu Berlin, von einigen
(From Breza,
Hausvatern Jiidischer Religion " (Berlin, 1799),
called forth many replies. In 1816, when the Prus-
sian government decided to improve the situation
of the Polish Jews, Malziewsky, Bishop of Kujawia,
consulted Friedlander. Friedlander gave the bishop
a circumstantial account of the material and intel-
lectual condition of the Jews, and indicated the
means by which it might be ameliorated.
Friedlander displayed great activity in literary
work. Induced by Moses Mendelssohn, he began
the translation into German of some parts of the
Bible according to Mendelssohn's commentary. He
translated Mendelssohn's "Sefer ha-Nefesh," Berlin,
1787, and "Kohelet," 1788. He wrote a Hebrew
commentary to Abot and
also translated it, Vienna,
1791; "Reden der Er-
bauung Gebildeten Is-
raeliten Gewidmet, " Ber-
lin, 1815-17; "Moses
Mendelssohn, von Ihm
und liber Ihn," ib. 1819;
" UeberdieVerbesserung
der Israeliten im Konig-
reich Polen," ib. 1819,
this being the answer
which he wrote to the
Bishop of Kujawia;
"Beitrage zur Ge-
schichte der Judenver-
folgung im XIX. Jahr-
hundert Durch Schrift-
steller," ib. 1820.
Friedlander was asses-
sor of the Royal Col-
lege of Manufacture and
Commerce of Berlin, and
the first Jew to sit in the
municipal council of that
city. His wealth ena-
bled him to be a patron
of science and art, among
those he encouraged be-
ing the brothers Alex-
ander and Wilhelm von
Humboldt.
David Friedlander.
' Gnllerie der AuBgezeichnetsttfD Israeliten.")
Bibliography:!. Rltter,
Gesch. der Jild'Uichen Re-
formation, il., David Friedldnder; Ludwlg Geiger, in AJlue-
meine Deutsche Biographie, vii.; Fuenn, Keneset YUrael,
pp. 250 et seq.; Rlppner, in Grntz Jubelschrift, pp. 162 et seq.;
Sulamith,vui. 109 et seq.; Der Jildische Plutarch, ii. 56-
60; Museum fUr die Israelitische Ju^end, 1840 ; Zeitschrift
filr die Geschichte der Juden in Deutschland, 1. 256-273.
s.
A. Ku.
FRIEDLANDER, FRIEDRICH: Genre
painter; born Jan. 10, 1825, at Kohljanowitz, Bohe-
mia. He studied at the Vienna Academy, and later
under Professor Waldmiiller, and visited Italy in
1850, Dilsseldorf in 1852, and finally Paris. He de-
voted himself at first to historical pictures, creating
a genuine sensation with his painting entitled "The
Death of Tasso. " Since 1854 he has painted genre
pictures exclusively, taking his subjects chiefly from
military life and the local life of Vienna. His scenes
from Swabian folk-life are also justly celebrated.
The following are a few of Friedlander's best pro-
yrledlander, Joseph
Friedlander, Moritz
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
616
ductions : " People Pouring out of a Public Building
into the Street," 1859 (Imperial Gallery, Vienna);
" The Politician in the Workshop, " 1863 ; " The Incen-
diary Caught in the Act," 1864; "The Evening
Hour," 1865; "The Pawnbroker's Shop," 1866 (now
in the possession of the Duke of Coburg); "The
Wine-Test," 1866 ; " The New Comrade," 1868 ; " The
Invalids," 1871; "The Declaration of Love," 1872;
and "The Strawberry-Venders," 1872 (Imperial Gal-
lery, Vienna). Since 1866 he has been a member of the
Vienna Academy ; in 1865 he received the Order of
Francis Joseph and the Bavarian Order of Michael,
and in 1867 the gold medal with crown for merit.
He has recently been elevated to the nobility with
the suggestive title of "Von Mahlheim." Many of
iis paintings are in the Imperial Gallery at Vienna.
Bibliography: Seybert, Kilnstler-Lexiko7t ; Meyers Kon-
versatioTis-Lexihon.
8. J. So.
FRIEDLANDER, JOSEPH ABRAHAM:
German rabbi; born at Kolin, Bohemia, 1753; died
at Brllon, Westphalia, Nov. 26, 1852. He was the
nepliew of David Friedlander, from whom he im-
bibed a great enthusiasm for progressive Judaism.
After attending the Talmud school of Ezekiel Lan-
dau at Prague, he went to Presburg. In 1784 he be-
came chief rabbi of Westphalia and the principality
of Wittgenstein, retaining this office until his death.
Friedlander was one of the first German rabbis to
advocate through speech and pen the reform of Juda-
ism. He abolished in his district the second day of
the festivals; openly and decisively opposed many
obsolete Jewish mourning customs; and declared, in
his responsum on " Die Vertraglichkeit der Freien
Forschung mit dem Rabbineramte," that the dicta of
the Mishnah and the Talmud are not binding for all
time. He published "Shoresh Yosef," on abolish-
ing the second day of the festivals (in Hebrew and
German; Hanover and Brilon, 1884), and "Maha-
duraBathra," a supplement to the foregoing, and
containing a correspondence with Aaron Chorin on
questions of Reform (Hanover, 1835).
Bibliography : Jost, Neuere Gench. der Israeliten, 1. 316, 111.
175 ; L. Stein, Inraelitischcr VoJkslelircr, ii. 295 et seq.
s. M. K.
FRIEDLANDER, JULITJS : German numis-
matist; born in Berlin June 25, 1813; died there
April 4, 1884. After studying at the universities of
Bonn and Berlin, and traveling in Italy (1838-39),
he obtained a position at the Konigliche Sammluug
der Antiken-Miinzen in Berlin <1840). In 1868 he
became director of the numismatic section of the
Berlin Museum. In 1872 he was elected a member of
the Berlin Academy of Sciences. Besides numerous
papers in numismatic journals, he wrote: "Die
Milnzen des Johanniterordens auf Rhodes," Berlin,
1843 ; " Die Munzen Justinians " (with Pinder), 1843 ;
"Die Munzen der Ostgothen," ib. 1844; "Die Miin-
zen der Vandalen," ib. 1849; "Die Oskischen Mlin-
zen," Leipsic, 1850 ; " Das KOnigliche Milnzkabinet "
(with Von Ballet), 2d ed., Berlin, 1877; Supplement,
1882; "Die Italienischen Schaumiinzen des 15. Jahr-
hunderts," ib. 1880-82; "Verzeichnis von Griech-
ischen Milnzen, Welche aus Modernen Stempeln
Gepragt Sind," ib. 1883. He edited G. Schadow's
"Aufsatze und Briefe," Dtlsseldorf, 1864; 2d ed.,
Stuttgart, 1890. From his literary remains Weil
published "Repertorium zur Antiken Numismalik,"
a supplement to Mionuet's "Description des Me-
dailles Antiques," Berlin, 1885.
Friedlander's entire family embraced Christianity
in 1820.
Bibliography: Brockhaus, Jio/irer.^af io/w-Lexifeon, vll., 1903,
S.V.; Mei/ers Konvcrsatinnx-Lexikoii, vl., s.v.; Zeitschrift
fUr Niimismatik, pp. 116-119, Berlin, 1885; Proceedings of
the (Lotidon) Numvtmatic Society, pp. 30-33; Jahrbuch der
Konigl. Preussiscfien Kunstsammlungen, 1884, v. U9-151.
s. N. D.
FRIEDLANDER, LTJDWIG : German philol-
ogist ; born at Kouigsberg July 16, 1824. He studied
at the universites of Konigsberg and Leipsic from
1841 to 1845. In 1847 he became privat-docent of
classical philology at Konigsberg, in 1856 assistant
professor, and in 1858 professor. He retired in 1892
to Strasburg, where he is honorary professor at the
university. His chief work is " Darstellungen aus der
Sittengesch. Rom's in der Zeit von August bis zum
Ausgang der Antonine" (3 vols., 1862-71; 6th ed.,
1889-90). This work is considered one of the most
noteworthy philological productions of the nine-
teenth century (translated into French by Ch. Vogel,
Paris, 1865-74, and into Italian and Hungarian).
Friedlander's other publications include: " Nicanoris
rrepl 'V.iaKf/g I,Ti}fj.yg Reliquiae Emendatiores " (1850);
"Ueberden Kunstsinn der Romerinder Kaiserzeit"
(1852); "Aristonici Alexandrini Trept S^/ie/wv 'l?.ia6og
Reliquine Emendatiores" (1853); "Die Homerische
Kritik von Wolf bis Grote " (1853). He edited and
annotated Martial (2 vols., 1886); Petronius' "Cena
Trimalchionis " (with translation, 1891) ; and Juvenal
(1895). Friedlander has embraced Christianity.
Bibliography: Meyers Konversatioris-Lexikon; De le Roi,
Gesch. der Eva7igelischen Juden-Mission, p. 215.
S.
FRIEDLANDER, LUDWia J. iSRMANN :
German physician; born April 20, 1790, at Konigs-
berg, Prussia ; died 1851 at Halle, Saxony. He en-
tered the Konigsberg University at the age of fifteen,
and studied medicine (M.D. 1812), evincing at the
same time a predilection for philological, literary,
and esthetical studies which led to a lifelong friend-
ship with Max von Schenkendorf. He took part in
the campaign of 1813 and went with the army to
Paris, where he was promoted to the office of chief
physician of a camp-hospital. In 1814 he resigned
from military service and went to Carlsruhe; there,
through the intervention of his friend Schenkendorf,
he became acquainted with Jung-StiUing, John Lud-
wig Ewald, and Mme. Kriidener, whose mystical
tendencies exercised a deep influence upon his mind.
After a short stay in Carlsruhe he went to Vienna,
and in 1815 to Italy, through his companion, the
painter Philipp Veit, where he associated chiefly
with artists. He described the impressions of his
journey in a book published 1818-20 in Leipsic
(" Ansichten von Italien Wahrend einer Reise in den
Jahren 1815-1816 ").
Upon his return to Germany (1817) Friedlander
was admitted as privat-docent in medicine at Halle.
In 1819 he was appointed assistant professor, and in
1823 professor, of theoretical medicine ; he held this
chair till his death.
Friedlander wrote: "De Institutione ad Medicl-
namLibri Duo," a methodology of medicine, Halle,
617
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Friedlander, Joseph
Friedlander, Moritz
1823; " Fundamenta DoctrinsR Pathologicaj sive de
Corporis Animique Morbi Ratione Atque Natura,"
a text-book of general pathology, 3 vols., Leipsic,
1828; "Guilielmi Heberdeni Opera Medica Recog-
novit; Vitam Auctoris Adjccit Atque Edidit," Leip-
sic, 1831; "Vorlesungcn liber die Geschiclite der
Heilkunde," 2 vols. , '^Leipsic, 1838-39; "Historise
Ord. Medic. Halensisante Hos Cmtum AnnosBrevis
Expositio," Halle, 1840. Friedlander embraced
Christianity at an early age.
Bibliography : De le Roi, Juden '>fi«si/j«, 1. 241. Lelpslc, 1899 ;
AUgcmcmt Deutsche niogrnpluc, vli. ib. 1878.
s. B. B.
FRIEDLANDER, MAX: Journalist; born
Juno 18, 1829, at Pless, Prussian Silesia; died April
20, 1872, at Nice. After studying law at the univer-
sities of Berlin, Breslau, and Heidelberg, he became
assessor at the city court of Breslau, and while hold-
ing this position he published his book on copyright,
" Der Auslandische und Einheimische Rechtsschutz
Gegen Nachdruck und Nachbildung," Leipsic, 1857.
He began his journalistic career in 18.o6 by contrib-
uting to the Vienna "Presse," and soon afterward
moved to Vienna to become a member of the edito-
rial staff of that paper, his articles on political econ-
omy and finance attracting tl.e attention of influen-
tial statesmen and financiers.
After the Italian war Friedlander conducted a
successful journalistic campaign against the policy
of Schmerling, and f.ivocated strongly the granting
of a liberal constitution. In Sept., 1864, he founded
the "Neue Freie Presse," of which publication he
remained editor-in-chief until his death.
Bibliography : Meyers Knnversatvyns-Lexikoiu s.v.; De le
Rol, Juden-Missi(»i, p. iJ43.
n. K. S.
FRIEDLANDER, MAX: German writer on
music and bass concert-singer ; born in Brieg, Sile-
sia, Oct. 12, 1852. A pupil of Manuel Garcia (Lon-
don) and Stockhausen (Frankfort-on-the-Main), he
made his debut at the London Mondaj' Popular Con-
certs in 1880. From 1881 to 1883 he lived at Frank-
fort-on-the-Main ; since then his liome has been in
Berlin, where he is (since 1894) lecturer on music at
the university. In 1887 he received the Ph.D. de-
gree from the University of Rostock, his disser-
tation being "Beitrage zu einer Biographic Franz
Schubert's." He edited the Peters collection of
Schumann's and Schubert's songs (1884-87). He
also published the following: "Gluck's Klopstock-
sche Oden " (1886) ; " Ein Hundert Deutsche Volks-
lieder" (1886); "Beethoven's Schottische Lieder"
(1889) ; " Choischule " (1891) ; " Wiegenlieder " (1894) ;
"Gesiinge von Beethoven" (1896); "Goethe's Ge-
dichte in der Musik" (1896); "Haydn's Canons"
(1899); "Beethoven's Klavier-Rondo'" (1900).
BiBLfOGRAPHY: B&^eT, Biog.Dict.of Mtisicians; H.Riemann,
Musik-Lerikoii- Meyers Konversations-Lexikon, Supple-
ment, 1899-1900.
B. N. D.
FRIEDLANDER, MICHAEL: Principal of
Jews' College, London ; born at Jutroschin, Prus-
sia, April 29, 1833. He studied at the universities
of Berlin and Halle (Ph.D. 1862), and concurrently
with his university studies he read Talmud. Set-
tling in Berlin, he was appointed principal of the
Talmud school, which position he resigned in 1865
to accept that of principal of Jews' College, London,
in succession to Barnett Abrahams. In 1867 he pub-
lished a German commentary upon the Song of
Songs. He has since taken an active part in the
educational progress of the community at large.
Friedlander has displayed considerable literary ac-
tivity. As a member of the Society of Hebrew Lit-
erature he has published under its auspices: (1)
" The Conmientary of Ibn Ezra on Isaiah " ; (2) " An
Essay on the Writings of Ibn Ezra " ; and (3) a
translation from the original Arabic, with notes, of
Maimonides' " Guide of the Perplexed. " He has also
edited a "Jewish Family Bible " in English and He-
brew; compiled a "Handbook of the Jewish Relig-
ion," and a larger work, "The Jewish Religion";
made calculations on the Jewish calendar; and con-
tributed articles to the "Jewish Quarterly Review,"
the "Dictionary of National Biography," and other
publications. Numerous papers read by him at
Jews' College and elsewhere have been published.
BiBi.ioGRAPHY : Jewish Year Book, 1899; Jewish Chronicle,
May 8, 1903.
J. G. L.
FRIEDLANDER, MORITZ : Austrian theolo-
gian; born in Bur Szt. Georgeu, Hungary, 1842;
now (1903) residing in Vienna. He was educated at
the University of Prague, where he also attended the
Talmudic lectures of Chief Rabbi Rapoport. His
liberal views kept him from the rabbinical career.
For a short period he filled the position of religious
instructor in a gymnasium in Vienna; in 1875 he
became secretary of the Israelitische Ailianz zu
Wien. In 1881-82, sometimes in company with
Charles Netter, he made frequent journeys to Brody
to cooperate with the delegates of the Alliance.
Israelite Universelle of Paris in assisting exiled Rus-
sian Jews to the United States. The wretchedness
and misery he witnessed on these occasions he de-
scribed in " Fiinf Wochen in Brody. " As secretary
of the Ailianz he succeeded, in spite of vehement
opposition of the ultra-Orthodox party (Hasidim),
in establishing in Galicia the first Jewish public
school. Friedlander's memoir on his second jour-
ney to Galicia fell into the hands of Baron de Hiisch ;
the latter's munificent foundation (Baron de Hirsch
Fund), enabling the Jewish j'outh in Galicia to se-
cure an education and to acquire a trade, was a di-
rect expression of his sympathy for his unfortunate
coreligionists. Friedlander became the secretary of
this fund, and established personally fifty schools in
those localities of Galicia where there were large
numbers of Jews. It was at his instance also that
the baroness Clara de Hirsch established a fund of
five million francs to found technical schools for
girls and to clothe poor school-children in Galicia.
Friedlander wrote: " Patristische und Talmu-
dische Studien" (1878); "Lessing's Nathan der
Weise" (1880); "Apion: ein Culturbild aus dem
Ersten Christlichen Jahrhundert " (1882); "Zur Ent-
stehung des Christenthums" (1894); "Die Drei Bel-
fer: ein Culturbild aus Galizien " (under the pseu-
donym " Marek Fiikowitz" : 1894) ; " Das Judenthum
in (ier Vorchristlichen Griechischen Welt" (1897);
"Der Vorchristliche Jiidische Gnosticismus " (1898);
" Reiseerinnerungen aus Galizien" (1900) ; " Der Anti-
Friedlander, Solomon
Friedrichsfeld, David
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
518
Christ " (1902) ; " Geschichte der Judischen Apologe-
tik" (1903); and " Der Freiwellige des Ghetto: Kul-
turbilder uus Vergangenheit uud Gegeuwart." He
has also contributed to the " Nation," " Die Zeit," the
"Revue des Etudes Juives," the "Jewish Quarterly
Review," and to various Jewish weeklies.
FRIBDLANDER, SOLOMON : Preacher and
physician; born at Brilon, Westphalia, Oct. 23,
1825; died in Chicago Aug. 22, 1860. He studied
in Bonn and Heidelberg, and graduated (Ph.D.) in
1844. In 1847 he was elected associate preacher to
Dr. Holdheira of the Reform Congregation of Ber-
lin, and later accepted a professorship in the Jewish
Teachers' Seminary at Miinster, in which city he
also officiated as preacher. He remained there for
three years. He wrote: "Geschichte des Israeliti-
schen Volkes," of which only the first three volumes
appeared (Leipsic, 1847) ; " Sermons," delivered in the
Temple of the Jewish Reform Congregation at Ber-
lin (1847); "Samuel," twenty -five sermons, the first
volume of a projected series entitled "Das Leben
der Propheten" (1850); " Gesch. der Munsterschen
Seminars " (1850). Friedlander next studied medi-
cine, won the degree of M.D., and emigrated to
America in 1855. Finding the medical profession
uncongenial, he accepted (1860) the position of
teacher and (shortly after) preacher to the Congre-
gation (Kehillath) Anshe Maarab, Chicago.
s. E. SCHK.
FRIEDMAN, AARON ZEBI: Shohet; born
in Stavisk, Poland, March 22. 1822; died in New
York city May 17, 1876. At the age of seventeen
Friedman became shohet for the city of Stavisk and
the neighboring country. He removed to Bernkas-
tel-on-the-Moselle, Germany, where he became rabbi
and shohet in 1844. Four years later he went to
New York, where he was chosen as shohet of one
of the largest abattoirs in the city. Friedman held
this position until his death. Owing to charges of
cruelty made by Henry Bergh, president of the
American Society for the Prevention of Cruelly to
Animals, Friedman wrote (1874) a defense of shehitah
entitled "Tub Ta'am," translations of which were
two years later made from the Hebrew into English,
French, and German. His strict Orthodoxy and
learning caused him to be widely known as the
" Ba'al Shem " of America.
Bibliography : Drachman, Neo-Hebraic Literature in
America, in the Seveiith Biennial Beport nf the Jewitih
Theological Seminary Associatiun, pp. 65, 96; Harper's
Monthly, Oct., 1878, pp. 768, 769.
A.
FRIEDMAN, LOB BEHR ( Aryeh Dob) : Au-
thor and pedagogue; born in 1865 at Suwalki, Rus-
sian Poland. He was educated at Boskowitz, Mora-
via, afterward removing to Warsaw, where he be-
came one of the promoters of Zionism, founding
there, in conjunction with R. Samuel Mohilcver, a
Zionist society. In 1892 he went to America and be-
came the editor of "Ha-'Ibri." Friedman has writ-
ten a considerable number of school-books and other
works, among which may be mentioned: "Ha-Pa-
degug ha-'Ibri"; "AUufe Yisrael," biographies of
the Talmudists; "Shulhan 'Aruk li-Bene ha-Ne'u-
rim," a book on rabbinic law for the young, in
Judaeo-German ; "Likkutim Nifla'im," stories from
the Talmud ; " Talmudische Perlen " ; " Rabbis of
Ancient Times " (in collaboration with Fromenson) ;
" Maxims and Proverbs of Bible and Talmud." He
has written also various novels and articles for He-
brew journals.
A. H. Ma.
FRIEDMANN, ALFRED : German poet and
author; born at Frankfort-on-the-Main Oct. 26,1845.
Brought up as a goldsmith, he renounced that oc-
cupation and studied at the universities of Heidel-
berg and Zurich (Ph.D. 1870). Friedmann resided in
Vienna until 1886, when he moved to Berlin. His
works include: "Savilia" (1873); "Aus Hellas"
(songs, 1874); "Merlin-Orpheus" (songs, 1874);
"Biblische Sterne" (three idyls, 1875) ; "Die Feuer-
probe der Liebe Augioletta " (3d ed., 1879) ; " Leicht-
sinnige Lieder " (1878) ; "Gedichte " (1882); "Lieder
des Herzens " (1888). Besides these lyrical produc-
tions Friedmann wrote the drama "Don Juan's
Letztes Liebesabenteuer " (1891), and numerous
novels, among which are: "Zwei Ehen " (3d ed.,
1880; this has been translated into Italian) ; " Schnell
Reich" (1891); "Die Heckenrose " (1893); "Die
Danaiden" (1893); "Der Todesring," "Falsche
Freundschaft," "Der Letzte Schuss," and "Russ-
ische Rache " (all four published in Reclam's " Uni-
versalbibliothek ").
Bibliography : Meyers Knnversations-Lexikon.
s.
FRIEDMANN, BERNAT : Hungarian jurist
and criminal lawyer; born in Grosswardein Oct. 10,
1843; studied law at the " Rechtsakademie " there
and at the University of Budapest. He won general
sympathy through his manly conduct in connection
with the notorious TiszaEszlar trial. He wrote:
" Hazai Banyaszatunk Nemzetgazdasagi es Statisz-
tikai Szempontbol," Budapest, 1866; "ANepbirak
es Eskudtszekek Intezmenye," ib. 1876 (which won
the grand academical prize) ; " A Felebbvitel Biinu-
gyekben Tekintettel a Kozvetlen Szobelis^gre," ib.
1878; "Eszrev^telek a Magyar Biinvadi Eljarasi
Javaslat Iranyeszmei Felett," 1889.
Bibliography: SziaayeU Magyar Iruk Tdra; PalUis Nagy
Lexicon.
s. M. W.
FRIEDMANN ("ISH SHALOM"), MEIR
BEN JEREMIAH : Austrian scholar ; born at
Kraszna, in the district of Ka.shau, Hungary, July
10, 1831. At the age of thirteen he entered the yesh-
Ibah at Ungvar, where he was attracted to Hasid-
ism and the Cabala. Fortunately, however, at the
age of sixteen he was led by the "Bi'ur " of Men-
delssohn to the study of the Bible, and became
deeply interested in Hebrew poetry, especially in
Wassely's "Shire Tife'ret." At twenty, while liv-
ing at Miskolez, where he earned his livelihood by
giving instruction in Talmudical literature, he took
up secular studies. In 1858 he entered the Univer-
sity of Vienna. When, in 1864, the Vienna bet ha-
midrash was founded he was chosen as teacher of
the Bible and Midrash; that office he still (1903)
holds. Later he was elected a professor in the
Israelitisch-Theologische Lehranstalt.
Friedmann has devoted himself chiefly to the
619
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Friedldnder, Solomon
Friedrichsfeld, David
editing of old Midrashim, to which he has added
critical notes and valuable introductions. These
notes, written in classical rabbinical style, are models
of precision and are of great value. Friedmann has
publislied the following works in Hebrew: The
Sifre, Vienna, 1864; the Mekilta, i6. 1870; "Eshet
Hayil," a commentary on Prov. xxxi. ib. 1878; the
Pesikta Rabbati, ib. 1880; "Ha-Ziyyon," a rational
interpretation of Ezek. xx. ib. 1882; "Dabar 'al
Odot ha-Talmud," on the question whether the Tal-
mud can be accurately translated, ib. 1885; "Mas-
seket Makkot," a critical edition of the Talmudical
treatise Makkot, with a commentary, ib. 1888;
"Sefer Shofetim," notes to Judges, ib. 1891 ; "Me'ir
'Ayin," a commentary on the Passover Haggadah,
ib. 1895; "Tanna debe Eliyahu," ib. 1900. Fried-
mann's German publications are: " Worte der Erin-
nerung an Isaac Noa Mannheimer," ib. 1873; "Die
Juden ein Ackerbautreibeuder Stamm," ib. 1878;
"T. G. Stern, Gedenkrede," ib. 1883; "Zerubabel,"
German explanation of Isa. lii. 19 and liii. ib. 1890;
"Worte zur Feier deslOO Jahrigen Geburtstages des
Seligen Predigers Isaac Noa Mannheimer," 1893;
" Onkelos und 'Akylos," ib. 1896. From 1881 to 1886
Friedmann published, together with Isaac Hirsh
Weiss, the monthly "Bet Talmud," devoted to rab-
binical studies. To this periodical Friedmann con-
tributed, under the signature "Ish Shalom," many
valuable essays, of which the most noteworthy are
on the arrangement of the Pentateuch and on
Samuel.
Bibliography : Brainin, In Luah Ahianaf, pp. 343 et .seq.,
1901 ; Ha-Shiloah, p. 573, 1901 ; S. Schechter, in Jew. Chron.
p. 17, June 28, 1901.
s. I. Br.
FRIEDMANN, MORITZ : Hungarian cantor;
born in Hrabocz, Hungary, March 7, 1823; died
in Budapest Aug. 29, 1891. Up to 1848 he filled
several positions in minor provincial congregations.
At the outbreak of the revolution in that year he
enlisted in the Hungarian army, and participated in
the campaign against Austria.
Upon his return to civil life Friedmann became a
member of the choir of Solomon Sulzer in Vienna,
and in 1850 was elected cantor, teacher, and secretary
of the congregation at Fiinfhaus, a suburb of the
Austrian capital. Seven years later he became chief
cantor of the Jewish congregation of Budapest, a
position which he retained until his death. In 1875
Emperor Francis Joseph conferred upon him the
decoration of the Golden Cross. In 1882 he founded
a union of Jewish congregation officials, of which
he remained president till his death. In 1877 he
was appointed professor of vocal instruction at the
rabbinical seminary at Budapest. Friedmann pub-
lished a song-book, "Izraelita Vallasos finekek,"
which is in use in most congregations of Hungary.
s. A. Kai.
FRIEDMANN, PAUL: German philanthro-
pist; born at Berlin in the middle of the nineteenth
century. Friedmann is of Jewish descent, and is
connected with the family of Moses Mendelssohn.
Much exercised over the fate of the Russian Jews
after the persecutions of 1882-90, in 1890 he visited
the land of Midian and resolved to found a colony
there. He had a steam-yacht ("Israel") built in
Scotland, and went to Cracow personally to select
the first immigrants. Twenty-four of these, under
the leadership of Friedmann, Baron von Seebach,
and Lieutenant Thiele, with a doctor, a chemist,
and a builder, left Cairo in the middle of November,
1891.
A landing was made at Sharm al-Moza on the east
side of the Gulf of Akabah ; but the new colony did
not last for more than two months. Internal dissen-
sions broke out between the leaders, who were all
Christians, and the Jews. The Egyptian govern-
ment also feared complications with the Turkish
soldiers encamped not far off, and ordered the under-
taking to be abandoned. Friedmann, who had sunk
170,000 marks in the project, brought suit against
the Egyptian government for £25,000. The Russian
consul in Cairo also opened an investigation, and vio-
lent denunciatory articles appeared in the Egyptian
press, especially in connection with the death of one
of the settlers who had been forced to leave the en-
campment because of insubordination. In connec-
tion with the venture, Friedmann privately pub-
hshed -Das Land Madian," Berlin, 1891.
bibliography: Isra-elit, pp. 177, 262, 365, 407, 906, 1146. Ma-
yence, 1892 ; Israelitische WochenschrifU Nov. 24, 1893, p.
369 ; AllQ. Zeit. des Jud. Nov. 4, 1892 ; New York Times,
June 30, 1891 ; New York Herald, May 1, 1892.
D. Q.
FRIEDMANN, SIEGW ART : German actor;
born at Budapest April 25, 1842. He was a pupil
of Dawison, who not only educated him for the
stage, but took him into his own home and family.
He made his debut at Breslau Oct. 18, 1863, as
Ferdinand in " Egmont, " which was not successful.
In 1864 he made his reentry, with Dawison, at
the Konigliche Schauspielhaus, Berlin, where he re-
mained until 1871. The next year was spent in
Schwerin ; from 1872 to 1876 he worked with Laube,
at the Stadttheater, Vienna, and soon ranked as one
of the best actors on the German stage. In 1876 he
went to Hamburg, returning three years later to
Vienna. His most important work in behalf of the
stage was the founding of the Deutsche Theater, at
Berlin, with Ludwig Barnay, Adolf I'Arronge, and
Friedrich Haase (1883). In 1888 he went on a star-
ring tour through Germany and Austria, retiring
from the stage in 1892.
Friedmann 's best roles were those of modern wri-
ters, though he was excellent as Charles IX. (Lind-
ner's " Die Bluthochzeit "), and in several of Shake-
speare's male characters.
Bibliography: Meyers Konversations-Lexikon, s.v.
s. E. Ms.
FRIEDRICHSFELD, DAVID B. ZEBI
HIRSCH : German and Hebrew author ; born about
1755 in Berlin; died Feb. 19, 1810, in Amsterdam.
In the Prussian capital he absorbed the scholarship
and ideas of the contemporaneous Meassefim. In
1781 he went to Amsterdam, where he was one of
the leaders in the fight for the emancipation of the
Jews, writing in the promotion of this cause his
" Beleuchtung . . . das Burgerrecht der Juden Be-
treffend," Amsterdam, 1795, and "Appell an die
Stande Hollands," etc., ib., 1797. Besides contribu-
ting to the "Ha-Meassef," he wrote " Ma'aneh Rak,"
on the pronunciation of Hebrew among the Sephar-
Friedrichstadt
Fringes
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
520
dim (being also a defense of Moses Leman's "Irnrali
Zenifah)," Amsterdam, 1808; and "Zeker Zaddik,"
a biography of Hartwig Wessely, ib. 1809. Some of
his works are still in manuscript (comp. Steinschnei-
der, "Verzeichnis der Hebr. Handschriften der Ko-
nigl. Bibliothek zu Berlin," ii., No. 255, pp. 110 et
seq.).
Bibuographt: Gratz, Ge»ch. 1st ed., xl. 134. 229; Steln-
schneider. Cat. Bodl. col. 987 ; Zeitlin, Bil>l. Post-Mendels.
p. 99.
8. H. B.
FRIEDRICHSTADT : Town in the govern-
ment of Courland, Russia, with a population (1897)
of 5,223, of whom 3,800 were Jews. With the ad-
mission of Jews into Courland toward the close of
the seventeenth century a Jewish community was
established there, chiefly by settlers from neighbor-
ing Lithuanian tow^ns and from White Russia. The
latter found Friedrichstadt, owing to the rapids in
the River Duna some miles above the town, a conve-
nient halting-place in their voyages down the river,
which was the main channel for a considerable trade
in lumber, grain, and other merchandise between
White Russia and Riga, a city below Friedrichstadt.
The archives of the city of Riga for the eight-
eenth century show that in the opinion of its
burghers the commercial prosperit}'' of their city de-
pended largely on the trade brought there by way
of Friedrichstadt through the Jews of White Rus-
sia (Buchholz, "Geschichte der Juden in Riga," pp.
29, 44-48). The Jewish community of Friedrich-
stadt is mentioned in Russian documents of the year
1742, when a ukase dated Dec. 14 ordered the expul-
sion of the Jews from Russia. When this ukase
was enforced the burghers of Riga petitioned the
government to grant the Jews permission to reside
at least temporarily in their city, saying that unless
this permission was granted they would be commer-
cially ruined. As this petition proved ineffective,
new conditions arose that gave impetus to the com-
merce of the Jewish community of Friedrichstadt.
Barges and rafts sailing down the Duna laden .»"ith
cargoes for Riga were detained at Friedrichstadt,
and thus the trade of the Riga merchants was so seri-
ouslv hampered that they feared it might eventually
be diverted into other channels ; and to obviate this
danger they sent a special commissioner to Friedrich-
stadt for the purpose of obtaining relief {ib. p. 47).
In 1771 the Jewish community of Friedrichstadt
suffered severely from floods due to a sudden break-
ing of the ice in the Dilna. On this occasion the
greater part of the town was swept away. An-
other flood equally disastrous to them occurred
therein 1837 (see "Mittheilungen aus der Geschichte
Liv-Est'sundCourland's,"i. 360). By the beginning
of the nineteenth century the town had become an
important commercial center. A number of promi-
nent Jewish firms were engaged there in foreign
trade as middlemen between German importers and
Russian merchants of the interior. The chief articles
of commerce were hides, furs, and bristles, which
were collected from over all Russia and exported to
England, Germany, and the United States. Loc^l in-
dustry also received an impetus, and factories for the
manufacture of cigars, soap, needles, chocolate, etc.,
were started ; but with the opening of the Riga-Diina-
burg Railroad in 1862 the commercial importance of
the town began to wane. Nevertheless, its popula-
tion, which in 1850 aggregated 1,483 inhabitants,
steadily increased. A government school was estab-
lished there in 1858. Among the most prominent
Jewish families of this town are the following:
Kahn, Birkhahn, Rosenthal, and Heyman.
H. R.
FRIEND, FLORENCE. See Mannering,
Mary.
FRIENDSHIP (nnns ninN, niy-i, nnnx):
Personal attachment to an individual. The histor-
ical books of the Bible furnish several instances of
genuine friendship; and the pithy sayings of the
Wisdom literature, of Talmud, and of Midrash con-
tain a philosoph)- of friendship. The Bible endows
friendship with a peculiar dignity by making it
symbolical of the intimacy that exists between God
and man. "And Yhwh spoke unto Moses face to
face, as amanspeaketh unto his friend " (Ex. xxxiii.
11; comp. Num. xii. 8). Also the prophet Isaiah
makes God speak of Abraham as his friend (Isa.
xli. 8; comp. II Chron. xx. 7).
The essential characteristic of genuine friendship
is disinterestedness. The service one renders his
friend must be prompted by the sole desire to be
of use to him, and not for the sake of furthering
one's own interests. Selfishness destroys friendship.
This is tersely expressed in Ab. v. 16: "Friendship
dictated by a selfish motive comes to an end together
with its speculations; but friendship which is not
based on any selfish motive comes never to an end."
Friendship of the selfish type is often referred to
in Bible and Talmud; e.g., "Every man is a friend
to him that givcth gifts" (Prov. xix. 6b; comp. ib.
xix. 4); "Ye would . . . make merchandise of your
friend " (Job vi. 27b) ; " At the door of the rich all
are friends; at the door of the poor there are none"
(Shab. 32a) ; " A friend loveth at all times " (Prov.
xvii. 17); "A friend that sticketh closer than a
brother " (ib. xviii. 24b).
As historical examples of friendship have high
value in determining the characteristics of the na-
tional soul, the following may be cited
Historical from Jewish history: The relations
Examples, between Jonathan and David have be-
come typical of true friendship. Jona-
than's friendship for David is put to a severe test.
Against his friendship there are arrayed filial duty
and the personal interests of a prince; but friend-
ship conquers (I Sam. xviii. 3, xix. 2-7, xxiii. 17-
18). David is kind to the unfortunate Mephibo-
sheth, a scion of the house of Saul, whom lie be-
friends on account of Jonathan, liis friend (II Sam.
ix.). Barzillai's disinterested kindness for David is
another instance (II Sam. xix. 31-39).
Because friends, owing to their intimate relation,
influence each other, the utmost care should be ex-
ercised in the choice of a friend. " Iron sharpeneth
iron ; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his
friend" (Prov. xvii. 17; comp. ib. xxviii. 7); "Make
no friendship with a man that is given to anger " {ib.
xxii. 24a).
The Talmud furnishes many beautiful examples
of friendship. An illustration of friendship as an
ideal of spiritual fellowship is fou^d in the relation
521
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Friedrichstadt
Pringres
between rabbis Johanan bar Nappaha and Simeon
ben Lakisb (Yer. Bezah v. 63d ; Yer. Ta'an. 5a ; see,
also, liorodezky, "Ha-Goren," p. 32, on N' on and
^"Lnno).
The value set on friendship is shown by the fol-
lowing observations:
" It is easy to make an enemy ; it is difficult to
make a friend" (Yalk., Deut. 845); "If thou would-
est get a friend prove him first, and be not hasty to
credit him" (Ecclus. [Sirach] vi. 7). "For some
man is a friend for his own occasion, and will not
abide in the day of thy trouble. And tliere is a
friend who, being turned to enmity and strife, will
discover thy reproach. Again, some friend is a com-
panion at the table, and will not continue in the day
of thine affliction. But in thy prosperity'' he will be
as thyself. ... If thou be brought low he will be
against thee and will hide himself from thy face"
(lb. verses 8-12). "A faithful friend is a strong de-
fense : And he that hath found such a one hath found
a treasure " {ib. verse 14; comp. verses 15-18).
That misplaced confidence gives cause for sorrow
may be learned from many Biblical quotations.
"Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted,
which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his lieel
against me " (Ps. xli. 9). " All her friends have dealt
treacherously with her, they are become her ene-
mies" (Lam. i. 2a). "And one shall say unto him.
What are these wounds between thine arms? Then
he shall answer. Those with which I was wounded
in the house of my friends" (Zech. xiii. 6, R. V.).
Not to forsake one's friend, but to aid and to assist
him in every possible way, is the tenor of many say-
ings. "Thine own friend, and thy father's friend,
forsake not" (Prov. xxvii. 10). "Change not a
friend for any good, by no means " (Ecclus. [Sirach]
vii. 18). "Do good unto thy friend before thou
diest, and according to thy ability stretch out thy
hand, and give to him " (ib. xiv. 13).
The highest office of friendship, the most thorough
test of its genuineness, is justly reckoned to be the
desire of friends to improve the moral and intellec-
tual conditions of each other by frankness of re-
proof and counsel. " Thou shalt warn thy neigh-
bor " (Lev. xix. 17a). " Better is open rebuke than
love that is hidden. Faithful are the wounds of a
friend, but the kisses of an enemy are profuse "
(Prov. xxvii. 5-6). " Love him who corrects thee,
and hate him who flatters thee " (Ab. R. N. ch.
xxix.).
BiRLiOGRAPHY : Braiinschwei(?er, Die Lehrer der Mischnah ;
Lazarus, Die Ethik dcs Judenthums, note 49.
E. c. A. G.
FRIES, JAKOB FRIEDRICH: Christian
writer against the Jews; born at Barby, Saxony,
Aug. 23, 1773; died at Jena Aug. 10, 1843. In
1801 Fries lectured on philosophy at the University
of Jena, and in 1805 was appointed professor of
philosophy, and in 1812 of physics, at Heidelberg.
Here his anti-Semitic opinions began to color his
utterances; and when, in 1816, he returned as pro-
fessor to Jena, he published, first in the " Heidelberger
" Jahrbiicher" (1816, pp. 241-264) and afterward in
book form, his " Ueber die Gefahrdung des Wohl-
standes und Charakters der Deutschen Durch die
Juden," a review of two pamphlets by Runs against
the Jews. This review, of which Goethe speaks
with a certain delight, is very rude in its tone, recom-
mending (p. 23) the princes to deal with the Jews as
Pharaoh had done.
BiBLioGRAPnv: Jost, Ncuere Gesch. 1. .51; Alia. Zeit. dea
Jud. 1839, p. 352 ; 1900, p. 622 ; Gratz, Gench. xi. 313.
D. A. M. F.
FRIESENHAUSEN, DAVID BEN MEIR:
Bavarian mathematician; born at Friesenhausen
about the middle of the eighteenth century ; lived at
Berlin, and later at Hunfalu and Ujhely, Hungary;
died at Gyula-Fehervar March 23, 1828. Till the age
of thirty he occupied himself with the study of the
Talmud. Then he spent ten years in studying alge-
bra, astronomy, mechanics, and optics, and wrote
essays on these sciences. He wrote: " Kelil ha-Hesh-
bon," a Hebrew manual of algebra and geometry,
Berlin, 1796; "Mosedot Tebel," a treatise on astron-
omy, in which he explains the Copernican system.
This work, published in Vienna, 1820, contains
also a proof for the eleventh axiom of Euclid and
a testament to his children. Friesenhausen was
the first to advocate the establishment of a rabbini-
cal seminary in Hungary, and for this purpose pre-
pared a plan which he submitted to the prince
palatine Josef as early as 1806.
Bibliography: Fuenn. Keneset Yltrael, p. 252; SteinschneJ-
der, Cat. Bod/. No. 48(M; ZeitUn, Bibi. Post-Mendels. p. 100;
Fiiret, Bibl. Jud. 1. 304.
G. M. Sel.
FRIM, JAKOB : Hungarian educator ; born in
KOrmend May 1, 1852. On his return from a pro-
longed journey abroad, where he had studied the
organization of various asylums for the insane, he
opened in Rakospalota, near Budapest, a model in-
stitution, named "Munka," for the education of fee-
ble-minded children. This institution was later trans-
ferred to Ofen, and was taken over by the state in
1898. His brother, Anton Frim, is known as the
founder of an asylum for the deaf and dumb, which
receives pecuniary support from the city of Buda-
pest.
s. M. W.
FRINGES (Hebr. "zizit"): Threads with a cord
of blue entwined, fastened to the four corners of the
Auba' Kanfot and the Tallit and pendent, like a
tassel, in conformity with Num. xv. 38-40 and Deut.
xxii. 12.
The zizit consisted, according to Bet Shammai, of
four threads of white wool and four threads of blue,
but according to Bet Hillel of two threads of each
(Men. 41b). The "arba" kanfot," or "tallit katon,"
was worn by day as an undergarment. The regular
tallit, as an overgarment, was used only during the
morning prayer.
A relaxation of the zizit observance has been no-
ticeable since the Jews adopted the costumes of
their Gentile neighbors, exceptions being readily
made in the case of modern outer garments (Shulhan
'Aruk, Orah Hayyim, 10, 12). Indeed, it appears
from the Tosafot that the wearing of zizit was not
general even in the thirteenth century (see Shab.
32b; B. B. 74a; Kid. 61b).
To the wearer the zizit were a reminder of the
duty of the Jew toward the Law. Like the phylac-
teries on the head and arm, and the mezuzah on the
Fringres
Frohman
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
622
door-post, the zizit on the garment was a token of
God's love for His people Israel (Men. 43b). In
fact, they served as the Jew's uniform, whereby he
was recognized and distinguished from the Gentile.
Hence a Jew must not sell a fringed garment to a
non-Jew unless the fringes are removed.
Resh Lakish, picturing the future reward of the
pious, declares that no less than 2,800 servants
will attend every Jew who has observed the zizit
regulation, quoting Zech. viii. 23: "In those days
. . . ten men . . . out of all languages of the na-
tions, even shall take hold of the skirt [Hebr. "a
corner ''] of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go
with you." By calculating seventy standard lan-
guages, and multiplying the four corners by ten,
the number 2,800 is obtained (Shab. 32b). It is nar-
rated that the zizit once saved a hasid from sensu-
ality, having appeared as living witnesses and
"slapped him in the face " as a reproach (Men. 44a).
The blue cord entwined in the fringe was its prin-
cipal attraction and distinction. R. Mei'r asked,
" Why blue ? " The answer was, " Be-
Blue cause this color resembles the sea, the
and White, sea resembles the sky, and the sk}-^ re-
sembles the " Chair of Glory, " of which
it is said, "Under His feet ... a sapphire stone"
(Men. 43b).
The blue cord of the zizit was dyed with the
blood of the "halzun" (snail), which appeared but
once in seventy years (Men. 44a). The halzun was
scarce even in Mishnaic times; hence the authori-
ties agreed that the blue cord might be dispensed
with, and that white-wool threads alone need be
inserted (Men. iv. 1). R. Mei'r remarks that the
punishment for dispensing with the white threads
is greater than for dispensing with the blue, inas-
much as the latter is difficult to obtain, whereas the
former is within everybody's reach. He uses the
illustration of a king commanding one of his serv-
ants to procure a seal of clay, and another to pro-
cure a seal of gold ; both having failed to comply,
the king punishes the former more severely for
neglecting such a simple and easy task {ib. 43b).
Some suppose that "halzun" was another name
for Haifa or the Bay of Acre. Haifa was known, in
the Greek-Roman periods, as " Purpureon," from the
purple-dye industry, which, with the extensive fish-
ing of the halzun, made the city famous. The
area for halzun-fishing, according to the Talmud,
extended to the Phenician border.
The (Shab. 26a; see Rashi). It was also
Halzun. found on the mountains, as appears
from Sanh. 91a. Doubtless there were
various species of halzun; some identify the Belix
jointhina as one. It appears certain, however, that
the genuine halzun was found only in the land ap-
portioned to the tribe of Zebulun, whose descend-
ants were mostly engaged in this traffic (Meg. 6a ;
comp. Sifre, § 354 [ed. Friedmann, p. 147a]).
The Zohar is authority for the statement that the
halzun was found also in the Sea of Galilee (Zohar,
Ex. Beshallah, p. 48b; Lev. Beha'aloteka, p. 150a,
ed. Wilna, 1882). The city of Luz is mentioned
as the place where the tekelet was dyed (Sotah
46b). Maimonides explains that the blood of the
halzun is red, and was chemically prepared to pro-
duce the tekelet-color (" Yad," Zizit, ii. 2). As the
traditional color of tekelet is sky-blue, the ordinary
purple halzun of Haifa was probably not the genu-
ine tekelet halzun, although its dye may have been
chemically changed to sky-blue. Perhaps there was
also a rare blue species, such as is mentioned in the
Talmud.
R. Gershon Enoch, in his "Sefune Temune Hoi"
and "Petil Tekelet," recently published, attracted
considerable notice by advocating the restoration of
the blue cord in the zizit ; he declared that the hal-
zun dye is obtainable in Italy, which place, he says,
is referred to in Ezek. xxvii. 7 as the "isles of Eli-
shah " (see Targ. Jonathan). He even secured there
a specimen of the blue-blooded "fish-snail," and had
some wool dyed, which he sold to the Hasidim at an
exorbitant price, for use in their fringes. Mordecai
Rabinovitz, in"Ozar ha-Sifrut" (vol. iii.), criticized
Gershon Enoch's innovation, and disputed his claim
that he had found the halzun, principally because
the dyed material did not retain its color, and be-
cause the halzun proper is found only in Palestine.
BIBLIOGRAPHY : Lewysohn, Znolngie des Talmuds, §§ 365-370;
Schwartz, Palestine, p. 197, Philadelphia, 1850; Pal. Explor.
Fund, 1877, pp. 187-190; Emden, Matpahat Sefarim, pp.
22, 23, Cracow, 1871; Ozar ha-Sifrvt,' uL 136, ib. 1889-90;
Eisenstein, Code of Life, part i., ch. iii.
J. J. D. E.
FRISCHMAN, DAVID BEN SATJL : Rus-
sian Hebraist; born in Lodz 1863; now (1903) re-
siding in Warsaw. Frischman began very early to
write both poetry and prose in Hebrew periodicals,
and his style and the originality of his views soon
attracted attention. He was assistant editor of " Ha-
Yom," in St. Petersburg (1886-87), and afterward
editor of the weekly "Ha-Dor."
Frischman has contributed a large number of
poems, short stories, and articles to the Hebrew
periodicals during the last twenty years. His ear-
lier writings are to be found in "Ha-Boker Or,"
"Ha-Shahar," "Ha-Asif," etc. His works include:
the short story "Be-Yom ha-Kippurim," Warsaw,
1881 ; his successful translation of Aaron Bernstein's
"Aus dem Reiclie der Natur," under the title
"Yedi'ot ha-Teba'" (The Perceptions of Nature)
(1882-85); "Tohu wo-Boiiu," a scathing criticism
of Hebrew journalistic methods, especially directed
against "Ha-Meliz," with an appendix, " 'Al ha-
Nes," in which I. L. Lewin's translation of Disraeli's
"Tancred" is severely criticized {ib. 1883); "Mikta-
bim 'al Debar ha-Sifrut" (Notes on the History of
Literature), a criticism against contemporary He-
brew literature (Warsaw, 1895). He also translated
Julius Lippert's "Kulturgeschichte," under the title
"Toledot Hashlamat ha-Adam," in three parts («*.
1894-1901). A collection of his scattered articles
and feuilletons is at present (1903) being published in
Warsaw under the title "Ketabim Nibharim."
Frischman has also written considerably for Yid-
dish periodicals. The poem " Ophir " in the " Yid-
dische Volksbibliothek " deserves to be mentioned.
He has done much to introduce Western methods
into Neo-Hebrew literature.
BiBLiCGRAPHY: Ha-Eshhol, u. 159-160; Eisenstadt, Dor Rab-
hanaw we-Soferaw, iii. 37, Wilna, 1901 ; Ahiasaf, 5662, pp.
273-282 ; Zeitlin, Bibl. Post-Mendels. s.v. '
H. R. P. Wl.
523
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Fring-es
Frohman
FRIZZI, BENEDETTO (BENZION RA-
PHAEL KOHEN) : Italian physician and writer;
born at Ostiano, Mantua, in 1756; died there May
30, 1844. In bis youth he was instructed by Jesuits
at Mantua, where he was the first Jew to attend a
public school ; there he showed a special predilection
for mathematics. Later he took the degree of M.D.
at Pavia. He was especially noticed by Emperor
Joseph II. on the latter's visit to the University of
Pavia. In 1789 he settled as a physician in Triest,
and in 1831 returned to his native city.
Frizzi's works include : " Dissertazione di Polizia
Medica sui Riti e Cerimonie del Pentateuco," a
large work in six volumes on the Mosaic law : the first
and second volumes dealing with forbidden food;
the third with marital laws; the fourth with laws on
pregnancy, birth, and education ; the fifth with dis-
eases, mourning, and burial; and the si.xth with
streets and houses (Pavia, 1787-90) ; '' Sulla Lebbra
degli Ebrei," Triest, 1795; "Difesa contro gli Attac-
chi Fatti alia Nazione Ebrea nel Libro Intit. ' Delia
Influenza del Ghetto nelloStato,' " appearing anony-
mously in answer to an anonymous book attacking
the Jews, Pavia, 1784. This polemic led Frizzi to
further studies of Jewish life and law, resulting in
the following works : " Dissertazione in cui si Esami-
nano gli Usi ed Abusi degli Ebrei nei Luoghi ed
Effetti Sacri," Milan, 1809; "Dissertazione sulle
Leggi Mosaiche Relative al Publico Diritto," Venice,
1811. He finally devoted himself to the Talmud,
writing Hebrew notes thereto to show the extent
and importance of its information, covering all
branches of knowledge, and the correctness of its
views. This work appeared under the title "Petah
'Enayim" (1st ed., Leghorn, 1815; complete in 8
parts, ib. 1878-1880). Frizzi was also the author of
a number of important works on medicine, mathe-
matics, and music.
Bibliography: Ves»illo Tsraelitico, 1881, p. 40; Steinschnel-
der, in MonatsschHft, xliv. 82.
8. I. E.
FROG (yniDV) : The Hebrew term generally oc-
curs in the plural ; twice only in the singular as col-
lective, once with (Ex. viii. 2) and once without (Ps.
Ixxviii. 45) the article. Frogs are mentioned in the
Bible only in connection with the plagues of Egypt
(Ex. vii. 27-viii. 9; Ps. Ixxviii. 45, cv. 30). The
common frog of Egypt is the edible frog {Rana es-
culenta), essentially a water-frog. It abounds in all
the streams of that land, and is quite common in Pal-
estine also. It is probably the species which the au-
thor of the narrative of the plagues had in view.
There is also in Palestine and in Egypt a small
species of tree-frog {Ilyla arborea), only one and a
half inches long. Like the common frog of Egypt,
it is edible, and its color is green, a feature common
to all edible batrachians. As coming under the
category of "sherez" (Lev. xi. 10), the frog must
have been held by the Hebrews as unclean for food
(see Animals; Dietary Laws). According to the
Talmud, contact with frogs does not defile (Toh.
v. 1). On the singular with article ("ha-zefardea',"
Ex. viii. 2) see Sanh. 67b.
Bibliography : Tristram, Fauna and Flora of Palestine^
pp. 159-161. London, 1884 ; Lewysohn, Zooloffie des Talmuds,
pp. 231-232, 369.
E. G. H. H. H.
FROHBERG, REGINA : German writer ; born
at Berlin Oct. 4, 1783; date of death not known.
She was the daughter of a very wealthy merchant by
the name of " Salomo " (Kayserling gives it as " Saal-
ing "). When only eighteen years of age (1801) she
married a certain Friedlander, but the marriage
proved unhappy, and she soon procured a divorce.
She then became a Christian, and took the name
"Frohberg. " She lived for a short time after this
in Berlin, and moved in 1813 to Vienna, where she
resided until her death.
She has published: "Louise, oder Kindlicher Ge-
horsam und Liebe im Streit," Berlin, 1808 ; " Schmerz
der Liebe," Berlin, 1811, 2d ed. Vienna, 1815; "Er-
zahlungen," Dresden, 1811, new ed. Vienna, 1817;
"Das Opfer," Amsterdam and Leipsic, 1812, 2d ed.
Vienna, 1815; "Das Gelijbde," Vienna, 1816; "Stolz
und Liebe," Brilnn, 1820; "Der Liebe Kampfe,"
Leipsic, 1826; "Eigene und Fremde Schuld, " ib.
1837; " Vergangenheit und Zukunft," Gera, 1840;
" Gedankenfruchte auf dem Pfade des Lebens," Vi-
enna, 1842, 2d ed. 1845.
Froh berg's adaptation of French dramas appeared
under the collective title of " Theater, " Wiesbaden,
1817 and 1818.
Bibliography: JUdischer Plutarch, 1848; JUdisches Athe-
ndum, 1851; Wurzbach, Bivg. Lex. Iv. 379-380 (giving an
exact list of her works and a complete bibliography); KQrsch-
ner, in Allg. Deutsche Biographie, s.v.. Leipsic, 1878; Kay-
serling, Die JMis(chcn Frauen iv der Geschichte, Literatur
und Kunst, pp. 232-234, Leipsic, 1879.
8. F. T. H.
FROHMAN, CHARLES : American theatrical
manager; born at Sandusky, Ohio, about 1858. He
began his theatrical career as advance agent for
Haverley's Mastodon Minstrels. Afterward he held
a similar position with Collender's Georgia Min-
strels, with whom he went to the Pacific coast. Here
disaster overtook them, and Frohman had to travel
East as best he could Arriving in New York city,
he obtained the road rights to plays produced at
Wallack's (afterward the Star) Theater, but was not
particularly successful until 1895, when he conceived
the idea of a theatrical trust to control playhouses
throughout the country. Interested with him were
Nixon and Zimmerman, who owned two theaters in
Philadelphia and several in other towns in Pennsyl-
vania and Ohio ; Klaw and Erlanger, who controlled
a chain of theaters from Washington, D. C, to New
Orleans; and Alfred Hayman, a capitalist who con-
trolled playhouses throughout the West.
The syndicate began with thirty-seven theaters,
and at once forced its weaker rivals to the wall.
Frohman obtained a monopoly of the English, Ger-
man, and French dramatic output to such an extent
that producers formerly independent were forced to
play into his hands. His partners, controlling all
the first-class houses, refused to book any attraction
which was not directly or indirectly managed by the
syndicate.
In 1898, however, Nat Goodwin revolted, and or-
ganized an opposition to Frohman, in which he was
joined by Francis Wilson, Richard Mansfield. James
A. Heme, James O'Neill, and Mrs. Fiske. Augus-
tin Daly and Joseph Jefferson were hearty support-
ers of this movement; and Frohman's supremacy
was temporarily endangered. Frohman, however,
Frohxnan
Fuel
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
524
maneuvered until Goodwin seceded from the oppo-
sition. He was followed at intervals by all save
Mrs. Fiske and Daly. The death of the latter left
Mrs. Fiske to battle alone with Frohman, who was
so absolutely in control of the situation that she was
not able to play in New York city during 1900-01.
Frohman owns or leases five theaters in New York
city, and three in London.
Bibliography: Norman Hapgood, The Stage in America,
New York, 1901.
A. E. Ms.
FROHMAN, DANIEL: American theatrical
manager ; brother of Charles Frohman ; born at
Sandusky, Ohio, 1853. He went to New York city
in 1866, and became office-boy of the " New York
Tribune." He worked his way upward for five
years, when he abandoned journalism for theatrical
work. After considerable experience as a road-man-
ager, Frohman became manager of the Madison
Square Theater, New York, then owned by the
Mallorys. Here he remained (1879-85) until he
leased the Lyceum. His stock company at this
house, headed by Georgia Cay van and Herbert Kel-
cey, became renowned for its clever work, notably in
" The Wife, " " The Charity Ball, " and " Squire Kate. "
Shortly after the death of Augustin Daly, Froh-
man became manager of Daly's Theater. He is also
manager for several American and English stars.
A. E. Ms.
FRONTLETS. See Phylacteries.
FROSOLONI, ISAAC HAYYIM: Italian
poet of the eighteenth century; born at Sienna;
died at Leghorn 1794. On the completion of his
Hebrew and secular studies at Sienna he went to
Leghorn, where he became a member of the yeshi-
bah. He formed an intimate friendship with the
family of the wealthy merchant Eliezer Shealtiel
Recanati, and continued his Talmudic studies in the
school founded by the latter. His poems are in-
cluded in Piperno's "Kol 'Ugab."
Bibliography: Plpemo. Kol 'Ugab, 80b; Nepl-Ghlrondl, To-
ledot Gedole Yisrael, p. 184.
G. I. E.
FRXJG, SEMION GRIGORYEVICH : Rus-
sian writer and poet ; born 1860 in the Jewish agri-
cultural colony of
Bobrovy-Kut, govern-
ment of Kherson. In
1880 there appeared in
the "Razsvyet " his
first poem, which at-
tracted the attention of
the reading public. In
1881 he removed to St.
Petersburg, and pub-
lished poems in the
" Voskhod." " Russki
Yevrei," "Yevreiskoe
Oboziyenie, " and other
periodicals. He used
the pseudonyms " Ben-
Zvi," "Bobrovokut-
"S. F.," "G. S.," "Sluchainy Felyetonist,"
"S.," and very rarely wrote under his full
His first volume of poetry, "Stikhotvo-
%^,\.( ^.
Semlon Frug.
ski,"
name
leniya," appeared in 1885; the second, entitled
"Dumy i Poesii," in 1887; second and third edi-
tions of the first volume in 1890 and 1897 respect-
ively. Most of Frug's critics attribute to his work
a high lyric quality. Leon Gordon dedicated to
Frug a poem in which he calls himself a " dead leaf "
and Frug a "living leaf" ("Ha-Asif," 1884).
In 1886 Frug's Yiddish poems, which had been
published singly in Spektor's "Hausfreund," Rab-
binovitch's " Volks-Bibliothek," the " Volks-Blatt,"
and other periodicals, were collected and published
under the title "Lieder und Gedanken." In 1898
there were printed in St. Petersburg sketches of
people he had met, entitled "Vstrechi i Vpecha-
tleniya " and " Eskizy i Skazki. " Somewhat later his
fable " Palma " appeared. In 1897 a three-volume
collection of his poems was published in St. Peters-
burg (Hebrew translation by Jacob Kaplan, War-
saw, 1898). In 1902 his "Zionidy," Zionistic songs,
were printed in St. Petersburg. Frug is one of the
most sympathetic of the Russo-Jewish poets. He
is essentially a lyricist. His epic poems are not
marked by distinct originality.
Frug lives (1903) in St. Petersburg, where he is
associated with the weekly paper "Budushchnost,"
in which most of his poems now appear.
Bibliography: Snchincniya^ Fniga; Skabichevskl, Jstoriya
Noveiiihei Rmskoi Literahiru; SiMematicheski Ukazatel;
1886 ; Burenin, in Novoe Vremya, 1884, No. 3168.
H. R. E. Lev.
FRtJHLING, DER. See Periodicals.
FRUIT. See Almond; Apple; Botany; Cook-
ery; Etrog; Fig; Food; Grape; Mulberry;
Nuts; Oil; Olive; Palm; Peach; Pear; Pome-
granate; St. -John's Bread; Sycamore-Fig.
FRUMKIN, ISRAEL DOB (BAR) : Hebrew
author; born in Dubrovna, Russia, Oct. 29, 1850.
His father, Alexander Frumkin, when sixty years
old emigrated to Jerusalem (1860). In 1869 Frum-
kin edited the Hebrew semi-monthly newspaper
" Habazzelet, " which had been founded in Jerusalem
by his father-in-law, Israel Back, a printer, a few
years before, and a few years later he edited a
Juda^o-German weekly called " Die Rose." The lat-
ter, owing to lack of support, was soon discontinued.
" Habazzelet " was changed to a weekly with a lit-
erary supplement; it is still being issued. Its pub-
lication was spasmodically interrupted through the
intrigues and machinations of the zealots of Jeru-
salem, whom Frumkin constantly denounced for
the lack of reform in the " halukkah " system. Re-
cently, however, he became reconciled to the man-
agement.
In 1883, for reflecting upon Gen. Lew Wallace,
the American minister to Turkey, in an editorial in
"Habazzelet" (xiii. No. 6), headed "An American
and 3'eta Despot," "Habazzelet" was suspended,
and Frumkin was imprisoned for forty-five days, by
order from Constantinople directed to the pasha of
Jerusalem. The incident which caused the editorial
was the dismissal of Joseph Kriger, the Jewish sec-
retary and interpreter to the pasha of Jerusalem, at
the request of Wallace, w^ho complained that Kriger
625
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Frobman
Fuel
had failed to receive him with the honor due to
his rauk, and who refused to accept any apology for
the alleged shortcoming. Frumkin claimed that the
proceeding was instigated by the missionaries, whom
Wallace strongly supported. After his release
Frumkin organized the societj'- 'Ezrat Niddahim in
honor of Sir Moses and Lady Judith Montefiore and
to counteract the influence of the missionaries.
Frumkin is the author of several books, mostly
translations of no special value. His grandfather
was Aaron ha-Levi ben Moses op Staroselye.
His brother Michael lievi, who assumed the name
Rodkinson, has published translations of portions
of the Talmud in New York. His son Abraham
Frumkin is a contributor to the daily " Yiddische
Welt," of New York.
Bibliography: Sokolow, Stfer Zikkaron, pp. 175-180, Warsaw,
1890.
H. R. J. D. E.
FUBINI, SIMONE: Italian physiologist ; born
May 26, 1841, in Casale Monferrato, Piedmont; died
Sept. 6, 1898, at Turin. After finishing his course
at the college he entered the University of Turin as
student of medicine, receiving his doctorate in 1863,
and going in the same year to Paris to take a post-
graduate course, where he became assistant to Hif-
felsheim in his electrotherapeutic clinic. Returning
to Turin, he assisted Moleschott in the physiological
department of the university. In 1881 he was ap-
pointed professor of physiology at the University of
Palermo, and in 1888 professor of materia medica
and pharmacology at Pisa, which position he held
until his death.
Fubini was one of the leading physiologists of
Italy. After the death of Moleschott in 1898 he be-
came editor of the " Untersuchungen zur Naturlehre
des Menschen und der Thiere," and in 1897 of the
"Trattato di Farmacoterapia. " He was a diligent
contributor to Moleschott's above-mentioned "Un-
tersuchungen " and other medical journals. Among
his many essays and works may be mentioned:
(with Moleschott) "Sulla Condrina," in "Giornale
della R. Accademia di Medicina di Torino, " 1872, ii.
274 et seq. ; " Sulla Presenza di Sostanza Condrogena
nella Cornea di Yarie Specie di Animali," Turin,
1874; "Influenza degli Occhi Sopra Alcuni Feno-
meni della Vita," ib. 1875; (with Mosso) "Gemelli
Xifoide Juncti," in "Giornale della R. Accademia di
Medicina di Torino," Turin, iii. 1878, xxiii. 13; "Peso
del Sistema Nervoso Centrale Paragonato al Peso
del Corpo dell' Animale," ib. 1879; "Influenza di
Alcuni Alcaloidi dell' Oppio sul Chimismo della
Rcspirazione," ib. 1880; "Uno Sguardo Alle Prin-
cipali Questioni di Metalloterapia, " t^. 1881 ; "Ueber
die Inhalationen von Defibrinirtem Blute," in "Cen-
tralblatt fiir die Mediziiiischen Wissenschaften,"
1885; "Sur la Fonction des Corpuscules de Vater-
Pacini duChat," in " Archives Italiens de Biologic,"
1888, ix. 44; (with P. Pierini) "Absorption Cutanee."
xix. 357, ib. 1893; "Influenza dell' Eccitamento
Elettrico sul Trofismo Nervoso," 1894; (with P.
Pierini) "Delia Cataforesi Elettrica," in "Archives
d'Electricite Medicale," 1897.
Bibliography: Pagel, Biog. Lex. s.v.; v. Aducco. Simone
Fhibini, Pisa, 1899; Vessillo IsraelUico, 1898, p. 398.
s. F. T. H.
FTJCHS, ISIDCB: Austrian journalist; bom
in Leipnik, near Biala, Galicia, Sept. 25, 1849. He
has been active most of his life in journalism as a
feuilletonist and dramatic editor, beginning on " Die
Bombe " (in which his translations from the Italian
were especially noticed), and joining in turn the
staffs of "Das Illustrirte Wiener Extrablatt" (dur-
ing his engagement on which he was also coeditor
of "Der Junge Kikeriki"), "DieVorstadt Zeitung,"
and " Das Wiener Tagblatt." For some time he was
a regular contributor to the " Montags Revue. " He
has published for the stage (with Bauer and Zell):
" Die Wienerstadt in Wort und Bild " ; " Der Bleiche
Zauberer" (music by Ziehrer); "Auf der Zweitea
Galerie des Fiirst-Theaters " ; "Die Kopirschule"
(2d ed., Vienna, 1890); "Lieder und Romanzen"
(Vienna and Leipsic, from Mascagni); and many
humorous and sarcastic topical verses.
Bibliography : Eisenberg, Das Geistige Wieri, 1. 139-140.
8. N. D.
FUEL : Mineral coal was unknown to the ancient
Hebrews, who used instead wood, manure, and grass
for fuel. Wood was never abundant in Palestine,
though there was not such a dearth in ancient times
as exists at the present daj'. Various tree-like kinds
of shrubs were also much used for fuel ; for in an-
cient times, as to-day, the trees (holm-oak, oak,
larch; comp. Isa. xliv. 14) were not allowed to attain
to full growth, but were cut down when quite
young, the foliage being given to the goats, and
the wood being cut into sticks or made into char-
coal. In Ps. cxx. 4 are mentioned coals of " rotem,"
a desert plant, probably the broom ; they give great
heat, and are still much in demand (comp. Robin-
son, "Researches," 1. 226, iii. 683). This shrubbery
("horesh"), which grew especially in waste places,
as well as the low growth of the forests, was gener-
ally on unclaimed land, every one being free to take
what he needed. Notwithstanding the compara-
tive scarcity of wood, therefore, fuel, like water,
could generally be obtained free (comp. the com-
plaint in Lam. v. 4 that the foreign masters de-
manded payment for wood and water). The poor
could easily procure their modest supply of fuel;
the widow of Zarephath gathered her few sticks out-
side of the gates of the city (I Kings xvii. 11). This
daily gathering of fuel was evidently a general cus-
tom ; it was forbidden by law on the Sabbath (Num.
XV. 33 et seq. ; see Fire).
Charcoal was always much in demand for baking,
for cooking, for heating houses by means of bra-
ziers, and for artisans' fires (see Coal).
As undergrowth or other fuel was not easily ob-
tainable in some localities, and charcoal was an ex-
pensive fuel, especially if brought from a distance,
substitutes were employed , as smaller plants, grasses,
and weeds growing in the fields, and the brown dry
grass of the desert, which wither quickly, produ-
cing a hot if not a lasting fire; and these were
evidently frequently used (comp. Matt. vi. 30).
Another substitute — used even to-day — was dung,
especially that of the camel, which, when dried,
burns like charcoal. Cow-dung, which quickly
dries and is odorless, is still carefully gathered from
the village streets. At the present daj' the fresh
Fuenn
Fulda
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
526
dung is generally mixed with chopped straw
("tibn ") raked up from the thrashing-tloor, formed
into tiat cakes, and dried. One can often see such
cakes on the walls of houses. Passages such as
Ezek. iv. 12 et seq. and Matt. iii. 12 indicate that the
Hebrews also used this kind of fuel.
E. G. H. I. Be.
FUENN, BENJAMIN: Russian physician;
son of Samuel Fuenn; born at Wilna in 1848; died
there Aug. 12, 1901. Educated at the rabbinical
seminary of his native city, Fuenn taught for two
years, and then studied medicine, being graduated
as M.D. from tlie University of St. Petersburg. He
settled at Wilna, and devoted his professional skill
to the healing of the poor.
Fuenn was very active in interesting the Jews in
agriculture, and for three years was a trustee of a
society for the assistance of the Jewish colonists in
Palestine and Syria. In 1898 he was one of the
three elders elected to administer the affairs of the
Jewish community of Wilna. He left the greater
part of his fortune to charitable institutions and for
the furtherance of Jewish colonization in Palestine.
Among Fuenn's numerous papers in scientific
journals the most noteworthy is that on the Jewish
laws concerning the slaughtering of animals con-
sidered from a medical standpoint, contributed to
the periodical " Keneset Yisrael " (i. 910 et seq.).
Bibliography : Ha-Asif, 1900-01, p. 387.
H. R.
I. Br.
FUENN, SAMUEL JOSEPH : Russian schol-
ar; born at Wilna Sept., 1819; died there Jan. 11,
1891. He received the usual Talmudic education,
and also acquired an
extensive general
knowledge of the pro-
fane sciences. In 1848
the government ap-
pointed him professor
of Hebrew and Jewish
history in the newly
founded rabbinical
school of Wilna.
Fuenn filled this posi-
tion with great distinc-
tion till 1856, when he
resigned. The govern-
ment then appointed
him superintendent of
the Jewish public
schools in the district of
Wilna, in which he introduced instruction in the sec-
ular sciences and modern languages. Fuenn also took
an active part in the administration of the city and
in its charitable institutions, and was for many years
an alderman. In acknowledgment of his services
the government awarded him two medals.
Fuenn was a prolific writer, devoting his activity
mainly to the fields of history and literature. He
published the following works: " Imre Shefer," two
lectures (one delivered by the author; the other
translated from the German), Wilna, 1841 ; (with L.
Hurwitz) "Pirhe Zafon," a review of history, liter-
ature, and exegesis, 2 vo]s., ib. 1841-44; "Sbenot
Samuel Joseph Fuenn.
Dor we-Dor," a chronology of Biblical history, Ko-
nigsberg, 1847; "Nidhe Yisrael," a history of the
Jews and Jewish literature from the destruction of
the Temple to 1170, Wilna, 1850; "Kiryah Ne'ema-
nah, " a history of the Jews of Wilna, ib. 1860 ; " Dibre
ha-Yamim li-Bene Yisrael, "a history of the Jews and
their literature, in two volumes (the
His first dealing with the period extending
Works, from the banishment of Jehoiachin
to the death of Alexander the Great;
the second from Alexander's death to the instal-
lation of Simon Maccabeus as high priest and
prince), ib. 1871-77; "Sofre Yisrael," selected letters
of Hebrew stylists from Hasdai ibn Shaprut (915-
970) to modern times, ib. 1871 ; "Bustanai," a narra-
tive of the time of the Geonira, translated from the
German, ib. 1872; "Ma'amar 'al ha-Hashgahah," a
Hebrew translation of Moses Mendelssohn's "Die
Sache Gottes," ib. 1872; "Ha-Hilluf," a Hebrew
adaptation of Lehmann's "Graf und Jude," ib.
1873; "Hukke 'Abodatha-Zaba," Russian laws rela-
ting to the conscription, ib. 1874 ; " Ya'akob Tirado, "
a Hebrew translation of a German novel by Philipp-
son, ib. 1874; " Ha-Tefillin," a Hungarian village tale
translated from the German into Hebrew, ib. 1874;
"Le-Toledot R. Sa'adyah Gaon," materials for the
biography of Saadia, published in "Ha-Karmel"
(vol. ii., 1871); "Hakme Yisrael bi-Krim we-Gedole
Yisrael be-Turkiya," biographies of Jewish scholars
in the Crimea and in Turkey in the fourteenth
and fifteenth centuries, published in " Ha-Karmel "
(1861); "Safahle-Ne'emanim," an essay on the value
and significance of the Hebrew language and litera-
ture in the development of culture among the Rus-
sian Jews, Wilna, 1881; " Ha- Yerushshah, " Hebrew
adaptation of Honigmann's "Die Erbschaft," ib.
1884; " Ha-Ozar," a Hebrew and Chaldaic dictionary
giving Russian and German equivalents for the
words of the Bible, Mishnah, and Midrashim, vol. 1.
(from K to T), Warsaw, 1884; "Keneset Yisrael,"
biographical lexicon of Jewish scholars and other
prominent men arranged in alphabetical order, vol.
i. (from N to >), ib. 1886-90.
For twenty -one years (1860-81) Fuenn directed the
paper "Ha-Karmel" (at first a weekly, but since
1871 a monthly), devoted to Hebrew literature and
Jewish life, with supplements in Russian and Ger-
man. The paper contained many scientific articles
by the leading Jewish scholars of Europe, besides
numerous contributions from Fuenn's own pen.
Bibliography : Ha^Yom. 1887, No. 314 ; Ha-Asif, 1893, p. 141 ;
Winter and Wunsche, Die JUdische Literatur, Hi. 753, 853,
855, 877. 878, 898; Zeitlln, BiM. Post-Mendels. p. 101.
H. R. I. Br.
FUGITIVE. See Asylum; Outlaw; Slaves
AND Slavery.
FULD, AARON B. MOSES: German Tal-
mudist; born at Frankfort-on-the-Main Dec. 2, 1790;
died there Dec. 2, 1847. Being both a man of means
and very retiring, he refused to accept the office of
rabbi, and referred to the local rabbi any halakic
questions submitted to him. He took, however, a
very active part in the religious movements of his
time. All that appeared in German in behalf of
Orthodoxy under the name of Rabbi Solomon Trier
was written by Fuld, the former, owing to his great
527
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Fuenn
Fulda
age ami want of secular education, being unable to
cope with the Reform movement. Fukl was no
doubt the proposer as well as the author of the let-
ter of thanks to Zacharias Frankel for leaving the
rabbinical convention of Frankfort with a protest.
As a result, when Frankel planned a convention of
conservative rabbis at Dresden, he asked for Fuld's
participation. In spite of the many points which
Frankel had in common with the old Orthodo.xy of
Germany, it did not escape Fuld that he had as
many dilferences; therefore, as the representative of
the old school, he declined the invitation. Never-
theless, Fuld understood his time, as may be seen
from his highly interesting letter to Akiba Eger in
regard to the compulsory education of Jewish chil-
dren ("Bet Aharon," pp. v.-vi.). In this letter he
proposed that Eger should prepare for the Jewish
schools a curriculum which would include both He-
brew and secular subjects.
Fuld was a thorough Talmudist, not wanting in
the gift of criticism ; he Avas a sincere adherent of con-
servative Judaism, but free from fanaticism. He also
bad a keen appreciation of historical and linguistic
questions. The municipal library of Frankfort pos-
sesses many of his manuscripts. He wrote notes on
Azulai's "Shem ha-Gedolim," Frankfort, 1844-47,
and published "Bet Aharon," ib. 1820, containing
annotations to the Talmud, the 'Aruk, and Elijah
Levita's "Tishbi" and "Meturgeman."
Bibliography: M. Horwitz, Tofedot ^-Iharoji. The introduc-
tion lo Fuld's Bet Aliaron contains biograpUiial data,
s. s. L. G.
FULD, IjUJJWIG : German lawyer and juridical
author; born at Mayence Dec. 23, 1859. He re-
ceived his education at the gymnasium of his native
town and at the universities of Heidelberg, Berlin,
and Giessen (LL.D., 1881). He was admitted to the
bar in 1884, and engaged in the practise of his pro-
fession at Mayence in the same year.
Of his numerous juridical works may be men-
tioned: "Einfluss der Lebensmittelpreise auf die
Bewegung der Strafbaren Handlungen," 1881;
"Entwicklung der Moralstatistik," 1884; "Das Jil-
dische Verbrechertum," 1885; "Die Sozial-Reform
im Deutschen Reich," 1887; "Die Aufhebung des
Socialistengesetzes," 1889; "Die Regeluug des Mili-
tarischen Strafverfahrens," 1893; "Das Recht der
Handlungsgehilfen," 1897; " Das Miethrecht, " 1898 ;
"Pachtvertrag," 1900.
8. F. T. H.
FTJLDA: District town, on the right shore of
the River Fulda in the Prussian province Hessen-
Cassel. The Jews settled al Fulda at an early
period ; a community existed there in the twelfth
century. The district is chiefly known on ac-
count of the series of massacres which it under-
went during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.
The first took place on Dec. 28, 123-<, when the Cru-
saders, assembled at that time in Fulda, joined by
the inhabitants of the town, attacked the Jews and
killed 34 men, women, and children. The imme-
diate cause of the massacre was a blood accusation ;
five boys of a miller having been killed on Christ-
mas-Day, the Jews were charged with the crime.
Had not some broad-minded citizens and the magis-
trate of the town interfered on behalf of the Jews,
not one Jew would have remained in Fulda.
The Jews complained of the massacre to Emperor
Frederick IV., and the latter, compelled to defend
the Jews who were considered his " Kammer-
knechte," held Abbot Conrad de Mulcoz responsible
for it. But the abbot, wishing to exculpate the
murderers, sent the bodies of the miller's boys to
Hagenau for the purpose of convincing the em-
peror of the culpability of the Jews of Fulda.
Among the martyrs there were several promi-
nent men, some being refugees from France. The
names of the victims are given by Isaac b.
Nathan in his selihah beginning "Attah behar-
tanu," and by Pesah ha-Kohen in the first of the
three selihot which he composed in commemoration
of his friends and relatives. In 1809, the plague
having ravaged Fulda, the inhabitants of the town,
impelled by fanaticism, a.scribed its origin to the
Jews and killed 600 of them (Trithemius, " Chroni-
con Hirsaugensis," fol. 566). A third massacre oc-
curred in 1349, at the time of the Black Death. Once
again, in the seventeenth century, a Jewish com-
munity flourished in Fulda. In 1671 the Jews were
expelled from the district, but they were readmitted
soon afterward. Fulda was the home of several Tal-
mudists, Meir b. Baruch ha-Levi, who introduced
rabbinical ordination into Germany (1379), being a
native of the district. Among its rabbis were : Meir
Schiff, a Talmudic commentator (1622-41); Jacob b.
Mordecai Fulda, one of the exiles of 1671 ; Elijah b.
Judah Lob Fuld, author of a commentary on the
IMishnah (close of the seventeenth centurj-), and
Elijah Loans. Since 1878 Michael Cohn has oc-
cupied the office.
The number of the Jews in Fulda in 1890 was 525
in a total population of 13, 125 ; in 1903, 650. A Jew-
ish school was established in 1900.
BiBLiOGRAPHT : Schudt, JUdische MerchwUrdigkeiten.l. 390;
Gratz, Gesch. 3d ed., vii.90 et seq., 399 et seq.; Zunz, S. P. p.
29; M. Stem, in Zeifsc?iri/t /fir die Geschichte der Judeu in
Deutschland. ii. 194 et seq.; Kohut, Geschichte dei- Deutschen
Juden. p. 533; B. Heldingsfelder, Lexicon Sdmmtlicher
JUdischei- Gemeinden in Deutschland, p. 49.
D. M. Sel.
FUXDA, LTTDWIG: German author; born at
Frankfort-on-the-Main July 15, 1862. He studied
German philology and
philosophy at the uni-
versities of Berlin,
Leipsic, and
berg (Ph.D.
After a short
Frankfort, he
1884 to Munich, where
he became acquainted
with Paul Heysc, who
exercised a strong in-
fluence over his wri-
tings. Since 1888
Fulda has lived in
Berlin.
Among F\i Ida's
writings may be men-
tioned: "Christian
Weise," 1883 (doctoral
und Schwanke," 1884;
Heidel-
1883).
stay in
went in
Ludwig Fulda.
thesis); "Satura: Grillen
"Neue Jugend." 1887;
Fullana
Funeral Bites
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
528
"Lebensfragmente," 1892, 2d ed. 1896; "Lastige
SchOnheit," 1897; "Neue Gedichte," 1900; tlie com-
edies: "Die Aufrichtigeu," 1883; "Das Recht der
Frau," 1884; "Unter Vier Augen," 1886; "Fruh-
ling im Winter," 1887; "Die Wilde Jagd," 1888;
"Wunderkind," 1892; "Die Kameraden," 1892 (2d
ed.); "Robinson's Eiland," 1895(2d ed.); " Jugend-
freimde," 1897 (2d ed.); "Ein Ehrenhandel," 1898;
"Die Zwillingsschwester," 1901; the social dramas:
"Das VerloreneParadies," 1890, 2d ed. 1898; "Die
Sklavin," 1892, 2d ed. 1893; "Die Zeche," 1898; the
tragedy, "Herostrat," 1898, 4th ed. 1899; and the
dramatic fables : " Der Talisman " (wliich has gained
well-deserved fame), 1893, 16th ed. 1900; "DerSohn
des Kalifen," 3d ed. 1896; and "Schlaraflenland,"
3d ed. 1899.
Fulda's translations are well known; they include
Moliere's "Meisterwerke," 1892; Beaumarchais's
" Figaro, " 1894 ; Cavallotti's >' Das Holie Lied," 1895 ;
and Rostand's "Cyrano von Bergerac," 1898, 12th
ed. 1900.
Bibliography : Meyers Konversations-Lcxikon, s.v.
8. F. T. H.
FULIiANA, NICOLAS DE OLryER Y:
Chartographer; born on the island of Majorca; lived
there as "Capitan" or "Cavallero Mallorquin" as
late as 1650. On Oct. 1 of that year he wrote a
Latin epigram of eight lines to Vicente Mut's " His-
toria del Reyno de Mallorca." Fullana went to
Brussels, where he entered the Dutch army as colo-
nel, subsequently fighting against France. At Am-
sterdam he openly espoused Judaism, taking the
name of " Daniel Judah. " After the death of his
wife, Johanna, he married Isabella Correa. Accord-
ing to the testimony of Thomas de Finedo, " litteris
et astrologia eruditus," Fullana Avas cosmographer
to His Catholic Majesty in 1680 and had written ex-
cellent cosmographical works. He edited Blaew's
"Atlas del Mundo," to which he also contributed.
Fullana eulogized the "Core de las Musas" of his
friend D. L. de Barrios in a poem, and a drama of
Joseph Penso in a Portuguese and Latin poem.
Bibliography : Thomas de Plnedo, Stephanus dc Urbihus,
p. 216, No. 76 ; D. L. de Ban-ios, Corn de ios JJfusa^s, p. 324 ;
Idem, Sol de la Vida, p. 94; idem. Relation de U)S Poetas
Espanolcs, p. 58 ; Koenen, Oeschiedenis der Joden in Neder-
land, p. 450 ; Kayserling, Sephardim, p. 245 ; idem, Bibl.
Esp.-Port.-Jud. p. 79.
G. M. K.
FDXLER: A cloth-finisher or -cleaner. The
Hebrew term is D33D (Mai. iii. 2) or D33 (11 Kings
xviii. 17; Isa. vii. 3, xxxvi. 3), denoting one en-
gaged in either of two occupations: (1) the cleaning
of soiled garments or cloth, and (2) the finishing of
newly woven cloth.
1. The cleansing of cloth or garments may have
developed into a distinct trade at an early time, as
the operation involved too much work and con-
sumed too much time (for colored materials one day ;
for white garments three days) to be done at home.
The soiled garments were soaked in water to which
various soapy, corrosive substances (such as alkaline
salts) -v^ere added. Then they were stamped with
the feet or beaten with wooden billets. This work
ic referred to in Mai. iii. 2 and Mark ix. 3, where
the term might be rendered "washer."
2. In order to remove the fatty particles adhering
to newly woven cloth, and especiull}^ the matted wool
entangled therein, and to give the fabric firmness and
proper texture, it was steeped in hot water and then
stamped and worked over with the fulling-billet.
The cloth had to be scraped repeatedly during the
process, and the wool evenly trimmed off.
Fuller's Field: On account of the offensive
smells attending the business, the fullers' shops
were located outside of the city in the vicinity of
large ponds or springs, where the water-supply was
abundant, the cisterns within the city being reserved
for domestic use. The " fuller's field " of Jerusalem
(Isa. vii. 3, xxxvi. 2 = 11 Kings xviii. 17: rn{j>
D313) is described as near the "upper pool." The
site is a moot point. In any case it was, like the
pool itself, near the wall (Isa. xxxvi. 2; comp. ib.
v. 11). Here Sennacherib's ambassadors stopped
on their way from Lachish (ib.). Hence a spot
west of the city, in the Birkat Mamilla, correspond-
ing perhaps to Josephus' "snake pool," has been
assumed for the location of the pool and the field.
But this is too far from the wall. Stade ("Ge-
schichte des Volkes Israel," i. 592) places the pool
to the southeast of the city ; but this conflicts with
Isa. vii. 3, which points to a site to the north or
northwest of Jerusalem. Josephus (" B. J." v. 4, § 2)
mentions a " fuller's monument " near the northeast
corner of the third wall. Compare Jerusalem.
E. G. H. I. Be.
FXiLLHORir, DAS. See Periodicals.
FULVIA : A Roman lady of high station, con-
verted to Judaism through the teachings of a Jew
who had sought refuge in Rome to escape punish-
ment. This impostor, together with three others,
persuaded her to contribute purple and gold for the-
Temple at Jerusalem, wliich contributions they kept
for themselves. The discovery of this fraud by the
emperor Tiberius through his friend Saturninus,
Fulvia's husband, caused the banishment of the
Jews from Rome (19 c.e. ; Josephus, "Ant." xviii.
3, § 5; comp. Philo, "In Flaccum," § 1; idem, "Le-
gatio ad Caium," § 24; Tacitus, " Annales," ii. 85;
Suetonius, "Tiberius," § 36).
Bibliography: Gratz, Gesch. 4th ed., iii. 267; Vogelstein and
Eieger. Gesch. der Jude7i in Rom, i. 14, 73 ; Prosopographia
Imperii Romani, ii. 98.
G. S. Kr.
FUNDAM, ISAAC : Spanish author and pub-
lisher; lived in Amsterdam about 1723. He wrote
"Varios y Honestos Entretenimientos en Varies
Entremeses, y Pasos Apasibles, que di a Luz D.
Alonso de Castillo, Solozarno en Mexico " (Am-
sterdam, 1723), and "Tratados desde el Principle
del Mundo hasta Moseh el Profeta," which is still
extant in manuscript. He was joint editor with
Aaron Hezekiah Querido of "Orden de los Ma-
hamadot, " ib. 1723. In 1724 he published at Amster-
dam a catalogue of Spanish and Portuguese books
and manuscripts.
Bibliography : Kayserling, Bihl. Esp.-Pnrt.-Jud. pp. 47, 62.
o. M. K.
FUNDAO : Chief town in the district of the
same name, province of Beira, Portugal. Of the
629
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Fullana
Funeral Bites
27,000 inhabitants of the entire "conselho" more than
one-third are of Jewish origin. For more than two
centuries the Inquisition decimated this population,
the first victim being Gracia Henriques, wife of
Manuel de Almeida, who was burned at the stake
at Lisbon April 1, 1582. Many Maranos emigrated
from Fundilo at the beginning of the seventeenth
century, several of whom, among them Antonio
Fernandez Carvajai., were in London about 1656.
Judaism has not entirely disappeared from
Fundtlo, the fast of Yom Kippur being even now
observed by some families officially classed as
Catholics.
Bibliography : Archivo Torre do Tombo a Lisbon, MS. 732,
fol. 79: Auto da Fe de LUboa, 1583; Connelho Oeral Santo
Officio, Maco 7, Nos. 2583-2.587, 2590, 2591, 2593, 2594, 2610,
0612, 2614, 3636; Lucien Wolf, Crypto Jews, p. 9 and passim.
G. C. DE B.
FTJNERAIi ORATION (nSDH) : The expres-
sion of grief over the dead body of a relative or friend
in words of lamentation or of praise is of very early
origin among the Jews (Gen. xxiii. 2; 1. 10, 11). In
the Bible specimens are found of such lamentations,
the most famous of which are the dirges delivered
by David over Saul and Jonathan (II Sam. i. 17-27)
and over Abner (ib. ii. 33-34). In the case of the
death of an important personage, it seems that there
were special refrains which signified the station of
the dead, e.g. : " Wo my brother! " (I Kings xiii. 20) ;
" Wo the master ! " ( Jer. xxxiv. 5) ; " Wo the master
and wo his glorj^ ! " (Jer. xxii. 18). See Funeral
Rites and Kinot.
The funeral oration proper, however, was not
known until a later period. In Talmudic times it
appears to have been a well-established custom, and
the Rabbis laid special stress upon its delivery, par-
ticularly at the death of a scholar (Shab. 105b). The
oration was considered to be an honor to the dead
rather than a consolation for the living, and therefore
the heirs were obliged to defray the expense of its
delivery. If the deceased signified in his will that
he wished no funeral oration, his request must be
heeded (Sanh. 46b; Shulhan 'Aruk, Yoreh De'ah,
344, 9, 10; comp. Pithe Teshubah ad loc). The
sages believed that before the grave was closed the
deceased had a knowledge of the words spoken in
his honor (Shab. 152b, 153a; Yer. 'Ab. Zarah iii. 1;
comp. Ber. 19a). It was considered a commendable
act for the preacher to raise his voice while deliver-
ing the oration so as to arouse the listeners to weep-
ing (Ber. 6b; Ket. 72a; comp. Yer. Ber. iii. 1).
Ze'era fainted while deiivering a funeral oration (see
" Mar'eh ha-Panim " ad loc).
A number of specimens of funeral orations are
found scattered throughout the Talmud and the
Midrashim, most of which are based on Scriptural
texts and embellished with parables and similes. It
is noteworthy that some of these fragments are
couched in pure Hebrew, quite distinct from the
general phraseology of the Talmud
Examples. (M. K. 25b; Meg. 6a; Ket. 104a). In
Palestine it was customary to begin
the oration with the following words, " Weep with
him, ye who are of distressed heart " (M. K. 8a).
Some beautiful funeral orations are presented in
Sem. viii. ; Yer. Ber. ii. 8; Meg. 28a; Yer. Kil. ix. 3;
V.-34
Gen. R. xci. 11; Lev. R. xxx. 1; Tosef., Sotah, xiii.
5, 6 ; et al.
Along with the funeral oration delivered over the
body of the deceased at a funeral, there developed,
in later times, the custom of reciting an oration
in the synagogue for some honored person, even
though considerable time had elapsed since the day
of his death. In such a case the life of the deceased
was taken as an object-lesson for the instruction of
the congregation. When a great and important per-
sonage died the Jewish communities of distant lands
were frequently aroused, through the eloquent ad-
dresses delivered by the rabbis, to an appreciation of
the great loss the race had sustained. Very often
on such an occasion the congregation showed its par-
ticipation in the general mourning by sitting down
upon the ground for a few moments. In almost
every collection of sermons there may be found
some such addresses. Adolph Jellinek prepared a
bibliography of Hebrew funeral orations delivered
during the last few centuries, which was published
in the Hebrew section of the "Zunz Jubelschrift,"
Berhn, 1884.
Bibliography : Hamburger, R. B. T. s.v. Leichenrede ; Perles,
IHe Leichenfeierlichkeiten im NacMnblischen Juden-
thume, Breslaii, 1861 ; irySx a^ph\ s.v. "'san, Presburjf,
1864 ; Frev, Tod, Seelenglaube und Seelenkunde im Alten
Israel, Lelpsic, 1898.
E. c. J. H. G.
FUNERAIi RITES : Ceremonies attending the
burial of the dead. After the body had been cleansed
("tohorah") and placed on the bier (see Burial),
the funeral procession began, with the accompani-
ment of trumpets (Ket. 17a; M. K. 27b), and of
dirges and lamentations chanted by wailing women
(Jer. XX. 16; comp. II Chron. xxxv. 25). Wherever
this custom prevailed it was the duty of the rela-
tives to provide the professional mourners (Mai-
monides, "Yad," Ebel, xii. 1). A husband was
obliged to defray the expenses of the burial of his
wife in accordance with his position, and even the
poorest had to provide two flute-players ("halilin ")
and one professional mourner (" mekonenet ") ; if he
refused to do so, the wife's relatives or fiiends could
supply them themselves, and then collect the cost
from the husband through the court (Ket. 46b,
48a; Shulhan 'Aruk, Eben ha-'Ezer, 89, 1, 2; Yoreh
De'ah, 344, 3). This custom was modified in later
times, so that, instead of songs and music, addresses
were delivered at the bier of a deceased person, and
it was considered a commendable act to shed tears
while the virtues of the pious dead were declaimed
(Shab. 105b, etal.; see Funeral Oration).
The body of a learned and pious man was occa-
sionally brought into the synagogue, where the
address was delivered (Meg. 28b). The opinion of
later authorities is against bringing the body of any
person into the synagogue ("Hokmat Adam," 155,
18), so that at present the address is usually delivered
cither in the synagogue court (" Schulhof ") or in the
cemetery. The speaker must be careful not to ex-
aggerate the praises of the deceased (Sem. iii. 6;
Ber. 62a). Funeral addresses should be delivered
over children who have attained their sixth year
(the fifth year, if they are the children of poor or old
parents), and if a child has developed no particu-
Funeral Rites
Furniture
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
530
lar qualities of his own, the merits of the parents
may be mentioned (Sem. iii. 4, 5). Although it is
not permitted to study the Law in the presence of a
corpse (Ber. 8b; comp. Rashi, ad loc), the speaker
may quote Biblical or Talmudic passages illustrative
of his remarks (Yoreh De'ah, 344, 17). No address
should be delivered over the body of a suicide or an
excommunicate, nor should the other funeral rites
be observed in tliese cases, except such as are for
the honor of the living (Sem. ii. 1 ; Yoreh De'ah,
345 ; see Suicide).
The order of the procession varies with local cus-
tom. In some places the mourners precede the bier,
and the rest of the people follow it (Yoreh De'ah,
345, 3, Isserles' gloss); but more corn-
Order of monly the mourners follow the bier
Procession, with tlie rest of the people (" Hokmat
Adam," 155, 25). The place of
women in the procession also depends on custom
(see Burial). Among the Sephardim, as well as
among the Ashkenazim in England, women do not
join in any funeral procession, while among most
of the Ashkenazim in other countries they follow
the bier, but must keep apart from the men (Yoreh
De'ah, 359, 1, 2). To accompany the dead to their
last resting-place ("halwayat ha-met ") is one of the
important duties of the Jew. If there is no burial
society in a town, all the people must leave their
work on the occasion of a funeral and take part in the
ceremonies. While the procession is in progress
everybody must join it, even if he follow a short
distance only ("four cubits," Yoreh De'ah, 361, 3).
Even the scholar, if there is not a sulficieut number
of followers (Ket. 17b), must cease from study and
follow the procession ; but at no time should the
teacher of young children be disturbed in his sacred
profession (Yoreh De'ah, 361, 1).
While carrying the bier, the "kattafim " (bearers),
who walk barefoot so that they be not tripped up
by the strings of their shoes (" Yad," I.e. iv. 3), re-
cite the Ninety first Psalm several times. Charity -
boxes are passed among the followers with the cry,
" Righteousness shall go before him, and shall set
us in the way of his steps " (Ps. Ixxxv.
The 13). On arriving at the graveyard, the
Bearers, bier is placed on the ground once every
four cubits until the grave is reached,
when the "Zidduk ha-Din " is recited. After the
body is lowered into the grave, all bystanders say,
"May he [or she] come to his [or her] place in peace."
Then the grave is closed, and the same psalm is
again recited, after which the mourners repeat the
long "Kaddish." On returning from the cemetery
the relatives are made to sit down, and some pas-
sages from Lamentations are recited before them.
These are repeated seven times — as many times as
the word "hebel" (vanity) and its plural occur
in Eccl. i. 2 (B. B. 100b; "Yad," I.e. xii. 4). It
is the custom for the people to stand in two parallel
rows while the mourners pass between them, and to
say, " Maj' God console you together with all those
who mourn for Zion and Jerusalem." Among the
Sephardim seven circuits are made around the grave
before the recital of the "Zidduk ha-Din." The
ceremony is much simplified on semi-holidays, when
no " Tahnuni " is said ; so also in the case of a child
less than thirty days old. See also Buria l ; Coffin ;
Consolation; Kaddish; Mourning.
BiBLiofiRAPHY: Hamburger, J?. B. T. s.v. Beerdiguno; Ben-
5!inger, Aixh. p. 23, Leipsic, 1894 ; Vidaver, Sefer ha-Hayuim,
New York, 1901; Rabbinowicz, Der Todtenkultus' bei den
Juden, Franklort-on-the-Main, 1889; Bender, in J. Q. R.
1895-96; Suwalsky, Hayye hn^Yehudi, etc., Warsaw, 1893;
Perles, Die Lekhen'feierlichknten im NachhiblUchen Ju-
denthume, Breslau, reprinted from Monatsachrift, vol. x. ;
Aaron Berechiah of Modena, Ma'abar Yabbok, Mantua,
1626 ; Blogg, Sefer ha-Hayyim, Hanover, 1848 ; As'cher, BuoK
of Life, London.
s. s. J. H. G.
FTTNES : Town in Navarre, in the district of
Olite ; received a f uero (charter) in 1120, containing
several clauses in restraint of the Jews there. In
case of a bill amounting to more than five solidos,
the Jew had to take an oath on a coffin " sobre hum
feretro." A Christian might recover a pledge only
on taking an oath. A note or deed of a Jew in favor
of a Christian had to be drawn up by a Jewish
notary, and that of a Christian in favor of a Jew,
by a Christian notary. The murder of a Jew or a
Moor was punished by a fine of 500 solidos; the
wounding of the same by 60 solidos. In 1171 the
Jews of Funes were granted the same rightsas those
of Tudela, and were permitted to settle within the
fortifications. During the persecution of 1328 many
were killed and plundered. See Navarre.
Bibliography : Boletindela RealAcademiade fa HUtoria,
xxxvii. 368 et seq.; Zurlta, Analet^ de la Coroim de Arai)on,
ii. 84a ; Kayserling, Gesch. der Juden in Navarra, 1. 18, 40 ;
Jacobs, Sources, Nos. 1385, 1580.
G. M. K.
FtJNFKIRCHEN. See Pacs.
FURNACE : Three kinds of structures or appa-
ratus for baking, smelting, etc. , were known to the
ancient Hebrews: (1) the oven for baking bread;
(2) the potters' kiln for firing earthen vessels; and
(3) the furnace for smelting metals and ore. The
modern heating-stove was unknown to the Hebrews,
who used braziers and fire-pots instead.
1. The oven for baking (" tannur ") was a necessity
in every household, the trade of baking not being
developed till later, and probably then only in the
large cities. Several families may have used a com-
mon oven, a practise that still obtains. Pictures
found on Egyptian monuments indicate that the
ovens which were formerly used in the Orient
resembled, on the whole, those now in use (see Er-
man, "Aegypten," p. 269; Wilkinson, ii. 34). The
tannur is a large clay cj'linder or jug, standing up-
right, with a small mouth at the bottom, tiie fire
being lighted on the ground beneath. The dough,
as nowadays, was alwaj's kneaded into flat, round
cakes, and was put on the cylinder as soon as the
latter was hot. Among the ancient Egyptians the
cakes were placed on the outside of the cylinder.
In Palestine at the present day the fire is allowed to
burn low, and the dough is then placed on the inside
of the cylinder while the coal and ashes are still
glowing. This may also have been the custom
among the ancient Hebrews. Such ovens have been
found at Tell al-Hasi (comp. Bliss, "A Mound of
Many Cities," pp. 114 et seq.). For illustrations of
modern ovens see Benzinger, "Arch." p. 86.
2. The potters' kiln is mentioned only in later
times (Ecclus. [Sirach] xxvii. 8, xxxviii. 34). This
531
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Funeral Rites
Furniture
tardy mention, however, is merely accidental. The
firing, probably also the glazing, of earthenware was
practised very early by the Phenicians, who per-
haps taught the handicraft to the Hebrews at an
early time. Nothing is known of the arrangement
of this kiln, or of that of the large kiln ("malben ")
used for firing bricks (II Sam. xii. 31 ; Jer. xliii. 9;
Neh. iii. 14).
3. The Hebrews never practised smelting, as their
country produced no ore ; but they were acquainted
with the process through their neighbors in Leb-
anon, where ore w-as mined. The large furnace
for smelting was w^ell known to them, and is fre-
quently used as a metaphor. The Hebrew metal-
workers, however, had smaller furnaces and cruci-
bles; but, although various names have been handed
down, it is not possible to distinguish between
the different kinds referred to. "Kibshan" (Gen.
xix. 28; Ex. ix. 8, 10; xix. 18) seems to designate
the large furnace belching forth volumes of smoke.
"Mazref " is the goldsmiths' crucible (Prov. xvii. 3,
xxvii. 21). " Kur " is likewise used for melting and
refining gold (Prov. xvii. 3, xxvii. 21; comp. Wis-
dom iii. 6) and silver (Ezek. xxii. 18-22; Isa. xlviii.
10), but the same term is also used to designate the
"iron furnace" ("kur ha-barzel"); i.e., the furnace
used for smelting iron ore (comp. Metals), always
metaphorically employed to describe great trouble
and misery (Deut. iv. 20; I Kings viii. 51 ; Jer. xi. 4).
The term " atlun " occurs only in a single passage,
in the story of Daniel (Dan. iii. 6et seq.), and is used
to denote the large furnace into which Daniel's
friends were cast. It was a furnace for smelting,
open at the top to admit of the ore being thrown in
(comp. verse 23), with a mouth at the bottom for
the escape of the molten material (comp. verse 26).
" Attun " is probably adopted from the Assyrian.
Finally, following the Targum, the expression
" 'alii " (Ps. xii. 7) is generally interpreted as mean-
ing an oven or a crucible for smelting.
E. G. n. I. Be.
FURNITURE, HOUSEHOLD.— Biblical
Data : In the East the house is not as important as
in northern countries, since the climate permits an
outdoor life in the widest sense of the term. The
house is used chiefly as a shelter for the night and
for sleeping, and during meals generally ; but busi-
ness of any kind is transacted on the street. The
furniture, therefore, has always been very simple,
a few pieces only being necessary to furnish the
Hebrew home. According to II Kings iv. 10, four
pieces were required in a room for a guest of honor :
a bed, a chair, a table, and a lamp.
The Bed ("mishkab," '"eres," "mittah") : The
Palestinian of to-day, whether townsman or peas-
ant, knows in general nothing of movable beds
such as are used in the West. The poor man,
wrapped in his mantle, lies on the floor like the
Bedouin in his tent. The more wealthy spreads thin
woolen quilts on the floor at night, rolling them up
by day. The divan or bench spread with silken
bolsters, which runs along one or more walls of the
room, is also used as a couch at night. The same
custom may have obtained in antiquity. It is
known, however, that the ancient Hebrews were
acquainted with the movable bed. Saul, for exam-
ple, ordered David to be brought to him in his bed
(I Sam. xix. 15; comp. II Kings iv. 10). Og's bed-
stead was made of iron (Deut. iii. 11); bedsteads of
wood, ivory, and gold {i.e., wooden bedsteads inlaid
with ivory and gold), sent to the King of Egypt from
Palestine either as gifts or as tribute, are mentioned
as early as the El-Amarna tablets (thirteenth century
B. c. ). Hence also the Canaanites had such articles of
luxury ; and although the ancient Hebrews probably
at first knew nothing of them, they were introduced
among them later on. Tlie prophet Amos censures
the nobles and the wealthy for using beds inlaid
with ivory (Amos vi. 4). Many kinds of coverings
were spread upon these bedsteads; the poor con-
tenting themselves with a coarse cloak or a goat-
skin, and the rich indulging in pillows and bolsters
of Egyptian linen, damask, purple embroidered
coverings, or costly rugs {ih. iii. 12; Prov. vii. 16;
Cant. iii. 10), upon which, as is still customary in
the East, the sleepers lay without removing their
clothing.
This resting-place, therefore, was not a bed in the
accepted sense of the word, but a couch, on which
the old and the sick reclined in the daytime (Gen.
xlvii. 31 ; I Sam. xix. 13 et seq.), and which served
also at times as a seat during meals (Ezek. xxiii. 41).
Such a couch -like seat may be referred to in I Sam.
XX. 25. As it is not known whether it was cus-
tomary to sit with the legs crossed under the body
according to the Oriental fashion of to-day, or
whether the legs were allowed to hang down as when
one sits in a chair, no accurate idea can be formed as
to the height or breadth of these couches. Later
on, the custom of reclining during meals (Amos iii.
12, vi. 4) was introduced.
The simplest form of bed is represented by that
used by the modern Eg3'ptians, consisting of a lat-
ticed frame made of the ribs of palm-leaves and
about 1^ feet high, or by the Sudanese angareb,
with wooden frames \\ feet in height, with ropes
stretched lengthwise and crosswise, on which a mat-
tress is laid. The pictures of Egyptian beds that
have been preserved may give an idea of the beds
used. Mosquito-netting {Kuvurrelov) was probably
introduced into Palestine during the Hellenistic
period (Judith x. 4, xiii. 9, xvi. 19). As the bed
took the place of the modern sofa, there was no
other comfortable piece of furniture for sitting in
or reclining upon except chairs.
The Chair : Nothing is known of the form of the
chair (" kisse "). It may be assumed that, like the
bed, it was similar to the Egyptian, although it
may have resembled the small, low stools on which
modern Orientals squat in the cafes. In any case
chairs were necessary pieces of furniture among the
ancient Hebrews, who sat during meals, and did not
recline like the Greeks and Romans.
The Table : As its Hebrew name, "shulhan," in-
dicates, the table in its primitive form consisted of a
round piece of leather spread on the ground. Along
the edge were rings through which a rope was
drawn, and by means of which, on the march, the
table was hung like a bag from the saddle of the
camel. When the Hebrews were settled in fixed
abodes the piece of leather was superseded by a
Purniture
Flirst, Julius
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
632
round mat woven of more substantial material, or
was made of metal, and it was laid upon a low stool.
Such tables are still in general use. With this kind
of table, chairs were not used, but the people squatted
on the ground, with the legs crossed. It is interest-
ing to note that the table of showbread represented
on the triumphal arch of Titus is only a little over
a foot high(comp. I Mace. iv. 49). Higher tables ne-
cessitating chairs were, however, also used (I Sam.
XX. 25; IKingsxiii. 20; corap. II Kings iv. 10).
The Lamp : Regarding lamps or candlesticks
("ner," "menorah") the discoveries at Tell al-Hasi,
probably the ancient Lachish, furnish ample in-
formation (comp. the reports on the same, and the
numerous illustrations in Flinders-Petrie, "Tell el-
Hesy," London, 1891). As was the case in Greece
and Rome, open bowls with beaks or earthen vessels
with beaks were used, a lighted wick being placed
in the beak (" pishtah " ; Isa. xlii. 3, xliii. 17). Many
current expressions — as, for example, " his lamp shall
be put out " (Prov. xx. 20), meaning that he and his
whole l)ouse shall perish (comp. Jer. xxv. 10; Prov.
xiii. 9; Jobxviii. 5, xxi. 17; I Kings xi. 36) — indicate
that it was customary in ancient times to keep the
lamp burning perpetually (" ner tamid "). The same
custom still obtains among the fellaheen of Pales-
tine. The phrase "he sleeps in the dark " is equiv-
alent to saying that a person is ruined, not having
even the smallest coin wherewith to buy oil.
The brazier, for warming apartments in the win-
ter ("ah"; Jer. xxxvi. 22 et seq.), was perhaps not
used in remote antiquity, but it was considered in
later times a necessity in the houses of the nobles.
The brazier is still used in the East.
See also Baking ; Cookery.
E. G. H. I. Be.
In Talmudic Times : The dining-room in Tal-
mudic times was usually provided with two tables :
the dining-table ("shulhan"), and a side-table
("delfike," dtXtpiKr/) on which the servants placed
the dislies. The dining-table had three legs and a
square base and probably a square top (Kil. xxii. 2).
It was usually of wood ; but sometimes it was made
of pottery, marble, or metal (Tosef., Oh. xvi. 2; Kil.
ii. 3, xii. 2, xiv. 1 ; Yer. Ber. 12a). Wooden tables
were often provided with marble tops; occasionally
the top was partly of wood, partly of marble (Kil.
xxiii. 1). In later times it was cus-
Tables. tomary to provide a small table for
each person (Ber. 46b, end). Some-
times the tables were suspended by rings (B. B.
57b). Some tables could be taken apart ("shulhan
shel perakim"); in that case the parts were joined
by hinges. The side-table had three carved legs,
and was usually placed on a stand.
There were other pieces of furnituie which occa-
sionally served as tables. To these belong the
" tabla " (Shab. 143a), a slab of wood, pottery, mar-
ble, metal, or glass; the "tarkas" (Tosef., Kelim,
B. M. iii. 3), on which, it seems, the drinks were
prepared ("tarkas" was used also to designate a
sideboard, attached to the wall by hinges in order
that it might be put up and down); and the "dah-
winah" (Tosef., Kelim, B. M. v.), a board used to
improvise a table at a wedding. Round pieces of
leather * or leather covers occasionally served as
tables ; they are still in use for this purpose among
the Bedouins, who call them "sufrah."
In rabbinical literature chairs are designated
by the three terms "kisse," "safsal," "katedrah."
" Kisse " designates usually a chair on
Chairs. a square framework, without arms or
back, the seat consisting of several
bars, usually three (Kelim xxii. 6). The "kisse te-
raskal" (Num. R. xii. 49) was a three-legged chair
having a seat of wood, or sometimes of leather (Kelim
xxii. 7), which could be folded. " Safsal " designates
a bench capable of seating several persons. It was
especially adapted to public places, and was used
in schools, baths, and hostelries. Usually it was
made of wood, but sometimes also of stone, pottery,
or glass. The katedrah in certain cases had a re-
clining form, so that the occupant when seen from a
distance seemed to be standing (comp. Ex. R. xliii.
11). To the katedrah was attached a footstool
(" sherafraf," " ipofodin," " kisse she-lifne katedrah " ;
Kelim xxii. 3; Targ. Yer. Ex. xxiv. 10; Yer. Hag.
ii. 77). The katedrah was used mostly by women
(comp. Ket. 59b). Mention may also be made of the
night-chair ("asla"; Kelim xx. 10) and of litters and
sedans, which constituted a part of the furniture.
To these latter belonged the " appiryon " {(popeiov),
especially designed to carry the bride to the house of
her husband. It was covered and closed by cur-
tains. Its sides were made of large boards which
were provided with four legs, sometimes with more
(Tosef., Kelim, B. M. viii. 3).
The term " mittah " is used in rabbinical literature
to denote both a bed and a couch for reclining at
meals (Bezah 22b; Tosef., Ber. v. 5;
Beds. and many other passages). The beds
were usually so wide that they could be
occupied by three persons (comp. Nid. 61a). They
were of wood, pottery, or glass. The bedstead con-
sisted of four boards supported by four legs. At its
head there were sometimes two poles from which cur-
tains were suspended (" kilah " ; Suk. 10b). Similar
poles were also fixed at the foot. The bedding of
the poor consisted usually of a mat ("mahzelet ") of
reeds or bulrushes (Suk. 19b). The rich used costly
hides ("katbulya"; Tosef., Shab. iii. 17; Kelim xxvi.
5). The beds were often so high that they could be
reached only by footstools. There were also state
beds, with footstools which are designated as "dar-
gash " (Ned. 56a; see Maimonides' commentary on
the Mishnah ad loc). The couch for reclining at
meals, called sometimes "akkubitun" (="accubi-
tum"; Lev. R. vii. 11; Yalk., Num. 777), was pro-
vided with a back. Children's beds (" 'arisah ") were
not essentially different from those of adults.
Household articles were usually kept in a chest
(" tebah ") of wood, glass, or horn. The chests were
either provided with eight legs or had projecting
bases. The lid sometimes was fitted
Chests. with a smaller lid through which
small articles could be withdrawn
(Kelim xvi. 7). The chest itself was often divided
into compartments ("megirot"; Kelim xix. 7). Of
the same material and dimensions was the " shiddah,"
which seems to have opened at the side. Its com-
partments were either fixed or in the form of drawers
(Tosef., Kelim, B. M. viii. 1). The shiddah was fit-
633
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Furniture
FiirBt, Julius
ted with wheels (" mukeni " ; Kelira xviii. 2). The
" migdal " was similar to the modern closet. The
"kamtara" was a receptacle for books and clothes,
as was also the " kupsa," though it differed from the
former in that it could be locked (Kelim xvi. 7).
Besides these boxes and chests there was a great
variety of baskets, barrels, and casks in which the
different articles of the household were kept.
Mirrors ("ma'rah," or "re'i ") were usually made
of metal (Tosef., Kelim, B. M. iv. 2) ; in
Mirrors later times tliere were also glass mirrors
and Lamps, ("ispaklarya," "spaklarya"). There
were hand-mirrors and wall-mirrors
(Shab. 149a; Tosef., Shab. xviii. 6).
Tlie primitive lamp was the "lappid," which con-
sisted of a pot of clay or metal in which any kind
of light was carried (Kelim ii. 8). A commoner and
more complicated one was the "ner," which con-
sisted of an earthen pot provided with an opening
at the top into which the oil was poured. On the
edge of the pot was a wick-holder. The wick was
made of flax, or of the fibers of otlier plants (Shab.
ii. 3 ; Tosef. , Shab. ix. 5). Occasionally utensils such
as mugs, plates, etc., were used as lamps ; but a spe-
cial glass utensil called " 'ashashit " was in more gen-
eral use. Lamp-holders (" pamot ") were occasionally
used. A holder which could support several lamps
was called "menorah." Mention is made in the
Mishnah of lamp-holders whose parts could be sep-
arated ("menorah shel hulyot"; Bezah 22a). The
term " menorah " designated also a candelabrum.
The " pukti " is sometimes mentioned as a lamp-
holder (Tosef., Kelim, B. M. ii. 6) and sometimes as
a lamp (Tosef., Shab. x. 7).
Bibliography: Johann Krenpel, Dok HausgerUt in der
Mischnah, Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1899.
8. 8. I. Br.
FTJRST, ALEXANDER: German physician;
born at Braunsberg April 15, 1844; died in Berlin
May 25, 1898. He studied medicine at Konigsberg,
and took liis degree at Berlin (1867). An assistant
first in a private hospital at Schoneberg, near Ber-
lin, and afterward in Dr. Schneller's ophthalmic
institute at Danzig, he became a practising phy-
sician in Memel (1869). He served through the
Franco-Prussian war as military physician, return-
ing at its conclusion (1871) to Memel, where he was
one of the founders of a small hospital, and where
he also engaged in scientific work. Patients even
from the' interior of Russia came to him for oph-
thalmic treatment. He was the first to discover lep-
rosy in East Prussia, and among the first there to
treat granular inflammation of the eyes. The meas-
ures taken by the government to oppose the spread
of these diseases were due to him. In 1884 he re-
moved to Berlin, where he became a " people's doc-
tor" in the best sense of the term.
Bibliography : Bettelheim, Brnq. Jahrbuch, 1900, ill. 129-130 ;
AUg. Zeit. des Jud. June 3, 1898.
s. N. D.
FtJRST, JTTLnJS: German rabbi; born at
Mannheim Nov. 14, 1826; died there Sept. 5, 1899.
He received his secular education at the University
of Heidelberg, and became rabbi at Endingen(1854),
at Merchingen (1857), and district rabbi at Bayreuth
(1858). In 1873 Flirst received a call as rabbi to
Mayence, but in June of the same year returned to
his native city, where for twenty years he was active
as rabbi of the Klaussynagoge. His principal lit-
erary activity was in tlie province of Hebrew lexi-
cography, and he has published on this subject many
valuable essays in Rahmer's "Jild. Lit.-Blatt," in
the "Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenlandischen
Gesellschaft," in the "R. E. J.," in the "Monats-
schrift," etc. He contributed to Winter and
Wilnsche's "Die Jlidische Literatur" the account
of the Midrashim, Mekilta, Sifra, Sifre, Tanhuma,
and Yelammedenu. Beside many sermons Fiirst
published "Das Peinliche Rechtsverfahren im Jil-
dischen Alterthum: Ein Beitrag zur Entscheidung
der Frage ilber Aufhebung der Todesstrafe" (Heidel-
berg, 1870), and "Glossarium Grieco-Hebrseum"
(Strasburg, 1890). In the " Glossarium " Fiirst
treated of the Greek words in midrashic literature,
showing a marked tendency toward ascribing to
them a Greek origin.
Bibliography: Oe»terreiclmche Wochenschrift, 1899, No.
40 ; Bacher, in Z. D. M. G. xlv. 505-10.
S.
FiJRST, JULIUS (pseudonym, Alsari : niJ'ijK,
^INTPX): German Hebraist and Orientalist ; born May
12, 1805, at Zerkowo,
Prussia, where his
father, Jacob, was dar-
shan ; died at Leipsic
Feb. 9, 1873. Furst
studied at Berlin
(where Hegel and Ne-
ander were among his
teachers), Breslau, and
Halle (at the latter
place under Gesenius),
taking his degree in
1832. He settled in
Leipsic as privat-do-
cent, lecturing on Chal-
daic, Syriac, Hebrew
grammar and litera-
ture. Biblical exegesis,
etc. In 1864, on the
completion of his twenty-fifth year as pri vat-do-
cent, he received the title of " professor " from the
Saxon state, and was honored by election to several
scientific societies. Fiirst wrote :
Lehrgebaude der Aramalschen Idiome, Oder Formenlehre der
Chaldalschen Grammatik, Leipsic, 1835.
Haruze Peninlm. Perlenschniire Araraaischer Gnomen und
Lleder, Oder Aramaische Chrestomathie, ib. 1836 (published as a
text^book to the "Lehrgebaude").
OzerLeshonha-Kodesh. Concordantla Librorum Veterls Tes-
tamentl Sacrorum, etc., ib. 1837-40 (In collaboration with Franz
Delltzsch; a revision of Buxtorf's concordance). See Con-
cordance.
Pirke Abot. Die Spruche der Vater. ib. 1839.
Arl Nohem. Polemic on the genuineness of the Zohar, etc.,
ih. 1840.
Hebraisches und Chaldalsches Schulworterb. Ober das Alte Tes-
tament, ib. 1842 (translated into English, Swedish, and Dutch).
Maggld Emet. Die Mission des Dr. Lilienthal in Russland
Beleuchtet und in Ihren Unseligen Folgen Dargestelt, ib. 1843.
Fiirst only edited the book, written by the modern Hebrew
scholar Mordecai Aaron Giinzburg, as a response to Lilienthal's
Urkunden zur Gesch. der Juden, part 1, ib. 1844.
Emunot we-De'ot, Oder Glaubenslehre und Phllosophle von
Sa'adja FayyOml (German transl.). ib. 1845.
Julius Furst.
Fiirst, Iiivius
Furtado, Abraham
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
534
Cultur- und Lltteraturgesch. der Juden In Asien, part 1, ih. 1849.
Hebraisches und Chaldalsches Handworterb. uber das Alte
Testament, 3 vols., ib. 1857-61 (with a supplement: Zur Gesch. der
Hebraisehen Lexicographle, translated into English by S. David-
son).
Gesch. des Karaerthums, 3 vols., Leipsic, 1862-69.
Bibliotheca Judaica : Ulbliographisches Handbuch, Umtaasend
die Driickwerke der Jiidischen Litteratur. etc., 3 vols., ib. 1863.
Gesch. der Bibllschen Litteratur und des Judisch-Hellenisti-
schen Schriftthums, 2 vols., ib. 1867-70.
Der Kanon des Alien Testaments nach deu Ueberliefeningen
In Talmud und Midrasch, ib. 1868.
Illustrierte Prachtblbel, comprising twenty-four books of Holy
Scripture, with German translation and explanatory notes,
ieipsic, 1874.
Flirst was the founder (1840) and editor of the
-weekly "Der Orient," the supplement of which,
the " Literaturblatt," possesses great scientific value.
In this and other periodicals he published many es-
;says, criticisms, and scientific treatises. He also
edited for some years the "Sabbathblatt," founded
1842. In addition he contributed to various works
"by other authors. Thus, for Zunz's Bible he trans-
lated the books of Daniel and Ezra (1838), and for
Goldenthal's ]V'^^ pCJ'K"! (1845) wrote a treatise on
the Talmudic explanation and interpretation of
proper names. Franz Delitzsch's "Zur Gesch. der
Judischen Poesie" (Leipsic, 1836) was largely in-
spired by Fiirst.
The scientific value of Filrst's works has been dis-
puted; some of them have become obsolete. The
" Geschichte des Karaerthums " and the " Bibliotheca
Judaica," however, are still indispensable reference-
books.
Bibliography: Delitzsch, Zwr Gesch. der Jiidischen Poesie, p.
124, where a didactic poem of Fiirst's, " Hok we-Emunah," com-
posed "from his Uth-22d year," Is mentioned, and which is
not otherwise known ; Furst, Bibl. Jud. i. 306 et seq.; Hil-
herg, Illustrierte Monatshefte, i. 133 et seq.; Steinschneider,
Hebr. Bibl. xlii. 140.
8. H. B.
FtJRST, LIVITJS : German physician ; born at
Leipsic May 27, 1840; son of the Orientalist Julius
Fiirst. Livius Fiirst studied at the universities of
Jena and Leipsic, graduating as doctor of medicine in
1864. After a postgraduate course at the universi-
ties of Prague and Vienna he returned to Leipsic,
where he established himself as a physician, making
a specialty of pediatrics. From 1865 to 1886 he was
director of the children's dispensary of the university
of that city. He took part in the wars of 1866 and
1870-71, during the first as department surgeon in a
hospital in his native town, and during the latter as
field-surgeon. In 1871 he became privat-docent in
the University of Leipsic, lecturing on gynecology,
pediatrics, and vaccination. He received the title
of " Sanitatsrat " in 1877. After a prolonged tour
of study through Germany, Belgium, Holland, and
Italy he founded (1878) in Leipsic a laboratorj-- for
animal lymph. Resigning his position at the uni-
versity in 1889, he moved some years later to Berlin,
where he is still (1903) practising.
Furst is a prolific writer on pediatrics, gynecologj',
vaccination, and hygiene, and has published numer-
ous essays in the medical journals. Among them
may be mentioned : " Die Maass- und Neigungs-
verhaltnisse des Mannlichen und Weiblichen Beck-
ens," Leipsic, 1875; "Die Hausliche Krankenpflege
mit Besonderer Beriicksichtigung des Kindes," ib.
1892; "Die Klinstliche Ernahrung des Kindes im
Ersten Lebeusjahre," 2d ed., Berlin, 1895; "Das
Kind und Seine Pflege im Gesunden und Kranken
Zustande," 5th ed., Leipsic, 1897; " Die Pathologic
der Schutzpockenimpfung," Berlin, 1896; "Tasch-
enbuch der Harnanalyse," Basel and Leipsic, 1897;
"Vademecum der Weiblichen Gesundheitspflege,"
Wilrzburg, 1898; "Lexikon der Kinderkrankheiten
und der Kindererziehung " (the latter part by
Hans Suck), Berlin, 1900. In 1879 he published
in Leipsic a book of fairy-tales, entitled "Marchen-
dichtungen."
His two daughters, Else Fiirst (born at Leipsic
June 25, 1873) and Helene Fiirst (born at Leipsic
Nov. 25, 1877), have become prominent in artistic
circles, the former as a sculptress and the latter
as a violinist.
Bibliography : Pagel, Bvographisches Lexikon, s.v.
8. F. T. H.
FtJRSTENFELD : Town in Styria, Austria.
Jews began to settle there in 1278, Rudolph of
Habsburg having granted (1277) to its inhabitants
the usual franchises and rights of trade, and con-
firmed to the Jews the letter of privileges granted
them on July 1, 1244, by Duke Frederick. The
Jews enjoyed these privileges but a short time, for
in 1312 a persecution occurred at Filrstenfeld, the re-
port having been spread that the Jews had butch-
ered Christian children and had desecrated the host.
When the additional report was published that the
Jews of Judenburg had decided to murder all the
Christians on Christmas night, the mob fell upon
the Jews and massacred them, many being burned
at the stake and but few escaping. In 1496 all Jews
were expelled from Styria. Only a few are now
living at Filrstenfeld.
G. S. Mu.
FURSTENTHAL, JACOB RAPHAEL (or
RAPHAEL JACOB) : German poet, translator,
and Hebrew writer; born in Glogau 1781; died at
Breslau Feb. 16, 1855. Fiirstenthal's attention was
directed chiefly toward the modernization of Jewish
religious services, both in and out of
As the synagogue, and to this end he
Translator, translated into German the most im-
portant liturgical books. These ver-
sions became very popular among the German Jews;
and, in spite of many subsequent translations, they
have retained their popularity to the present time.
To some of them, as, for instance, the Penitential
Prayers, he added excellent Hebrew commentaries.
Furthermore, he did much creditable work in philo-
sophical and exegetical literature. His German
translations of and Hebrew commentaries to the
" Moreh Nebukim " of ]VIoses Maimonides and the
" Hobot ha-Lebabot " of Bahya ibn Pakuda, and
especially his large Hebrew commentary to the
whole Bible, evidence his great versatility in Tal-
mudic and Midrashic literature.
Fiirstenthal's main importance, however, lies in
his activity as a national Hebrew poet. His poetic
productions have a genuine classic
National ring, and are distinguished by ele-
Hebrew gance of diction, richness of thought,
Poet. and true, unaffected national feeling.
His power shows itself at its height
in his "Song on Zion" ("Ha-Meassef," 1810, iv.
37), which is considered the best of his numerous
535
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Furst , Liivius
Furtado, Abraham
poems. In German, too, Fiirstenthal has shown
remarkable poetic talent in his rhythmical trans-
lations of various piyyutim, as, for example, his
translation of the "pizmon" '131 npnvn '1 i? in the
minhah prayer for the Day of Atonement.
The following is a complete list of Filrstenthal's
writings in their chronological order: various con-
tributions to "Ha-Meassef," 1810-11; contributions
to "Resise ha-Melizah," a collection of poems and
epigrams, Breslau, 1820-22; "Paradigmen der He-
braischen Conjugationen und Declinationen," ib.
1826; Selihot, translated into German together with
a Hebrew commentary ("Metib Safah"), to which
is added a description (in German) of the service of
the high priest in the Sanctuary on
"Works. the Day of Atonement, ib. 1826; " Ha-
Meassef," containing Hebrew and Ger-
man poems, mostly his own, ib. 1829, 1832; "Dabar
be-'Itto," an ode in German and Hebrew written
on the cessation of an epidemic of cholera, ib. 1832;
"Das Judenthum in Staatsburgerlicher Beziehung,"
ib. 1832; "Rabbinische Anthologie," ib. 1834; "Die
Manner Gottes, oder Biblische Charakteristik," a
translation of M. B. Friedcnthal's " Yesod ha-Dat,"
Berlin, 1835; German translation of the "Hobot ha-
Lebabot," with a Hebrew commentary ("Or la-
Yesharim"), Breslau, 1835; "Ebel Yahid,"ail elegy
on the death of Akiba Eger, ib. 1838; German trans-
lation of the "Moreh Nebukim," with a Hebrew
commentary (first part only), Krotoschin, 1839 (an
appendix to this work was published by Fiirsten-
thal, Leipsic, 1839) ; Bible, under the general title
"Or le-Yisrael," with Hebrew commentary ("Bi'ur
we-SomSekel"), Krotoschin, 1839-43; German trans-
lation of "Kol Sason," liturgies for Purim and the
fast of Esther, containing also a supercommentary
(" Pittuhe Hotam ") to the commentary of Abra-
ham ibn Ezra on the Book of Esther, ib. 1840 (2d
ed., ib. 1845); "Mazkeret Ahabah," poem by B.
Schweitzer, metrically translated into German, Bres-
lau, 1841; "Tenubot Sadeh," poems and epigrams
by S. N. Rosenfeld, translated into German, ib. 1842 ;
"Das Jildische Traditionswesen," a translation of
Maimonides' introduction to the Mishnah, with ex-
planatory annotations, ib. 1842 ; German translation
of "i\Ia'aneh Lashon," Krotoschin, 1844; "Menorat
ha-Ma'or " by Isaac Aboab, German translation (com-
pleted by Bcnzion Behrend), 3 vols., ib. 1844-48;
German translation of "Kol Beki," liturgy for the
Ninth of Ab, with a history of the destruction of the
Temple, 2d ed., ib. 1845; German translation of
Mahzor for all festivals, under the general title
"Minhah Hadashah," 3 vols., ib. 1845.
Bibliooraphy; Delitzsch, Zur Gesch. der JUdUchen Poesi'e,
pp. ire, 10(5, Leipsic, 1836 ; AUq. Zeit. des Jud. 1855, p. 121 ;
Geiger's JVid. Zcit. v. 2.
S. IT. ]\I.
FtJRSTENTHAL, JOHANN AUGUST L. :
German jurisconsult of the first half of the nine-
teenth century ; a brother of Jacob Raphael Fiirsten-
thal. He embraced Christianity. He was the au-
thor of numerous works and monographs on Roman
and commercial law, and jurisprudence in general,
of which the following may be mentioned : " Real-
encyclopadie des Gesammten in Deutschland Gelten-
den AllgemeinenRechtes" (Berlin, 1826-27); "Lehr-
■.-.•■;>* ~ ,1.
■■^■' . ■>:..v;>^m
<!»ni"^j
s
'i'rft
m
Whi
1
UfWii
jj^l
Uitii
il
Abraham Furtado.
buch des Preussischen Civil- und Criminalprocesses "
(K&nigsberg, 1827-28); "Corpus Juris Civilis, Ca-
nonic! et Germanic! Reconcinnatum," etc. (Berlin,
1828); "Corpus Juris Academicum " (Berlin, 1829);
"Handbuch liber die Departements-, Kreis- und
Communal-Verwaltungder Neumark und der Dazu
Incorporirten Lande " (Berlin, 1831).
Bibliography : Fiirst, Bibliotheca Judaica, 1. 308 et seq.
8. A. M. F.
FURTADO, ABRAHAM: French politician;
born at London 1756; died at Bordeaux Jan. 29,
1816. His parents were members of a Portuguese
Marano family, and resided first in Lisbon. During
the earthquake which
destroyed that city
in 1755 his father was
killed, but his mother
escaped and went to
London, where she
openly embraced Ju-
daism. A year after
the birth of Abraham
she removed to Ba-
yonne, and later to
Bordeaux, where
Furtado was edu-
cated. For a short
time he followed a
mercantile career, but
soon turned his atten-
tion to the sale of
land. His leisure
hours he applied to
scientific researches. When in 1789 Malesherbes
convened a commission of Jews to consider proposals
for the improvement of their condition, Furtado and
Gradis were called as members from the south of
France, Cerf-Berr and Isaac Berr from the north.
Furtado's friendship with the Girondists caused his
exile (1793) and the confiscation of his property.
The fall of the terrorists made it possible for him
to return to Bordeaux.
When in 1806 Napoleon summoned to Paris one
hundred of the leading Jews for consultation, Fur-
tado was among them, and was elected president of
this body, which became known as the "Assembly
of Notables." Its deliberations led to the conve-
ning of the Sanhedrin, which opened Feb. 9, 1807 ;
on this occasion Furtado acted as speaker for the
committee appointed to draw up resolutions.
When tlie Sanhedrin was suddenly dissolved, and
the Assembly of Notables reconvened, Furtado acted
as its secretary, but eventually returned to Bor-
deaux. When Napoleon's power was overthrown
in 1814, Furtado joined the royalists, but refused a
political position during the Hundred Days. In 1815
he was appointed treasurer of the city of Bordeaux
by Louis XVIII., and held the position until his
sudden death in the following year.
The works he left were incomplete. Furtado was
the founder of a well-known French family.
Bibliography: Michel Berr, Eloge d" Abraham Furtado,
Paris, 1817; Spazler, in GaUeric der Aiu<gezeirhnetsteti Is-
raeliten Alter Jahrhxinderte . pp. 40 et seq., Stuttpart, 1834;
Gratz, Gesch. der Juden, Leipsic, 1900, xi., s.v.; idem. His-
tory of the Jews, Philadelphia, 1898, v., s.r.
E. c. F. T. H.
Furtado, Auguste
Fiirth
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
536
FURTADO, AUGTJSTE : French banker ; born
at St. Esprit April 11, 1797; died at Bayonne May
20, 1«83. He was a descendant of a Portuguese
family, and a neplievv of Abraham Furtado, presi-
dent of Napoleon's Assembly of Jewish Notables.
From 1831 to 1871, with but little interruption, he
was a member of the municipal council of Bayonne
(1831-51 and 1855-71), serving twice as mayor (1851
and 1869). He was a member of the chamber of
commerce (1859-78), and its vice-president in 1878 ;
and was administrator of the Bayonne branch of the
Bank of France from 1861 up to the time of his
death. In 1851 he became chevalier of the Legion of
Honor; in 1879 officier de I'Academie, and officier de
rinstruction Publique. He took au active share in
Jewish matters, and was president of the Jewish
consistory of Bayonne from 1846 to the end of his
life. "With him the family of Furtado, which had
taken so prominent a part in the history of France,
and especially in
French Judaism, be-
came extinct.
Bibliography:^ r-
chiveK Israelites, 1883,
pp. 174-177.
6. A. R.
FURT A D O -
HEINE, CECILE
CHARLOTTE:
French philanthro-
pist; born at Paris
1821; died at Roc-
quencourt (Seine-et-
Oise) 1896. Her an-
cestors on both sides
were prominent in
French politics. She
married Charles
Heine, the cousin of
the poet, and at her husband's death inherited his
large fortune.
Among the more important of her numerous char-
itable works were the equipment and maintenance
of an ambulance service in Paris duiing the Franco-
Prussian war and the establishment of a dispensary
for children in one of the Jewish quarters. She was
a most liberal supporter of the Pasteur Institute.
In 1896 she established a hospital with accommoda-
tions for one hundred children. She also endowed
at Nice a sanitarium for convalescent officers of the
French army.
In 1896 the president of the French republic con-
ferred upon her the order of the Legion of Honor.
Bibliography : Nouveau Larousse, Paris, 1903, s.r.
E. c. F. T. H.
FtJRTH : City of Bavaria, Germany. On April
17, 1528, George the Pious, Margrave of Ansbach,
permitted two Jews, Perman and Uriel Wolff, to set-
tle under his protection at Flirth,
Early Set- which was in his territory; and in
tlements. 1553 the Prince Bishop of Bamberg
permitted three Jewish families —
probably emigrants from Old Bavaria — to settle at
Ftlrth on a piece of property belonging to the provost
of the Bamberg cathedral. The free imperial city of
Jewesses of
(After an
Nuremberg, which had expelled its Jews in 1499,
vainly protested against the settlement of a Jewish
community in its vicinity ; Jews continued to come
to Flirth ; and after their expulsion from Vienna in
1670, the Bavarian city became more and more a
place of refuge for the banished. The two com-
munities which gradually developed in Bamberg
and Ansbach were bound together by common in-
ternal interests, and tended more and more to fuse
into one, especially after 1690.
Owing to tlie rivalry between Bamberg and Ans-
bach, which manifested itself in part in the granting
of privileges to the Jews, the condition of the latter
at Flirth was better than elsewhere in the country.
Moreover, on March 2, 1719, the cathedral provost
of Bamberg confirmed the Jews in all their privi-
leges, and in addition allowed them to send two
Jewish representatives to the city council. For
these privileges the Jews paid protection-money
amounting in the ag-
gregate to 2,500 flor-
ins yearly, which
sum by 1754 was in-
creased to 4,500 flor-
ins. The few Jews
who belonged to the
Margrave of Ans-
bach, and who in 1719
passed under the rule
of the cathedral pro-
vost of Bamberg, paid
their lord a yearly
protection-tax of 10
florins per family.
The Jewish com-
munity of Fiirth
formed an independ-
ent body with a re-
publican constitu-
tion. It was governed by a senate consisting of
twenty-one men, from among whom were chosen the
"barnossen " (= "parnasim") — that is,
Internal the heads of the congregation — who
Affairs. alternated every month in occupying
the honorary position of president of
the congregation. For policing and in all matters of
discipline the senate had to draw upon the support of
the civil government. A foreign Jew was admitted to
the body only with the consent of the members, but
the community was not limited to a certain number,
as was elsewhere the case (see Fa-miliakten-gesetz).
The judicial organization, at the head of which was
the chief rabbi, was distinguished from that in
other communities by the fact that an appeal from
a decision of a Jewish court was not carried to the
superior Christian government, but to other rabbin-
ical courts of the second or even third instance. In
1728 the senate passed a set of laws which regu-
lated not only the religious but even the social life
of the community.
The happy condition of the Jews caused the rapid
growth and prosperity of the community and city.
At the beginning of the eighteenth century there
were from 350 to 400 taxable Jewish families, of
whom 100 were house-owners; while at the end of
the century the community probably numbered 3,000
Furth in 17U5.
old engraviog.)
637
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Furtado, Augruste
Furth
members. These Jews had commercial relations
with many German courts, were engaged to a great
extent in manufactures, and monopolized banking.
Dohm, in his " Ueber die Biirgerliche Verbesserung
der Juden," cites the Jt'wi,sh community of Furth as
an instance of the fact that those localities are pros-
perous where Jews are not oppressed.
Some Jews became tlie financial agents of the
princes, and Court Jews acquired political influ-
ence with the margraves of Ansbach. The most
famous of the court Jews was Elkan Frankel, son of
Enoch Levi of Vienna; he was the victim of a court
intrigue and of his own ambition, dragging with
him in his fall his brother, the cabalist Hirsch Fran-
kel (1712). In tlie eighteenth century the family of
Gabriel Frilnkel— court purveyor and banker — at
Fiirth carried on very extensive commercial trans-
(d. 1683); Wolf ben Meir of Buczacz; Samuel of Wodzlslaw
(1691-94); Eliezer ben Mordecai Heilprin (d. 1700); Biirmann
Frilnkel (1700-08); Baruch Rapoport (1710-46); David Strauss (d.
176:.'): Joseph Steinhart (d. 1776k Hirsch Janow (d. 17a5); Me-
shullam Zalman Cohn (d. 1819); Isaac Lowi (1830-73); JJr. Neu-
biirger, who entered ofHce in 1875, and who is still (19ft3) offici-
ating.
The chief synagogue ("Altschul"), which stands
in a venerable courtyard, was built in 1616-17 and en-
tirely renovated in 1865. It contains many vahiable
memorials of the Viennese exiles who settled at Fiirth.
The other principal synagogue (" Kaalscliule ") was
founded in 1697 ; besides there are a number of smaller
synagogues. The cemetery is mentioned as early as
1604, and contains many interesting tombstones;
further burials therein will, it is thought, soon be
prohibited. The old hospital, dating from the mid-
dle of the seventeenth century, was replaced by a
The Old and New Synagogues at forth in 1705.
(After AQ engraviug by J. A. Boener.)
actions with the Margrave of Ansbach. A favorite
of this same prince and a resident of his court w^as
Isaac Nathan, who met with a fate similar to Elkan
FrUnkel's. Among the later court agents who were
preferred by tlie margraves as financiers and busi-
ness agents, mention may be made of Meir Berlin,
great-grandfather of Samuel Berlin, the privy coun-
cilor at Fiirth.
The comnmnity at Fiirth was a center of Jewish
learning. Young men came from all quarters to
study at its Talmudic school; and nu-
merous works issued from the print-
ing-press established there in 1690.
The fame of Fiirth rests chiefly upon
its learned rabbis, of whom a list follows, as nearly
as possible in chronological order:
Slmson ben Joseph; Menahem Man Ashkenazl (d. 1655);
Aaron Samuel Kaidanower (c. 1660); Meir ben Asher ha-Levl
Habbis and
Insti-
tutions.
new one in 1846. The orphan asylum, founded by
Israel Lichtenstadt of Prague in 1763, is the oldest
institution of its kind in Germany, and has received
a number of rich endowments. The Jewisli high
school ("Biii-gerschule ") was opened in 1863. Tiiere
are funds for the support of small congregations and
poor students.
In the course of tiie first half of the nineteenth
century, when the community of Fiirth made great
advances in trade and manufacturing — especially in
the production and export of toys, mirrors, and
bronzes — Fiirth was called "Little Jerusalem."
Among its many prominent Jewish citizens are the
following:
Simon Konlgswart !r, mker. and bis son Dr. Wilhelm Konigs-
warter, honorary freeii.^ii -f the city, both of whom liberally
endowed institutions of 3 11 sects ; Dr. Grunsfeld, who became a
lawyer in 1834, and was thu first Jew to follow this profession
Fiirth
G-abbai
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
538
In Bavaria ; Dr. David Morgenstern, first Jewish deputy (1849)
to ttie Bavarian Diet ; Solomon Berolzhelmer, the first Jew to
hold a position In the municipal admlnistrar
Prominent tlon of Fiirth, and, later on, member of the
Citizens, county board ("Landrath ") ; David Otten-
soser, a well-known Hebraist; Dr. Ortenau,
notary and auditor for the militia ; Dr. Brentano, principal of
the royal commercial and Industrial school. In 1878 there
were no less than four Jewish members of the magistracy
and eleven Jewish representatives of the city. Dr. Landmann
was for several sessions president of the entire body of repre-
sentatives.
Recentlj' Nuremberg has developed into a power-
ful commercial rival of Fllrth; and, in consequence,
the community which about 1870, when it had
reached its highest development, numbered 3,300
souls, has been reduced to about 3,000. Neverthe-
less the Jewish community of Fiirth still occupies
a prominent place among the German congrega-
tions.
Bibliography : Wurfel, Historischc Nachricht von der Ju-
denyemeinde Fllrth, 1754; Saueracker, Gesch. V(m FUrtfi,
1786; Fronmuller, Chronik der Stadt FUrth, 1872; Sax, Die
Synagoge in Fiirth; S. Haenle, Gesch. der Juden im Ehe-
maligen FlXrtstentum A.)inbach, 1867; H. Barbeck, Gesch.
der Juden in Nllrnberg und FUrtli, 1878 ; Lowenstein, Me-
morbilcher. In Zeitschrift fllr Gesch. der Juden in Deutsch-
land, l.-ii.; D. Kaufmann, Die Letzte Vertrcibung der Ju-
den aus Wien, 1889; A. Eckstein, Zur Gesch. der Juden in
Fllrth, in AUg. Zeitung des Judenthums, 1894; B. Ziemlich,
Eine Biicherconfiscatinn zu FUrth Anno 1712, in Kauf-
mann Gedenkbnch, 1900; Hebr. Bibl. 1868, 1878; Monats-
schrift, 1873, 1898, 1900 ; M. Brann, Eine Sammlung Farther
Grabschriften, in Kaufmann Oedenkbuch, pp. 385 et seq.
D. A. E.
FURTH, MEYER B. ELHANAN : German
writer and teacher, who belonged only in a re-
stricted sense to the school of the Meassetim, for he
was a conservative and wrote against Reform and
reformers. He annotated a mathematical work by
Abraham Joseph Mentz (Mayence) that had ap-
peared in Berlin in 1775, and wrote the following
Hebrew and German works: " Anfangsgriinde der
Algebra," Leipsic, 1806-08; "Entwurf zur Selbst-
verstandniss Eines Immerwahrendeu Kalenders,"
ibid., 1810; "Parpera'ot la-Hokmah," a commentary
on the "Sefer 'Ibronot" (first published by Seb.
Mlinster), with German transl., Dessau, 1811; "Shc-
lemut we-Zurat ha-Nefesh," Moses Mendelssohn's
" Ueber die Seele," Mith a commentary in refutation
of Mendelssohn's views, ib. 1810; "Kebod Elohim,"
a polemic against the Reform movement, German
ed., ib. 1812; " Dibre Yosher," a polemic against I.
Wolf and G. Salomon's book "Der Charakter des
Judenthums," and against the latter's "Selimas
Stunden der Weihe," in Judseo-German, ib. 1818;
"Freimilthige Gedanken." a portion of the prece-
ding work in German, ib. 1818; " Yir'at Shamayim,"
a commentary to Maimonides' " Yad," Kiddush ha-
Hodesh, together with Scriptural comments and
novelise, ib. 1830-21.
Bibliography: Steinsehneider, Cat. Bodl. col. 1697; Fiirst,
Bibl. Jud. i. 310; ZeitUn, Bibl. Post-MemleU. p. 107.
s. H. B.
G
GABBAI (lit. "receiver") : Tax-collector; in
modern usage, treasurer of a synagogue. In Tal-
mudic times the alms of the congregation appear to
have been collected by two persons (B. B. 8b), but
the term " gabbai " seems to have been restricted
to publicans or tax-gatherers. A pious man who
became gabbai or tax-gatherer was expelled from
the company of other students of the Law (Yer.
Dem. ii. 23a). According to E. Hatch ("Organiza-
tion of the Christian Church," Oxford, 1888), the
office of bishop in the Christian Church was derived
from the treasurer of the synagogue, whose duties
are now performed by the person known as " gab-
bai." Certain persons in the Middle Ages adopted
the term as a surname, as Azan del Gabay at Tudola
(1367; Jacobs, "Sources," p. 90), and Abraham Gab-
bai at Bristol (1194; idem, "Jews of Angevin Eng-
land," pp. 347, 371).
In more recent times the chief function of the
gabbai among the Sephardim was to apportion the
FiNTA among the seat-holders of a congregation.
E. c. J.
GABBAI : A family the members of which were
found in Spain in the fifteenth century, and in Italy
and the Levant from the seventeenth onward.
Abraham Gabbai (Ysidro) : Hakam in Am-
sterdam, later in Surinam; died before 1757. He
wrote a cabalistic poem on the azharot entitled
"Yad A^braham," which his wife, Sarah Ysidro, had
printed, and which Abraham J. Basan published
(Amsterdam, 1757). Gabbai-Ysidro also wrote " Ser-
mon Predicado Neste K. K. de Talmud Torah . . .
em Sab. Wajikra e Ros Hodes" (Amsterdam, 1724).
Bibliography: Kayserling. Bibl. Esp.-Port.-Jud. p. 48;
Fiirst, Bibl. Jud. ill. 539.
K, M. K.
Abraham ben Jedidiah Gabbai : Printer of
Smyrna in the seventeenth century; probably born
at Leghorn, where his father opened a printing es-
tablishment about 1650. From there the latter re-
moved to Florence, and then to Smyrna, where Abra-
ham directed the business from 1659 to 1680. During
these twenty-one years he published thirteen works,
the last of which was "Gufe Halakot," by Solo-
mon Algazi (1680).
Bibliography: Steinsehneider and Cassel. Jiidi,sc?ie Tupo-
graphic; Ersch and Gruber, Enciic. section ii., part 28, pp.
62,64; Steinsehneider, Caf.BodL col. 2889; Furst, Bibl. Jud.
1. 311.
J. M. Set-.
Ezekiel Gabbai: Turkish official and author;
grandson of Ezekiel Gabbai ; born at Constanti-
nople 1825; died there 1848. He was at first an
official at the Ministry of Public Instruction, and
subsequently president of the Criminal Court. As
founder and editor of "El Jornal Israelith" (1860),
one of the first Judajo-Spanish papers of Constanti-
nople, he introduced many reforms into the commu-
nity of that city. He is the author of "The Organic
Statute of the Jewish Nation in Turkey " (in Turk-
539
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Furth
Qabbai
ish), a work that has been incorporated in the Otto-
man Civil Code. He also translated the Ottoman
Penal Code into Judaeo-8panish. One of his sons,
Isaac Gabbai, continues the publication of "El
Jornal Israelith" under the title "El Telegrafo."
Bibliography : M. Franco, Essai sur VHistoire des Israe-
lites lie VEmpire Ottoman.
s. M. Fr.
Isaac ben Solomon ibn Gabbai : Talmudic
scholar; flourished at Leghorn in the seventeenth
century. He was the author of a commentary on
the Mishnah, entitled "Kaf Nahat," published, to-
gether with the text, at Venice in 1614. Gabbai
drew most of his explanations from Rashl and Mai-
monides. He also wrote a commentary of the same
name on Pirke Abot (Altona, 1779).
Bibliography: Wolf, Bibl. Hebr. i. 652, iii. 559; Steinschnei-
der. Cat. Bodl. co\. 1110; Fiirst, Bibl. Jud. 1. 311; Bartoloccl,
Bibl. Rab. iii. 893.
D. M. Sel.
Jedidiah ben Isaac Gabbai : Italian printer of
the seventeenth century. In 1650 Gabbai estab-
lished a printing-press at Leghorn under the name
"La Stampa del Caf Nahat," in honor of his father's
work entitled " Kaf Nahat. " The first work to issue
from his press^was the "azharot" of Ibn Gabirol
and Isaac b. Reuben of Barcelona (1650). The title-
page bears the device of three crowns Avith the in-
scription "Sheloshah Ketarim." In 1658 he printed
the "Keneset ha-Gedolah " on the Shulhau 'Aruk,
Orah Hayyim. In 1659 Gabbai removed to Smyrna,
where, in partnership with his son Abraham. Gab-
bai, he published Manasseh b. Lsrael's "Mikweh
Yisrael " and " Apologia por la Noble Nacion de los
Judios," a Spanish translation of Edward Nicholas'
work. Thereafter he left the business entirely in
the hands of his son.
Bibliography: Fiirst, Bibl. Jud. i. 311 ; Steinschneidtr and
Cassel, Jlldische Tupngraphie, in Erseh and Gruber, Encjic.
section ii., part 28, pp. 62, 64 ; Steinschneider, Cat. Bodl. col.
2889.
J. M. Sel.
Meir b. Ezekiel ibn Gabbai : Cabalist ; born
in Spain toward the end of 1480; lived probably in
the East. He complained in his twenty-seventh
year that he had to work hard to support himself
and his family (see end of ''Tola'at Ya'akob ").
He was an enthusiastic cabalist, noted for thorough
mastery of the whole cabalistic lore, the most im-
portant points of which he, as far as can be judged
now, was the first of his generation to treat syste-
matically. He must be regarded, therefore, as the
precursor of Moses Cordovero and Isaac Luria. His
first work, completed in 1507 and held in high re-
gard, was "Tola'at Ya'akob," a cabalistic exposi-
tion of the prayer ritual. His chief work, which
he finished Dec. 22, 1530, after having spent eight
years on it, was "Mar'ot Elohim," in which he
expounds in detail his cabalistic system, making a
close study of Maimonides in order the better to re-
fute him. In 1539 he wrote an exposition and de-
fense of the Sefirot under the title " Derek Emunah,"
in answer to his pupil Joseph ha-Levi, who had
questioned him in regard to his doctrine of the Sefi-
rot, Gabbai basing his work on Azriel's "Perush
'Eser Sefirot."
Gabbai regarded the Zohar as the canonical book
of the Cabala. His system is tinged with pantheism.
God Himself, as the first cause of all causes, can
neither be conceived nor cognized, and can not even
be mentioned ; the name " En Sof " (Infinite) is a mere
makeshift. Even the Keter Elyon, the first Sefirah.
can not be conceived or imagined ; it is coeternal
with the En Sof, although only its effect; it is what
is called in Scripture "His Name." By means of it
the other sefirot emanated from God, being the
various manifestations through which the Godhead
makes Himself cognizable. To them the prayers
are addressed, and they are intended in the different
designations of God, whose relation to them is the
same as that of the soul to the body.
The other emanations are the seven "hekalot,"
Avhich proceed from the sefirot, and represent in a
way the feminine world as contrasted with the mas-
culine world of the sefirot; they are the real vessels
of the further development of the world. This ema-
nation of the world from God constitutes the " glory
of God." The consciousness of dependence on God,
with the striving toward Him in order to be united
and become one with Him, and thereby to acknowl-
edge His unity and effect its realization, is the
"yihud," "the conscious union with God," which is
the final aim of the world. Man, a reflection of the
highest "hekal," unites in his soul the rays of all
the sefirot, and in himself in general as microcosm
all the basic elements of being. His soul therefore
is in connection with the upper world, which it is
able to influence and stimulate by its actions and
aspirations; for everything that happens in this
world reaches in wave-like circles to the uppermost
regions. By recognizing and fulfilling the religious
and moral precepts man advances the harmonj' and
union of the various grades of creatures, and suc-
ceeds in performing his task in life — the bringing
about of the "yihud."
Gabbai 's son Hayyim was also a cabalist: and
his son-in-law Senior ben Judah Falcon published
Gabbai's first two books after his death, the "Tola'at
Ya'akob " wMth the aid of Abraham Reyna at Con-
stantinople in 1560, and "Mar'ot Elohim" at Venice
in 1567.
K. P. B.
Mordecai Gabbai : Italian physician; born at
Rome 1651. Mordecai and his whole family were
baptized on Feb. 14, 1683.
Nathan Gabbai of Tudela : Farmer-general
of the taxes and tolls of the kingdom of Navarre
from 1391 to 1407, for a time together with Juze
Orabuena and Judah Levi of Estella. In 1391 they
paid 72,000 livres for their privilege, the king re-
mitting 2.000 livres of this sum on account of the
poor returns. In 1392 the king empowered Gabbai
and Orabuena to apportion the taxes of the Jewish
communities of the country. Like other tax-farm-
ers, Gabbai supplied the king with grain, etc.
Bibliography: Jacobs, Sources, Nos. 1532. 1545. 1560, 1586;
Kayserling, Gesch. der Juden in Spanien, i. 59.
To the same family belong David Gabbai, who
in 14'.J2 leased 'he estate of Camarati from Nuno
Alvares Perein<. e of the greatest Portuguese gen-
erals ("Elucidano,' 1. 307); and Moses Gabbai,
who was related by iuarriage to Simeon Duran, and
Qabbatha
Gabriel
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
540
who left Navarre in 1391, and went to Honein (Sim-
eon Duran, Responsa, i. 26b).
Samuel Gabbai : Italian physician of the seven-
teenth century ; father of Mordecai Gabbai and a
descendant of the Spaniard Isaac Gabbai. During
the plague which raged at Rome in 1656-57 Gabbai
and his father showed extraordinary self-sacrifice
in tending the afflicted.
Bibliography : Vogelstein and Rieger, Gesch. der Juden in
Rom, ii. -'68, 288.
M. K.
Shem-Tob Gabbai : A rabbinical author ; lived
at Jerusalem in the middle of the eighteenth century.
He was a pupil of Hayyim ibn Attar, and author
of a collection of sermons entitled "Tob wa-Hesed."
Nissim Gabbai, also a rabbinical author, lived at
Jerusalem toward the end of theeighteentli century.
To him is attributed a volume of responsa in Hebrew
entitled " Peah Negeb " (Salonica, 1873).
BiBMOGRAPHV: AzuW, Shem ha-GedoUm, pp.39, 93; Kazan,
Ha-Ma'alot li-Shelomoh, p. 13.
G. M. Fr.
Solomon ben David Gabbai : Turkish scholar;
lived at Constantinople in the seventeenth century.
He was the author of an unpublished philosophical
work entitled "Ta'alumot Hokmah," consisting of
six treatises: (1) on the knowledge of God ; (2) on
abstract ideas; (3) on the spheres; (4) on the ele-
ments; (5) on the immortality of the soul; and (6)
on the unity of God. Joshua Beuveniste in his
"Ozne Yehoshua'" quotes Gabbai frequentlj'.
Bibliography: Furst, Bibl. Jud. i. 313; Benjacob, O^ar hfl~
Sefarim, p. (558.
M. Sel.
GABBATHA or GABATHA : 1. Town corre-
sponding to the Biblical "Gibeah," mentioned in the
Septuagint (I Chron. xii. 3), in Josephus (" Ant. " v. 1,
§ 29; vi. 4, §§ 2, 6), and in the "Onomastica Sacra"
of Eusebius and of Jerome. In the last-named it
answers to " Geba " and " Gibbethon " also. Both
"Onomastica" (ed. Lagarde, 128, 17; 246, 53) men-
tion a town named " Gabbatha " existing in their time
in the district of Sepphoris near Legeon in the great
plain. They also refer to another east of the Daroma,
and to a third about twelve miles from Eleutherop-
olis, southwest of Judea (ib. 128, 32; 246, 67). Near
the last-named Gabbatha the tomb of the prophet
Habakkuk used to be pointed out. This, according
to the same "Onomastica "(109, 19; 120, 15; 256, 3;
270, 35), was situated near Keilah — a statement
which corresponds with the foregoing one, consid-
ering the relative positions of Eleutheropolis and
Keilah. The frontier town Gebath, mentioned sev-
eral times in the Talmud in connection with An-
tipatris (Sanh. 94b; Yeb. 62b; Yer. Meg. i. 70a;
Kid. 57b), is probably identical with Gabbatha near
Eleutheropolis.
Bibliography: Buhl, Geographie des Alten Paldstina, p.
199 ; Boettger, Top.-Hist. Lex. zu Josephus, p. 120.
2. According to John xix. 13, the Hebrew (prop-
erly the Aramaic) name of the place called Ai^darpu-
rop ("the Pavement"), situated in front of the pre-
torium in Jerusalem, where Pilate delivered the
final judgment upon Jesus. According to Philo
("Legatio ad Caium," ^ 38, ed. Mangey, ii. 589 et
Keq.) and Josephus ("B. J." ii. 14, § 8; 15, §5),
Herod's palace served as the pretorium for the pro-
curator during his stay in Jerusalem. "The Pave-
ment " was perhaps tlie only paved place in the city
(it was constructed under Agrippa II. ; see Josephus,
"Ant." XX. 9, § 7), and may have received its name
for this reason. "Gabbatha," however — derived
cither from nyaJ ("hill") or from NniJ ("back")—
does not correspond to the Greek name, and may
have designated another part of the upper city, near
the royal palace.
Bibliography : Commentaries on Jo/iri xix. 13 ; Bamab^,
Le Pretnire de Pilate.
G. A. BuCH.
GABES TUNISIA. See Tunis.
GABIROL, SOLOMON IBN. See Ibn Gabi-
ROL, Solomon.
GABISHON, ABRAHAM BEN JACOB:
Algerian phj'sician and scholar; descended from a
Granada family ; died at Tlemgen in 1605. He es-
tablished himself as a physician in 1574 at Algiers,
where he acquired a large practise. Gabishon was
the author of a commentary on Proverbs, entitled
" 'Omer ha-Shikhah," in which Meiri and Levi ben
Gershon are chiefly quoted. Well versed in Arabic
literature, Gabishon often cites Arabic proverbs
which materially elucidate the Bibhcal text. Ap-
pended to this work are some of his didactic poems,
annotated by his son Jacob, and some poems by his
grandson Abraham. Gabishon is very highly
praised by Solomon ben Zemah Duran in the ap-
probation to the work. It was published at Leg-
horn in 1748 by a descendant of his (also named
" Abraham "), in fulfilment of a vow made in 1740
on the death of his two sons by the plague.
Bibliography : Stelnschneider, Cat. Bodl. No. 4226 ; Zedner,
Cat. Hcbr. Books Brit. Mus. p. 134 ; Fuenn, Keneset Fis-
rael, p. 17; Bloch, Inscriptions Tumulaires. p. 17.
G. I. Br.
GABRIEL (^NnaJ, Ta(3piyX, "man of God"):
With Michael, Gabriel is mentioned by name in
the Book of Daniel, where he explains to Daniel
his visions (Dan. viii. 16-26, ix. 21-27). He appears
to Zacharias, and announces to Mary that she is
about to have a son whose name shall be " Jesus "
(Luke i. 19-31). Gabriel is one of the four angels
that stand at the four sides of God's throne and
serve as guardian angels of the four parts of the
globe (Enoch, ix. 1 ; comp. Kautzsch, " Die Apo-
kryphen und Pseudepigraphen des Alten Testa-
ments," ii. 240, note). The four angels, Michael,
Gabriel, Uriel, and Raphael, who are still invoked
in the evening prayer, are often mentioned together
(Enoch, xl. 6, liv. 6 ; Sibyllines, ii. 214 et seq. ;
"Legend of Zechariah," vi. 2-6, in Lhken, "Mi-
chael: Eine Darstellung und Vergleichung der Jii-
dischen und Morgenlandisch-Christlichen Tradition
vom Erzengel Michael," p. 122, G5ttingen, 1898).
The four names also occur on a golden tablet found
in the tomb of the wife of Emperor Honorius
(Kopp, " Palaeographia Critica," iii., § 158; "Apo-
cryphische Fragen des Bartholomeus," inLiiken, I.e.
p. 114; "Zauberpapyri," in Lilken, I.e. p. 71). In
other passages seven archangels are mentioned,
among them Gabriel (Tobit xii. 15, and else-
Avhere). But he is most often mentioned together
with Michael, whom he follows in rank. A Gnostic
gem bears the inscription in Greek: "Michael the
641
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Gabbatha
Gabriel
highest, Gabriel the mightiest" (Kopp, I.e. iv.,
§ 766). The three angels that appeared to Abraham
(Gen. xviii.) were Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael;
Michael, as the greatest, walked in the middle, with
Gabriel to his right and Raphael to his left (Yoma
37a). Michael stands at the right hand of God,
Gabriel at His left (Jellinek, "B. H." v. 1G6).
Throughout Jewish literature Michael appears as
an angel of a higher degree, as may be seen in the
passages quoted below. Gabriel has the form of a
man (Dan. viii. 15, ix. 21), and is, according to the
Talmud, the "man clothed with linen" mentioned
in Ezek. ix. 3 and x. 2 (Yoma 77a).
Michael is snow, Gabriel is fire (Liiken, I.e. p. 55;
comp. Yoma 21b, bottom). Nevertheless, it is the
prince of fire and not the prince of
Represents ice that is commissioned to rescue
Fire. Abraham, as well as Hananiah, Mish-
ael, and Azariah from the fiery fur-
nace (Pes. 118a; Ex. R. xviii. and parallel passage).
In a single passage only (Targ. Job xxv. 2), Michael
is called the prince of fire, and Gabriel the prince of
water. As prince of fire Gabriel is also prince of
the ripening of fruits (Sanh. 95b). As an angel repre-
senting an element of nature he is also connected
with the metals: Gabriel is gold (the color of fire),
Michael is silver (snow), Uriel is copper (Yalk.,
Hadash, s.v. " Gabriel," No. 75). Gabriel, girded like
a metal-worker, shows Moses how to make the candle-
stick (Men. 29a). He has wings, like all the angels,
but while Michael reaches the earth in one flight,
Gabriel requires two (Ber. 4b, bottom).
Michael and Gabriel often work together (see Pes.
55a; Liiken, I.e. p. 86, note 1; ib. p. 109, bottom;
Origen, " Contra Celsum, " viii. 13 ; and
Activities elsewhere), but while Michael, as the
and guardian angel of Israel and high
Qualities, priest of heaven, is more occupied in
heaven, Gabriel is the messenger of
God, who executes God's will on earth. In heaven
Gabriel is set over the serpents, and over paradise and
the cherubim (Enoch, xx.). Each of the four divi-
sions of the twelve tribes of Israel had its guardian
angel, namely, Michael, Gabriel, Uriel, and Raphael
respectively (Num. R. ii. 10). Michael and Gabriel
defend Israel against its accusers (Yalk., Hadash,
67b), and pray in general for the human race and for
Israel's deliverance from captivity ("Apoc. Pauli,"
in Luken, I.e. p. 86, note 4; Jellinek, I.e. v. 127).
They defend Israel when God orders the Temple to
be burned (Yalk. ii., No. 1009). Gabriel destroys
the bastards (Enoch, x. 9) ; with the other three arch-
angels he seizes Semyaza and his companions and
casts them into the fire (Enoch, liv. 6). He will make
war upon the leviathan (B. B. 74b). He leads the
soul into the body of the pious (Yalk. , Hadash, 68b,
No. 65).
In addition to the cases mentioned above, Gabriel
frequently acts as God's instrument. After appear-
ing to Abraham with the other two
Gabriel angels, he went to destroy Sodom and
in Legend, save Lot (B. M. 86b). Satan (Samael),
desiring that Tamar might be burned
and that David might not be her descendant, re-
moved the signs by means of which she afterward
proved her innocence (Gen. xxxviii.); Gabriel
having restored them (Sotah 10b). Gabriel taught
Joseph the seventy languages of the world {ib. 36b) ;
he led Jochebed to Amram (Yalk., Hadash, a.v.
new, No. 60); when the handmaidens of Pharaoh's
daughter wished to dissuade her from saving Moses,
Gabriel struck them down {ib. 12b). When Solomon
married a daughter of one of the Pharaohs Gabriel
thrust a reed into the sea; mud gathered around it,
and Rome was built on that site (Shab. 55b). He
closed the gate beiiind the Shebna mentioned in Isa.
xxii. 15 (Sanh. 26a), and slew Sennacherib {ib. 95b).
Fortunately for Israel, he hindered Nebuchadnezzar
from worshiping God {ib. 96a). Taking fire from
the hand of the cherub, he threw it upon the Temple
and city (Yoma 77a). He put an ink-mark upon
the forehead of the pious, and one of blood upon
that of the impious (Shab. 55a; comp. Ezek. ix. 4).
He prevented Queen Vashti from appearing before
Ahasuerus, and rewrote the story of the services ren-
dered by Mordecai to the king, the record of which
Shimshai had destroyed (Meg. 12b, 16a). He struck
down the judges who refused to .side with Simon b.
Shetah against King Alexander Jannai (Sanh. 19b).
The foregoing description of Gabriel shows no de-
tails that need be regarded as having been borrowed
from Parseeism or other sources. Gabriel disputes
like a scribe with Michael as to the stone indicated
by "kadkod" (Isa. liv. 12; B. B. 75a; comp. Yalk.,
Hadash, 67a, No. 27: Michael and Gabriel are like
the Shammaites and Hillelites). " Pray not to Michael
nor to Gabriel, but to Me, and I will immediately
answer " (Yer. Ber. 13a) : in contrast to later Chris-
tianity, Judaism entirely forbade the worship of
angels, though this view was modified in the Middle
Ages. Gabriel also plays an important role on
Basilidian gems, in the magic papyri, among the
Christians, and among the Mohammedans. "In
Christianity, asin Judaism, Gabriel stands nearest to
Michael, but does not equal him in rank " (Liiken,
"Michael," pp. 32, 111 et neq.). Gabriel still lives in
the imagination of the Jewish, the Christian, and
the Mohammedan people.
Bibliography: Gideon Brecher, Das Transcendentale, Ma^
gie, etc., Vienna, 1850; Alex. Kohut, Ueber die JUdische An-
gelologie und Ddmnnnlogie in Jhrer Abhdngigheit vom
Parsismus. Leipsic, 18fi6; Max Griinbaum, GesammeUe Auf-
siltze zur Sprach- imd Sanenhunde, ed. F. Perles, Berlin,
1901; Moi'se Schwab, Vocahulaire de V Angelologie, Paris,
1897 (in the Greek-Latin list the article " Gabriel " is miss-
ing); A. Hilgenfeld, Die JUdische ApokaUiptik in Hirer
Geschichtlichen Entwickelung, Jena, 1857; Gabuel bei
Aphraates, in Monatsschrift, xlvi. 532; Erwin Preuschen,
Die Apncryphen, Gnnstischen Adamstichi-iften, etc., pp.
23-73, Giessen, 1900;S. Sycz, Urspiimg und Wiedergabe der
Bibliitchen Eigennamen im Koran, Frankfort-on-the-Maln,
1903 ; W. Brandt, Die Mandiiische Religion, Ihre Entwicke-
lung und Geschichtliche Bedeidung, etc., p. 55, Leipsic,
1889; C. Meyer. Der Aberglaube des Mittelalters, p. 172,
Basel, 1884 ; S. Curtiss, Primitive Semitic Religion, London,
1902.
B. s. L. B.
In Arabic Literature : Gabriel, under the
name of " Jibril " (for variants in spelling and vocal-
izations see Baidawi), is mentioned by nam'3 in only
two passages of the Koran: suras ii. 91, 92; Ixvi. 4.
But according to the commentators, he is alluded
to elsewhere in the words "Ruh al Kuds" = "Holy
Spirit" (ii. 81, 254; v. 109; vi. 104); in "al-Ruh al-
Amin" = "Faithful Spirit" (xxvi. 193); in "Shadid
al-Kuwwah" = " the Terrible in Power " (liii. 5) ; and
in " Rasul Karim " = " Noble Messenger " (Ixxxi. 19).
Gabriel
Gad
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
642
According to Baidawi, the name signifies "servant
of God." Gabriel revealed the Koran to Mohammed,
and, according to Arabic writers (Bukhari, Baidawi,
Zamakhshari), was therefore considered by the Jews
to be their enemy, a conception resented by the
Prophet in the declaration (ii. 91) that Gabriel's ene-
mies are God's enemies. The three letters "alef,"
" lam," " mim," which precede many of the suras, are
explained by Ibn 'Abbas (see Baidawi on sura ii. 1)
as indicating that Gabriel is the medium of revelation
between God and Mohammed, the "alef" standing
for "Allah," the "lam" for "Gabriel." and the
"mim" for "Mohammed." It was Gabriel who
brought to Mohammed the command " Ikra " (recite)
as recorded in sura xcvi. For this reason the angel
is regarded by the Arabs as the "keeper of the
heavenly treasures [of revelation] ". He is one of
the "al-Mukarrabin," the angels that approach God.
With three other angels, he will survive on the last
day, death overtaking all other creatures.
As "messenger of God" Gabriel assisted in the
creation of Adam by gathering under divine orders
all the kinds of clay from which the
Messenger tirst man's body was fashioned. After
of God. their expulsion from paradise, it was
he who took pity on Adam and Eve;
bringing to them a small sack of wheat, he taught
them how to sow and cultivate the grain. He also
gave Adam an ox wherewith to plow (see 21st trea
tise of Ikhwan al-Safa [ed. Dieterici], Tabari, and
Ibn al-Athir). Tabari further ascribes to him the
transmission to Adam of the knowledge of making
fire by striking stone and iron together. When
Abraham was to be thrown into the fierce fire pre-
pared for him by Nimrod (in the Midrash it is a hot
furnace: Gen. R. xxxviii.) Gabriel intervened. Abra-
ham, who was shot into the air by a catapult or bal-
lista, would have fallen into the flames had the angel
not held Iiim in mid air (Zamakhshari and Baidawi).
As in Jewish accounts (Midr. Lekah Tob, ed.
Buber, i. 82 ; B. M. 86b), Gabriel is in Arabic stories
one of the three angels, Gabriel, Michael, and Israfil
(the Jewish Uriel), that visited Abraham (comp. the
commentaries to sura xi. 72). Tabari amplifies the
account. Asked by the patriarch why they would
not eat of the food placed before them.
Visits they declared that they must first be
Abraham, told the price of the meal. Abraham
replied, "For this meal the price con-
sists in your praising God," whereupon Gabriel
nodded approvingly, saying, "In very truth this
man deserves to be st3'led the friend of God." Com-
menting on sura xi. 83, the account of Lot and the
angels that came to him at Sodom to announce its
punishment, Baidawi and Zamakhshari state that
Gabriel struck the Sodomites with his wing (de-
scribed at some length by Zamakhshari) so that they
lost their sight. With the same wing, they report,
referring to the next verse (xi. 84), Gabriel lifted the
whole city to such a height toward the sky that the
barking of the dogs and the crowing of the cocks
were distinctly heard by the dwellers in heaven, and
then, turning it upside down, dashed it to the earth.
Abraham, according to Ibn al-Athir, had begged
Gabriel to save the city if but ten believers (Moham-
medans) were discovered among the inhabitants.
Gabriel had promised Abraham at least to accom-
plish the escape of Lot and his family with the ex-
ception of his wife. But finding in Lot's admissions
the confirmation of God's indictment of the city as
corrupt to the core Gabriel achieved Sodom's ruin in
the manner before stated (see also Abulfeda, " His-
toria Ante-Islamitica, " p. 24). In tlie story of Moses'
mission to Pharaoh (sura xxviil.) Gabriel is assigned
an important part by Arabic commentators. Zamakh-
shari, reverting to the tower which the Egyptian
king had built to ascend to the God of Moses (xxviii.
38), reports that Gabriel struck it with his wing and
split it into three parts, one falling on Pharaoh's
army, killing one thousand times one thousand men,
another sinking in the sea, and the third crashing
to earth in a Avesterly direction, so that none of the
builders escaped alive. When Pharaoh was about
to drown he would have professed his belief in the
God of Moses, but Gabriel took a handful of mud
from the sea and stojiped his mouth (Tabari and
Ibn al-Athir). Gabriel boasted later of this act of
his while talking to Mohammed, alleging as his
motive ins fear lest God might have been moved to
have pity on Pharaoh.
In suras ii. 60, 87; iv. 158; and vii. 170 God is said
to have threatened to oveiturn the mountain upon
the Israelites if they did not accept the Law (comp.
'Ab. Zarah 2b; Shab. 88a). The Arabic commen-
tators expand the incident. Israel proved refrac-
tory, whereupon Gabriel was bidden to lift up the
mountain and hold it suspended over the heads of
the people. Gabriel appeared to Moses to inform
him that Og the giant (see Giants) had been ren-
dered helpless by being caught in his own trap (a
huge stone), and encouraged him to slay the king
(Tabari, "Chroniques," transl. Zotenberg, i. 891).
Gabriel was also the messenger that announced to
David, who would not be consoled on account of
his sin, that God had forgiven him. It was Gabriel
who gathered all the demons from their various
haunts, bringing them to Solomon, their new master
(Kazwini, i. 351 et seq.).
In another account (Al-Kisa'i's "Histories of the
Prophets ") the birds are assembled by Gabriel to do
homage to Solomon. It was he who brought Solo-
mon's magic signet-ring from paradise, with the in-
scription "La Allah ilia Allah wa-]Muhammad Rasul
Allah " ; the ring had once belonged to Adam. This
event took place on a Friday, the 27th day of Muhar-
ram. Gabriel's feats are also preserved in tiie
popular literature of the Moriscos (see Griinbaum,
"Gesammelte Aufslltze ziir Spracli- und Sagen-
kunde "). Gabriel acted as notary at the wedding
of Adam and Eve (comp. Gen. R.). He induced
Abraham to take Hagar to wife. He substituted
the ram for Isaac on Moriah, and bade Abraham de-
sist from his purpose of sacrificing his son. He an-
nounced to Sarah the birth of Isaac. Joseph, Avhile
in prison, was instructed by Gabriel
Intercedes that in the absence of water he might
for Isaac, use sand to perform his ritual ablu-
tions. In the " Legendas de Jose, Hijo
de Jacob" (1888) Gabriel is mentioned as protecting
Joseph when tempted by Potiphar's wife, the angel
assuming the guise of Joseph's father. This occurs
also in the works of Arabic authors (Tabari, Zamakh-
543
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Ghibriel
Gad
shari). Joseph's coat, according to Zamakhshari aud
Baidawi, was a present from Gabriel, who had
woven it of celestial silk for Abraham when he was
about to be thrown into the furnace; Abraham had
given it to Isaac; Isaac to Jacob, who bound it like
an amulet round Joseph's neck. Gabriel appeared
before Joseph, unrolled it, and clothed him with it.
Gabriel, by telling a little child in a cradle to arise
and testify in Joseph's favor, established the latter's
innocence when accused by Potiphar's wife. Joseph
was in prison so long because, as Gabriel informed
him, he had put more faith in men than in God. Ac-
cording to the commentators, Gabriel prevented Jo-
seph from writing to his father because Jacob was to
be punished for a former trifling sin (comp. B. K. 50a).
Bibliography : Zamakhshari. AUKashshaf, i. passim; Tabari,
Chroniques, French transl. of Zotenberg, i. 11 et seq.: ii. 29,
52, 324, 390; Mas'udi, Les Prairiead'Or, ed. Barbierde Mey-
nard, i. 51, 74, 84; iv. 23, 133,449: vi. 40; vu. 52-55; Abulfeda,
A.nnales, ed. J. Reiske, i. 26, Copenhagen, 1789; D'Her-
belot, BihUothique Oricntale ; W. Muir, Life nf Mo-
tiammed, pp. 52, 78, London, 1877; Radiger, in Ensch and
Gruber, Encyc. section i., part 52, p. 70; Hughes, Dictioiuiry
of Islam.
E. G. H.
GABRIEL B. JTTDAH LOW. See Eskeles
Gabiuel ben Judah Low.
GABRIEL BEN JTJDAH OF VITRY : Ital-
ian physician ; flourished in the sixteeutli century.
His name seems to indicate that he was a native of
Vitry, France, but Gross ("Gallia Judaica," p. 197)
thinks that "Vitry" here stands for "Vittoria" in
Italy. In 1530 he lived at Sienna, in 1552-63 in
Castro. Gabriel ben Judah translated into Hebrew
several medical works. The " Likkute Refu'ot,"
translated by Gabriel ben Judah of Vitry (see Ben-
jacob, "Ozar ha-Sefarim," p. 266), is supposed by
Steinschneider (" Hebr. Uebers." p. 782) to be iden-
tical with the tD3J'1N KHO, a Hebrew translation of
Arnauld of Villanova's "Tabula Super Vita Brevis,"
credited (erroneously?) to Gabriel of Milhaud. A
manuscript in the Bodleian Library (Neubauer, " Cat.
Bodl. Hebr. MSS." No. 2316, 3) contains the follow-
ing extracts from Gabriel's translations and notes : (1)
on the polishing of precious stones; (2) 299 from the
"Sefer ha-Ehad" of Ibn Ezra; (3) from the work of
the Roman physician Nicolao; (4) from the book
"Ya'ar Hadash" and from Hieron}'mus Cardan; (5)
on the diseases of the inner parts of the body, quo-
ting Dioscorides, Galen, Al-Razi, and Ibn Zuhr.
Bibliography: Gross, Gallia Jiidaica, pp. 197, 345; Stein-
schneider, Hehr. Uebers. pp. 782, 843, 965.
G. M. Sel.
GABRIEL OF MILHAUD : French physician
and translator; flourished in the second half of the
sixteenth centurj". He translated, in 1583, under
the title "Mebo Arnabat," Arnauld of Villanova's
dissertation on Hippocrates' maxim " Ars iouga, vita
brevis" (Neubauer, "Cat. Bodl. Hebr. MSS." No.
2133, 7.) It was annotated by the translator, extracts
from the notes being given by Steinschneider in the
Munich Catalogue (p. 95). Steinschneider (Cat. Mu-
nich, p. 206) identifies Gabriel with Gabriel Cohen
of Lunel, who is mentioned in a medical work (Neu-
bauer, lb. No. 2285), an identification doubted by
Neubauer ami Gross.
Bibliography: Neubauer, in i?. E.J^. ix. 216; Steinschneider,
in Virchow's Arcfiiv. xl. 93, 97; idem, Hebr. Uebers.p. 782;
Gross, Gallia Judaica, p. 344.
6. I. Bll.
GABRIEL B. REUBEN ISRAEL HA-
KOHEN. See Koiin, Gabkiel.
GABRILOVITCH, OSSIP : Russian pianist;
born in St. Petersburg Feb. 7, 1878. When only four
years old he evinced a remarkable talent for music,
and before he had reached the age of ten he entered
the St. Petersburg Conservatorium, his first master
being Anton Rubinstein. When about eleven he
played a Mozart concerto with orchestral accom-
paniment, and at sixteen had taken all the Conser-
vatorium prizes for which lie was eligible. He then
(1894), at Rubinstein's suggestion, went to Vienna
to study under Leschetizky, with whom he remained
for two years, performing at concerts in Gratz,
Vienna, and Berlin. Later he studied composition
under Navratil.
In the winter of 1900-01 Gabrilovitch visited the
United States, and on his return to Europe per-
formed in London (Richter concerts), Germany, Aus-
tria (Vienna Philharmonic concerts), Switzerland,
and Holland. He then made several tours in Rus-
sia, and subsequently spent six months in Paris,
where he appeared with all the principal orchestras.
In the autumn of 1902 he again went to the United
States, inaugurating his tour by a performance at
the Worcester (Mass.) musical festival.
Gabrilovitch possesses a fine technique, and pro-
duces a tone remarkable for its breadth and volume.
But he has his powers well under control ; and while
traces of the influence of his mentor, Rubinstein, are
naturally to be found in his playing, he renders Avith
equal ability and feeling such widely differing com-
positions as Tschaikowski's concerto in B-flat minor
and that of Liszt in E-flat. Among Gabrilovitch's
compositions are: "Caprice-Burlesque"; a gavot;
" Petite Serenade " ; and " Melodie Orientale. '"
II. R. A. P.
GAD: 1. The seventh of Jacob's sons, the first-
born of Zilpah, himself the father of seven sons (Gen.
XXX. 10, 11; xlvi. 16; Num. xxvi. 15 et seq.). The
name means "[good] fortune."
2. Biblical Data : Tribe descended from Gad,
the seventh son of Jacob. In the desert it was cred-
ited with 40,000 men able to bear arms (Num. i.24e<
seq., ii. 15, xxvi. 18). Rich in flocks, it occupied, with
Reuben and half of Manasseh, the district east of the
Jordan once belonging to the kings of Heshbon and
Bashanand partly settled l)yAmmonites(Num.xxxii.
1, 29, 33; Deut. iii. 12, 18; -Tosh. xiii. 25). Hence
the " land of Gad " (I Sam. xiii. 7), on the Jabbok
(= "brook of Gad"; II Sam. xxiv. 5; see Gilead).
Among its cities were Ramoth, Jaezer, Aroer, Diboa
(Num. xxxii. 34 et seq. ; Deut. iv. 43; Josh. xx. 8).
Gad was a warlike tribe, and took part in the con-
quest of the trans-Jordanic regions (Gen. xlix. 19;
Deut. xxxiii. 20, 21; Num. xxxii. Qetseq.). Among
David's men at Adullam, Gad was well represented
(I Chron. xii. 8; I Sara. xxii. 1, 2). Though Gad at
first remained loyal to Ish-bosheth, it later trans-
ferred its allegiance to David (II Sam. ii. 8 et seq.,
xvii. 24 et seq.). Jeroboam built the fortress Peuuel
to keep tlie men of Gad in check (I Kings xii.
25). Later, under Uzziah and Jotham, Gad was
joined to the kingdom of Judah (I Chron. v. 16;
comp. Schrader, "K. B." ii. 27). The Ammonites
Oad
a«den
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
544
seem to have ultimately reconquered the territory of
Gad (Jer. xlix. 1). E. G. H.
In Rabbinical Literature : Gad was born on
the tenth of Heshwan, and lived 125 years (Ex. R. i.
5 ; Yalk. , Ex. 1). He was called " Gad " after the man-
na, which was like coriander (IJ; Ex. R. I.e.). Be-
cause of his great strength he was not presented by
Joseph to Pharaoh, lest the latter should appoint him
one of his guards (Gen. R. xcv. 4). Foreseeing that
the children of Gad would devote themselves to the
breeding of cattle, Jacob ordered that in carrying his
bier Gad should walk on the southern side, whence
came the beneticent rains and fructifying dew (Num.
R. iii. 12). The tribe of Gad occupied the southern
side of the camp also (Num. R. I.e.). They were neigh-
bors of Korah because, like him, they were quarrel-
some. Their standard was of red and black, with a
camp paiuted on it (Num. R. ii. 6). According to
some, the name of Gad was inscribed on the agate in
the breastplate of the high priest ("Shalshelet ha-
^abbalah," p. 13), according to others on the ligure
(Samuel Zarza, "Mekor Hayyim " to Ex. xxviii.),
while others declare it to have been cut on the ame-
thyst, which has the virtue of infusing martial cour-
age (Ex. R. xxxviii. ; Bahya ben Asher's commen-
tary, ad loc). The tribe of Gad is blamed for having
chosen tlie " other side " of the Jordan, the verse
" Riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt "
(Eccl. v. 12) being applied to them (Gen. R. 1. 11).
When they arrived at the Jordan and saw the fer-
tility of the land, they said : " One handful of en-
joyment on this side is better than two on the other "
(Lev. R. iii. 1). However, because they crossed the
river to help their brethren in the conquest of Pales-
tine, just as Simeon did when he took his sword and
warred against the men of Shechem, they were found
worthy to follow the tribe of Simeon at the sacrifices
on the occasion of the dedication of the Tabernacle
(Num. R. xiii. 19). Moses was buried in the territory
of Gad (Sotah 13b; Yalkut, Wezot ha-Berakah, p.
961). According to some, Elijah was a descendant
of Gad (Gen. R. Ixxi.). The tribes of Gad and Reu-
ben were the first that went into exile (Lam. R. i. 5).
E. G. H. I. Br.
-Critical View : The inscription on the Moabite
Stone, 1. 10, reports that " the man of Gad had dwelt
since days of old in the land of Ataroth ; then the
King of Israel built for himself Ataroth." Accord-
ing to this, the Moabites distinguished between Gad
and Israel, regarding the former as old inhabitants
of the parts east of the Jordan. The same notion
that Gad is not of pure Israelitish stock underlies the
Biblical genealogy of the tribe's eponym. He is
the son of Zilpah, Leah's liandmaid, not a full
brother to Reuben and the other northern tribes.
The geogVaphical notes on Gad are for the same rea-
son diverse and divergent. The city of Dibon is
designated in Num. xxxiii. 45 as belonging to Gad
(with Ataroth and Aroer in Num. xxxii. 34 et seq.),
but in Josh. xiii. 15 et seq. this same territory, north
of the Arnou, belongs to Reuben. The boundaries
of Gad in Josh. xiii. 24-27 (P) are also different.
These and other discrepancies show a wide lati-
tude and indefiniteness in the use of " Gad " as a
territorial designation. Gilead sometimes includes
Gad (among other passages see Judges v. 17), though
at times it denotes a country north of Gad, and again
a country south of Jaazer (II Sam. xxiv. 5; Josh,
xiii. 24 et seq.). These facts seem to indicate that
"Gad" was originally the name of a nomadic tribe,
and wasthenapplied to the territory which this tribe
passed over and settled in. The gradual extension
of the use of the name shows on the whole that the
tribe coming from the south pushed on steadily
northward (II Sam. xxiv. 5; comp. I Chron. v. 11,
16). Tlie territory was never secure from invasion
and attacks. To the south it was exposed to the
Moabites, to the north to the Arameans from Damas-
cus, and later to the Assyrians. Tiglath-pileser III.
annexed this region about 733-732 B.C., and enslaved
a part of the inhabitants (II Kings xv. 29; I Chron.
V. 26). Ezekiel assigns to Gad the southern bound-
ary in his territorial scheme (Ezek. xlviii. 27. 28).
The suggestion has been made that the name of the
tribe is derived from Gad, the god of luck.
E. G. H.
3. A prophet, "the seer of David." The first
appearance of Gad occurred when David took ref-
uge from Saul in a stronghold in Mizpeh of Moab
(I Sam. xxii. 5). Gad advised him to leave it for
the forest of Hareth. He reappeared late in the
life of David, after the latter's numbering of the
people, giving him the choice of one of three punish-
ments, one of which God was about to inflict upon the
Jews (II Sam. xxiv. 11-14 ; I Chron. xxi. 9-13). At-
tached to the royal house. Gad was called " David's
seer" (II Sam. xxiv. 11; I Chron. xxi. 9). He also
wrote a book of the acts of David {ib. xxix. 29), and
assisted in arranging the musical service of the house
of God (II Chron xxix. 25). M. Sel.
4. Name of the god of fortune, found in Isa.
Ixv. 11, along with Meni, the name of the god of
destiny. The passage refers to meals or feasts held
by Hebrews in Babylonia in honor of these deities.
Nothing is known of any Babylonian divinity of the
name of Gad, but Aramean and Arabic equivalents
show that the same god was honored among the
other leading Semitic peoples. The root-verb means
" to cut " or " to divide." Thence comes the idea of
portioning out, which is also present in the word
"Meni," the name of the kindred deity.
"Gad" is perhaps found also in Gen. xxx. 11,
where the ketib reading means "by the help of
Gad ! " the exclamation of Leah at the birth of Zil-
pah's son. Indeed, it is quite possible that this nar-
rative arises from a tradition connecting the tribal
eponym with the Deity Himself. How wide-spread
the cult of Gad, or Fortune, was in the old Canaau-
itish times may be inferred from the names "Baal-
gad," a city at the foot of Mount Hermon, and
"Migdal-gad," in the territory of Judah. Compare
also the proper names " Gaddi " and " Gaddiel " in
the tribes of Manasseh and Zebulun (Num. xiii. 10,
11). At the same time it must not be supposed that
Gad was always regarded as an independent deity.
The name was doubtless originally an appellative,
meaning " the power that allots." Hence any of the
greater gods supposed to favor men might be
thought of as the giver of good fortune and be wor-
shiped under that appellative. It is possible that
Jupiter may have been the " Gad " thus honored.
545
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Gad
Gaden
Among the Arabs the planet Jupiter was called
"the greater Fortune," while Venus was styled "the
lesser Fortune." If the same usage prevailed in
earlier Semitic days Men! should perhaps also be
identified with Venus.
Gad, the god of fortune, is frequently invoked in
Talmudic (magic) formulas of good will and wishes;
for instance, in Shab. 67b ("Gad eno ella leshon
'abodat kokabim " ; comp. Targ. Pseudo-Jonathan to
Gen. XX. 10, 11). The name is often synonymous
with "luck" (Yer. Ned. iv. 38d; Yer. Shab. xvi.
15d). Gad is the patron saint of a locality, a moun-
tain (Hul. 40a), of an idol (Gen. R. Ixiv.), a house,
or the world (Gen. R. Ixxi.). Hence "luck" may
also be bad (Eccl. R. vii. 26). A couch or bed for
this god of fortune is referred to in Ned. 56a.
Bibliography : The commentaries of Delltzsch and DiUmann
on Jsa. l.rv. 11 ; Baethgen, Beitrdge zur Semitischen Reli-
gionsaesch. pp. 76 et seq.; Lagarde, Gesammelte Abhand-
lungen, p. 16; idem, Symmicta, i. 87; Pinches, In Hastings,
Diet. Bible : Cheyne, in Encuc. Bibl. s.v. Gad.
E. G. H.
J. F. McC.
G AD ARA.— Biblical Data : A Hellenistic city,
situated southeast of the Sea of Gennesaret. It was
rebuilt by Pompey, and afterward given to Herod
the Great. After his death it became a free city
under Roman sovereignty (Josephus, "Ant." xiv. 4,
^4; XV. 7, § 3; xvii. 11, § 4). At the beginning of
the war of liberation the Jews attacked the heathen
population, which act was soon afterward fiercely
revenged (Josephus. "B. J." ii. 18, ^§ 1, 5). The
site of this city is marked by the ruins of Mukes,
among which are found remains of theaters and a
temple. This Gadara is often identified with the
Gadara referred to by Josephus ("B. J." iv. 7, § 3)
as the capital of Persea. Schlatter, however, is right
in declaring the identification unfounded, and refer-
ring the description in Josephus ("B. J." iv. 7, §§ 3
et aeq.) to the southern valley of the Jordan.
BiBLioGRAPHT: Schlatter. Znr Topographic und Gesch. Pa-
Uistinas, 1893, pp. 44 et seq.; Schurer, Gesch. 3d ed., 11. 132 et
seq.
E. G. n. F. Bu.
In Rabbinical Literc.ture : The Talmudic
equivalent of " Gadaia " is " Gadar " (")"|J) ; situated
on a mountain, it was one of the stations on which
fires were lighted to announce the new moon. At its
base below were thermal springs. It was supposed
to have been fortified by Joshua ('Ar. ix. 6), and it
was the seat of an important school (Ta'an. 20a).
According to Midr. Esth. i. 2, it was also the seat of
a tribunal. The place is mentioned in certain deci-
sions on the Sabbath, its inhabitants having been
permitted to walk on that day to Hamtan (" the
springs") and to return, while those of Hamtan
were not allowed to visit Gadar ('Er. v. 7).
Bibliography: Neubauer, G. T. pp. 243 etseq.
8. s. E. G. H.
GADARENES : Inliabitants of Gadara, known
from an alleged miracle of Jesus (Matt. viii. ; Mark
v.; Luke viii.) in which he transferred the demons
afflicting a man to a number of swine, that thereupon
rushed down a steep hill and perished. From the
readings of the best texts and from the unsuitabil
ity of the locality around Gadara it appears that tlu'
proper reading should be " Gerasenes " and the place
located at Karsa, on the left bank of the Wadi Sa
V.-35
mak, near the sea of Galilee. A discussion occurred
lietween Professor Huxley and Mr. Gladstone in
"The Nineteenth Century " for 1892 as to the moral-
ity of the act, the critical questions being whether
(1) Gerasenes were Jews ; and (2) if so, was it law-
ful for them to keep swine? As regards the first
question, it would appear that that section of the
country was chiefly inhabited by pagans in the first
centurj', and Gerasa is at anj' rate included by
Schurer among the Hellenistic cities ("Geschichte,"
ii. 141-144). As to the .second question, there is no
doubt of the illegality, from a ritual point of view,
of Jews keeping swine (B. B. vii. 7). The Gemara
on the passage gives a historical foundation for the
practise in the times of Aristobulus.
Bibliography : The Nineteenth Century, 1892, passim ;
Cheyne. Encyc. Bibl. s.v.; Wiinsche, iVewe BeitrUge zur
Eriiiuterung der Evangelien aus Taimud und Midraach,
p. 119.
E. c. J.
GADEN, STEPHAN (DANIEL) VON
(known also as Danila Yevlevich, Danila Ilyin,
and Danilo Zhidovinov) : Russian physician at the
court of Moscow under the czars Alexis Mikhailovich
and Feodor Alekseyevich ; born in Poland, of Jew-
ish parents, in the first quarter of the seventeenth
century ; killed at Moscow during the first uprising
of the Stryeltzy ("sharpshooters") in 1682. Von
Gaden was sent to Moscow from Kiev by the boyar
Vassili Vassilyevich Buturlin in 1657. Here he be-
gan (1659) his career as a barber-surgeon ("feld-
scher"). He was soon advanced to the position of
surgeon, with a salary of forty rubles per annum and
a monthly allowance of five rubles for board. Ow-
ing to his popularity he was appointed by the czar
as assistant physician (April 1, 1667), and as physi-
cian in ordinary (April 4, 1672). Though he had
not studied medicine at any foreign university, he
received a doctor's diploma from the czar, with an
increase of salary to one hundred and thirty rubles
per annum and a monthly allowance of fifty rubles.
The different names under which he is mentioned
are explained by the fact that he repeatedly changed
his religion — from the Jewish to the Roman Catholic,
from the Roman Catholic to the Lutheran, finally
entering the Greek Orthodox Church.
According to Kilburn, Von Gaden was the most
popular physician at the court of Moscow : " In
Moscow befinden sich itziger Zeit 5 Aerzte und Doc-
tor Daniel Jeflowitz, dieser wild bei Hofe am meis-
ten gebraucht, ist ein Jude von Geburt, wurde her-
nach Papistisch, alsdann Evangelisch und itzo ist er
Griechlscher Religion." Besides the diploma. Czar
Alexis granted Von Gaden many favors. In 1669
he was permitted to travel to Smolensk (then be-
longing to Poland) to see his mother, a privilege
which was seldom granted to foreigners. On this
occasion the czar presented him with sable for his
wife. In 1670 his brother-in-law, Judah (Egor
Isayev), arrived in Moscow, and in 1674 his mother.
Owing to Von Gaden's influence the number of Jews
in Moscow increased considerably. They settled in
the German suburb. Samuel Collins, another phy-
sician at the court of the czar, relates that " the Jews
have for some time spread very rapid^ly in Moscow
and at the court, enjoying the protection of the court
physician of Jewish birth."
<>adfly
Oalante
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
546
Among Von Gaden's friends was the boyar Mat-
veyev (the only enlightened boyar of that time, with
whom Von Gaden used to read books). It was
probably owing to this friendship that he shared the
terrible fate of his protector. After the death of
Czar Feodor Alekseyevich (May 7, 1682) the Stry-
eltzy rose against the boyars, killing among others
Naryshkin, Yazykov, and Matveyev, who .were ac-
cused of a conspiracy against the life of the czar,
and the physicians Von Gaden and Gutmensch, who
were accused of having poisoned the czar. Both
physicians and Gutmensch 's sou were killed in a
terrible manner. According to Sumarokov, they
were taken by the Stryeltzy to the "Red Place,"
spitted on lances, and hewed to pieces with axes.
He thinks that the physicians fell victims to the
hatred against foreigners, especially Germans.
Bibliography : Richter, Gesch. der Medicin in Rvissland, il.
322-327, and Supplement, xlvii. 143 ; Kllburger, Kurzer Un-
terricht von dem Russischen Handel, etc., In Biischlupr's
Magazin filr die Neue Historie und Gengraphie, ill. 337,
Hamburg, 1769; Mayerberg, Vouage en Moscovie, p. 156,
Leyden, 1688; Reise nach Norden, p. 234, Lelpsic, 1718; Is-
toriya o Nevinnom Zatocheriii Boyarina Aitamona Mat-
veyeva, pp. 6-7, St. Petersburg, 1775; Sumarokov, Pervy i
Olavny Stryeletzki Bunt, p. 46, St. Petersburg, 1768 ; Yadro,
Rossi^hoi Isi.nrii, 1799, p. 444 ; Voltaire, Histoire de V Empire
de Russie sous Pierre-le-Grand, p. 89, Amsterdam, 1761
(Voltaire writes by mistake "Vongiid," taking Von Gaden to
be a Dutch physician); Ziegler, TUglicher Schauplatz der
Zeit, 1700, p. 544 ; Collins, The Present State of Russia.
H. R. M. R.
GADFLY : Marginal rendering in the Revised
Version of the Hebrew "kerez" (Jer xlvi. 30),
where "destruction" is given in the texts of both
Englisli versions. For arguments in favor of the
former rendering, now generally adopted, see the
varions Hebrew lexicons and Bible commentaries,
and Field, "Origenis Hexaplorum qus Supersunt
sive Veterum Interpretum Gra^corum iu Totum
Vetus Testamentum Fragmenta." The Septuagint
has aKdoTraafia; the Vulgate "stimulator." Some,
comparing Micah ii. 13, have suggested " porez "
(invader) instead of " kerez " (Cheyne and Black,
"Encyc. Bibl." ii. 1588), but there seems to be no
sufficient reason for a textual emendation.
E. G. H. H. H.
GAFFAREL (GAFFARELLTJS), JACOB:
French Christian rabbinical scholar ; born at Mannes,
Provence, 1601; died at Sigouce 1681. He devoted
himself to the study of mysticism, especially of
Hebrew cabalistic works, though his own in that
field are unreliable. He wrote " Yom Yhwh: Dies
Domini, sive de Fine Mundi ex Hebr. Eliha ben
David in Lat. Conversf " (1629); and "Index Codi-
cum Cabbalisticorum MSS., Quibus Joann. Pic.
Mirandulauus Comes Usus Est " (1651). During one
of his numerous journeys he met at Venice (1633)
Leon Modena, whose "Historia Dei Riti Ebraici,"
etc., he published at Paris (1637), without the con-
sent of the author, and for which he wrote a preface.
Bibliography: Mlchaud, Biographie Universelle, xv. s.v.;
Stem, Der KampJ des Rabbinismus, etc., p. 184, Breslau, 1902.
D. P. B.
GAGIN : Rabbinical family of Castilian origin
which emigrated to Morocco in 1492, and in the eight
eenth century to Palestine. The oldest known mem
ber of this family is ^ayyim Gagin, who about
1492 left Castile and settled in Morocco. He was
the author of "'Ez Hayyim," in which work he re-
counts his dissensions from his rabbinical contempo-
raries. The following are the more important mem-
bers living in the nineteenth and present centuries:
Abraham Gagin : Son of Solomon Moses Hai
Gagin; now living in Jerusalem. With his brother
Isaac he is joint author of "El Cuento Maravilloso "
(Jerusalem, 1886), a collection of moral stories in
Judseo-Spanish, with rabbinic characters.
Bibliography: Kazan, Ha-Ma'alnt Ji-Shelomoh, pp.32, 37;
Kayserling, BiJiL Exp. -Port. -Jiid. p. 48.
M. Fk.
Hayyim Abraham Gagin : Chief rabbi of
Jerusalem; died in that city May 10, 1848. He
wrote: "Minhah Tehorah," novelise on the treatise
Menahot (Saionica, 1825); "Hukke Hayyim," re-
sponsa (Jerusalem, 1842). He edited and wrote
the prefaces to "Sefer ha-Takkanot" {ib. 1842); the
"Dibre Shalom" of R. A. Mizrahi {ib. 1843); the
" Kedushat Yom-Tob" of Yom-Tob Algazi (ib. 1843) ;
"Kontres Emet me-Erez Tizmah," a defense, bj' Z.
II. Lehren of Amsterdam, of the Amsterdam com
mittee at Jerusalem against charges of mismanage-
ment in the distribution of the "halukkah" (Am-
sterdam).
Hayyim Palagi wrote a dirge on Gagin's death.
Bibliography: Luncz, Jerusalem, 1. 10; Fuenn, Kenexet
Yis7-ael, p. 347; A. Hayyim Palagi, Arzot hn-Hayi/im, hom-
ily No. 5 ; Zedner, Cat. Hebr. Books Brit. Muis. p. 263.
M. Uku.
Isaac Gagin : Son of Solomon Moses Hai Gagin ;
now residing in Jerusalem. Joint author with
his brother Abraham Gagin of "El Cuento Mara-
villoso."
Solomon Moses Hai Gagin (known also under
his initials n p't*) : Son of Hayyim Abraham Gagin ;
he lived at Jerusalem in the middle of the nineteenth
century. He published two Hebrew works (1)
"Yismah Leb," responsa, and (2) "Samah Libbi."
sermons (Hazan, " Ha-Ma'alot li-Shelomoh, p. 32).
n. M. Fu.
GAGNIEB, JOHN : French Christian Oriental-
ist; born at Paris about 1670; died at Oxford March
2, 1740. Gagnier devoted himself early to the study
of Oriental languages, particularly of Hebrew and
Arabic. For a short time a priest of the Roman
communion, he later embraced Protestantism, and
wrote a violent denunciation of the Roman Church
under the title "L'Eglise Romaine Convaincue de
Depravation, d'Idolatrie et d'Antichristianisme"
(The Hague, 1706) In 1717 Gagnier became pro-
fessor of Hebrew and Arabic in the University of
Oxford. Among his writings were : a paper on
Samaritan medals, in "Journal de Treyaux," 1705;
a Latin translation of " Yosippon," Oxford, 1706 ; and
tables for the conjugation of Hebrew verbs, ib. 1710.
He contributed much information about Bodleian
Hebrew manuscripts to Wolf for his " Bibliotheca
Hebroea. "
Bibliography: Larousse. Dictionnaire Universel; Steia-
schneider, Cat. Bodh, col. 996.
J. M. Sel.
GAI, SOLOMON: Italian scholar and Hebraist;
born at Mantua 1600; died there Aug., 1638. Gai
is chiefly known as the correspondent and friend
547
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Gte.dfly
Qalante
of JohanDcs Buxtorf the Younger. In a letter
■which he wrote to Buxtorf from Mantua (Nov. 6,
1637), Gai declared that, owing to the war, lie liad
emigrated to Botzcn, a town in Tyrol, where he had
become the tutor of the two sons of a rich man named
Jacob Moravia. At Botzen he studied German, and
after a stay of live years and a half returned to Man-
tua. It was Buxtorf's Latin translation of the
"Moreh" which won Gai's admiration. Attribu-
ting the translation to Buxtorf the Elder, Gai wrote
to the son a Latin' letter (Aug. 6, 1637) full of ex-
pressions of admiration for the father. Buxtorf un-
deceived Gai, telling him that he himself was the
translator, and sent him his dissertation " Diatribe "
as a present. Gai wrote to him another letter in
Latin, with a Hebrew introduction (Nov. 6, 1637),
drawing his attention to certain works which had
not come to Buxtorf's knowledge. Buxtorf subse-
quently commissioned Gai to purchase Hebrew books
for him. Gai insisted particularly on obtaining from
Buxtorf his lexicons, as he himself contemplated
writing a lexicon in collaboration with a cleric to
whom he was giving Hebrew lessons.
Bibliography ; Kayserling, in R. E. J. xiil. 361 et seq.
E. c. M. Sel.
GAILLAC (Latin, Galliacum) : Small town
in the department of Tarn, France ; mentioned as
phm in the Responsa (No. 47) of Nissimben Reuben
Gerundi. Jews were living there as early as the
thirteenth century, being under the jurisdiction both
of Count Alphonse of Poitiers and of the Abbot of
Gaillac. In 1266 a dispute arose between the count
and the abbot regarding the taxes paid by the Jews,
the abbot as seignior claiming a part of them. On
July 19, 1269, Alphonse of Poitiers renewed the
regulations of the Lateran Council, under which the
Jews within his territory were obliged to wear the
badge (a wheel) on the outside of their garments.
Some, however, could purchase exemption there-
from. In 1291 King Philip the Fair fixed the sum
to be paid by each of the prominent Jews in the
seneschal's dominions of Carcassonne and Beziers.
The Jews of Gaillac, " Abbraye [Abraham] and his
brother," were taxed 20 livres, as "the king's Jews."
The community of Gaillac was wiped out at the
time of the persecutions of the Pastoureaux (1320).
Bibliography: Salge, Les Juifs dii Lnnguedoc, pp. 22,33,
225 ; Dom Valsette, Histoire du La7iffuedf)C, iv. 186 ; R. E. J.
HI. 216, vi. 83.
G. S. K.
GAJO, MAESTRO (ISAAC BEN MOR-
DECAI) : Physician to Pope Nicholas IV. or Boni-
face VIII. at the end of the thirteenth century. For
him Nathan of Cento translated into Hebrew an
Arabic work by 'Ammar ibn Ali al-Mausili on the
cure of diseases of the eye. Gajo was held in great
esteem by the physicians Zerahiah ben Shealtiel
Hen and Hillel b. Samuel of Verona. The latter
wrote to Gajo two long letters (see "Hemdah Genu-
zah," pp. 18-22) on the dispute concerning Maimon-
ides' doctrines, which Gajo followed with interest.
Bibliography : Gratz, Oesch. 3d ed., vii. 160, 165; Vogelsteln
and Rieger, Geach. der Jiiden in Rom, 1. 252-254.
G. M. Sel.
GALANTE : Jewish family which flourished at
the beginning of the sixteenth century in Rome,
and the liead of which, Mordecai, was a Spanisli
exile of the Angel family. His courteous manners
won for him from the Roman nobles the surname
" Galautuomo " (gentleman), a name which the fam-
ily retained. About this time the family settled
in Palestine, where it produced authors and other
celebrities. M. Fr.
The Galante pedigree is as follows:
Moses
I
Mordwai Galante (1540)
Moses (1580)
I
A braham
Jedidiah (1608) Abraham Jonatban
I
Daughter (m. Solomon Levy In Smyrna)
Abraham ben Mordecai Galante (Angelo) :
Italian cabalist; born at Rome at the beginning of
the sixteenth century; died 1560. Abraham, like
his father and his brother Moses, rabbi of Safed,
is represented by his contemporaries as a man of
high character who led a holy life (comp. " Kab ha
Yashar," ch. xv.). He was the author of the fol-
lowing works: "Kin 'at Setarim," a commentary on
Lamentations, based upon the Zohar ; it was edited
by his son Samuel in the collection " Kol Bokim "
(Venice, 1589); "Yerah Yakar," a commentary on
the Zohar, the first part of which (Genesis) was ab-
breviated by Abraham Azulai and included in hi&
" Zohore Hammah " ; "Zekut Abot," a commentary
on the sayings of the Fathers, mentioned by Hana-
niah of Monselice in his commentary on the " Pirke
Shirah. " Galante was also the author of halakic de-
cisions, which are still extant in manuscript. Being
wealthy, he erected a splendid mausoleum over the
tomb of Simon ben Yohai at Meron, which is still
admired.
Bibliography : Azulai, Shem ha-Gedolim, s.v.; Michael, Or
ha-Hayyim, p. 89; Orient, Lit. vi. 211; Vogelstein and Rie-
ger,'Gesc/i. der Juden in Rom, p. 86.
K. I. Br.
Mordecai Galante : Chief rabbi of Damascus ;
died in 1781; author of "GeduUat Mordekai, " a
collection of sermons preserved in manuscript
at Damascus (Hazan, "Ha-Ma'alot li-Shetomoh,"
p. 50).
M. Fr.
Moses Galante (the Elder) : Son of Mordecai ;
born about the middle of the sixteenth century , died
at Safed 1608. He was a disciple of Joseph Caro,
and was ordained by him when but twenty-two
years of age. He wrote: sermons for a wedding,
for Passover, and for a thanksgiving service, printed
with the younger Obadiah Bertinoro's commen-
tary on Esther (Venice, 1585); "Miftah ha-Zohar,"
index of Biblical passages found in the Zohar and
additions from old manuscripts (ib. 1566); "Kehillat
Ya'akob," cabalistic commentary on Ecclcsiastes {ib.
1577-78) ; Responsa, with additions by his son Jedi-
diah {ib. 1608).
Bibliography: Steinschneider, Cat. Bodl.; Azulai, Shem ha-
Gedolim.
Ghilatia
Ghtlicia
THE JEWISH PNCYCLOPEDIA
548
Moses Galante (the Younger) : Son of Jonathan
and grandson of Moses Galante the Elder ; born 1621 ;
died at Jerusalem Feb. 4, 1689. He wrote: "Zebah
ha-Shelamim, " a harmonization of contradictory Bib-
lical passages and of Biblical with Tulmudical state-
ments (edited by his grandson Moses Hagis, Am-
sterdam, 1707-08), and "Korban Hagigah," halakic
and cabalistic nov.-sllae (Venice, 1714). He was called
]iD with reference to the initials of his name. Some
of his responsa are found in the works of contem-
poraries, and a volume of bis responsa exists under
the title "Elef ha-Magen," but has never been pub-
lished. Hezekiah da Silva was among his disciples.
Bibliography : Steinschneider, Cat. BocU. s.v.; Azulal, Shem
ha-Gedolim.
D.
Moses Galante : Chief rabbi of Damascus ; died
1806 : son of Mordecai Galante. He was the author
of "Berak Mosheh," responsa, Leghorn, 1789 (Ha-
zan, " Ha-Ma alot li-Shelomoh ").
D. M. Fr.
GALATIA : An inland district of Asia Minor,
and, after 25 B.C., a province of the Roman empire.
There was a Jewish settlement there, which may have
been founded by Antiochus the Great, wlio sent
many Jewish families to Asia Minor as colonists.
A proof of the existence of Jews in Galatia, accord-
ing to many, is given by an edict of Augustus,
which, according to Josephus ("Aut." xvi. 6, § 2),
was published in Ancyra, the metropolis of Galatia.
But the reading of the word " Ancyra " is doubtful.
A better proof may be had from some inscriptions
found in Galatia relating to Jews ("C. I. G." No.
4129; " Bulletin de Correspondance Helleuique," vii.
1883; comp. "R. E. J." x. 77). R. Akiba, who is
said to have been a great traveler, speaks of " Galia "
(K'Sj), which is generally identified with " Galatia "
(R. H. 26a). A teacher named Menahem is said to have
come from "Galia" (Tosef., 'Er. viii. ; Tosef., Ber.
iv. 4; Ket. 60a). The chief proof, however, of the
existence of Jews in Galatia is the fact that St. Paul
sent thither a general epistle known as the "Epistle
to the Galatians." There is a strong disagreement
among scholars as regards the parts of Galatia where
these correspondents of St. Paul lived. The older
opinion was that they were to be found in the north-
em cities of Galatia, but recent scholars, especially
Professor Ramsay, hold that they lived in cities of
South or New Galatia, which are actually mentioned
in the Acts of the Apostles. The progress of Chris
tianity in Galatia, however, may explain the fact
that the Jews of this province are never heard of in
later history. It remains to be stated that the
"Galatians" of I Mace. viii. 2 and II Mace. viii. 20
were Gauls.
Bibliography: Cheyne and Black. Encyc. Bibl.; Neubauer.
G. T. p. 317; Schurer. Gesch. lii. 17; Lightfoot, Epistle to
Galatians, Introduction; W. M. Ramsay. The Citieit and
Bishoprics of Phrygia, I. 667 et stq.
.T. M. Sc.
GALATZ. See Rumania.
GAIiBANTJM. See Incense ; Spices.
GAL 'ED. See Gilead.
GALEN (GALENUS CLATJDnJS) : Greek
physician and philosopher; born at Pergamus,
Mysia, about 131 ; died about 200. Eclipsed by
those of Aristotle, Galen's philosophical works were
not held in high esteem by the Jews. Maimouides
cites them only when they are in accordance with
his own views, as, for instance, with regard to the
impossibility of proving the eternit}-^ of matter
("Moreh Nebukim," ii. 15). Once he severely criti-
cizes Galen, declaring that outside the field of med-
icine he is no authority (" Pirke Mosheh," xxv.), this
stricture being called forth by the
His Phi- following utterance by Galen con-
losophy cerniug the Mosaic conception of the
Criticized omnipotence of God: " The difference
by Mai- between the Greek philosophers and
monides. Moses is this: In order that matter
may be put in order it suffices for
Moses that God should wish matter to be arranged.
He believes that everything is possible with God,
even the conversion of ashes into a horse or an ox;
while we believe that there exist things with which,
being naturally impossible, God does not interfere ;
He chooses only the best between possibilities " ("De
Substantia Facultatis Natura?," ed. Kuhn, iv. 760).
Falaquera also shows slight respect for Galen's
philosophy, affirming that in his later years the
great physician wrote a work betraying ignorance
of physics ("Mebakkesh," p. 33).
But if in the domain of philosophy Galen's au-
thority was contested, he reigned supreme in the
field of medicine. Maimonides himself helped largely
to propagate Galen's medical works by publishing
a summary of sixteen of them, which were, so to
speak, canonized by the Alexandrian school and by
the Arabs. Maimonides was followed by many
other Jewish physicians who paraphrased or trans-
lated Galen's works from Arabic versions (chiefly
made by Hunaiu ibn Ishak) and from the Latin.
These paraphrases and translations, the greater part
of which are still extant in uMHiuscript in various
European libraries, are as follows:
njtjp neon (**Ars Parva"). with a commentary by All ibn
Ridwan, translated, according to Paris MS. No. 1114. by Samuel
Ibn Tlbbon in 1199. The same work was translated anonymously,
under the title mjncn SaS iDNcn, between 1197 and 1199.
a^'ipcm D'NSnn. a paraphrase by Zerahiah ben Isaac ben
Shealtiel of Rome (1277-94), in four books: (1) on the diversity
of maladies ; (2) on their causes ; (3) on the variety of symp-
toms ; and (4) on the causes of the symptoms.
CjJNap, three treatises on the compounded medicaments ac-
cording to their species, by the same.
fN^na'D, on the crisis, by Solomon Boniracof Barcelona (1300-
1350).
On bleeding, by Kalonymus ben Kalonymus, in 1308.
JjSip3i Njpna (" De Clysteriis et Colica"), by the same.
HflDjn ijrjn .njnjn^, on the regimen of the epileptic boy.
iSnnn Jrc j'n'D ("De Malitia Complexionis Diversag"), by
David ben Abraham Caslari (1280-1337).
0""njD3N? D''sn"»n, summaries of the Alexandrian school,
by Simson ben Solomon. These summaries contain the follow-
ing treatises : hnidih p^7^o, on the medical
Transla- sects; hnidih pon'^s or njop ddnSd ("Ars
tions of His Pan'a"); poia, on the pulse; pen 'd:; a^p-VB,
Medical chapters from the treatise on the urine ; piDXn,
Works. on marasmus; jraaa jpi^jM '^N, on nature;
nmoo, on the elements according to Hippoc-
rates ; jtco, on the temperament; riryaon mno3, on the fac-
ulties of nature ; ni?jn, on anatomy; O'npnni n'^yn, on mala-
dies and their symptoms; aoNijn an3Nn, on a knowledge of
diseases of the internal organs; mmpn rca, on the various
kinds of fevers; jNinaa, on crisis: jNinan 'D'a. on critical
days; hnioii .'^iSian.-'j.on the art of healing; nN'ian njnj.i,
on hygiene ; and minrn mca, on melancholy.
549
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Qalatia
Gkilicia
The following supposititious works of Galen were
also translated into Hebrew :
DNH 'D, on the uterus ("gyna?cseas").
mi3|">n -\iDN 'D, against speedy Interment, by Judahal-Harizi.
Cfljn '□, on the soul, by the same.
A medico-astrological treatise (" Prognosticum de Deeubltu
ex Mathematica Scientia"), paraphrased by Leon Jo.seph.
nNjwa's ("Pa.ssionarios").
A summary of various maladies, their natures and symptoms,
and the remedies for them, by Abraham ben Shem-Tob.
."I1N1D11 ni':'iJD 'aip'''^, a collection of remedies.
Of Galen's commentaries to the works of Hippoc-
rates the following were translated into Hebrew:
on the aphorisms, by Nathan ha-Meati; on three
treatises of the Pronostics, probably by the same ;
on air, water, and countries, by Solomon ha-Meati.
In the twenty-sixth chapter of the "Healing of
the Soul," by Joseph ibn Aknin of Barcelona (12th
cent.), Galen's works are mentioned as forming a
part of the regular school curriculum (Gildemann,
" Das Jiidische Unterrichtswesen," etc., p. 100). He
is also cited as an authority on ritual respousa; e.g.,
by Isaac b. Abraham Latif(13th cent.; see "Sam-
melband," i. 51, 53; Mekize Nirdamim, 1885).
Bibliography: Steinschneider, Alfarabi, pp. 31, 34, 134, 142;
idem. Cat. Bodl. col. 1918: idem, Hebi: Uebers. p. 650; idem.
Cat. Hamburg, pp. 143, 197, 308; idem. Cat. Leyden, pp. 335,
337; idem, in Moinxtssclnift, x.xxviii. 177, 366.
G. I. Br.
GALICIA, Austria : Province of Austria ; ac-
quired at the partition of Poland, 1772, and which,
except for some small territorial changes, lias re-
mained such since the Vienna Congress of 1815.
The census of 1900 showed the number of the
Jews in Galicia to be 811,371 in a total of 7,315,939
inhabitants, or about 11 per cent.
Statistics. Notwithstanding heavj^ emigration,
their number has increased steadily in
proportion to the total population. The census of
1850 showed 317,227 Jews among 4,734,427 inhabit-
ants, in 1827 there were 246,147 among 4,382,383,
and the first census made by the Austrian govern-
ment in 1789 showed 178,072 among 3,039,391 in-
habitants. Most of the Jews live in cities, and in
seven of these they form the majority of the popu-
lation— in Brody, about three-quarters.
While the great masses receive no other education
than that which the heder affords, the number of Jews
in the high schools, in the universities, and in the pro-
fessions is far above their proportion to the popula-
tion. Thus in 1890, Jewish scholars in the gymna-
siums aggregated 18 per cent; in the realschools,
21 per cent. Among the physicians there were 25
per cent Jews, and among the lawyers 48 per cent.
Even among the veterinary surgeons and the drug-
gists the number of Jews is somewhat above their
proportion to the population, notwithstanding the
fact that the opportunit}' to practi.se these professions
depends largely on governmental appointments, to
which comparatively few Jews are assigned.
The oldest history of Galicia is identical with that
of the Jews in the kingdom of Poland, of which this
province formed part up to its occu-
History. pation by Austria in 1772. Upon the
annexation of Poland, the empress
Maria Theresa pursued the policy of not interfering
with the customs and habits of the population in or-
der to reconcile them to the new government. This
policy was followed also in the treatment of the
Jews. As under Polish dominion, the Jews formed
a separate body and enjoyed a liberal measure of
autonomy ; the congregations formed a political com-
munity, and were combined into a district, over
which an elder (" Kreisaeltester ") presided ; the elders
of the six districts together with six representatives
at large C'Landesaeltester ") formed a board of trus-
tees (" Generaldirektion "), over which the chief rabbi
("Oberlandesrabbiner") presided. The last was se-
lected by the empress from three candidates pre-
sented by the trustees. Maria Theresa selected
Ezekiel Landau for this office, but Jie declined (see
"Noda' bi-Yehudah," partii. ; "Orah Hayyim," No.
36; Buber, "Anshe Shem," Cracow, 1895, p. xxi.),
whereupon Lobush Bernstein of Brody was selected
in his place, but he failed to make his office effective.
The office was abolished by Joseph II., and Bern-
stein died in retirement in 1789. The power of ex-
communication was vested in the chief rabbi, who
exercised it under the supervision of the govern-
ment, which made use of it in punishing evaders of
taxes, smugglers, or deserters from military service.
The school system was organized in three grades
along traditional lines : in the lowest grade elemen-
tary branches and Bible were taught ; in the second
the Talmud was studied; while in the third or high-
est grade rabbinical instruction was given. Maria
Theresa applied paternal government in its most
minute details to the internal life of the Jews. She
devised the rules for bestowing the titles of haber
and morenu and for granting the licenses for the
reader and the shohet. Different from the practise
pursued in the older provinces, the empress decreed
no limitation to the number of marriages, except in
so far as affected the taxes which had to be paid be-
fore a marriage license could be issued. Severe penal-
ties were devised for persons who baptized Jewish
children without the consent of their parents, but
these were not enforced, as the canonical law which
declared such a baptism valid was respected, and
children baptized against the will of their parents
were taken from them and handed to some Christian
institution for custody and education. A serious re-
striction placed on Jewish artisans was the provision
of Maria Theresa's " Judenorduung," which did not
permit them to work for Christian customers, except
in places where no ('hristian was working at the same
trade. This provision was incorporated in the con-
stitution of the Galician gilds of May 9, 1778, which
contains the requirement that no Christian master
mechanic should "aid or abet any charlatan ["Pfu-
scher"], disturber, quack, or Jew, nor should any
such charlatan or Jew be permitted to work at any
trade, except that Jews might work for Jews. " The
taxes were originally levied according to the tra-
ditional Polish system, which demanded a per capita
tax of two florins, Polish (about 23 cents); but soon
after the annexation this tax was increased to one
florin ("ConventioDsmuenze"), which was almost
double the original amount. This system was
changed by the law of 1776, which provided that
every family should pay a tax of four florins ($1.60)
for right of residence, and another tax of the
same amount for license to trade, and an income
tax, for tiie payment of which the community
Gulicia
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
650
was held responsible. Thus the community as-
sessed the individual congregations, which in turn
assessed the individual members. Aside from these
taxes, special licenses were required for every mar-
riage, for the building of a new synagogue or the
repairing of an old one, for holding services in a
private house and for similar ceremonies.
During the eighteenth century ideas of humani-
tarianism found their way into the Austrian empire ;
and Joseph II., imbued with a com-
Joseph II. mendable desire, wished to establish
in his domains the principle of the
equality of all mankind. As he improved the con-
dition of the rest of his Jewish subjects, so he pro-
claimed for the Jews of Galicia a policy which was a
departure from that of his mother. The " Patent "
of May 27, 1785, and the " Judenordnung" of May 7,
1789, regulated their legal condition ("Pillerische
Sammlung der Patente und Verordnungen fuer die
Koenigreiche Galizien und Lodomerien," 1785, p. 89;
and Koefil's " Systematischer Auszug der Galizischeu
Gesetze und Verordnungen," ii. 391). The purpose
of the law-giver is clearly defined in the preamble
to the "Judenordnung" of 1789, which says: "It
is both in accordance with the accepted principles of
toleration as well as conducive to the general good
to abolisli the discrimination which legislation has
hitherto made between Jewish and Christian sub-
jects, and to grant to the Jewish inhabitants of Ga-
licia all the rights and privileges which the Christian
subjects enjoy." Previous to the publication of
these general laws individual laws had established
the principle of toleration. A law of Feb. 4, 1782,
stated that Jewish physicians should have the right
of practising medicine among Christians, and on
June 28 of the same year the schools were declared
to be open to Jewish children and students. The
restriction which prohibited JeAvish mechanics from
working for Christians was abolished Sept. 16, 1784;
and in order to encourage manual labor Jews who
lived exclusively by farming were exempted from
paying taxes, while artisans and factory employees
enjoyed certain privileges in the matter of taxation.
The "Patent" of 1785 had abolished the "General-
direktion," so that the Jews should not form a sep-
arate body politic; the special Jewish checks ("Ma-
meras"; see Mamran) were declared void ; rabbin-
ical civil law was abolished 1785; early burial was
prohibited April 10, 1787. In the same year an or-
der was issued that the Jews must serve in the army,
and that before Jan. 1, 1788, all Jews must adopt
fixed and hereditary family names. Further, in
bookkeeping they were ordered to use the language
of the coimtry ; books kept in Yiddish were not ac-
cepted as evidence in court. Joseph II. ruled in
that spirit of paternalism which regulated all the in-
ternal affairs of the citizens. Though his policy
would sometimes clash with religious practises,
tiie general spirit of his legislation was benevo-
lent. Once he prohibited the stringing of the wires
which marked the Sabbath boundary ("Sabbath-
schnilre "), but permitted it later on the condition
that it would not interfere with public traffic (see
•Erub). He ordered that itinerant preachers and
hazzanim should be treated as vagabonds. The
pamphlet " Ruah Hayyim" (lirlinn, 1785), in which
the driving out of a devil is minutely described,
aiforded the emperor an opportunity of admonish-
ing the censor and of directing him to withhold per-
mission to publish such literature as " tended only
to retard the enlightenment of the Jews, as there
were enough old books of this type extant" (Nov.
2, 1785), but he was sufficiently broad-minded to
declare himself opposed to any alterations in the
text of the Talmud, because such a work belonged
to literature, and should be kept intact for the sake
of historical study (Sept. 19, 1789).
The reign of Leopold II. (1790-92) was of too
short duration to have had any influence on the de-
velopment of Jewish affairs. How-
Benevolent ever, it should be mentioned that
Despotism, shortly after the death of Joseph II.
1790- personal service in the army was abol-
1848. ished, and the old Polish exemption-
tax (" Rekrutengelder ") was intro-
duced (Nov. 24, 1790) ; but with the provision that
it should never be reintroduced, it was finally re-
pealed in 1796. The general principle of Francis II.
(1792-1835) and of Ferdinand I. (1835-48), who
ruled through Metternich, Avas that of restricting all
liberal thought ; hence it was opposed to the emanci-
pation of the Jews. In those days the government
hoped that by closely regulating the internal affairs
of the Jews it would succeed in assimilating them
with the rest of the population. The temper of the
new emperor was made manifest by an order (Sept.
7, 1792) which declared that the right of the Jews
to participate in municipal elections should be so
regulated that they would not inconvenience the
Christian citizens (" die Christlichen Buerger nicht
beeintraechtigen "). This law decreed that only such
Jews as enjoyed municipal franchise might be elect-
ors. The granting of the franchise Avas in the hands
of the municipal council, and might be granted onl)''
to property-holders and master mechanics. From
the inner city of Lemberg the Jews Avere excluded,
with the exception of such proprietors of large
business houses as could prove that the volume of
their business amounted at least to 30,000 florins
(S12,000) per annum; as a rule strangers A\'ere not
admitted, and even the residents Avere not per-
mitted to marry women from other cities. If a Jcav
from another city Avished to move to Lemberg, he
had to prove that he had induced tAvo other Jews to
leave the latter city. Foreign Jcavs could come to Ga-
licia for only a limited time, and from July 18, 1811,
a poll-tax (" GelcitzoU ") was introduced in the case of
Jews coming from the kingdom of Poland, which
amounted to 4.45 florins for men, 3.15 florins for
women and servants, and 1.45 florins for children.
Jewish importers of cattle and provisions fared bet-
ter, having to pay but 1.06 florins. It must be ad-
mitted, hoAvever, that this reactionary step Avas in-
troduced only as a reprisal against Saxony, Avhicli
levied a similar poll-tax on Austrian Jews, Avhile those
of the then existing dukedom of WarsaAV were ex-
empted from paying it. This strange relic of medi-
evalism survived until March 7, 1851, Avhen it was
abolished by an imperial edict. The business of drug-
gist, like the medical profession, which in Polish
times Avas generally followed by the Jews, Avas pro-
hibited to them under Austrian rule, at first only ia
551
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Galicia
West Galicia (1802), then in the entire province
(1829). The strong attachment that Francis II.
formed for the Catholic Church is responsible for re
peated orders (1806, 1820) that Jews must not deal
in ecclesiastical furniture, crucifixes, or vestments.
The system of taxation was very burdensome,
Joseph II., while filled with the noblest of intentions
and desirous of carrying the principle of equal rights
into practise, was hindered by financial needs. The
always depleted treasury of the empire made it im
possible to forego the income derived from special
Jewish taxes. So, while in civil law and in their
municipal affairs Joseph II. placed the Jews on a
level with the Christians, he retained in Galicia, as
well as in the older provinces, a system of special
Jewish taxes. Besides the taxes introduced by his
mother, which he retained with slight changes, he
introduced a special tax on kasher meat, which,
when additional revenue was required, was often
increased. The original tax of If kreuzer (a little
more than a cent) on every pound of meat was later
increased to 3 kreuzer, while that of 5 kreuzer on a
goose was advanced to 17 kreuzer. The "Schutz-
steuer " of four florins for every famil}-, to which one
florin was added for the benefit of the landlord (" Do-
mesticalsteuer "), was abolished in 1797, because it
did not yield the expected revenue and also because
it gave the authorities a great amount of trouble in
dealing with the numerous delinquents. In its place
alighttax was introduced which was levied on every
light burned for religious purposes (as on Sabbath
and holy days), on every oillamp burned at the an-
niversaries of the deaths of relatives (see Jahkzeit),
on every candle used in the synagogues on the Day
of Atonement, on every Hanukkah light, and on
every candle lighted at a wedding. This tax ranged
from one-half a kreuzer for every Hanukkah light
to one florin for a torch at a wedding, and was a
great source of annoyance. As a rule, it was farmed
out and levied with absolute indifference to the
hardship which it caused. But when it failed to
yield the expected revenue, a direct tax was im-
posed upon all the Jews of the province in order
to make up for the deficiency, and this had to be
paid by the congregations as a body. With re-
gard to this, it must, however, be admitted that
in general Francis II. was averse to taxing relig-
ious rites and ceremonies. When some Jews of-
fered to pay 150,000 florins for the privilege of col-
lecting a tax on every Etrog used on the festival of
Sukkot, he declared himself strongly opposed to it,
although Maria Theresa had established a precedent
by levying 4,000 florins on the Jews of Moravia for
the privilege of importing that fruit ("Oest. Wo-
chcnschrift," 1901, p. 737; "Israel. Familienblatt,"
Hamburg, Oct. 10, 1901). While on the one hand
discrimination against the Jews in civil and political
affairs was frequent, on the other hand, owing to
the system of taxation, the traditional policy of con-
stant interference with their religious practises and
other internal affairs could not be avoided. In or-
der to maintiiin the revenue of the treasury it be-
came necessary to compel every Jew to kindle
lights on Sabbath and holy days and to eat none but
kasher meat. Paternalism, however, did not stop
here. An imperial order of Dec. 14, 1810, decreed
that no one should marry unless he had passed an
examination in religion based on Herz Homberg's
catechism "Bene Zion." While this law was in
force over the whole monarchy, it was particularly
exasperating for Galicia, where only a very small
fraction of the population could read German, and
where Ilomberg, whom the government had sent
there as inspector of the schools, had made himself
universally hated by his irreligious conduct and by
his proneness to inform against the Jews. The conse-
quences were that the educational movement inau-
gurated by Josepli II. was abandoned, and the special
Jewish school fund, formed from Jewish taxes, was
merged into the general tax-fund of the country.
The various attempts to raise the status of the rabbis
fared no better, and the government decree (1836)
that after ten years no rabbi should be appointed
who had not taken an academic course at a univer-
sity became a dead letter. The meddlesomeness of
the government was noticeable in an order of 1812
which prohibited the collecting of gifts for the poor
in Palestine It threatened to treat as a vagabond
a solicitor of such alms. Inspired, as was the de-
mand for a higher education of the rabbis, by higher
motives was an attempt to encourage secular educa-
tion and the assimilation of Jews and Christians
by privileges offered to such as would acquire
school education and would discard their peculiar
dress. Since the time of Joseph II. repeated laws
prohibited the Jews from dealing in alcoholic
liquors, but these remained ineffective, chiefly on
account of the power of the landowners, who pos-
sessed the exclusive privilege of distilling, and who,
from the time of the earliest settlement of the Jews
in Poland, farmed out this privilege to Jews (see
Solomon Luria's Responsa, No. 34). Finally, on
March 24, 1841, the government promulgated a law
which permitted such Jews as would abandon their
distinctive dress, and who would acquire an ele-
mentary-school education, to live in villages and
to engage in the liquor traffic. This law also re-
mained a dead letter. A new order, dated Sept. 9,
1847, required all Jewish liquor-dealers to qualify
by Jan. 1, 1847. Even this law did not have the
desired effect, for in 1847 the trustees of the congre-
gation of Leniberg were asked to assist the govern-
ment in its attempt to enforce the law. A decided
step in advance was the abolition of the limitation
of marriages in Lemberg (1846); but the general
status of the Jews remained unchanged until 1848,
and even the constitutions of 1848 and 1849 did not
have any immediate effect, as the national move-
ment among the Poles, who considered the Jews as
strangers, and the hostility of the cities, which were
unwilling to give up the privileges which they pos-
sessed of limiting the business activity of the Jews,
were strong factors in making it impossible for the
Jews to avail themselves of the privileges which the
new order of things conferred upon them.
The principle of full equality, introduced by the
constitution of 1848, was not long enforced. Two
Jews from Galicia, Berish Meisel, rabbi of Cracow,
and Abraham Halpern, a merchant of Stanislau,were
members of the Reichstag of Kremsier, and Isaac
N. Mannheimer, a Vienna preacher, was elected for
Brody; but with the interruption of parliamentary
Galicia
Galilee
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
552
government certain restrictions were reintroduced,
while others were enforced by the local authorities
contrary to law, but with the connivance of the gov-
ernment. The only permanent improvement was
the abolition, March 7, 1851, of the
Constitu- poll-tax levied on Jews from Kussian
tion and Poland who came to Galicia on busi-
Reaction uess, but a number of other disabilities
Since 1848. were reenforced. With the rest of
tlxe Austrian Jews those of Galicia
lost the right of acquiring land by the law of Oct. 2,
1853; but while for the other provinces inhabited
by Jews this right was restored by the imperial order
of Feb. 18, 1860, the restrictions were enforced in
Galicia and in the Alpine provinces until the consti-
tution of Dec. 31, 1867, was proclaimed. Jewish
merchants of Lemberg who had opened stores in the
inner part of the city were forced to close them
within two months, and the landlords who had rent-
ed stores to Jews were punished. The same regu-
lation was enforced in Sambor; and when the Jews
appealed to the provincialgovernment against these
illegal proceedings, the latter referred the case to
the district authorities (" Kreisamt "), who decided
against the Jews. As late as 1859 the city of Tar-
now demanded the enforcement of a decree made by
the King of Poland in 1765 which restricted the Jews
to a ghetto. The law which prohibited the employ,
ment of Christian domestics by Jews, while never
strictly enforced, was used from time to time as a
vexatious measure, even where a Jewish tenant of
farm-land employed Christian laborers. Under this
law a Jew of Wadowice was fined on Sept. 11, 1859.
Afterward the Bishop of Przemj'sl in a pastoral let-
ter of Jan. 20, 1860, declared that such a law, con-
flicting with that of the Church, and could never be
valid. In some instances the police arrested Chris-
tian domestics who served in Jewish houses, and
brought them to the priest, who ordered them to
leave their places under penalty of whipping. The
law was formally abrogated on Nov. 20, 1860.
Lemberg, the capital of the province, continued to
disregard the constitution. In drawing up the
municipall statutes (1863 and 1866), the city council
demanded that Jewish members should be limited to
fifteen per cent of the total number, and that the
property of the city should belong exclusively to the
Christians. By the constitution of 1867 Jews were
admitted to the municipal boards, to the provincial
diet, and to the Parliament; but while the letter of
the constitution was maintained, the local laws were
often framed so as to discriminate against the Jews
in fact. A notable instance of this kind is the school
law of 1888, which declared that every school prin-
cipal must be of the same religion Avhicli tiie ma-
jority of the school-children professed, but as in
that case a great number of Jewish school princi-
pals would have to be appointed for Galicia, the
Galician members of the Reichsrath insisted on the
introduction of a clause which made an exception in
the case of Galicia. Another instance wliich proves
that the laws granting the Jews full civil liberty are
merely theoretical is the case of Michaline Araten,
who was taken to a convent Dec. 30, 1899, all efforts
of her father to rescue her proving futile. Neither
the courts nor the administrative authorities would
render a verdict against the convent ; a mayor who
at the request of the father searched the convent
was punished with arrest for breach of peace, and
even an audience which the father obtained with
the emperor proved abortive. Similar instances of
the abduction of Jewish girls into convents against
the will of their parents, and their retention against
their own will, have happened quite frequently, al-
though none made such an impression as that of
Michaline Araten because the relatives in the other
cases did not have the means to exhaust all legal
resources. Another instance showing how the law
is often a dead letter in Galicia is found in the fact
that a Jewisli government official who in 1895 rented
a room in Saybusch was forced to quit the town
because the municipal authorities claimed on the
basis of a governmental decision of 1809 that they
could not be compelled to tolerate any Jews among
them. Tliat under such conditions nothing is done
by the government to alleviate the great misery
which exists among the Jewish population, espe-
cially in the country districts, is self-understood,
notwithstanding the fact that a recently appointed
governor. Count Potocki, admitted to a Jewish com-
mittee who waited on him tliat it was necessary that
something be done ("Oest. Wochenschrift," 1903, p.
434). The Baron de Hirsch fund, formed from a leg-
acy of §4,000,000, and the Iliifsverein for the Galician
Jews in Vienna, formed 1903, are making noble ef-
forts to alleviate misery and to encourage education.
The great majority of the Galician Jews, espe-
cially those in the eastern part of the province, are
still in a condition similar to that which prevailed
among the western Jews in the first half of the eight-
eenth century: their education is limited to Hebrew
and the Talmud. From the time when
Intellec- the Jews of Poland entered into the
tual field of Hebrew literature Galicia has
Culture, been a seat of learning. About the
middle of the sixteenth century Moses
Isseri.es spread over western Europe the fame of
Polish Talmudists. Since the sixteenth century Lem-
berg has been the seat of an important yeshibah, and
many of its rabbis have been called to occupy promi-
nent rabbinical positions in Germany. When that
part of Poland was annexed by Austria the intellec-
tual life of the Jews remained unchanged. Maria
Theresa made no attempts to improve it, and the
efforts of Joseph II. were without permanent results.
IFerz Romberg, who was appointed inspector of the
Jewish schools in Galicia, 1787, was recalled in 1794,
because he could effect no improvement. The Gali-
cian Jews constantly petitioned the emperor to repeal
the law of compulsory education, and they were
finally successful, so that even now, after the new
school law for Austria has been in existence for more
than thirty years, it is still a dead letter for the Gali-
cian Jews. (On the Galician school question see Wolf
in " Allgemeine Zeitung des Judenthimis," 1887, p.
331.) Galicia produced a great number of promi-
nent Talmiidists in the latter part of tlie eigliteenth
and in the nineteenth century. Of this number
may be mentioned the various representatives of the
Ettingerand Orenstein families, who furnished Lem-
berg with the rabbis Jacob (died 1837) and Hirsch
Orenstein (died 1888), Marcus Wolf Ettinger (died
653
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Galicia.
Qalilee
1803), Isaac Aaron Ettinger (died 1891), Solomon
Klueger of Brody (died 1869), A. M. Taubes (at the
end of his life rabbi of Jassy), and Joseph Saul
Nathansohn, rabbi of Lemberg (died 1875).
A more modern course was pursued by Hirsch
Hagis, rabbi of Zolkiev (died 1855), who contrib-
uted to scientific periodicals and wrote on liistorical
and dogmatic topics. By the end of the eighteenth
century the Mendelssohnian movement had also
taken root in Galicia. Its pioneer was Nachman
Krochnial (1785-1840), who gathered about himself
a circle of sympathizers, among whom S. L. Rapo-
port (1790-1867), Joseph Perl (1777-1839), Isaac Er
ter, and Isaac IMieses were prominent. Tlie younger
Haskalah had also quite a number of prominent rep-
resentatives, among whom may be mentioned Osias
H. Schorr (died 1895), Hillel Kahane, Alexander
Langbank,Naphtali Keller, Hayyim Nathan Dembit-
zer, Joseph Kohen Zedek, Solomon Rubin, and the
two assiduous workers in the field of the history
of literature, Solomon H. Halberstamm and Solomon
Buber. The ghetto novel has two representatives
from Galicia, Leo Herzberg-Frankel and Karl Emil
Franzos. In connection with this ought to be men-
tioned the fact that Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, a
Christian, drew the inspiration for his beautiful idyls
of Jewish life from scenes in Galicia. Numerous
also are those who have made a name in general lit-
erature and in science, among whom may be men-
tioned David Heinrich Miiller, the Orientalist, and
Marcus Landau, the essayist.
Attempts made to introduce modern ideas into the
life of the Jews by means of modern schools and a re-
formed synagogue service have been successful in
only a small measure. The greatest merit in this di-
rection belongs to Joseph Perl, who established the
first German school in Tarnopol, Galicia (1815), and
introduced into it a modern synagogue service.
In the same year a Jewish liigli school was estab-
lished in Brody. Very slight reforms were intro-
duced in Lemberg, where Abraham Kohn was
elected rabbi in 1843. He fell a victim to fanatics,
who poisoned him Sept. 6, 1848. Reforms, re-
stricted to a certain decorum in ritual practises, were
introduced in Cracow. They are still a rare phe-
nomenon, for the Hasidim have gained a strong
foothold in Galicia, especially since tlie immigration
of Israel of Raisin, who fled from Russia in 1842
and established himself in Sadagora, where his
grandson continues to gather a large number of de-
voted followers around him. Hillel Lichtenstein,
a native of Hungary, fostered Hasidism through
bis numerous works in Hebrew and Yiddish, while
Moses Teitelbaum, a native of Galicia, introduced
Hasidism into northern Hungary.
BiBLiOfiRAPHY: Von Kortum, Uehcr Judenthtim undJuden,
Nuremberg, 179.5; Stoeger, GesctzUclic Verf(v«>^ung der Ga-
Uzisclien Judeiischaft. Lemberg, 18:S; Bernfeld, The Jews
in Galicia, in Luah Ahiasaf, viii. :i91-299; and the Jewish
periodical press.
GALiICIA, Spain : An ancient province in the
northwestern part of Spain ; a barren, mountainous
region where Jews settled sparsely in tiie eleventh
century. There were Jewish communities at Al-
lariz, Coruiia, Orense, Monforte, Pontevedra.Rivada-
via. and Rivadeo. besides individual Jews scattered
here and there. D. Menendez Gonzalez, a rich and
powerful nobleman, received Jewish merchants,
probably from Allariz, in his domain, not far from
Orense, and when they were attacked by Arias
Oduariz in 1044, he led an armed force against the
latter, and recovered the silks and other goods that
had been taken from the Jews. When John of
Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, invaded Spain (1385),
and Rivadavia was taken by Sir Thomas Percy, the
English soldiers attacked the Jews, who were sup-
posed to be rich, and plundered them, killing sev-
eral. The ghetto, however, was not destroyed.
Eighteen years before the expulsion, the Jews of
Coruna, Betanzos, and Rivadeo paid an annual tax
of 1,800 maravedis, and those of Orense, Monforte,
and Rivadavia one of 2,000 maravedis. A rich Jew
of Rompusa, a tawer, was baptized in 1414, taking
the name "Juan Esteban." His sons obtained seats-
in the Parliament.
Bibliography : Bnletin Acad. Hist. xll. 347 et seq., xxii. 171 ;
Rios H(s^ ii. 330, iii. 62, 598.
G. M. K.
GALILEE. — Biblical and Post-Biblical
Data : In the Greek period the customary name
for the northern division of western Palestine.
The name is formed from "ha-Galil," in the Old.
Testament (Josh. xx. 7, xxi. 32, LXX. ; I Kings ix.
11: II Kings xv. 29; I Chron. vi. 61), or from
"Gelil ha-Goyim" (circle of the heathens; Isa. viii.
23; comp. I Mace. v. 1.5), and designates the moun-
tainous country which rises east of the plain of
Jezreel, and extends as far as Lebanon and Anti-
lebanon. Galilee was divided into two sections,
Lower or South Galilee, and Upper or North Gali-
lee, which were separated by the plain of Ramah
(comp. Josh. xix. 36).
Politically a Jewish country, Galilee, according to
Josephus ("B. J." iii. 3, § 1), was bounded north and
west by the Tyrian territory, south by Samaria and
Scythopolis, and east by the trans-Jordanic country
and the Lake of Gennesaret. Josephus also divides
the Galilean mountain-range into two sections,
Upper and Lower Galilee, which division corre-
sponds to the natural division of the country as just
stated. According to the same author, Upper Gal-
ilee was bounded on the south by Bersaba (perhaps
the ruined Abu Sheba south from the plain of
Ramah; on the west by Meroth (the position of
which can not be positively determined); on the
north by Baca (also unknown); and on the east by
Thella on the Jordan. Lower Galilee extended in
the west to Cliabulon near Ptolemais; in the south
to Exaloth, that is, Chisloth (Josh. xix. 12, 18);
and in the east to Tiberias. From other passages
in Josephus it appears that the Jewish section of
Galilee did not extend far nortli; for Kadesh was
already in Tyrian possession ("B. J." ii. 18, § 1, and
often elsewhere). On the other hand, in the specifi-
cation of the boundary-lines according to the Tal-
mud (see Hildesheimer, "Beitrage zur Geographic
Palastinas," 1886), the northeastern boundary of
Galilee extends farther west and north, namely, from
Ptolemais through Ga'ton (noAV Ja'tun), Bet Zenita
(Zuwenita), Kastra de-Gelil (Gelil), Kur (Al-Kura),
Yatir (Ya'tirj, and Tafnit (Tibnin) to Marj 'Ayun.
Galilee, a beautiful and very fertile country, is-
Ckililee
G-allico
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
554
justly praised by Josephus ("B. J." iii. 3, ^ 2). Ac-
cording to liis statement, it included a number of
cities and many villages, the smallest of which had
not fewer than 15,000 inhabitants. This is doubt-
less an exaggeration, though the density of the pop-
ulation is beyond question. As early as Old Testa-
ment times the population of this region was greatly
mixed ; and it became more so after the downfall of
the Ephraimitic kingdom. During the Maccabean
struggle the Jews of Galilee constituted such a small
number that thej- could all be brought to Jerusalem
(I Mace. V. 23).
It is not expressly stated when Galilee was taken
by the Maccabees, but Schiirer's suggestion ("Ge-
schichte," 3d ed., i. 275 et seq.), that the section of the
Iturean territory which Aristobulus I. conquered
(Josephus, "Ant." xiii. 11, § 3) was Galilee, is prob-
ably correct. Undoubtedly many Jews subse-
quently emigrated to that blessed land, so that the
population became predominantly Jewish, as is de-
scribed in the New Testament and by Josephus.
Upon the death of Herod the Great, Galilee was ap-
portioned to Herod Antipas ; and after his deposition
it was incorporated into the province of Syria, a part
of which it continued to form, except under the
short rule of Agrippa (40-44).
After the fall of the Jewish state a new period
of prosperity set in for Galilee; and it gradually be-
came the center of Jewish life in Palestine.
B. G. H. F. Bu.
In Rabbinical Literature : Galilee is enumer-
ated mainly for religio-legal purposes in the Talmud
(B. B. iii. 2; Ket. xiii. 9; Tosef., Ket., end; Sanh.
lib; elal.). It comprised the northern territorj^ east
of the Jordan, which river constituted the frontier.
Kefar 'Awtanai (Git. vii. 8) was at its southern
boundary (see Josephus, " B. J. " iii. 3, § 1). Accord-
ing to Sheb. ix. 2, Galilee was divided into three
parts: Upper Galilee (above Kefar Hananyah, where
no sycamores are found). Lower Galilee (land of syca-
mores), and the plain (the Tehum, or territory of
Tiberias). In the letter addressed to his " brethren "
of Galilee by R. Gamaliel (Tosef., 'Eduy. ii. ; Sanh.
ii. ; ib. 77a) the plain is not specified.
This province is praised for the fertility of its
fields and vineyards (Meg. 6a) ; its fruits are very
sweet (Ber. 44a). Olive-oil was one of its chief prod-
ucts (Sifre, Deut. 33, in blessing of Asher). "It is
easier to raise a legion of olive-trees in Galilee than
one child in Palestine" (Ber. R. xx.). Special Gali-
lean jars were manufactured for the storing of oil
(Kelim ii. 2). Wine, on the other hand, was scarce
(Nazir 31b). Linen was abundant, and the women
were famous for the fineness of their homespun (B.
K. 119).
The inhabitants, partly pagan, partly Jewish, are
said to have been quarrelsome and of a disobliging dis-
position (Ned. 48a ; Tosef. , Git. vi.). Still one excep-
tion showing delicate appreciation of
Character- the true implications of charity is men-
istics of tioned (Tosef. , Peah, viii.): an impov-
Galileans. erished old man was served the delica-
cies he had indulgedin in his prosper-
ous days. The Galileans were more solicitous of
their honor than of their property (Yer. Ket. iv. 14).
Widows were treated with consideration (Ket. iv.
14). Young married people were not permitted to
be alone immediately after the nuptial ceremony
(Ket. 12a). At funerals the preacher of the funeral
oration preceded the bier; in Judea he followed
(Shab. 158a). It is said in the Talmud that Jose b.
Joezer of Zeredah and Jose b. Johanan of Jerusalem
declared the country of the nations ("Erez ha-'Am-
mim ") unclean (Shab. 14b, 15a). Rashi understands
by "Erez ha- 'Ammim " the country of the Gen-
tiles— that is, the country outside of Palestine; but
Kaminka concludes that Galilee is meant, the name
being similar to the Biblical "Gelil ha-Goyim."
Thus there is an essential difference with regard to
ritual observance of cleanliness between Judea and
Galilee.
On the whole, the Galileans are said to have been
strict in their religious observances (M. K. 23a;
Pes. 55a; Yer. R. H. iv. 6; Yer. Sotah ix, 10).
Measures and weights were peculiar in Galilee: 1
Judean se'ah = 5 Galilean se'ah; 5 Judean sela =
10 Galilean sela (B. B. 122b; Hul. 137b). The
Galilean Sicarii were dreaded (Tosef., Git. ii.).
Study of the traditions was not one of the Gal-
ilean virtues, neither was their dialectic method
very flexible ('Er. 53a). But it is for their faulty
pronunciation that the Galileans are especially re-
membered: 'ayin and alef, and the gutturals gen-
erally, were confounded, no distinction being made
between words like "'amar" (= "hamor," ass),
"hamar" (wine), "'amar" (a garment), "emar" (a
lamb : 'Er. 53b) ; therefore Galileans were not per-
mitted to act as readers of public prayers (Meg.
24b). Still, according to Geiger (" Orient," iv. 432),
to the Galileans must be ascribed the origin of the
Haggadah. Galilee was very rich in towns and
hamlets (Yer. Meg. i. 1), among which were Sep-
phoris (niDV or p^D^f), Asha, Shephar'am, Bet-
She'arim, Tiberias, Magdala, Kefar Hananyah,
'Akbara, Acco, Paneas, Caesarea. On Galil, a place
of the same name as the province, see Hildesheimer,
" BeitrSge zur Geographic Palastinas, " p. 80.
Bibliography : Neubauer, La Geographie du Talmud, Paris,
1868 ; Dalnian, Ojammatik des Jildusch-PalilsUnischen Ara-
mdiach, Leipsic, 1899; Hirsch Hllde.sheimer, Beitrdae zur
Geographie PaUistinatt, p. 80; Gu^rln, Galilee, 1880;
Merrill, Galilee in the Time of Chrv<t, London, 1885 ; George
Adam Smith, The Historical Geography of the Holy Land,
London, 1894; A. Kaminka, Studien zur Geschichte GaJi-
ittos, Berlin, 1890.
8. s. E. G. H.
GALINA, MOSES BEN ELIJAH: Greek
scholar and translator; lived at Candia in the fif-
teenth century. His best known work is "Toledot
Adam" (Constantinople, 1515), a treatise on chiro-
mancy and physiognomy, drawn chiefly from 'All
ibn 'Abbas' " Kamil al-Sina'ah " and the pseudo-Aris-
totelian "Secretum." Galina's work was abridged
and published later with a Judajo-German transla-
tion as "Hokmat ha-Yad." The author's name is
erroneously given as Elijah ben Moses Galina. Still,
Joseph ibn Kaspi, in his "Tirat Kesef," quotes a
work entitled "Dibre Hakamim," a treatise on the
properties of stones, as by "Elijah ben Moses Ga-
lina." Moses Galina translated from Arabic into
Hebrew: (1) An astronomical treatise by Omar ibn
Mohammed Mesuman, "Sefer Mezukkak"; (2) an
astrological treatise, "Mishpat haMabbatim"; (3)
"Sefer ha-Goralot," a treatise on geomaucy, bearing
555
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Gkililee
Qallico
the author's name as Moses Galiano, identified by
Steinschneider with Moses Galina.
Bibliography : Steinschneider, Uehr. Uebers. pp. 353, 578,
595, 9ti5 ; idem, Hebr. Bihl. xix. 59-61.
U. M. Sel.
GALIPAPA, ELIJAH: Rabbi of Rhodes in
the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries; probably
born in Bulgaria. He emigrated to Palestine, but
later removed to Rhodes. He was the author of
"Yede Eliyahu," a work on the rabbinical institu-
tions (" takkanot "), in which the order adopted by
Maimonides is followed (Constantinople, 1728).
Bibliography : Azulal, Shem ha-Oedolim ; Benjacob, Ozar
}i(i-Scfarim.
GALIPAPA (not Gallipapa nor Galeppa),
^AYYIM : Spanish rabbi ; son of Abraham Gali-
papa; born at Monzon about 1310; died about 1380.
He was rabbi at Huesca, and later at Pamplona,
where he directed a Talmud school. Galipapa be-
longed to the liberal school, setting aside the strictly
orthodox rabbinical authorities, and following even
in advanced years those that inclined to a more lax
discipline. He permitted the combing of hair on the
Sabbath, and allowed children to accept cheese from
Christians ; he also introduced some ritual and litur-
gical changes at Pamplona. In some of his views he
differed from the opinions then current; he saw, for
instance, in the Book of Daniel a revelation of the
crimes of Antiochus Epiphanes. Because of his
reforms, R. Hasdai ben Solomon of Tudela made
a complaint against him to Isaac ben Sheshet,
whereupon the latter seriously but gently reproved
him, urging him to avoid henceforth all cause for
offense and to preserve peace (Isaac b. Sheshet, Re-
sponsa, Nos. 394 etseq.). Galipapa wrote a polem-
ical treatise " 'Emek Refa'im," in which tlie mas-
sacre of the Catalonian Jews of 1348 is described ;
the work is contained in his commentary on Semahot,
an extract of which is given in Joseph ha-Kohen's
"'Emek ha-Bakah." He wrote also a commentary
on 'Abodah Zarah and an epistle on salvation
quoted by Joseph Albo (" 'Ikkarim," iv. 42).
Bibliography: De Rossl-Hamberger, Hist. WOrterb. p. 110;
Steinschneider. Jewish Literature, pp. 127, 376; Gratz,
Gesch. vlii. 31 ; Kayserling, Gesch. der Juden in Spanien,
G. M. K.
GALIPAPA, :g:AYYIM[ MEBOBAK : Bul-
garian rabbi; lived and taught at Sofia about 1650
(Conforte, "Kore ha-Dorot," p. 52a).
G. ■ M. K.
GALLAH {nhi = " the shaved one " ; in German
often printed as Gallach) : Epithet originally ap-
plied to Catholic priests on account of their tonsure.
Later the same epithet was extended to Greek Ortho-
dox priests. "Gallah," with its plural "gallahim,"
occurs very often in Hebrew medieval literature.
Thus R. Tarn says: "Do not be hasty in thy answer
Hke priests ["gallahim"], who discuss in a sophistical
way" ("Sefer ha-Yashar," 81a, col. b). Latin wri-
ting was sometimes called " the writing of gallahim "
("Or Zarua'," ii. 42). In Russo-Jewish folk-lore it
is unlucky to meet a gallah; to prevent the ill luck
various expedients are recommended, such as throw-
ing straw behind the back, or turning the back and
walking away four paces (see Folk-Loue). A pop-
ular saying is tliat " A fat rabbi and a lean gallaU
are not as they should be: the one does not apply
himself sufficiently to the study of the Law, the
other as a rule is a fanatic" (Tendlau, "Sprilch-
w5rter undRedensarten," 1860, p. 311).
K. M. Sel.
GALLEGO (GALIGO ; sometimes erroneously
Galliago, Galiago, or Galliano), JOSEPH
SHALOM DE SHALOM: Neo-Hebraic poet;
died in Palestine Nov. 25, 1624. He was the first
hazzan of the first synagogue erected in Amster-
dam, and occupied the position fourteen years, then
removed to Palestine. He edited the work " Imre
No'am," containing religious poems, hymns, and
elegies (Amsterdam, 1628). Several of his Hebrew
poems are to be found in the manuscript collection
"Kol Tefillah we-Kol Zimrah" of David Franco
Mendes. Gallego translated from Hebrew into
Spanish the ethical writings of Jonah de Gerona,
entitled "Sendroe [Sendero] de Vidas " {ib. n.d. ; 2d
ed., ib. 1640).
Bibliography: D. H. de Castro, De Synagoge der Portugeesch-
Israel. Oemeente te Amsterdam^ p. Iv.; Fiirst, Bibl. Jud. 1.
315 ; Steinschneider, Cat. Bodl. No. 6001 ; Kayserling, Bibl.
Esp.-Port.-Jud. p. 48.
G. M. K.
GALLERY : An elevated floor, or a balcony, in
the interior of a church, synagogue, or other large
building, resting on columns, and surrounded by
a balustrade. In the Orthodox synagogues it is
reserved for women ; for the modern usage see
Frauenschul.
The Temple had galleries in the shape of winged
or bay chambers, variously described as "zela',"
" gizrah " or " attik " (attic), and " 'aliyyah " (I Kings
vi. 5; Ezek. xli. 13-15; I Chron. xxviii. 11). But
these, it appears, were either private chambers or
passages, or merely architectural ornamentation. A
gallery used for public gatherings was constructed
in the women's apartment (" 'ezrat nashim ") m the
Temple for the libation celebration at Sukkot.
The Mishnah relates that " On the eve following
the first day of the festival they went down fifteen
steps to the women's 'azarah, and prepared a great
improvement " (Suk. v. 2), which R. Eleazar ex-
plains was the gallery erected above for the accom-
modation of the women, enabling them to witness
the men below celebrating the "water libation" to
the accompaniment of music, song, dances, and il-
luminations. The Tosefta says there were galleries
on the three sides of the 'azarah, so that women
could observe the celebration separately (Tosef.,
Suk. iv. 1). "The house of David apart, and their
wives apart," is quoted against the mingling of sexes
in public gatherings (Zech. xiii. 12; see Maimonides,
"Yad," Lulab, viii.).
In the Reform synagogues the galleries are used
for the accommodation of non-members of both
sexes. See Akchitectuke, Jewish ; Fkavenschul ;
Jerusalem; Reform; Temple.
A. J ^- ^•
GALLICO, ELISHA BEN GABRIEL : Pal-
esrinian Talnuidist ; died at Safed about 1583. He
was a pupil of Joseph Card. After the death of
his master, Gallico was nominated chief of the yeshi-
bah of Safed. He is frequently menrioned in tlie
responsa collection " Abkat Rokel," in which re-
Gallico
Gama
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
556
sponsum No. 84 belongs to him. Hayyim Bcu veuisti
quotes Gallico's responsa in liis "Keneset ha
Gedolah." Gallico wrote homiletic-allegorical com-
mentaries on Ecclesiastes (published during the au-
thor's lifetime, Venice, 1577), on Esther (Venice,
1583), and on Song of Songs (Venice, 1587).
Bibliography: Michael, Or ?((x-7fai/yim, p. 223, No. 474; Azu-
lai, Shem hn-Gednlim, i. 28, No. 208; Steinschneider. Cat.
Bodl. col. 968; Fuenn, Keneset VisraeU P- 13<5.
K. M. Sel.
GALLICO, SAMUEL : Italian Talmudist and
cabalist; lived in the si.xteenthand seventeenth cen-
turies. He was a pupil of Moses Cordoveto and the
teacher ot Menahem Azariuh di Fano. Gallico was
the compiler of " 'Asis Rimmonim," consi.stiiig of
extracts from Cordovero's " Pardes Kinimoniin,"
with notes by Mordecai Dato (Venice, 1601). This
work was afterward revised by Fano, who added a
commentary entitled "Pelah lia-Rimmon," and by
Mordecai b. Jacob, whose commentary is entitled
"Pa'amon we-Rimmon."
Bibliography: Fiirst, Bihl. Jml. i. 314; Steinschneider, Cat.
Bodl. col. 2225.
K. M. Ski..
GALLIFOLI (the ancient Callipolis) : Seaport
town in European Turkey, at the northeast end of
the Dardanelles and about 135 miles from Constan-
tinople. It has a population of about 20,000, of
whom 1,200 are Jews. The latter probably lived in
Gallipoli from the first centuries of Byzantine rule.
About 1162 Benjamin of Tudela found in the town
200 Jews, who had a yeshibah under tlie care of R.
Elia Kapid and R. Shabbetlial Zutra. The Ottoman
Turks, who acquired Gallipoli in 1365, protected
the community, according to their custom. In 1469
there lived at Gallipoli a rabbi named Daniel bar
Hananiah, whose manuscript of the Bible commen-
tary of Levi ben Gershom has been preserved. In
1492 a great number of Spanish exiles found refuge
in Gallipoli, and several families bearing the name of
" Saragoss " still celebrate a " Purim of Saragossa " in
the month of Heshwan. The Ben Habib family
of Portugal is said. to have furnished Gallipoli with
eighteen chief rabbis, the most prominent of them
being Jacob ibn Habib, the author of the " 'En Ya'a-
kob." In 1853 Hadji Hasdai Varon represented
France, Italy, Austria, Portugal, Denmark, and the
United States as consular agent. Gallipoli has two
synagogues, one built in 1721 and rebuilt in 1852 ;
the other is quite recent. It has also a Jewish
school containing 250 boys, as well as six benevolent
societies. The community is administered by a
council of ten ; its revenue comes mostl}^ from taxes
on kasher meat, wines, and heads of families. Hay-
yim Franco, a native of Melas, has been chief rabbi
since January, 1903.
Several of the Jews of Gallipoli are government
employees. The Spanish vice-consul and nearly all
the dragomans are Jews, who are also represented
in nearly every commercial and mechanical pursuit.
The native costume is now giving way to the Euro-
pean. Among the antiquities of the city arc the old
cemetery, a marble basin set up in 1670 by a certain
Johanan Halio, tiie above-mentioned copy of the
commentary on the Bible by Levi ben Gershom, the
Megillah of Saragossa, and many old manuscripts.
There are many Jewish families in the neighborhood
of Gallipoli, especially at Lampsacus, on the oppo-
site Asiatic shore, at Charkeui, and elsewhere.
BiBLiO(iRAPHY : Benjamin of Tiidela, Afas.sn'ot ; Dezobry, Dic-
tiviiuaii-c d'Histoirc et dc Glnijraphic.
D. M. Fh.
GALLOWS : A framework consisting of one or
more upright posts supporting a cross-beam, and
used for executing those sentenced to death by hang-
ing. In the Hebrew Bible |*y ( = " tree ") is the word
used for " gallows " (Gen. xl. 19 ; Deut. xxi. 22 ; Jo-sh.
viii. 29, x.^26 ; Esth. ii. 23, v. 14, vi. 4). The " tree " or
gallows erected by Hainan, and u])on which he him-
self died, is described as fifty cubits high (Esth. vii.
9, 10) ; probably it was a stake on which the culprit
was impaled (see Haley, •'P^sther," pp. 122 et seq.),
corresponding to the "zekifa " of the later Hebrew
(comp. Meg. 16b; B. M. 83b), which was certainly a
simple stake. In the Mishnah (Sanh. vi. 3) the gallows
is described as in two parts : mip, the upright, which
was firmly fixed in the ground; and |'j;, the trans-
verse beam ("in^ pOD in the commentaries), from
which the condemned was suspended by the hands.
This contrivance was not employed to kill by stran-
gulation. According to R. Jose, the post must not
be fixed in the ground, but must be rested obliquely
against a wall, and be buried immediately with the
body of the executed. The consensus of authorities
does not favor Jose's interpretation of the law, but
holds that the gallows may rest in the ground,
though it must not be permanently fixed, a new post
being erected on each occasion (see Chucifixion).
E. G. H.
GALLUS, CAIUS CESTITJS : Consul " suffect-
us" in 42 c.E. Pliny ("Historia Naturalis," xxxiv.
48) calls him " consularis, " i.e. , " retired consul. " Ac-
cording to a dubious passage in Tacitus ("Annales,"
XV. 25), he was appointed successor to Corbulo as
legate of Syria (63) ; but his coins date only from
the years 65"^ and 66 (Mionnet, v. 169, No. 189; Sup-
plement, Nos. 190, 191). When the Jewish war
broke out in the twelfth year of Emperor Nero (Oct.,
65-66; see Josephus, "Aut."xx. 11, ^1), Gallus was
already governor ("B. J." Preface, §7; ib. ii. 14,
§§ 3, 4). Gallus appears to have been favorably in-
clined toward the Jews ("B. J." ii. 14, § 3).
When Florus left Jerusalem and his troops were
defeated, Gallus (Josephus, "Vita," § 5), the officer
holding the highest military command
Actions in that region, had to take action.
During- the Opposing ambassadors from Florus
War. and from the Jews had already ap-
peared before him. Gallus, however,
did not at once intervene with arms, but sent
his tribune Neapolitanus to Jerusalem, who, to-
gether with Agrippa IT., vainly tried to quiet the
pev-)ple ("B. J." ii. 16, ^ 1). When hostilities actu-
ally commenced Gallus advanced from Antioch upon
Palestine. Along theseacoast he executed a bloody
vengeance on the Jews, burning the city Chabulon
to the ground, killing 8,000 Jews in Jatfa, and ar-
riving during the Feast of Tabernacles at Lydda,
which was almost forsaken by its inhabitants. He
pitched his camp in Gabao (Gibeon); but even here
he was violently attacked by the Jews from Jerusa-
lem, and came very near being ccmipletely defeated
557
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Oallieo
Oama
{ib. ii. 19, ^ 2; "Vita," § 7). Gallus then advanced
nearer to .Terusaleni upon the so-called Scopus; oc-
cupied and burned the suburb Bezetha, Avhich was
wholly undefended by the Jews ("B. J." ii. 19, ^ 4);
stormed the inner wall for five days; and had already
undermined the northern wall protecting the Tem-
ple (tb. % 6) when he withdrew pursued by the Jews.
The latter fell upon liim suddenly at Gabao, and
forced him to beat a hasty retreat, leaving his valu-
able war materials behind. His best men, whom he
had left as a cover, w ere cut down in the narrow
pass at Beth-horon. Nero, who was at Achaia,
heard of the defeat (ib. ii. 20, § 1 ; iii. 1, § 1), and Gal-
lus' career as a general was at an end. He seems to
Lave died soon after (Tacitus, " Hist." v. 10).
Bibliography: Gratz, Gesch. 4th ed.. Hi. 465; Wellhausen, I.
J. G. 4th ed., p. 365, Berlin, 1901; Pauly-Wissovva, Real-
Encyc. iil. 3005; Prosopographia Imperii Romaiit, i. 3i0:
Schiirer, Gesch. 3d ed., i. 604.
C. S. Kr.
GAIiXJT. See Diaspora ; Exile.
GALVESTON: Chief commercial city of the
state of Te.\as; on Galveston Bay and the Gulf of
Mexico. It was founded in 1836, and has a popu-
lation (1903) of 32,745. Jews settled in Galveston
in 1840. In 1852 the Jewish Cemetery Association
was organized, a plot of ground for burial-pur-
poses being donated by the late Isadore Dyer. In
1856 the first Jewish services were held at the home
of Isadore Dyer in a room dedicated to that purpose.
In 1866 the Hebrew Benevolent Society of Galves-
ton, Texas, was organized and chartered. A burial-
plot was purchased in 1867, and another in 1897.
The charter members of the Benevolent Society
were J. W. Frank, J. Rosenfield, I. C. Levy, I.
Fedder, Isadore Dyer, Leon Blum, J. Lieberman,
and Ij. Block, the last three of whom are still (1903)
living.
Congregation B'nai Israel (Reform) was organized
in 1868 and chartered in 1870. The temple was
dedicated in the latter year, and has been enlarged
twice, now having a seating capacity of 764 per-
sons. The congregation has had four rabbis : Alex-
ander Roseuspitz, 1868-71 ; Abraham Blum, 1871-85;
Joseph Silverman, 1885-88; Henry Cohen, 1888.
The Ladies' Hebrew Benevolent Society was or-
ganized in 1870, Mrs. Caroline Block (d. 1902) serv-
ing as president for thirty years ; the Harmony Club
was organized in 1870, Zachaiias Frankel Lodge
I. O. B. B. in 1874, and the Ladies' Auxiliary So-
ciety in 1887.
In 1894. under the title of "Young Men's Hebrew
Association," the Orthodox Jews, the large majority
of whom settled there after the Russian persecution
of 1891, established a congregation. Orthodox serv-
ices have been held since 1887, first in private
houses and later in a building acquired for the
purpose. The Y. M. H. A. has a charitable society
— Bikur Cholim — and a Ladies' Auxiliary (estab-
lished 1903). B'nai Zion Lodge (founded 1898) rep-
resents the local Zionists.
Galveston was visited by a terrific storm on Sept.
8, 1900, which left destitution, wide-spread misery,
and death in its wake. The dead numbered about
8,000, and property to the value of many million
dollars was swept away. Forty one members of the
Jewish community perished. Of the twenty-eight
j)laces of worship in the city, but five remained
standing, and two of these were very badly damaged.
Of the other three, Temple B'nai Israel was one.
The sum of §26,427.33 was contributed by Jewish
organizations and individuals for distribution among
the Jewish sufferers, and was disbursed by a local
committee made up of representatives of each of the
communal institutions.
The Jews of Galveston have always been promi-
nent in civic as in business life. A number of them
have served as aldermen, and in 1853 Michael See-
ligson was elected mayor, resigning a few months
thereafter. Upon the commission controlling the
affairs of the city at the present time the governor
of the state appointed former City
Prominent Treasurer I. H. Kcmpner. I. Loven-
Citizens. berg has been a member of the Galves-
ton school board for seventeen years,
and one of its most active workers. He is also
president of the Galveston Orphans' Home, a non-
sectarian institution, and for fourteen years was
president of the Hebrew Benevolent Society.
Bibliography : H. Cohen, Settlement nf the Jews in Texas, in
Pub. Jew. His. Soc. No. 2; idem, TJte Jews in Texas, la
Pub. Jew. Hist. Soc. No. 4 ; C. Ousley, Galveston in. 1900,
Atlanta, Ga.; Reports Hebrew Henevolent Society, Galves-
ton ; Reports Congregation B'7mi Israel, Galveston.
A. H. C.
GAMA, GASPABD DA : German-Jewish mar-
iner of the fifteenth century. According to his own
story, Gaspard da Gama was born in Posen, and
while still young had to leave the country (1456) on
account of oppression. He followed his family to
Jerusalem, and from there to Alexandria. He trav-
eled thence to India by way of the Red Sea, was
taken captive, and sold into slavery.
When Vasco da Gama had left the coast of Mala-
bar and was returning to Europe (1498) he stopped
at the little island of Anchediva, sixty miles from
Goa. During his stay there his fleet was approached
by a small boat containing among the native crew a
tall European with a flowing white beard. This
European was Gaspard da Gama, who had persuaded
his master Sabayo, the viceroy of Goa, to treat the
strangers kindly, and who was now bent on inducing
them to land. Gaspard was evidently highly es-
teemed by Sabayo, for the latter had made him ad-
miral ("capitao mor"). Approaching the Portu-
guese ships, he hailed the crew in Castilian, who were
rejoiced to hear a familiar speech so far from home.
Being promised by the Portuguese complete safety,
he allowed himself to be taken aboard Vasco da
Gama's ship, was received with respect, and enter-
tained the crew with narrations of his experiences.
Vasco da Gama suspected treachery, however, and
had Gaspard bound, flogged, and tortured, prolong-
ing the torture until the victim consented to become
baptized, and to pilot the Portuguese ships in the
Indian waters. Gaspard told Vasco da Gama that
the viceroy of Goa was a generous man, who had
treated him with great kindness and whom he was
loath to desert, but since he found himself compelled
to do so in order to save his life, he was willing to
serve the Portuguese faithfully. The name Gas-
pard da Gama was given to him in baptism after
Vasco da Gama, who had acted as his godfather.
After a prolonged voyage in the Indian waters Gas-
Gama
Gamaliel I.
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
558
pard accompanied Vasoo da Gama to Portugal. In
Lisbon Gaspard soon became a favorite with King
Emanuel, who made him many valuable gifts and
granted him a charter of privileges, and had him
called " Gaspard of the Indies. "
Gaspard also accompanied Cabral (1502) on his
voyage to the East, and proved of great value to him
by his knowledge of this region. At the king's de-
sire Cabral was to consult with Gaspard on all im-
portant matters.
Having visited Melinde, Calicut, and Cochin,
Cabral started on his return voyage, and at Cape
Verde met the tleet of Amerigo Vespucci, which was
then starting for the exploration of the eastern coast
of South America. Vespucci hastened to avail him-
self of Gaspard 's wide knowledge, and speaks of
him in terms of praise as " a trustworthy man who
speaks many languages and knows the names of
many cities and provinces ..."
Later, Gaspard accompanied Vasco da Gama to
India (1502) and found his wife in Cochin, who
could not be persuaded to abandon Judaism. On
his return to Lisbon in 1503 the title " cavalleiro de
sua casa " was conferred by the king on Gaspard
for his valuable service to the country.
Bibliography : Damiao de Goes, Chrnn. de D. Manuel ; Kay-
serling, Christoph Columhus unci der Anteil der Juden au
den Spanischen und Portuyiesiiiche^i Entdeckungen, p. 100,
Berlin, 1894 ; Correa, The Three Voi/cwex of Vasco da Oama.
transl. by Stanley, Hakluytan Society edition, pp. 344-252, 301
309, London, 1869; Lelervel, Pnlska Dzieje, 1. 581; idem,
Oeographie dti Moyen Age ; Barros, Asia, dec. i., book 5.
E. c. J. G. L.
GAMA, VASCO DA : Portuguese discoverer
of the highway to India by sea. Like Columbus,
he was materially aided in his voyage by Abraham
Zacuto, astrologer to King D. Manuel. As com-
mander-in-chief of the fleet destined for India, he
set sail from Lisbon July 8, 1497, after conferring
with and taking leave of Zacuto, whom he esteemed
highly, in presence of the whole crew. See also
Gama, Gaspard da.
Bibliography : Correa, Lendas da India, In Collegdo de
Monumentos Ineditos para a Historia das Conquistas dos
Portuguezes, 1., 10, 261 et seq.; Kayserling, Christopher Co-
lumbus, pp. 113 et seq.; Allg. Zeit. cto Jud. Ixi. 348 et seq.
G. M. K.
6AMALA : City in Palestine, opposite Taiicheae,
beyond Lake Tiberias. It had an unusually strong
position on the side of a mountain with a protruding
spur, which gave it its name (N7OJ = "camel "). It
was accessible only from the south, on which side,
however, a transverse moat had been made. There
was likewise on the south a high hill which served
the city for a defense. Within the wall there was
a well (Josephus, "B. J." iv. 1, § 1). Alexander
Jannseus captured the fort from a certain Demet-
rius who ruled in that vicinity (Josephus, ib. i. 4,
§ 8; "Ant." xiii. 15, § 3), and from that time Ga-
mala became a possession of the Jews (ib., ed. Niese,
§ 4 ; earlier editions have " Gabala " ; the same name
occurs in "B. J." i. 8, § 4). The region surrounding
Gamala, called Gamalitis in "Ant." xviii. 5, § 1, was
a territory in dispute between Herod Antipas and the
Nabataean king Aretas. Elsewhere Josephus calls
the district in which Gamala was situated "Gaulan-
itis " ; and the rebel Judah, who was born in Gamala,
is called "the Gaulanite " ("Ant." xviii. 1, § 1).
When the great war broke out against Rome, Ga-
mala at first remained true to the Romans (Josephus,
"Vita," tj| 11), the oppressed inhabitants of Bathyia
finding refuge there (ib.); but later it also revolted,
and was fortified by Josephus ("B. J." ii. 20, § 16).
King Agrippasent Equiculus Modius thither to con-
quer the fortress, but he was too weak to do so
("Vita," § 24), and it was not till later that it fe'.I
into the hands of the king. Joseph, the midwife's
son, persuaded the inhabitants, against the will of
the aristocracy, to revolt against the king (ib. § 37),
and Gamala thus became a support of the Zealots.
Vespasian marched against it, but the Romans,
though they made a way through the walls, were
finally driven back. At last, on the 23d of Tishri,
68 C.E., the Romans again entered the city, con-
quered it, and killed all the inhabitants ("B. J." iv.
1, g§ 2-10; Suetonius ["Titus," § 4] says Titus con-
quered it).
The Mishnah counts Gamala among the cities
which had been surrounded by a wall since the time
of Joshua ('Ar. ix. 6), and the Talmud (ib. 32a)
places it incorrectly in Galilee. Josephus states its
position correctly in placing it in Lower Gaulanitis,
from which district it obtained its name Ta/ia?uTiK^
("B. J."iii. 3, ^5; 4, § 1).
Ritter ("Erdkunde," xv. 349, 353) identifies the
city with the present Khan al-Araba. Furrer ("Ta-
richeaj und Gamala," in "Z. D. P. V." xii. 145-151)
opposes those who incorrectly find it in Al-Husn,
since that is ancient Hippos. It should rather be
identified with the modern village of Jamli on the
River Rukkad. Schumacher, who suggests Al-Ahsun
("Northern Ajlfln," p. 116, London, 1890), objects
to its identification with Jamli on the ground that
the form of the mountain was caused by inundations
of the Rukkad ("Z. D. P V." xv. 175); but this
objection does not seem well taken.
Bibliography : Boettger, Topographisch^Histnrisches Lexi-
con zu den Schriften des Flavius Josephus, p. 134 ; Neu-
bauer, G. T. p. 340 ; Buhl, Geographic des Alten Paldstina,
p. 345: Schiirer. Ge«ch. 3d ed., i. 615.
G. S. Kk.
GAMALIEL : Name which occurs in the Bible
only as a designation of the prince of the tribe of
Manasseh (Num. i. 10; ii. 20; vii. 54, 59; x. 23). In
post-Biblical times the name occurs with special fre-
quency in the family of Hillel. In a story in con-
nection with a proselyte made to Judaism by Hillel,
and which is supported by reliable tradition, it is
said that the proselyte had two sons born to him
after his conversion, whom he named in gratitude
" Hillel " and " Gamaliel " (Ab. R. N. xv. [ed. Schech-
ter, p. 62] ; Midr. ha-Gadol, ed. Schechter, to Ex.
xxviii. ; see note ad loc). Perhaps Hillel's father
was called "Gamaliel," in which case the usual cus-
tom would have required the giving of this name to
Hillel's first-born son. Besides the six patriarchs of
the name of Gamaliel, tradition knows of others of
the same name who lived in Palestine in the third
and fourth centuries, and who are reckoned among
the Palestinian amoraim.
Bibliography : Frankel, Mebo Yerushalmi, pp. 71a-72b.
P. 8. W. B.
GAMALIEL I.: Son of Simon and grandson
of Hillel; according to a tannaitic tradition (Shab.
559
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Ghiina
Gamaliel I.
15a), he was their successor as nasi and first pres-
ident of the Great Sauhedrin of Jerusalem. Al-
though the rehability of this tradition, esf)ecially as
regards the title of "nasi," has been justly dis-
puted, it is nevertheless a fact beyond all doubt
that in the second third of the first century Gamaliel
(of wliose father, Simon, nothing beyond his name
is known) occupied a leading position in the highest
court, the great council of Jerusalem, and that, as a
member of that court, he received the cognomen
"Ha-Zaken." Like his grandfather, Hillel, he was
the originator of many legal ordinances with a view
to the "tikkun ha-'olam" (= "improvement of the
world": Git. iv. 1-3; comp. also Yeb. xvi. 7; K. H.
ii. 5). Gamaliel appears as the head of the legal-
religious body in the three epistles which he at one
time dictated to the secretary Johanau (account of
Judah b. 'lUai: Tosef., Sanh.'ii. 6; Sanh. lib; Yer.
Sanh. 18d ; Y^r. Ma'as. Sh. 56c). Two of these let-
ters went to the inhabitants of Galilee and of the
Darom (southern Palestine), and had reference to
the tithes ; the third letter was written
His Corre- for the Jews of the Diaspora, and gave
spondence. notice of an intercalary month which
Gamaliel and his colleagues had de-
cided upon. That part of the Temple territory — a
"stairway of the Temple mount" — where Gamaliel
dictated these letters is also the place where he once
ordered the removal of a Targum to Job — the oldest
written Targum of which anything is known (report
of an eye-witness to Gamaliel II., grandson of Ga-
maliel I.: Tosef., Shab. xiii. 2; Shab. 115a; Yer.
Shab. 15a).
Gamaliel appears also as a prominent member of
the Sanhedrin in the account given in Acts (v. 34
ct seq.), where he is called a " Pharisee " and a "doc
tor of the law " much honored by the people. He is
there made to speak in favor of the disciples of
Jesus, who were threatened with death (v. 38-39):
"For if this counsel or this work be of men, it will
come to naught : but if it be of God, ye can not over-
throw it." He is also shown to be a legal-religious
authority by the two anecdotes (Pes. 88b) in which
"the king and the queen" (Agrippa I. and his wife
Kypris; according to Bilchler, "Das Synhedrion in
Jerusalem," p. 129, Agrippa II. and his sister Bere-
nice) go to him with questions about the ritual
Tradition does not represent Gamaliel as learned in
the Scriptures, nor as a teacher, because the school
of Hillel, whose head he undoubtedly was, always
appears collectively in its controversies with the
school of Shammai, and the individual scholars and
their opinions are not mentioned. Hence Gamaliel is
omitted in the chain of tradition as given in the
Mishnah (Abot i., ii.), while Johanan
His b. Zakkai is mentioned as the next one
Relative who continued the tradition after
Position. Hillel and Shammai. Gamaliel's name
is seldom mentioned in halakic tradi-
tion. The tradition that illustrates the importance
of Johanan b. Zakkai with the words, " When he died
the glory of wisdom [scholarship] ceased," charac
terizes also the importance of Gamaliel I. by say-
ing: "When he died the honor [outward respect] of
the Torah ceased, and purity and piety became ex-
tinct" (Sotah XV. 18).
Gamaliel, as it appears, did most toward establish-
ing the honor in which the house of Hillel was held,
and which secured to it a preeminent position within
Palestinian Judaism soon after the destruction of the
Temple. The title " Kabban," which, in tlie learned
hierarchy until post-IIadrianic times, was borne only
by presidents of the highest religious council, was
first prefixed to the name of Gamaliel. That Gama-
liel ever taught in public is known, curiously enough,
only from the Acts of the Apostles, where (xxii. 3) the
apostle Paul prides himself on having sat at the feet
of Gamaliel. That the latter paid especial attention
to study is shown by the remarkable classification of
pupils ascribed to him, for which a classification of
the fish of Palestine formed a basis ( Ab.
His R. N. xl.). In this arrangement Ga-
Classifica- maliel enumerates the following kinds
tion of of pupils: (1) a sou of poor parents
His Pupils, who has learned everything by study,
but who has no understanding; (2) a
.son of rich parents who has learned everything and
who possesses understanding; (3) a pupil who has
learned everything, but does not know how to reply ;
(4) a pupil who has learned everything and knows
also how to reply. These correspond to the following
varieties of fi.shes: (1) an unclean, i.e. ritually un-
eatable fish; (2) a clean fish; (3) a fish from the Jor-
dan; (4) a fish from the great ocean (Mediterranean).
Besides this dictum of Gamaliel's, which is no
longer wholly intelligible, only that saying has been
preserved which is related in the Mishnah Abot (i. 16)
under the name of Gamaliel ; for, in spite of Hoff-
mann's objections (" Die Erste Mischna," p. 26), itis
probably right to hold with Geiger (" Nachgelassene
Schriften,"lv. 308) that Gamaliel I. is intended. The
saying is in three parts, and the first clause re-
peats what Joshua b. Perahyah had said long before
(Abot i. 5): "Secure a teacher for thyself." The
other two parts agree very well with the impression
which the above-mentioned testimonial gives of
Gamaliel as a thoroughly conscientious " Pharisee " :
"Hold thyself [in religious questions] far from
doubt, and do not often give a tithe according to-
general valuation." Tradition probably contains
many sayings of Gamaliel I. which are erroneously
ascribed to his grandson of the same name. Besides
his son, who inherited his father's distinction and
position, and who was one of the leaders in the up-
rising against Rome, a daughter of Gamaliel is also
mentioned, whose daughter he married to the priest
Simon b. Nathanael (Tosef., 'Ab. Zarah, iii. 10).
As a consequence of being mentioned in the New
Testament, Gamaliel has become a subject of Chris-
tian legends (Schurer, "Geschichte," ii. 365, note
47). A German monk of the twelfth century calls the
Talmud a "commentary of Gamaliel's
Christian on the Old Testament." Gamaliel is
Legends, here plainly the representative of the
old Jewish scribes (Bacher, " Die Jtt-
dische Bibelexegese," in Winter and WUnsche,
"Jljdische Literatur," ii. 294). Even Galen was
identified with the Gamaliel living at the tirr.e of the
Second Temple (Steinschneider, " Hebr Uebers " p.
401). This may be due to the fact that the last
patriarch by the name of Gamaliel was also known
as a physician (see Gamaliel VI ).
Oamaliel II.
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
560
Bibliography: Frankel. Darke ha-Mishnah, p. 53; Weiss,
Dor; Gratz, Geach. 3d ed., iii. 373 et seq.\ DerenbourR, Hist.
pp.239 et seqy, Schiirer, Gesch. 3d ed., ii. 364; Biichler,
Das Synhedrwn in Jerusalem, pp. 115-131.
6. s. W. B.
GAMALIEL II. (called also Gamaliel of Jab-
neh, to distinguish bim from his grandfather, Ga-
maliel I.): The recognized head of the Jews in Pal-
estine during the last two decades of the first and at
the beginning of the second century. He continued
with great energy and success the work of restora-
tion begun by Johanan b. Zakkai. The tradition of
the meeting between Johanan and Vespasian (Git.
56b) relates that the former obtained the pardon of
Gamaliel's family from the Roman emperor; and
this part of the story may rest on a historical basis.
Johanan probably retired from his position as presi-
dent of the learned assembly at Jabneh, which took
the place of the Sanhedrin at Jerusalem ; and the
office was given to Gamaliel, under whose leadership
even those pupils of Johanan who excelled Gamaliel
in scholarship willingly placed themselves. One of
the greatest of these pupils, Eliezer b. Hyrcanus,
married Gamaliel's sister, Imma Shalom (Shab. 116a;
B. M. 59b). Perhaps it was Gamaliel II. to whom
the title of " nasi " (prince ; later replaced by " patri-
arch ") was first given to raise him in public esti-
mation and to revive the Biblical designation for
the head of the nation. This title
Appointed later became hereditary with his de-
"Nasi." scendauts. Gamaliel was officially rec-
ognized by the Roman authorities;
and he journeyed to Syria for the purpose of being
confirmed in office by the governor {^yefiuv; 'Eduy.
vii. 7; Sanh. lib).
The guiding principle in all of Gamaliel's actions
is set forth in the words which he spoke on the oc-
casion of his quarrel with Eliezer h. Hyrcanus (B.
M. 59b): "Lord of the world, it is manifest and
known to Thee that I have not done it for my own
honor nor for that of my house, but for Thy honor,
that factions may not increase in Israel." The ends
which Gamaliel had in view were the abolition of
old dissensions, the prevention of new quarrels,
and the restoration of unity within Judaism. To
attain these objects he consistently labored to
strengthen the authority of the assembly at Jabneh
as well as his own, and thus brought upon himself
the suspicion of seeking liis own glory. His greatest
achievement was the termination of the opposition
between the schools of Hillel and Shammai, which
had survived even the destruction of the Temple.
In Jabneh, says tradition (Yer. Ber. 3b ; 'Er. 13b), a
voice from heaven (" bat kol ") was heard, which de-
clared that, although the views of both schools were
justifiable in principle (as "words of the living
God "), in practise only the views of Hillel 's school
should be authoritative.
Gamaliel took care that the decisions reached by
the assembly under his presidency should be recog-
nized by all; and he used the instru-
Con- ment of the ban relentlessly against
troversies. obstinate opposers of these decisions.
He even placed his own brother-in-
law, Eliezer b. Hyrcanus, under the ban (B. M.
59b). Gamaliel foiced Joshua b. Hananiah, another
famous pupil of Johanan b. Zakkai, to recognize
the authority of the president in a most humiliating
way, namely, by compelling Joshua to appear be-
fore him in traveler's garb on the day which, accord-
ing to Joshua's reckoning, should have been the
Day of Atonement, because Gamaliel would suffer
no contradiction of liis own declaration concern-
ing the new moon (R. H. ii. 25a, b). Gamaliel,
however, showed that with him it was only a ques-
tion of principle, and that he had no intention of
humiliating Joshua; for, rising and kissing him on
the head, he greeted him with the words: "Wel-
come, my master and my pupil: my master in
learning ; my pupil in that thou submittest to my
will." A story which is characteristic of Gamaliel's
modesty is told of a feast at which, standing, he
served his guests himself (Sifre to Deut. 38; Kid.
32b). But he manifested the excellence of his char-
acter most plainly upon the day on Avhich he harshly
attacked Joshua b. Hananiah, in consequence of a
new dispute between them, and thereby so aroused
the displeasure of the assembly that he was deprived
of his position. Instead of retiring in anger, he con-
tinued to take part, as a member of the assembly,
in the deliberations conducted by the new president,
Eleazar b. Azariah. He was soon rein.stated in
office, however, after asking pardon
Shares of Joshua, who himself brought about
the Presi- Gamaliel's restoration in the form of
dency. a joint presidency, in which Gamaliel
and Eleazar shared the honors (Ber.
27b-28a; Yer. Ber. 7c, d).
The most important outward event in Gamaliel's
life that now followed was the journey to Rome,
which he undertook in company with his colleague
Eleazar and the two leading members of the assem-
bly in Jabneh, Joshua b. Hananiah and Akiba.
This journey was probably made toward the end of
Domrtian's reign (95), and had for its object the pre-
vention of a danger which threatened on the part of
the cruel emperor (Gratz, "Geschichte," 3d ed., iv.
109). This journey, together with the stay of the
scholars in Rome, left many traces in both halakic
and haggadic tradition (see Bacher, "Ag. Tan."i.
84). Especially interesting are the accounts of the
debates which the scholars held with unbelievers in
Rome, and in which Gamaliel was the chief speaker
in behalf of Judaism {tb. p. 85). Elsewhere also
Gamaliel had frequent opportunities to answer in con-
troversial conversations the questions of unbelievers
and to explain and defend the teachings of the Jewisli
religion (ib. p. 76). At times Gamaliel had to meet
the attacks of confessors of Christianity; one of these
was the "min," or philosopher, who maliciously con-
cluded from Hosea v. 6 that God had completely
forsaken Israel (Yeb. 102b; Midr. Teh.
Con- to Ps. x., end; most completely re-
troverts produced from the old source in Midr.
Christian- ha-Gadol to Lev. xxvi. 9, in Bacher,
ity. " Ag. Tan." 2d ed., i. 83). There is a
satirical point in a story in which Ga-
maliel with his sister brings a fictitious suit con-
cerning an inheritance before a Christian judge and
convicts him of having accepted bribes; whereupon
Gamaliel quotes Jesus' words in Matt. v. 17 (Shab.
116a, b). The sect of believers in Jesus, which was
ever separating itself more distinctly from all con-
561
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Gamaliel II.
nectioii with Judaism, and which with other heretics
was classed under the name of "minim," led Gama-
liel, because of its tendencies dangerous to the unity
of Judaism, to introduce anew form of prayer, which
he requested Samuel ha-Katon to compose, and which
was inserted in the chief daily prayer, the eighteen
benedictions (Ber. 28b; Meg. 17b). This prayer it-
self, which together with the Shema' forms the most
important part of the Jewish prayer-book, likewise
owes its final revision to Gamaliel {ib. ). It was Gama-
liel, also, who made the recitation of the "eighteen
prayers" a duty to be performed three times a day
by every Israelite (see "Mouatsschrift," xlvi. 430).
Still another liturgical institution goes back to
Gamaliel — that of the memorial celebration Avhich
takes the place of the sacrifice of the Passover lamb
on the first evening of Passover. Gamahel insti-
tuted this celebration (Pes. x. 5), which may be re-
garded as the central feature of the Pesah Ilaggadah,
on an occasion when he spent the first Passover
night with other
scholars at Lyd-
da in conversing
about the feast
and its customs
(Tosef., Pes. x.
112). The mem-
ory of the lost
sanctuary,
which the cele-
bration of the
Passover eve-
ning also served
to p e r p e t II -
ate, was espe-
cially vivid in
Gamaliel's
heart. Gamaliel
and his compan-
ions wept over the destruction of Jerusalem and of
the Temple when they heard the noise of the great
city of Rome, and at another time when they stood
on the Temple ruins (Sifre, Deut. 43; Mak., end;
Lam. P. v. 18).
Gamaliel's appreciation of the virtue of mere}' is
well illustrated by a saying of his in allusion to
Deut. xiii. 18: "Let this be a token unto thee! So
long as thou thyself art compassionate God will
show thee mercy ; but if thou hast no compassion,
God will show thee no mercy " (Tosef., B. K. ix. 30;
Yer. B. K. I.e. ; comp. Shab. 151a). Gamaliel was
touchiugly attached to his slave Tabi (Suk. ii. 1), at
whose death he accepted condolences as for a de-
parted member of the family' (Ber. ii. 7).
In his intercourse with non-Jews Gamaliel was un-
constrained, for which he was sometimes blamed. A
friendly conversation is recorded ('Er. 64b) which
he had with a heathen on the way from Acre to
Ecdippa(Achzib). On the Sabbath he sat upon the
benches of heathen merchants (Toi^ef., M. K. ii. 8).
Various details have been handed down by tradition
concerning the religious practises of Gamaliel and
his house (see the following Tosefta passages: Dem.
iii. 15; Shab. i. 22, xii. [xlii.], end; Yom-Tob i. 22;
ii. 10, 13, 14, 16). In Gamaliel's house it was not
customary to say "Marpe'l" (Recovery) when any
v.— 36
Traditional Tomb of Gamaliel II. at Jauinia.
(After Sepp, " Jerusalem und das Heilige Land.")
one sneezed, because that was a heathenish super-
stition (Tosef., Shab. vii. [viii.] 5; comp. Ber, 53a).
Two concessions were made to Gamaliel's household
in the way of relaxing the severity of the rules set up
as a barrier against heathendom: permission to use
a mirror in cutting the hair of the head (Tosef.,
'Ab. Zarali, iii. 5; comp. Yer. 'Ab. Zarah 41a), and
to learn Greek (Tosef., Sotah, xv. 8; Sotali, end). In
regard to the latter, Gamaliel's son Simon relates
(Sotah 49b) that many children were instructed in
his father's house in "Greek wisdom."
Aside from his ofl^icial position, Gamaliel stood in
learning on an equal footing with the legal teachers
of his time. Many of his halakic doctrinal opinions
have been handed down. Sometimes the united
opinion of Gamaliel and Eliezer b. Hyrcanus is
opposed to that of Joshua b. Hananiah (Ket. 1. 6-
9), and sometimes Gamaliel holds a middle position
between the stricter opinion of the one and the more
lenient view of the other (Sheb. ix. 8; Ter. viii. 8).
Gamaliel as-
sented to certain
principles of
civil law which
have been trans-
mitted in the
name of Admon,
a former judge
in Jerusalem,
and which be-
came especially
well known and
were authorita-
tive for ensuing
periods (Ket.
xiv. 3-5). Many
of Gamaliel's
decisions in re-
ligious law are
connected with his stay in some place in the Holy
Land. In Ecdippa the archisynagogue Scipio
(JVDJC') asked him a question which he anr.wered
by letter after his return home (Tosef., Ter. ii. 13).
There are also records of Gamaliel's stay in Kafr
'Uthnai (Git. i.5; Tosef., Git. i.4), inEmmaus(Hul.
91b), in Lydda (Tosef., Pes. ii. 10, x., end), in Jer-
icho (Tosef., Ber. iv. 15), in Samaria (Tosef., Dem.
V. 24), and in Tiberias CTosef., Shab. xiii. 2).
In the field of the Ilaggadah should be especially
mentioned the questions relating to biblical exegesis
which Gamaliel liked to discuss in a circle of schol-
ars, as had also his predecessor, Johanan b. Zakkai.
There are records of four such discussions (on Prov.
xiv. 34, see B. B. 10b; on Gen. xl. 10, see Hul. 92a;
on Gen. xlix. 4, see Shab. 55b; on Esth. v. 4, see
Meg. 12b), wdiich all end with Gamaliel's expressed
desire to hear the opinion of the emi-
Textual nent haggadist Eleazar of Modi'im.
Criticism. A part of Gamaliel's textual exegesis
is found in the controversial conver-
sations mentioned above. He portrays the distress
and corruption of the times in a remarkable speech
which conclud(!S with an evident reference to the
emperor Domitian. He says:
"Since lying judges liave the upper hand, lying witnesses
also gain ground ; since evil-doers have increased, the seekers
Cramaliel II.
G«.mbling
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
562
of revenge are also increasing ; since shamelessness has aup-
mentwl, men have lost their dignity : since the small says to the
(Treat. 'I am greater than thou.' the years of men are short-
ened ; since the beloved children have angered their Fattier in
heaven. He has placed a ruthless king over them [with refer-
ence to Job xxsiv. 20]. Such a king was Ahasuenis. who first
killed his wife for the sake of his friend, and then his friend for
the sake of his wife " i Introduction to Midr. Abba Gorion. be-
ginning; Esther R.. beginning).
Gamaliel ii.ses striking comparisons in extolling
the value of handiwork, and labor (Tosef., Kid. i.
11), and iu expressing his opinion on the proper
training of the mind (Ab. R. N. xxviii,). The lament
over his favorite pupil, Samuel ha-Katon, which he
made in common with Eleazar b. Azariah, is very
touching : " It is fitting to weep for him ; it is fitting
to lament for him. Kings die and leave their crowns
to their sons; the rich die and leave their wealth to
their sons; but Samuel ha-Katon has taken with him
the most precious thing in the world— his wisdom—
and is departed " (Sem. 8).
The Roman yoke borne by the Jewish people
of Palestine weighed heavily upon Gamaliel. In
one speech (Ab. R. N. I.e.) he portrays the tyr-
anny of Rome that devours the property of its sub-
jects. He reflects on the coming of the Messiah,
and desciibes the period which shall precede His
appearance as one of the deepest moral degrada-
tion and direst distress (Derek Erez Zuta x. ). But
he preaches also of the fruitfulness and blessing
which shall at some time distinguish the land of
Israel (Shab. 80b). Gamaliel probably lived to see
the beginning of the great movement among the
Jews in Palestine and in other lands, under the em-
perors Trajan and Hadrian, which led to a final at-
tempt under Bar Kokba to throw off the Roman
yoke. Gamaliers death, however, occurred in a time
of peace. The pious proselyte Aquila honored his
obsequies by burning valuables to the
His Death, extent of seventy minae, according to
an old custom observed at t he burial of
kings (Tosef., Shab. vii. [viii.] 18; 'Ab. Zarah 11a);
and Eliezerb. Hyrcanus and Joshua b. Hananiah, the
aged teachers of the Law, arranged the ceremonies
for his funeral (M. K. 27a ; Yer. M. K. 82a). Ga-
maliel insured the perpetuation of his memory by his
order to be buried in simple linen garments, for the
example which he thus set put an end to the heavy
burial expenses which had come to be almost unbear-
able; and it subsequently became the custom to de-
vote to the memory of Gamaliel one of the goblets of
wine drunk in the house of mourning (Ket. 8b).
Of Gamaliel's children, one daughter is known,
who answered in a very intelligent fashion two ques-
tions addressed to her father by an unbeliever (Sanh.
34a, 90b). Two of Gamaliel's sons are mentioned as
returning from a certain feast (Ber. i. 2). Of these,
Simon was called long after the death of Gamaliel
to occupy his father's position, which became hered-
itary in his house. It can not be regarded as proved
that the tanna Haninah ben Gamaliel was a son of
Gamaliel II. (Bitchier." Die Priester undderCultus,"
p. 14); this is more likely to be true of Judah ben
Gamaliel, who reports a decision in the name of
Haninah ben Gamaliel (Tosef., 'Ab. Zarah, iv. [v.]
12; 'Ab. Zarah b9b).
Bibliography: Frankel, Dnrke ha-Mixhnnh. pp.69 etneo.:
Weiss, Dor. ii. 71; (.iratz. (Jeech. 3d ed.. iii.. jjn.-^im : Deren-
bourg, Hisi. pp. 306-,313, 314-046; Bacher, Ag. Ta". i. 78-100;
Schurer, Gefc/i. 3d ed.. ii. 369; Landau, in Mmiatssclirift,
i 283 et seq., 323 ; Scheinin, Die Hodischule zu Jamnia, 1878.
s. s. W. B.
GAMALIEL III. : Son of Judah I. , who before
his death appointed him his successor as nasi (Ket.
103a). Scarcely anything has been handed down
concerning his deeds or concerning the whole period
of his activity (within the first third of the third
century). The revision of the Mishnah, begun by
his father, was without doubt concluded under
him. Three sayings of Gamaliel III. are incorpo-
rated in the Mishnah (Abot ii. 2-4). The first deals
with the study of the Torah and with devoting
oneself to the general welfare of the public. The
second warns against the selfishness of the Roman
rulers: "Beware of the government, because rulers
attach a man to themselves for their own interests;
they seem to be friends when it is to their advan-
tage, but they abandon him when he is in need.".
The third saying recommends submission to the will
of God : " Make His will thy will, so that He may
make thy will like His own ; make thy will of no
account "beside His, so that He may make the will
of others of no account before thine." The Tosefta
contains but one saying of Gamaliel (Sotah vi. 8), a
p:iraphrase of Num. xi. 22, in which Moses com-
plains of the unreasonableness of the people's wishes ;
a baraita (Men. 84b) contains a halakic exegesis of
Gamaliel. Hoshaiah asks Gamaliel's son, Judah II.,
concerning a halakic opinion of his father's (ler.
Ber. 60d). Johanan tells of a question which Ga-
maliel III. answered for him (Hul. 106a). Samuel,
the Babylonian amora, tells of differences of opinion
between Gamaliel and other scholars (Niddah 63b ;
B. B. 139b; Yer. B. B. lOd).
bibliography: Gratz. Gesch. 3d ed., iv. 211; Weiss, Dor, lil.
42; Halevy. Dorof ha-Rishonim, ii. 20 et seq.; Bacher, Ag.
Tan. ii. 5M. ^^ ^
6 s W. B.
GAMALIEL IV. : Son and successor of the
patriarch Judah II., and father of the patriarch
Judah III. The period of activity of these patri-
archs can not be determined. Gratz puts Gamaliel
IV. in the last third of the third century. Accord-
ing to Halevy, he was a contemporary of Hoshaiah,
of whom it is related that he prevented Gamaliel
from introducing into Syria an ordinance referring to
tithing the fruits of the field (Yer. Hal. 60a). In the
Jerusalem Talmud ('Ab. Zarah 39b) is mentioned
a question of religious law addres-sed to Gamaliel
by Abbahu. In answering it the teacher describes
himself as an unimportant person and of little
learning C'adam katon" ) in comparison with Ab-
bahu.
Bibliography: Gratz, GeHch. 3d ed., iv. 449: Halevy, Dorot
7ia-Rishonim. 1L257.
s. s. W. B.
GAMALIEL V. : Son and successor of the pa-
triarch Hillel II. ; celebrated in connection with the
perfecting of the Jewish calendar in 359. From
geonic sources ("Seder Tanna'im we-Amora'im")
only his name and those of his two successors are
known. But in a letter written in 393, Jerome
mentions that the emperor Theodosius I. (379-395)
had condemned to death the former consul Esychius,
563
THE JEAVISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Qumaliel II.
Gambling^
for obtaining by fraud important papers belonging
to tlie patriarch Gamaliel, who was much incensed
against the culprit.
Bibliography: Griltz, Gcsch. 3d ed., Iv. 356, 450.
s. s. W. B.
GAMALIEL VI. : The last patriarch. The de-
cree of the emperors Ilonorius and Theodosius II.
(Oct. 17, 415) contains interesting data concerning
him. By this decree the patriarch was deprived of
all the higher honors which had been given him, as
well as of the patriarchate, because he had permitted
himself to disregard the exceptional lawsagainst the
Jews, had built new sj'nagogues, and had adjudged
disputes between Jews and Christians. With his
death the palriarchal office ceased, and an imperial
decree (426) diverted the patriarchs' tax ("post ex-
cessum patriarchorum ") into the imperial treasury.
Gamaliel VI. appears to liavc been a physician.
Marcellus, a medical -writer of the fifth century,
mentions a remedy for disease of the spleen which
liad been discovered not long before by "Gamalielus
Patriarcha. "
Bibliography : Gratz, Gesch. 3d ed., iv. 360, 450.
s. 8. W. B.
GAMALIEL BEN PEDAHZUR : The pseu-
donym of the unknown author of a work on the
Jewish ritual, the title-page of which reads. "The
Book of Religion, Ceremonies, and Prayers of the
Jews as Practised in Their Synagogues and Families
on All Occasions ; on Their Sabbath and Other Holy
Daj's Throughout the Year. . . . Translated Imme-
diately from the Hebrew, London, J. Wilcox, 1738."
This work contains, in addition to the first English
translation of the Jewish prayer-book and a guide
to the same, an elaborate account of Jewish cere-
monies as the}' were observed by strictly orthodox
Jews in former times. It is an exceedingly quaint
compilation, evidently written by a Jew, but the
identity of tlic author has never been di.scovered.
J. ' I. H.
GAMBLING: Playing at games, especially
games of chance, for money. Among the ancient
Israelites no mention is made of games of chance,
and no provision was made against them until the
period of the Mishnah. With the introduction of for-
eign customs and amusements in the latter period of
the Second Temple, plajMng with dice ("kubya,"
Kv(3£ia), the popular game of antiquity, Avas adopted
by the Jews. The Rabbis were bitterly opposed to
these imported fashions, and looked upon them with
intense aversion (see IMidr. Teh. toPs. xxvi. 10, Avhich
speaks of "those that play at dice, who calculate
with their left liand, and press with their right, and
rob and wrong one another"). The Mishnah dis-
qualified the gambler from testifying before a court
of justice (Sanh. 24b). Since robbery was defined in
Jewish law as the act of violently appropriating
something belonging to another against his will (B.
K. 79b), the Rabbis could not make gambling a
capital crime. They did, Jiowever, forbid gambling
of any kind, and considered it a form of robbery ;
but since it was not actual robberj% money lost in
games of chance could not be collected through the
courts of justice (Git. 61b; Maimonides, "Yad,"
Gezelah, vi. 7-11, 16; Shulhan 'Aruk, Hoshen Mish-
pat, 370).
The games mentioned in the Mishnah in connec-
tion with the laws of witnesses are playing at dice
and betting on pigeons. The reason for denouncing
men who engaged in either of these games was,
according to some, that they were guilty of rob-
bery; according to otliers, that they wasted their
time in idleness and were not interested in the wel-
fare of humanity (see Betting). The Gemara in-
cluded all games of chance under these two head-
ings, such as draughts (D"'DSDQ, i'V(poc), races, etc.
(Sanh. 24b, 25b). The term "kubya," used in this
connection to signify dice (Shab. 149b), was later
applied by the Rabbis indiscriminately to any kind
of gambling game. Dice, lotteries, betting, cards,
and other games were commonly indulged in by the
Jews of medieval Europe, and many decrees ("tak-
kanot") were passed in the various communities
against them. So wide-spread were these games
that even scholars and prominent leaders of the syn-
agogue were seized with an uncontrollal)le passion
for them. Leo da Modena (an eminent scholar who
lived in Venice at the close of the sixteenth century)
was known as an inveterate card-player, so that the
rabbis of Venice, fearing the pernicious results of
such an example, issued a decree (1628) excommu-
nicating any member of the congregation who
should play cards within a period of six years there-
from. Such communal enactments had been very
frequent in Italy, a typical instance being preserved
in a decree of the community of Forli dated 1416 (S.
Halberstamm in "Griitz Jubelschrift " [Ilebr. sec-
tion], p. 57).
These enactments were stringent, and equally so
Avas the punishment for their violation ; yet they
were not always heeded by the people. The eve of
Christmas ("Nittal Nacht"), when the students of
the Law refrained from study, was considered most
favorable for card-playing. The restrictions were
also disregarded on new moons and the week-daj's
of Passover and of the Feast of Tabernacles, at wed-
dings, on Purim, and especially on Hanukkah, when
even pious and scholarly men indulged in card-
playing. In spite of the strenuous objections of the
Rabbis, the custom still prevails in many cities of
eastern Europe of playing cards on Hanukkah soon
after the candles are lighted ("Hawwot Ya'ir," p.
126).
While the general tendency of the Rabbis was to
forbid all manner of gambling games, they were
careful to distinguish between those who played for
pastime and those who made gambling their profes-
sion (Sanh. 24b). Games for pastime were allowed,
especially for women and children, even on the
Sabbath day (Shulhan 'Aruk, Orah Hayyim, 338, 5,
Isserles' gloss). The complaint that games, inclu-
ding chess, entailed a waste of time (" Shebet Miisar,"
xlii. ; see Chess), failed to infiuence the people. The
JeW'S of all lands have usually followed the amuse-
ments in which their neighbors indulge. See Games
AND Spokts, and, for the legal aspect of gambling,
ASMAKTA.
BiBLiociKAPiiY : HaniliuiKtT. li. B. T. s.v. Spielc: Abrahams,
JcwMi Life hi the Middle Age.\ xxii.; Giidemann, Gcsch. des
Er-ziehnnoswescnx und dcr Cultur der JudeyiWahreiid des
MittelaUcrs, i. 60. 2.59, 360; 11.210: lil. 139, Index : Lfiw,
Die Lehensalter in der JUdischeii Literatur, pp. 323-337,
Szegedin, 1875.
6. s. J. H. G.
Games and Sports
Gans, David
TFIE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
564
GAMES AND SPORTS : Playful methods of
enjoying leisure moments. The ancient Hebrews
practised target-shooting with arrows (I Sam. xx.
20; Job xvi. 12; Lam. iii. 12; comp. also Bacher
in "R. E. J." xxvi. 63), or with slings and stones
(Judges XX. 16; I Sam. xvii. 40; Zech. ix. 15).
Mention is also made of lifting heavy stones (Zech.
xii. 3; Jerome, adloc), footracing (Ps. xix. 6 [A. V.
5] ), and jumping (Ps. xviii. 30 [A. V. 29]). As these
games were intended to strengthen the body and
make the participants tit for war, so guessing-games
(Judges xiv. 14; I Kings x. 1-3; Josephus," Ant."
viii. 5, § 3; 6, § 5: comp. Wiinsche, "Die Rathsel-
of wood used being so called; see Levy, I.e., s.v.),
and pigeon-racing (the participants being called
D^J"!"* TI^IDO). These amusements, however, were
considered disreputable, and indulgence in them dis-
qualified a person as a witness (Sanh. iii. 3; Tosef.,
Sanh. V. 2; comp. Tosef., Yom-Tob to Shab. xxiii. 2).
The increasing seriousness of the conception of
life banished games and diversions, only those being
permitted that stimulated thought, as riddles and
questioning of Bible passages ("|^piDS ^^ pIDD ; Hag.
15a, etc.). In the Middle Ages, when the Jews came
into more frequent contact with other peoples, they
adopted the games of the latter, especially Chess,
Games Played on Evk of Plrim.
(From Kirchner, "Judischea Ceremouiel," 1720.)
weisheit bei den Hebraern," Leipsic, 1883) were in-
tended to sharpen the intellect. See Riddles. In
the Hellenic period Greek games were introduced
into Judea (II Mace. iv. 9 et seq. ; I Mace. 1. 14), and
were cultivated especially by the Herodians (Jose-
phus, I.e. XV. 8, § 1; 9, § 6; xvi. 5, § 1 ; xix. 7, § 5;
8, ^2; idem, "B. J." i. 21); but they were offen-
sive to the pious (Levj% "Neuhebr. Worterb." «.«.
J1"IL3t<^tD and Dp"lp)- See also Athletes, Athlet-
ics, AND Field Sports; Circus; Gladiator.
The Mishnali, the Talmud, and the Midrash men-
tion dice (N''21p, Kv(io^; Shab. xxiii. 2), checkers
(DD'DD. ff/doc, rj'r/(p!c, the Stones or the polished pieces
which has produced an extensive literature (Stein-
schneider, in Van der Linde's "Geschichte und Lit-
teratur des Schachspiels," 1. 155 e^ seq., Berlin, 1874).
Other games, such as "straight or crooked" and
"back or blade," were acquired in the
In same way. The Jewish synods, rabbin-
the Middle ates, and magistrates, like the Chris-
Ages, tian municipal authorities, issued or-
dinances against the increase of games
of hazard (Gildemann, " Geschichte des Erziehungs-
wesens der Abendliindischen Juden," i. 259 etseq.;
Halberstamm.in " Griitz Jubelschrif t, " pp. 57-63 ; Ro-
senthal, "Einiges liber die DVK' niJpn," in "Monats-
565
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Games and Sports
Gaus, David
Hanukkah "Trendel,'
Totum.
or Tee-
schrift," 1902, p. 254). See Gamblino. They were
peniiitted as an exception on the interniediate holi-
days and on Hanukkah, on condition that they were
Dot played for money. It was considered wanton to
walk on stilts; ball- and nut-games (a nut being
thrown against a pile
of nuts) were per-
mitted to boys and
women (Glidemaun,
I.e. i. 60, ii. 210 etse^i.,
iii. 139 f^ Av^/.). Games
that called for ingenu-
ity and incited thought
were preferred (" Se-
fer ha-Hasidini," No.
(')44), especially the so-
called " H a n u k k a li
ketowaus" (Gilde-
inann, I.e. iii. 87, 88).
in Germany, Austria,
and Poland "trendel"
( from the German " dre-
hen " ) is still in vogue,
being played with a re-
volving die, on tlie four
sides of which the let-
ters J (= "ganz" =
"all"), n (="halb" =
'•half"), 3 (="nichts"
= "nothing"), and ^
{=z "stell" = "put "or
"add") are marked, indicating the result of each
play. See also Hanukkah ; Purim. M. G.
Other games found among the Jews at an early
date are such as were played with apples, eggs,
and marbles, as well as "riemenstechen," "knight
and robbers," "shilach shik," "pani roizi," "quitt-
lach," "robber caravan," "head and eagle," "Abra-
ham's horse," "David ha-Malech," "rime-counting,"
etc. (see Ulrich, "Juden in der Schweiz," pp. 140,
142). In dancing, the sexes were strictly separated
(this was a rule even for the children in the street) ;
exceptions were made only in the case of father and
daughter, married couples, and brothers and sisters.
Every large community, as those of Eger, Augsburg,
Rothenburg, and Frankfort-on-the-Main, had its
dance-house (" bet hatanot " ), used also for weddings,
the dwelling-houses being too small for such occa-
sions. The " Totentanz " and " Dr. Faustus " are of
non- Jewish origin, as probably also tlie " tish-dance "
of the Sephardim in Sarajevo. Letter-games, in
which corresponding words or phrases are found,
the numerical values of the letters in each wiien added
being equal (see Gematria), are as old as Old Testa-
ment times. Thus " baruk Mordekai " = "arur Ha-
man " = 502. In another game one child cites a verse,
and the next child recites a second one that begins
with the letter with which the first verse closed. In
the " samek and pe " game, one child chooses samek
and the other pe ; a copy of the Pentateuch is
then opened, and according as there are more sameks
or pes on the page the child who has so chosen wins.
In the " Moshe " game, one chooses a right-hand page
and the other a left-hand page of a Humash ; whoever
is the first to find the letters " mem, shin, he " in
this sequence among the four end letters of a page
wins. As children wore not allowed to be pun-
ished in the period between the 17th of Tammuzand
the 9th of Ab, they took full advantage of this oppor-
tunity to mock the teacher; hence the " rabbi game."
The Jews became accjuainted with cards in the
fifteentli century. Leon da JNIodena was ruined by
them. It was a Jewess who wrote the most pointed
pamphlet against cards, and the gematria "cards
= 259 — Satan " was intended to warn against
them. ]\[any vowed never to touch cards again, or
at least to play only for harmless stakes. One Jew
was even willing to have his hand cutoff as punish-
ment. Finally, the communities, as at Hamburg,
Forli, and Bologna, took up the matter in their " tak-
kanot " (statutes). Nevertheless cards were allowed
at Christmas, Purim, Hoi ha-Moed, Sukkot, on the
eve of Hanukkah, and in the lying-in room.
Bibliography: I. L. Saalschiitz, ^rcMoZof/ie der Hehrder ;
W. M. L. de Wette, Lthrhurli der H€hr(U)ich-Jli(iiKChen
Arcluiohmic ; Ziinz, Z. G.: Herliner, Au« dem Inneren Le-
l>c)i <ler Jutttn im MittelaUt r ; Low, Lehcnsalter i)i der
JUdischcji Litei-atiir; Giideinann, Gesch. des Erziehiums-
weseihs utid der Cidtur der AhendUindischen Juden ; Abra-
hams, Jeici.ih Life in the Middle Aoea, Index.
G. M. Gr.
GAN 'EDEN. See Eden, Garden of.
GAN SHA'ASHTJ'IM. See Periodicals.
GANGANELLI, LORENZO. See Clement
XIV.
GANS, DAVID BEN SOLOMON BEN
SELIGMAN : German historian ; astronomer ; born
at Lippstadt, Westphalia, 1541 ; died at Prague
Aug. 25, 1613. After having acquired a fair knowl-
edge of rabbinical literature at Bonn and Frankfort-
on-the-Main, he went to Cracow, where he studied
under Moses Isserles. Later he attended the lec-
tures of the brothers Lowe ben Bezalel of Prague
and of R. Sinai. They introduced philosophj^
mathematics, and astronomy into the circle of their
studies, and from them Gans received the impulse
to devote himself to these branches of science. He
lived for a time at Nordheim (where he studied
Euclid), passed several years in his native city, and
about 1564 settled at Prague. There he came into
contact with Kepler and Tycho Brahe, and took part
for three consecutive days in astronomical observa-
tions at the Prague observatory. He also carried
on a scientific correspondence with Johann Miiller
(Regiomontanus), and was charged by Tycho Brahe
with the translation of the Alphonsine Tables from
Hebrew into German.
Among Gans's Avorks the most widely known is
his history entitled "Zemah Dawid," published first
at Prague, in 1592. It is divided into
His two parts, the first containing the an-
History . nals of Jewish history, the second those
of general history-. The author con-
sulted for the second part of his work the writings of
Spaugenberg, Laurentius Faustus, Hubertus Holt-
zius, Georg Cassino, and ^Martin Borisk. Though
Gans's annals are very dry and have no great in-
trinsic value, they are memorable as the first work of
this kind among the German Jews, who at that time
appreciated historical knoAvledge but slightly. In-
deed, in his preface to the second volume the au-
thor deemed it necessary to justify liimself for hav-
ing dealt with so profane a subject as the annals of
Gans
Gaou
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
566
gtiiiial history, aud endeavored to deinonslrate tliat.
it was permitted to read history ou Saturdays. The
'•Zeniah Davvid " passed tlirougli mauy editions.
To the edition of Fraukfort-on-tlie-Main,1692, David
ben Moses Rlieindorf added a tiiird part containing
the annals of tliat century, wliicli addition lias been
retained in later editions of the "Zeniah." The tirst
part of Gaus's work, and extracts from the second,
were translated into Latin by Wilhelm Heinrich
Vorst (Leyden, 1644). It was translated also into
JudcEo-German by Solomon Ilauau (Frankfort-on-
the-Maiu, 1692).
Gans was also the author of: "Gebulat ha-Eiez,"
a work on cosmography, which is in all probability
identical with the " Zurat
University to study jurisprudence, continued his
studies at Gottingen, and finally, in 1818, went to
Heidelberg, where he devoted himself to philosophy
and jurisprudence under Hegel and Thibaut, the
former of whom was to have so important an in-
fluence upon his life. To Thibaut "s "Arcliiv" he
contributed a number of legal essays, and published
in 1819 a pamphlet, '* Ueber Romi.sfhes Obligation-
enrecht. " In the following year lie became decent
at Berlin University, soon attracting an extraordi-
narily large number of hearers. The most forceful
manifestation of his attitude towanl the historical
school of jurisprudence is embodied in the intro-
duction to his "Schoiien zum Gajus," Berlin, 1821.
Gans was also a leader
ha-Erez," published at
Constantinople under
the name of "David
Abzi"("Auza" = NTIIN
= "Gans");"MagenDa-
wid," an astronomical
treati.se, a part of which
is included in the " Neh-
mad we-Na'im," men-
tioned below ; the mathe-
matical works "Ma'or
ha-Katan," "Migdal
Dawid,"and"Prozdor,"
which are no longer in
€.\istence ; " Nehmad we-
Na'im," dealing with
astronomy and mathe-
matical geography, pub-
lished with additions by
Joel ben Jekuthiel of
Glogauat Jessnitz, 1743.
This work is divided into
12 chapters and 305 par-
agraphs. In the intro-
duction the author gives
a historical survey of the
development of astron-
omy and mathematical
geography among the
nations. Although ac-
quainted with the work
of Copernicus, Gans fol-
lowed the Ptolemaic sys-
tem, attributing the Co-
pernican system to the Pythagoreans. He also
ventures to assert that the prophet Daniel made a
mistake in computation. A Latin translation of the
introduction, and a resume made by Hebenstreit,
are appended to the "Nehmad we-Na'im."
Bibliography: Zunz, Gesammelte Schriften, i. 185; D. Cas-
sel, in Ersoh and Gruber's Enciiklnpadie. xliii. 367 ; Stein-
Schneider, Jeio. Lit. p. 262; idem. Cat. Bodl. col. 860; Gratz.
Gesch. der Juden, 3d ed., ix. 442; Hock-Lieben, Prat/er
Grahxtein Ijischriften ; Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie,
S.V.; StSssel, in LSw's Ben Chaunuja, viii. 601; Brull, ib.
p. 710.
J. I. Bu.
GANS, EDUARD: German jurist; born at
Berlin March 22, 1798; died there May 5, 1839. He
was the son of the banker Abraham Gans, and
received his early education at the Gymnasium zum
Grauen Kloster; in 1816 he entered the Berlin
Gravestone of David Gans at Prague.
(From a photo^aph.)
in another movement.
Even the scholars in Ger-
many at that time were
accustomed to revile the
Jews, and according!}-
Jews with aspirations to-
ward preferment in so-
cial and professional life
sought the panacea of
baptism. To combat
these evils, three j'oung
men founded, Nov. 27,
1819, the Verein fiir
Kultur und Wissen-
schaft der Juden, the
three being Gans, Zunz,
and Moses Moser, the
bosom friend of Hein-
rich Heine, who him.self
later on became a zeal-
ous member of the so-
ciety. The society's
chief purpose was to
prevent the wholesale
conversion of Jews to
Christianity and to pro-
mote among them the
cultivation of agricul-
ture, trade, science, and
the fine arts. To aid in
carrying out the pur-
poses of the society Gans
founded a scientific in-
stitute, in which lectures
were delivered by the members. He discussed, in a
cycle of lectures, " the laws concerning the Jews in
Rome as derived from ancient Roman law " ; he de-
livered a lecture on the history of the Jews in the
north of Europe and in the Slavonic countries, and
wrote an essay on the principles of the MosaicTal-
mudic hereditary law, which constituted a chapter
of his volume on "Erbrecht." All these treatises
appeared in a periodical entitled " Zeitschrift flir die
Wissenschaft des Judenthums" (vol. 1., 1822), pub-
lished by the society and edited by Zunz.
But this movement met with little appreciation,
and Gans among others was sorely disappointed.
With a treatise on the suspension of the "kahals"
(the communal boards) in Poland through an impe-
rial ukase of Jan. 1, 1822, the societ5''s periodical was
discontinued ; and the society itself soon went out of
667
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Qans
Gaon
Eduard Gans.
existeuce in consequence of lack of interest on the
part of its members.
In 1825, despite the crusade wliich he himself had
inaugurated against religious disloyalty, Gans adopt-
ed Christianity. He was shortly thereafter (1826)
appointed associate pro-
fessor in the juridical
faculty of the Berlin
University ; in 1828 he
became professor. He
was a singularly attract-
ive teacher. The lar-
gest lecture-hall in the
university was not ca-
pacious enough to ac-
commodate the number
of his hearers, particu-
larly at his lectures on
modern history, which
were delivered in such
a spirit of freedom that
the government authori-
ties frequently sup-
pressed them. They
were, however, as often resumed on the representa-
tions of Kultusminister von Altenstein.
Gans's principal works are : " Das Erbrecht in Welt-
geschichtlicherEntwickelung"(vols. i.-iv., 1824-35);
"System des R5mischen Zivilrechts," 1827; "Bei-
trage zur Revi.sion der Preussischen Gezetzgebung,"
1830-32; "Vermischte Schriften Juristischen, His-
torischen, Staatswissenschaftlichen, und Aesthe-
tischen luhalts," 1834, 2 vols.; " Vorlesungen tiber
•die Geschichte der Letzten 50. Jahre," in "His-
torisches Taschenbuch " (1833-34); "Riickblicke auf
Personen und Zustande," 1836; "Ueber die Grund-
lage des Besitzes," 1839. He was one of the found-
€rs of the " Jahrblicher fur Wissenschaf tliche Kritik, "
and editor of Hegel's "Vorlesungen liber die Phi-
losophic der Geschichte," 1837.
Bibliography: Breza-Spazler, Oallerie der Aitsgezeichnetsten
Israeliten, 1835; Steflenhagen, in Allgemeine Deutsche Bio-
graphic, viii. 361-362 ; Marhelneke, Rede am Orabe des Prof.
Gans, Berlin, 1839; HalUsche JahrbUcher fllr Deutsche
Wissenschaft und Kunst, 1839, No. 132, pp. 206-207 ; 1840, No.
113; Allg. Zeit. des Jud. 1839. pp. 294-295, 307-308; St. Marc-
Glrardin, Notice sur la Vie et les Ouvrages de Oanf:, Intro-
duction to the French translation of the Erbrecht by De
Lomenle; Strodtmann, Heines Leben und Werke, i. 247
et seq.; L. Gelger, Zeitschrift filr die Geschichte der Ju-
den in Deutschland, v. 91 et seq.; Grfttz, Gesch. xi. 441 et
seq.
8. M. Co.
GANS, SOLOMON PHILIP : German jurist;
torn 1788; lived at Celle, Hanover. He was the
author of: "Das Erbrecht des Napoleonischen Ge-
setzbuches filr Westphalen, " Hanover, 1810 ; " Ueber
die Verarmung der Stadte und des Landmannes,"
Brunswick, 1831; "Entwurf einer Criminal-Process-
ordnung," G5ttingen, 1836. He also edited the
"Zeitschrift fiir die Civil- und Criminalrechtspflege
ira K6nigreich Hanover," of which only four num-
bers appeared.
BIBLIOORAPHY : Fflrst, Bibliotheca JvOaica.
8. L. La.
QANZFRIED, SOLOMON: Hungarian rabbi
and author; born at Ungvar about 1800; died there
July 30, 1886. He frequented the yeshibah of Hirsch
Heller at Bonyhad (see Jew. Encyc. i. 472), and en-
tered upon a business career first at Homona, then
at Ungvar; but being unsuccessful in business, he
accepted a call to the rabbinate of Brezovica (1830),
which he held until 1849, when he became dayyan
in his native city ; he remained in that office until his
death. In 1869 he was a delegate to the Jewish con-
gress at Budapest.
Ganzfried was a very voluminous writer, chiefly
in the domain of ritual law ; his abridged Shulhan
'Aruk became very popular, being frequently re-
printed in Hebrew and iu Yiddish. His works are:
"Peue Shelomoh," novelise on Baba Batra, Zolkiev,
1846; "Torat Zebah," on the laws of shehitah, Lem-
berg, 1848; Ungvar, 1869; "Appiryon," homilies on
the Pentateuch, Ungvar. 1864 and 1877; "Reset
ha-Sofer," on the laws of writing scrolls, tefillin, and
mezuzot, Ungvar, 1871; "Kizzur Shulhan 'Aruk,"
Warsaw, 1870 (republished ifourteen times) ; " Ohole
Shem," on the orthography of Jewish names in bills
of divorce, Ungvar, 1878; "Lehem we-Simlah," on
menstruation and the ritual bath ; a prayer-book, also
many times reprinted. He left in manuscript no-
vellae on various Talmudic treatises, notes on Abra-
ham ben Jehiel Danzig's "Hayye Adam," and re-
sponsa. Heinrich Brody is a grandson of Ganzfried.
Bibliography : Brody, Mekor Hayyim, in Graber's Ozar ha-
Sifrut, vol. iii., part 4, pp. 55 et seg., Cracow, 1889-90. '
D.
GAON : An influential Jewish family in Vitoria,
Spain.
Don Gaon : Chief farmer of taxes under Henry
IV. of Castile, whose suite he accompanied through
the Basque territory on the way to S. Juan de
Luz on the Spanish-French frontier. During his
stay in Fuenterrabia, the king sent Gaon to Gui-
puzcoa to collect the tribute. The hidalgos of
Guipuzcoa regarded this demand as an encroach-
ment on the old statutory rights, and murdered
Gaon on his arrival in Tolosa (May 6, 1463). The
king at once proceeded with his troop of cavalry
to take revenge. In the first outburst of his anger he
desired to destroy the city. The house in which the
Jew had been murdered was already torn down,
when the leading inhabitants of the town appeared
before the king, and resigned the old privileges
which they had dearly bought with life and blood.
This appeased the king, and he desisted from further
punishment for Gaon's murder.
Eliezer Gaon : Merchant in Vitoria ; son of the
preceding. In 1482, together with Eliezer Telloand
Moses Balid, he held the office of tax-collector in
Vitoria.
Samuel Benjamin Gaon: Member of the depu-
tation which, toward the end of June, 1492, in the
name of the Jewish community, made an irrevoca-
ble present of the Jewish cemetery, with all its ap-
purtenances, to the city of Vitoria.
Bibliography: Kayserling, Gesch. derJuden in Spanien, 1.
121 et seq., 128 et seq., 214 et seq.
G. M. K.
GAON (plural, Geonim).— In Babylon: The
title of "gaon," probably an abbreviation of pw
Spy (Ps. xlvii. 5), was given to the heads of the two
Babylonian academies of Sura and Pumbedita,
though it did not displace the title of " rosh yeshibah "
Guon
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
668
(Aramaic, "resli metibta"), which properly desig-
nated tlie office of head of the academy, and re-
mained to tue end the ofhcial designation for tliat
position. There are no data wiiatever to show wlien
the title "gaou " originated (see Jew.Encyc. 1. 146).
Sherira, who is the source for the e.xact sequence of
the Geonim, apparently considers " gaon " an ancient
title of the head of the academy, for he says (ed.
Neubauer, i. 34) that the amora Ashi was gaon at
Mata Mehasya (Sura). But Sherira himself begins
to use the title consistently only toward the clo.se
of the sixth century, "at the end of the Persian
rule," when the schools of Sura and Pumbedita
resumed their parallel activity after a period of
interruption. One is justified, therefore, in assign-
ing to that date the beginning of the period of
the Geonim— all the more so as the period of the
Saboraim can not be extended down to the year 689,
as Abraham ibn Daud assumes in his historical work,
"Sefer ha-Kabbalah." According to an old, well-
authenticated statement, 'Ena and Simuna, who
flourished in the first third of the sixth century,
were the last saboraim. The interval between this
date and that of the reopening of the schools re-
ferred to above, ma)' be included in the period of
the Saboraim, and the period of the Geonim may be
said to begin with the year 589, when Mar Rab
Hanan of Iskiya became gaon of Pumbedita. The
first gaon of Sura, according to Sherira, was Mar
Rab Mar, who assumed office in 609. The last gaon
of Sura was Samuel b. Hofni, who died in 1034; the
last gaon of Pumbedita was Hai, who died in 1088;
hence the activity of the Geonim covers a period of
nearly 450 years.
The Geonim officiated, in the first place, as direct-
ors of the academies, continuing as such the edu-
cational activity of the Amoraim and
Their Saboraim. For while the Amoraim,
Functions, through their interpretation of the
Mishnah, gave rise to the Talmud, and
■while the Saboraim definitively edited it, the Geo-
nim's task was to interpret it ; for them it became
the subject of study and instruction, and they gave
religio-legal decisions in agreement with its teach-
ings.
As the academies of Sura and Pumbedita were
also invested with judicial authority, the gaon offi-
ciated at the same time as supreme judge. The or-
ganization of the Babylonian academies recalled the
ancient sanhedrin. In manj' responsa of the Geo-
nim, members of the schools are mentioned who be-
longed to the "great sanhedrin," and others who
belonged to the " small sanhedrin." As may be gath-
ered from the statements of Nathan ha-Babli (tenth
century), and from various references in the geonic
responsa, the following customs connected with the
organization of the academies were observed in the
two " kallah " months, Adar and Elul, during which
(as in the time of the Amoraim) foreign students as-
sembled in the academy for common study. In
front of the presiding gaon and facing him were
seated seventy iiiembers of the academy in seven
rows of ten persons each, each person in the seat
assigned to him, and the whole forming, with the
gaon, the so-called " great sanhedrin. " Gaon Amram
calls them in a respon.sum ("Responsa der Geonim,"
ed. Lyck, No. 65) the "ordained scholars who take
the place of the great sanhedrin." A regular ordina-
tion ("semikah ") is of course not implied here; that
did not exist in Babylonia, only a solemn nomination
taking place. Gaon Zemah refers in a responsum
(see " Jeschurun," V. 137) to "the ancient scholars of
the first row, who take the place of the great san-
hedrin." The masters, or "allufim" {i.e., the seven
heads of the college of teachers ["resh kallah"]),
and the "haberim," the three most prominent among
the other members of the college, sat in the first of
the seven rows. Nine sanhedrists were subordinated
to each of the seven allufim, who probably super-
vised the instruction given during the entire year
by their subordinates. Notwithstanding the assump-
tion of Griltz ("Geschichte der Juden," v. 148, 480)
and Hale vy (" Dorot ha-Rishonim, " i v. 217), it appears
from the text of Nathan ha-Babli (ed. Neubauer, ii.
87), if read rightly, and from other sources, that only
the seven kallah heads were called "allufim," and
not all the 70 members of the college. The two
geonim Amram and Zemah designate in their re-
sponsa, mentioned above, the resh kallah and the
allufim as heads of the college. A
The Kallah. scholar by the name of Eleazar, who
went from Lucena in Spain to Babylon
in the ninth century, is designated both as "alluf "
and as " resh kallah " (see Harkavy, " Resp. der
Geonim," pp. 201, 376). A correspondent of Hai
Gaon, Judah b. Joseph of Kairwan, is called on one
occasion "alluf," on another "resh kallah," and on a
third "resh sidra" (Harkavy, I.e. pp. 359, 383).
The members of the academy who were not or-
dained sat behind the seven rows of sanhedrists.
During the first three weeks of the kallah month
the scholars seated in the first row reported on the
Talmud treatise assigned for study during the pre-
ceding months ; in the fourth week the other scholars
and also some of the pupils were called upon.
Discussions followed, and difficult passages were
laid before the gaon, who also took a prominent
part in the debates, and freely reproved any mem-
ber of the college who was not up to the standard
of scholarship. At the end of the kallah month
the gaon designated the Talmud ic treatise which
the members of the assembly were obliged to study
in the months intervening till the next kallah should
begin. The students who were not given seats were
exempt from this task, being free to choose a sub-
ject for study according to their needs.
During the kallah which took place in the month of
Adar the gaon laid before the assembly every day
a certain number of the questions that had been
sent in during the year from all parts of the Diaspora.
The requisite answers were discussed, and were
finally recorded by the secretary of the academy ac-
cording to the directions of the gaon. At the end
of the kallah month the questions, together with the
answers, were read to the assembly, and the answers
were signed by the gaon. A large number of the
geonic responsa originated in this way ; but many of
them were written by the respective geonim with-
out consulting the kallaii assemblies convened in the
spring.
Nathan ha-Babli's account, from whiclj the forego-
ing statements have been taken, refers only to the
569
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Gaon
kallali months. The remaining moutlis of the year
passed more quietly at the academies. Many of the
members, including those of tlie college designated
as "sanhedrin," lived scattered in the dilferent prov-
inces, and appeared before the gaon
Its only at the time of the kallah. Nathan
Members, designates the permanent students of
the academy by the Talmudic term
"benebe-rab" (sons of the schooliiouse), in contradis-
tinction to the "other students" that gathered at the
kallah. These two classes of students numbered to-
gether about 400 at the time when Nathan wrote his
account (tenth century). When a resh kallah or any
other member of the college died and left a son who
was worthy to occupy his father's seat, the sou inher-
ited it. The students coming to the academy during
the kallah months received support from a fund
which was maintained by gifts sent to the academy
during the year, and which was in charge of a trust-
worthy man. The members sitting in the front
rows seem to have drawn a salary.
A description of the organization of the geonic
academies differing in important details from Na-
than's account is found in an interesting genizah
fragment edited by Schechter (" J. Q. R." xiii. 365).
This fragment, however, most probably refers to
the Palestinian academy of the eleventh century
(see "J. Q. R." xv. 83, and also Gaon in Palestine)
Two courts were connected with each of the two
Babylonian academies. The higher court ("bet din
gadol ") was presided over by the gaon (see Har-
kavy, I.e. p. 88). It appointed the judges for the
districts within the jurisdiction of the respective
academies (comp. the letter of appointment in Ara
maic in Harkavy, I.e. p. 80), and was empowered to
set aside the verdicts of the several judges and to
render new ones. The other court belonging to the
academy was under the direction of the ab bet din,
and judged minor cases.
The geonim occasionally transcended the Tal-
mudic laws and issued new decrees. At the time of
the gaons Mar R. Huna at Sura and Mar R. Rabba
at Pumbedita (c. 670), for instance, the
Judicial measures taken in relation to a refrac-
Functions. tory wife were different from those
prescribed in the Talmud (Ket. 62b).
Toward 785 the geonim decreed that debts and the
ketubah might be levied on the movable property
of orphans. Decrees of this kind were issued jointly
by both academies; and they also made common
cause in the controversy with Ben Mei'r regarding
a uniform Jewish calendar (see "R. E. J." xlii. 192,
201).
The gaon was generally elected by the academy,
although he was occasionally appointed by the ex-
ilarch ; the geonim Mar R. Samuel and R. Yehudai
of Sura and R. Natroi Kahana of Pumbedita, for
instance, were appointed hy the exilarch Solomon
b. Hisdai (eighth century). Tiie exilarch David b.
Judah appointed R. Isaac b. Hananiah gaon of Pum-
bedita in 833. But when the exilarch David b. Zak-
kai appointed R. Kohen Zedek gaon of Pumbedita,
the academy itself elected Rab Mebasser. The
schism arising thereby was finally adjusted peace-
ably, the geonim officiating togetlier down to Me-
basser's death (926), after which Kohen Zedek re-
mained as the sole gaon of Pumbedita. David b.
Zakkai also appointed a counter-gaon to Saadia at
Sura, whom he himself luid culled to that office, this
being a well-known incident in the history of the
controversy between Saadia and David b. Zakkai.
Sherini cites still other examples to show tliat two ge-
onim officiated at the same time at Pumbedita. For
instance, during the controversy between Daniel and
the exilarcii David b. Judah the ab bet din Joseph
b. Hiyya was appointed gaon of Pumbedita side by
side with the gaon Abraham b. Sherira ; Joseph, how-
ever, recognized the superiority of Abraham. Once
when both were present at Bagdad in the .synagogue
of Bar Nasla on the occasion of the kallah at which
homage was paid to the gaon, the leader in prayer
called out: "Listen to the opinion of the heads of
the Academy of Pumbedita." The congregation
thereupon began to Aveep because of the schism in-
dicated by the plurality of heads, and Mar Joseph,
deeply moved, rose and said: "I herewith volun-
tarily renounce the office of gaon, and resume that
of ab bet din." Gaon Abraham then blessed him
and said : " May God grant you to partake of His
blessedness in the world to come" (Sherira, ed.
Neubauer, i. 38). When Abraham died Joseph be-
came his successor (828). Joseph b. Hiyya's son
Menahem, who became gaon in 859, also had a
counter-gaon in the person of R. Mattithiah, who
succeeded to the office on Menahem 's death a year
and a half later.
The gaon was entirely independent of the ex-
ilarch, although the geonim of both academies,
together with their prominent members, went every
year to render homage to the ex-
Relations ilarch (see Nathan ha-Babli, ed. Neu-
with bauer, ii. 78). The assembly at which
Exilarch. this homage took place was called
the "great kallah." In the contro-
versy between the academies and Ben Meir the
exilarch sided with the two geonim (see "R. E. J."
xlii. 211). The signature and seal of the ex-
ilarch, together with the signatures of both the ge-
onim, were affixed to certain especially important
decrees (see "'Ittur," ed. Lemberg, i. 44a). The
Geonim were empowered to examine documents and
decisions originating in the court of the exilarch (see
Harkavy, I.e. p. 276).
The gaon of Sura ranked above the gaon of Pum-
bedita, and a sort of court etiquette was developed
in which this fact found expression (see the account
taken from the first edition of " Yuhasin," in Neu-
bauer, ii. 11 et seq.). The gaon of Sura sat at the
right hand of the exilarch, while the gaon of Pum-
bedita sat at the left. When both were present at
a banquet, the former pronounced the blessing be-
fore and after the meal. The gaon of Sura always
had precedence, even if he was much younger than
his colleague, and, in writing a letter to him, did
not refer to him as gaon, but addressed merely "the
Scholars of Pumbedita " ; the gaon of Pumbedita, on
the other hand, addressed his letters to " the Gaon
and the Scholars of Sura " During the solenm in-
stallation of the exilarch the gaon of Sura I'ead
the Targum to the Pentateuch sections which had
been read by the exilarch. On the death of the
exilarch the gaon of Sura had the exclusive claim
Gaon
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
670
to liis official income until the election of a new
exilarch.
The gaon of Sura evidently owed his superior
rank to the ancient reputation of the academy over
which he presided ; for Sura had been the leading
academy of the Babylonian Jews during the period
of theAmoraim, first under its founder
Geonim Rab and his pupil Huna (third cen-
of Sura. tury), and then under Aslii (d. 427).
In the geonic period also the more
prominent scholars taught at Sura; this is indicated
by the fact that most of the geonic responsa that
have been preserved originated at Sura. The liturgic
order of prayers and rules was formulated by geonim
of Sura, such as Kohen Zedek, Sar Shalom, Natrouai,
and Amram. R. Yeliudai Gaon's " Halakot Pesukot '"
and the " Halakot Gedolot " of Simeon Kayyara (who
was, however, no gaon) were written at Sura (see
Epstein, "Ha-Goren," iii. 53, 57). The Midrash
Esfa, which was edited by the gaon Haninai (769-
777), may also be regarded as an evidence of the
early literary work of the academy there (see Yalk.
i. 736).
But it was Saadia's activity that lent to this acad-
emy unusual luster and an epoch-making impor-
tance for Jewish science and its literature. Then,
after a long period of decadence, another worthy
occupant of the office arose in the person of Samuel
b. Hofui, the last gaon of Sura. Among the earlier
geonim of Pumbedita only Zemali (873-890) achieved
a literary reputation, as author of a Talmudic dic-
tionary entitled '" 'Aruk "; but Aha (Ahai) the author
of "She'iltot" (middle of the eighth century), also
seems to have belonged to the Academj' of Pum-
bedita. This academy, however, as if eager to
make up for the delay of ages, furnished in the per-
sons of its last two heads, the geonim Sherira and
Hai (father and son), scholars of the first rank, who
displayed great literary activity and inaugurated a
final significant epoch for the gaonate, which came
to an end on Hai's death.
The importance of the Geonim in Jewish history
is due, in the first place, to the fact that for a num-
ber of centuries they occupied a unique
Signifi- position as the heads of their respect -
cance. ive schools and as the recognized
authorities of Judaism. Their in-
fluence probably extended chiefly to the Moham-
medan countries, especially northern Africa and
Spain; but in the course of time the Jews of Chris-
tian Europe also came under the influence of the
Babylonian schools. It was for this reason that
the Babylonian Talmud came to be recognized as
the basis for religio-legal decisions throughout
Jewrj- and as the principal object of study. Even
the facilities offered for such study to the Diaspora
were due to the Geonim, since the geonic exposi-
tion of the Talmud, with regard to both text and
contents, was directly or indirectly the chief aid in
comprehending the Talmud. The importance of the
period of the Geonim for the history of Judaism is
further enhanced by the fact that the new Jewish
science, which steadily developed side by side with
Talmudic studies, was created by a gaon, and that
the same gaon, Saadia, effectively opposed the
disintegrating influences of Karaism. The activity
of the Geonim may be seen most clearly in their re-
spon.sa, in which they appear as the teachers of the
entire Diaspora, covering in their religio-legal deci-
sions a wide field of instruction.
In the course of the tenth century, however,
even before the Babylonian schools ceased with the
death of the last gaon, other centers arose in the
West from which went forth the teachings and de-
cisions which superseded those of the Geonim. The
fixed gifts which the Jews of Spain, the Mograb,
North Africa, Egypt, and Palestine had contributed
to the support of the Babylonian schools were dis-
continued long before, as Abraham ibnDaud reports
(Neubauer, ii. 67) ; and the decadence of these schools
was hastened thereby as much as by the internal con-
flicts to which they were subjected. The historic
importance of the Geonim and their schools may be
said to have ceased even before the institutions
themselves were dissolved on the death of Gaon Hai.
It is symbolic of the sad end of the gaonate that
after Hai's death (1038) the exilarch Hezekiah was
the only person found worthy to assume the direc-
tion of the sole remaining Academy of Pumbedita;
and with his forcible deposition and imprisonment
as a result of calumnious charges brought against
him two years later the office of exilarch also ceased.
An authentic account of the names, sequence,
and terms of office of the geonim of both academies,
taken from their records, has been left bj^ Sherira,
the last gaon but one of Pumbedita,
Sources, in a long letter which he addressed to
the scholars of Kaitwan, and in which
he recites the history of the Babylonian academies.
Abraham ibnDaud 's"Sefer ha-Kabbalah " is in com-
parison merely of secondary importance. For the
period down to about 800 the latter uses another
source, probably Samuel ha-Nagid's "Mebo ha-Tal-
mud " (see Kapoport's biography of Nathan, note 24,
and biography of Hai, note 2); his list of the
Geonim, moreover, is very confused, geonim of Sura
being assigned to Pumbedita, and vice versa. Be-
ginning with the geonim and Isaiah ha-Levi, he
draws upon Sherira's letter, from which he fre-
quently copies verbatim.
The list of the geonim of Sura and Pumbedita,
which is given on the following page, is based en-
tirely on Sherira's account. The dates, which She-
rira noted according to the Seleucidan era, have been
reduced to their equivalents in the common era.
The date given is that of the gaon's entering upon
office ; some of thedatesare missing in the account of
Sherira, who says in reference to the geonim of Sura
that down to 1000 Seleucidan (689 c.E.) even those
that he does give are not indisputable. His dates
referring to the terms of office of the geonim of Sura
from the end of the eighth century down to the
time of Saadia need revision, for, as given by She-
rira, the sum of years during which the geonim
of Sura officiated, from the time of Mar R. Hilai
(792) down to Saadia (928), is 153 years instead of
136. The difference of 17 years has been adjusted
in the following list by reducing the terms of office
of some of the geonim. The dates of the last
geonim, Sherira, Hai, and Samuel b. Hofni, are
taken from Abraham ibn Daud's historical work.
"Sefer ha-Kabbalah."
571
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Gaon
Syxciikonistic List of the Gki>m.m ok Slka
AND PrMUP:DITA.
a
si
Sura.
u
PlMUKDITA.
<
>-
f^
Mar h. H. Hiinan of Is-
kiya
5H9
Mar R. Mar b. Mar R.
M;ir R. Mari b. MarR.
Hiina
609
1 Diini
H09
iMarR. Hanina (time of
MohaiMUied)
R. Huriina
Mar R. Hana .' . .
! Mar R. Isaac ( Firuz Sha-
1 bur)
m)
Mar R Huna
'Mar R. Rabbah
Mar R. Sheshua (called
Mar R. Bosai
also Mesharsheva b.
TalUifa)
Mar II. Hanina of NeUar
Mar R. Huna Mari b.
Pekod r.
689
Mar R. Joseph (1000
Seleucidan)
689
Mar R. Nehilai of Naresh.
697
R. Hivva of Meshan
R. Jacob of Nehar Pekod
715
Mar H. Rabya
Mar R. Natronai b. Mar
Nebeiniah (called Mar
R. Yanka)
719
Mar R. Samuel (descend-
'
ant of Amemar)
733
R. Judah
iMar R. Joseph (called
Mar Kitnai;
739
R. Samuel b. Mar R.
Mar
748
Mar R. Marl ba-Koben of
Nebar Pekod
751
Mar U. Aha
759
R. Natroi Kabana b.
Mar Ahnai (of Bag-
dad; contemporary of
AhadiShabba)
Mar R. Abraham Ka-
bana
R. Yehudai b. Mar R.
Nabman (tbe celebrated
Yebudai (iaon)
760
R. Dodai b. Mar R. Nab-
man (brother of R.
Yehudai)
761
R. Ahunai Kabana b. Mar
Papa (var. Huna)
764
R. Hananva b. R. Me-
sharsbeva
767
Mar R. Hanlnal Kahanab.
Mar R. Huna
769
R. Mftlka b. Mar R. Aha.
771
Mar Rabba b. R. Dodai
(ancestor of Sherira
Gaon)
773
R. Shinwai
R. Mari ba-Levi b. R. Me-
sharsbeva
777
R. Bebai ha-Levi b. Mar
R. Abba of Nehar Pekod.
781
R. Haninai Kahana (son
of Abraham Kahana,
the gaon)
IW
Mar R. Huna b. Mar
ha-Levi b. Mar Isaac.
785
R. Manasseh b. Mar R.
Joseph
788
Mar R. Hilal b. Mar R.
Marl
792
Mar R. Isaiah ha-Levi
b. MarR. Abba
796
Mar R. Joseph b. Mar
R. Shila
798
R. Jacob ba-Kohen b. Mar
Mordecai
801
Mar R. Kahana. son of
Haninai tiaon
804
Mar R. Ahumai. brother
of Haninai Gaon
810
Mar R. Joseph b. Mar
R. Abba
814
R. Abimai, brother of Mar
R. Mordecai
815
Mar R. Abraham b. Mar
R. Sherira
816
Mar R. Zadok b. Mar R.
Ashi
823
Mar R. Hilai b. Mar R.
Hananiab
825
R. Joseph b. Mar R.
Hiyya
828
R. Kimoib. MarR. Ashi..
829
Sura.
II. Moses (var. Meshar-
sbeya) Kahana b. Mar
Jacob
[No gaon
R. Kolien Zedek b. Mar
Abiniai Gaon..'.
Mar R. (Sai) Shalom b.
Mar R. Boaz
R. Natronai b. Mar R.
Hilai (iaon b. Mar R.
Mari
Mar R. Amraiii b. Mar K.
Sheshna (author of the
Siddur)
<
R. Nahshon b. Mar R. Za-
dok'.
R. Zeraah b. Mar R. Hay-
vim ■
MarR. R. Malka
R. Hai b. Mar R. Nahshon
R. Hllal b. Natronai Gaon.
R. Shalom b. Mar R. Mish-
ael
R. Jacob b. Mar R. Natro-
nai '. . .
R. Yom-Tob Kahana b.
Mar R. Jacob
R. Saadia b. Mar Joseph
(of Faym)
R. Joseph b. R. Jacob
R. Samuel ha-Kohen b.
Hofni, died
S!-^
(843-
(844]
845
849
853
85(5
874
882
887
889
896
904
911
924
928
942
1034
PCilBEDITA.
Mar R. Isaac b. Mar R.
Hananiah (var. Hiy-
ya) :...
R. Joseph b. Mar R,
Abba
R. Paltoi b. Mar R.
Abaye
Mar R. Ahai Kahana b.
Mar R. Mar
H. Menahem b. Mar R.
Joseph Gaon b. Hivya.
R. Mattithiah b. Mar R.
Rabbi
R. Abba b. Mar R. Am-
mi
Mar R. Zemah b. .Mar
Paltoi Gaon' (author
of the first 'Aruk)
R. Hai b. R. Mar David.
Mar R. Kimoi b. R. Ahai
Gaon .'. .
Yehudai b. Mar R. Sam-
uel Resh Kallah
R. Mebasser Kahana b.
MarR. Kimoi Gaon..
R. Kohen Zedek Kahana
b. Mar R. Joseph
R. Zemah b. Mar R.
Ka'fnai (var. Pappai).
MarR. Hananiah b. Mar
R. Y'ehudai (iaon
R. Aharon b. Mar R. Jo-
seph ha-Kohen (Aha-
ron b. Sargado)
R. Nehemiah b. Mar R.
Kohen Zedek
R. Sherira '.
R. Hai
died
[Hezekiah, descendant
of David b. Zakkai.
exilarch and gaon up
to 1040.]
Bibliography: Sherira G&on, Epistle, d. Neubauer, in Med.
Jew. Chron. i. 1-46; Abraham ibn Daud, Sefer ha-I^au-
halalu ib. 47-84; Gratz, Geifcli. vol. v.; Harkavy, Re-
sponj^en der Geonim, Berlin, 1887; Miiller, Einleititng in
die Responsen der Babyloulschen Oeouen, Berlin. 1891.
E. C.
A. E.— W. B.
In Palestine : In tbe centur}- followiug the
death of Hai, tlie last Babylonian gaon, there was an
academy in Palestine, tbe bead of wbicb assumed tbe
same titles as had the Babjionian geonim: "gaon "
and "rosh yeshibat geon Ya'akob." Theyeshibah in
Gaon
Grartner
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
572
Palestine existed aliesuly during Hai's life, for in
1031 Josiali the "haber" was ordained at the "holy
yeshibah of Palestine " (see "J. Q. It." xiv. 223). A
postscript to a small chroniele dating from the year
1046 says that Solomon b. Judahwas then the "head
of the Academy of Jerusalem " (Neubauer, i. 178).
Three generations of the descendants of this Solo-
mon b. Judah were heads of the Palestinian academy,
and bore the title of "gaon." A work of one of
these geonim of Palestine, the "Megiilat Abiathar "
("J. Q. R." xiv. 4:49 et seq.), lias been recentlj' discov-
ered by Schechter in the geuizah of Cairo, and gives
a very clear account of this interesting episode in the
liistor}' of the Jews of Palestine. It' is learned with
regard to the organization of the Academy of Pales-
tine that, as in Babylonia, the ab bet din, the presi-
dent of the court, ranked next to the gaon, and that
another member of the college, called "the third"
("ha-shelishi "), held the third liighest oflRce. In an-
other document from the genizah, which Schechter
has published imder the title "The Oldest Collection
of Bible Dimculties" ("J. Q. R." xiii. 345 et mj.), the
ab bet din is described as seated at the right hand of
the gaon, and " the third "at the left (see "J. Q. R."
XV. 83). A letter in the "Mittheilungcn aus der
Sammluug der Papyrus Erzherzog Rainer"is ad-
dressed to Solomon b. Judah, " the tirst gaon of Pal-
estine" ("R. E. J." XXV. 272). This letter clearly
shows the same close connection between the Jews
of Egypt and those of Palestine as is indicated in
the "Megiilat Abiathar." Solomon b. Jndah was
succeeded at his death by his son Joseph Gaon, his
other son, Elijah, becoming ab bet din. When
Joseph died in 1054, David b. Azariah, a scion of the
house of exilarchs who had gone from Babylon to
Palestine, and had formerly done much injury to
the brothers, was elected gaon, to the exclusion of
Elijah, who remained ab bet din. David b. Azariah
died in 1062 after a long and serious illness, which
he himself is said to have acknowledged to be a pun-
ishment for his ill treatment of his predecessors.
Elijah now became gaon, filling the office down to
1084. In 1071, when Jerusalem was taken by the
army of the Seljuk prince Malik Shah, the gaonate
was removed from Jerusalem, apparently to Tyre.
In 1082 Gaon Elijah called a large convocation at
Tyre, and on this occasion he designated his son
Abiathar as his successor in the gaonate, and his
other son, Solomon, as ab bet din. Elijah died two
years later, and was buried in Galilee, near the old
tannaite tombs, a large concourse of people attend-
ing the burial. Shortly after Abiathar entered upon
Ills office David b. Daniel, a descendant of the Baby-
lonian exilarchs, was proclaimed exilarch in Egypt;
and he succeeded in having his authority recognized
also by the communities along the Palestinian and
Phenician coasts. Tyre alone retaining its independ-
ence for a time. But when this city again came un-
der Egyptian rule in 1089, the Egyptian exilarch
subjected its community also, forcing Abiathar to
leave the academy. The academy itself, however,
resisted the exilarch, declaring his claims to be in-
valid, and pointing out his godlessness and tyranny
while in office. Fast-day services were held (1093),
and the sway of the Egyptian exilarch was soon
ended. The nagid Meborak, to whom David b.
Daniel owed his elevation, called a large assembly,
which deposed David b. Daniel and reinstated
Abiathar as gaon (lyyar, 1094). Abiathar wrote his
"Megillah" in commemoration of this event. A
few years later, at the time of the First Crusade,
he sent a letter to the conununity of Constanti-
nople, which communication has recently been dis-
covered ("J. Q. R." ix. 28). It is dated from Tripo-
lis in Phenicia, to which the academy may have
been removed. Abiathar was succeeded by his
brother Solomon. An anonymous letter, unfortu-
nately without date, dwells on the controversies
and difficulties with which the academy had to con-
tend ("J. Q. R." xiv. 481 et neq.). The next gen-
eration of Solomon b. Judah's descendants dwelt
in Egypt. In 1031 JIazliah, a son of Solomon b.
Elijah, addressed from the " gate of the Academy
of Fostat" a letter to a certain Abraham, in which
he gives his whole genealogy, adding the full title
of " gaon, rosh yeshibat geon Ya'akob," to the names
of his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather.
The Academy of Palestine had probably ceased to
exist before Palestine was con(|uered by the Chris-
tians, and its head, the gaon JMazliah, went to Fos-
tat, where there was an academy that had seceded
from the authority of the Palestinian academy at
the time of the Egyptian exilarch David b. Daniel
("J. Q. R." XV. 93 et scq.). It is not known what
office Mazliah occupied at Fostat, although he re-
tained his title of gaon. A daughter of Mazliah pre-
sented to the academy a book by Samuel ben Hofni
which she had inherited from her grandfather, the
gaon Solomon b. Elijah. In 1112 the "Mushtamil,"
the philological work of the Karaite scholar Abu al-
Faraj Harun, was copied for Elijah, a son of the
gaon Abiathar, "grandson of a gaon and great-
grandson of a gaon " (" R. E. J. " xxx. 235). In 1111
the same Elijah purchased at Fostat R. Hananel's
commentary to Joshua, which subsequently fell into
the hands of his cousin, the gaon Mazliah (" J. Q. R. "
xiv. 486). It may be noted here that the geonic
family of Palestine was of Aaronite origin and that
Abiathar claimed Ezra as his ancestor. The tradi-
tion of the Palestinian gaonate seems to have sur-
vived at Damascus, for Benjamin of Tudela (c. 1170)
says that the teachers of Damascus were considered
as the scholastic heads of Israel ("rashe yeshibot
shel erez Yisrael ").
Bibliography : W. Eacher, Ein Neuerscldosnenes Capitelder
Jildischen Oesch.: Das Gaonat in Paldstina tmd das
Exilarchat in Aegypten, in Jew. Quart. Rev. xv. 7!>-96 ;
Schechter, Saadyana, Cambridge, 1903.
E. c. W. B.
GAP. See Daupiiine.
GARCIA, BERNARDO (BENJAMIN ?)
NUSi'EZ : Spanish poet; lived in Amsterdam about
the middle of the eighteenth century. His little
burlesques and occasional poems are extant in man-
uscript. Among them are an epithalamium, written
in the year 1735 for the wedding celebration of Don
Isaac de Abraham Curiel and Donna Ester Alvares;
" Entremes del Pintor Cornelio " ; and "Entremesdel
Hurto de los Muertos."
Bibliography: Steinschneider, Hebr. BihL iii. 90; Kayser-
ling, Bibl. Esp.-Po7t.-Jud. pp. 48 et seq.
G. M. K.
GARDEN. See Horticulture.
573
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
G^artner
GARLIC. See Botany.
GARMENTS. See Costume.
GARMISON, SAMUEL : Palestinian rabbi of
the seventeentli centuiy. He was a native of Sa-
lonica, and settled in Jerusalem, where he became
ral)bi. Of his numerous works only two, and these
in manuscript, are extant: "Imre Binah," novella'
on Talmudic treatises, and "Imre No 'am," homilies;
the second part of the latter is in the possession of
Hakam Bashi Al-Yashar in Jerusalem. In tlie lat-
ter work the author quotes three others: "Imie
Yosher," "Imre Emet," and a commentarj- on Tur
Hoshen Mishpat.
Bibliography: Conforte, Kmr ha-Dnrot, p. 49b, Berlin. 1846;
Azulai, Shem ha-Oedidini ; Benjacob, <^ar lin-Scfai-im, p.
4G.
D. L. Gku.
GARMON, NEHORAI: Ilabbiof Tunis; poet;
born at Tripoli about 1682; died at Tunis 1760. Gar-
mon Avent to Tunis at twenty, and studied Talmud
under Isaac Lombroso, whom he succeeded in the
rabbinate. He was the author of " Yeter lia-Baz,"
novelke on the Talmud and on Maimonides' " Yad,"
printed with which are eleven poems of the author
(only one in meter), and the novellfe of his son, Hay-
yim Garmon (d. 1T81), entitled "Zedakah le-Hay-
yim" (Leghorn, 1787). The father mentions in his
preface that he lost a large part of his writings in an
attack on the Jewish quarter.
Bibliography: Azulai, Shem ha^GedoUm, i-; I'iirst, Bihl.
Jxid. i. 318 ; D. Cazes, Notes BibUographiques, pp. 221-229,
Tunis, 1893.
D. M. Sel.
GARMXJ, BET : A family of skilled bakers em-
ployed in the Temple at Jerusalem as bakers of the
showbread (Ex. xxv. 30). They kept secret their
method of baking. Fearing the family might die
out and the secret perish with them, the chiefs of the
Temple replaced them with experts from Alexandria,
but these could, not compete with the Garmuites.
The sages therefore summoned the latter back to
their office; they, however, would not return until
their original salary had been doubled, and for this
they were ever after censured. When asked whj'
they Avould not reveal the secrets of their art, they
replied, "Our forebears communicated to us their
premonition tliat the Temple would eventually be
destroyed ; should we instruct others in our art, it
might come to pass that our pupils would exercise the
art in the service of some idolatrous temple. " The
Garmuites are often mentioned with reverence as
models of scrupulous honesty (Yoma iii. 11, 38a;
Tosef., Yoma, ii. 5, and parallels; see Baking).
E. c. S. ]\I.
GARNISHMENT: In law, the process by
■which A collects liis demand from his debtor, B, by
attaching monej^ owing to B from a third person ;
hence called " Dritt-Arrest " in German law. The
power of a court to enforce a judgment against B
by collecting the debt of C to B and paying it to A,
the judgment creditor, is asserted in a baraita (Ket.
19a) by R. Nathan, who rather quaintly derives the
rule from Num. v. 7. This rule is found in the codes
("Yad," Malweh, ii. 6; Shulhan 'Aruk, Hoshen
Mishpat, 86, 1-4). The process, however, is not to
be resorted to until the court has found that B has
no money, goods, or lands from which to satisfy the
debt, just as in the law of most American states the
garnishment process is used only after a return of
"no property."
According to later opinions, first found in the
Arba' Turim and in Hoshen Mishpat, 101, 5, a
shorter process is allowed when the debtor holds
a bond of a third person. The court may liave it
appraised, taking into consideration not only the
third person's degree of solvency, but also his char-
acter (as a stubborn litigant or otherwise), and may
turn the bond over to the creditor after the appraise-
ment. The commentary "Be'er lia-Golah " oa
Hoshen iVIishpat expresses disapprobation of this
course of i)rocedure, but admits that it is well es-
tablished in practise.
Bibliography : Moses Bloch, Die CiviUProceKnordnung jiach
Moxaisch-Hahhinischoi Reclite, p. 96.
s. s. L. N. D.
GART, JOSEPH : Provencal liturgical poet and
commentator; piobably lived at Aix in the fifteenth
century. The surname is, according to Neubauer,
the equivalent of the Hebrew "Shimroni," borne by
the Gard family of Avignon (to which Joseph be-
longed) in additi(m to their Provencal surname.
" Gart. " Two literary productions of Gart are still
extant in manuscript, a liturgical poem for New-
Year's Day (BibliotMque Nationale, Paris, No. 893),
and a commentary on the liturgies for the Four Sab-
baths.
Bibliography : R. E. J. ix. 215, x. 81 ; Renan-Neubauer, Le»
Ecrivains Juifs Fran^ais, p. 319.
J. I. Bk.
GARTNER, GUSTAV: Austrian physician;
born at Pardubitz, Bohemia, Sept. 28, 1855. He
received his education at the gymnasium at Konig-
gratz and the University of Vienna, obtaining the
degree of doctor of medicine in 1879. In the same
year he became junior assistant at the general hos-
pital at Vienna, and in 1883 assistant to Professor
Strieker in experimental pathology, occupying the
latter position until 1891. He was admitted to the
medical faculty of his alma mater in 1886 as privat-
docent, and in 1890 was appointed assistant pro-
fessor, which position he now holds.
Gartner has paid particular attention to the use of
electricity in medicine, and has invented several in-
struments: the " elektrisches Zweizellenbad " (elec-
trical bath with two cells); the kaolin rheostat;
the tonometer, an instrument for measuring the
pressure of the blood; the ergostat, etc. He has
contributed manj' essays to the medical journals,
among which may be mentioned : " Leber die Be-
ziehung Zwischen Nierenerkrankungen und Oedoe-
men," in "Wiener Medizinische Zeitung," 1883;
"Das Electrischcs Zweizellenbad," in "Wiener Kli-
nische Wochenschrift," 1889, No. 44; "Der Kaolin
Rheostat," H). 1890, Xo. 0; with F. Romer, "Leber
die Einwirkung von Tuberkulin und Andern Bak-
terien-Extractenauf den Lymphstrom," ib. 1892, No.
2; with A. Beck, "Leber den Eintluss der Intrave-
nosen Kochsalzeinspritzung auf die Resorption von
Flussigkeiten," ih. 1893, No. 31; " Leber ein Neues
Instrument zur Intensitatsmessung des Auskulta-
tionsphanomen,"/*. 1894, No. 44: "UeberElectrische
Medizinalbader," it>. 1895, No.s. 33 and 84; with J.
Gascon
Oatiirno
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
574
Wagner, "Die Lelire vom Hirnkreislauf," ib. 1899,
No. 26; "Ueber Intra venose Sauerstoffingestionen,"
ib. 1902, Nos. 27, 28.
Bibliography: Paffel, Bi<njrai>liisclics Lcxikon.
s. F. T. H.
GASCON, ABRAHAM: Scholar of the six-
teenth century. Gascon had in his possession Samuel
of Sarsah's "Miklal Yofi," to which he added mar-
ginal notes, and the index of which he completed.
Bibliography : Neubauer, Cat. Bodl. Hehr. MSS. No. 1296.
G. M. Sel.
GASTEB, MOSES : Haham of the Spanish and
Portuguese congregation, London; born in Bucha-
rest Sept. 16, 1856. Having taken a degree in his na-
tive city (1874), he proceeded to the Jewish seminary
at Breslau, where he received the degree of Ph.D. in
1878 and the " Hattarat Hora'ah " in 1881. His his-
tory of Rumanian popular literature was published
at Bucharest in 1883. Gaster's magnum opus, on
which he was engaged for ten years, is a Rumanian
chrestomathy and glossary covering the period from
the dawn of Rumanian literature down to 1830. He
was lecturer on the Rumanian language and litera-
ture at the University of Bucharest (1881-85), in-
spector-general of schools, and a member of the
council for examining teachers in Rumania. He
also lectured on the Rumanian apocrypha, the whole
of which he had discovered in manuscript.
Gaster wrote various text-books for the Jewish
community of Rumania, made a Rumanian transla-
tion of the prayer-book, and compiled a short Scrip-
ture history.
Having been expelled from Rumania by the gov-
ernment in 1885, he went to England, where he was
appointed Ilchester lecturer in Slavonic literature at
the University of Oxford, his lectures being pub
lished afterward as "Greco-Slavonic Literature,"
London, 1886. He had not been in England many
years before the Rumanian government canceled
the decree of expulsion, presented him with the
Rumanian Ordre pour le Merite of the first class
(1891), and invited him to return; but he declined
the invitation. In 1895, at the request of the Ru-
manian government, he wrote a report on the Brit-
ish system of education, which was printed as a
" green book " and accepted as a basis of education
in Rumania.
In 1887 Gaster was appointed haham of the Span-
ish and Portuguese congregation in London, in
which capacity he presided over the bicentenary of
Bevis Marks Synagogue. He was also principal of
Judith Montefiore College, Ramsgate, from 1891 to
1896, and wrote valuable essays accompanying the
yearly reports of that institution. He is a member
of the councils of the Folk-Lore, Biblical, Archeo-
logical, and Royal Asiatic societies, and has written
many papers in the transactions of these bodies.
Among Gaster's works are the following: "Jewish
Folk-Lore in the Middle Ages " (I^ndon, 1887) ; " The
Sword of Moses," from an ancient manuscript book
of magic, with iqtroduction, translation, and index
(ib. 1896) ; " The Chronicles of Jerahmeel " (ib. 1899) ;
" History of the Ancient Synagogue of the Spanish
and Portuguese Jews," a memorial volume in cele-
bration of the two hundredth anniversary of its
inauguration (ib. 1901). The following are among
his numerous contributions to periodical literature:
" Beitrilge zur Vergleicheiiden Sagen und Marchen-
kunde," in "Monatsschrift," xxix. 35 etseq.; "Ein
Targum der Amidah," in ib. xxxix. 79 ct seq. ; "The
Apocalypse of Abraham, from the Roman Text," in
the "Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society," ix.
195; "The Unknown Hebrew Versions of the Tobit
Legend," in ib. 1897, p. 27; "The Oldest Version of
MidrashMeghillah,"in " Kohut Memorial Volume ";
"Hebrew Text of One of the Testaments of the
Twelve Patriarchs," in the "Proceedings of tlie
Society of Biblical Arclueology," xvi. 33 et seq. ;
"Contributions to the History of Ahikar and Na-
dam," in the "Transactions of the Royal Asiatic So-
ciety," 1900, p. 301.
Gaster is among the most active leaders of the
Zionist movement in England; and even while in
Rumania he assisted in establishing the first Jewish
colony in Palestine. He was vice-president of the
first Basel Congress, and has been a prominent figure
in each succeeding congress.
Bibliography: Young iKraeU 1898; Jew. Chnm. and Jeu\
WcwhU 1887; Jcwuih Ymr liook, 190(M)1, pp. 27()-^'71.
J. G. L.
GASTFREUND, ISAAC : Galician rabbinical
scholar ; born about 1845 ; died in Vienna after 1880.
He was the author of "Toledot Rabbi 'Akibah," a
biography of the tauna Akiba b. Joseph (Lemberg,
1871 ; see " Ha-Shahar," ii. 399-400), and of the Ger-
man work " Mohamed nach Talmud und Midrash "■
(issued in parts, Berlin, 1875; Vienna, 1877-80; see
Sprenger in "Z. D. M. G." xxix. 654-659). He also
wrote in Hebrew a biography of the Konigswarter
family entitled " Toledot Bet Konigswarter" (Vienna,
1877); " AnsheShem," biographiesof Jonathan Eybe-
schiitz and Solomon Munk (Lyck, 1879); and "Tole-
dot Yellinek," a biography of Adolph Jellinek
(Brody, 1880)
Bibliography: Lippe, BUiUoyrnphisches Lexicon, i. 129, 600,
Vienna, 1881 ; Zeitlin, Bihl. Post-Mendels. p. 107 ; M. Schwab,
Repertoire, Paris, 1900 ; ih. Supplement, 1903.
E. C. P. Wl.
GATE (Hebrew, lytj' : Aramaic, J?-in ; more prop-
erly " gateway ") ; This denotes not so much a contri-
vance like a door (n?T) for barring ingress and
egress, as the passageway and the group of buildings
designed for ornament or defense (I Mace. xiii. 33),
together with the open space adjoining to or enclosed
by them, at the entrance to a palace, a temple, or a
city. The most elaborate description in the Bible of
such a gate is that of the eastern structure in the outer
Temple court (Ezek. xl. 6-16). Steps led up to it;
it had two thresholds, a number of lodges or guard-
chambers five ctibits apart, and porches and posts,
with an open space ten cubits wide, while from the
roof of one lodge to that opposite was a breadth of
twenty-five cubits; the whole enclosed a court, the
walls being broken bj^ windows and the openings
spanned by arches.
Probably not quite so elaborate, the common gates
were provided with doors consisting of stout wings
or leaves of wood fastened with brass or iron bolts
("beriah ") or barred with heavy wooden beams cov-
ered with brass or iron ("min'al"). These were
closed at nightfall and on the Sabbath (Josh. ii. 5, 7;
Neh. xiii. 19). The entrance led underneath an up-
per chamber, and sometimes through a small court
575
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
G-ascon
Qati^no
(II Sam. xviii. 24, 33) to an inner building. Tlie
roof over these buildings was flat ; and on this, or on
a tower connected with it, the gatekeeper ("sho'er ")
was stationed, giving notice either by loud calls or
by blasts upon a horn when any one approached
(II Sam. xxiv. 14; II Kings ix. 7; Jer. vi. 17; Ezek.
xxxiii. 1 et seq. ; comp. II Chron. xxvi. 9). Guards
under the command of the chief gatekeeper are
also mentioned (II Kings vii. 10-11; Neh. xiii. 19;
Jer. xxxvii. 13), for whose accommodation the
lodges or guard -chambers were intended. Close
by the city and Temple gates were larger or smaller
open squares (" rchobot "), which were public resorts
(Gen. xix. 2; Judges xix. 15 et seq.; II Sam. xix.
8; IKingsxxii. 10).
As the gate protected the whole city, the word
came to be used for the city itself (Isa. xiv. 81 ; Ex.
XX. 10; Deut. xvi. 5; Ruth iii. 11). The king's
court is also designated as the " gate " (Esth. iii.
2; Dan. ii. 49; comp. Esth. ii. 19 et seq.). The gate
and the adjoining open area constituted the market-
place (Neh. viii. 16, xiii. 19; Job xxix. 7; II Kings
vii. 1); hence such names as "fish-gate," "sheep-
gate" (Neh. iii. 1, 8, 32; xii. 89; Zeph. i. 10). The
gates offered the main opportunity for social inter-
course. The wells were sometimes situated here
(II Sam. xxiii. 15-lG). Here news from the outside
was sure to be announced first (I Sam. Iv. 18);
private grief or public calamity found "at the
gate" ready sympathizers among the assembled
throng of idlers (comp. II Mace. iii. 19;
The Gen. xix. 1; Ps. Ixix. 12 [A.V. 13];
Popular Prov. xxxi. 81) ; matters of public con-
Center, cern were discussed (I Kings xxii. 10;
Jer. xxxviii. 7; at the gates of the
Temple, Ezek. xi. 1; Jer. xxvi. 10 et seq.), public
announcements were made (Jer. xvii. 19 et seq. ;
Prov. i. 21, viii. 8), and court and council sessions
were held here (Job xxix. 7, xxxi. 21 ; Prov. xxxi.
28; Lam. v. 14; Deut. xvi. 18, xxi. \Qetseq., xxii.
15-16; Josh. XX. 4).
The Levite, the stranger, the widow that is " with-
in thy gates" (Deut. xvi. 14, et al.) have a legal
status and claim to kindly consideration (comp.
Amos V. 12, 15). The heads of slain enemies were
probably exhibited in the gates (I Sam. xvii. 51, 54;
comp. 11 Kings x. 8). Criminals were punished
outside the -gates (I Kings xxi. 13), but near by,
while lepers were sent out from the gates (Lev. xiii.
46; II Kings vii. 8), being assigned a settlement be-
yond the city limits but not too far from the city wall.
Gates and doors were marked with inscriptions
(Deut. vi. 9, xi. 20; see Dock; Mezuzah). Camps,
too, had gates (Ex. xxxii. 26-27). The "gate of
heaven" — an old mythological expression — is men-
tioned (Gen. xxviii. 17), while the Temple's gates
are paraphrased as "gates of righteousness" or
"gate of the Lord," through which the righteous
shall enter (Ps. cxviii. 19-20). "Gates of death"
and " gates of thick darkness " occur in poetic phrase-
ology, in many cases with a tinge of mythological
coloring (Ps. ix. 14 [A.V. 13]; Job xxxviii. 17.
Hebr.). For the gates of Jerusalem see Jerusa-
i.EM ; for the gates of the Temple see Temple.
" Gate " is used allegorically in rabbinical idioms,
as the "gates of repentance " (nniKTl nyC'; Pesik.,
ed. Buber, xxv. 157a), the "gates of tears," and the
"gates of prayer" (Ber. 32b; B. M. 59a), which are
said to be "open"; i.e., repentance or prayer is ac-
cepted. Hence the petition in the Ne'ilah service
of the Day of Atonement; "Open unto us the gate
at the time the gate [of the day] is closing." God
is called the " Opener of the gates " (of day, for the
sun to rise) in the prayer on Sabbath eve. " Sha'ar "
= "gate," or its Aramaic synonym, "baba," is used
in later Hebrew literature to designate " chapter " or
" section " in a book {e.g. , " Baba Batra, " etc. ; " Sha'ar
ha-Yihud," in Bahya's "Hobot ha-Lebabot ").
Bibliography: Rlehm, Handw6rterb. des Bihlischen Alter-
tums, 2d ed.. s.v. Haus, Stadt, Thar; Nowack. Lehrbuch
der Hebrdiachen Archdnlogie, i. 142; Winer. B. R. 3d ed.,
ii., s.v. Tliore ; Hastings, Diet. Bible ; Gutbe. Kurzes Btbel-
w6rterbuch, s.v. Thor.
E. G. H.
GATH: One of the five principal cities of the
Philistines (Josh. xiii. 3; I Sam. vi. 17). The name
occurs in the El-Amarna tablets as "Gimta,"
" Gimti," " Ginti " ; in the Egyptian inscriptions as
" Kutu. " Goliath came from this city (I Sam. xvii. ).
David took refuge with King Achish of Gath (I
Sam. xxi. 10, xxvii. 2). According to II Chron. xi.
8, Rehoboam fortified the city, which, however,
must have fallen into the hands of the Philistines
again, for Uzziah conquered it (II Chron. xxvi. 6).
Previous to that Gath was taken by the Syrian king-
Hazael (II Kings xii. 18). According to an Assyr-
ian inscription, Sargon took Gath among other
Philistine cities (comp. Amos vi. 2; Micah i. 14).
E. 6. H. F. BU.
GATIGNO (Portuguese, Gatinho; Levantine,
Gattegno) : Name (Spanish) of a family known in
the fourteenth century, and still flourishing in Tur-
key; it is probably derived from the former French
district of Gatines.
Abraham Gatigno : Rabbi ; born in Salonica ;
grandson of Abraham beu Benveniste Gatigno;
chosen hakam bashi of Salonica (Jan. 10, 1875) in
succession to Raphael Asher Covo (d. Dec. 26, 1874).
Abraham Gatigno founded the first modern Jewish
school in Salonica. He is the author of " Zel ha-
Kesef" (Salonica. 1872).
Bibliography : Franco, Histoire des Israelites de VEmpire
Ottoman, p. 206. ,, ^
M. K.
Abraham ben Benveniste Gatigno : Turkish
rabbi; died at Salonica May, 1780. He wrote:
"Tirat Kesef," homiletic commentary on the Penta-
teuch, Salonica, 1736; "Zeror ha-Kesef," responsa
and homilies, with many additions by his son, Ben-
veniste Gatigno, ib. 1756.
Bibliography : Kazan. Ha-yEa'alot li-Shelomnh, p. 4b ;
Fflrst, Bibl. Juci. i. 318; Van Straalen, Cat. Hebr. Books
Brit. Mus. p. 84. , , „
M. Sel.
Eliakim ben Isaac Gatigno: Turkish rabbi;
lived at Smyrna in the eighteenth century. He
wrote: "To'afot Re'em," commentary on Elijah
Mizrahi's "Perush Rashi," Smyrna, 1766; "Agurah
be-Oholeka," responsa, Salonica, 1781; "Yizhak
Yerannen," novellte on Mairaonides, ib. 1785. Ben-
jacob ("Ozarha-Sefarira," p. 228) attributes the last-
named work to Isaac b. Eliakim Gatigno.
Bibliography: Furst. Bibl. Jud. i. 319; Zedner, Cat. Hebr.
Biiuku Brit. Mus. p. 265. ,, „
M. Sel.
Ouza
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
576
Ezra ben Solomon ibn Gatig-no (Astruc
Solomon): Commentator; pupil of Joscpli b.
Joshua ibn Vi ves ; lived in Saragossa and Agrcmonte
(1356-72). He is the author of a supercommentary
to Abraham ibn Ezra's commentary on the Penta-
teuch. Following the example of Joseph ibn Caspi,
he separated the excgetical from the mystical por-
tion of the commentary. The former, which was
finished in Agremonte on the 18th of Elul, 5132
{=Aug. 18, 1372), is entitled "Scfer ha-Zikronot ";
to the latter he gave the title " Sod Adonai Lire'aw."
Manuscript copies of both are extant in Oxford ;
copies of the mystical portion in the Munich and
other libraries.
Bibliography : Steinschneider, in Ersch and Gruber, Encyc.
section i., part 54, pp. 358 ef seq.; idem, Hehr. Uehers. p. 43i8;
idem. Cat. Munich, M ed., p. 7; Jellinek, KiDitreti ha-
Mazkir, 2d ed., pp. 22 cl acq.
M. K.
Isaac ben Eliakim Gatigno : Turkish rabbi;
lived at Salonica in the eighteenth century. He
wrote: "Bet Yizhak," a critical commentary on
Maimonides' "Yad," Salonica, 1792; "Bet Mo'ed,"
novell* and homilies, ib. 1839. See Eliakim ben
Isaac Gatigno.
Bibliography : Fiirst, Dihl. Jud. 1. 319 ; Zedner, Cat. Hehr.
Books Brit. Mus. p. 2tJ5.
M. Sel.
Solomon Astruc Gatigno ("the Martyr"): A
Bible commentator, probably of the fifteenth cen-
tury. He wrote expository notes to Messianic pas-
sages in the Bible, such as Isa. lii. 13 and Ps. cxxxix. ;
also a commentary on the Pentateuch entitled
"Midrash ha-Torah," a manuscript copy of which
work was seen by Azulai. His commentaries are
preserved in manuscript at Oxford.
Bibliography: steinschneider, in Ersch and Gruber, Encyc.
section ii., part 27, p. 357 ; Azulai, Shem ha-Gedolim, i. 164.
D. M. K.
GAU, JACOB IBN. See Ibn Jau, Jacob.
GAULONITIS : Section of country east of the
Jordan and of the Sea of Galilee ; so called particu-
larly in the first century c.e. It is frequently men-
tioned by Josephus as a part of the tetrarchy of Philip,
in the same general region as Trachonitis, Auranitis,
and Batanea. The origin of the name is probably
to be found in "Golan," one of the cities of refuge
(Deut. iv. 43; Josh. xx. 8) located in Baslian, in the
territory of the half-tribe of Manasseh, and also one
of the Levitical cities assigned to the children of
Gershon (Josh. xxi. 27; I Chron. vi. 56). The mod-
ern equivalent of " Golan " is " Jaulan," described by
Schumacher in his "Across the Jordan " (p. 3):
" This district of Jaulan is bounded on the south by the Shari'at
el MenadJreh, and on the north extends tothe Jisrs (or Bridges)
of 'Allan and Ruklcad, or even as far as Ghadir el Bustan. On
the east it is bounded by the gorge of the Nahr el 'Allan (Hau-
ran), and on the west by the still more precipitous Nahr er
Rukkad. Its highest elevation, at (ihadir el Bustan, reaches
1,912 feet ; while its lowest inhabited village, not counting the
Bedawin huts at Kuweyyeh, is El Ekseir, at 1,145 feet ; but Its
average height may be put at 1,500 feet above the Mediterranean
Sea."
This plateau is but little cultivated except near
the villages. It is dotted with volcanic mounds of
basaltic formation, and makes fine pasturage during
the earlier spring. Schumacher (pp. 91-93), on the
authority of the present inhabitants, mentions Sahem
al-Jaulan, the best-built village in all Jaulan, as
probably the ancient capital of this district.
E. G. n. I. M. P.
GAUNSE (Gaunz, Ganse, Gans), JO-
ACHIM (Jeochim, Jochim) : German mining
expert who figures in the English state papers of the
reign of Elizabeth. He was born at Prague, and was
therefore in all probability a connection of David
Gans, who settled there in 1564; he certainly
shared his scientific interests. He is first men-
tioned in his professional capacity at Keswick,
Cumberland, in 1581, and he remained in England
till the end of 1589. He introduced a new process
for the "makeing of Copper, vitriall, and Coppris,
and smeltinge of Copper and leade ures." A full
description of his operations is preserved in the
English state papers (Domestic Series, Elizabeth,
vol. 152, No. 88). Foreign miners were very active
in England about this period. There is no doubt
that England owed much to such immigrants in the
mining industries (see Cunningham, " Alien Immi-
grants," p. 122).
In Sept., 1589, in the presence of a minister, Rich-
ard Curteys, at Bristol, Gaunse, speaking "in the
Hebrue tonge," proclaimed himself a Jew, and as a
result Avas arrested and sent in custody to the privy
council in London (Domestic Series, Elizabeth, vol.
226, No. 46). The council seems to have taken no
hostile action, however. "NValsingham, who was then
secretary of state, was an old employer of Gaunse,
and other members of the council also knew him.
Bibliography: I. Abrahams, Joachim Gaunse, a Mining
Incident in the Reiqn of Queen Elizabeth, in Transactions
of Jewish Histor-icdl Society of England, Iv., where all the
documents are published.
J. I. A.
GAVISON, MEIR: Egyptian scholar; flour-
ished in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
He was one of the rabbis at Cairo at the time of R.
Jacob Castro, and was generally recognized as a
great Talmudist. One volume of his responsa was
seen in Egypt by Azulai. His responsa are also
mentioned by Abraham ha-Levi in his "Ginnat
"Weradim," part iii., No. 1.
Bibliography: Azulai, Shem ha-Gedolim.
D. L. Gru.
GAYA : Town in the Austrian province of Mo-
ravia. In official records Jews at Gaya are first
mentioned toward the end of the seventeenth cen-
tury; but there can be no doubt that a Jewish com-
munity existed there at the beginning of the six-
teenth century, as an inscription on the ceiling of
the old synagogue, torn down in 1851, showed the
date 1507. In 1688 the Jews had only twelve
houses. In 1696 the inhabitants petitioned Emperor
Leopold I. "to free them from the troublesome
Jews who are encroaching upon all branches of in-
dustry, " but their request was refused. In 1727, un-
der Charles VI., the Jews of Gaya were organized
as an independent municipalitj^ which still exists.
In 1848 the number of members contributing to the
expenses of the Jewish community was 94; in 1852
it was 121 ; and at present (1903) there are 160 tax-
payers. The Jews number about 900 in a total
population of about 8,800. Gaya has a synagogue,
577
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Q-au
Gkiza
dedicated in 18n2; an old and a new cemetery; and
a scliool building with four classrooms.
The " !Meniorbuch " contains the names of twenty
rabbis, among whom are Isafic of Janow, author of
"Pene Yizhak Zuta," Amsterdam, 1731; Josef
Weisse ; and Moritz Duschak. When the last-named
was called to Cracow in 1872 the rabbinate remained
vacant till 1903, when the present incumbent,
Moritz Bauer, was called. The Gaya community
includes tlie former communities of Kosteletz and
Koritschan.
D. M. Ba.
GAZA (my) : Palestinian city on the Mediter-
ranean, about 85 kilometers southeast of Jerusa-
lem. In early times it was one of the terminals of
the trade-route from South Arabia, as well as from
Petra and Palmyra. Gaza was condemned by Amos
took Gaza and left a garrison there. The city later
capitulated to Jonathan Maccabeus, who destroyed
the suburbs by tire. The Jewish king Alexander
Janna?us destroyed Gaza after a siege of a year (96
B.C.) ; it was wrested from the Jews by Pompey, and
was rebuilt and fortified by the Roman general
Gabinius in 57. In 30 it was given by Augustus to
Herod; but at the beginning of the last Jewish war
it was completely destroyed. Jerome, however,
speaks of it as a large city in his time. In the
Talmudic period residence there was permitted to
Jews, though its inhabitants w-ere pagans. The
Arabs under Amr took it in 634, but it was restored
by the Christians under Baldwin III. In 1152 it
came into the possession of the Templars. In 1187
Saladin recaptured it.
Notwithstanding all these changes of rulership,
View of Modern Gaza.
(From a photograph.)
(1. 6) for trafficking in slaves with Edom. On
account of its position its possession was bitterly
contested by the Pharaohs from the sixteenth to the
fourteenth century, and by the Ptolemies in the
third and the second. The history of Gaza goes
back to remotest antiquity. It is mentioned in Gen.
X. 19 as the boundary of Canaan. Conquered by
the tribe of Judah (Judges i. 18, where LXX. in-
troduces "not," probably having later conditions in
mind), and retaken by the Philistines, it was the
scene of Samson's prowess; he is said to have carried
the two gates of the city up the neighboring moun-
tain, and to have perished subsequently in overturn-
ing the temple of Dagon (Judges xvi.). It was ac-
counted one of the tive chief Philistine cities (Josh.
xiii. 3), and at the time of Solomon was the southern
limit of the kingdom (I Kings v. 4, Hebr.). When
Alexander the Great went from Tyre to Egypt, he
V_?,7
scarcely anything is known of the Jews of Gaza.
Meshullam of Volterra (1481) found sixty Jewish
householders there and four Samaritans. The wine
of the place w-as all grown by the Jews (Luncz,
"Jerusalem,"!. 193). Obadiah of Bertinoro (1488)
mentions as rabbi of Gaza when he was there a cer-
tain Moses of Prague, who had come from Jerusalem
("Zwei Briefe," ed. Neubauer, p. 19). The Karaite
Samuel b. David found a Rabbin ite synagogue there
in 1641 (ed. Gurland, p. 11). It may, liowever, be
assumed that a Jewish community existed at Gaza
at the end of the sixteenth century, and that the
Najjara family supplied some of the rabbis of the
place. Israel Najjara, son of the Damascene rabbi
Moses Najjara, tiie author of the songs "Zemirot
Yisrael," was chief rabbi of Gaza and president of
the tribunal in tlie middle of the seventeenth cen-
tury. In 1666 the pseudo-Messiah Shabbethai Zebi
GfLzara
Gedaliah
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
578
found there his most devoted follower, Nathan of
Gaza, son-in-law of a rich and pious Jew of that
community. A certain R. Zedakah of Gaza is men-
tioned in a Bodleian manuscript (Steinschneider,
"Cat. Bodl." col. 579, No. 1658). There were Jews
at Gaza as late as 1799, but they fled in numbers be-
fore Napoleon's army; and Volney, who accom-
panied the latter, and who describes Gaza in detail,
does not allude in any way to the Jews. About
1880 a group of them settled in the town, in which
at present there are about ninety.
Bibliography: S. Munk, Palestine, p. 63, Paris, 1845; M.
Franco, Histnire des Israelites de VEmpire Ottoman ; NaJ-
jara, Zemirot Yisrael, Preface; BottRer. Lexicon zu den
Schriften des Flaviits Josephus, p. 127 ; Neubauer, Geogia-
phie_du Talmud, p. 67; G. A. Smith, Hist. Geography of
ih
the Holy Land, pp. 181 et seq.
M. Fr.-G.
GAZABA or GAZEBA {TdCapa; comp. I Mace,
iv. 15, vii. 45) : Fortified city in Palestine ; situated on
the borders of Azotus, not far from Emmaus-Nicopo-
lison the west. Gazara has been proved by Schiirer
("Geschichte," i. 245) to be identical with the
**Gezer"of the Bible (Josh. xvi. 10).
E. G. H. M. Sel.
GAZELLE. See Roebuck.
GEBA (yaj ; pausal form, Gaba) : A city of Ben-
jamin, among the group of towns lying along the
northern boundary (Josh, xviii. 24). Geba and its
suburbs were allotted to the priests (tb. xxl. 17;
I Chron. vi. 60). It is mentioned in II Kings xxiii.
8 as the northern landmark of the kingdom of Judah,
in opposition to Beer-sheba, the southern; it is
spoken of in II Sam. v. 25 as the eastern limit, in
opposition to Gazer, the western. In the parallel
passage, I Chron. xiv. 16, the name is changed to
"Gibeon." "Geba" is sometimes used where
" Gibeah " is meant, and vice versa, as in I Sam.
xiv. 2, 16. See Gibeah. In the time of Saul.
Geba was occupied by the Philistines (ib. xiii.
3). The latter, ejected by Jonathan, made a furious
onslaught, the armies being arrayed on opposite
sides of the ravine which was between Geba on the
south and Michmash on the north (ib. xiv. 4, 5).
This description of the topography of Geba tallies
with that given in Isa. x. 28, 29. Geba is identified
with a village called " Jeba'," situated on a hill, op-
posite which there is a village called " Mukhmas, " the
Biblical "Michmash" (see Robinson, "Researches,"
ii. 113 etseq.; Buhl, "Geographic des Alten Palas-
tinas," pp. 172-176).
E. G. H. M. Sel.
GEBAL: A later designation for the northern
part of the Edomite mountain, called "Gebalene"
by the Greeks; it occurs in Ps. Ixxxiii. 8 (A. V.
7), and, according to Winckler, also in Obad. v. 6.
The Arabic word "Jibal," from which the name
has been derived, is still applied to this district.
E. G. H. F. Bu.
GEBALENA. See Palestine.
GEBER : 1. Son of Geber; mentioned (I Kings
iv. 13) as one of Solomon's district commissariat offi-
cers who resided in the fortress of Ramoth-gilead
and had charge of Havoth-jair and the district of
Argob.
2. Son of Uri; district commissariat officer of
"the land of Gilead, " a territory south of Argob
and originally possessed by Sihon, king of the
Amorites, and by Og, King of Bashan (I Kings iv.
19). The text is rather obscure. The English ver-
sions read: "and he was the only officer which
was in the land." Solomon had twelve officers in
Israel (I Kings iv. 7). The text admits "and one
officer who [was] in the land," as an alternative to
"and he was the only officer which was in the land."
E. G. H. B. P.
GEBIHA OF ARGIZAH : Babylonian scholar
of the fifth century; contemporary of Ashi, the pro-
jector of the Babylonian Gemara compilation. Huna
b. Nathan once reported to Ashi a homiletic inter-
pretation by Gebiha (Git. 7a; Yalk. to Josh. xv.
22, § 17). In "Seder Tanna'im we-Amora'im"
(ed. Taussig, in "Neweh Shalom," p. 5; Mahzor
Vitry, p. 483, Berlin, 1893) he is erroneously reck-
oned among the Saboraim, though he flourished
about a century before them (see Brlill's " Jahrb."ii.
25). As to " Argizah, " see Jastrow, " Diet. " p. 115a ;
Kohut, "Aruch Completum," i. 271a; Neubauer,
"G. T." p. 388; Rapoport, " 'ErekMillin," p. 192.
B. 8. S. M.
GEBIHA OF BE-KATIL: Babylonian hala-
klst of the fifth century; junior of Aha b. Jacob,
Abaye, and Raba; from all of these he learned
halakot, which he eventually reported to Ashi,
whom he assisted in the compilation of the Baby-
lonian Talmud (Yeb. 60a; B. B. 83a; 'Ab. Zarah
22a: Hul. 26b, 64b). Once he lectured at the resi-
dence of the exilarch, and Amemar reported the
substance of the lecture to Ashi (Bezah 23a). During
the last fourteen years of his life (419-433) he held
the presidency of the Academj' of Pumbedita, va-
cated by the death of Aha b. Raba.
Bibliography: Sherira, Tggeret; Gratz, Gesch, 2d ed., Iv.
379 ; Halevy, Dorot ha-Rishonim, iii. 41b.
s. s.
S. M.
GEBIHA B. PESISA. See Alexander the
Great.
GEBIXI (from Lat. " Gabinius ") : Officer of the
Second Temple, whose duty was at certain times of
each day to announce the rite to be performed, and
to remind the appointees of their respective parts
in the performance of that rite. Thus he would
cry out : " Priests, attend to the sacrifice ; Levites,
attune the hymn ; Israelites, take your places " (Shek.
v. 1; Yer. Shelj;. v. 48c). Gebini's voice is said to
have been once heard by Agrippa at a distance of
eight miles, whereupon the king richly rewarded
him (Shek. I.e.). Elsewhere it is said that his proc-
lamations in the Temple were often heard at Jer-
icho, a distance of ten miles (Tamid iii. 8; Yoma
20b; Yer. Suk. v. 55b, incorrectly 'nJ). It is be-
lieved that " Gebini " became an eponym for all
successors in the office of Temple crier (see com-
mentaries to Shek. ^.c).
8. 8. S. M.
GEBINI B. HABSON: A Jewish Croesus,
cited as a realistic illustration of Eccl. iv. 8. The
Midrash thus dissects the verse: "There is one
alone " ; that means Gebini b. Harson, to whom
579
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Gazara
Gedaliah
"there was no second," he being without an equal.
"He hath neither child nor brother": he was liis
mother's only son; and "there is no end to his
labor," that is, the laboriously accumulated wealth
which his father bequeathed to him. " Neither is
his eye satisfied with riches," because he was blind
in one eye. " For whom do I labor, and bereave my
soul of good?" It is related that, after his father's
death, he requested his mother, " Show me all the
silver and the gold which my father has left me."
She showed him a heap of denars the bulk of which
was sucli as to prevent tlieir seeing each other when
they stood on opposite sides thereof. "And," adds
R. Levi in the name of Kesh Lakish, " the very day
when Gebini b. Har.son died, Belshazzar, afterward
governor of Babylonia, was born, and he subse-
quently carried off all that wealth " (Eccl. R. ad
loc. ; see "Mattenot Kehunnah " ad loc).
s. s. S. M.
GEBWEILER : Town of Alsace, in the consis-
torial district of Colmarand rabbinate of Sulz. The
first document referring to its Jewish community
dates from 1270, and is now in the archives of
Colmar (L. 16, 6). The synagogue is first mentioned
in 1333. The Jews of Gebweiler suffered in the per-
secutions of 1349 ("R. E. J."iv. 27), and no Jews
seem to have lived there during the next few cen-
turies; but at the time of the Thirtj' Years' war three
Jewish families received permission to settle tempo-
rarily in the town on payment of 20 reichsthaler
per week, the open country being unsafe. In 1674
Gabriel Bloch was admitted on payment of 14
pfennigs protection -money and board for one horse
for the town. When Wolf Wechsler, who signs
himself in certain documents jIDpn |D^J3, sought
permission from the government to settle at Geb-
weiler, the abbot, who did " not wish to force the Jew
upon the town," left the matter to the magistrate
for decision. In the discussion it was pointed out
that Wechsler had rendered important services to the
bishopric and to the town, and ought therefore to
be admitted. Wechsler was director of the Jews of
the upper free district (J. Weiss, " Geschichte und
Rechtliche Stellung der Juden im Bistum Stras-
burg," p. 13).
In 1706 four Jewish families were living at Geb-
weiler, and in 1741 ten families; but in 1784 there
were only seven families, aggregating 40 persons.
In 1903 there Avere 83 families at Gebweiler, including
the suburb of Lauterbach. The congregation has
three charitable societies. Its present synagogue
was built in 1870-71 ; its dead are buried in the
cemetery of Jungholz.
D. M. Gi.
GECKO. See Ferret ; Lizard.
GEDALIAH : Son of Ahikam, through whose
influence Jeremiah was saved from the fury of the
mob, and grandson of Shaphan the scribe (Jer. xxvi.
24; II Kings xxii. ; II Chron. xxxiv.); probably
cousin of Michaiah, son of Geraariah (Jer. xxxvi.
11). Gedaliah was thus a scion of a noble and
pious family. Nebuchadnezzar appointed him gov-
ernor of Palestine after the conquest of the land, and
entrusted Jeremiah to his care (Jer. xxxiv. 14, xl. 5).
Gedaliah made Mizpah his capital, where the scat-
tered remnants of the nation soon gathered round
him. Not only the poor peasants and laborers, but
also the generals and military men came back from
their hiding-places among the surrounding tribes,
and settled in the deserted towns of Palestine. Ge-
daliah exhorted them to remain loyal to the Baby-
lonian rulers, and to lay down their arms and be-
take themselves to agriculture and to the rebuilding
of their razed cities. He permitted them to gather
the crops on lands which had no owner.
Baalis, king of the Ammonites, envious of the
Jewish colony's prosperity, or jealous of the might
of the Babylonian king, instigated Ish-
His Death, mael, son of Nathaniel, "of the royal
seed," to make an end of the Judean
rule in Palestine. Ishmael, being an unscrupulous
character, permitted himself to become the tool of
the Ammonite king in order to realize his ow^n ambi-
tion to become the ruler of the deserted land. Infor-
mation of tiiis conspiracy reached Gedaliah through
Johanan, son of Kareah, and Johanan undertook to
slay Ishmael before he had had time to carry out his
evil design ; but the governor disbelieved the report,
and forbade Jolianan to lay hands upon the conspir-
ator. Ishmael and his ten companions were royally
entertained at Gedaliah's table. In the midst of the
festivities Ishmael slew the unsuspecting Gedaliah,
the Chaldean garrison stationed in Mizpah, and all
the Jews that were with him, casting their bodies
into the pit of Asa (Josephus, "Ant." x. 9, § 4).
The Rabbis condemn the overconfidence of Gedaliah,
holding him responsible for the death of his followers
(Niddah 61a; comp. Jer. xli. 9). Ishmael captured
many of the inhabitants of Mizpah, as well as "the
daughters of the king " entrusted to Gedaliah's care
by the Babylonian general, and fled to Ammon.
Johanan and his followers, however, on receiving
the sad tidings, immediately pursued the murderers,
overtaking them at the lake of Gibeon. The cap-
tives were rescued, but Ishmael and eight of his men
escaped to the land of Ammon. The plan of Baalis
thus succeeded, for the Jewish refugees, fearing lest
the Babylonian king should hold them responsible for
the murder, never returned to theirnative land. In
spite of the exhortations of Jeremiah they fled to
Egypt, joined by the remnant of the Jews that had
survived, together with Jeremiah and Baruch (Jer.
xliii. 6). The rule of Gedaliah lasted, according to
tradition, only two months, although Gratz argues
that it continued more than four years.
The Biblical records place the death of Gedaliah
in the seventh month (Tishri) without specifying the
day. The traditional view is that it occurred on the
third day of Tishri, which was therefore subse-
quently established as a fast-day in commemoration
of the sad event (Zech. vii. 5, viii 19; R. H. 18b).
Later authorities accepted the view that the assassin-
ation occurred on New- Year's Day, and the fast
was postponed to the week-day following it — the
third of the month (Shulhan 'Aruk, Orah Hayyim,
549, 1; Ture Zahab ad loc). It is
Fast of not, however, regarded as a postponed
Gedaliah. fast-day. If it falls on the Sabbath,
the fast must be observed on the fol-
lowing day. The ritual of the day is the same as
that of any other fast-day, with the addition of those
Gedaliah
Gehazi
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
580
prayers which are peculiar to the penitential days.
See Fasting and Fast-Days.
Bibliography: Hamburger, R. B. T. ; Hastings, Diet. Bible;
(iraeiz. Hist. 1. 317-328, Philadelphia, 1891 ; Ya'bez, Toledot
Yisrael, ii., Wilna, 1898.
E. G. n.
J. H. G.
GEDALIAH CORDOVEBO. See Cor
DOVERO, Gedaliah.
GEDAIilAH, JUDAH, DON: Portuguese
printer; born in Lisbon, where lie was engaged as
foreman in the printing-house of Eliezer Toledano.
Driven out of Portugal at an advanced age, he set-
tled in Salonica, and about 1515 set up the first
Hebrew printing press established in that city, using
in part the type which he had taken with him from
Lisbon. One of the tirst works printed was the " '£n
Ya'akob" of Jacob ibn Habib, whom Gedaliah es-
teemed highly. In 1523 he printed Isaac Arama's
"'Akedat Yizhak." Gedaliah died about 1526 in
Salonica. His press was continued by his sons, and
altogether produced about thirty works.
BiBLiOfiRAPHY : Jacob ibn Habib, "Eii Ya'akoh, Introduction ;
Ju(\ah Nehama, Mihtehe DDiiim, p. 162; Ersch and Gruber,
Encfjc. section ii., part 28, p. 40.
J. M. K.
GEDALIAH (GADILIA), JUDAH BEN
MOSES: Turkish rabbi; lived at Salonica in the
sixteenlli century. He was the author of (1) "Maso-
ret Talmud Yerushalmi," an index to the Jerusalem
Talmud (Constantinople, 1573); (2) a commentary to
Midrash Kabbah (published in the edition of Salo-
nica, 1595); and (3) notes to the Zohar (Salonica,
1596-97).
BiBi.iOGRAPii V : Conforte, Korc ha-Doiot, p. 41a ; Steinschnei-
der. Cat. Bodl. col. 132(5 ; Furst, Bihl. Jud. i. 324.
D. M. Sel.
GEDALIAH IBN YAHYA. See Ibn Yahya.
GEDILIAH (N^^nJ), ABRAHAM BEN
SAMUEL : Rabbi and Talmudist of the seven-
teenth century; came originally from Jerusalem,
traveled in Italy, and lived in Leghorn; he was also
rabbi in Veioua. He corresponded with Samuel
Aboab and Moses Zacuto, and was higlily esteemed
by them as a Talmudist. He wrote a commentary
on the Yalkut entitled "Berit Abraham," which was
printed at Leghorn together with the Yalkut (part
i. in 1650, part ii. in 1660; the part on the Penta-
teuch was reprinted in 1713). In addition to careful
explanations, his work contains much matter from
manuscripts of old midrashim which is not found
in the Yalkut. Gediliah lias also done an important
service in preserving the correct text of the Yalkut.
BiBLiOfiRAPHY: Samuel Aboab, Respimnn, No. 72- Nepi-Ghi-
rondi, Toledot Oedole Yis7-ad, pp. 24, 2j ; Mortara, Iiidice
p. 27.
»• I. E.
GEDOR : 1. Son of Jehid, father of Gibeon and
ancestor of Saul (I Chron. viii. 31, ix. 37).
2. Son of Penuel (1 Chron. iv. 4).
3. Son of Jered (ib. iv. 18).
4. City of Judah (Josh. xv. 58), not far from He-
bron. It is now called " Jadur."
5. A place in the jiossessiou of the tribe of Simeon
(I Chron. iv. 39). The reading of the Septuagint is
Tepapa = " Gerar. "
6. Town from which came Jeroham, whose sons
were among the niigJity men of Benjamin who
joined David at Ziklag (I Chron. xii. 7).
E. G. H. B. P.
GEGENWART, DIE. See Periodicals.
GE-HARASHIM (D^C'in N^J [A.V. and K.V.
"Valley of Cliaiashim "j), or GE HA-HARA-
SHIM (n''J^'-inn ••:) : l- Town— the name of which
means " the valley of craftsmen " — founded by Joab,
one of the tribe of Judah (I Chron. iv. 14).
2. Town inhabited by Benjamites (Neh. xi. 3.")).
In this passage Ge-Harashimis mentioned with Lod
and Ono, which form, according to Yer. Meg. i. 1,
a part of Ge-Harashim or "the valley of crafts-
men."
E. G. n. M. Sel.
GEHAZI (lit. "valley of vision": LXX. r</;
Vulgate, "Giezi"): Elisha's servant (II Kings iv.
12 et sec/. ■ v. 20, 21, 25; viii. 4-5).— Biblical Data:
Gehazi is mentioned first in connection with the his-
tory of the woman from Shunem. He explains to
the prophet her desire to have a son {ib. iv. 14).
Later, when she visits Elislia at Carmel, beseeching
his aid in behalf of the child that has died, Gehazi
would rudely thrust her aside. Elisha, however,
charges him to hurry to Shunem, saluting none on
the way, and lay the prophet's staff on the child's
face (ib. iv. 27-29). Though he does as he is bidden,
he fails to recall the child to life.
Gehazi is also connected with the story of Naa-
nian. Moved by covetousness, he runs after the
Syrian general to secure for himself a share of the
presents refused by his master (II Kings v. 20).
Inventing a story about an unexpected visit of two
sons oi prophets in need of garments, he asks for
"a talent of silver and two changes of garments,"
putting the request as though it were from Elisha.
He receives enough to burden two servants, who
carry the gifts to the " 'opliel " (hill), where he liides
them. Upon his return to his master he denies
having run after the foreign general. But the
prophet unmasks the hypocrite, and smites him
with the leprosy of Naaman. Gehazi, having be-
come "a leper as white as snow," leaves the pres-
ence of Elisha (II Kings v. 21-27).
Gehazi appears again, carrying on a conversation
with King Jehoram (II Kings viii. 1-6) concerning
Elisha's restoration of the Shunammite woman's son
to life; but his recital of Elisha's miracles is inter-
rupted by the appearance of the woman herself to
petition the king for the recovery of her house and
land, abandoned by her in the recent famine. This
last narrative seems to be out of place, and should
apparently precede II Kings v. (see Elisha: Criti-
cal ViKW).
In Rabbinical Literature : Gehazi is one of
those who, denying the resurrection of the dead,
have no portion in the world to come, but share the
doom of Balaam, Doeg, and Ahithophel (Sauh. 90a).
It was while on the way to Shunem with Elisha's
staff that Gehazi proved himself to be a skeptic con-
cerning the resurrection. He considered the whole
procedure a joke (Pirke R. El. xxxiii.), and instead of
obeying the order not to address even one word to
any passer-by, nor return any salutation, he asked
derisively of those he met whether they believed the
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(In the possession of Hon. Mayer Sulrbtrrger.)
Gehenna
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
582
staff had the power to restore the dead to life. For
this reason he failed.
In other ways, too, Gehazi displayed a mean char-
acter, as, for instance, in his behavior to the Shu-
nammite woman (Pirke R. El. xxxiii. ; Ber. 10b;
Lev. R. xxiv. ; Yer. Y'eb. ii. ; Sanh. xi.) ; he drove
away Elisha's disciples (Sanh. 107b) ; he possessed a
magnet by which he lifted up the idol made by Jero-
boam, so that it was seen between heaven and earth;
he had " Yhwii " engraved on it, and in consequence
the idol (a calf) pronounced the first two words of the
Decalogue {ib. ). When Naaman went to Elisha, the
latter was studying the passage concerning the eight
unclean "sherazim" (creeping things; comp. Shab.
xiv. 1). Therefore when Gehazi returned after in-
ducing Naaman to give him presents, Elisha, in his
rebuke, enumerated eight precious things which
Gehazi had taken, and told him that it Avas time
for him to take the punishment prescribed for one
who catches any of the eight sherazim, the pun-
ishment being in his case leprosy. The four
lepers at the gate announcing Sennacherib's defeat
were Gehazi and his three sons (Sotah 47a). Never-
theless, Elisha is censured for having been too
severe. He " thrust him away with both hands " in-
stead of using one for that purpose and the otlier
for drawing him toward himself (Y'er. Sanh. 29b).
Elisha went to Damascus to induce Gehazi to re-
pent, but Gehazi refused, quoting his master's own
teachings to the effect that a sinner who had led
others into sin had no hope (Sanh. 107b ; Sotah 47a).
Gehazi was interrupted in his conversation with
the king because the praises of a holy man should
not be sung by a sinner (Lev. R. xvi. 4). He had
been disrespectful to his teacher, calling him by
name (Sanh. 100a). His character is said to have
been that of a man who, though learned, was
jealous and avaricious, unchaste and a cynic (Yer.
Sanh. xi. ).
E. G. H.
GEHENNA (Hebr. n3n"'J; Greek, Ttewa): The
place where children were sacrificed to the god
Moloch was originally in the " valley of the son of
Hinnom," to the south of Jerusalem (Josh. xv. 8,
passim; II Kings xxiii. 10; Jer. ii. 23; vii. 31-32;
xix. 6, 13-14). For this reason the valley was
deemed to be accursed, and "Gehenna" therefore
soon became a figurative equivalent for "hell."
Hell, like paradise, was created by God (Sotah 22a) ;
according to Gen. R. ix. 9, the words " very good "
in Gen. i. 31 refer to hell ; hence the latter must have
been created on the sixth day. Yet opinions on
this point vary. According to some
Nature and sources, it was created on the second
Situation, day ; according to others, even before
the world, only its fire being created
on the second day (Gen. R. iv., end ; Pes. 54a). The
"fiery furnace" that Abraham saw (Gen. xv. 17,
Hebr.) was Gehenna (Mek. xx. 18b, 71b; comp.
Enoch, xcviii. 3, ciii. 8 ; Matt. xiii. 42, 50 ; 'Er. 19a,
where the " fiery furnace " is also identified with -the
gate of Gehenna). Opinions also vary as to the situ-
ation, extent, and nature of hell. The statement
that Gehenna is situated in the valley of Hinnom
near Jerusalem, in the * accursed valley " (Enoch,
XX vii. 1 et seq.), means simply that it has a gate
there. It was in Zion, and had a gate in Jerusalem
(Isa. xxxi. 9). It had three gates, one in the
wilderness, one in the sea, and one in Jerusalem
('Er. 19a). The gate lies between two palm-trees
in the valley of Hinnom, from which smoke is
continually rising {ib.). The mouth is narrow, im-
peding the smoke, but below Gehenna extends in-
definitely (Men. 99b). According to one opinion, it
is above the firmament, and according to another,
behind tlie dark mountains (Ta'an. 32b). An Ara-
bian pointed out to a scholar the spot in the wilder-
ness where the earth swallowed the sons of Korah
(Num. xvi. 31-32), who descended into Gehenna
(Sanh. 110b). It is situated deep down in the earth,
and is inmieasurably large. " The earth is one-six-
tieth of the garden, the garden one-sixtieth of Eden
[paradise], Eden one-sixtieth of Gehenna; hence the
whole world is lil^e a lid for Gehenna. Some say
that Gehenna can not be measured " (Pes. 94a). It
is divided into seven compartments (Sotah 10b);
a similar view was held by the Babylonians (Jere-
mias, "HoUe und Paradies bei den Babyloniern,"
pp. XQetseq., Leipsic, 1901; Guthe, "Kurzes Bibel-
worterb." p. 272, Tiibingen and Leipsic, 1903).
Because of the extent of Gehenna the sun, on set-
ting in the evening, passes by it, and receives from
it its own fire (evening glow ; B. B. 84a). A fiery
stream (" dinur ") falls upon the head of the sinner in
Gehenna (Hag. 13b). This is " the fire of the West,
which every setting sun receives. I came to a fiery
river, whose fire fiows like water, and which empties
into a large sea in the West "(Enoch, X vii. 4-6). Hell
here is described exactly as in the Talmud. The
Persians believed that glowing molten metal flowed
under the feet of sinners (Schwally, "Das Leben
nach dera Tode," p. 145, Giessen, 1892). The waters
of the warm springs of Tiberias are heated while
flowing past Gehenna (Shab. 39a). The fire of Ge-
henna never goes out (Tosef., Ber. 6, 7; Mark ix.
43 et seq. ; Matt, xviii. 8, xxv. 41; comp. Schwally,
I.e. p. 176); there is alwaj's plenty of wood there
(Men. 100a). This fire is sixty times as hot as any
earthly fire (Ber. 57b). There is a smell of sulfur in
Gehenna (Enoch, Ixvii. 6). This agrees with tlie
Greek idea of hell (Lucian, 'A?u/dng 'laropiai, i. 29, iu
Dietrich, " Abraxas, " p. 36). The sulf urous smell of
the Tiberian medicinal springs was ascribed to their
connection with Gehenna. In Isa. Ixvi. 16, 24 it is
said that God judges by means of fire. Gehenna is
dark in spite of tlie immense masses of fire; it is
like night (Yeb. 109b; comp. Job x. 22). The same
idea also occurs in Enoch, x. 4, Ixxxii. 2; Matt. viii.
12, xxii. 13, xxv. 30 (comp. Schwally, I.e. p. 176).
It is assumed that there is an angel-prince in
charge of Gehenna. He says to God: " Put every-
thing into my sea ; nourish me with the seed of Setli ;
I am hungry." But God refuses his request, tell-
ing him to take tlie heathen peoples (Shab. 104).
God says to the angel-prince: "I punish the slan-
derers from above, and I also punish them from
below with glowing coals" ('Ar. 15b). The souls of
the sons of Korah were burned, and the angel-prince
gnashed his teeth at them on account of their flat-
tery of Korah (Sanh. 52a). Gehenna cries: "Give
me the heretics and the sinful [Roman] power "
('Ab. Zarah 17a).
683
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Gehenna
It is assumed in general that sinners go to hell im-
mediately after their death. The famous teacher
Jolianan b. Zakkai wept before his
Judgment, death because he did not know whether
he would go to paradise or to hell (Ber.
28b). The pious go to paradise, and sinners to hell
(B. M. 831)). To every individual is apportioned two
shares, one in hell and one in paradise. At death,
however, the righteous man's portion in hell is ex-
changed, so that he has two in heaven, while the
reverse is true in the case of sinners (Hag. 15a).
Hence it would have been better for the latter not
to have lived at all (Yeb. 63b). They are cast into
(R. H. 17a; comp. Shab. 33b). All that descend into
Gehenna shall come up again, with the exception of
three classes of men : those who have committed adul-
tery, or sliamed their neighbors, or vilified them (B.
M. 58b). The felicity of the pious in paradise ex-
cites the wrath of the sinners who behold it when
they come from hell (Lev. R. xxxii.). The Book
of Enoch (xxvii. 3, xlviii. 9, Ixii. 12) paraphrases
this thought by saying that the pious rejoice in
the pains of hell suffered by the sinners. Abra-
ham takes the damned to his bosom ('Er. 19a; corap.
Luke xvi. 19-31). The fire of Gehenna does not
touch the Jewish sinners because they confess their
Valley of Ge-Hinnom.
(From a photograph by Bonfils.)
Gehenna to a depth commensurate with their sin-
fulness. They say : " Lord of the world. Thou hast
done well; Paradise for the pious, Gehenna for the
wicked " ('Er. 19a).
There are three categories of men; the wholly
pious and the arch-sinners are not purified, but only
those between these two classes (Ab. R. N. 41). A
similar view is expressed in the Babylonian Talmud,
which adds that those who have sinned themselves
but have not led others into sin remain for twelve
months in Gehenna ; " after twelve months their bod-
ies are destroyed, their souls are burned, and the wind
strews the ashes under the feet of the pious. But as
regards the heretics, etc., and Jeroboam, Nebat's son,
hell shall pass away, but they shall not pass away "
sins before the gates of hell and return to God
('Er. 19a). As mentioned above, heretics and the
Roman oppressors go to Gehenna, and the same
fate awaits the Persians, the oppressors of the
Babylonian Jews (Ber. 8b). When Nebuchadnez-
zar descended into hell, all its inhabitants were
afraid that he was coming to rule over them (Shab.
149a; comp. Isa. xiv. 9-10). The Book of Enoch
also says that it is chiefly the heathen who are
to be cast into the fiery pool on the Day of Judg-
ment (X. 6, xci. 9, et al.). "The Lord, the Al-
mighty, will punish them on the Day of Judg-
ment by putting fire and worms into their flesh,
so that they cry out with pain unto all eternity "
(Judith xvi. 17).
Ge-Hinnom
Geig-er, Abraham
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
584
Tlie sinners in Gehenna will be filled with pain
when God puts back the souls into the dead bodies
on the Day of Judgment, according to Isa. xxxiii.
11 (Sanh. 108b). Enoch also holds (xlviii. 9) that
the sinners will disappear like chaff before the faces
of the elect. Tliere Avill be no Gehenna in the fu-
ture world, however, for God will take the sun out
of its case, audit will heal the pious with its rays
and will punish the sinners CSed. 8b).
It is frequently said tiiat certain sins will lead man
into Gehenna. The name "Gehenna" itself is ex-
plained to mean that unchastity will lead to Gehenna
(DJn = DJn; 'Er. 19a); so also will adultery, idola-
trj', pride, mockery, hypocri.sy, anger,
Sin etc. (Sotah 4b, 411); Ta'an. 5a; B. B.
and Merit. 10b, 78b; 'Ab. Zarah 18b; Ned. 22a).
Hell awaits one who indulges in
unseemly speech (Shab. 33a; Enoch, xxvii.); who
always follows the advice of his Avife (B. M. 59a):
who instructs an imworthy pupil (Hul. 133b); who
turns away from the Torah (B. B. 79a; comp. Yoma
72b). For further details see 'Er. 18b, 101a; Sanh.
109b; Kid. 81a: Ned. 39b; B. M. 19a.
On tlie other hand, there are merits that preserve
man from going to hell; e.g., philanthropj', fasting,
visiting the sick, reading the Shema' and Halle),
and eating the tliree meals on the Sabbath (Git. 7a ; B.
B. 10a; B. M. 85a; Ned. 40a; Ber. 15b; Pes. 118a;
Shab. 118a). Israelites in general are less endangered
(Ber. 10a) than heretics, or, according to B. B. 10a,
than the heathen. Scholars (Hag. 27a; comp. ^Icn.
99b and Yoma 87a), the poor, and the pious (Yeb.
102b) are especially protected. Three classes of men
do not see the face of hell : those that live in penury,
those suffering with intestinal catarrh, and those that
are pressed by their creditors ('Er. 41b). It would
seem that the expressions " doomed to hell " and " to
be saved from hell " must be interpreted hyperbolic-
ally. A bad woman is compared to Gehenna in
Yeb. 63b. On the names of Gehenna see 'Er. 19a ;
B. B, 79a; Sanh. lUb; et al.
Bibliography: Winer. J3. R. i. 491; Hamburger, B. B. T.i.
527-530; Hastings, Diet. Bible, ii. 343-346; H. Guthe. Kurzes
Bihelw6rterh. pp. 271-274, Tiiblngen and Leipsic, 1903; G.
Brecher, Dcuh Ti-anscendentale, etc pp. 69-73, Vienna, 1850;
A. Hilgenfeld. JUdi,«che AvocaJyi)tiJt, Index, Jena, 1S57 : F.
Weber, JUrlische The/ilnoie. pp. 336 et »eq.\ E. Stave, Der Ein-
ftuss des Parsismus auf das Judenthiim. pp. 153-192 et seq.,
Haarlem, 1898 ; James, Traditional Aspects of Hell, London,
190?.
K. L. B.
GE-HINNOM, or GE BEN-(BENE-)HIN-
NOM : Name of the valley to the south and south-
west of Jerusalem (Josh. xv. 8, xviii. 16: Neh. xi.
30; II Kings xxiii. 10; II Cliron. xxxiii. 6; Jer. vii.
31 et seq., xix. 2, xxxii. 35). Its modern name is
" Wadi al-Rababah." The southwestern gate of the
city, overlooking the valley, came to be known as
" the gate of the valley." The valley was notorious
for the worship of Moloch carried on there (comp.
Jer. ii. 23). According to Jer. vii. 31 et seq., xix.
6 et seq., it was to be turned into a place of burial;
hence "the accursed valley Ge-hinnom "("Gehenna"
in the N. T.) came to be synonymous with a place
of punishment, and thus with hell (comp. Isa. Ixvl.
24; Enoch, xxvi. et seq.; and the rabbinical Hebrew
equivalent). See Gehenna ; Paradise.
E. G. H. F. Bu.
GEIGEE,, ABRAHAM: German rabbi and
scholar; born at Frankfort-on-the-Main May 24,
1810; died at Berlin Oct. 23, 1874; son of Rabbi
Michael Lazarus Geiger (born 1755 ; died April, 1823)
and Roesclien Wallau (born 1768; died Aug., 1856.)
Geiger was one of the most important exponents of
Reform Judaism; as author, historian, and critic,
one of the pathfinders of the science of Judaism
(" Wissenschaft des Judentums "). He was editor of
Jewish scientific reviews, and teacher at the Berlin
Hochschule (now Lehranstalt) fur die Wissenschaft
des Judentums.
Geiger's early life and education, because typical
of the experience of the great rabbis of the German
Reform movement, deserve to be told in some detail.
When a mere infant of three years, he mastered the
Hebrew and German alphabets. Making rapid prog-
ress in the Hebrew Bible, he took up at four the study
of the Mishnah. At six his father inducted him
into the Talmud. The next two years he spent at a
Talmud school "doing nothing " (his own statement
in "Nachgelassene Schriften," iii. 4, Berlin, 1875).
This induced his parents to take him home, where
until his tliirtcenth year he studied Talmud under
his father, in the meantime also acquiring in a
desultory way a knowledge of history, Latin, and
Greek. His father died soon after his "bar miz-
wah," on which occasion he delivered, in addition to
a Hebrew "derashah," a German address, much to
the discomfort of some of his pious relati ves. Under
his brothers and others he continued both his Tal-
inudical and secular studies; his religious views,
however, underwent a great change, partly ae a
consequence of his reading, partly as a result of his
intercourse with other young men ; so that when the
choice of his profession was considered he was in-
clined to disregard the wishes of his family, who had
predestined him to theology, and to decide in favor
of Oriental philology. In this frame of mind he en-
tered in the summer of 1829 the University of Hei-
delberg, where he remained one semester, devoting
his time to courses in the classics, while privately
mastering Syriac. He also continued working on a
grammar and glossary of the Mishnah which he had
begun two years earlier. The next winter he re-
paired to Bonn to study Arabic under Frey tag. Here
he met and became intimate with such men as S.
Scheyer, editor and translator of the " Moreh Nebu-
kim"; S. R. Hirsch, his subsequent colleague and
opponent, who influenced him in many directions
(Geiger, "Nachgel. Schriften," iii. 18, 19); Ullmann,
translator of the Koran ; and Hess, a rabbi in Eisenach.
With tliem he founded a society for the practise of
preaching, of which later Frensdorff (the editor of
Masoretic works) and Rosenfeld also
Early became members. It was to this so-
Studies. ciety that Geiger preached his first
sermon (Jan. 2, 1830). Later the ex-
ercises consisted of regular divine services. Geiger
confesses that the lectures of his professors had
a far less stimulating influence on him than the
association with fellow students. His studies, how-
ever, were of a very ambitious scope, embra-
cing the classics and history as well as logic and
philosophy. While a student at Bonn, mainly en-
couraged by Professor Freytag, he prepared his
585
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Qe-Hinnom
Qeigrer, Abraham
essay on the Jewish elements in the Koran, in com-
petition for a prize offered by the facuUy. Written
originally in Latin, this essa}', after receiving the
prize, was also published in German under the title
"Was Hat Mohammed aus dem Jndentume Aufge-
nommen?" (Bonn, 1834). Toward the close of his
student days at Bonn Geiger became intimate with
Elias Grlinbaum (later rabbi at Landau) and Joseph
Derenbourg.
On June 16, 1832, Geiger preached at Hanau as a
candidate for its vacant pulpit. He did not suc-
ceed in being elected,
though two months
later the faculty at
Bonn awarded him
the prize for his dis-
sertation on Moham-
med. On Mov. 21,
1832, he was called
as rabbi to Wies-
baden. Soon after-
ward he became en
gaged to Emilie
Oppenheim (May 6,
1833), but the wed-
ding did not take
place until seven
years later (July 1,
1840).
Geiger remained in
Wiesbaden until
1838, devoting much
time to the prepara-
tion of his sermons as
well as to the other
duties of his office,
such as teaching. He
introduced certain
changes in the syn-
agogal services with
a view to heightening
their impressiveness,
and did his utmost to
induce the govern-
ment to amend the
laws affecting the
Jews' standing, espe-
cially those bearing
on the form of the
Jews' oath. A plan
to publish a Jewish
theological review
soon took root in Geiger's mind. It was carried into
effect in 1835, and three volumes and two parts
of the fourth (1835-38) appeared as
The " Wissenschaftliche Zeitschrift f iir Jil-
" Wissen- dische Theologie" ; the remaining parts
schaftliche of iv., as well as v. and vi. 1, appeared
Abraham Geiger.
Zeit-
schrift fiir
Jiidische
Theo-
logie."
later while Geiger was in Breslau.
Through this periodical he was brought
into closer relations with Zunz and Ra-
poport. It contained in the main arti-
cles from his own pen. Their contents
are remarkable both for thoroughness
of treatment and for variety of subjects, comprising
learned investigations, penetrating criticisms, polem-
ics in defense of Judaism and against high-stationed
Jew-baiters, and proposals for reforming Jewish life
and liturgy. In 1834 the University of Marburg
conferred on Geiger the degree of doctor of philoso-
phy. Among the articles published in the "Zeit-
schrift" (ii. 1 et »eq.) that entitled "Ueber die
Errichtung einer Jiidisch-Theologischen Fakultat"
merits special mention. It pleads for a recognition
of the science of Judaism and the placing of the
study of theology on an equality with other sciences
in method and freedom. This dream of his younger
day s Geiger was priv-
ileged to see realized
only in part and in
the declining years of
his life (Berlin, 1872).
While in Wiesbaden
he succeeded in
bringing together a
number of rabbis (in
1837) for the purpose
of discussing meas-
ures of vital concern
to Judaism. Never-
theless, he found
Wiesbaden too lim-
ited a sphere. As
early as 1835 friends
had tried to secure
for him a call to Go-
thenburg, in which
they were not suc-
cessful because Gei-
ger's orthodoxy was
suspected. Three
years later (July 2,
1838) he resigned his
office, Jiis parting
word as it were, a
sort of "apologia pro
vita sua," and a pro-
gram of his further
intentions, being his
essay " Der Schrift-
steller und der Rab-
biner" ("Nachgelas-
sene Schriften," i.
492-504). Shortly
before, one of the po-
sitions in the rabbin-
ate of Breslau had be-
come vacant, and
Geiger was induced to visit this important center of
Jewish activity. He was asked to preach on Sabbath.
July 21, 1838. Rabbi S. A. Tiktin, in order to forestall
this, invoked the intervention of the police on the plea
that the king had iuhibited German sermons in the
synagogue. TJie chief of police, Heineke, was a man
of liberal ideas. To gain time he referred the matter
to a higher authority. The decision, wljich favored
Tiktin, arrived on the very day set for Geiger's
sermon ; but Heineke went to tlie synagogue him-
self, leaving the decree of his superior officers un-
opened on his desk until liis return from the serv-
ices. Geiger's sermon (published in "Nachgel.
Schriften," i. 355-369) led to his election (July 25),
Oeig'er, Abraham
Gei^er, Lazarus
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
586
despite the peculiar manner of appointing the fifty-
seven delegates who had the power to nominate the
rabbi. Geiger was chosen " Rabbinatsassessor " and
second rabbi. But it being necessary for him to be-
come naturalized in Prussia, a chance arose to circum-
vent the confirmation by the Prussian government. A
heated controversy ensued, lasting eighteen months.
During most of this time Geiger stayed
Rabbi at in Berlin (Sept., 1838-Dec., 1839), iu-
Breslau. terviewing the authorities and enlisting
in his behalf the good offices of Alex-
ander von Humboldt. On Dec. 6, 1839, Geiger was
naturalized, and on Jan. 2, 1840, he was installed at
Breslau. The first years in his new field of activity
were disturbed by agitations against him on the part
of S. A. Tiktin and his partizans (see " Nachgel.
Schriften," i. 53-112), who r&sorted to all sorts of
schemes to induce the government to depose Geiger.
This led to the publication of a number of " Gut-
achten " (expert opinions) by other (Reform) rabbis
in defense of Geiger (" Rabbinische Gutachten ilber
die Vertraglichkeit der Freien Forschung mit dem
Rabbineramte," Breslau, 1842 and 1843). Tiktin
died March 20, 1843, and Geiger paid him a glow-
ing but just tribute ("Der Israelit," 1843, p. 64).
Geiger now became the first rabbi; H. B. Fassel,
elected as the second, would not accept the elec-
tion. Nevertheless, the conditions in the congre-
gation continued on a war-footing until 1849, when
two congregations (" KultusverbUnde ") were con-
stituted, one Avith Geiger as rabbi, the other with
G. Tiktin (first with the title " Landrabbiner in
Schlesien,"and finally, in 1856, when this second con-
gregation became again a part of the Breslau con-
gregation, with the same title as Geiger's) — an ar-
rangement that at last overcame all friction. Geiger's
congregation wiHingly sustained their leader in his
efforts to reconstruct the ritual on a modern basis.
In 1854 his prayer-book (" Israelitisches Gebetbuch,"
Breslau, 1854), carrying out his "Grundziige und
Plan zu einem Neuen Gebetbuche," formulated in
1849("Nachgel. Schriften,"!. 203-229), was adopted.
The program of the Frankfurt Reform Verein had
in the meantime stirred up all German Jewry (see
"Israelit des 19ten Jahrh." 1843, pp. 170-182).
While endeavoring to keep in touch with the lead-
ers and to interest others in the cause, Geiger did
not sympathize with the means proposed nor alto-
gether with the demands contained in that pronun-
ciaraento. He pleaded, as a historian naturally
would, for a gradual evolution; this brought upon
him the distrust of the extremists (for instance, Hess,
in the " Israelit "). This " historical temper " marks
Geiger's attitude also in the three rabbinical Con-
ferences, in the discussions at which he took a
prominent part (Brunswick, 1844; Frankfort, 1845;
Breslau, 1846). It also decided his relations to the
Berlin Reformgenossenschaft, whose rabbi he other-
wise would have become (" Nachgel. Schriften," iii.
117). He would not be the preacher of merely one
part of the congregation, but the rabbi of the whole
congregation. Yet in his theories he was consist-
ently the exponent of the principles underlying the
most radical Reform. Judaism for him was not a
given quantity, not a national law. It was a proc-
ess still in flux; tradition itself was the result of
this continuous process of growth. He was less in-
clined than Einhorn and others to emphasize the " elec-
tion of Israel." He met Frankel's ar-
His Views raignment of the conference in a way
or Judaism, that left no doubt as to where he
stood on all the vital questions. He
vehemently opposed the policy of the " via media " so
characteristic of the school of Frankel. He brooked
no limitations to criticism. The Torah as well as
the Talmud, he demanded, should be studied crit-
ically and from the point of view of the historian,
that of evolution, development. These views he took
occasion often to emphasize in his later " Jiidische
Zeitschrift fiir Wissenschaft und Lebcn," the edit.o-
rials in which are for the most part dedicated to the
exposition of Reform principles. As frora 1844 to
1846 he was one of the leading spirits in the " Rab-
binerversammlungen," so later he took a prominent
part in the Leipsic (1869) and Augsburg (1872) synods,
and in the preliminary gathering at Cassel (1868).
During his stay at Breslau his "Zeitschrift" was
continued. His " Lehr- und Lesebuch zur Sprache
der Mischnah " appeared there in 1845. The history
of Jewish medieval literature likewise engaged his
attention ("Nit'e Na'amanim," 1847). In 1850 he
published a monograph on Maimonides. Among
other fruits of his investigations were contributions
on the Kimhis, etc., in Hebrew periodicals; a life of
Judah ha-Levi, with metrical German translations
of some of his poems; similar treatment of the
Spanish and Italian Jewish poets; studies in the
history of exegesis ("Parschandatha," etc., Leipsic,
1855), the history of Jewish apologetics {e.g., Isaac
Troki), and that of Jewish philosophy ("Leo da
Modena; Rabbinerzu Venedig," Breslau, 1856). He
was also a faithful contributor to the
His Publi- "Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgen
cations, landischen Gesellschaft." Besides, he
gathered around hira a number of
young students of theology, before whom he deliv-
ered lectures on Hebrew philology, Jewish history,
and comparative studies of Judaism and Christian-
ity. He was greatly disappointed at not being called
to the directorship of the Jewish Theological Sem-
inary, to which he had induced Jonas Frankel to
leave his fortune.
His greatest work is his epoch-making " Urschrif t
und Uebersetzungen der Bibel " (Breslau, 1857),
which owed its origin to the author's intention to
write a history of the Karaites. Thus he came to
take up the controversies between the Sadducees and
Pharisees ; and this led him still further back to those
between the Samaritans and the Judeans. In this
work he shows that the growing Jewish religious
consciousness is reflected in the readings of the Bib-
lical text, the Masoretic being as little exempt from
intentional changes as any other of the ancient ver-
sions. He also proves the absolute falsity of the
notions concerning Pharisees and Sadducees. The
former were the nationalists, the latter sacerdotalists
(Zadokites) ; the former the " people " and an aris-
tocracy of learning and piety, the progressists, the
latter the aristocrats by birth, the literalists. In the
older Halakah as distinct from the younger, is re-
flected a divergence of opinions within Phariseeism
itself, and it is this distinction which throws light on
587
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Geigrer, Abraham
G-ei^er, Lazarus
the old literature of the post-Biblical schools (Me-
kilta, Sifra, Sifre). The " Urschrift " led Geiger to be-
gin the publication of another magazine, " Jiidische
Zeitschrif t fur Wissenschaf t und Leben" ; in its eleven
volumes (from lb62 to 1874) are contained many stud-
ies supplemental to his chief work. The death of his
wife (Dec. 6, 1860) was the remote cause of Geiger's
removal from Breslau to Frankfort-on-the-Main
(1863). Ilis hope of finding in Frankfort men and
means to realize his project of founding a genuinely
scientitic Jewish theological faculty was doomed
to disappointment. His lectures on Judaism and
its history (" Das Judenthum und Seine Geschichte,"
2d ed. of vol. i., 1864; 3d vol., 1869-71) were
in the nature of "university extension" courses.
Brilliantly presented, his views lost none of their
scholarly' thoroughness. His introductory lecture,
giving his views on revelation, is especially worthy
of note: "the genius of the people of Israel is the
vehicle of revelation"— a view at once liberal and
loyal, though hopelessly in opposition to the mechan-
ical theory of revelation held to be orthodox. In
these lectures, too, Geiger gave without reserve the
results of his studies on the origin of Christianity,
while in connection with the second series he pre-
pared a biography of Ibn Gabirol (Leipsic, 1867).
Called to Berlin, lie preached his inaugural sermon
Jan. 22, 1870. The opening of the Hochschule (1872)
finally gave him, during the last two years of his
life, the opportunity for which he had prayed and
pleaded so long. He lectured on " Biblical Introduc-
tion," and " Introduction to the Science of Judaism,"
inspiring his students with his own fervor for truth
and research. Death came without premonition, al-
most literally taking the pen out of his hand.
In stature Geiger was small. His head, framed by
long, flowing hair parted in the middle, was leonine.
His eyes, shielded by very strong glasses on account
of myopia, shone with a rare luster even behind the
double windows. As a preacher Geiger was im-
pressive. He moved his auditors by both the beauty
of his diction and the profundity of his thought.
Among others the following may claim the honor
of having been his pupils: Immanuel Low (chief
rabbi at Szegedin), Klein (at Stockholm), Loewy
(Temesvar), Richter (Filehne), Felix Adler (New
York), Sale (St. Louis), Schreiber and E. G. Hirsch
(Chicago). Geiger left two daughters and two
sons, Prof. Ludwig Geiger of Berlin, and Dr.
Berthold Geiger, attorney -at-law, Frankfort-on-the-
Main.
Bibliography: L. Geiger, A. Geifjer; Lehenund Brief e, in
Nachijelassene SchriUen, vol. v.; Meyers Konversatinns-
Lexikon; E. Schreiber, Abraham Geiger als Reformator
lies Judenthums, 188C.
e. E. G. H.
GEIGER, LAZARUS (ELIEZER SOLO-
MON ; generally known as Lazar Geiger) : Ger-
man philologist; bornatFraukfort-ou-the-Main May
21,1829; died there Aug. 29, 1870. His fatherwas Sol-
omon Michael Geiger, the eldest brother of Abraham
Geiger. Eliezer Geiger began the study of Hebrew
at a very early age, under the guidance of his father.
Not originally devoted to a literary career, he spent
several years as a bookseller's apprentice at Ma-
yence, but soon showed a great dislike for business
life. His thirst for knowledge overcame all obstacles.
He returned to Frankfort, graduated from the gym-
nasium, and then went to tlie universities of Mar-
burg, Heidelberg, and Bonn to study classical phi-
lology. In 1851 he took up his permanent abode
in his native town, and devoted himself principally
to linguistic and philosophic studies. His first pub-
lication bears the title "Ueber Umfang und Quelle
der Erfahrungsfreien Erkenntniss" (Frankfort-on-
the-Main, 1865). But as early as 1852 he had begun
his chief work, to which liis whole life was devoted:
"Ursprung und Entwickelung der Menschlichen
Sprache und Vernunft " (vol. i. Stuttgart, 1868).
Geiger commenced to pul)lish the principal results
of his studies in the more popularly written " Der
Ursprung der Sprache "(Stuttgart, 1869, 2d ed. 1878).
Before he was able to finish his great work, however,
a suddenly developed affection of the heart ended
his life. The second volume was published in a
fragmentary condition by his brother Alfred Geiger
(ib. 1872; 2d ed., 1899). The papers he had read on
different occasions were also published by Alfred
Geiger under the title "Zur Entwickelungsge-
schichte der Menschheit" {ifj. 1871; 2d ed., 1878),
and were translated into English by D. Asher
("History of the Development of the Human Race,"
London, 1880). Even before Darwin's publications,
Geiger had come to the conviction that evolution
reigned in all nature. He, at all events, was the first
to apply this doctrine to reason and language.
According to Geiger, language is not degenera-
tion, but evolution ; it begins with the most insig-
nificant and trifling expression (a mere
His Views, cry, which Geiger calls " Sprach-
schrei "). It is the source of reason.
In it and from it, according to the imiversal law of
causality, reason has developed itself, being the
offspring, not of sound and the ear, but of lighr
and the eye. The sound of the word and its
meaning have, without purpose or consciousness,
for a long time varied and differentiated until
they have become quite independent of each other.
Man's growing familiarity with the world, and
his heightened sensibility to pain, have by de-
grees sharpened his faculty of distinction and com-
prehension. The history of that evolution leads
with certainty back to a state of things in which
man, as yet, did not think. At one time the race
must have been in a condition similar to that of
animals— speechless, helpless, without religion, art,
and morals.
Geiger was a stanch opponent of religious reforms,
and fought valiantly on many occasions against the
leaders of rationalism. When the venerable and an-
cient synagogue of Frankfort was sacrificed in favor
of a more modern building with an organ, Geiger
published a pamphlet, "Terzinen beim Fall der
Synagoge zu Frankfurt-ara-Main " (Frankfort. 1854),
in which he gave expression to his grief. From 1861
he occupied a position as teacher in the Jewish
high school (Philanthropin) of Frankfort; his
pamphlet, "Ueber Deutsche Schriftsprache und
Grammatik, mit Besonderer RUckricht auf Deutsche
Schulen" (ib. 1870), contains his views of certain
pedagogical questions. His bust has been placed in
the entrance-hall of the public library of his native
town.
Geig-er, Ludwigr
Gematria
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
588
BiBLiofiRAPHY : Peschler, Lazarus Oeiger, SeiJi Leheiiund
Wirken, 1871; Rosenthal, Lazarus Oeiger, 1884.
g. A. Ge.
GEIGER, lilJDWIG: German literary histo-
rian; son of Abraham Geiger; born at Breslau June
5, 1848. After having been educated for the rab-
binate under paternal supervision, Geiger entered
Heidelberg University, where he applied himself to
the study of history ; later he went t(j the Univer-
sity of Gottingen (1865), and devoted some time to
Oriental studies. In 1868 he graduated as doctor
of philosophy from Gottingen University, where
he resumed the study of history and took up that
of literature, both of which he continued some
years later in Paris. From 1870 to 1873 he held
various positions as instructor in different Jewish
schools; in 1873 he became privat-docent of Ger-
man literature at the University of Berlin, and
in 1880 assistant professor at the same institu-
tion. The subject of his lectures was mainly Ger-
man literature from the sixteenth to the nineteenth
century, and French literature from the sixteenth
to the eighteenth century. Geiger has published
the following works: "Das Studium der Hebra-
ischen Sprache in Deutschland vom Ende des 15.
bis zur Mitte des 16. Jahrhunderts " (Breslau, 1870);
"Nikolaus Ellenbog, ein Humanist und Theolog
des 16. Jahrhunderts" (Vienna, 1870); "Johann
Reuchlin, Sein Leben und Seine Werke" (Leipsic,
1871); "Geschichte der Juden in Berlin" (2 parts.
Berhn, 1871) ; " Petrarca " (Leipsic, 1874) ; " Deutsche
Satiriker des 16. Jahrhunderts" (Berlin, 1878);
" Abraham Geiger " (1878) ; " Renaissance und Hu-
manismus in Italien und Deutschland " (in Onck-
en's "Allgemeine Geschichte in Einzeldarstellun-
gen," ib. 1882, 2d ed. 1901); "Firlifimini und Andre
Kuriosa " {ib. 1885) ; " Vortrage und Versuche " (Dres-
den, 1890); "Geschichte des Geistigen Lebens der
Preussischen Hauptstadt" (Berlin, 1892-94); "Au-
gustin, Petrarca, Rousseau" (ih. 1893); "Berlin's
Geistiges Leben" (2 vols., Berlin, 1894-96). He also
published the correspondence of Johann Reuch-
lin (Stuttgart, 1876). From 1880 to 1903 Geiger was
editor of the " Goethe- Jahrbuch " ; from 1885 to 1886
he edited the " Vierteljahr.schrift fur Kultur und
Litteratur der Renaissance"; from 1887 to 1891 he
edited together with M. Koch the "Zeitschrift fur
Vergleichende Litteraturgeschichte und Reuais-
sance-Litteratur " ; from 1886 to 1891, the "Zeit-
schrift fiir die Geschichte der Juden in Deutsch-
land" (5 vols., Brunswick). Lately Geiger has
published biographies and the correspondence of
numerous eminent German scholars and statesmen
of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Bibliography : Meyers Konversatinns-Lexikon, 1897.
S.
GEIST DER PHARISAISCHEN LEHRE,
DER. Si'c Pkkiooic.m^s.
GELDERN, SIMON VON : Traveler and au-
thor; born 1720; died 1774. He was the great-uncle
of Heine, who describes him in his "Memoirs" as an
adventurer and Utopian dreamer. The appellation
"Oriental " was given him because of his long jour
neys in Oriental countries. He spent many years in
the maritime cities in the north of Africa and in the
Moroccan states, there learning the traile of ar-
morer, which he carried on with success.
Von Geldern made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and
during an ecstasy of prayer, while upon Mount
Moriah, he had a vision. Subsequently he was
chosen by an independent tribe of Bedouins on one
of the oases of the North-African deseit as their
leader or sheik, and thus became the captain of a
band of marauders. He next visited the European
courts, and subsequently took refuge in England to
escape the consequences of the discovery of his too
gallant relations with a lady of high birth. He pic-
tended to have a secret knowledge of the Cabala, and
issued a pamphlet in French verse entitled "INIoise
sur Mont Horeb," probably having reference to the
above-mentioned vision.
Bibliography: Memoirs of Heinrich Heine, ed. Evans, pp.
Iti7-17;i ; Kaufinann, ^us Heinrich Heine's AluioisaaU 1896.
J. G. L.
GELIL HA-GOYIM. See Galii.ee.
GEL.ILAH (" the act of rolling up ") : The wrap-
ping of the scroll of the Law in its vestments after
the lesson has been read from it. In the German
ritual it follows tiie "hagbahah" (lifting up), and
its performance is deemed a lesser honor than that of
the latter; in the Sephardic ritual the geliluh is not
connected with the hagbahah, which takes place be-
fore the reading. According to Shulhan 'Aruk, Orah
Hayyim, 147, the most honored man among those
called to the desk should perform the gelilah, though
among the Sephardim it is usually done by small
boys. There are minute rules with regard to roll-
ing up the scroll with proper respect; among Die
Sephardim it is deemed improper to touch the bare
parchment; hence they put a linen or silken cloth
("mappa") next to the scroll.
Neither the Talmud nor the treatise Soferim men-
tions the gelilah as a ceremony ; Soferim (xiii. 8) rules
that each man called to the desk, after reading his
own subsection and before the closing benediction,
shall roll up the scroll; he does this by simply
bringing the part on his right and that on his left
close together, so that no portion of the writing can
be seen.
A. L. N. D.
GELLER, PETER ISAACOVICH : Russian
painter; born at Shklov Dec. 10, 1862. He studied
at the Odessa School of Design, and entered (1878)
the St. Petersburg Art Academy, where he won
(1881-83) two silver medals, and (1885) a gold medal
for his painting "St. Irene Cures St. Sebastian." In
1887 Geller won the title of "artist of the first de-
gree " for his painting " Ivan the Terrible Taking
Orders Before His Death from the Metropolitan."
On his graduation in 1887 Geller enlisted asa volun-
teer, and served in the army for several months.
In 1889 he exhibited at the St. Petersburg Academy
his painting "The Jewi.sh Con.scripts Taking Their
Oath," which was purchased by the academy.
Bibliography: BoMiaza Kntziklopedia, vi.; N. Sokolov,
Scfcrha-Shanah, pp. 81-87, Warsaw, 1901.
II. R. J- G. L.
GEMARA. See Talmud.
GEMARA NIGGTJN : The chant used by stu-
dent s in readinir tlie Talmud. See Cantillation.
589
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Qeiger, Ludwig
Qematria
GEMARIAH (nnDJ) : 1- Sou of Shaphan Ihe
scribe. It was iu Goiaaiiah's chamber that Baruch
read to the people the prophecy of Jeremiah (Jer.
xxxvi. 10-12). Geinariali was one of the princes
who entreated King Jehoiakim not to destroy the
roll taken from Baruch (Jer. xxxvi. 10-12, 25).
2. Sonof Hilkiah; sent by Zedekiah to Nebuchad-
nezzar, bearing at the same time a letter from Jere-
miah to the captive Jews (Jer. xxix. 1, 3).
E. G. II. M. Sel.
GEMATRIA : A cryptograph which gives, in-
stead of tlie intended word, its numerical value, or
a cipher produced by the permutation of letters.
The term first occurs in literature in the twenty-
ninth of the thirty -two hermeneutic rules of R.
Eliezer b. R. Jose, the Galilean (c. 200). In some
texts the rule for perniutative gematria is counted as
a separate regulation — the thirtieth (comp. Kiinigs-
berger's edition of the rules in his "Monatsblatter
fur Vergangenheit und Gegenwart des Juden-
thums"). Waldberg ("Darke ha-Shinnuyim"),
who gives a list of 147 cases of gematria occurring
in traditional literature, includes in this number
cases of symbolical numbers, which properly belong
to the twenty -seventh rule (" ke-neged "). The
reader is referred for the subject of perniutative
gematria and symbolical numbers to the articles
Anagram and Numbers and Numerals; the
present article is limited to a discussion of gematria
in the later meaning of the term, namely, numerical
gematria, and treats therefore only of the numer-
ical values of words.
In its form gematria is a simple arithmetical
equation; e.g., nOV (^ 138)= DHJO (= 138). The
computation of the numerical value of a word, with
the inference drawn therefrom, is called XHDD^J
Terms. (comp. Krauss, " Lehnworter," ii. s.i\).
The plural is nii<1t3»"'J, mK"'")t:0"'J
(Krauss, I.e., s.v.), mitiD^J (Ibn Ezra; see "Kerem
Hemed," iii. 174), and nVltJtDJ (see Kohut, "Studies
in Yemen-Hebrew Literature," ii. 68). The numer-
ical value itself is called KjatTin (Ned. 32a), jn^TI
or pJD (Num. R. jflii. 15, 16), ninn |13K'n {ib.),
nrmNH pjn (Tan., ed Buber, p. n' i?).
The etymology of the word is doubtful. Some
identify it with the Greek yeu/itrpia in the sense of
apL-dfjuj-LKT] (Krauss, I.e., s.i\); others consider it to
be a transposition of a supposed K'DDIJ = * ypo-H--
fiaTEia, and a derivative of either ypd^fia (" letter ") or
ypa/u.fMTevg ("scribe"; Bacher, "Die Aelteste Termi-
nologie der Judischen Schriftauslegung," p. 127;
Konigsberger, "Monatsblatter," p. 94). The deriva-
tion from ypd/ifia may perhaps be supported by the
use of the term nVDIK, the Hebrew equivalent of
N'lDC""'^ (Sanli. 88a = Yoma 65a).
I. In. Biblical Literature : In the Bible itself
there is no reference to numerical gematria, or the
symbolical use of numbers, and their existence can
not be positively demonstrated. Nevertheless, con-
sidering that examples of permutative gematria are
found in Biblical literature ("lEJ'K' = ^22, Jer. xxv.
26; 'Op 2p = DnB'3. tb. Ii. 1), there is great proba-
bility that at least some of the claims made by
later writers to having found also numerical ge-
matriot are justilied. The following three may be
considered as very probable: (1) Gen. xiv. 14,
where the number 318 is the equivalent of " Eliezer "
(Ned. 32a), the only name known to tradition from
among those of Abraham's servants; (2) Deut.
xxxii. 1-6, the initial letters of the verses giving the
number 345, the value of the name of Moses (Tan.
ad loe.), and the abnormal form of the first letter of
verse 6 calling the reader's attention to the crypto-
graphic acrostic; (3) Ezek. v. 2, where -nVDD 'OV
omitting 1 and D, = 390, the number given in il>.
iv. 9 (comp. Berthelot's commeutar}'^ ad loc).
II. In Traditional Literature : The following
forms of gematria occur: (1) A number in the text
points to a person or object, as the number 318 to
Eliezer (see above). (2) A word in the text points
to a number, a person, or an object. Under tliis head
fall the following kinds:
(a) The word may be taken in its normal numeri-
cal value (comp. § III. E 1, below); e.g., P|D3n. the
money (Esth. iii. 11) promised Haman, foreshadows
I'yn, the gallows on which he was to be hanged
(Esth. R. vi.), since each=165.
(b) The word may be taken in its minor value
(see § III. , E 2, below) ; e.g. , HJIp (5 -f- 5 -(- 6 4- 1) =
n-nn (5-|-2-H6-t-4, see Esth. R. i.).
(c) Instead of taking the word as it is, all or some
of its letters may be first changed by permutation ;
e.g., mtip refers to the 613 commandments contained
in the Torah, when the first letter p is changed by
the permutation K*3nX into a 1, giving (400 -|- 200 -f-
9 -f 4) = 613 (Num. R. xiii. 15, 16).
(d) Homorganic letters may be interchanged in
the computation; e.g., H^K = 39 when n is substi-
tuted for n (Yer. Shab. vii. 2).
(e) The vowel letters 'inK may be disregarded
when written, or supplied when not in the text;e.5'.,
T\2Ut2 = 120 (Ex. R. xlii. 8), the n being disregarded;
p-lK'Clsa. V. 2) = 606 (Tan., section -|^"'l), the spell-
ing pllK' being assumed.
(f ) A portion of the word may be entirely disre-
garded, or may be explained by notarikon; e.g.,
D'^yan 'JK' (Ps- iii- 8) = 60 (Meg. 15b), counting only
the last letter of the first word and the last two let-
ters of the second word (40 -f- 10 -f 10). This is done
because if the text had nothing to include which is
not distinctly said by the Scriptures, it would have
had the singular ))^r\ \^. The expression 'DJN
shows that God, the One (Deut. vi. 4), has chosen
out of 70 (3 J) nations Israel (' ; comp. Waldberg, I.e.
p. 81b, note 160).
(g) The word is first changed by the rule of "al
tikre " ; e.g., for no lead HND (Men. 43b).
(h) One of the members of the equation may be
a compound; e.g., niVVD (Prov. xxii. 20) = 606,
and together with the 7 Noachian commandments
gives the number 613 (Tan. I.e.).
(i) To one of the members of the equation may
be added the external number (comp. § III. E 10, be-
low) of the words whose numerical value is taken.
For an example see the next paragraph (j).
(j) Of two identical numbers one may be disre-
garded, min and nSI' each amount to 611; add
to this sum 2, the external number of both words,
and the total becomes 613 (Num. R. xviii. 21).
(k) One of the members of the equation may be a
Oematria
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
590
multiple of the other (comp. § III. E 12, below);
e.g., II (Ex. XV. 16) refers to the twenty-six genera-
tions that passed from the creation of the world to
the revelation on Sinai (Tan., section NK'J).
(]) Integration (comp. III. D e, below) may be used
(comp. Waldberg, I.e. 77b, note 87, and 88a, note 90).
(m) The grammatical form of the word may
be interpreted in terms of numbers; e.g., n?N
D'^3^^ (Ex. xxxv. 1) amount to 39 in the following
way. n!5N = 36; the additional 3 are gained from
D^"l3Tn in one of two ways. R. Jose b. Hanina
says: 131 is 1, nm is 2, Dnm is 3; R. Hanina
of Sepphoris, in the name of R. Abahu, explains:
im is 1, Dnm is 2 (Yer. Shab. v. 2), Dnmn
is 3 (anonymously in Num. R. xviii. 21).
The gematria method, developed largely in the
Middle Ages, became a very popular mode of inter-
pretation, entire treatises being devoted to this branch
(see Benjacob, "Ozar ha-Sefarim," p. 96, Nos. 119,
120; 123; p. 479, No. 737).
III. In the Cabala : In cabalistic literature the
use of gematria has been greatly extended, and its
forms have been developed in many directions. The
principle on which gematria rests is not stated in
traditional literature ; but it may be assumed that it
is essentially the same as that which is found in the
Cabala, though in the latter it has been developed
along the lines of cosmogonic theories.
A. Theoretic Basis : All creation has developed
through emanation from the En Sof. The first de-
grees of that evolution are the ten Sefirot, from the
last of which. Kingdom, developed the twenty-two
letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Through the lat-
ter the whole finite world has come into existence.
These letters are dynamic powers. Since these
powers are numbers, everything that has sprung
from them is number. Number is the essence of
things, whose local and temporal relations ultimately
depend on numerical proportions. Everything has
its prototype in the world of spirit, that spiritual
prototype being the germ from which the thing
has been developed. As the essence of things is
number, the identity of things in number demon-
trates their identity in essence.
B. Degrees of Identity : While all of the twenty -
two letters of the alphabet are coordinate powers,
still it is evident that the ramifications of a letter
like n, for example, whose numerical value is 4. can
not be the same as those of the letter n, whose
numerical value is 400. It is, moreover, equally
apparent that two equal sums will not be absolutely
identical in their contents, if the factors in each
are different. The identity, therefore, implied in a
gematrical equation admits of a practically unlimited
number of degrees. It is only for the highest
three degrees that the cabalists have coined the
following terms :
(a) ^pK^n \hn ("degree of equibalance "), the
highest degree, which denotes an equation with an
equal number of letters in both members; e.g.,
Dn-inN (40 -I- 5 + 200 + 2 -4- 1) = ^N^-l (30 + 1 + 10
+ 7 + 200) = 248 ; each member having 5 letters.
(b) innn p^n or iin^n p^n ("degree of addi-
tion," or "degree of consolidation"); e.g., when
DSn = D"n. it is necessary to add the " and obtain
a D — both having the value of 20 — to make the
equation identical.
(c) msn phn or piisnn \hr\ ("degree of separa-
tion," or "degree of division"), when one letter
is resolved into smaller values, the reverse of the
preceding.
C. Objects : The objects dealt with by gematria
may be:
(a) Letters, persons, things, and conceptions con-
sidered under the aspect of number; e.g., 3 is 2; the
tribes are 12; the genus of anything is 1.
(b) Things may be fancied to resemble letters.
The nose and the eyes, for instance, are fancied to
resemble the group of letters ^v A dot and a line
are fancied to resemble ^ and 1 respectively. Ac-
cordingly, the vowel -signs consisting of one dot
amount to 10; patah, being a line (-), is 6; the
kamez, composed of a line and a dot (' ), is 16, etc.
(c) Letters may be dissolved to form groups of
things or of other letters; e.g., the letter i is consid-
ered as consisting of three dots or strokes (" 'ukzin"),
and therefore amounting to 3. The letter i amounts
to 10 in the following way : its head is ^ = 3 ; its
body is a line =6; its tail is a point = 1 ; sum 10.
The X is dissolved into ^v or nv, the middle stroke
being V In the first case it may amount to (10 + 6
+ 10) = 26, or, since ") may amount to 10, to 30.
In the latter case it may equal 20 or 24. B}-- a simi-
lar process might be obtained the equation s =
t3 = fj = 26 ; namely, N = tv, tD = "13, ^5 = ""I (comp.
D^JID"! D"'Dy, 56a, 60b).
D. Principles and Methods : The world is conceived
as a pyramid whose apex is the En Sof and whose
base consists of the lowest creations. The latter are
but gradual ramifications of the former. The lower
is entirely contained in the immediately higher, and
the higher is partly found in the lower. From this
idea has developed the principle of involution, which
branches out in various forms. The following modes
of procedure are to be noticed as occurring in many
of the cabalistic gematrical operations :
(a) Decadal Involution: The ten sefirot differ from
one another only in degree, not in essence. Every
sefirah, therefore, not being subject to limitations in
space, contains all the other sefirot. Hence, each
sefirah is made up of 10 sefirot, each of which again
includes 10. One sefirah, therefore, includes 100.
All the sefirot thus contain 1,000. Similarly, any
number may be decadally involved. This involu-
tion is called nni^^3 or ni^^Ss- The number 1, for
instance, involved to the first decade (ni^!'33,
"IK'V ni^S^S) "w'ill amount to 10; when involved to
the second decade (n"1^^3n n"l^^33), to
Gematria 100. Thus, the four supramundane
of worlds, m^'VN, nN"i3, m^i'v n-'B'y,
the Sefi^rot. are the 310 worlds promised to the
righteous in the world to come (comp.
Sanh. 100a). As each of these four worlds contains
10 sefirot, the three worlds, j;"'3, raised to the first
decade give the amount 300 ; the world of ni^'^XX
counts only as 10, because, being on its upper side
endless, the more it contained the nearer it would
approach unity. Decadal involution usually affects
the word as a whole.
(b) Geometric Involution : According to the same
691
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Geznatria
principle, a number may be raised to the second or
the third power. Here the sum of the whole word
may be so dealt with, or each of its letters may be
raised separately and the sums then added (comp.
^ III. E 5 and 6, below).
(c) Camiyrehension: Creation is but an unbroken
chain of cause and effect. The latter is potentially
contained in the former, and the former partly in the
latter (comp. § III. D, above). Every effect, i.e.,
everything that can be subsumed under a higher
term, is the species (DID) ; every cause is the genus
(??3)> comprehending the species. The Universal
Comprehender (7713) is God ; the General Compre-
hender, the 'TA?/. The alphabet is the comprehender
of the whole Torah; theK, that of the whole alpha-
bet, i.e., of all numbers. The numerical value of a
word is the comprehender of its conccptional con-
tents. In short, any generic concept may be counted
and added to the equation.
To elucidate the principle involved the following
example maybe taken: [(a4-b-|-c) + (d-|-e)-|-(f
-f- g + ^OJ = (i + j + k) = /S. Let a, the first mem-
ber of the equation, consist of 3 words,
Genus and or of 8 letters, and ft, the second mem-
Species, ber, of 1 word, or 3 letters. Let S be
the numerical value of each member.
Suppose that a actually amounts only to {8—1),
{8 — 2), etc. To make up the deficiency, if it is
(5— 1), there is added the comprehender of a, i.e.,
the comprehender of (5— 1), which is 1. This would
be expressed by ^^I3n DJ?. If a = {8—2), there
must be added the comprehender of a -f- that of ft,
U'hh'\^ ''3EJ' DV- If a = (5 — 3), the comprehenders
of a + ft-\-{a-\-ft), hh'\::ilhh'\2'\ D-'^^IS "'JB'Dy, may
be taken. Or there may be added to a its 3 words,
ni^DH Dy. If a = {S—%), one may add the 8 letters
nvnixn UV- if a = {8 — 14), the 3 comprehenders
-\- the 3 words -\- the 8 letters, etc., may be added.
Instead of addition, subtraction may be used; e.g.,
^JTN = n3. The Divine Name, by double integra-
tion (comp. § III. D e, below), jaelds 34 letters; de-
duct from this number the 4 letters of the integral
+ the comprehenders of both terms, and the result
will be 28. The ^pia has a different value in the fol-
lowing example : "jpo = the letters py in the name
3py\ which are the essential parts of that name,
corresponding to the comprehenders of fiDV and
in; namely, py = 170, nn ^OV = 170. The ab-
stract noun of ^^13 is m^^13 ; of ^5^3 it is r\hh:^.
(d) Multiplicaiion and Division: One of the terms
may be a multiple of the other ; for an example
comp. § II. 2 k, above. Multiplication may be
used also in many other forms ; e.g. , a term may be
multiplied by its letters, as niH' = (5 X 6 X 5 X 10) =
1,500. Similarly, one of the terms may be a quo-
tient of the other; e.g., the world was created by
means of riDN (" truth "), these being the final letters
of nx n^r^ha Kin (Gen. l. l). The end of all crea-
tion is DTK (" man "); for the latter is a tithe of the
former: D = tV H, 1 — tV O- K is indivisible.
(e) Integration : Just as in the sefirot all things
are contained in a latent state, potentially, so in a
number there are latent ramifications. The letter ^,
for instance, amounts on the face of it to 30 ; but it
contains also its alphabetic name *1D^, and therefore
really amounts to 74. The word 3^, on the face of
it amounting to 32, may be integrated (xisonj) to
rCI id!', and would then amount to 486. This in-
tegral ivh'O) may again be integral to ni'T DO loi'
in '^V n^3> and this double integration (I^Jion I^D
or ^JB> 1^0) would raise the value of 3^ to 1,436.
In the above example y? is the integral (t^K*, "Ipy,
tiiK's. n^JJ. 11D. nnsDJ nvniN. nvena' ix,
mJID IK), n^ no the integrant (D?yj, thvT\), the
doubly integrated number N^O"l K^iO, the process of
integration >"i70. The numerical value of the in-
tegral is the 773, that of the integrant the t3"lB.
Some of the names of the letters may be spelled
in various ways, so as to affect the numerical value
of the word. Hence, one and the same word may,
when integrated, yield several values. The Tetra-
grammaton nin\ for example, may be integrated
in many forms, but the following four are the usual
ones: (1) KH 1X1 XH IV = 45; (2) HH 11 HH TV = 52;
(3) \n 1X1 \n nv = 63 ; (4) M VI \T nv = 72.
(f) Quaternion: The quaternary term (yi3"), rc-
rpcKT-if) 10 = (1 + 2 + 3 + 4) shows that n = 10, as 4
includes all the preceding lower numbers. If the
above equation, 4 = 10, be put in the form (I -J- 1
-fl+l) = [l+(l-f l)+(l+l-f 1)+(1+1+1+1)] it be-
comes evident why a word like nin\ for instance, is
equivalent to (■• -f ,T + IH'' + HliT) = 72. This proc-
ess is called yi3"l, DninX 11D; the term itself,
yi3"l, y3"IO. The simple form mn^ is the D^JQ
("face"); the quaternated form D'linX, "linX
(" back "). Quaternation may be combined with in-
tegration, and the process is extended to words hav-
ing more or less than four letters.
(g) Spatiality: A word may also be considered
under the aspect of dimension, and expressed in
terms of spatiality. Thus, mn^ in terms of space
would have a 3m ("width") of 4, and a n33 or
noip ("height") of 10; the height being the extent
of the integral (comp. § III. D e, above).
E. Numerical Values : From the above explanation
it is clear that one word may yield a variety of
values. The early cabalists have, for some mystical
reason, decided arbitrarily the number of these
values to be nine, either because nine is the high-
est number of units and contains all the lesser num-
bers, or because of the nine psychic powers of man
which are the cause of the whole organism — viz.,
intellect, understanding, consciousness, the five
senses, and the practical will — since man, the micro-
cosm, reflects the world, the macrocosm. However
that may be, below is given an enumeration of the
cabalists' nine values (Nos. 1-9) and of all the other
values actually used.
1. Noi'inal Value, ^mSH "IQDO. m30 O. count-
ing X — 13 as units, ^ — y as tens, p — n as hundreds.
The 5 final letters have here the same values as their
respective initial forms.
2. Cyclical or Minor Value, 'hh^ ^jyiO IDDD.
\\2p O, where the tens, hundreds, and thousands are
reduced to units; e.g., D1X = nOX, i.e., (40 -|- 4 -4-1)
= (400 -f 40 -f- 1 )• This proced ure is also called mfn
^jfjjn ("return of the cycle"), since with 1,000 the
alphabet must be begun anew, symbolizing that the
beginning is connected with the end (1D1D Y\V^
inbrins). This value is assigned to Enoch, who is
Gematria
G-ems ■
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
592
identified with Mattatron (a differentiation of Meta-
thon), who, like the gnostic demiurge, has neither
knowledge of nor understanding for involution, the
pneumatic nature of things.
3. Inclusive Value, ^DTp "ISDO, a development of
the quaternion, where each number includes all the
other numbers that precede it in the order of the
alphabet ;e.//., n = (5 + 4-1-3 4- 2 + 1)= 15; 3 = (20
+10 + 9 + 8 + 7 + 6 + 5 + 4 + 3 + 2+1) = 75.
4. Additory Value, ^DDIfO "iDDtD, when the exter-
nal number of words or of letters is added (comp.
§ III. D c, above).
5. Square Value of the Word, ^f)^D yaiD "IDDD-
The numerical value of the word is successivelj'
multiplied by the value of each letter, and the prod-
ucts are added ; e.g.,'\Y\ = [(14 X 4) + (14 X 6) + (14
X 4)] = 196, or, in short, 14^ The reason for such
a procedure is that inasmuch as 14 branches are con-
tained in 3 powers, each power must be contained in
the other two.
6. Square Value of the Letter, *tD"lD y3"ID "IDDD ;
e.^.,nn = (4'^ + 62 + 4'0 = 68.
7. Aominal Value, ">0CJ* 1DDD> taking the alpha-
betical name of the letter for the letter itself (comp.
§ III. D e, above).
8. Nwneral Value, 'IDDD "IDDD, substituting tlie
numeral noun for the number; e.g., ^po — D^y^lN
D-'EJ'^K' nt^n = (40 -f 10 + 300 + 30 + 300 + 5 +1 +
40 + 40 +10 +70 + 2 +200+1) = 1,049. The prin-
ciple is the same as in the preceding.
9. Major JStimeral Vahie, ^njn '•"iDDD, the pre-
ceding combined with integration; e.g., ^ = T|^ =
DnCJ'J? = 620.
10. External Value, ^JlV^n "iDDD, when the con
tents are disregarded, every letter counting for 1.
The Tetragrammaton can not be taken in this value
("Asis Rimmonim," 36b).
11. Major Value, ^nj "IDDO- In this value the
final letters count as hundreds ("|"DVJOT ^nj IDDD).
In contradistinction to the minor or cyclical value
(see § III. E 2, above), the values 10-400 (see § III.
E 1, above) also belong under this head.
13. Multiple Value, ^1D3 "IDDO (comp. § III. D d).
13. Quotient Value, ^p^n "IQDD (comp. f^ III. D d).
14. Cube Value of the M^ord, '^^3 IpVD "iDDD,
15. Cube Value of the Letter, ^t3"lS 3pyD ~lDDO
(comp. "Hayyat," in "Minhat Yehudi," iii.).
16. First Decadic Livolution Value, jxhh'^ "IDDIO
-iK^y (comp. § III. D a, above).
17. Second Decadic Involution Value, nii'^3 "IDDD
18. Double Integration Value, ^^^ ')0{j> "ISDD-
19. Permutation Value, mon "IDDD, when the
values of the permutated letteis are taken (comp. § II.
2 c, above).
20-22. Quaternion Values, jnni "IDDD, either of
the simple word or of the singly and doubly inte-
grated forms (comp. § III. D f, above).
Considering that the procedures and values ex-
plained above may be used in various combinations,
it will easily be seen that a word may be made to
yield an almost imlimired number of values.
*•. Scientific Value : What scientific value the
Talmudists placed on gematria is diflicult to tell
with certainty. Although one legal enactment, that
the duration of the Nazaritic vow be 30 days, is osten-
sibly founded on gematria, it will perhaps be nearer
the truth to assume that they considered it merely
as an "asmakta," a nmemonic aid, and that, as in
other similar cases, that law had another basis.
In later literature, outside of cabalistic circles, and
beginning with Ibn Ezra (comp. "Monatsschrift,"
xliii. 84), the value of gematria is spoken of more
or less derogatorily, especially bv Joel Sarkes (n"2 to
Tur Orah Hayyim, 24, 63), Leo di Modena(" Ari No-
hem," ch. xiv.), Milsahagi (n"''3X") 15c e< scy.), and
Zweifel("Kerem Hemed," ix. 80 et seq.).
Bibliography : Waldberg, Dnrke ha-Shinnuuim ; Cordovero,
Pardex Rimmonim, xxx. 8; C. Taylor, Sayings of the Jew-
ish Fathers, p. 62, note 46 : Katzenellenhogen, in Netihot
'Olam, § 29 ; Friedmann, in Bet-Talmud, i.; M. Hartmann,
Semukim le-'Olam.
S. 8. C. L.
GEMEINDEBUND, DEUTSCH - ISRAE-
LITISCHER ("Union of Judseo-German Congre-
gations ") : An association of Jewish corporations in
Germany, founded July 3, 1869, on the occasion
of the Jewish synod at Leipsic, and incorporated
Feb. 13, 1899. The federation has for its object the
exchange of experiences in matters of administra-
tion, and especially the promotion of the common
interests of German Jews, excluding, however, from
its sphere of activity all matters relating to ritual. It
directsitsattention chiefly to education and charity.
It grants subsidies for religious instruction to the
smaller conmiunities, and helps the needy by assist-
ing them to take up agricultural and technical pur-
suits. At the same time it provides for the training
of religious teachers and cantors, and for pensions to
aged ofticials of the congregations or to their fami-
lies, contends against the evil of strolling beggars,
and furnishes aid for released convicts. These ob-
jects are enumerated in section two of its constitu-
tion of Nov. 15, 1898.
At the head of the federation, which at present
includes two legally established boards (in Baden
and Wlirttemberg), ten provincial and district con-
gregational associations (" Verbande"), and 750 con-
gregations, are a president and a board
Con- of thirty-six members. This board ap-
stitution. points delegates in the various commu-
nities (numbering 1 18 in 1903) to watch
the interests of the federation. The first two presi-
dents were Jacob Nachod and Moritz Kohner, in
Leipsic. When the society moved from Leipsic to
Berlin in 1882 Dr. S. Kristeller became president;
in 1896 ill health compelled him to resign the office
to the present incumbent. Dr. Martin Phihppson,
formerly professor at the University of Brussels.
A regular meeting of delegates is held every four
years. The business of this meeting comprises the
hearing of the report of the board, as well as that
of the treasurer, etc. The last meeting, the ninth
since the existence of the federation, was held in
Berlin Feb. 23-24, 1902.
The charitable funds and institutions under the
administration of the federation are as follows:
German-Jewish Loan-Fund for Women and Girls : established
1875 ; administration in Leipsic.
Mendels.sohn House in Dessau. Bought 1879, on the 150th anni-
versary of Moses Mendelssohn's birthday. The rear part of the
house in which Moses Mendelssohn was bom has been left in its
593
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Gematria
Gems'
original condition, while the front part has been remodeled.
It was planned as a home for retired Jewish scholars, and was
opened in 1886.
Samuel Kristeller Fund; founded May 36, 1890. Its object Is
to assist young Jews who wish to learn a trade, and to help de-
serving Jewish mechanics in settling themselves.
Monteflore Fund ; founded 19(X). It offers prizes to be com-
peted for by teachers of mechanical trades and of gardening.
Jewish Workingmen's Colony at Weissensee, near Berlin. Its
object is to provide worlc, food, and shelter for unemployed
Jewish men. It was started in lyfti, and numbers about 60 in-
mates.
Jewish Reformatory (Israelitische Fiirsorge-Erziehungsan-
stalt) f(ir Boys (the Eugene and AmalieUosenstiel foundation) at
Repzin and Schivelbein ; opened 1901 with twenty-five inmates.
Jewish Reformatory for Girls at Plotzensee, near Berlin ;
opened 1902.
Commission for the maintenance of indigent congregations by
means of contributions to the salaries of religious teachers and
to the expenses of school buildings. It at present (1903) sub-
sidizes about 150 needy congregations.
Friedrich-'Wilhelm-Victoria Fund; founded (1883) under the
protectorate of the crown prince and princess (Kmperor Fred-
erick III. and Empress Victoria). It maintains the life-insur-
ance policies of 1,(XX) community officials.
Philippson Fund ; founded 1875. It affords temporary relief
to needy congregational officials.
Her.xheimer Fund; founded September 26, 1877. Enables
poor Jewish students to attend normal schools in Germany.
The following institutions are for the promotion
of Jewish science :
Zunz Fund ; subsidizes eminent scientific works.
Historical Commission for Investigating the History of the
Jews in Germany ; founded 1885. It has published " Zeitschn'ft
fiir die Gesch. der Juden in Deutschland " (Brunswick, 5 vols.);
Aronius, " Itegesten zur Gesch. der Juden im Frankischen und
Deutschen Reiche bis zum Jahr 1273"; Honiger-Stern, "Das
Judenschreinsbuch der Laurenzpfarre in Koln " ; Neubauer-
Stern-Baer, "Berichte iiber die Judenverfolgungen Wahrend
der Kreuzziige " ; Salfeld, " Das Marty rologium des Numberger
Memorbuches."
Educational Department (for discussing pedagogical ques-
tions).
The Gemeindebund has published a number of
popular tracts, the best known being " Grundsatze
der Judischeu Sittenlehre," by Dr. S. Kristeller, ap-
proved by the most influential rabbis and Jewish no-
tables. It publishes a statistical year-book of the
Jewish communities of Germany (fifteen have so far
appeared), and fi-om time to time the " Mittheilun-
gen vom Deutsch-Israelitischen Gemeindebund "
(sixty numbers). The decisions of courts and author-
ities ("Beliordliche Entscheidungen tmd Verord-
mmfren") appended to the year-book give it addi-
tional value.
The assets of the union are valued at about 650,-
000 marks. It has a library of about 5,000 books,
mostly Judaica.
BiBLiofiRAPHY: MittJteUungen vom Deutsch-Israelitischen
Oemciudeliund, Nos. 1-60; Statistisches Jahrbuch of the
association, Berlin, 1901.
D. S. Sa.
GEMMINGEN, URIEL VON. See Reuchlin,
John.
GEMS : Precious stones, usually cut or polished
for ornamental or other uses. Gems were not in-
digenous to Palestine; they were imported, under
Solomon, in ships from Ophir (I Kings x. 11; 11
Chron. ix. 10), or brought by wandering merchants
from Anibia and Phenicia (Ezek. xxvii. 22). Pre-
cious stones were among the Queen of Sheba's gifts
(I Kings X. 2, 10), as well as among the riches for
which Hezekiah provided treasuries (II C'hi'on.
xxxii. 27). Together with gold, tliev were esteemed
v.— 38
the most costly and rare possessions (Job xxviii.
15 et seq. ; Prov. xvii. 8, xxvi. 8; Wisdom vii. 9).
Therefore the restored city of Zion (Isa. liv. 11, 12)
will be founded and beautified with precious stones
(comp. Rev. xxi. 18 et seq.); even the vision of God's
glory recalls the glow of gems (Ezek. i. 26, 27).
They were in use as ornaments at a comparatively
early period (in the crown of the Ammonite mon-
arch: II Sam. xii. 30; on robes and canopies: Ezek.
xxviii. 13; Apocr. Esther iv. 6; on golden vessels:
Ecelus. [Sirach] 1. 9-10). They were especially em-
ployed for signet-rings and seals, cylinders and cones
(see ExGUAviNG ; Seals ; also Benzinger, " Arch. " h. v.
" Siegel " ; Cant. v. 14; Ecelus. [Sirach] xxxii. 7 et
seq.; Greek, xxxv. 5 et seq.\ Greek, xxxviii. 27).
David is said to have gathered gems while prepar-
ing for the erection of the Temple, and Solomon is
credited with having studded its interior walls with
them (I Chron. xxix. 2, 8; II Chron. iii. 6).
Gems are designated as mp' pN (Ezek. xxviii.
13 ; I Kings x. 2, 1 1 ; Assyrian, " abnu akartu " = pN
jn: Prov. xvii. 8; |*Dn ^J3N: Isa. liv. 12; Ecelus.
[Sirach] xlv. 11; D"'X^D"':aX: Ex. xxv. 7; 11D"'J3N:
I Chron. xxix. 2; Talmudic, r\y\\2 pX: B. B. 10b;
also in the plural nmo D'J^K, in tlie frequent e\-
pression nvi5J~ltD1 nmo D'JDN —"gems and pearls").
In addition to a few other specific references, the
twelve stones in the breastplate of the high priest
and the two in his ephodare specifically enumerated
(Ex. xxviii. 9,17-20; xxxix. \Q et seq.), from which
lists that given by Ezekiel in the description of
Tyre's glory (" cherub ") (Ezek. xxviii.
In Hig-h 13; comp.Rev. xxi. 9-11) isinall prob-
Priest's ability an adaptation ; some extreme
Breastplate critics have even assumed the reverse
and Ephod. relation between Ezekiel and Exodus
(see Guthe, "Kurzes Bibelworterb."
s.v. " Edelsteine "). The exact determination of the
value of the names given is extremely difticult, in
some cases impossible. It has rightly been held
(Flinders-Petrie, in Hastings, " Diet. Bible " ; and
J. L. Myres, in Cheyne and Black, "Eucyc. Bibl."
both s.v. "Stones, Precious") that the Septiiagint
represents the Greek knowledge on the subject in
the Alexandrian period as summed up in Theophras-
tus' treatise {Repi Aidwv), while Rev. xxi. 9-11 reflects
Pliny's views ("Historia Naturalis," xxxvii.). The
Targumim throw light on the views traditionally
held in their time by the Jews, but there is no rea-
son to believe that they preserve accurate knowl-
edge of the stones in use before their day. Jose-
phus' description ("Ant." iii. 7, ^ 5; "B. J." v. 5,
S 7) is valuable only as giving his personal interpre
tation. Modern veisions, as far as they do not follow
the Septuagint, resort to equivalents based on the
practise of their day. It is notewortiiy in this connec-
tion that Sirach contents himself with a general de-
scription without details (Ecelus. [Sirach] xlv. 11).
On the well-grounded supposition that the He
brews could not have been familiar with stones un-
known to the peoples with whom they came in con-
tact and from whom they drew their stock of gems,
IVIvres has compiled a table of stones in actual use
among Egyptians, Babylonians, etc., at various pe-
riods. In the following, Myres' compilation has
been consulted. Dividing the twelve stones into
Gems
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
594
four rows of three each, Exodus (xxviii. 17-20)
enumerates them thus :
(1) bin: aapSi.ov= "sardius"; A. V. and R. V. "sardius"
or "ruby" (Ex. xxviii. 17, xxxix. 10; Ezek. xxviii. 13; Rev.
xxl. 20); Targ. Onk. fpcD ; Tar^. Yer. 1. Nnpico, ii. NPpcD ; Ex.
R. xxxviii. |'jj-\ini'; Josephus, "Ant." ill. 7, § 5, "sardonyx."
This, as the name Implies and accordinR to the Targumim and
Num. R. vl. 7, was of red color, though possibly its name meant
merely to suggest its Edomite origin. It is thus safe to identify
it with the modern sard, which, according to Pliny {I.e. xxxvii.
106), was very common among the engraved
Sard. stones in antiquity. Petrie holds it to be the
opaque blood-red jasper, which was valued as
a charm against bleeding, and was indeed common in Egypt,
Babylonia, and Assyria. While the sardonyx is a variety of
agate in which white or semiopal chalcedony alternates with
sard, the latter is a very compact variety of chalcedony, trans-
parent, and much esteemed by ancient lapidaries. The reading
In Ex. R. xxxviii. should be emended to I''Jjt^J', the sardonyx
or camelian, possibly the same stone as that which occurs
elsewhere in rabbinical writings under the name j'tSnD or
PJ1d'7ijD (Sanh. 59b; Ab. R. N., Text A, 1. and xxxviii.; Targ.
to Job xxviii. 18), which Levy derives from (ravSapdK-n, and
Kohut identifies with a Persian word meaning " ruby " (see
Bacher in "R. E. J." xxix. 83). On this stone in the breast-
plate was engraved " Reuben " (Ex. R. I.e.).
(2) moo : TOTra^iov = "topazius"; A. V. and R. V. "topaz"
(Ex. xxviii. 17, xxxix. 10; Ezek. xxviii. 13; Job xxviii. 19); Rev.
xxi. 20, aapS6vv$ ; Targ. Onk. pi ; Targ. Yer. i. and il. unpT,
Ex. R. I.e. inisoc'; Josephus, I.e. "topaz." These render-
ings agree in identifying the " pitdah " with the " topaz " (for
the reading in Exodus Rabbah is doubtless a corruption of
J'nocita; comp. the Syriac in Job xxviii. 19; see Monats-
schrift," 1882, p. 334; Bacher, in " R. E. J." xxlx.
Chrysolite 84), and in making it a stone of yellow-green
or Topaz, color. By modern scholars it is identified as
the Assyrian "hipindu," a " flashing " stone.
Thus the pitdah could scarcely represent our modern topaz.
But it may have been the " false topaz," that is, a yellow rock-
crystal, or with still greater probabiUty the modem chrysolite,
which is a green-colored, vitreous, transparent or translucent
mineral, of which there are two kinds, the common and the
precious. The precious, of a pale yellowish-green color, is found
In the Levant. In Pliny the description of the topaz fits the
modem chrysolite, and that this corresponds to the Hebrew
" pitdah " is the opinion of Myres, Petrie, Cheyne, and Fraas
(see Riehm, " Handworterb." 2d ed., p. 338b, note). According
to Job xxviii. 19 this stone came from Cush (Ethiopia). This
seems to agree with the report (Pliny, I.e. vi. 34 and xxxvii. 32,
where it is described as green ; Targiim to Job. I.e. ; Diodorus
Slculus, 111. 39) about the topaz island in the Red Sea. This
stone was engraved "Simeon."
(3) npna : Septuagint and Josephus, (TftapaySoi \ A. V. "car-
biibcle"; R. V. "carbuncle" or "emerald" ; Targ. Onk. jpi^ ;
Yer. 1., ii. N.-'pia ; Ex. R. pn'jp"-i. In Ezek. xxviii. 13 the
Septuagint retains aiJ.dpaySo';, but the Masoretic text has " ya-
halom." As the Hebrew name etymologically indicates, this
was a " fiashing, brilliant " stone. Its identification, however,
is doubtful. According to the Greek writers, the Greek crua-
payBoi (Lewy, "Die Semitischen Fremdworter," p. 57) was a
crystal found in immense columns and was
Rock- of intense brilliancy. This would apply to the
Crystal. rock-crystal and the beryl. In favor of the
former see Rev. iv. 3, and Petrie in Has-
tings. "Bict. Bible" (I.e.). In Egypt colorless, brilliant rock-
crystal was extensively used for engraving, as it was from the
later Babylonia time onward in Mesopotamia (Myres); hence
the presumption is that the Biblical pp-\2 represents this crystal.
The reading in Exodus Rabbah expresses the Greek iidKiveoi
(Syriac of Rev. xxi. 20) . This would make it a stone of the color
of the hyacinth, or the jacinth, one of the many varieties of
zircon. It is mentioned in Revelations, but not in the Old Tes-
tament. Pliny {I.e. xxxvii. 41 et seq.) names Ethiopia as the
source of its supply. In rabbinical literature it is frequently
named (Gen. R. Ixxix ; Yalk. to Dent. K54; Yalk. to Gen. 134;
Mahzor Vitry, pp. 312, 336; comp. "R. E. J." xxix. 84). This
stone was engraved with Levi's name.
(4) iDj: A. V. and R. V. "emerald"; R V., margin, "car-
buncle " ; Septuagint and Josephus, ivepa(; Targ. Onk. ]'t nrtx;
Yer. i. i-\ict'N; Yer. 11. nj-\3-id; Ex. R. pjn-»3 '(pofii^o? :=
"ruby," "rose-stone"). The Hebrew name has the appear-
ance of being a loan-word. W. M. Muller ("Orient, Lit." ii.
39) identifies it with Egyptian " M-f-k-t," and thus in turn with
the " lupaaku " stone of the El-Amarna tablets (see Muss-Araolt,
" Concise Diet." p. 801b). This, however, is doubted by Knud-
son (" Assyr. Beitrage," iv. 324). It must have belonged to the
green stones, and the Sinaitic peninsula and
Emerald or Philistia have furnished It in quantities. Fifty
Garnet. of these stones were part of the tribute sent
from Ashkalon, just as the "nofek" was among
the goods sent from Syria (Masoretic text din ; or, if reading is
STN. from Edom) enumerated in Ezek. xxvii. 10. OnkeJos and
Targ. Yer. i. support this value of nofek as a green stone (em-
erald) often mentioned in Jewish writings (Lev. R. ii. 5; Pesik.
R. X. [p. 39b] as quoted in the 'Aruk, which connects the later
name i-iiCfN with the Arabic "zumumid"). The modem
identification of the nofek with the red garnet, or that by the
Septuagint with the carbuncle and ruby, has the support of
Targ. Yer. ii. and of Exodus Rabbah. It was assigned to Judah.
(5) I'sa : A. V.andR. V. "sapphire" (Ex. xxlv. 10, xxviii. 18,
xxxix. 11; Isa. liv. 11; Lam. iv. 7; Cant. v. 14 ; Job xxviii. 6,
16; Ecclus. [Sirach] xliii. 19; Ezek. i. 26). The same word is
employed in the Septuagint, in the Vulgate, and by Josephus
(comp. Lewy, ?.c.p. 56);Targ. Onk. isiU*. Yer. i. p:^T'DD, Yer. ii.
Nj^S^flca, Exodus Rabbah pniirD ("sapphire"). This stone
probably represented in Biblical usage the opaque blue lapis la-
zuli, according to W. M. Miiller the " uknu" of the El-Amarna
tablets (see Rev. xxi. 19, R. V., margin). It has
Lapis Liazruli the appearance of being sprinkled with gold-
or dust (Theophrastus, I.e. p. 692). This is due to
Sapphire, the presence of iron pyrites, and harmonizes
with both Ex. xxlv. 10 and Ezek. 1. 26 (comp.
Toy, " Ezekiel," in "S. B. O. T."). Others, however, have con-
tended that the Biblical sapphire is identical with the modem
sapphire, the blue corundum (hence Onkelos, "shabziz"), though
this was almost unknown before the Roman empire, and was
regarded by the classical mineralogists as a jacinth or hyacinth.
The sapphire (probably the true one) occurs in rabbinical books
(Tan., Ki Tissa, 29; Eccl. R. x. 20; Yelamdenu to Ex. xxxiii. 1
[quoted in the 'Aruk] ; Ex. R. viii. 3; Cant. R. v. 14; and fre-
quently; see Krauss, "Lehnw5rter," pp. 398-399). On this
stone was engraved " Issachar."
(6) o'^n-: A. V. "diamond"; R. V. "diamond "or "sardo-
nyx" (see No. 12). The rendering of the old versions is in doubt,
as, owing to transpositions, the Septuagint iacrirt? and Latin " ias-
pis" (Ex. xxviii. 18, xxxix. 11) may correspond to another He-
brew term ("yashefeh " according to Petrie and Myres). The
readings in Targum, ai'^njo, Yer. i. 111313, Yer. 11. trry p>, Ex-
R. "smaragd" (emerald), jnjicDN, confirm the suspicion of a
confusion. oi^n3D in Onkflos might suggest "yahalom," but
see under No. 9 ; " kadkodl " is the mby ; and " 'en 'egla," else-
where the rendering for noSrw, Is the hyacinth ("vacci-
nium "). Moreover, the Greek iao-Tri? is linguistically the equiv-
alent of the Hebrew "yashefeh," which, according to Benfey,
is of Egyptian origin (Lewy, I.e. p. 56). As Josephus al.so men-
tions the jasper, though as the second, not as the third stone
of the second row, it is advised to put " yashe-
Diamond. feh" in place of the "yahalom" here. This
stone was known to the Assyrians (" yashpu "),
and was used for the royal seal. The Greek iao-iris was a dull,
opaque stone, generally green, but occurred also in red and
opalescent varieties. The modern jasper is an impure variety
of silica, opaque, and of many colors and shades. Pliny {I.e.
xxxvii. 9) reports that In the East the variety of jasper which
resembled the emerald was especially affected (hence Ex. R. has
"emerald"). In the Greek of Isa. Ilv. 12 lao-Tris corresponds
to the Hebrew " kadkod," which identification underlies the
rendering of Targ. Yer. 1. Symmachus, "charchedonion " is
another rendering agreeing with the Targum (see Krauss,
"LehnwOrter," p.299). Fnias contends that the jasper of the
Bible was the opal found often In Egyptian tombs, and which
even furnished the material for a delicately chiseled statuette
of Isls (Riehm, "Handworterb." 2d ed., p. 3;{.5, note). All
things point to the conclusion that in the breastplate the last
place In the second row was occupied by an opaque stone of
rich green color. On it was engraved the name " Zebulun."
(7) D-'S : Septuagint, AiyuptoK (so also Josephus) = " 11-
gurius"; A. V. "ligure"; R. V. "jacinth," margin "amber";
Targ. Onk. naip; Yer. 1. |>jn'3jp ; Yer. ii. pnt; Ex. R. p'^nj.
As these various renderings show, tradition emphasizes the ig-
norance conceming the true value of the He-
Amber or brew word. The only fact made prominent is
Jacinth. that the stone was brilliant and of an intense
luster. Hence the Midrash makes it of the
white tin-like color of antimony ; Yer. ii.merely calls it "shiny."
Onkelos and Yer. i. name it by the Greek Kfyxpivov (" with little
grains"), which also is the Synac equivalent. Ba-^ed on Pliny's
695
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
GeiuB
description of the ligure {I.e. viii. W. xxxvii. 11-13), it has been
identified with the amber, while the fact that in the apocalyptic
enumeration (Rev. xxi.) the hyacinth appears in its stead has
suggested the rendering "jacinth." The only conclusion war-
ranted is that the " leshem" was a lustrous gold-colored stone.
It is the stone of Dan (comp. Hommel, " Altisraelitische Ueber-
lieferung," p. 283).
(8) na' : Septuagintand Josephus, axaTrii ; Targ. Onk. N-pir ;
Yer. 1. I'Tiy ; Ver. ii. pSn'3 ; Ex. R. D^CvN^vN ; A .V. and II. V.
"agate." Tradition conllniis the modern identification with the
agate, one of the cryptocrystalline varieties of quartz, according
to Dana of one class, therefore, with chalcedony, carnelian,
onyx, and jasper. It is found in many varieties, some banded,
or in clouds, others with hues due to impurities. Its use is well
attested for Egypt and Assyria, the Hebrew name even appear-
ing to be borrowed from the latter, if it is not a place-name
{•1f€<j><a). Exodus Rabbali's reading is either a corruption or
a variant of D'ON^n (" R. E. J." xxix. 87) ; tlie
Ag'ate. peculiar ]^Sno of Yer. ii. consists of a series
of successive corruptions of pSTC3 = pjii^
= jna^J, which is pnDiD ; and thus Yer. ii. agrees with the
Peshitta of Ex. xxviii. 19, xxxix. 12, meaning under this name a
variety of the agate. The J''|"'^>• of Yer. i. must be corrected
Into yp'^'O — N^p-ia of Onkelos. This is the Thracian stone, the
"turkis" or turquoise (Gen. R. xli. 13; Mahzor Vitry, "tur-
kiza" [p. 163]; Yer. Ber. 2c. [according to Serillo]; notasBacher
[in "R. E.J." xxix. 87] has it, the " anthrakion" = " carbuncle ";
see Krauss, " Lehnworter," pp. 278 et scq.). According to this
rendering a sky-blue stone would be meant. The agate—
Naphtali's stone — was regarded as potent in procuring divine
aid (Schwab, *' Vocabulaire de rAogelologie," p. 53).
(9) n'-^nN: R. V. and A. V. " amethyst"; Septuagint and
Josephus, aiJ.e0v<TToi; Targ. Onk., Yer. i., and Yer. ii. n^j'';* pj';
Ex. R. p'Diri'n, which is a misreading for " amethyst," and not
"the bloodstone" (see " Monatsscbrift," 1882, p. 335; "R. E.
J." xxix. 87). For the meaning of the "calf's eye " of the Tar-
gumim see above. The amethyst, which name is connected
with the stone's supposed power to quench inordinate thirst for
strong drink, is a variety of quartz, of a clear purple or bluish-
violet color, and was extensively known and
Amethyst, used by the Egyptians ; many specimens with
engravings are among the finds from the coast
of Syria. It has been suggested that the Hebrew name points
to some folk-lore connection between the " ahlamah " and
dreams (" halom "). The etymology seems to imply the idea of
being strong (Halevy, in "Journal Asiatique," 7th series, x.
426), or it may beiudicative of the place (Ahlamu) where the
stone was found (see Gesenius. "Thesaurus," s.v.). Targum
Yer. ii. gives to " yahalom " (No. 6) the same rendering as it,
together with the two other Aramaic paraphrases, gives to "ah-
lamah," i.e., "the calf's eye," that is, "vaccinium" or hya-
cinth. But Onkelos' translation for the sixth stone (ai'^nan)
must be "amethyst." Its first syllable certainly refers tb " strong
drinking" (from H20, "to drink to excess," whatever the second
be— perhaps ai^n = D^n = " strong "), recalling thus the super-
stition implied also in the Greek term. This was Gad's stone.
(10) if"Jnn: A. V. "beryl"; R. V. "beryl" or "chalced-
ony"; xpucroAteos (also Josephus), "chrysolithus" (Ezek. x. 9;
Septuagint has a^^paf = "carbuncle," but Vulgate "chrysoli-
thus"); Targ. Onk. and Yer. ii. n?D'> ans'' ; Yer. 1. the same with
the addition of n3"i ; Ex. R. pa^acnp. This must have been a
stone believed to be imported from Tarshish. It has been vari-
ously identified with the beryl (R. V.), with
Beryl. amber, with the modern pale-green topaz (see
No. 2) . To a green stone, not to amber, the
rendering of the Targumim " of the color of the sea " refers
(Krauss, "Lehnworter," p. 297; coiiip. Ber. 6b; Cant. R. i. 14;
Targ. to Esth. viii. 15 ; Sachs, " Beitrage," ii. 41). The word of
Exodus Rabbah is a corruption of the Greek xpvaoXLBot. What
may be meant by the Greek term is very doubtful, and the best
rendering is that of the Septuagint (to Ezek. i. 6; Cant. v. 14):
"Tarshish" stone, without attempt at greater deflniteness.
This stone was reserved for Asher's name.
(11) ana' ; A. V.i " onyx " ; R. V. " onyx " or " beryl " ; Pr,pv\.
Aiei- (J^osephus gives " beryl " for No. 12), "onychinus"; Targ.
Onk n^-\d; Yer. i. n'^h niiSi<3 ; Yer. ii. Nn'jna ; Ex. R.
j»pi"?.N-'D. The Jewish tradition identifies this stone with the
beryl, Yer. ii. being the exception, naming the " bedolah " (Gen.
ii. 12), usually an aromatic plant, but here and in Syriac an In-
dian crystal (Lagarde, "Gesammelle Abhandlungen," xx. 39;
"Orientalia," ii. 44; Gen. R. xvi.). The beryl, of which the
readings in Yer. i. and Exodus Rabbah give the name in corrupt
form, is also by later Jewish commentators said to l)e the Biblii-al
"shoham" (see Kiuihi, .s.c. zny). The Septuagint translates
the word in other passages by " onyx " (see Josephus, " B. J."
V. 5, 8 7), by "emerald" (Ex. xxviii. 9, xxxv. 27, xxxix. 6). In
Gen. ii. 12 by "the leek-green stone," by "sard" (Ex. xxxix.
9), while in Chron. v. 1 the Hebrew is simply transliterated.
This shoham-stone is frequently mentioned in
Malachite. Biblical writings. Havilah is its home (Gen.
ii. 11). Two such stones with six tribal names
engraved on each were fastened to the epliod (Ex. xxviii. 9).
This stone is described in Job xxviii. 10 as very precious. If it
was the beryl, it must have been that variety distinguished by the
modern mineralogists from the beryl proper (which is of a bright
emerald-green), namely, the chrysophras (leek-green golden).
It is very likely that the word "shoham" was a generic term
covering a large number of varieties of different colors, which
fact may account for the wide range in the Greek equivalents for
it. Myres' identification of It with the malachite seems to meet
every implication of the various traditional equivalents ("green
emerald," " cloudy beryl," and " opaque " and "striped " enough
to be described as an onyx). This was Joseph's stone.
(12) noZ'^ (but see No. 6; '"yahalom "should replace "ysr
shefeh ") : in Septuagint " beryl," but more frequently "onyx " ;
Vulgate " beryl," probably, as in Josephus, due to a trans-
position of 11 and 12; Targ. Ouk. "■-».- jd; Yer. i. tb« same,
preceded byr^jji::; just as in Yer. ii.; Ex. R. Ijic^mic ; On-
kelos' " panther-stone," a " yellow, light-flecked stone," may ren-
der the "yashefeh" (rao-Tris, jasper), but the other Targumim
use the word which frequently denotes pearls and precious
stones in general. " Yahalom " might very properly be trans-
lated by a general term, as its identification
Ring-Stone, was involved in doubt. The diamond, because
"the hard stone" (yahalom, from aSn, "tol)e
hard," "to hammer"), has been suggested, but the art of cutting
diamonds is of a much later date, and the list of stones in use
among the ancients fails to name it. Nor does onyx occur early
enough to look for its being known among the Hebrews of Ex.
xxviii. All that may be safely said is that this was a hard stone,
probably used in the making of whole rings (" onyx " = Assyr-
ian " unku " = " ring "), according to Myres ; therefore the As-
syrian "elmeshu," the "ring-stone." This is Benjamin's stone.
Of other stones mentioned the "kadkod " (A. V.
"agate," R. V. "ruby," in Isa. liv. 12 and Ezek.
xxvii. 16; tlic Septuagint gives laa-tq in Isa. liv.
12) undoubtedly was the "karkedon" stone quoted
by the Rabbis (Pesik. 136a; Yalk. Shimeoni to Isa.
t^ 339 et passim), the (Carthaginian) carbuncle. The
" Shamir " in Ezek. iii. 9, said to be " liarder than flint "
(R. V. and A. V. "adamant"), was not a precious
stone, and the traditional identification, "diamond,"
should be abandoned (Loew, "Graph. Requisiten,"
i. 181). The legendary character given the shamir
by the Rabbis (Sotah i.x. 10, 48b; Yer. Sotah ix.
24b; Git. 68a) indicates that the exact determina-
tion of its value had been lost. Etymologically
it is related to the Egyptian "asmer," wliich passed,
probably through Semitic channels, into the Greek
ofiipiq (Lewy, "Fremdwftrter," p. 59), and signi-
fies "emery " or "corundum "; possibly "diamond-
dust." It is the Targumic T'T3EJ'. identified (see
above) with the "i^DD in Onk. to Ex. xxviii. 18,
xxxix. 11 (Targ. Yer. to Num. ii. 10, Ezek. xxviii.
13, Job xxviii. 6, 16, Lam. iv. 7, and Cant. v. 14);
the Arabic "sunbadaj " = "emery " (Krauss,' I.e. p.
579). It lias been noticed that of all the stones used
for engraving among the ancients, the turquoise
alone is not mentioned in the Biblical enumerations.
As shown above, Targ. Onk. to Ex. xxviii 19 (comp.
Targ. Yor. to Num. ii. 18) evidences that in post-
Biblical times this stone was known to the Jews.
To recapitulate, according to the above tiie fol
lowing were the order and character of the stones
on tlie high priest's breastplate-
I. Sardonyx or sard, red.
Topaz, pale-yellowish green.
Rock-*Tystal brilliant white (colorlessK
Genappe
Genealog-y
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
596
II. Emerald, jrreen.
Lapis lazuli, blue with gold (yellow-reddish) dots.
Yashefeh, rich green.
III. Leshem, lustrous gold.
Agate, sky-blue.
Amethyst, bluish violet.
IV. Tarshish stone.
Malachite, bright green.
Yahalom. yellowish to dark blue.
This seems, on the whole, to correspond to the
color scheme of the Egyptian reports (see Mliller,
in "Orient, Lit." ii. 39). In post-Biblical writings
the following gems appear: amethyst; amiantus (a
green stone, a fibrous kind of chrysolite); ruby;
agate ; beryl : chalcedony ; sapphire ; sardonyx ; em-
erakl ; topaz ; jacinth ; chrysolite ; turquoise ; " pan-
ther-stone " (for " yashefeh " in Targ. Ezek. xxviii.
13): diamond, probably designated by N?J"lD and
D''£3''^J"lO ; crystal, |T^nD"np (Abba Gorion i. 1;
see also Pedes, "Throii uud Circus," p. 13; comp.
Acts iv. 6, XX. 1). The mp (Ezek. 1. 22) may pos-
sibly denote a crj'stal; f 23 (Job xxviii. 18) cer-
tainly does (Lagarde, " Keliquife Juris Ecclesiastici
Syriaci," xxii., Leipsic, 1856). The art of fabri-
cating false gems seems to have been known (Tan.,
Bemidbar, 23; Num. R. iv. 2; see Krauss, "Lehn-
worter," p. 132).
Biblioi.uaphy: Low, In Krauss, Lehnwlirter, Berlin, 1899;
Winer. B. R. s.v. Edehieiiie : Riehm, HandwCtrterb . s.v.
EdcMeine; Schenkel, Bihellexicoii^s.v. Edcbiteuie : Myres,
in Cheyne and Black, iJucj/c. Bibl. s.v. Stojiett, Precunt.f,
Petrie, in Hastings, Diet. Bible, s.v. Stones, Precious ; Lewy,
Die Semitischeti Fremdwdrtcr im Griechischen, pp. 5;^-
62, Berlin, 189.5; Nowack, Hehr. ArclUiologie, i. 130 et seq.;
Kluge, Handbuch der Edelsteinkunde, Leipsic, 1860.
E. G. H.
GENAPPE, See Holl.\xd
GENAZZANO, ELIJAH HAYYIM BEN
BENJAMIN OF : Italian physician, theologian,
and cabalist; flourished in the first half of the si-\-
teenth century. He had a religious controversy
with Fra Francisco da Acquapendente, in winch he
bitterly attacked Christianity for its dogma of origi-
nal sin, for its claim of salvation exclusively for its
own adherents, and for its hatred of Judaism, the re-
ligion which furnislied it with the kernel of its
teaching, and which, in contrast with the Church,
attributes a share in the future world to the right-
eous of all nations. This disputation he described
in a Hebrew pamphlet entitled " Wikkuah," existing
in manuscript (Cod. Munich, No. 312, and Cod. Vi-
enna, No. 16). He wrote also under the title "Ig-
geret Hamudot" (Neubauer, "Cat.Bodl.Hebr.MSS."
No. 1927; Cod. Munich, No. 112; et nl.) a strong
apology of cabali.stic doctrines, which, although
not printed, became well known in the sixteenth
century. In this pamphlet he attacked tiie religious
philosophers in an undignified and offensive manner,
especially Isaac Abravanel, the author of " 'Atcret
Zekcnim " ; and he was one of the first to spread the
fable tliat Maimonides had retracted his anti-Tal-
mudic and anti -cabalistic sentences (Leon de Modena,
" Ari Nohem," pp. 4. 33, 3."), 70; Ibn Yahya, "Shal-
shelet ha-Kabbalah," p. 60). The name' of Elijah
Hayyim of Genazzano often occurs as " Elijah Mag-
istratus," or as "Markianz," etc. (Steinsclmeider).
There exists in manuscript a poem by "Elia Genaz-
zano" (published by Neubauer in "Letterbode," x.
104) wImcIi contains an attack on woman, and in
which Biblical personages are treated in a very irrev-
erent manner. It is perhaps a work of this author.
Bibliography: Mortara, Indice, p. 27; Fuenu, Jve/ie«ef Yis-
rael, p. 104 ; Steinschueider, Hebr. Bibl. x. 104 ; idem. Die
Hebriiiseheii Haiidschriften in der MUnchener Hofbibli-
othek, pp. 53, 136; idem, P()lemU<che M?id Apologetischr
Litteratur, p. 379; Giidemann. (lescli. des Erziehungswesens
und der Cidtur der Juden in Italien, p. 233.
K. I. BeR.
GENEALOGY.— Biblical Data : A list, in the
order of succession, of ancestors and their descend-
ants. The Pentateuchal equivalent for "genealo-
gies" is "toledot" (generations), the verb being 1^'
in the "kal" and "hif'il" forms. The later form
is tj>n^ (Nell. vii. 5), and the verb "hityahes" (to
enroll oneself or be enrolled by genealogy). In later
Hebrew, as in Aramaic, the term DPI* and its de-
rivatives "yihus" and "j-tihasin" recur with the
implication of legitimacy or nobility of birth.
The following genealogical lists are given as far
as possible in the order in which they occur in the
Hebrew canon:
1. Adamites (with historical glosses) : Adam ; Cain ; Enoch ;
Irad ; Mehu.iael ; Methusael; Lamech— seven generations, be-
coming, with the eighth, two parallel .streams, (1) Jabal and his
brother Jubal, (2) their half-brother Tubal-cain and his sister
Naainah (Gen. iv. 1-24: Cainites).
2. Adamites (with chronological details): .\dam: Seth ; Enos;
Cainan ; Mahalaleel ; Jared ; Enwh ; Methuselah ; Lamech ;
Noah— ten generations, the eleventh comprising (1) Shem, (2)
Ham, (3) Japheth (Sethites).
3. The Noahites, divided into (1) Phemites, (2) Hamites, (3)
Japhethites— the "ethnic table," or " list of nations" (Gen. x.
l-;jl).
4. Abraham's pedigree, from Shem downward, enumerating
ten generations (Gen. xi. 10-26).
5. Rebekah's pedigree, from Xahor through Milcah, with men-
tion of collateral line through his father's concubine Reumah
(Gen. x.xii. 20-24).
6. Abrahamites through Keturah (Gen. xxv. 1-4).
7. Abrahamites through the line of Ishmael (Gen. xxv. 12-18:
Ishmaelites).
8. Abrahamites through Isaac and Esau = Edom (Gen. xxxvi.
1-43).
9. Jacob's (= Israel's) descendants (Gen. xxxv. 23-27, xlvi.
8-28 : seventy souls).
10. The pedigree of Moses, enutneni ting the " heads of their
fathers' houses " of the sons of Reuben, the sons of Simeon, the
sons of Levi : (1) Gershon, (2) Kohath, (3) Merari. Out of Ko-
hath came Amram, from whoin came (a) Moses and (b) Aaron;
the pedigree continues the chain of descent, after mentioning
side lines, through Aaron's son Eleazar to Phinehas (Ex. vi.
14-2.5).
11. A register of the Israelites as a nation— in which Levi,
however, is omitted— grouped under the heads : "generations"
(mSv"), "family" or "clan" (nntjs'n), and "fathers' house"
(.■113N ri''2 : Num. i. 1-47). This is, strictly speaking, a census-
roll.
13. The tribal list (Num. il. 1-33), also a census-roll.
13. The genealogy of the Aaronites (Num. lii. 1-5).
14. The genealogy of the Levites (Num. 111. 17-39), with data
concerning their respective assignments to service in the sanc-
tuary.
15. A list of the Israelites, with reference to division and oc-
cupation of territory (Num. xxvi. 1-51).
16. The families of the Levites (Num. xxvi. 57-61), with de-
tails concerning the births of Aaron, Moses, and Miriam, and
the names and fate of Aaron's sons.
17. The " izenealogy of those that went up with me [Ezral
from Babylon " ( Kzra viii. 1-14 ; the list of " the children of the
province that went up out of the Captivity" [Ezraii. 1 ft seq.]
is in reality not a genealogy, but is of importance as bearing
upon the standing of their descendants in the congregation of
Israel.)
18. Ezra's own pedigree (Ezra vii. 1-6).
19. A list with genealogical notes concerning priests that had
taken strange wives, and of Levites, and, moreover, of Israelites
(Ezra X. 18 ct seq.).
20. Genealogies of certain of the descendants of Judah and
Benjamin (Neh. xi. 4 et seq.).
597
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Qenappe
Genealogy
21. List of priests and Levltes (Neh. xii. 1-26).
:J2. The pedigree of Adamites from Adara to Noah (I Chron.
i. 1-3), contiuued through the Noahites, with details of the genea-
logical descent of the Hamites and Japhethites (^3;3), and non-
Israelitish Shemites down U) the kings of Fidoni C£i-c>i).
•Si. Genealogy of the sons of Israel (I Chron. ii. i-IW) down
to Jerahmeel, continued (1) in the part Egyptian line of Sheshan
through his daughter's marriage to Jarha the Egyptian (34-41);
and(~') in the family of Caleb (4;i-55), coming down to David.
24. David's pedigree (Ruth iv. 18-22).
25. The descendants of David (II Sam. iii. 3-5, v. 14-1(5;
I Chron. iii. l-'J; compare xlv. 4-7), of Solomon, of Jehoiakim
(verse 16), of the sons of Jeconiah, of Pedaiah, of Zerubbabel,
and of Hananiah (I chron. iii. 10-21).
26. (ienealogy of Judah and Simeon (I Chron. iv.).
27. Genealogy of Reuben, Gad. and the half-tribe Manasseh
(I Chron. v.).
28. The genealogy of the Levites, according to families
(I Chron. vi.). of Issachar, Benjamin, Naphtali, Manasseh,
Ephraim, Asher (vii.), and of the Beniamites (viii.) and the
inhabitants of Jerusalem (ix.).
E. G. H.
In Rabbinical Literature : Rabbinical sources
show that -with the cloiuinauee of Ezra's intluence
aud ideas importance came to be attached to genealo-
gies. Ezra would not leave Babylon until he had
succeeded in establishing the genealogical relations of
the new Israel to a degree of fineness resembling that
of the finest flower (Kid. G9b). His own pedigree,
too, he had been careful to verify (B. B. loa). Chroni-
cles and Ezra-Nehemiah were in fact regarded as IDD
D"'Dnrn ("scrolls of genealogies"), as "•nn^ ni^^JD
Dn\n (B. B. loa; Pes. 62). That the E.xile and the
subsequent vicissitudes had heavily impaired tribal
and racial purity was nevertheless recognized (see
the discussion between K. Joshua and R. Gamaliel .
Yer. Kid. iv. 1). But for the priests purity of de-
scent was indispensable. Hence their
Geneal- genealogies were scrupulously kept
ogies of and, when necessary, minutely investi-
Priests. gated. A special officer seems to have
been entrusted with these records, and
a court of inquiry is mentioned as having been insti-
tuted in Jerusalem (Kid. 76b). The testimony of Jo-
sephus corroborates the fact that a record of the jiedi-
greesof the priests was kept (Josephus, " Conti-a Ap."
i. , § 7 ; " Vita^ " § 1). A priest was bound to demons! rate
the purity of the pedigi'ee of the priestly maiden
he desired towed, even as far back asher great great-
grandfather and great-great-grandmother. In the
case of marriage with a daughter of Levi or of Israel
his scrutiny had to extend a degree further (Kid.
iv. 4). Exemptions depending upon the presumption
created in favor of credibility and honorableuess by
general reputation or public service, were admitted
(Kid. iv. 5). The very division of Israel into
■' houses " presupposes among them the existence
of well-authenticated genealogies. Such divisions
are mentioned in connection Avith the furnishing
of wood (Ta'an. iv. 5: "hou.se of Arak, tribe of
Judah"; comp. Ezra ii. 5; Neh. vii. 10; "house of
David, tribe of Judali " ; comp. Ezra viii. 2 ; " men of
tmknown pedigree" are also named). Ilillel's pedi-
gree is quoted (Yei-. Ta'an. iv. 6Sa, bottom). Ben
'Azzai also speaks of a pOPIV npJlO (" genealogical
record " ; Yeb. 49b).
It is assumed that under Herod I. all genealogical
rolls kept in the Temple were destroyed (Sachs,
" Beitriige," ii. 107). The loss of official genealogies
was deeply deplored as a calamity, more especially
because of their importance for the understanding of
the books of Chronicles (Pes. 62b; B.B. 109). How pro-
lific these Biblical books were in pro-
Loss of voking genealogical conceits is shown
Gen- by thestatementthat900camel-loadsof
ealogies. commentary existed on I Chron. viii.
37 to ix. 44 (Pes. 62b). Much mischief
must have been done by this speculation on family
originsand pedigrees; at least theprovi.sion requiring
caution in instruction in genealogy and limiting the
hours for it (Pes. 76) would seem to indicate as much.
Family pride is rebuked also in the familiar .saying
tliat a "mamzer" (bastard), if learned in the Law,
outranked an ignorant high priest (Hor. 11); in fact,
the priestly insistence upon purity of pedigree was
fully counterbalanced bj^ the demand for knowledge,
which, through Phariseeism (nobility of learning) as
opposed to Sadduceeism (priestly nobility), gradu-
ally succeeded in developing a new aristocracy, that
of the mind, in the place of the old one (Zadokite)
of blood. !Many stories preserve the memoiy of the
struggle for recognition of the one or the other claim
to distinction which agitated learned and unlearned
Israel in the early Christian centuries (Kid. 70a,
71a, b).
Of spurious genealogies, specimens of which
Sprenger ("Das Leben und die Lehre Mohammad ")
adduces, Jewish literature has a goodly number to
show (Seder '01am ZiUa; Zunz, " G. V." 2d ed.,
1892, pp. 142 (t seq. ; Itinerary of Benjamin of Tu-
dela, Asher's ed., ii. 6 et seq.). Yet this is not proof
that all the pedigrees current among Jews were of
this class (Zunz, "Analekten," No. 15, p. 46). The
tribes of Reuben, Simeon, and Levi, according to
Midr. R. to Num. xiii.. preserved while in Egypt
their "yihus" (genealogy) to prove the purity and
legitimacy of their descent. Upon this yihus the Jews
have always laid great stress, as have also the Gen-
tiles (Yeb. 62a; Yer. Y''eb. ii. 4a). Marriage was in-
validated if any deception regarding one's yihus was
discovered, even if the actual rank was higher than
the assumed (Yer. Kid. ii. 62c). Silence when
taimted with low origin creates the presumption
tiiat the person taunted is of high stock (Kid. 71b).
ponV r\h\y^il^y tbe "chain of genealogies," is spoken
of (Gen. R. Ixxxii.), and the word ponV has passed
into literature to designate historical annals.
Bibliography : Hamburger, R. B. T. ii.
E. G. H.
-Critical View : The genealogical lists of Gen-
esis, as well as those that are meant to account for the
origin and subdivisions of the Israelitish tribes, are
similar to the tables which were current, first orally
and then in written form, among the Arabs. These
lists illustrate the theory obtaining in early Semitic
civilization, accoiding to which the tribe — tiic central
unit of every institution — was looked upon as the
progeny of one common ancestor, assumed, in many
cases, as theeponym. Historical, geographical, and
ethnological data and reminiscences are spontaneous-
ly (not artificially or intentionally) expressed in the
terms of tliis theory. Geographical or racial propin-
quity is indicated by the degree of relationship as-
cribed to the component elements. Political suprem-
acy and dependence are refiecled in the assumption of
Genealogry
Genesis
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
598
descent on the one hand in direct line from the first-
born, on the other in a collateral line, sometimes
traced through a concubine or a second wife, perhaps
the bondmaid of the ancestor's legitimate spouse.
Septs and subdivisions are ranked in the tribal
tree according to their numbers or importance,
either as branches or as continuing the main trunk.
Conversely, the descendants of groups
Tribal originally not connected with the tribe,
Relations but in course of time incorporated
Indicated, into it, are characterized as offshoots,
the issue of illegitimate conjugal
unions (comp. W. R. Smith, " Marriage and Kinship
in Early Arabia," passim; Wellhausen, "Die Ehe
bei den Arabern " ; see also Government). Con-
crete illustrations of the foregoing view may be seen
in the genealogies of the Hebrew tribes and clans
e.g. , Benjamin, Dan, and Esau.
The many discrepancies among the various gene-
alogies are not due exclusively to imperfections of
memory and the vicissitudes to which tradition is
always exposed. Changes in geographical and
political relations, as well as in religious views, are
often reflected in these variations, the subject of the
genealogy or a component part of it appearing at
one time as the son or descendant of one person,
while at another he is named as a member of some
other family. It must be remembered that these
genealogies are not all of one age. The institution
of the blood covenant, by which are established re-
lationships as close as natural ones (see Bkotheu),
may also underlie these variants and discrepancies.
In some of the genealogies of Genesis, however,
intentional readjustments of the traditional mate-
rial come clearly to the surface, as in the twofold
genealogy of Noah. He is a Caiuite in one; a
Sethite in the other. To the Cainites later historiog-
raphy and theology ascribe the corruption of the
pre-Noachian race (see Enoch; Fall of Angels;
Flood, in Rabbinical Literature). This mid-
rashic and pseudepigraphic view rep-
Geneal- resents an ancient popular tradition
ogies probably antedating by centuries the
in Genesis, written form in the Apocrypha or the
Haggadah. To the desire to disconnect
Noah from Cain's seed, the second genealogj' with
its but thinlj' disguised duplications of the first owes
its origin. The so-called "List of Nations" (Gen.
X.), while showing in what degree the peoples of
which the ancient Hebrews had knowledge were re-
garded as related to the Israelites, reflects geograph.
ical and not ethnological data, the nations being
ranged in the main under three great geographical
zones. As now preserved, the chapter is not free
from indications of being a composite of several
ethnic-geographic lists.
That place-names and districts figure in many of
the genealogies as individuals is beyond dispute;
even arts and musical accomplishments come near
being represented as "sons" (Gen. iv. 21). The ne-
cessity for keeping accurate genealogical lists in
pre-exilic Israel is not apparent. Neither for the
regulation of the royal succession nor for the division
of inherited property was proof of legitimate descent
imperatively needed. By far the greatest number
of genealogies of individuals occur in the post-exilic
books: elsewhere individual genealogies rarely go
back further than one or two generations. No men-
tion is made of any officer appointed to keep the
records. Nor was pre-exilic Israel jealous of racial
purity (comj). Gen. xxxviii.); sacerdotal preoccu-
pation in this regard is post-exilic (Ezraic). The
genealogies of Genesis exhibit a strong realization
of the unity of the human race, while framed to
assign to Israel a distinct place in the economy of
the human family. From Adam, Noah, Abraham,
and Jacob a continuous process of selection is posited
in the scheme. This is the ethical aspect and value
of these genealogies.
The Exile stimulated genealogical zeal (Ezek. xiii.
9). The old tribal organization had passed awaj'.
A spiritual factor took its place as the uniting and
differentiating energy, the congregation gradual!}'
but steadily adjusting itself to the tripartite scheme:
priest (Zadokite), Levite, and Israel,
The with Israel as a "holy seed." To
Influence this new attitude must be ascribed in
of the exilic and early post-exilic congre-
the Exile, gation the rise of many Levitical and
other genealogies, constructed on data
such as memory could supply and skill could mar-
shal to good effect, some of which are undoubtedly
at the basis of the genealogical lists in Ezra-Nehe-
miah and Chronicles. These first attempts were
not very complex in plan (see. for instance, Ezra ii.
40, iii. 9; Neh. ix. 4; Num. xxvi. 58; see also Levi).
But as the Ezraic construction of Israel's past and
part came to triumph, the "Levitizing" purpose
asserted itself in ever greater measure; and the lists
of Chronicles and Ezra-Nehemiah display the over-
ruling passion. That of the high priests (I Chron.
vi. 3-15, V. 29-41) is altogether typical of the sacer-
dotal view-point, in which the Zadokites are exalted.
Moreover, it is virtually a duplicate of Ezra's gen-
ealogy (Ezra vii. 1 ; comp. I Esd. viii. 2 and II Esd.
i. 7).
Bibliography : W. R. Smith, Kinxhip and Marriape in
Earlu Arabia, Cambridgre, 1885; Stade, Gescti. <les Volkes
Israel, 1887, vol. 1. ; Guthe, Oesch. des V<ilketi Israel, 1899;
Sellin, Stiidien zur Enstelniriijsoesch. der Jlidischen Ge-
meindc nach dem Dahylnnischen Exil, 1901 ; Eduard
Meyer, Die Entstehmig des Judenthums, 1S96 ; Wellhausen,
Israel itischc und Jlldisehe Ge.'tch. .5th ed., 1899; idem, De
Gentihuset Familiis q^icr in I Chron. ii. U Enumerantiir,
1870; Smend, Die Listen der BUelier Ezra und Neheminh,
1881 ; Hastings, Diet. Bible, and Cheyne and Black, Encyc.
Bibl. s.v. Genealogies.
E. G. H.
GENERATION: This many-sided word, like
its equivalents in the modern versions of the Bible,
is used to translate the Hebrew "dor " and "tole-
dah " (the latter found only in the plural). The
primary meaning of " dor " is " period " ; the second-
ary, the period bounded by the life of a man or of a
single family. Thus "dor " signifies generations, or
ages, of men in the past or future; it also designates,
the men who live in any special period or age (see
especially Ps. cxlv. 4; Eccl. i. 4). From this idea
of men regarded as a group bound together by re-
lationship a transition is made to men of any partic-
ular time taken as a class connected only by contem-
poraneousness. Thus in "a generation that curseth
its father" (Prov. xxx. 11) the class character is
so strong that the persons described are spoken of
throuijrhout as a sin<;]e unit.
699
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Genealogy
Qenesis
In "toledot," on the other hand, the idea of de-
scent by birth and family relationship gives its spe-
cial force to the translating term. Thus " genera-
tions " in Gen. x. 32 means a genealogical succession
of families; in Num. i. 20, genealogical divisions
by parentage. A secondary and very important
usage may be seen where " generations " means the
history in the form of a genealogical account of
any set of people along with their descendants
(Gen. V. 1). All early history began with gene-
alogical lists, and even the process of creation of
heaven and earth is viewed in Gen. ii. 4, as a
genealogical history. The word " toledot " is found
mostly in the Hexateuch, and there only in the
Priestly Code.
E. G. H. J. F. McC.
GENERATION, LENGTH OF : The number
of years that elapse before the children of one set of
human beings arrive at a marriageable age. This
number has been defined to be equal to the aveiage
male age at marriage, plus one year before child-
bearing begins, plus half the average number of
years during which fecundity lasts. As a rule, Jews
marry much earlier than the rest of the male popu-
lation among which they dwell, probably owing to
the rabbinic requirement that a man should marry
before attaining the age of twenty (Kid. 29b). On
the other hand, their fecundity is greater; therefore
the time of fertility of the female is longer; but
exact figures concerning this detail are not available.
From such data as are obtainable it appears that
Jews marry at the age of twenty-two, as compared
with twenty-nine for the rest of the population
(Mayo-Smith, "Science of Statistics," i. 103); while
fertility lasts, on an average, for fourteen years after
marriage, as compared with twelve among non-Jews
{ib. 113). This would give the length of a generation
among Jews as thirty years, as compared with thirty-
six in the remaining population. The difference does
not appear to be large, but its effect on the in-
crease of population is cumulative and increases in
geometrical progression, the modulus being 1.3,
causing the Jewish population in four generations
to become double that of the unit rate. Another con-
sequence of the less length of generations among Jews
is the proportionately larger number living simul-
taneously, and, as a result, the greater opportunity
for, and superior strength of, tradition among them.
Bibliography : Rumelln, Reden, 1. Tubingen, 1875 ; F. Gal-
ton, Human Faculty, App. F., London, 1883.
E. C. J.
GENESIS, THE BOOK OF.— Biblical
Data : § 1. The first book of the Torah, and there-
fore of the whole Bible, is called by the Jews
"Bereshit," after the initial word; by theSeptuagint
and by Philo it is called Teveaig (Koa/xov) = " origin "
(of the world), after the contents, and hence " Gen-
esis" has become the usual non-Hebrew designa-
tion for it. According to the Masorah, it is divided
into ninety-one sections (" parashiyyot "), forty-three
of which have open or broken lines (" petuhot "),
and forty-eight closed lines ("setumot"); or into
forty-three chapters ("sedarim") and twenty-nine
sections (" piskot ") ; for reading on the Sabbath, into
twelve lessons; according to the division adopted
from the Vulgate, into fifty chapters with 1,548
verses.
§2. Genesis is a historical work. Beginning with
the creation of tlie world, it recounts the primal his-
tory of humanity and the early history
Nature of the people of Israel as exemplified
and Plan, in the lives of its patriarchs, Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob, and their families.
It contains the historical presupposition and basis of
the national religious ideas and institutions of Israel,
and serves as an introduction to its history and leg-
islation. It is a well-planned and well-executed
composition of a single writer, who has recounted
the traditions of his people with masterly skill,
combining them into a uniform work, without con-
tradictions or useless repetitions, but preserving
the textual and formal peculiarities incident to their
difference in origin and mode of transmission.
§ 3. The author has treated tlie story as a series
of ten "generations" ("toledot"); namely, (1) of
heaven and earth, oh. ii. 4-iv. ; (2) of Adam, v.-vi.
8; (3) of Noah, vi. 9-ix. ; (4) of Noah's sons, x.-xi. 9;
(5) of Shem, xi. 10-26; (6) of Terah, xi. 27-xxv. 11 ;
(7) of Ishmael, xxv. 12-18; (8) of Isaac, xxv. 19-
xxxv. ; (9) of Esau, xxxvi. ; (10) of Jacob, xxxvii.-l.
§ 4. In the beginning God created heaven and earth (i. 1),
and set them in order in six days. He spoke, and on the first
day there appeared the light ; on the second, the flrmament
of heaven ; on the third, the separation be-
Contents . tween water and land, with vegetation upon the
latter; on the fourth, sun, moon, and stars;
on the fifth, the marine animals and birds; on the sixth, the
land animals ; and, finally, God created man in His image, man
and woman together, blessing them and giving them dominion
over all beings. On the seventh day God rested, and blessed
and sanctified the day (i. 2-ii. 3). As regards the creation and
subsequent story of man (Adam), God forms him out of earth
("adama"), and breathes into him the breath of life. Then He
sets him in a pleasure-garden (Eden), to cultivate and watch
over it. Adam is allowed to eat of all the fruit therein except
that of the " tree of the knowledge of good and evil." God then
brings all the animals to Adam, to serve as company for and to
receive names from him. When Adam can find no being like
himself among all these creatures, God puts him into a deep
sleep, takes a rib from his side, and forms a woman (called
later "Eve"), to be a companion to him. The woman is se-
duced by the artful serpent to eat of the forbidden fruit, and the
man also partakes of the same. As punishment they are driven
out of Eden (ii. 4-iii.). Adam and Eve have two sons, Cain and
Abel. Cain grows envious of the favor found by his brother
before God, and slays him ; he then wanders over the earth as a
fugitive, and finally settles in the land of Nod. Enoch, one
of his sons, builds the first city, and Lamech takes two wives,
whose sons are the first dwellers in tents and owners of herds
and the earliest inventors of musical instruments and workers
in brass and iron. Cain's descendants know nothing about
God (iv.). Another son, Setti, has in the meantime been born
to Adam and Eve in place of the slain Abel. Seth's descendants
never lose thought of God. The tenth in regular descent is the
pious Noah (v.).
§ 5. As mankind has become wicked, indulging in cruelties
and excesses, God determines to destroy it entiivly. Noah only,
on account of his piety, will escape the general ruin ; and God
commands him to build a large ark, since the work of destruction
is to be accomplished by means of a great fiood. Noah obeys
the command, entering the ark together with his wife, his
three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, their wives, and, by (iod's
instructions, with one couple of each kind of animal on the earth.
Then the fiood comes, destroying all living beings save those in
the ark. When it has subsided, the latter leave the ark, and
God enters into a covenant with Noah and his descendants.
Noah begins to cultivate the field that has been cursed during
Adam's lifetime (lii. 17-19 ; v. 29), and plants a vineyard <ix. 20).
When, in a fit of Intoxication, Noah is shamelessly treated by his
son Ham, he curses the latter in the person of Ham's son Canaan,
while the reverential Shem and Japheth are blessed (Ix. 21-27).
Ch. X. contains a review of the peoples that are descended from
Genesis
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
600
Japheth, Ham, and Shem (down to the chief branch of the last-
named), and are living dispersed over the whole earth. The
dispersion was due to the "confusion of tongues," which God
brought about when men attempted to build a tower that should
reach up to heaven (xi. 1-9). A genealogy is given of Shem's
descendants in regular line, the tenth generation of whom is
represented by Terah (xl. 10-25).
§ 6. Terah, who lives at Ur of the Chaldees, has three sons,
Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Haran's son is Lot. Nahor is mar-
ried to Milcah, and Abram to Sarai, who has no children (xi.
26-32). God directs Abram to leave his home and kindred be-
cause He intends to bless him. Abram obeys, emigrating with
his entire household and Lot, his brother's son, to the land of
Canaan. Here God appears to him and promises that the land
shall become the property of his descendants. Abram is forced
by a famine to leave the country and go to Egypt. The King
of Egypt takes possession of the beautiful Sarai (whom Abram
has represented as his sister), but, smitten by (iod, is compelled to
restore her (xii.). Abram returns to Canaan, and separates
fiom Lot in order to put an end to disputes about pasturage,
leaving to Lot the beautiful country in the valley of the Jordan
near Sodom. God thereupon again appears to Abram, and
again promises him the whole country (xiii.). Lot is taken
prisoner during a war between Amraphel, King of Shinar, and
Bera, King of Sodoin, with their respective allies, whereupon
Abram pursues the victors with his armed servants, liberates
Lot. and seizes the booty, refusing his share of the same (xiv.).
After this exploit God again appears to Abram and promises him
protection, a rich reward, and, in spite of the fact that Abram
still has no children, a numerous progeny. These descendants
must pass four hundred years in servitude in a strange land ;
but after God has judged their oppress: irs they, in the possession
of great wealth, shall leave the land of their affliction, and the
fourth generation shall return to the same land (xv.).
Sarai being still childless, Abram gets a son, Ishmael, by her
Egyptian handmaid, Hagar (xvi.). God again appears to .Abram,
and enters into a personal covenant with him securing Abram's
future: (iod promises him a numerous progeny, changes his
name to " Abraham " and that of Sarai to " Sarah," and insti-
tutes the circumcision of all males as an eternal sign of the
covenant. Abraham, together with his whole house, immediately
fulfils the rite (xvii.). God once more appears to .\braham in
the person of three messengers, whom Abrahiim receives hospi-
tably, and who announce to him that he will have a son within
a year, although he and his wife are already very old. Abraham
also hears that God's messengers intend to execute judgment
upon the wicked inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah, where-
upon he intercedes for the sinners, and endeavors to have their
fate set aside (xvUl.). Two of the messengers go to Sodom,
where they are hospitably received by Lot. The men of the
city wish to lay shameless hands upon them, and, having thus
shown that they have deserved their fate, Sodom and Gomorrah
are destroyed by Are and brimstone, only Lot and bis two
daughters being saved. The circumstances of the birth of Am-
monand Moab are set forth (xix.). Abraham journeys to Gerar,
the country of Abimelech. Here also he represents Sarah as his
sister, and Abimelech plans to gain possession of her, but de-
sists on being warned by God (xx.).
At last the long-expected son is born, and receives the name
of "Isaac." At the instance of Sanih, the boy Ishmael, together
with his mother, Hagar, is driven out of the house, but they also
have a great future promised to them. Abraham, during the
banquet that he gives in honor of Isaac's birth, enters into a
covenant with Abimelech, who confirms his right to the well
Beer-sheba (xxi.).
Now that Abraham seems to have all his desires fulfilled,
having even provided for the future of his son, God subjects
him to the greatest trial of his faith by demanding Isaac as a
sacrifice. Abraham obeys ; but, as he is about to lay the knife
upon his son, God restrains him, promising him numberless
descendants. On the death of Sarah Abraham acquires Mach-
pelah for a family tomb (xxiii.). Then he sends his servant to
Mesopotamia, Nahor's home, to find among his relations a wife
for Isaac; and Rebekah, Nahor's granddaughter, is chosen
(xxiv.). Other children are born to Abraham by another wife,
Keturah, among whose descendants are the MIdianites ; and he
dies in a prosperous old age (xxv. 1-18).
8 7. After being mairied for twenty years Rebekah has twins
by Isaac : Esau, who becomes a hunter, and Jacob, who becomes
a herdsman. Jacob persuades Esau to sell him his birthright,
for which the latter does not care (xxv. 19-;U); notwithstanding
this bargain, (iod appears to Isaac and repeats the promises
given to Abraham. His wife, whom he represents as his sister.
Is endangered in the country of the Philistines, but King Abime-
lech himself averts disaster. In spile of the hostility of Ablme-
lech's people, Isaac is fortunate in all his undertakings in that
country, especially in digging wells. God appears to him at
neer-sheba, encourages him, and promises him blessings and
numerous descendants: and Abimelech enters into a cove-
nant with him at the same place. Esau marries Canaanite
women, to the regret of his parents (xxvi.). Rebekah per-
suades Jacob to dress himself as Esau, and thus obtain from
his senile father the blessing intended for Esau (x.xvii.). To
escape his brother's vengeance, Jacob is sent to relations in
Haran, being charged by Isaac to find a wife there. On the
way God appears to him at night, promising protection and aid
for himself and the land for his numerous descendants (xxviii.).
Arrived at Haran, Jacob hires himself to Laban, his mother's
brother, on condition that, after having served for seven years
as herdsman, he shall have for wife the younger daughter,
Rachel, with whom he is in love. At the end of this period
Laban gives him the elder daughter, Leah ; Jacob therefore
serves another seven years for Rachel, and after that six years
more for cattle. In the meantime Leah bears him Reuben,
Simeon, Levi, and Judah ; by Rachel's maid Bilhah he has Dan
and Naphtali ; by Zilpah, Leah's maid. Gad and Asher; then,
by Leah again, Issachar, Zebulun, and Dinah : and finally, by
Rachel, Joseph. He also acquires much wealth in flocks (xxix.-
XXX.).
In fear of Laban, Jacob flees with his family and all his posses-
sions, but becomes reconciled with Laban, who overtakes him
(xxxi.). On approaching his home he is in fear of Esau, to
whom he sends presents ; and with the worst apprehensions he
turns at night to God in prayer. An angel of God appears to
Jacob, is vanquished In wrestling, and announces to him that
he shall bear the name "Israel," i.e., "the combatant of
God" (xxxii.). The meeting with Esau proves a friendly one,
and the brothers separate reconciled. Jacob settles at Shalem
(xxxiii.). His sons Simeon and Levi take bloody vengeance
on the city of Shechem, whose prince has dishonored their sister
Dinah (xxxiv.). Jacob moves to Beth-el, where God bestows
upon him the promised name of '' Israel," and repeats His other
promises. On the road from Beth-el Rachel gives birth to a
son, Benjamin, and dies (xxxv.). A genealogy of Esau and the
inhabitants and rulers of his country, Edom, is given in ch. xxxvl.
§ 8. Joseph, Jacob's favorite, is hated by his brothers on ac-
count of his dreams prognosticating his future dominion, and
on the advice of Judah is secretly sold to a caravan of Ishmael-
itic merchants going to Egypt. His brothers tell their father
that a wild animal has devoured Joseph (x.\xvil.) . Joseph, car-
ried to Egypt, is there sold as a slave to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh's
officials. He gains his master's confidence ; but when the latter's
wife, unable to seduce him, accuses him falsely, he is cast into
prison (xxxlx.). Here he correctly interprets the dreams of
two of his fellow prisoners, the king's butler and baker (xl.).
When Pharaoh is troubled by dreams that no one is able to iti-
terpret, the butler draws attention to Joseph. The latter is
thereupon brought before Pharaoh, whose dreams he interprets
to mean that seven years of abundance will be followed by
seven years of famine. He advises the king to make provision
accordingly, and is empowered to take the necessary steps, being
appointed second in the kingdom. Joseph marries Asenath, the
daughter of the priest Poti-pherah, by whom he has two sons,
Manasseh and Ephraim (xli.).
When the famine comes it Is felt even in Canaan ; and Jacob
sends his sons to Egypt to buy corn. The brothers appear be-
fore Joseph, who recognizes them, but does not discover him-
self. After having proved them on this and on a second journey,
and they having shown themselves so fearful and penitent that
Judah even offers him.self as slave, Joseph reveals his identity,
forgives his brothers the wrong they did him, and promises
to settle in Egypt both them and his father (xlii.-xlv.). Jacob
brings his whole family, numbering 66 persons, to Egypt,
this making, inclusive of Joseph and his sons and himself, 70
persons. Pharaoh receives them amicably and assigns to them
the land of Goshen (xlvi.-xlvii.). When Jacob feels the ap-
proach of death he sends for Joseph and his sons, and receives
Ephraim and Manasseh among his own sons (xlviii.). Then he
calls his sons to his bedside and reveals their future to them
(xlix). Jacobdies, and is solemnly interred in the family tomb
at Machpelah. Joseph lives to see his great-grai.dchildren, and
on his death-bed he exhorts his brethren, if God should remem-
ber them and lead them out of the country, to take his bones
with them (1.).
§ 9. lu the choice, connection, and presentation
of his material the narrator has followed certain
principles incident to the purpose and scope of his
work. Although he adopts tlie universal view-
iLLrMIXATED PAGE OF GENESIS.
(From a inaiiusiTi|.t formerly in Ih,- |.ossrasinn of ih^ Duke of Sussex.)
Genesis
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
602
point of history, beginning with the Creation and
giving a review of tlie entire human race, he yet in-
tends to deal particularly with Israel,
Aim the people subsequently chosen by
of Work. God, and to give an account of its ori-
gin and of its election, which is based on
its religious and moral character. His chief point of
view, therefore, is that of narrator of tribal and
religious history ; and only the details that bear on
this history are reported.
§ 10. It is his primary intention to show that the
people of Israel are descended in a direct line from
Adam, the first man created by God, through legiti-
mate marriages in conformity with Israelitish moral
ideals, i.e., monandric marriages. Offshoots branch
from this main line at central points represented
by Adam, Noah, Shem, Eber, Abraham, and Isaac,
though their subsequent legitimacy can not be guar-
anteed. Linguistically the descent from the main
line is always indicated by the word T7in, vouching
for the paternity ; wliile descent in a branch line is
indicated by *i"iV This is the explanation of the in-
terchange of these two words, a phenomenon which
has never yet been correctly interpreted. The line
branching off at any one central point is always fully
treated before the next member of the main line is
mentioned. Only such matters are related in regard
to the branch lines as are important for the history of
humanity or that of Israel. No fact is ever introduced
merely on account of its historical or antiquarian
value. In the main line the interest is concentrated
upon the promised, long-expected generations of
Isaac— Jacob, his sons and grandsons — who safely
pass through all dangers and tribulations, emphasis
being laid on their religious and moral character.
§ 11. The events are related in definite chrono-
logical order, the chief dates being as follows ;
Event.
Year of Creation.
Adam dies
930
Noah Is bom, the first birth after Adam's
death
1056
The Flood
1656
Birth of Abraham
1948
Noah's death at the age of 950
2006
Abraham Roes to Canaan
2023
Birth of Ishmael
2034
Birth of Isaac
2048
Death of Terah at the age of 205
2083
Death of Sarah at the age of 127
2085
Isaac marries Rebekah
2088
Birth of Esau and Jacob
2108
Death of Abraham, aged 175
Death of Shem at the age of 600
2123
21.58
Ishmael dies at the age of 137
2171
Death of Eber at the age of 464
2181
Jacob marries Leah and Rachel
2192
Birth of Joseph
2199
Joseph is sold
2216
Death of Isaac at the age of 180
2228
Jacob and his family go to Egypt
2238
Death of Jacob at the age of 147
2255
Death of Joseph at the age of 110
2309
The year of the Creation Is the year 3949 before the common
era.
The ten generations before the Flood attain to
ages varying between 777 years (Lamech) and 969
years (Methuselah), with the exception of Enoch (365
years). Those of the ten generations after the Flood
vary between 600 years (Slicm) and 148 (Nahor).
All the reasons for t lie details of this clironology have
not yet been discovered. Oppert has declared (in
" R. E. J." 1895, and in Chronology) that the figures
are connected with ancient Babylonian chronolog-
ical systems. The variations found in the Septua-
giut and in the Samaritan Pentateuch were intro-
duced for certain purposes (see Jacob in " J. Q. R. "
xii. 434 e< seq.). The correctness of the Masoretic
figures, however, is evident from the context.
§ 12. Anachronisms such as various critics al-
lege are found in Genesis do not in reality ex-
ist; and their assumption is based on a misunder-
standing of the historiographic principles of tlie
book. Thus the history of a generation no longer of
importance is closed and the death of its last mem-
ber noted, although it may not be contemporaneous
with the next succeeding generation, to which the
attention is then exclusively directed. This view
explains the apparent contradictions between xi. 33
and xi. 26, xii. 4; also between xxv. 7 and xxv. 36;
xxi. 5 and xxv. 20; xxxv. 28 (Jacob was at that
time 120 years old) and xlvii. 9; xxxvii. 2, xii. 46;
etc. In ch. xxxiv. Dinah is not six to seven years
old, nor Simeon and Levi eleven and ten respect-
ively, but (xxxv. 27, xxxvii. 1 et seq., xxxiii. 17)
each is ten years older. The events in ch. xxxviii.
do not cover twenty -three years — from the sale of
Joseph in his seventeenth year to the arrival of
Judah's grandsons in Egypt (xlvi. 12) in Joseph's
foitieth year — but thirty-three years, as tlie words
NTin ny^'IT'l (elsewhere only in xxi. 22 and I Kings
xi. 29) refer back in this case to xxxiii.. 17. The
story is introduced at this point to provide a pause
after ch. xxxvii.
§ 13. Norarethereany repetitions or unnecessary
doublets. If ch. ii. were an account of the Creation
differing from that found in ch. i., nearly all the
events would have been omitted; it is, however,
the story in detail of the creation of man, introduced
by a summary of what preceded. Neither are there
two accounts of the Flood inch, vi.-ix., in which
no detail is superfluous. The three accounts of the
danger of Sarah and Rebekah, ch. xii., xx., and
XX vi., are not repetitions, as the circumstances are
different in each case; and ch. xxvi. refers expressly
to ch. XX. The account in xix. 29 of the destruc-
tion of Sodom and Gomorrah and the rescue of Lot,
is but a summary introducing the story that follows,
which would not be comprehensible without xix.
14, 23, 28. Repeated references to the same place
(Beth-el, xxviii. 19, xxxv. 15), or renewed attempts
to explain the same name (Beer-sheba, xxi. 31, xxvi.
33; comp. xxx. 20 et seq.), or several names for the
same person (xxvi. 34, xxvii. 46-xxxvi. 2 for
Esau's wives) are not contradictions. The change
of Jacob's name into that of " Israel " is not narrated
twice, for xxxii. 29 contains only the announce-
ment by the messenger of God. Apparently no
exegete lias noted that 1J3N' is a parenthesis often
found in prophetic speeches (" Not Jacob — thus it
will be said [i.e., in xxxv. 10] — shall be thy name");
DK' "IDN is an impossible construction in Hebrew;
xxxii. 4 et seq. and xxxiii. 1 etseq. do not prove, con-
trary toxxxvi. 6-7, that Esau was living at Seir be-
fore Jacob's return. The account of the sale of Joseph
as found in xxxvii. 1-25, 28, 29-36; xl. 1 et seq.
does not contradict xxxvii. 25-27, 28; xxxix. ; for
603
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Genesis
the Midianites were the middlemen between the
brothers and the Ishmaelites, on the one hand, and
between the latter and Potiphar, on the other.
Potiphar is a different person from the overseer of
the prison ; and Joseph could very well say that he
had been stolen, i.e., that he had been put out of
the way (xl. 15).
§ 14. It is the purpose of the book, on its relig-
ious as well as its historic side, to portray the rela-
tion of God to humanity and the behavior of the
latter toward Him; His gracious guidance of the
history of the Patriarchs, and the promises given to
them; their faith in Him in spite of all dangers, trib-
ulations, and temptations; and, finally, the religious
and moral contrasts with Hamitic (Egyptian and
Canaanite) behavior.
§ 15. Being a historical narrative, no formal ex-
planations of its religious views are found in Gene-
sis ; but the stones it contains are founded on such
views, and the author furthermore looks upon history
as a means of teaching religion. He is a historian
only in virtue of being a theologian.
Religion of He inculcates religious doctrines in the
Genesis, form of stories. Instead of propound-
ing a system he describes the religious
life. The book therefore contains an inexhaustible
fund of ideas. The most important among these, re-
garding God, the Creation, humanity, and Israel's
Patriarchs, may be mentioned here.
§ 16. There is- only one God, who has created
heaven and earth (that is, the world), and has called
ail objects and living beings into existence by His
word. The most important point of the theology
of ,3renesis, after this fundamenUil fact, is the inten-
tional variation in the name of God. It is tlie most
striking point of the book that the same God is now
called "Elohim" and now"Ynwn." In this varia-
tion is found the key to the whole book and even
to the whole Pentateuch. It is not accidental ; nor
are the names used indifferently by the author,
though the principle he follows can not be reduced
to a simple formula, nor the special intention in
each case be made evident.
§ 17. " Yhwh " is the proper name of God (= " the
Almighty" ; see Ex. iii. Vletseq., vi. 2), used wherever
the personality of God is to be emphasized. Hence
only such expressions are used in connection with
" YiiwH " as convey the impi'ession of personality,
i.e., anthropomorphisms. Eyes, ears, nose, mouth,
face, hand, heart are ascribed only to " Ynwii," never
to "Elohim." These anthropomorphisms are used
merely to suggest the personal life and activity of
God, and are not literal personifications, as is conclu-
sively proved by the fact that phrases which would be
actual anthropomorphisms — e.cj.., " God sees with His
eyes"; "He hears with His ears"; "one sees God's
face "("head," "body," etc.) — never occur. The ex-
pression " Yiiwn's eyes " indicates divine knowledge
of what may be seen through personal apperception ;
"Yiiwii's ears," what may be heard; nin^ f]>{ =
"God's anger" indicates the reaction of God's moral
nature against evil; "Yiiwii's mouth" indicates
the utterances of the God who speaks personally ;
"Yiiwii's face" indicates immediate personal in-
tercourse with the God who is felt to be present;
"Yiiwii's hand" indicates His sensible manifesta-
tions of power; "Yhwh's heart" indicates His
thoughts and designs. The phrase " Yhwh, a per-
sonal God," characterizes fully the use of this name.
A person or a nation can have personal relations with
the personal Yhwh only ; and only He can plan and
guide the fate of either with a personal interest.
Yinvii is the God of history and of the education of
the human race. Only Yiiwii can exact a po.sitive
attitude toward Himself, and make demands upon
man that are adequate, i.e., moral: Yhwh is the
God of positive morality. A personal, inner life
longing for expression can be organized into definite
form and find response only if Yhwh be a personal,
living God. Yhwh is the God of ritual, worship,
aspiration, and love.
§ 18. "Elohim" is an appellative, and the gen-
eral name for the divinity, the superhuman, extra-
mundane being, whose existence is felt by all men
— a being that possesses intelligence and will, exists
in the world and beyond human power, and is the
final cause of all that exists and happens. " Yhwh "
is concrete ; " Elohim " is abstract. " Yhwh " is the
special," Elohim " the general, God. " Yhwh " is per-
sonal ; " Elohim " impersonal. Yet there is no other
Elohim but Yhwh, who is "ha-Elohim" {the Elo-
him).
The following points may be observed in particu-
lar: {(I) "Elohim," as genitive of a person, indicates
that the latter has superhuman relations (xxiii. 6;
similarly of an object, xxviii. 17, 22). {p) It also in-
dicates ideal humanity (xxxiii. 10; comp. xxxii. 29).
{c) "Elohim" expresses the fate imposed by a
higher power. The statement "A person is pros-
perous" is paraphrased by "Elohim is with him,"
which is distinctly different from " Yhwh is with
him." While the former indicates objectively a
person's prosperity with regard to a single event,
the latter expresses the higher intentions and consec-
utive plans of the personal God in regard to the per-
son in question. Abimelech says to Abraham, " Elo-
him is with thee in all that thou doest" (xxi. 22),
while lie says to Isaac, "Yhwh is with thee," and
" thou art now the blessed of Yhwh " (xxvi. 28, 29).
For Abiniolech had at first tried in vain to injure
Isaac; but later he convinced himself (IJ'KI ^X^)
that evidently (nnj?) it was the Yhwh worshiped by
Isaac that designedly protected and blessed the
latter. Again, in xxi. 20: "And Elohim was with
the lad " ; for Ishmael did not belong to the chosen
line, concerning which God had special plans.
Yhwh, however, is always with Israel and its heroes
(xxvi. 3, 28; xxviii. 15 [xxxii. 10, 13] ; xlvi. 4; Ex.
iii. 12; Num. xxiii. 21; Deut. ii. 7; xx. 1; xxxi. 8, 23;
Josh. i. 5, 9, 17; iii. 7; Judges ii. 18; vi. 12, 16; I
Sam. iii. 19; xvi. 18; xviii. 12, 14; xx. 13; II Sem.
vii. 3, V. 10; I Kings i. 37; II Kings xviii. 7). Par-
ticularly instructive is Jacob's vow, xxviii. 20 et
seq., "If Elohim will be with me . . . then shall
Yhwh be my Elohim." Adverse fate especially is,
out of fear, euphemistically ascribed to the general
Elohim, the impersonal God, rather than to Yhwh
xlii. 28).
id) As " Elohim " designates the universal ruler of
the world, that te.^^i is used in ch. i. in the story of
the Creation ; but i' . rder to designate this Elohim
as the true God the word " Yiiwii " is always added
Genesis
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
604
in the following chapters (ii., iii.). (e) In so far as
man feels himself dependent upon Elohim, whom
he needs, the latter becomes his Elohim. As the
term " Elohim " includes the idea of beneficent power,
this relation becomes, on the part of God, that of
the omnipotent patron, and, on the part of man,
that of the protege, the one who needs protection
and offers respect and obedience (xvii. 7, xxviii. 22).
The same interpretation applies to "Elohim" fol-
lowed by the genitive of a person. (/) Elohim is
the religious meeting-ground between the believer
in Yinvn and persons of a different faith (xi v. 22;
XX. 13; xxi. 23.; xxxix. 9; xli. IG, 25, 28, 32, 38).
(g) "Elohim" is the appellation of God used in con-
nection with the person who is inclined toward
Yhwh, but whose faith is not yet fully developed ;
for the one who is on the way to religion, as Melchi-
zedek (ch. xiv.)and Abraham's servant (ch. xxiv. ;
comp. Jethro in Exodus and Balaam in Numbers;
see ^§ 28, 31). (h) "Eloliim" represents God for
those whose moral perception has been blunted by
sin (iii. 3, 5); from the mouths of the serpent and
the woman instead of " Jahweh " is heard " Elo-
him"; they desire to change the idea of a living
God, who says, "Tliou shalt," into a blurred con-
cept of an impersonal and indefinite God. But the
God who pronounces judgment is Yiiwii (ch. ii., iii. ;
on Cain, ch. iv. ; in connection with the Flood, vi.
3-8; the tower of Babel, xi. 5 etseq.; Sodom and
Gomorrah, xviii. 19; Er and Onan, xxxviii. 7, 10).
(i) Although the personality of Elohim is indistinct,
he yet is felt to be a moral power making moral de-
mands. The moral obligation toward him is the
negative virtue of the "fear of God," the fear of
murder (xx. 11), unchastity (xxxix. 9), injustice
(xlii. 18), and renunciation (xxii. 12). (A) "Elo
him " also means the appearance of the Deit}', and
hence may be synonymous with "mal'ak." It may
also designate an object of the ritual representing
or symbolizing the Deity (xxxv. 2).
§ 19. "Elohim" is more explicitly defined by the
article; "ha-Elohim." i.e., "the Elohim" or "of the
Elohim," is sometimes used to identify an "Elohim"
previously mentioned (xvii. 18; comp. verse 17;
XX. 6, 17; comp. verse 3). Tlie single, definite,
previously mentioned appearance of an Elohim is
called " ha-Elohim, " being as such synonymous with
" Mal'ak Yhwh " (xxii. 1, 3, 9, 1 1, 15). both speaking
for Ynwn (verse 16; comp. xlvlii. 15). "Ha-Elo-
him," when derived from "Elohim," is a prepara-
tion for " Yhwh " ; w^hen derived from " Yhwh " it is
a weakening of the idea of God (see t;§ 31 et seq.).
Although these examples do not exhaust the differ-
ent uses of these two names, they are sufKcient to
show the author's intentions.
§ 20. A rare term for " God" is " El Shaddai " (xvii.
1, xxviii. 3, xxxv. 11, xliii. 13, xlviii. 13; "Shad-
dai " in xlix. 25). The usual translation and inter-
pretation, "Almighty," is entirely unsupported.
The term, when closely examined, means "the God
of faith," i.e., the God who faithfully fulfils His
promises. Perhaps it also means a God of love who
is inclined to show abundant love.
§ 21. God as a personal being is not only referred
to in anthropomorphisticand anthropopathic terms,
but Fie .also appears to man and speaks with him.
Thus He speaks with Adam and Eve, Cain, Noah,
Abraham, Hagar, Abimelech, Isaac, Jacob, and
Laban. But He appears only from the time of
Abraham, and in different ways. An Elohim "ap-
pears " to Abimelech and Laban in a dream at night
(xx. 3, xxxi. 24); a mal'ak Yhwh appears to Hagar
(xvi. 7 et seq.), being called in verse 13 simply
"Yhwh." Yhwh appears to Abram (xii. 7, xv. 1);
in a vision (xii. 1, 7) apparently accompanied by dark-
ness, a pillar of smoke, and fire; in xvii. Yhwh, who
issubsequently called " Elohim " (verses 9, 15, 19), ap-
pears, and then ascends (verse 22); in xviii. Yhwh
appears in the form of three men who visit Abraliani,
but these speak as one Yhwh in verses 13, 17, 20, 26,
and 33, who then leaves, while the two messengers
goto Sodom. Yhwh appears to Isaac on a certain
day (xxvi. 2), and again that night (verse 24). Jacob
is addressed in a dream by Yhwh (xxviii. 12 et seq.).
In xxxi. 3 Yhwh speaks to Jacob; Jacob says (verse
11) that a mal'ak of Eloliim appeared to him in a
dream. In xxxv. 9 Elohim again appears to him,
in reference to the nocturnal encounter with a " man "
(xxxii. 14 et seq.), and ascends (xxxv. 13). In xlvi. 2
Elohim speaks to him in a vision of the night.
Hence, the appearance of God means either a
dream-vision, or the appearance of a messenger sent
by God, who speaks in His name, and may there-
fore himself be called "Elohim of Yhwh."
§ 22. " Mal'ak of God " signifies, in the first place,
the fortunate disposition of circumstances (xxiv. 7,
40; comp. xlviii. 16), in which case it is parallel
to "ha-Elohim," the divine guidance of human life;
more often, however, it denotes the "angels"
("mal'akim"), messengers of God in human shape
who carry His behests to men and who seem to enter
and leave heaven through a gate (xxviii. 11); e.g.,
"Yhwh's messenger" (xvi. 7, 11; xxii. 11, 15);
"Elohim's messenger " (xxi. 17; in the plural, xix.
1,15; xxviii. 12; xxxii. 2); or "ha-Elohim "s messen-
ger" (xxxi. 11). The "man" who wrestled with
Jacob likewise seems to have been a mal'ak (xxxii.
25, 29, 31), and the men whom Abraham entertained
and who saved Lot were also mal'akim (xviii., xix.).
According to the popular belief, it is disastrous to
meet them (xvi. 13, xxxii. 31). On this point, more
than on any other, the author seems to have fol-
lowed popular ideas.
§ 23. It appears from the foregoing that the con-
ception of God found in Genesis is throughout a
practical, religious one. God is treated exclusively
with reference to His dealings with the world and
with man, and to the interest that He takes in man's
fate and behavior. He guides, educates, and pun-
ishes. He assigns to the first of mankind a habitation
in Eden, sets them a task, and commands them not to
do a certain thing. When they break this com-
mand He punishes them; but even after that He
cares for them. Although punishing the murderer
Cain, He affords him protection; the cruelties and
unnatural sins of the generation of the Flood arouse
His .sorrow and anger; He humiliates the pride of
the men who are planning to build a tower that
sliall reach to heaven ; He utterly destroys with fire
and brimstone the sinful generation of Sodom and
Gomoriah. The punishments are either the natural
consecjuences of sin — the first of mankind have
605
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Genesis
robbed tlie earth, which liad willingly offered the
fruit of its trees, hence it is cursed and [)aralyzed, and
can no longer give its fruit freely, so long as Adam is
living; Eve has succumbed to desire, hence she l)as
become the slave of desire ; Cain has defiled the earth
by murder, hence he has deprived it of its strength —
or they correspond exactly to the sins; e.g., men build
a tower in order to remain united, hence they are
dispersed ; Jacob wishes to rule his brother, therefore
he must humiliate himself before that brother; he
deceives, and is deceived in return ; he dresses up in
a goatskin in order to obtain a blessing fraudulent-
ly, therefore he is terribly deceived and plunged in
sorrow through a goatskin ; Judah advises the sale
of Joseph as a slave, therefore he himself is forced
to offer himself as a slave.
God, on the other hand, is pleased with the pious,
with Enoch and Noah, and especially with Abra-
ham's unshakable faith (xv. 6) ; his righteousness
and justice, which he recommends to his children
and household (xviii. 19); his implicit obedience,
which is ready to make the supreme sacrifice (xxii.
12, 16). For Abraham's sake God saves Lot (xix.
19); blesses Abraham's son Isaac (xxvi. 5), his chil-
dren, and his children's children; protects them
through all dangers ; prevents others from doing evil
to them (xii. 17, xiv., xv., xx. 3, xxvi., xxxi. 24);
and leads them in a marvelous manner. He gives
commands to men, and binds them to Himself by
covenants and promises. They are the objects of
His designs, as they are His work.
§ 24. The entire universe is the work of God ;
this proposition is the necessary consequence of the
idea of God as found in Gene.sis and the Pentateuch
and in the whole Bible generally. From this arises
doubtless the author's belief that God created the
world out of nothing. He docs not say how this
primal act of creation was accom-
The plished. In the beginning the earth
Creation, was a desolate watery chaos ("tohu
wa-bohu"), over which the spirit of
God brooded, and which God divided into heaven and
earth and arranged and peopled in six days. The
living beings are created in an orderly sequence, pro-
ceeding from the inorganic to the organic, fiom the
incomplete to the complete, man being the crown.
In the beginning God creates light together with
time and the day. The outer firmament separates
the waters above and below it; then when the lower
waters recede the land appears; the earth produces
grass and trees; and plants and animals are created,
each "after its kind," and endowed with the faculty
of propagating within their kind in their respective
elements. Every organic being, therefore, is en-
dowed with a nature of its own, which the Creator
intends it to keep by pairing only with its own kind.
The lights that God has fixed in the firmament
serve to separate the day from the night; they shall
be for "signs, periods, seasons, and years," and shall
give light to the earth. The sun is the greater light,
tliat rules the day; the moon is the lesser light, that
rules the night.
§ 25. The Creation is, in the judgment of God,
good in particular, and very good in general, i.e.,
fit for life, commensurate to its purpose, salutary,
harmonic, and pleasing. The book expresses an
optimistic satisfaction and pleasure in the world, a
lively veneration for God's arrangements and the
peculiar dignity of each being as determined by
God. The simplicity, sublimity, depth, and moral
grandeur of this story of the Creation and its superi-
ority to every other story dealing with the subject
are universally recognized.
§ 26. Man, the crown of Creation, as a pair inclu-
ding man and woman, has been made in God's image.
God forms the first man, Adam, out of earth
("adamah"). This indicates his rela-
Humanity. tion to it in a manner that is funda-
mental for many later laws. Man
is a child of the earth, from which he has been
taken, and to which he shall return. It possesses
for him a certain moral grandeur: he serves it;
it does not serve him. He must include God's
creatures in the respect that it demands in general,
by not exploiting them for his own selfish uses.
Unlawful robbery of its gifts (as in paradise), mur-
der, and unchastity anger it, paralyze its power
and delight in producing, and defile it. God
breathed the breath of life into the nostrils of man,
whom He formed out of earth. Therefore that
part of him that is contrasted with his corporeal
nature or supplements it — his life, soul, spirit, and
reason — is not, as with the animals, of earthly origin,
existing in consequence of the body, but is of divine,
heavenly origin. Man is "toledot" (ii. 4) of heaven
and earth.
The creation of man also is good, in the judgment
of God ; the book, therefore, is cognizant of nothing
that is naturally evil, within man or outside of him.
After God has created man, He says : " It is not good
that the man should be alone; I will make him an
help meet for him " (ii. 18). In order that man
may convince himself that there is no being similar
to him among all the creatures that have been made,
God brings all the animals unto Adam, that hfe may
name them, i.e., make clear to himself their differ-
ent characteristics. Hence man, looking for a being
like unto himself among the animals, finds language.
God thereupon creates woman out of the rib of
man, who gladly recognizes her as bone of his bone
and flesh of his flesh. " Therefore shall a man leave
his father and his mother, and shall cleave tuito his
wife: and they shall be one flesh"; meaning that
the mature man may and shall leave the paternal
house, where he has been merely a dependent mem-
ber of the family, and, urged by the longing for a
sympathetic being that will supplement him, shall
live with the woman of his choice, and found with
her a family of his own, where the two shall be com-
bined in an actual and a spiritual unity. In tliis
passage the relation between man and woman is ex-
pressed, and also the nature of marriage, which is a
life partnership in which one helps and supplements
the other. Procreation is not its purpose, but its
consequence. God has given to man, as to all living
beings, the faculty of multiplying.
§ 27. God gives to man dominion over the earth
and over all living beings. The food of the first
man consists solely of the fruits of the field, that
of the animals being grass (i. 29). His occupation
is to cultivate and watch over the Garden of Eden
(ii. IT)), the only restriction placed upon its enjoy-
Qenesis
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
606
meat being that he shall not eat of the fruit of the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil. In the Gar-
den of Eden men go naked and know no shame;
this feeling is aroused only after they have broken
God's command, and then He makes them garments
of skins to cover their nakedness.
§ 28. All men on earth are descended from the
first pair, Adam and Eve, and are therefore also of
the image of God. This statement expresses the
unity of the whole human race. Man is a created
being, made in the image of God, and all men are
related : these doctrines are among the most funda-
mental and weighty of the whole Bible.
The branch descended from Cain, the fratricide,
the eldest son of the first pair, is the founder of civic
and nomadic culture. The branch descended from
Seth develops along religious Hues: from Elohim
(Seth, iniv. 25) through ha-Elohim (Enoch, in v. 22)
to Yhwh (Noah, in vi. 8). But punishment has
been made necessary on account of Adam's sin ; the
human race must be destroyed on account of its
cruelties and excesses. A new race begins with
Noah and his sons, and God promises that He will
neither curse the earth again, nor destroy all liv-
ing beings, but that, on the contrarj', "seed-time
and harvest, and cold and heat, and sunmier and
winter, and day and night shall not cease" (viii.
22). He blesses Noah and his family, that they
may multiply and fill the earth and be spiritually
above the animals. He permits men to eat meat,
but forbids them to eat blood, or meat with the
blood thereof. God will demand the blood (life) of
every man or animal that spills it. " Whoso shed-
deth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed "
(ix. 6). God enters into a covenant with Noah and
his descendants, promising them that He will not
again send a general flood upon the earth, and in-
stituting the rainbow as a token thereof (ch. ix.).
The God whom all the Noachidae worship is Elohim
(ix. 1, 7, 8, 12, 16, 17), Yhwh being worshiped by
Shem and his descendants. All the peoples dispersed
over the earth are grouped as descendants of Shem,
Ham, and Japheth. The genealogy of these peoples
which the author draws up in ch. x. according to the
ethnographic knowledge of liis time, finds no par-
allel in its universality, which includes all men in
one bond of brotiierhood. In this way have origi-
nated the peoples that shall be blessed in Abraham.
§ 29. Terah, the descendant of Shem and Eber,
has three sons, one of whom, Abraham, is destined
by God for momentous events. He shall leave his
home ; and God says to him : " I will make of thee a
great nation, and I will bless thee and make thy name
great; and thou shalt be a blessing:
Israel's And I will bless them that bless thee,
Patriarchs, and curse him that curscth thee ; and
in thee shall all families of the earth
be blessed " (xii. 2-3). God often repeats the prom-
ise that Abraham's descendants shall be as numerous
as the stars in heaven and as the sand on the seashore
(XV. 5, xxii. 17): that He will make him a father of
many nations, and cause him to be exceedingly fruit-
ful; tliat kings and nations shall be descendants of
him and Sarah (xvii. 5, 6, 16); that he shall become
a great people; thai all nations of the earth shall be
blessed in him (xviii. 18, xxii. 18) ; and that his de-
scendants shall receive the entire land of Canaan as
a hereditary possession (xiii. 14 et seq., xv. 7, xvii.
18). But before all this comes to pass Israel shall
be sorely oppressed for four hundred years as serv-
ants in a strange land, after which they shall go
out with rich possessions, and God shall judge their
oppressors (xv. 13 et seq.). In confirmation of these
promises God enters twice into a covenant with
Abraham: the first time (x v. 18 et seq.) a,?, dio. assur-
ance that his descendants shall possess Canaan;
and the second time, before Isaac's birth, as a sign
that He will be their God. In token thereof God
changes Abram'sand Sanii'snamos into " Abraham "
and " Sarah " (DiaN-D[n]-|2K ; •'-|K'-[n]"1tr), combining
His own name with theirs, and institutes the circum-
cision of all the men of Abraham 's household and their
male descendants as an eternal sign of the covenant
between Himself and Abraham. Abraham acknowl-
edges Yhwh (xiv. 22), builds altars to Him (xii. 7, 8;
xiii. 18); calls upon His name (xii. 8, xiii. 4, xxi. 33);
shows an invincible faith in His promises, what-
ever present circumstances may be ; is ready for the
greatest sacrifice; and proves himself, by his human
virtues— his helpfulness, unselfishness, hospitality,
humanity, uprightness, dignity, and love of peace —
worthy of divine guidance.
§ 30. Of Abraham's two sons Ishmael shall be
blessed, and become the father of twelve princes and
the progenitor of a great people (xvi. 10, xvii. 20, xxi.
18). Ishmael himself becomes an archer, lives in the
wilderness, and marries an Egyptian woman (xxi.
20 etseq.). But the one to inherit the promises and
the land is Isaac (xvii. 21, xxi. 12), Sarah's son.
Therefore his father chooses for him a wife from
among his own relations (ch. xxiv.). God renews
to him the promises given to Abraham (xxvi. 3, 24).
Isaac is truly the son of his great father, though he
has a somewhat passive nature. He also builds an
altar to Yhwh, and calls upon His name (xxvi. 3).
§31. Isaac's sons are twins; Esau, the elder,
scorns the rights of the first-born, leaving them to
Jacob (xxv. 34). Esau is a hunter, whose fate it is
to live by the sword and be subject to his brother,
though in time he will throw off his yoke(xxvii. 40).
He is also called "Edom," and subsequently lives
in the land of that name in the mountainous region
of Seir. He is loved by his father, but Rebekah
loves Jacob ; and when Esau marries a Canaanite
woman, Isaac, deceived by a trick, blesses Jacob,
who, before he sets out for Haran, receives from his
father Abraham's blessing also (xxviii. 4). Jacobat-
tains to right relations with God only after mistakes,
trials, and struggles. He knows Yhwh, Avhose hand
he has seen in his father's life (xxvii. 20); he recog-
nizes Him in the divine appearance (xxviii. 16); but
he has not experienced God in his own life. God has
not yet become his God ; hence lie avoids the name
of YnwH so long as he is in a strange country (xxx.
2; xxxi. 7, 9, 42, 53; xxxii. 3); but the narrator
does not hesitate to say " Yhwh " (xxix. 31 ; xxxi. 3;
xxxviii. 7, 10), that name being also known to Laban
(xxx. 27, 30) and his daughters (xxix. 32 et seq.. xxx.
24). Not until a time of dire distress does Jacob
find Yhwh, who becomes for him Elohim when
the vow turns to a jtrayer. He has overcome Elo-
him, and himself receives another name after he lias
607
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Genesis
amended his wa3's {i.e., has gained another God),
namely, "Israel," i.e., "warrior of God." God
now gives him the same promises that were given
to Abraham and Isaac (xxxv. 11 et seq.), and Jacob
builds an altar to God ("El"), on which he pours
a drink-offering. Similarly he brings offerings to the
God of his father when he leaves Canaan to go with
his family to Egypt, God promising to accompany
him and to lead his descendants back in due time.
Jacob finds the name of Yhwh again only on liis
death-bed (xlix. 18).
§ 32. With Jacob and his twelve sons the history
of the Patriarchs is closed ; for the seventy persons
with whom Jacob enters Egypt are the origin
of the future people of Israel. God does not
appear to Jacob's sous, nor does he address them.
Joseph designedly avoids the appellation " Yhwh " ;
he uses "Elohim" (xxxix. 9; xl. 8; xli. 16, 51, 53;
xlv. 5, 9; xlviii. 9; 1. 25; "ha-Elohim," xli. 25, 28,
32; xlii. 18 [xliv. 16]; xlv. 9; and the "Elohim of
his father," xliii. 23). The narrator, on the other
hand, has no reason tor avoiding the word "Yhwh,"
which he uses intentionally (xxxix. 2, 3, 5). Yhwh
takes a secondary place in the consciousness of
Israel while in Egypt, but becomes all-important
again in the theophany of the burning bush.
The book prescribes no regulations for the religious
life. The Patriarchs are represented in their family
relations. Their history is a family history. The
relations between husband and wife, parents and
children, brother and sister, are displayed in pic-
tures of typical truthfulness, psychologic delicacy,
inimitable grace and loveliness, with an inexhausti-
ble wealth of edifying and instructive scenes.
§ 33. Since the time of Astruc (1753) modern crit-
icism has held that Genesis is not a uniform work
by one author, but was combined by successive edi-
tors from several sources that are themselves partly
composite, and has received its present form only
in the course of centuries ; its composition from vari-
ous sources being proved by its repetitions, contradic-
tions, and differences in conception, representation,
anil language. According to this view, three chief
sources must be distinguished, namely, J, E, and P.
(1) J, the Jahvist, is so called because
Scientific he speaks of God as " Yhwh. " In liis
Criticism, work (chiefly in the primal historj', ch.
i.-xi. , as has been asserted since Budde)
several strata must be distinguished, J', J-', J', etc. (2)
E, the Elohist, is so named because down to Ex. iii.
he calls God " Elohim. " A redactor (R'"=) at an early
date combined and fused J and E, so that these two
sources can not always be definitely separated ; and
the critics therefore differ greatl}' in regard to the de-
tails of this question. (3) P, or the Priestly Codex, is
so called on account of the priestly manner and tend-
encies of the author, who also calls God " Elohim."
Here again several strata must be distinguished,
P', P'^ P^, etc., though only P'^ is found in Genesis.
After another redactor, D, had combined Deuteron-
omy with JE, the work so composed was united with
P by a final redactor, who then enlarged the whole
(the sequence J, E, D, P is, however, not gener-
ally accepted). Hence the present Book of Genesis
is the work of this last redactor, and Avas compiled
more than one hundred j^ears after Ezra. The works
of J, E, and P furnished material for the entire Penta-
teuch (and later books), on whose origin, scope, time,
and place of composition see Pentateuch.
As it would take too much space to give an ac-
count of all the attempts made to separate the
sources, the analysis of only the last commentator,
namely, of Holzinger, who has made a special study
of this question, will be noted. In his " Einleitung
zum Hexateuch " he has given a full account of the
labors of his predecessors, presenting in the "Tabel-
len " to his work the separation into sources laid
down by Dillmann, Wellhausen, Kuenen, Budde,
and Cornill. The commentary by Gunkel (1901) is
not original as regards the sources.
§ 34. Analysis op the Soukces.
' a " and " b " denote respectively the first and second half of the verse ; a, ^, 7, etc., the smaller parts ; * =
added to a letter means that the matter contains elements belonging to R or J or E or to the latter two ;
lowing verse " or "verses."
"worked over"; "s'
'f " = "and the foi-
p».
J.
E.
Redaction, Secondary Sources, and Glosses.
J'.
J=.
i.-il. 3.
V. 1-3*, 4-19, 20-24*, 25-27,
28 without n, 30-32.
vl. 9-22.
vll. 6, 11, 13-16a, 17a* 18-2]
(24?).
vlll.la,2a,lb(3b?),4f., 13a,
14-19.
Ix. 1-3, 8-17, 28f.
X. la, 2-7, 20, 22f., 31f.
xi. 10-26, 27, 31, 32.
il.4b-9ba,15b3?,
16, 17*, 18-25.
Hi. l-15ba, 17,
18a, 19, 21. 23a.
iv. 1*?, 2 -16a,
17a,17b?, 18-24.
vi. l-3a, 4a*.
ix. 20-27.
X.9 (8, 10-12?).
xi. 1-9.
iv. 1*?, 17b?,
25,26.
Inv. 28 p.
vi. 5-8. .. .
vll. If., 3b-5. .
(8f.*), 10,7,*
16b, 12, 17b,
22ff.*
vlii 6a, 2b,
3a 6b-12,
13b, ... 20,
21aab, 22.
ix. 18a, 19.
X. 10b (8, 10-
12 ?). 13-15,
18b, 19, 21,25-
30.
xi. . . . 28-30.
ii. 4a gloss or R. In 11. and ill. avi'^N Rs, Jl.
6 transposed, 17aa*. Ampliflcations : 11.
9b/3. 10-14, 15abo, H'n v'OJ in 19, then ill.
15b)3, 18b, 20?, 22, 23b, 24.
iv. 1*, 16aRj.
V. 1-3*, 20-24*.
vi. 3b, ID "inN aji In 4a, 4b gloss, 7* (17*?),
19f.*
vll. 3aR, 7-10*, 16b transposed, 17a*, 22. f.*
(24R?).
vlii. 1-3, order of R (3bR ?), 21a/3Rj.
Ix. 4-7PS, 10b*, 18bRj.
X. 16-18a JEs. 24R.
Genesis
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
608
Analysis op the Sources. — Concliided.
p2.
xii. ... 4b, 5.
xiii. 6abo, lib, 12aba.
xvi. la, 3, 15, 16.
xvll. 1-27.
xix. 29.
xxi. lb, 2b-5.
xxiii.
XXV. 7-lla, 12-17, 19, 20,
26b.
xxvi. 34, 35.
xxviii. 1-9.
xxix. 24, 28b, 29. . . .
XXX. laa (?), 4a, (?), 9b?,
22a ? . . .
XX xi. 18a3y*b (from ''3-PNi
on).
xxxiii. 18a.
J.
xii. l-4a, . . . 6-8, 10-20.
xiii. If., 5, 6b^, 7-lla, 12b/3.13, 18.
E.
XV. l*,2a, 3b, 4, 6, 7, 9a, 10a, 11, xv. 1*. 3a, 2b, 5, 12a/3.
]2aa (b?). '
xvi. lb, 2, 4-8, 11-14.
XXXV. 6a, 9-13a*, 15, 22b-29.
xxxvi. 6-8 (basis 9-14, 29?),
40-43.
xxxvii, 1.
xii. 36 ?, 46ab ?, 47 ?.
xlvi. 6f. (8-27 ?).
xlvii. 5b, 6a, 7-11, 27b, 28.
xlviil. 3-6.
xlix. la. 28bP-:i2, iSiaab.
I. J2f.
xviii. 1-15, 16, 20, 21, . . . 22a,
3;3b.
xix. 1-28, 30, 38.
xxi. In, 2a*, 7, 6b, 33*.
xxii. 2Ob0-24.
xxlv.
XXV. 1-4, 5, lib, 18.
xxvi. laab, 2aa, 3aa, 6, 7-14, 16f.,
19-33; XXV. 21-26a, 27-34.
xxvii. 1-4*, 5-10, 14f., 17. 18a, 19?,
20, 24-27. 28b, 29av6b, 30a<i,
30b-32, 35-38*, 39a, 40. 41-45*.
xxviii. 10, 13-16 (*?), 19a.
xxix. 2-14a, 14b, 15a?, 26 in
part, 31-35.
XXX. (liia?, 4a??), 3b/3?. 4b?
(7b* ?).9-13, 14-16, 2()ap, 20b, ?
27, 22b^, 24b, 25 ?. 27. 29-4:]*.
xxxi. lb, 3, 21b, 2.5, 27 (44b?),
46, 48, 51, 52, 53a.
xxxii. 4-14a, 23, 25-29, 32b.
xxxiii. 1-10*, lib, 15, 16 ?, 17a/3b,
18b?.
xxxiv. 1*, 2a to Mnn*, 2b with-
out n-^iN a^tt'-V 3aba, 5aa-yb,
7a (b ?), 11, 12, 13a**, 19, 2ja**,
26*, 29b-31.
xx. 1-17.
xxi. 6a, a-21, 22-32.
xxii. 1-13, I4aa?(|3b*?), 19.
xxxv. 17, 21, 22a.
xxxvi. 15-19, 31-39.
xxxvii. 3f ., 12-18, in part 21, 23b^.
25-27, 28ay, 32*, 33*, a5.
xxxviii. 1 30 (J').
xxxix. 1*, 2-6a*, 7a^-23*.
xl. laiSb, 3 from '^n on, 5b
(traces), 14b^, 15b.
xli.: numerous traces.
xiii. 2a, 4b, 5, 6 in part, 7, 11a,
27, 28 to vnN, 38.
xliil. 1-13, 15-23a, at-34.
xliv. 1-34.
xlv. la, 2a, 2ba, or 2b/3, 4b, 5aov.
7* lOaa, 13f., 28.
xlvi. laa, 28-34.
xlvii. 1-4, .5a, 6b, 13-26, in part
27aa*/3, 29-;il*.
xlviii. 2b (8a?). Tb, 10a, 13f.,
trace in 15b, 17-19, 20 in part.
xlix. 2-27, 33a^.
1. 1-11*, 14*. traces in 18,21.
xxvii. Ib^v, 4b, 11-13, 16,
18b, 19 ?, 21 23, 28a,
29aap, 30a^, 33f.*, 39b.
xxviii. Uf.. 17f., 20-22.
xxix. 1, 14b, 15a?, 15b-23,
25, 26*. 27, 28a, 30.
XXX. la3-8*, 17, 18*, 19,
20a a, 20b ?, 22ba, 23, 24a,
26 ?, 28, traces in 29-43.
xxxi. la, 2, 4-16*, 17, 18aa,
19-21a, 22-24, 26.
xxxii. 1-3, 14b-22, 24, 30-
32a.
xxxiii.: traces in 1-10, 11a,
12-14, 16?, 17aa?, 18b?,
19,20.
xxxiv. 1*, 2a to iinn*, in
2b npiN a3w'M, 3b^, 4,
6*, 8*, 9, lOabajS, 13a**,
14*, 15aba (-|- equivalent
for bj3), 16-18a, 20-24,
2,5a**b, 27a(a)/3, 28. 29a.
xxxv. 1-5, 6b, 7. 8, 14*, 16,
18f. ?, 20.
xxxvii. 5a, 6-8a, 9-11, 12-
18,inpartl9f.,22,2:3aba,
24, 28aa^b, 29f., 31, :34.
36.
xxxix.: traces in 2-5, 6b.
xl. laa, 2, 3 beginning, 4,
5a, 6-23*.
xli. 1-35*, 37^5*, 47-57*.
xiii. 1, 2b, 3, 4a, 6, in part
8-10, llb-26, rest of 28,
29-37.
xliii. 14, 23b.
xlv. lb, 2b3, or 2ba, 4a,
5a/3b, 6, 7* 8f., lOa^vh-
12, 1.5-18, 21 in part, 22-
27.
xlvi. lb-5a*.
xlvii. 12, 13-26 In part.
xlviii. 1,2a, 8 (a)h,9a, 10b,
llf., l.jab*. 16, 20 in
part, 21f.
1.: traces in 2. lOf., and in
14, 15-26*.
Redaction, Secondary Sources, and Glosses.
xii. 9RjE.
xiii. 3f.RjE. 14-17RJE, with the use of cer-
tain elements from J ?.
xiv. very late (narrative worked over by
E??).
XV. 9b, lObR ?, in 12b n^^'n. 13-16jes, ISbPr
(from nnjc on) Rd, 19-21jes.
xvi. 9f.RjE.
xvii. 10*.
xviii. 17-19JES, 22b-33aJs.
xix. 4*, 9*. 213-26*, 24*.
XX. If.*, 18 gloss.
xxi. 2a*, 33* (also transposed), 34Rje.
xxii. 14, 15-18, JEs, 20aa, Rej.
xxiv. If.*, 61f.*
XXV. 5, lib transposed, 6 redactional. In
XXV. JE is transposed bv R.
XXV. 21*, 2.5a* (27*?), xxvi. Ia3v, 2a^b, 15,
18RJE, 3a3-5Rl).
xxvii. 33 abbreviated by Rje, 36aRj.
xxviii. 19b gloss.
In XXX. 14b z?';\ in 7 '^m nno!i', in 10, 12
nx"' pn£3tt' glosses bv R. V. 18* (Tnoc);
traces of E in 29-43 ; comp. 32f ., a5, 39f .
xxxi. 10-12, fragments from the Elohistic
parallel to xxx. 32-42, 47 gloss.
xx.xii. 10-13JS?, 2;3f.*, 25-32*, a5 gloss.
xxxiii. 1-10; traces of E in 4, 5b, 10; in 19
D3w' ^3N is a gloss.
xxxiv.: diaskeuasis in part, especially lOb-y,
13b, 15b|3.— RjE : l^b, 20-29b.
xxxv. 10-12 abbreviated by R and trans-
posed, 13b dittography from 14.
xxxvi. 1-5. R 9-14, R based upon P, 20-36 R
(20-28 from J ?, 29 from P ?, 21b gloss) , 31».
In xxxvii. 2 -\';i Nini source ? 5bvbRjE ; 12-
ISadapted by Rje from J and E.
xxxix. in 3>n2t3n -\Z' nyiQ cnp -\0''!310, also
7iiHjE, glosses: 8b, 10b3, 20a/3, 23(a ?)b.
xli.:tracesof laterdiaskeuasis (3'")XC yiN in
part ) .
xiii.: in 27 i|i;:* RJK. Traces of later diaskeu-
asis (jyjj I'TN, 5, 7, 13, 19, 32).
xliii.: diaskeuasis in 14?.
xlv. 19f., 21 in part, secondary recast.
xlvi. la^RjE, lb-5a*, secondary 3bP, 5b, 8-
27Ps(?).
xlvii. 13-26, adapted from J and E, with
traces of secondary recast 30ayR.
xlviii. 7 gloss.
xlix. 6Rj or Rje. ^^cvi .-'-)n{<: interpola-
tion, single interpolations to 2-27 (10, 18?,
25f.), 28abaR.
1. 22b secondary, 24b*, traces of the diaskeu-
a.sis.
§ 35. Serious objection may be brought to this
analy.sis of sources on the following grounds: (1)
It is unsupported by any external proof whatever;
there is no authentic information showing that the
Pentateuch, or Genesis in particular, was compiled
from various sources, much less have any such
sources been preserved in their original form. (2)
Hence the critics must rely solely upon so-called in-
ternal evidence. But the subjective state of mind
with which the tinal decision rests is unstable and
deceptive. It is hazardous to apply modern cri-
teria and rules of composition and style to such an
609
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Oenesls
ancient and peculiar work, whose origin is entirely
unknown. (3) Even if it be demonstraUc! that Gen-
esis has been compiled froiu various
Objections, sources, yet the attempt to trace the
origin of each verse and of each part
of a verse will never meet with success; ihe crit-
ics themselves confess that the process of com-
bination was a most complicated one. (4) If the
contradictions and repetitions said to be founa in
the book really existed, this would not necessarily
prove that there had been more than one author;
for the literatures of the world furnish numerous
similar examples. The existence of such repetitions
and contradictions, however, has never been demon-
strated.
(5) The theory of sources is at best a hypothesis
that is not even necessary ; for it is based on a total
misconception of the dominant ideas, tendencies, and
plan of the book. Its upholders have totally miscon-
ceived the theology of Genesis; transforming the
interchange of the name of God, which is the soul
of the book, into an external criterion for distin-
guishing the different authors. They have not un-
derstood the reason for the variation in the use of
1^' and n^^in, which in itself is a proof of uniform
composition ; and they have, therefore, missed a sec-
ond fundamental idea, namel}', that implied in the
genealogies and their intimate relation to the Israel-
itic concept of the family. In criticizing the unequal
treatment of the various portions of the material,
the theory mi.sconceives the different degrees of their
importance for the author. Difference in treatment
is proof, not of different authors, but of different sub-
jects and of the different points of view in one
author. (6) This would also explain the variations
in the language of different passages. But criticism
on this point runs in a circle, diversity of sources
being proved by differences of language, and vice
versa. (7) The separation into sources in particular
is based on numberless exegetic errors, often of the
most obvious kind, showing not only a misconcep-
tion of the scope and spirit of the book, and of its
mode of narration, but even of the laws of language ;
and this separation is in itself the greatest barrier
to a correct insight into the book, in that it en-
courages the student to analj'ze diiBcult passages
into their sources instead of endeavoring to discover
their meaning.
§ 36. Notwithstanding all these objections, how-
ever, it can not be denied that various portions of
Genesis palpably convey the impression of difference
in origin and a corresponding difference in concep-
tion; but as the impression that the work gives of
having been uniformly planned in every detail is
still stronger, the explanation given in § 2 is here
repeated; namely. Genesis has not been compiled
from several sources by one redactor or by several
redactors, but is the work of one author, who has
recorded the traditions of his people with due rev-
erence but independently and according to a uni-
form plan. Genesis was not compiled from various
books.
§ 37. The historicity of the Book of Genesis is
more or less denied, except by the representatives of
a strict inspiration theorj-. Genesis recounts myths
and legends. It is generally admitted that the
v.— 39
primal story is not historical (eh. i.-xi.); but crit-
ics vary in ascribing to the stories of
Historical the Patriarchs more or less of a his-
Criticism. torical foundation. For details see
the articles under their respective
names; here only a summary can be given:
(a) The story of the Creation can not be historic-
ally true, for the reasons (1) that there can be no
human traditions of these events; (2) its assumption
of a creation in six days, with the sequence of events
as recounted, contradicts the theories of modem
science regarding the formation of the heavenly
bodies during vast periods of time, especially that
of the earth, its organisms, and its position in the
universe. The popular view of Genesis can not be
reconciled with modern science. The story is a
religio-scientific speculation on the origin of the
world, analogous to the creation- my ths found among
many peoples. The similarities to the Babylonian
creation-myth are most numerous and most striking.
The extent of its dependence on other myths, the
mode of transmission, and the age and history of
the tradition and its adaptation are still matters of
dispute.
(b) The story of the Garden of Eden (ch. ii., iii.)
is a myth, invented in order to answer certain ques-
tions of religion, philosophy, and cultural history.
Its origin can not be ascertained, as no parallel to it
has so far been found.
(c) The stories of Cain and Abel and the genealo-
gies of the Cainites and Sethites are reminiscences of
legends, the historical basis for which can no longer
be ascertained. Their historical truth is excluded
by the great age assigned to the Sethites, which con-
tradicts all human experience. A parallel is found in
the ten antediluvian primal kings of Babylonian
chronology, where the figures are considerably
greater.
(d) The story of the Flood is a legend that is found
among many peoples. It is traced back to a Baby-
lonian prototype, still extant. It is perhaps founded
on reminiscences of a great seismic-cyclonic event
that actually occurred, but could have been only
partial, as a general flood of the whole earth, cover-
ing even the highest mountains, is not conceivable.
(e) The genealogy of peoples is a learned attempt
to determine genealogically the relation of peoples
known to the author, but by no means including
the entire human race; this point of view was cur-
rent in antiquity, although it does not correspond
to the actual facts.
(f) The stories of the Patriarchs are national
legends. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and his sons
are idealized personifications of the people, its tribes,
and families; and it can not now be ascertained
whether or not these are based on more or less
obscure reminiscences of real personages. In any
case, these legends furnish no historically definite
or even valuable information regarding the primal
history of the people of Israel. The whole concep-
tion of the descent of one people from one family
and one ancestor is unhistorical ; for a people origi-
nates through the combination of different families.
It has also been maintained that the stories of the
Patriaichs are pale reflections of mythology or na-
ture-myths.
Genesis
Oeneva
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
610
Bibliography : Commentaries : Calvin, In Librum Geneseos
Commentarius. ed. Hengstenberg, Berlin, 1838; J. Gerhard,
Comment ariris Super Genesin, Jena, 1637 ; Von Bohlen, Die
GenesU HistoiHsch-Kritisch Erlilutert. Konigsberg, 1832;
Friedrich Tuch, Halle, 1838; 2d ed. (Arnold and Merx), 1871 ;
C. F. Keil. Leipsic, 1878 ; Franz Delitzsch, Neucr Commentar
zur Genesis, 1887; M. Kalisch, 1858; A. Knobel, revised by
Dlllraann 1892; J. P. Lange, 2d ed., 1877; E. Reuss, LaBible.
pt. ill., 1897; E. H. Brown, 1871 (Speaker's Commentary); R.
Payne Smith (EUicot's Commentary, 1882); G. I. Spurrell,
Notes on the Hebrew Text of the Book of Genesis, 1887 ;
M. Dods, The Book of Genesis. 4th ed., 1890; A. Tappehorn,
Erkldrung der Genesis (Roman Catholic), 1888; Strack, in
Kurzgefasster Commentar (Strack-Zockler), 1894; Holzin-
ger, in Kurzer Handcommentar, ed. Marti, 1898 ; H. Gunkel,
In Handkommentar zum A. T. ed. Nowack, 1901.
Criticism : Astruc, Conjectures surles Memoires Originaux
Dont il Parint que Moyse s' Est Scrvt powr Composer le Livre
de la Genese, Brussels, 1753; Karl David Ilgen, Die Urkun-
den des Jerusalemischen Tempelurchivs, etc.: I. Urkunden
des Ersten Buches von Moses, Halle, 1798; F. Bleek, De
Lihri Geneseos Orifiine Atque Indole Histo7-ica, Bonn,
1836 ; I. Stahelin, Kritische Untersuchungen ilber die Ge-
nesUt, Basel, 1830 ; H. Hupfeld, Die Quellen der Genesis und
die Art Ihrer Zusammensetzung, Berlin, 1853 (this work laid
the foundation for the modern theory of sources, i.e., the com-
pilation of Genesis from three Independent works) ; E. Boh-
mer. Liber Geneseos Pentateuchicus, Halle, 1860 (Qrst graph-
ical distinction of the sources by means of different type);
Idem. Das ErsteBuch der Thora, Uebersetzung Seiner Drei
QiielUnschriften und RedactionszuA&tze mit KrttisolieTi,
Exegetischemmd Histoiischeii Erdrterungen. ]b. 1862; T.
N61deke, Untersuchuimen zur Kritik des A. T. Kiel, 1809;
J. Wellhausen, Die Composition des Hexateuchs, in Jahr-
bilcher fUr Deutsche Theologie, xxl., xxll., reprinted 1885,
1889, 1893 ; Karl Budde. Die Biblische Uryeachichte, Glessen
1883 ; Kautzsch and Socin, Die Genesis mitAeusserer Unter-
scheidung der Quellen, Freiburg-ln-Breisgau, 1888, 1891 ; D.
W. Bacon, Pentatetichical Analysis, In Hebraica, iv. 216-
243, V. 7-17 : The Genesis of Genesis, Hartford, 1892 ; E. C.
Bissell, Genesis Printed iii Colors (transl. from Kautzsch-
Socin), Hartford, 1892; E. I. Fripp, Tlie Composition of the
Book of Genesis, 1892; C. I. Ball, Genesis, 1896 (critical text
In colors in S. B. O. T. ed. Haupt). Compare also the intro-
ductions to the Old Testament by Kiienen, Cornill, Strack,
Driver, and K6nig, and to the Hexateuch by Holzinger, 1893,
and Steuernagel, 1901 ; A. Westphal, Des Sources du Penta-
teuque, Paris, 1888, 1892 ; W. E. Addis, The Documents of the
Hexateuch TraTislated and Arranged in Chronological Or-
der, 1893, 1898; I. E. Carpenter and G. Hartford Battersby,
The Hexateuch, 1900.
Anti-Criticism: C. H. Sack, De Usu Nominum Deio-nhtt
et nyn> in Libra Geneseos, Bonn, 1821 ; H. Ewald, Die Com-
position der Genesis Kritisch UntersuxM, Brunswick, 1823
(subsequently retracted for the greater part by the author);
E. W. Hengstenberg, Die Authentie des Pentateuchs, Berlin,
1836, 1839 (i. 181-414 contains an epoch-making proof of the
meaning and intentional use of the names of God) ; M. Drechs-
ler. Die Einheit und Echtheit der Genesis, 1838 (Including
Nachweis der Einheit und Planmdssigkeit der Genesis);
F. H. Ranke, Untersuchungen ilber den Pentateuch, Er-
langen, 1834-40 ; I. H. Kurtz, Die Einheit der Genesis, 1846 ;
C. Keil, Ueber die Gottesnamen im Pentateuch, in Zeit-
schrift fttr Lutherische TJienlogie ujid Kirche, 1851, pp.
215-280; J. Hal^vy, Recherches BibUques, 1. 1895; W. H.
Green, criticism of Harper, in Hebraica, v., vi., vli.; idem.
The Unity of Genesis; E. C. Bissell, The Pentateuch, Its
Origin and Structure, pp. 410-475, New York, 1885 (includes
a voluminous bibliography on the Pentateuch).
B. J.
Critical View : Genesis forms part of ilie
Hexateuch. As sucli it is regarded by the critical
schools as a composite work, containing data from P
and JE, the latter a history which, itself a combina-
tion of two distinct compilations — one, northern or
Israelitish, E ; the other, southern or Judean, J — tells
in detail and in popular style the story of Israel from
the beginning of things to tlie completed conquest
of Canaan. In addition to the.se elements, some
independent material is distinguished from that
ascribed to the sources named ; and editorial com-
ments (R) and changes have been separated in the
critical analysis. There is practical unanimity
among critics witli regard to the character of P and
what must be assigned to him.
The P elements in Genesis consist of a series of
interconnected genealogies, uniform in plan, and
always prefaced by the introductory phrase " These
arc the generations of." Connected with them is a
scheme of Chronology around which a few histor-
ical glosses are grouped. In fuller detail the stories
of Abraham's covenant and his purchase of a burial-
place at Hebron are elaborated. The accounts of
Creation (see Cosmogony') and of the Flood are also
given fuller treatment. It would thus
Elements, seem that P presupposes acquaintance
with and the existence of a history or
histories of the Patriarchs and of the times preceding
theirs. P is thus a v^'ork of a student aiming to
present certain ideas and emphasizing certain con-
clusions. He traces the origin of Israel and his de-
scendants as the one family chosen from among all
the children of Adam. He lays particular stress on
the religious institutions; e.g., the Sabbath ordained
by God Himself at the completion of the week of
Creation ; the command to abstain from partaking of
blood; the covenant of circumcision; and the purity
of the Israelitish stock (contrast Esau's marriages
with Jacob's).
The theory has been advanced that P is based on
J, his story of Creation presupposing the use of
historical and traditional material collected in J.
On the whole, this may be admitted ; but it is also
plain that for the P account of the Creation and the
Flood Babylonian sources and information were
drawn upon. The theology of P is of a high order.
God is One; He is supramundane. Creation is a
transcendental, free act of the Absolute Creator
(hence N")3). In history are revealed a divine plan
and purpose. God communicates His decrees di-
rectly without the intervention of angels or dreams,
and without recourse to theophanies. He is Elohim
for Noah, El Shaddai for Abraham, and Yhwh for
Israel. Anthropomorphisms are few and inoffensive.
This theology reveals the convictions and reflections
of a late epoch in Israel's religious and historical
development.
JE, after the elimination of P, presents an almost
unbroken narrative. In the earlier chapters J alone
has been incorporated ; E begins abruptly in Gen.
XX. It is a moot point whether E contained origi-
nally a primeval history parallel to that now pre-
served in Genesis from J. That of the latter, as in-
corporated in the pre-Abrahamic chapters, is not
consistent throughout; especially do the account of
the Flood, the fragments of a genealogy of Seth,
and other portions suggest the use of traditions,
probably Babylonian, which did not originally form
part of J.
JE, as far as Genesis is concerned, must be re-
garded as compilations of stoiies which long before
their reduction to written form had been current
orally among the people. These stories in part were
not of Canaanitish-Hebrew origin. They represent
Semitic and perhaps other cycles of
Legends, popular and religious tales (" Sagen ")
which antedate the differentiation of
the Semitic family into Hebrews, Arabs, etc., or,
migrating from one to the other of the Semitic groups
after their separation, came to the Hebrews from non-
Semitic peoples; hence the traces of Babylonian,
Egyptian, Phenician, Aramaic, and Ishmaelitish in-
lluence. Some of the narratives preserve ancient
local traditions, centered in an ancient religious sanc-
tuary; others reflect the temper and exhibit the
611
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Genesis
Cteneva
coloring of folk-tales, stories in which the rise and
development of civilization and the transition from
pastoral to agricultural life are represented as the
growth and development of individuals. Others,
again, personify and typify the great migratory
movements of clans and tribes, while still others are
the precipitate of great religious changes (e. 17., hu-
man sacrifices are supplanted by animal ones). The
relations and interrelations of the tribes, septs, and
families, based upon racial kinship or geographical
position, and sometimes expressive of racial and
tribal animosities and antipathies, are also concreted
in individual events. In all this there is not the
slightest trace of artificiality. This process is the
spontaneous assertion of the folk-soul ("Volks-
seele "). These traditions are the spontaneous crea-
tion of popular interpretation of natural and historical
sentiments and recollections of remote happenings.
The historical and theological interpretations of life,
law, custom, and religion in its institutions have
among all men at one time taken this form. The
mythopeic tendency and faculty are universal. The
explanations of names which exhibit signs of being
the result of intentional reflection, are, perhaps,
alone artificial.
Naturally, in the course of oral transmission these
traditions were modified in keeping with the altered
conditions and religious convictions of the narrators.
Compiled at a time when literary skill had only
begun to assert itself, many cycles of patriarchal
histories must have been current in
Compila- written form prior to the collections
tion. now distinguished by critics as E and
J. Criticism has to a great extent
overlooked the character of both of these sources as
compilations. It has been too free in looking upon
them as works of a discriminating litterateur and
historian. P may be of this nature, but not J and E.
Hence any theory on the literary method and char-
acter of either is forced to admit so many exceptions
as to vitiate the fundamental assumption. In E
are found traits (elaborations, personal sentiment)
ascribed exclusively to J; while J, in turn, is not
free from the idiosyncrasies of E.
Nor did R (the editor, editors, or diaskeuasts) pro-
ceed mechanically, though the purely literary dis-
section on anatomical lines affected by the higher
criticism would lead one to believe he did. He, too,
had a soul. He recast his material in the molds of
his own religious convictions. The Midrashic
method antedates the rabbinical age. This injection
of life into old traditional material unified the com-
pilation. P's method, rightly regarded as under
theological intention ("Tendenz "), was also that of
R. Hence Genesis, notwithstanding the compilatory
character of its sources, the manj' repetitions and
divergent versions of one and the same event, the
dupHcations and digressions, makes on the whole
the impression of a coherent work, aiming at the
presentation of a well-defined view of history, viz.,
the selection of the sons of Israel as the representa-
tive exponents of Yiiwh's relations to the sons of
Adam, a selection gradually brought about by the
elimination of side lines descended, like Israel, from
the common progenitor Adam, the line running from
Adam to Noah — to Abraham — to Jacob = Israel.
Cliapter xiv. has been held to be a later addition,
imhistorical and belonging to none of the "sources.
Yet the story contains old historical material. The
information must be based on Babj'-
Iiater Ad- Ionian accounts (Oommol, "Alt-Israe-
ditions. litische Ucberlieferung," p. 153, speaks
of an old Jerusalem tradition, and Dill-
mann, in his commentary, of a Canminitish tradition ;
see Eliezeu); the literary stjle is exact, giving ac-
curate chronological data, as would a professional
historian. The purpose of the account is to glorify
Abraham. Hence it has been argued that this chap-
ter betrays the spirit of the later Judaism.
Chapter xlix., the blessing by Jacob, is also an
addition; but it dates from the latter half of the
period of the Judges (K. Kohler, " Der Segen
Jacob's").
The theory that the Patriarchs especially, and the
other personages of Genesis, represent old, astral
deities, though again advanced in a very learned
exposition b}' Stucken ("Astral My then"), has now
been generally abandoned.
E. g. h.
GENEVA : Capital of the Swiss canton of the
same name ; situated at the southwest end of Lake
Geneva; population (1900) about 80,000, of whom
1,076 are Jews. Jews lived there, as well as in
Synagogue at Geneva, Switzerland.
(From a photograph.)
other towns along the lake, as early as the four-
teenth centurj'. In 1348 those living along Lake
Geneva, which then belonged to Savoy, were ac-
cused of poisoning the wells; many of them were
racked and burned. In Geneva, where they lived
in a separate street, the Christian merchants fre-
quently attacked them, and in 1490 drove them
out of the city. Thereafter every Jew who passed
through Geneva had to pay a toll of four denarii ; a
pregnant Jewess, eight denarii. A legendary report
says that in 1582, German Jews proposed to the
authorities of Geneva to allow them to come in
numbers of from 8,000 to 10,000 and build an entire
city in the vicinity of St. Victor, for which privi-
lege they offered to pay a considerable tribute as
well as to perform military service. In 1632 Nicolas
G-enizah
Genuesaret
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
612
Antoine, a young Protestant pastor who had been
converted to Judaism, was publicly burned.
The modern history of the Geneva community
begins with the year 1783, when a number of Lor-
raine Jews settled in the suburb Carouge, which
belonged to the Duke of Savoy until he ceded
it to Geneva in 1816. Under French domination
several Jews settled in Geneva, enjoying com-
plete freedom until 1815, when French rule ceased.
The law of Nov. 14, 1816, forbade their owning land
in the canton. Not until 1841 did they again receive
civic equality. In 1843 the first Jews were natural-
ized, and were granted full religious liberty. For
several decades the few Jews who lived in Geneva
worshiped in Carouge, where the old synagogue
still exists. In 1857 the law of Nov. 14, 1816,
■was repealed, and all the Jews who lived in Carouge
we're, without charge, enfranchised. The Jews in
Geneva, numbering about 2U0, thereupon proceeded
to build a temple on a piece of land given them by
the city. This temple was dedicated in 1859, and
in the same year Joseph Wertheimer, a pupil of
the rabbinical school of Metz, was chosen rabbi.
The old cemetery at Carouge has been extended by
the community.
Several Jews have been, and are, professors at the
Geneva University, among them being the rabbi
Joseph Wertheimer and M. Schiff. The Jews of
Geneva are engaged chiefly in the clock-making in-
dustry and in commerce.
Bibliography : Ulrich, Sammlung JUdischer GeschicMen in
der Schweiz, p. 228. Basel, 1780 ; Gratz, Gesch. vii. 387 : Jost,
Ncnerc Gesch. li. 37.
D. M. K.
GENIZAH (lit. "hiding" or "hiding-place"):
The storeroom or depository in a synagogue; a
cemetery in which worn-out and heretical or dis-
graced Hebrew books or papers are placed. A geni-
zah serves therefore the twofold purpose of pre-
serving good things from harm and bad things from
harming. Bhab. 115a directs that holy writings in
other than the Hebrew and Greek languages require
"genizah," that is, preservation. In Pes. 118b "bet
genizah" = "treasury." In Pes. 56a Hezekiah hides
("ganaz ") a medical work; in Shab. 115a R. Gama-
liel orders that the Targum to Job should be hidden
(" yigganez ") under the " nidbak " (layer of stones).
In Shab. 30b the sages sought to hide ("lignoz ") as
heretical the books of Ecclesiastes and Proverbs.
The same thing occurs in Sliab. 13b in regard to the
Book of Ezekiel, and in Pes. 62 in regard to the
Book of Genealogies.
In medieval times such Hebrew scraps and papers
as were relegated to the genizah were known as
"shemot" (names), because their sanctity and con-
sequent claim to preservation were held to depend
on their containing the " names " of God. In addi-
tion to papers, articles connected with the ritual,
such as zizit, lulabim, and sprigs of myrtle, are sim-
ilarly stored (comp. Shab. 63 ; Yoma 16, as to the
stones of the altar).
The discovery by Solomon Schechter, on May 13,
1896, of a fragment of the original Hebrew of Eccle-
siasticus drew so much attention to the genizah
whence it came that the term "genizah " is now ap-
plied almost exclusively to the hoard at the old
synagogue of Fostat near Cairo. This was a church
dedicated to St. Michael until the conquest of Egypt
by Chosroes in 616, when it became a
The Cairo synagogue. To Benjamin of Tudela,
Genizah. in the twelfth century, it appeared
"very ancient." Simon van Geldern
(c. 1750), Heine's ancestor, tells in his diary how
much impressed he was by the wealth of possi-
bility that lay hidden amid the rubbish of the geui-
zot there. In 1864 Jacob Safir visited it, and his
"Eben Sappir" describes how he spent two days
ferreting among the ancient books and leaves till the
dust and ashes sickened him of the task ; but " who
knows what may yet be beneath ? " In 1888 E. N.
Adler visited the synagogue, but did not succeed in
seeing more than a recess in the upper part of the
right wall containing the scroll of Ezra and a few
other ancient manuscripts. He was informed that
all shemot were buried in the Jewish cemetery at
Basatin. Shortly afterward the synagogue was re-
paired by the Cairene community, and during its
renovation the old receptacle seems to have been re-
discovered. It is a secret chamber at the back of
the east end, and is approached from the farthest
extremity of the gallery by climbing a ladder and
entering through a hole in the wall.
When Sayce visited the synagogue many of the
contents of the genizah had been thrown out and
buried in the ground, through a part of which a
road was subsequently cut. This would account for
the evident exposure to dampness which some of
the oldest fragments have undergone and for their
earthy odor. Sayce acquired many fragments from
the caretakers of the synagogue, which are now in
the Bodleian Library'. Other libraries and collectors,
especially Archduke Rainer, made similar acquisi-
tions. E. N. Adler revisited the synagogue on Jan.
3, 1896, under the escort of the chief rabbi, Rafai'l ben
Shimon ha-Kohen, and was allowed to take away with
him a sack containing all the parchment and paper
fragments they had been able to gather in about four
hours. Some of these turned out to be of exceptional
interest, and were published shortly afterward. It
was the identification of a Ben Sira text among the
Bodleian fragments in May of that year which in-
duced Schechter to proceed to Cairo in the au-
tumn and bring back with him practi-
Taylor- cally the entire written contents of the
Schechter genizah. These now constitute the
Collection, bulk of the Taylor-Schechter collec-
tion at the Cambridge University Li-
brary'. About the same time Mrs. Lewis and Mrs.
Gibson, two learned sisters, known by their discov-
eries in the Mount Sinai Monastery, visited Cairo,
and returned to Cambridge, England, with a large
number of fragments, wliich they placed at Professor
Schechter 's disposal for the purpose of examination.
Visits to the genizah in October, 1898, April, 1901,
and February, 1903, merely brought to light printed
matter; but if this be found to include title-pages
and colophons, some of it may prove to have bibli-
ographical value. Cyrus Adler of Washington dur-
ing a visit to Cairo in the year 1891 secured about
forty pieces from a dealer; doubtless large quan-
tities of fragments from the same genizah remain in
the hands of dealers in Cairo, Jerusalem, and else-
613
I'HE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Genizah
Gennesaret
where; and are occasionally brought to Europe
and to America and offered for sale. Among the
various buyers from the dealers may be mentioned :
Mrs. Lewis and Mrs. Gibson of Cambridge, Dr. Neu-
bauer, Ihe late Professor Kaufmann of Budapest, the
trustees of the British i\Iuseum, Dr. Caster, Professor
Gottheil of Columbia University, Judge Sulzberger
of Philadelphia, Mr. Amram, also of Philadelphia,
and E. N. Adler.
Most ancient synagogues had genizot. That of
Feodosia in the Crimea is an alcove on the ground
floor at the back of the ark, approachable from the
outside of the building by a hole so small as only to
admit of the entrance of a very small boy. Search
there proved fruitless, as it ]iad been cleared a genera-
tion previously by Firkovitch. At
Other Bokhara the genizah is in the roof,
Genizot. but disuseii copies of scrolls of the Law
are walled up by stucco in arched al-
coves surrounding the interior of the building. At
Teheran it is in an imderground cellar, so damp
that papers turn to pulp in a few weeks; a ketu-
bah or two were all that resulted from a search in
1896. In a secret chamber in the eaves of the roof
of one of the chapels of the ancient synagogue at
Aleppo (4th cent. ?) is the genizah of that famous
city. In 1898 this was as full of dust as the one at
Cairo, but it is much less interesting and ancient.
Its contents are periodically removed, and are taken
solemnly to the Jewish cemetery. Their burial is
locally supposed to induce a downfall of rain. At
Rustchuk burials of "shemot" take place every ten
years, when a sermon is delivered, followed by a
banquet, and the right of burying each sack is sold
as a " mi?wah " ; one month later a stone is laid over
the place of burial, and inscribed as the genizah of
the year in question.
In Prague the genizah is also in the roof, over the
historic banner which records the bravery of the
Bohemian Jews. The genizah is protected from the
designs of the desecrator or collector by a legend,
devoutly believed, that it is under the special pro-
tection of a "golem."
In the Orient generally, shemot are from time
to time deposited temporarily in some corner or cup-
board of the synagogue, often below
Practise in the ark or "almemar." When the col-
the Orient, lection grows too big, or when some
special occasion arises, such as a
drought, thepapersare solemnly gathered up and car-
ried off to the " bet hayyim " and buried there with
some ceremony. With this custom is associated the
far older practise of burying a great or good man
with a "sefer" which has become "pasul " (unlit for
use through illegibility or old age). In Morocco, in
Algiers, in Turkey, and even in Egypt, such paper-
interments continually occur, and not the least im-
portant part of the taylor-Schechter collection has
come from the graveyard.
It was reported (1898) that the genizah at Rosetta
had been transported from the cemetery there and
reburied at Alexandria by a pious Jew, the last of
the community to leave the Delta city. The spade-
work of anight succeeded in bringing to light some
interesting material— an eariy "RIF," a Cretan ke-
tubah, and part of a Nahmanides printed in Por-
tugal. The contents of all these genizot are of the
most varied description, and some, indeed, of en-
trancing interest. Autographs of Saadia and Mai-
monides, of resh gola and nagid, of gaon and here-
tic, the last-mentioned sometimes recalcitrant and
sometimesapologetic, are constantly to be met with.
A vivid description of such contents is given by
Schechter in his "Hoard of Hebrew Manuscripts"—
an article contributed by him to the "Times " (Lon-
don) of Aug. 3, 1897.
Bibliography : Kaufmann. Heine's Ahnensaal. Breslau,
1896; idem, in Ha-Shih)aK iU 18»7 ; Jacob Saflr, Ehen Sap-
pir, Lyck, J866 ; E. N. Adler, Gime Mizraiiim. Oxford, 1897 ;
idem. Gime Para)i u-Mudai. Oxford, 1898; Jew. Chron.
Feb. 21, 1896; Times, London, Aug. 3. 1897; J. (J. R. vlll.
528 et passim ; E. Marcovitz, in Rev. den Ecoles de VAUiayice
Israelite VuiverseUe, No. 2, 1895 (description of the cere-
monies on burying documents, etc., in tlie Rustchuli genizah),
s- s. E. N. A.
GENNESARET, LAKE OF.— Biblical Data:
A lake which takes its name (" Gennesaret " or " Gen-
nesar " ; I Mace. xi. 67; Luke v. 1 ; and in Josephus)
from the small fruitful plain which lies on its west-
ern side (Matt. xiv. 34 ; Mark vi. 53), the present
AlGhuwair. It was also called the "Sea of Gali-
lee" (Matt. iv. 18; Mark i. 16; comp. John vi. 1).
In the Old Testament its name is " Yam Kinnereth "
(or " Kinneroth " ; Num. xxxiv. 11 ; Josh. xii. 3, xiii.
27). The lake is traversed by the Jordan, and is
situated in a deep depression, its surface being 682
feet below sea-level. It is 20 kilometers long and
about 9 kilometers wide, with which the statements
of Josephus (140 stades long, 40 wide) nearly agree.
Its greatest known depth is 141 feet. It is espe-
cially rich in edible fish. At the time of the Gospels
and of Josephus it was covered with countless tish-
ing-boats and ships, which at times were in serious
danger on account of the violent winds to which
the lake was subject. The surrounding mountains
closely invested it, though opening in some places,
in one to admit the fruitful and well-watered plain
of Gennesaret, in another the plain of Batihah, on
the northern side. On its western shore was the
beautifully situated Tiberias, afterward a principal
seat of Jewish learning. At that time there was a
chain of villages and towns around the lake, though
now only a few ruins are to be seen.
E. G. II. F. Bu.
In Rabbinical Literature : The Biblical
" Kinneret " or " Kinnerot " is rendered in the Tar-
gumim of Pseudo-Jonathan (Num. xxiv. 11) and
Jonathan (Josh. xi. 2) by "the Sea of Genusar"
("Yamma di-Genusar "). The same appellation is
frequently met with in the Talmud and Midrashim.
where the lake is also called "the Sea of Tiberias"
(Gen. R. xcviii. 22), and is referred to as abounding
with fish. The Lake of Gennesaret having fallen to
the lot of Naphtali, Joshua imposed on that tribe the
obligation of letting every one fish there with a fish-
ing-rod who so desired (B. K. 81a). The fish of Gen-
nesaret differed in taste from those of the other lakes
in Palestine (Gen. R. iii.). The valley washed by the
lake is called "the valley of Gennesaret " ("bik'at
Genusar "), and is renowned for its fertility. Hence
the words "God's blessing" (Deut. xxxiii. 23) are in-
terpreted as meaning the valley of Gennesaret (Sifre,
Num. 355; Yalk., Num. 962). "Why are there no
Genoa
Gentile
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
614
fruits of Genusar at Jerusalem ? " asks R. Abin. " It
is in Older that people may not say that we go to
Jerusalem only for the sake of those fruits " (Pes.
8b). The fertility of the valley is, according to
the Talmudists, the origin of both the Biblical and
the Talmudic names: it is called "Kinneret" be-
cause its fruit is as sweet as the sound of a harp
("kinnor "; Meg. 6a); and "Genusar" because it is
" the gardens of princes " (" ganne sar " ; Gen. R.
xcviii. 22).
Kinneret was one of the five fortified cities which
fell to the lot of Naphtali(Josh. xix. 35). It is men-
tioned after Rakkath, which is identified in the Tal-
mud with Tiberias (Yer. Meg. i. 1). Genusar as an
inhabited place is also mentioned in Yer. Ma'as. i. 2
and in Tosef., Kelim, B. B. v. 6; but, as it appears
from another Talmudic passage, the ancient town
was no longer in existence in Talmudic times, and
the name "Genusar" was applied to the forts Bet-
Yerah and Sinnabri, which had protected it: on ac-
count of this the plural " Kinnerot " is met with
(Yer. Meg. i. 1; Gen. R. I.e.).
Bibliography : A. Kohut, A7~uch, s.v. id:j ; Neubauer, G. T.
pp. 25, 45, 215-216.
E. c. M. Sel.
GENOA (riQIJ'J) : An important Italian seaport
on the Gulf of Genoa; also a former republic of the
same name. It is very probable that even before
the destruction of the Second Temple Jews from
Rome settled in Genoa and took part in its com-
merce. The first authentic record of Jcavs in Genoa,
however, is contained in two letters of the emperor
Theodoric (fifth century) given by Cassiodorus, and
referring to a synagogue and to previous grants.
The Jews in Genoa suffered, although not as much
as their coreligionists in northern lands, at the hands
of the Crusaders, who found the large seaport a
convenient gathering-place. In 1134 a special tax
was levied upon the Genoese Jews to provide oil
for the altars of Christian churches. Shortly after-
ward they were either driven out or else emigrated
voluntarily in consequence of organized persecu-
tions. Benjamin of Tudela, who passed through
Genoa about 1165, found only two
Sliddle Jews residing there. It is certain that,
Ages. later, Jews were forbidden to remain
longer than three days in Genoa. This
prohibition still existed in 1492. At that time many
exiles from Spain landed at the port and begged per-
mission to staj' long enough to repair their ships,
which had suffered heavy damage, and to recuperate
from the voyage. The unfortunate fugitives pre-
sented a pitiful appearance. " And while they were
making their preparations to journey farther, win-
ter came on, and many died on the wharves." Such
was the account given by Bartolomeo Senarega,
secretary to the republic, and his report confirms
a description given by Joseph ha-Kohen in his
" 'Emek ha-Baka " (ed. Letteris, p. 85). The Gen-
oese doubtless felt pity for the persecuted exiles,
but commercial jealousy and religious fanaticism,
increa.sed by the sermons of Bernardino da Feltre,
caused the repeal of the permission for a temporary
stay in the harbor, which had been obtained with
such difficulty in 1492. In the hope of convert-
ing them the Jews were later granted shelter and
support again, but only one single case of conver-
sion resulted. Twenty-one of the families which
landed in Genoa were allowed to settle in Ferrara.
The number of Jews that came to Genoa in-
creased with the spread of persecutions in Portugal,
so that at the beginning of the sixteenth century a
special ofl3ce was established in Genoa, " UfiBcio per
gliEbrei." The wearing of a badge was ordered, and
the prohibition to reside in Genoa was renewed under
penalty of a large fine, of imprisonment, and even
of being sold into slavery. Only wholesale mer-
chants and physicians holding papal permits were
exempt from these acts of oppression, and an at-
tempt was made to prevent even them from settling
in the city. Nevertheless, petitions for permission
to settle became more and more numerous, and in
1550 a number of Jews obtained the right of free
residence and of free commerce for several years;
even the wearing of the badge and the seclusion in
a ghetto were abolished. Such privileges were re-
newed in 1578, 1582, and 1586, but only for a few
years. In 1587 the wearing of the yellow badge
was restored, but at the petition of the Jews again
abolished.
The combined hostility of the clergy and of the In-
quisition brought about a new decree of banishment
Jan. 8, 1598; but individual Jews still
Banished remained in the city. They were com-
in 1598. pelled to wear the Jewish badge, but
by paying a certain sum could buy
the privilege of discarding it. Commercial consid-
erations in general demanded a milder treatment
of the Jews, and in the free harbor law of 1648 and
1658 the Jews were again recognized, and special
regulations were made for importing their goods.
The Inquisition considered this treatment too le-
nient, and called forth a similar expression of opinion
from the Holy Ofliice at Rome. Although the repub-
lic at first refused to listen to these complaints, it
was nevertheless compelled in 1659 to make new and
oppressive regulations concerning the Jews, and
their right of residence was limited to ten years.
The Jews from Spain and Portugal were glad to be
received anywhere under any conditions, and hence
new arrivals submitted to the new regulations. Land
for a ghetto was granted in 1660, and
The there a synagogue was built. The
Ghetto. ghetto had two iron gates, which re-
mained closed from sunset until morn-
ing. The number of the Jews at that time amounted
to about 700; among them were many prosperous
merchants, who, owing to the importance of their
business, received better treatment and were allowed
to live outside the ghetto. All Jews, however, were
obliged to attend Christian sermons during Lent,
a compulsion which was felt to be the deepest hu-
miliation; on these occasions, besides being reviled
by the preacher, they met with insults and even
acts of violence on the part of the mob.
At the end of the ten years (1669) an attempt was
made to drive the Jews out again, under all sorts of
pretexts. The Senate opposed this, and in 1674 ob-
tained an extension of the right of residence for ten
years more, under a new charter and in a different
part of the city. But the rules were too severe, and
especially the attendance at the sermons was felt to
615
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Qentile
Qenoa
be so degrading that the Jews rebelled, and in 1679
were all driven from the city. As before, Jews were
later allowed to settle there again singly and only
for a limited time. Even that privilege was abol-
ished by a decree of banishment in 1752. However,
only the poor were affected by the decree; the rich
remained and were even favorably regarded on ac-
count of their acknowledged importance for the
commerce of the republic. Through their influence
a new charter was drawn up in 1752 upon fairly lib-
eral terms, and the opposition of Pope Benedict
XIV. remained without effect. The Senate at that
time was very friendly to the Jews ; it recognized the
advantages they might bring to the citJ^ the more
so as it saw with regret how the neighboring port
of Leghorn, where Jews enjoyed the most extensive
liberties, was flourishing and injuring the commerce
of Genoa. The Jews, however, had recognized the
indecisive nature of this favor and kept at a dis-
tance from Genoa. Not until toward the end of the
eighteenth century did they establish large commer-
cial houses there. Their legal status remained pre-
carious and rested upon the personal tolerance of the
mercantile class, not upon the firm basis of the law;
and it was not until 1848, when the constitution of
the kingdom of Sardinia was promulgated, that the
Jews received the full rights of citizenship, and there
still exists among the population a feeling of ani-
mosity against them, which is due to clerical leaning.
Since 1848 the community has steadily
Ezaanci- increased ; in 1901 it numbered about
pation. 1,000 souls. The Jews have taken
a large share in the flourishing com-
merce of Genoa, while the commerce of Leghorn has
almost ceased, and a large proportion of its Jewish
community has emigrated to the former city. In
consequence of this influx from Leghorn the ritual
of the Sephardim has been introduced into the only
synagogue of Genoa. The community possesses a
school for religious instruction, a good library, and
a very good charitable organization. There is little
to be said concerning the scholars and rabbis who
lived and labored in Genoa, for their number was
small and their existence precarious. Judah Abra-
vanel (Leo Hebraeus) practised medicine there. The
historian Joseph ha-Kohen lived there Mith his par-
ents and family from 1501 until 1547, when he was
exiled in spite of the intercession of his patients.
Two rabbis are mentioned as residing in the city in
1680, Abitur Abba Mari and Abraham Zarfati. In
the latter part of the nineteenth century Felice Finzi
■was the rabbi of the communitj'; since his death the
post has been vacant.
In 1516 the " Psalterium Octaplum " was printed
in Genoa at the press of Nicolaus Giustiniani ; this
is celebrated because it contains the history of Co-
lumbus' discovery of America in the scholia to
Psalm xix.
Bibliography : Massa'ot of Benjamin of Tudela ; Joseph ba-
Kohen, 'Emck ha-Baka, passim ; M. Stagliero, Degli Ebrei
di Qenoa, in Gifirnale higiMticn di Archenloqia, Storia e
Belle. A.rlU 1876 ; Perreau, in Vessillo Israditica, 188L, xxix.
On the rabbis see Mortara, Indice, s.v.; on the Psalter, see
Luzzatto, Oheb Ger, Appendix ; Steioschnelder, Cat. Bodl.
col. 3.
D. I. E.
GENTILE : A word of Latin origin (from
"gens" ; "gentilis"), designating a people not Jew-
ish, commonly applied to non-Jews. The term
is said (but falsely so) to imply inferiority and to
express contempt. If used at all by Jews of modem
times — many of them avoiding it altogether, pre-
ferring to speak of "non-Jews" — this construction
of its implications must certainly be abandoned as
contrary to truth. The word " Gentile " corresponds
to the late Hebrew "goi," a synonym for "nokri, "
signifying "stranger," "non-Jew." In the Hebrew
of the Bible "goi" and its plural "goyyim" origi-
nally meant "nation," and were applied both to
Israelites and to non-Israelites (Gen. xii. 2, xvii. 20;
Ex. xiii. 3, xxxii. 10; Deut. iv. 7; viii. 9, 14; Num.
xiv. 12; Isa. i. 4, Ix. 22; Jer. vii. 28). "Goi" and
"goyyim," however, are employed in many pas-
sages to designate nations that are politically dis-
tinct from Israel (Deut. xv. 6; xxviii. 12, 36; Josh,
xxiii. 4). From this u.se is derived the meaning
"stranger" (Deut. xxix. 24; comp. II Chron. vi. 32
= "'amme ha-'are?"). As the non-Israelite and the
nokri were "heathens," "goi" came
Meaning to denote a "heathen," like the later
of the "'akkum," Avhich, in strict construc-
Term. tion, is not applicable to Christians
or Mohammedans (see below). In its
most comprehensive sense "goi " corresponds to the
other late term, " ummot ha-'olam" (the peoples of
the world).
Toward idolatry and the immoralities therewith
connected, the Biblical writings display passionate
intolerance. As the aboriginal population of Ca-
naan was the stumbling-block for Israel, constantly
exposed to the danger of being contaminated by Ca-
naanitish idolatrous practises, the seven "goy)'im,"
i.e., nations (Deut. vii. 1, xii. 2), were to be treated
with but little mercy; and, more especially, mar-
riages with them were not to be tolerated (Deut. vii.
3; comp. Ex. xxxiv. 16). Notwithstanding this
prohibition, mention is made of marriages with non-
Hebrews of other stock than the seven nations enu-
merated (Ruth i. 4; II Sam. iii. 3; I Kings vii. 14,
xiv. 21; I Chron. ii. 34), and even of marriages in
direct contravention of the prohibitive law (Judges
iii. 6; II Sam. xi. 3; I Kings xi. 1 et seq.. xvi. 31).
This proves that the animosity against non-Hebrews,
or "goyyim," assumed to have been dominant in
Biblical times among the Hebrews, was by no means
intense. The caution against adopting the "hukkot
ha-goyyim " (Lev. xviii. 2), and the aversion to the
customs of "the nations," rest on the recognition of
the morally pernicious character of the rites indulged
in by the Canaanitish heathens.
The "stranger," whether merely a visitor ("ger")
or a resident (" ger toshab "), was placed under the
protection of the Law, though possibly a distinction
was made between the transient and the permanent
stranger; from the former, for instance, interest
could be taken and a debt was collectable even in
the Year of Release. But God was said to love the
stranger (Deut. x 18; Ps. cxlvi. 9). The native-
born was required to love him (Lev. xix. 33-34).
Recourse to the courts was open to him (Ex. xxii.
21, xxiii. 9; Deut. xxiv. 17, xxvii. 19). "One law
and one statute " was to apply to native and stranger
alike (Lev. xxiv. 22; Num.'ix. 14; xv.' 16, 29; Ex.
xii. 49). But of the stranger it was expected that
Oentile
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
616
he would forego the worship of idols (Lev. xx. 2;
Ezek. xiv. 7) and the practise of sorcery, incest, or
other abominations (Lev. xviii. 26), and
The that he would refrain from eating blood
*< Stran- (Lev. xvii. 10), from working on Sab-
ger." bath (Ex. xx. 10, xxiii. 12), from eat-
ing leavened bread on Pesah (Ex. xii.
19), and from violating Yom ha-Kippurim (Lev. xvi-
29). For other provisions concerning the stranger,
or nonjew ("goi"), see Lev. xvii. 8; xxiv. 16, 22;
Num. XV. 14, XXXV. 15; Deut. xiv. 21 ; xvi. 11, 14).
Restrictions in the matter of the reception of
strangers (see Proselyte and Proselytism) were
made in the case of (1) Edomites and Egyptians,
who were entitled to acceptance only in the fourth
generation, i.e., the third from the original immi-
grant; and (2) Ammonites and Moabites. These
latter two were put on a level with persons of ille-
gitimate birth, and were therefore excluded from
"the congregation of the Lord forever" (Deut.
xxiii. et seq. ; compare the American anti-Chinese
legislation).
The strangers, i.e., the goyyim, enjoyed all the
benefits of the poor-laws (see Deut. xiv. 28, xxvi.
11; comp. Job i. 7); and the Prophets frequently
enjoin kindness towaid the non-Israelite (Jer. vii.
6, xxii. 3; Ezek. xxii. 7; Zech. vii. 10; Mai. iii. 5;
comp. Ps. xciv. 6).
Non-Israelites figure in the Bible as exemplars of
fidelity (see Eliezer), devotion (Ruth), and piety
(Job); and Deutero-Isaiah's welcome and promise
to the "sons of the stranger" (Isa. Ivi. 3-6; comp.
Ezek. xlvii. 22) likewise betoken the very opposite of
the spirit of haughty exclusiveness and contempt
for the non-Israelite said to be characteristic of the
Jew and of Judaism.
Under Ezra and Nehemiah, it is true, rigorous
measures were proposed to insure the purity of the
holy seed of Abraham (Neh. ix. 2; xiii. 3, 23; Ezra
ix. 2 et seq., x. 8) ; but the necessities of the situation
justified the narrower policy in this case.
In pre-exilic times the intercourse between Israel-
ites and non-Israelites (non-Canaanites) was not very
active or extensive, and non-Israelites (Egyptians,
Assyrians, Babylonians) always appeared as enemies.
But the Exile brought Israel into closer contact with
non-Israel. If the conclusions of the critical schools
are accepted, according to which the opening chap-
ters of Genesis date from this period, the fact that
Israel posits at the beginning of history the unity of
all humanity should give pause to the
Judaism, ascription to Judaism of hostility to-
Not ward the Gentile majority of human-
Hostile to ity. The books of Ruth and Jonah are
Gentiles, also documentary proof that the He-
brew racialism of Ezra met with stren-
uous opposition. Greeks, Syrians, and Romans, the
peoples with whom post-exilic Israel had incisive
relations, were not animated by a spirit apt to en-
gender in the Jew a responsive sentiment of regard.
Nor were their morals ("hukkot ha-goyyim ") such
as to allay the apprehension of faithful Jews as to
the probable results of contact. The Maccabean
revolution, the struggle against Hellenism, tlie
rise against Rome under both Titus and Hadrian,
are the historical background to the opinions ex-
pressed concerning non-Jews and the enactments
adopted against them. Yet withal, both relatively
— by comparison with the attitude of the Greek
world toward the non-Greek (barbarian), or with the
Roman treatment of the non-Romans (the "pagani")
— and absolutely, the sentiments of the Jew toward
the non-Jew were superior to the general moral and
mental atmosphere. The Essenes certainly repre-
sent the cosmopolitan and broadly humanitarian
tendencies of Judaism ; and as for the Pharisees,
their contempt for the Gentile was not deeper than
their contempt for the Jewish 'Am ha-Arez (the
unlearned, suspected always of laxity in religious
duty). The golden rule is Pharisaic doctrine (comp.
Ab. R. N., RecensionB, xxvi., xxix., xxx., xxxiii.).
In judging the halakic enactments one must keep
in mind not merely the situation of the Jews — en-
gaged in a bitter struggle for self-preservation and
exposed to all sorts of treachery and suffering from
persecution — but also the distinction between law
and equity. The law can not and does not recog-
nize the right of demented persons, minors, or
aliens to hold property. Even modern statutes are
based on this principle; e.g., in the state of Illinois,
U. S. A., an alien can not inherit real estate. But
what the law denies, equity confers. The Talmudic
phrase " mi-pene darke shalom " (" on account of the
ways of peace " ; see below) is the equivalent of the
modern "in equity."
How the views of the Tannaim concerning Gen-
tiles were influenced largely by their own personal
temper and the conditions of their age, is apparent
from an analysis of the discussion on the meaning
of Prov. xiv. 34, of which two ver-
Tannaitic sions are found: one in Pesik. 12b;
Views of the other in a baraita in B. B. lOb.
Gentiles. According to the former, Eliezer,
Joshua, and Eleazar b. 'Arak, under
their master Johanan ben Zakkai ; and Gamaliel, a
certain Abin b. Judah, and Nehunya ben lia-Kana
are the participants. In the latter version. Eliezer,
Joshua, Gamaliel, Eleazar of Modi'im, and Nehunya
ben ha-Kana are mentioned. It is probable that two
distinct discussions, one under Johanan ben Zakkai
and the other under Gamaliel, were combined, and
the names and opinions confounded (see Bacher,
"Ag. Tan." i. 38, note). This, however, is imma-
terial, in view of the fact that each of the men quoted
gives a different interpretation; the truly humane
one by Nehunya (in the Pesikta, by Eleazar ben
'Arak) alone meeting with the approval of the mas-
ter. According to R. Eliezer, the maxim "Love, be-
nevolence [" hesed "] exalteth a nation " refers to
Israel; while whatever charity the Gentiles practise
is really sinful, the motive being self-glorification.
Joshua is of the same opinion, alleging that whatever
charitable action the Gentiles do is done to extend
their kingdom. Gamaliel also expresses himself to
the same effect, adding that the Gentiles, by their im-
pure motive, incur the penalty of Gehenna. Elea-
zar of Modi'im sides with him, saying that " the Gen-
tiles practise benevolence merely to taunt Israel."
But Nehunya ben ha-Kana (in the Pesikta, Eleazar
ben 'Arak) interprets the maxim as follows: "Right-
eousness exalteth a nation ; for benevolence both for
Israel and for the Gentiles is a sin-offering." The
617
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Gentile
master, approving this construction, explains that,
in liis view, the passage teaclies that as the sin-oflfer-
ing works atonement for Israel, so does benevolence
for the Gentiles.
The following anthology of haggadic observations
on non-Israelites or Gentiles is arranged chronologic-
ally, as it is essential that the time-element be
kept in view and that the opinions of one tanna be
not taken as those of the Talmud.
Of Gamaliel II. Is recorded a conversation with two pseudo-
proselyte generals, who, being sent to investigate Jewish prac-
tises, take exception only to the provision per-
Qamaliel II. milting to a Jew the use of property stolen
from a non-Jew (Sifre, Deut. 344 ; B. K. Swa-
the law which, in regard to the damage done by a goring ox,
does not put Jew and GentUe on an equal footing). In Yer. B.
y. 4b they censure also the prohibition of Jewish women from
attending non-Jewish women as midwives and nurses. Gamaliel
Is reported to have repealed the obnoxious law on the use of
stolen property (see Gratz in " Monatsschrift," 1881, p. 493).
Eliezer b. Hyrcanus is less tolerant. According to him, the
mind of every non-Jew is always intent upon idolatry (Git. 45b).
The cattle of a heathen Is unUt for sacrifices CAb. Zarah 23b).
Explaining Prov. xiv. 34, he maintains that the non-Jews only
practise charity in order to make for themselves a name (B. B.
10b ; Pesik. 12b ; Gamaliel is credited with the same opinion in
B. B. 10b) . The persecutions which, at the instigation of Judaeo-
Chrlstlans, Eliezer had suffered at the hands of the Romans may
explain his attitude, as well as his opinion that the Gentiles have
no share In the life to come (Tosef., Sanh. xlil. 2; Sanh. 105a).
He nevertheless cites the example of a non-Jew, Dama b. Netina,
as illustrative of the command to honor father and mother (Kid.
31a; 'Ab. Zarah 23b; comp. Yer. Peah 15c; Kid. 61b; Pesik.
R. xxiii.).
Joshua b. Hananiah, contrary to Eliezer b. Hyrcanus, contends
that there are righteous men among the Gentiles, and that these
will enter the world to come (Tosef., Sanh. xiii. 2), though as a
rule Gentiles cling to vain things and are rejected (Prov.xxviii.
19; Gen. R. Ixxxii.). He excludes the descendants of Amalek
from the Messianic kingdom (Sifre, Deut. 310 ; Mek., Yitro, 57a) ;
while all other Gentiles will adopt monotheism ('Ab. Zarah 24a;
comp. Pesik. 28b). He is of the decided opinion that Gentiles
(heathen) may lead a righteous life and thus escape Gehenna (see
Zunz, "G. V." p. 269, noted; Bacher, "Ag. Tan." 1. 159). It Is
also reported of Joshua b. Hananiah that in a dialogue with the
emperor Hadrian— who Insisted that, as God's name was not
mentioned in those parts of the Decalogue addressed to all men,
the Gentiles were preferred, Israel being threatened with greater
punishments— he controverted that monarch's conclusions by
means of an illustration not very complimentary to the Gentiles
(Pesik. R. xxi.).
Eleazarof Modi'im, in reference to Mlcah iv. 5, explains that
Israel, though guilty of the same sins as the Gentiles, will not
enter hell, while the Gentiles will (Cant. R. li. 1). In another
of his homilies, however, he speaks of the Joy with which the
Gentiles blessed Israel for having accepted the Decalogue (Zeb.
116a). On the whole, he is very bitter in his condemnations of
the heathen. " They profit by their deeds of love and benevo-
lence to slander Israel " (referring to Jer. xl. 3 ; B. B. 10a).
Eleazar ben Azariah maintains, on the basis of Ex. xxi. 1, that
a Judgment rendered by a non-Jewish (Roman) court is not
valid for a Jew (Mek., MishpatimL There is also recorded a
high tribute which he paid to a heathen servant, Tabi, who was
so worthy that Eleazar declares he felt that he himself ought to
be the servant (.Midr. Mishle to Prov. ix. 2).
Ishmael ben Elisha used to reply to the heathen's benedictions
and imprecations : " The word befitting you has long since been
uttered.'' Asked for an explanation, he referred to Gen. xxvii.
29 (Hebr. ): " Those that curse thee shall be cursed; those that
bless thee shall be blessed" ((ien. R. Ixvl.). In order to pro-
tect Jews he would decide in their favor, using the non-Jewish
or the Jewish code as suited the occasion (Sifre, Deut. 16 ; in B.
K. 113a this is given as a prescription of his for others to follow,
against which Akiba, recognizing that this would be a profana-
tion of God's name, protests "mi-pene kiddush ha-Shein").
Akiba, like Hillel, declared the coirimand to love one's neigh-
bor as oneself (Lev. xlx. 18) to be the fundamental proposition
of religion (Sifra, Kedoshim, ed. Weiss, p.
Akiba. 89a: Yer. Ned. 41c; (ien. R. xxiv.; comp. Ab.
iii. 14; Ab. R.N. xxxix.). Robbery of which
a Gentile Is the victim is robber\MB. B. 113a). For his opinion
of the non-Jewish peoples, the " Dialogue Between Israel and
the Gentiles" is characteristic (Mek., Beshallab, ed. Weiss,
p. 44b ; Sifre, Deut. 34;3 ; Cant. R. i. 3, v. 9, vl. 1).' In another
dialogue, Israel's monotheism is shown to be far superior to
the ever-changing belief of the Gentiles (Mek., Yitro, x.). His
contempt for the folly of idolatry as practised by the Romans is
apparent in his conversation with Rufus, in which he compares
the gods to dogs (Tan. Terumah, ed. Stettin, p. 139; comp.
Gratz, "Gesch"lv. 447).
Among Akiba's disciples Tarphon is noted for his antipathy to
the Juda^o-Christians, whose books he would burn without re-
gard for the name of God occurring therein, preferring tht
temple of Idolaters to them (Shab. 116a).
Jose the (iaiilean rebukes Israel for its inconstancy, which be
contrasts with the fidelity shown by the Gentiles to their an-
cestral beliefs (Sifre, Deut. 87). The good done by Gentiles \s
rewarded (see Gen. xxiii. 5; Sifra, Ahare Mot, 85b).
Judah ben Baba holds that by the customs of the heathen
forbidden in Lev. xvlii. 3 were meant the cosmetic arts (Sifra,
86a; see commentary of Abraham ben David ad loc; comp.
Tosef., Sotah, xv. 9 ; Shab. 62b).
The warning against the practises of the heathen In Lev.
xviil. 3 is interpreted by R. Me'ir (Sifra, 85b) to refer to the
superstitions "of the Amorites" (enumerated in Shab. 67a;
comp. Mishnah vi., last section). He would not permit Jews
to visit the theaters (arenas) of the Gentiles, because blood is
spilled and idols are worshiped there (Tosef., 'Ab. Zarah, 11. 5;
'Ab. Zarah 18b; Yer. Sanh. 40a; Ab. R. N. xxi.). Intolerant of
idolatry ('Ab. Zarah i. 5, 8; ii. 2, 4; iii. 1 ; Blumenthal, " Rabbi
Meir," pp. 82 e* seq.), it was Meir who insisted that in Lev. xviil.
5 the word "man," not "priest," "Levite," or "Israelite," oc-
curs, and thus claimed that a non-Jew versed In the Torah equals
In rank the high priest (B. K. 38a; Sanh. 59a; Sifra, 86b, where
II Sam. vil. 19 ["ha-adam"]; Isa. xxvl. 2, "goizaddik"; Ps.
xxxiil. 1, "zaddikim," and cxxv. 4, "le-toblm," are similarly
applied to Gentile and Jew alike) . He was on
R. Heir, a footing of intimacy with the Gentile philoso-
pher Euonymos of Gadara (Gratz. I.e. Iv. 469).
In an anecdote, significant as indicating the freedom of inter-
course between Jew and Gentile, Meir illustrates the cynic ma-
terialism of a rich heathen who, angry at the lack of a trifle at his
banquet, which offered "whatever was created in six days," broke
a rich plate ; pleading that, as the world to come was for Israel,
he had to look to this world for his pleasures (Pesik. 59b; Num.
R. xxi.). Meir has a conversation with a "hegemon," who ex-
presses his contempt of Israel, calling the Israelites slaves;
whereupon Meir shows that Israel is a wayward son. always
finding, if ready to repent, the father's house open (Jellinek,
"B. H." i. 21). This anecdote, also, is significant as showing
the sentiments of the Gentiles toward the Jews.
Simon ben Yohal is preeminently the auti-Gentlle teacher.
In a collection of three sayings of his. beginning with the key-
word 01B (Yer. Kid. 66c; Massek. Soferim xv. 10; Mek., Beshal-
lah, 27a ; Tan., Wayera, ed. Buber, 20), is found the expression,
often quoted by anti-Semites, "Tob shebe-goyyim harog"
(=" The best among the Gentiles deserves to be killed "). This
utterance has been felt by Jews to be due to an exaggerated
antipathy on the part of a fanatic whose life experiences may
furnish an explanation for his animosity ; hence In the various
versions the reading has been altered, " The best among the
Egyptians " being generally substituted. In the connection in
which it stands, the import of this observation is similar to that
of the two others: "The most pious woman is addicted to
sorcery " ; " The best of snakes ought to have its Lead crushed "
(comp. the saying, "Scratch a Russian and you will find a
Tartar").
On the basis of Hab. iii. 6. Simon b. Yohal argued that, of aU
the nations, Israel alone was worthy to receive the Law (Lev.
R. xiii.). The Gentiles, according to him, would not observe
the seven laws given to the NoachidEe (Tosef., Sotah, vlii. 7;
Sotah 3")b), though the Law was written on the altar (Deut.
xxvi. 8) In the seventy languages. Hence, while Israel is like
the patient ass, the Gentiles resemble the easy-going, selfish
dog (Lev. R. xiii.; Sifre, Deut., Wezot ha-Berakah. 343). Yet
Simon speaks of the friendly reception given to Gentiles (Sifre,
Deut. 1). The Idols were called " elilim " to indicate that " wo
[ S'^n] Is them that worship them " (Jellinek, I.e. v. 78). Simon
b. Yohai insists upon the destruction of idols, but in a different
maimer from that proposed by others ('A b. Zarah iii. 3: 'Ab.
Zarah 43b ) . He extends to Gentiles the prohibition against sorcery
in Deut. xvlli. 10 et seq. (Tosef., 'Ab. Zarah, viii. 6; Sanh. .5.')b).
Judah ben 'Illai recommends the daily recital of the benedic-
tion. " Blessed be Thou . . . who hast not made me a gol "
(Tosef., Ber. vii. 18 : Men. 43b, sometimes ascribed to Meir ; see
Weiss, " Dor," ii. 137). Judah Is confident that the heathen (Gen-
tiles) will ultimately come to shame (Isa. Ixvl. 5; B. M. 33b).
Gentile
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
618
The Gentiles took copies of the Torah, and yet did not accept it
(8o(ah35b).
Ellezer, the son of Jose the Galilean, calls the Gentiles poor
"goyylm dawlm," because they would not accept the Torah
(Mek., Yitro.62a), referring to Hab. 111. 6 and Ps. cxlvil. 20.
Joshua ben Karha Is reported to have answered the accusa-
tion—still repeated in modern antl-Semltlc literature— that
Israel refuses to celebrate the festivals of the Gentiles— by show-
ing that nature's bounties bring Joy to all men alike (Gen. R*
xill.).
Simon ben Gamaliel II. Is the author of the saying that strict
Justice shall be done the Gentile, who shall elect whether he
shall be tried according to the Jewish or the Gentile code (Sifre,
Deut. 16).
Josiah holds that every idolatrous heathen Is an enemy of
Israel (Mek., Mishpatlm, 99a).
Jonathan Insists that eclipses are of bad augury for Gentiles
only, according to Jer. x. 3 (Mek., Bo, 19b).
According to Hananiah b. Akabla the word ^r\•;-\ (Ex. xxi. 14)
may perhaps exclude the Gentile; but the shedding of the blood
of non-Israelites, while not cognizable by human courts, will be
punished by the heavenly tribunal (Mek., Mishpatim, 80b).
Why Gentile circuses and theaters continued while the Tem-
ple was in ruins, was a perplexing problem for many a pious
Jew. Nehoral learns from Elijah that this is the cause of earth-
quakes (Yer. Ber. 13c; Midr. Teh. to Ps. xvili. 8).
Jacob, the grandson of Elisha ben Abuya, reports having seen
a heathen bind his father and throw him to his dog as food
(Sifre, Deut. 81).
Simon ben Eleazar does not favor the social amenities (e.g..
Invitations to wedding-feasts) between Gentiles and Jews
(Tosef., 'Ab. Zarah, Iv. 6 ; Ab. R. N. xxvi. ; 'Ab. Zarah 8a), re-
ferring to Ex. xxxiv. 16.
According to Judah ha-Nasi, the word "goyylm" designates
the nations that subjected Israel, while " ummlm " denotes
those that did not. Both must praise the God of Israel (Midr.
Teh. to Ps. cxvll. 1).
Phlnehas ben Jalr prohibits the appropriation of an object lost
by a non-Jew, as this is tantamount to desecrating God's name
(B. K. 113b).
Simon ben Jose likens Israel to a stone, and the Gentiles to
a potsherd (Isa. xxx. 14), applying the proverb: "If the stone
falls on the pot, wo to the pot; if the pot falls on the stone,
wo to the pot." This he offered as a consolation to persecuted
Israel (Esther R. ill. 6).
Antlgonus complains of the cruelty of the non-Jews toward
Israel (Mek., Beshallah, 27a; hut see Bacher, "Ag. Tan." 11. 331,
note 2).
With regard to the attitude of the Palestinian
amoraim toward Gentiles the following facts may
be stated :
That antipathy was due to idolatry itself and not to the fact
that idolaters were of non-Jewish stock, appears from Hanina
bar Kama's discussion with Jonathan b. Eleazar of the question
whether one should take a road passing by a
Views of temple of idols or one passing through a dls-
the reputable district, in which the decision was
Amoraim. given in favor of the latter ('Ab. Zarah 17a, b).
It was also this amora who ascribed moral
sanctity to the marriages of non-Jews (Noachidae; Yer. Sanh.
58c), though he himself witnessed gross immoralities perpe-
trated by non-Jews CAb. Zarah 22b). Yet he is credited with
the opinion that during the Messianic time only the heathen
will be subject to death (Gen. R. xxvi.).
Hezeklah b. Hiyya deduces from II Kings xx. 18 that he who
shows hospitality to a heathen brings the penalty of exile upon
his own children (Sanh. 104a).
Some of the parables of Joshua b. Levi Illustrate strikingly
the reciprocal feelings entertained in his day between Jews and
Gentiles. The latter accused the former of being descended
from illegitimate compulsory connection between their female
ancestors and the Egyptians (Peslk. 82b); the Jews, in turn,
likened the Romans to dogs (referring to Isa. Ivi. 11 ; Midr. Teh.
to Ps. iv. 8 ; comp. Matt. xv. 28 ; Mark vil. 27 ; Bacher, " Ag.
Pal. Amor." i. 146-147). That Joshua had objections only to
the Jews following the evil practises of the Gentiles, is evidenced
by his comments on Ezek. v. 7, xi. 12 (Sanh. 39b), in which he
points out that Israel deserved censure for rejecting the good
customs as well as for adopting the evil ones of the nations
("Ye have not done according to the approved among them
[" ke-metukkanim she-bahem "], but we have done according to
the corrupt ones [" ke-mekulkalim she-bahem "] "). His liber-
ality is also attested in his legendary visits to paradise and hell
for the purpose of ascertaining whether non-Jews were to be
found in the former (Jelllnek. I.e. il. 48-51).
Johanan bar Nappaha complains of the insults and Injuries
offered by Gentiles to his people (referring to Lam. ill. 21 ; Pes.
139b; Cant. R. 11. 14; Ex. R. xxi.). He lays stress on the fact
that God offered the Law to all nations, who refused to accept
it ('Ab. Zarah 2b); therefore while the virus of lust that the
serpent Injected into Eve was neutralized in Israel, the " na-
tions of the world" still have it In their blood (Shab. 145b;
Yeb. 103b; 'Ab. Zarah 22b). "The wise among the heathen
is called and must be honored as a wise man "
Johanan. (Meg. 16a), is one of Johanan's sayings, though
he is also the author of another which holds
that, as the Torah was given as a heritage to Israel, a non-Israelite
deserves death if he studies it (Sanh. 59a). Notwithstanding
all this, he maintains that Gentiles outside of Palestine are not
to be regarded as idolaters, but as observers of their ancestral
customs (Hul. 13b). SignlOcant of the attitude of the Gentiles
toward the Jews in his day is his observation that when a Gen-
tile touches the pot placed on the common hearth by a Jew, the
latter does not deem it rendered unclean ; but that as soon as a
Jew touches the pot of the Gentile, the latter shouts " Unclean ! "
(Esther R. 11. 3). Under certain circumstances, Johanan per-
mitted the eating of food prepared by Gentiles (Yeb. 46a). His
also is the maxim, "Whosoever abandons idolatry is called
•Jew'" (Meg. 13a).
Resh Lakish prohibited the use of water which had been re-
vered by heathens; but he had to recall his decision ('Ab.
Zarah 58b ; comp. Yer. Sheb. 38b, c, concerning a public bath
in which was a statue of Aphrodite).
Eleazar ben Pedat observes that the suggestion of inter-
marriage always comes from the Gentile side : " Never does an
Israelite put his finger into the mouth of a non-Israelite, unless
the latter has first put his into the mouth of the Israelite " (Gen.
R. Ixxx.). According to Eleazar, the Jew and not the heathen
is bound to sanctify God's name (Yer. Sheb. 35a). Murders
committed by Gentiles are recorded by God on His own cloak in
order .that He may have authentic proof of their atrocities (Midr.
Teh. to Ps. ix. 13).
Abbahu calls attention to the fact that the Gentiles as well as
Israel were offered the Torah (Peslk. 200a; Tan., Berakah, 3),
He complains also of the insults to which Jews
Abbahu. are exposed in the theaters of the Gentiles
(Proem 17 to Lam. R.) by Gentile actors and
attendants. He indorsed the law (B. K. iv. 3) according to
which a Gentile whose ox had been gored by the ox of a Jew
was not entitled to damages (B. K. 32a).
Assi is the author of the injunction not to Instruct the Gentile
in the Torah (Hag. 13a).
Isaac Nappaha is the author of some parables in which Israel
is exalted to offset the slanders of the Gentiles ; and the latter,
in turn, are spoken of in terms of contumely (Bacher, "Ag.
Pal. Amor." 11. 291).
Levi enumerates six commandments (prohibitions of polythe-
ism and of blasphemy ; the institution of courts of justice ; pro-
hibitions of shedding of blood, of incest, and of robbery) which
are binding upon all men (Gen. R. xvi.: Midr. Teh. to Ps. i. 10 ;
the " Torat Adonai " is said to consist of these universal laws;
so that to be the " happy " man of whom the psalm speaks one
need not necessarily be a Jew). Levi is, however, very severe in
his reflections on the morality of the Gentiles (Cant. R. to vi. 8;
see Bacher, I.e. p. 329, note 7). Levi claims that the injunction
not to take revenge (Lev. xix. 18) does not apply to Gentiles
(EccL R. vlii. 4).
Abba b. Kahana protests, in an explanation of Ruth iv. 16,
against racial arrogance on the part of Israel (Ruth R. viii.).
Jonah and Jose permitted the baking of bread for the Roman
soldiers on Sabbath-day (Yer. Sheb. 35a; Yer. Sanh. 21b; comp.
Yer. Bezah 60c) . Yet they would not permit the use of a scroll
partially burned in a conflagration caused by these same soldiers.
Judan applies the proverb, "A fat animal becomes lean ; but
a lean one has to give up the ghost," to Israel's maltreatment
on the part of the (ientiles (Lam. R. Hi. 20).
Phlnehas b. Hama calls attention to the fact that Israel on Suk-
kot offered seventy heifers for all the nations, and prayed for
them, applying the verse (Ps. cix. 4), "On account of my love
they attack me " (Pes. 193b). Other stories of his bring out the
fact that in his day the Jews were not liked by their Gentile
neighbors (Yer. Peah 16d ; Lam. R. i. 11 ; comp. Josephus, "B.
J."iii.3, « 2).
Abin testifies that Israel was called by others "stubborn" and
"stiff-necked" (Ex. R. xlli.; q-\y ntr|i Ss* nniN).
Tanhuma enjoins that If one is greeted by a Gentile with the
salutation of peace or a blessing, one should answer "Amen I "
619
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Gentile
(|CN vnnK n:y mj -]2f-2 dn ; Yer. Ber. 12c; Yer. Suk. 54a;
Yer. Meg. 72a), though he likens the nations to wolves and
Israel to a lamb (Pesik. R. ix. [ed. Friedmaun, p. 32a]).
The Babylonian Amoraim advert but rarely to the
relations of the Israelites to the Gentiles; and, while
on the whole their haggadic interpretations are less
numerous than those of the Palestinian schools, the
paucity of their comments on Gentiles is noteworthy
as illustrative of the fact that the typical Gentile
against whom rabbinical animosity was directed
was the depraved Roman. According to Rab, the
Saturnalia and the Calends originated with Adam,
and were based on purely human sentiments ('Ab.
Zarah 8a; Yer. 'Ab. Zarah 39c), a view certainly be-
tokening tolerance for pagan customs. Similarly
does Rab recognize the chastity of non-Jewish
women, as is shown by his story of the Gentile
woman who when sick was willing to serve any idol
in order to be cured, but who upon coming to the
temple of Baal-peor preferred to remain sick rather
than to take part in the worship of
Views of that god (Sanh. 64a). It is the immo-
Babylonian rality of idolatry that more especially
Amoraim. strikes him (Sanh. 63b). The moral
purpose of the Torah for all men
(mnnn nS jnn finX^; Lev. R. xiii.) is one of his
themes. Ilis ethical maxims are addressed as a rule
to man and not to the Jew (Sanh. 107a).
Cruelty to one's fellow men marks one a non-
Abrahamite (Bezah S'^h). Hospitality like Abra-
ham's—i.e., to all men — Rab commends highly
(Shab. 127a; Shebu. 35b; B. M. 86b). For him the
Persian empire represented the typical antipode of
piety and justice. Hence his saying (in opposition
to Samuel), " Guilty of death is he that learns any-
thing from a Magian [Persian]" (Shab. 116b); and
the following: "Rather under the Romans than un-
der the Persians" U'b. 11a).
Mar 'Ukba, on the other hand, regards Rome as
one of the two daughters of Hell (Prov. xxx. 15),
the other being Apostasy or Heresy (' Ab. Zarah 17a).
Samuel, for whom the only distinction of the Mes-
sianic age is the absence of the subjugation of Israel
by Gentile powers, makes no difference between
Israel and the nations as far as God's judgment is
concerned (Yer. R. H. 57a).
Judah's benediction of the trees in springtide is
characteristic of his broad spirit, since he praises
God for thus delighting the "sons of man," not the
Israelite alone (Ber. 43b; R. H. 11a).
Nahman bar Jacob, finally, forbids every kind of
irony and taunt except such as are directed against
the idolatry of the non-Jews prevailing in his day
(Meg. 28b; Sanh. 63b).
Bibliography: Bacber, Ag. Pal. Amor.; Idem, Ag. Bab.
Amor. ; idem. A(i. Tart.
E. c. E. G. H.
In Relation to Jews : In rabbinic literature,
owing to the censor's overvigilance and ignorance,
the term " Gentile " is often erroneously identitied
with " Kuti " (= " Samaritan "), " Egyptian, " " Ama-
lek," etc., and in rare instances is misplaced for
"Nozri" = "Christian." Thus the censor's zeal to
protect "the faith" had the effect of characterizing
the Christian as a heathen, which was far from the
authors' intention (see "Pahad Yizhak," '•M, p. 7a).
As a rule the Talmud, especially the Mishnah,
speaks of the Gentiles who dwelt in Palestine under
the Jewish government, either as idolaters or as
domiciled aliens ("ger toshab "), bound to observe
the seven moral commandments given to Noah's
descendants: namely, against (1) idolatry, (2) incest,
(3) homicide, (4) robbery, (5) eating limbs of live
animals, (6) castration, and (7) the mixing of breeds
(Sanh. 56b); and having their own judges in every
district and town like the Israelites (ib.), the Gentiles
outside of Palestine were not considered strict idol-
aters, but blind followers in the path of their an-
cestors (Hul. 13b).
The seven nations in the Holy Land were to be
exterminated for fear they might teach the Israelite
conquerors idolatry and immoral practises (Deut. vii.
1-6, xviii. 9-14, xx. 16-18); but in spite of the
strenuous efforts of Joshua and other leaders the
Israelites could not drive them out of the Promised
Land (Josh. xiii. 1-6, Having in view the curbing
of assimilation and the protection of the Jewish
state and society, the legislators, men of the Great
Assembly, adopted stringent measures against these
Gentiles. These laws were collected and incorpo-
rated in the Mishnah, and were interpreted in the Gre-
mara of the Jerusalem and Babylonian Talmuds. The
restrictive regulations may be classified as having
been enacted for the following reasons: (1) to exalt
monotheism, and Israel as a nation ; (2) to combat and
outlaw barbarism ; (3) to overcome the unreliability
of the Gentile; and (4) to counteract Gentile laws
not in harmony with the humanitarian laws of the
Jews.
1. The Pharisees, interpreting the spirit of the
Law, and acting under the elastic rule that " there
is a time to serve the Lord by relaxing his law " (Ps.
cxix. 126, Hebr. ; Yoma 69a), permitted the desecra-
tion of the Sabbath in besieging a Gentile city
"until it be subdued" (Deut. xx. 20), in accordance
with Shammai's interpretation (Shab. 19a). This
definition was not new, as already the Maccabeans
had taken advantage of it in fighting the enemy
unceasingly, putting aside the observance of the Sab-
bath for the sake of God and of their national exist-
ence (I Mace. ii. 43, 44). Probably for the same rea-
son (to facilitate war with the Gentile enemy), the
Rabbis modified the laws of purification so as not to
apply when one comes in contact with
Rabbinical a corpse or human bones, or wlien one
Modifica- enters an enclosure containing a dead
tion of body. With regard to the text "This
Laws. is the law when a man dieth in a tent "
(Num. xix. 14), they held that only
Israelites are men, quoting the prophet, " Ye my
flock, the flock of my pasture, are men " (Ezek.
xxxiv. 31); Gentiles they classed not as men but as
barbarians (B. M. 108b). The Talmudic maxim is,
" Whoever has no purification laws can not contam-
inate " (Naz. 61b). Another reason assigned is that
it would have been utterly impossible otherwise to
communicate with Gentiles, especially in the post-
exilic times (Rabinovitz, "Mebo ha-Talmud," p. 5,
Wilna, 1894). Patriotism and a desire to regain a
settlement in the Holy Land induced the Rabbis, in
order not to delay the consummation of a transfer of
property in Palestine from a Gentile to a Jew, to
Oentile
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
620
permit the deed to be written on the Sabbath, an act
otherwise prohibited (B. K. 80b).
2. The barbarian Gentiles who could not be pre-
vailed upon to observe law and order were not to
be benefited by the Jewish civil laws, framed to
regulate a stable and orderly society, and based on
reciprocity. The passage in Moses' farewell ad-
dress : " The Lord came from Sinai, and rose up from
Seir unto them ; he shined forth from Mount Paran "
(Deut. xxxiii. 2), indicates that the Almighty offered
the Torah to the Gentile nations also, but, since they
refused to accept it, He withdrew His "shining"
legal protection from them, and transferred their
property rights to Israel, who observed His Law.
A passage of Habakkuk is quoted as confirming
this claim : " God came from Teman, and the Holy
One from Mount Paran. ... He stood, and meas-
ured the earth; he beheld, and drove asunder ["in^l
= "let loose," "outlawed"] the nations" (Hab. iii.
3-6) ; the Talmud adds that He had observed how
the Gentile nations steadfastly refused to obey the
seven moral Noachian precepts, and hence had de-
cided to outlaw them (B. K. 38a).
It follows that the Gentiles were excepted from
the general civil laws of Moses. For example, the
Law provides that if a man's ox gores and kills a
neighbor's ox, the carcass and the surviving ox shall
be sold, and the proceeds divided between the re-
spective owners (half-damages). If, however, the
goring ox has been known to be dangerous and its
owner has not kept watch over it, he shall pay full
damages for the dead ox and take the carcass (Ex.
xxi. 35-36. Hebr.). Here the Gentile is excepted,
as he is not a "neighbor" in the sense of reciproca-
ting and being responsible for damages caused by his
negligence; nor does he keep watch over his cattle.
Even the best Gentile laws were too crude to admit
of reciprocity. The laws of Hammurabi provide:
" If the ox has pushed a man, and by pushing has
made known his vice, and the owner has not blunted
his horn, has not shut up his ox, and that ox has
gored a man of gentle birth and caused him to die,
the owner shall pay half a mina of silver " (Johns,
"Oldest Code of Laws," § 251, Edin-
Laws of burgh, 1903). This price of a half-
Ham- mina of silver was also the fixed fine for
murabi. cutting down a tree {ib. § 59). It ap-
pears that only a nominal sum was paid
when a man not of gentle birth was killed, and even
less when a neighbor's ox was gored. The Mishnah,
bearing such facts in m.ind, therefore declares that
if a Gentile sue an Israelite, the verdict is for the
defendant; if the Israelite is the plaintiff, he obtains
full damages (B. K. iv. 3). It should be noted that
in these tort cases public or sacred property (t»'*7pn)
was also an exception, for the reason that both are
wanting in individual responsibility and in proper
care. The principle was that the public could not
be fined since it could not collect in turn. TIk;
Gemara's reliance on the technical term " neighbor "
(inyi) in the text as its justification for excluding
both the Gentile and the public, is merely tentative.
The Talmud relates in this connection that the
Roman government once commissioned two officers
to question the Rabbis and obtain information re-
garding the Jewish laws. After a careful study.
they said: "We have scrutinized your laws and
found them just, save the clause relating to a Gen-
tile's ox, which we can not comprehend. If, as you
say, you are justified by the term 'neighbor,' the
Gentile should be quit when defendant as well as
when plaintiff." The Rabbis, however, feared to
di.sclose the true reason for outlawing the Gentiles
as barbarians, and rested on the textual technicality
in the Mosaic law, in accordance with which they
had authority to act in all cases coming within their
jurisdiction (B. K. 38a).
The Mosaic law provides for the restoration of a
lost article to its owner if a " brother " and " neigh-
bor " (Deut. xxii. 1-3), but not if a Gentile (B. K.
113b), not only because the latter would not recip-
rocate, but also because such restoration would be a
hazardous undertaking. The laws of Hammurabi
made certain acts connected with "articles lost
and found " a ground of capital punishment.
" If the owner of the lost property has not brought
witnesses identifying his lost property; if he has
lied, or has stirred up strife, he shall be put to
death" (Johns, I.e. § 11). The loser, the tinder,
or an intermediate person was put to death in cer-
tain stages of the search for the missing article (;ib.
§§ 9-13). The Persian law commanded the surren-
der of all finds to the king (B. K. 28b). As an illus-
tration of the Gentile law and of Jewish magnanim-
ity, the following is related in the Talmud: " Queen
Helen lost her jewelry, and R. Samuel, who had
just arrived in Rome, found it. A proclamation
was posted throughout the city offering a certain
sum of money as a reward for the restoration of the
jewels within thirty days. If restored after thirty
days, the finder was to lose his head. Samuel waited
and restored the jewels after thirty days. Said the
queen : ' Hast thou not heard of the proclamation ? '
' Yes,' answered Samuel, ' but I would show that I
fear not thee. I fear only the Merciful. ' Then she
blessed the God of the Jews " (Yer. B. M. ii. 5).
Similarly, the mandate concerning the oppression
of or withholding wages from a hireling brother or
neighbor, or a domiciled alien (Deut. xxiv. 14-15)
who observes the Noachian laws, is not applicable in
the case of a Gentile. That is to say, a Gentile may
be employed at reduced wages, which need not be
paid promptly on the same day, but may be paid in
accordance with the usual custom of the place. The
question arose whether a Jew might share in the
spoils gained by a Gentile through robbery. One
Talmudic authority reasoned that the Gentile exerted
himself to obtain the ill-gotten property much less
than in earning his wages, to which the Mosaic law is
not applicable; hence property seized by a Gentile,
if otherwise unclaimed, is public property and may
be used by any person. Another authority decided
that a Jew might not profit by it (B. M. 111b).
R. Ashi decided that a Jew who sells a Gentile
landed property bordering on the land of another
Jew shall be excommunicated, not only
Ashi's on the groimd that the Gentile laws
Decisions, do not provide for " neighbors' bound-
ary privileges " (X"lVD"l3), but also be-
cause the Jewish neighbor may claim " thou hast
caused a lion to lie on my border." The ban shall
not be raised unless the seller stipulates to keep the
621
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Gentile
Jew free from all possible damage arising from any
act of the Gentile (B. K. 114a). ' The same Aslii no-
ticed in a vineyard a broken vine-branch bearing
a bunch of grapes, and instructed his attendant,
if he found that it belonged to a Gentile, to fetch it;
if to a Jew, to leave it. The Gentile owner over-
heard the order, and asked: "Is it right to takfefrom
a Gentile?" Ashi replied: "Yes, because a Gentile
would demand money, but a Jew would not" {ib.
113b). This was an adroit and sarcastic answer. In
truth, Ashi coincided with the opinion of the au-
thority stated above; namely, that, as the presump-
tion is that the Gentile obtained possession by seiz-
ure, the property is considered public property, like
imclaimed land in the desert (B. B. 54b). The con-
sensus of opinion, however, was against this author-
ity. R. Simeon the Pious quotes to show that legal
possession was required even in dealing with the
Seven Nations: "And thou slialt consume [nf'SXI =
"eat the spoils"] all the people which the Lord thy
God shall deliver thee" (Deut. vii. 6, Hebr.), mean-
ing that Israel could claim the land only as conquer-
ors, not otherwise (B. K. 113b).
In one instance a Gentile had the benefit of the
technical term "neighbor," and it was declared
that his property was private. The Law provides
that an Israelite employed in his neighbor's vine-
yard or grain- field is allowed to pick there as
much as he can eat while working (Deut. xxiii.
25-26). But since the employer in this case was a
Gentile {i.e., not a "neighbor"), the Israelite was
forbidden to eat anything without permission (B.
M. 87b). As regards the property of this Gentile
perhaps his title to it was not disputed, and it was
therefore considered just as sacred as that of a Jew.
Discriminations against Gentiles, while strictly in
accordance with the just law of reciprocity and re-
taliation, having for their object to civilize the
heathen and compel them to adopt the civil laws
of Noah, were nevertheless seldom practised. The
principal drawback was the fear of "profaning the
Holy Name" (n^r\ h^h^n). Consequently it was
necessary to overlook legal quibbles which might
appear unjust in the eyes of the world, and which
would reflect on the good name and integrity of the
Jewish nation and its religion. Another point to be
considered was the preservation, "for the sake of
peace "(" mi-pene darke shalom "), of the friendly
relations between Jew and Gentile, and the avoid-
ance of enmity (HTK ''JDO; 'Ab. Zarah 26a; B. K.
113b).
Not only was the principle of retaliation directed
against the heathen Gentile, but it also operated
against the lawless Jewish herdsmen of sheep and
other small cattle, who trespassed on private prop-
erty in Palestine contrary to the ordinance forbidding
them to raise their herds inland (Tosef., B. K. viii.
[cd. Zuckermandel, p. 362] ; comp. Sanh. 57aj. All
retaliation or measures of reprisal are based on the
Jewish legal maxim of eminent domain, "The judi-
cial authority can annul the right to the possession
of property and declare such property ownerless "
Cipsn T'n -ipsn, b. b. 9a).
8. Another reason for discrimination was the vile
and vicious character of the Gentiles: "I will pro-
voke them to anger with a foolish nation " (fj^J =
" vile, " " contemptible " ; Deut. xxxii. 21). The Tal-
mud says that the passage refers to the Gentiles
of Barbary and Mauretania, who walked nude in the
streets (Yeb. 63b), and to similar Gentiles, " whose
flesh is as the flesh of asses and whose issue is like
the issue of horses" (Ezek. xxiii. 20); who can not
claim a father (Yeb. 98a). The Gen-
Discrimi- tiles were so strongly suspected of un-
nation natural crimes that it was necessary
Against to prohibit the stabling of a cow in
Gentiles, their stalls ('Ab. Zarah ii. 1). As-
saults on women were most frequent,
especially at invasions and after sieges (Ket. 3b),
the Rabbis declaring that in case of rape by a Gen-
tile the issue should not be allowed to affect a Jewish
woman's relation to her husband. " The Torah out-
lawed the issue of a Gentile as that of a beast"
(Mik. viii. 4, referring to Ezek. I.e.).
Excepting the Greeks, no Gentiles, not even the
Persians, were particular in shedding blood (B. K.
117a). "Meeting a Gentile on the road armed with
a sword [on his left], the Jew shall let him walk on
his right [being thus ready to wrench away the
weapon if threatened with it]. If the Gentile car-
ries a cane [in his right hand], the Jew shall let him
walk at his left [so that he may seize the cane if
raised against him]. In ascending or descending
the Jew shall always be above, and shall not stoop
down for fear of assassination. If the Gentile ask
to be shown the way, the Jew shall extend his own
journey a point farther and shall not tarry on reach-
ing the stranger's destination" ('Ab. Zarah 25b).
Taking these conditions into consideration, the
precautions against the employment of Gentile mid-
wives can be easily understood. A Gentile woman
was not allowed to suckle a Jewish babe, save in the
presence of Jews. Even so it was feared that the
Gentile nurse might poison the child {ih. 25a). As
a retaliative measure, or for fear of accusation, the
Rabbis forbade Jewish midwives and nurses to en-
gage themselves in Gentile families, unless offered a
fee for the service or to avoid enmity {ib.). The same
rule applied to physicians (Maimonides, "Yad,"
'Akkum, ix. 16). The Roman laws ordained that
physicians should be punished for neglect or un-
skilfulness, and for these causes many were put
to death (Montesquieu, "L'Espritdes Lois," xxix.
§ 14). In a place where no Jewish physiciaii could
be found to perform the rite of circumcision the
question arose whether a Gentile or a Samaritan
mohel might be chosen to operate. If the Gentile
is "an expert physician patronized by the public,
he may be employed, as it is presumed he would not
jeopardize his reputation by purposely injuring a
Jewish patient" ('Ab. Zarah 27a).
With such a character as that depicted above, it
would naturally be quite unsafe to trust a Gentile as
a witness, either in a criminal case or
TJnreliabil- in a civil suit. He could not be de-
ity of pended upon to keep his promise or
Gentiles, word of honor like a Jew (Bek. 13b).
The Talmud comments on the untruth-
fulness of Gentiles ("a band of strange children
whose mouth speaketh vanity, and their right hand
[in raising it to take an oath] is a right hand of
falsehood " [Ps. cxliv. 11]), and contrasts it with the
Gentile
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
622
reputation of a Jew: " The remnant of Israel shall
not do iniquity nor speak lies ; neither shall a deceit-
ful tongue be found in their mouth" (Zeph. iii. 13).
Also excluded as a " neighbor " was the Gentile
in whose trust property was left with all prescribed
provisions (Ex. xxii. 6-14). The Torah does not
discriminate against the testimony of a Gentile, save
when he is held to be a robber; when it is thought
that he has no intention of perjuring himself he is
believed (Mordecai, Annotations to Rosh Git. 10).
Hence documents and deeds prepared by Gentile no-
taries in their courts are admitted as valid evidence
(Git. i. 4). R. Simeon even validates a Jewish writ
of divorce signed by a Gentile notary {ib.). In diet-
ary cases, where a Gentile is disinterested his evi-
dence is accepted (Shulhan 'Aruk, Yoreh De'ah,
86, 1). A Gentile's testimony to a man's death, in-
cidentally related as a matter of fact, he being un-
aware that his evidence is wanted, is held sufficient
to release a woman from her marriage bond and to
permit her to marry again (Git. 28b ; Shulhan 'Aruk,
Eben ha-'Ezer, 17,14; see 'Agunah).
4. After the destruction of Jerusalem the condition
of the Gentiles in general was somewhat improved
by the establishment of Roman courts of justice ; but
the laws of the latter, borrowed from the Persians
and modified by feudalism, never attained the high
standard of Jewish jurisprudence. Even under the
Roman supremacy the Jews were permitted to de-
cide their civil and criminal cases in accordance with
their own code of laws, just as in countries like
Turkey, China, and Morocco extra-
As Suitors territorial rights are granted by
in treaty to the consular courts of for-
Civil Cases, eign nations. In a mixed trial where
the suitors were respectively Jew and
Gentile, the Jew had to abide by the harsh and il-
logical laws of the Gentiles; and for this the Jew
retaliated whenever occasion arose.
It sometimes happened that the Gentile, wishing
to take advantage of the liberal Jewish laws, sum-
moned his Jewish opponent to a Jewish court. In
such cases the Gentile would gain little benefit, as
he would be dealt with in accordance with the Jew-
ish or the Gentile law, as might be least advanta-
geous to him. The judge would say : " This is in ac-
cordance with our law " or " with your law," as the
case might be. If this was not satisfactory to the
Gentile, legal quibbles and circumventions might be
employed against him. R. Akiba, however, would
not permit such proceedings, which tended to pro-
fane the Holy Name (B. K. 113a).
The differences between their laws were the main
barriers between Jew and Gentile. The Talmud
would excommunicate a Jew who without a sum-
mons testified in a petty Gentile court as a single
witness against a Jew, for the Jewish law required
at least two witnesses. But in the supreme court a
single Jewish witness might testify, as the Gentile
judge would administer the oath to the defendant,
which proceeding was similar to that prescribed by
Jewish law {ib.).
The Jewish mode of acquisition of real property
by deed or by three years' undisputed possession did
not apply to Gentiles (Kid. 14b), who as a rule ac-
quired their property by seizure. The Persian laws
leased property for a term of forty j'^ears, so that
three years' occupation would not amount to a pre-
sumption of purchase (B. B. 55a). In case of transfer
of chattels, a money payment was sufficient without
delivery or removal, which the Jewish law required
(B. K. 13a). Part payment or a consideration was
not valid (B. B. 54b).
Acquisition by a consideration was an old estab-
lished Jewish law : "This was the manner in former
time in Israel concerning redeeming and concerning
changing, for to confirm all things; a man plucked
off his shoe and gave it to his neighbor " (Ruth iv.
7). The article of consideration in " former times "
was changed in later times to a kerchief ("i*TiD pjp).
The Gentiles did not admit acquisition by a con-
sideration. Transfers of their property were effected
only for ready money to the full amount (Kid. 8a).
The Persians bound themselves by an exchange of
presents, which was considered equivalent to a word
of honor, but not, however, in the sense of a con-
sideration ('Ab. Zarah 71a),
The Persian law ordered the guarantor to pay
immediately on the default of the debtor; while the
Jewish law required the creditor first to proceed
against the debtor, and that then, if the debt were not
paid, he should sue the guarantor (B. B. 173b, 174a).
The Jewish law against overcharging one-sixth or
more above the current price of marketable mer-
chandise— a violation of whicli affected the validity
of the sale — applied only to a Jew or domiciled alien,
not to a Gentile. " If thou sell ought unto thy neigh-
bor, orbuyest ought of thy neighbor's hand, ye shall
not oppress [overcharge] one another " (Hebr. = " Ins
brother " ; Lev. xxv. 14), was contrary to the Gen-
tile legal maxim, "A bargain is a bargain." For
this the Gentile was paid in his own coin, so to speak.
Samuel declared legal a transaction in which an error
has been made by miscalculation on the part of a
Gentile. Following out his theory, Samuel was un-
scrupulous enough to purchase from a Gentile a gold
bar for four zuz, which was the price of an iron
bar; he even beat down the price one zuz. Such
tran.sactions, while regarded as perfectly proper and
legitimate among the Gentiles, were not tolerated
among the Jews themselves.
On the other hand, there were many examples of
cases in which Jews refused to take advantage of
errors. A rabbi once purchased wheat from a Gen-
tile agent, and, finding therein a purseful of money,
restored it to the agent, who blessed "the God of
the Jews." Simeon b. Shatah restored a valuable
pearl he had found on a donkey to the Gentile of
whom he had purchased the beast (Yer. B. M. ii. 5).
In cases of wilful murder, an alien Gentile who ob-
served the Noachian laws which forbid murder was
treated like a Jew. " One law and one manner [judg-
ment] shall be for you and for the stranger that so-
journeth with you " (Num. xv. 16) — that is, pro-
vided he abides by the same law. According to the
Talmud, there is a difference between a domiciled
alien (3E^>1n 13), one who abandoned idolatrj^ in order
to be allowed to settle in Palestine, and a true alien
(p*lV 13), who voluntarily and conscientiously ob-
served the Noachian laws (see Proselyte and Puos-
elytism). In regard to manslaughter (unpremedi-
tated homicide), for which the culprit was exiled
623
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Gentile
to a citj'^ of refuge (Num. xxxv. 11), the Mishnali
says: "All were exiled for the manslaughter of an
Israelite; and an Israelite was exiled for the man-
slaughter of others, save a domiciled alien. The
latter was exiled for the manslaughter of another
domiciled alien" (Mak. ii. 3). This was in accord
with the general rule that a man could not be sen-
tenced to death without a previous warning (riNinri ;
Sanh. 57a) ; and since such forewarning was neces-
sarily lacking in cases of manslaughter, the Israelite
guilty thereof was simply exiled, this step being
taken to forestall the avenger of blood. The Ge-
mara to the Mishnah cited above (Mak. 8b) holds
that an alien was not entitled to the forewarning,
and hence should be executed.
For robbery or defaulting in a trust the guilty
person was required to repay the principal and to
pay one-fifth in addition (Lev. v. 21-24 [A. V. vi.
2-4]) ; in other cases fines, ranging from double to
four and five times the original amount for theft,
were imposed (Ex. xxii. 1-4). Where the stolen prop-
erty belonged to a Gentile or to the
Gentile public, however, the guilty was re-
Property quired to pay only the principal, with-
Exempt out the additional fines (Maimonides,
from " Yad," Gezelah, i. 7). As the fine was
Fines. a personal compensation, the public,
lacking individualitj', could not re-
ceive it; nor could a Gentile, since his own laws
were at variance with reason and justice. For ex-
ample, the Twelve Tables ordained that a thief be
whipped with rods and condemned to slavery ; and
the Greeks inflicted capital punishment for stealing
even a trifle.
The prohibition of usury, or rather of taking any
amount over and above that of the original loan,
specifies of "a poor brother" and a stranger (alien)
"that he may live with thee" (Ex. xxii. 25; Lev.
XXV. 35-37). " Unto a stranger [-|3J = " foreigner "],
however, thou mayest lend upon usury" (Deut. xxiii.
30). This was a purely economic measure, encourag-
ing a tax on loans to foreigners, and cautioning
against impoverishing the domestic producer. The
Gentile was considered a foreigner whom an Israelite
need not support, and his own laws did not prohibit
usury. The Jewish prohibition extended to the alien
("ger "), as the text plainly indicates; but there is a
question whether it included a domiciled alien (" ger
toshab " ; B. M. 71a). Nevertheless the Mishnah says
the Gentile poor shall be supported to-
Gentile getiier Avith the Jewish poor, for the
Poor to Be sake of peace (Git. 61a). The Talmud
Supported, also saj,"s that a pious Jew shall not take
interest from a Gentile, and quotes Ps.
XV. 5 : "He that putteth not out his money to usury"
(Mak. 24b). In fact, the Talmud did not tolerate
the charging of interest to Gentiles (B. M. 71a).
See Usury.
The relation of the Jews to the ruling government
was fixed by Samuel's maxim, "The law of the
land is binding," thus validating all enactments of
the land not in conflict with the Jewish religion,
and rendering unto Coesar his due as regards taxes
and imposts, which no one might evade — provided,
however, that the taxes were authorized (B. K.
113a). Rabbenu Tam, defining this maxim, adds:
" provided the king's edicts are uniform, and apply
to all his subjects in all his dominions." R. Elie-
zer of Metz says: " provided the king taxes his own
subjects and settlers; but he can not extort money
from journeymen passing through his dominion
without having any intention to remain there. Other-
wise, it is not law, but robberj^ " (Mordecaiin B. K.
X. §215; Annotations to Rosh Ned. iii. 11).
Inasmuch as the Jews had their own distinct
jurisdiction, it would have been unwise to reveal
their laws to the Gentiles, for such knowledge might
have operated against the Jews in their
Gentiles opponents' courts. Hence the Talmud
May Not prohibited the teaching to a Gentile
Be Taught of the Torah, " the inheritance of the
the Torah. congregation of Jacob " (Deut. xxxiii.
4). R. Johanan says of one so teach-
ing: "Such a person deserves death " (an idiom used
to express indignation). " It is like placing an ob-
stacle before the blind " (Sanh. 59a ; Hag. 13a). And
yet if a Gentile study the Law for the purpose of ob-
serving the moral laws of Noah, R. Meir says he
is as good as a high priest, and quotes: "Ye shall
therefore keep my statutes, and my judgments,
which if a man do, he shall live in them " (Lev. xviii.
5). The text does not specify an Israelite or a
Levite or a priest, but simply "a man" — even a
Gentile ('Ab. Zarah 26a).
Resh Lakish (d. 278) said, "A Gentile observing
the Sabbath deserves death" (Sanh. 58b). This re-
fers to a Gentile who accepted the seven laws of the
Noachidse, inasmuch as " the Sabbath is a sign be-
tween God and Israel alone," and it was probably di-
rected against the Christian Jews, who disregarded
the Mosaic laws and yet at that time kept up the
observance of the Jewish Sabbath. Rabbina, who
lived about 150 years after the Christians had
changed the day of rest to Sunday, could not quite
understand the principle underlying Resh Lakish's
law, and, commenting upon it, added : " not even on
Mondays [is the Gentile allowed to rest] " ; intimating
that the mandate given to the Noachidte that " day
and night shall not cease " (inSB^^ iO = " have no
rest ") should be taken in a literal sense (Gen. viii. 22)
— probably to discourage general idleness (ib. Rashi),
or for the more plausible reason advanced by Mai-
monides, who says: "The principle is, one is not
permitted to make innovations in religion -or to
create new commandments. He has the privilege to
become a true proselyte by accepting the whole
Law " (" Yad, " Melakim, x. 9). R. Emden (|* "ay), in
a remarkable apology for Christianity contained in
his appendix to "Seder '01am" (pp. 32b-34b, Ham-
burg, 1752), gives it as his opinion that the original
intention of Jesus, and especially of Paul, was to
convert only the Gentiles to the seven moral laws of
Noah and to let the Jews follow the Mosaic law —
which explains the apparent contradictions in the
New Testament regarding the laws of Moses and
the Sabbath.
With the conversion of the Gentile to Christianity
or to Islam, the heathen and pagan of the civilized
or semi-civilized world has become almost extinct,
and the restrictions placed on the ancient Gentile are
not applicable to the Gentile of the present day, ex-
cept in so far as to consider him a Noachian observ-
Oentile
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
624
ing all moral laws, in contradistinction to the Jew,
who as one of the chosen people observes in addition
the Mosaic laws. That the laws against the Gentile
as a barbarian were not entirely expunged from
the i-abbinic literature after the ad-
Present vent of Christianity, was due to the
Status of persecutions and the barbaric treat-
the Gentile, ment of the Jews in the Middle Ages.
The gradual decrease of animosity
may, however, be noted by comparing the various
codes and collections of responsa. For example,
that a Jewish physician should be forbidden to offer
his services to a Gentile was contrary to the general
practise of the Jews in the Middle Ages. Maimon-
ides himself became the physician of Sultan Saladin
in Egypt. The prohibition against the employment
of a Gentile nurse or midwife "except a Jewess
stands by her " was moditied by an eminent author-
ity with "so long as there is a Jew living in that
town who is liable to come into the house " (Moses
of Coucy, "Semag," § 45). That no such distinc-
tion exists anywhere nowadays is an acknowl-
edged fact, proving conclusively that the Rabbis
regulate their decisions in accordance with the spirit
of the Jewish law.
The special Jewish jurisdiction in civil cases is
still maintained in the Orient, in some parts of
Europe, and even inAmerica, where the bet din ad-
ministers the law, mostly by arbitration, effecting a
compromise between the litigants for the sake of
avoiding the "law's delay " and of saving the ex-
penses of trial in the secular courts. See also
Aliens; Idolatry and Idols; Noachian Laws;
Proselytes and Proselytism ; Usury.
Bibliography : In addition to the works cited In the article,
Levensohn, Zerubbabel, Warsaw, 1875; Ben Judah, 1., §§ TI-
TS, Warsaw, 1878; Zwelfel, Sanegor, pp. 263-308. ib. 1885;
Bloch, Gegen die Anti-Sem. Vienna, 1882; Baum, Ein
Wichtiges Kapitel Ubei- der VOlker, Frankfort-on-the-
Maln, 1884; Briman, Gesetzsammhuig des Judeiispieaels,
Jassy, 1885. Anti-Jewish: Eisenmengerj Entdecktes Juden-
thum, Konigsberg. 1711 ; Chiarini, Thenrie du Jiidaisme,
1. 322-359, Fans, 1830; McCaul. The Old Path of Modern
Judaism, 1. 27-47, London, 1847; Rohling. Talmud-Jude,
Lelpsle; HoMing, MeineAntii'ort an die Rahbiner, Prague,
1883. For Talmud references compare the expurgations by
the censor in the various editions of D'i'n nijnon, of which
the Cracow ed., 1894, is the more complete.
E. G. H. J. D. E.
From the Post-Talmudic Period to the
Present Time : The opinions of a few of the noted
and authoritative scholars are here cited to show the
favorable change which the attitude of the Jews to-
ward the Gentiles underwent in post-Talmudic times.
R. Sherira Gaon, president of the college in Pum-
bedita in the tenth century, permitted Jews to bring
suit ill a Gentile court on the defendant's refusal
to have the case adjudicated by a Jewish tribunal.
"Even if the Jew be the robber and the Gentile the
one robbed, it is the duty of those who know it to so
testify before the justice" (quoted in "Be'er ha-
Golah " to Shulhan 'Aruk, Hoshen Mishpat; see also
ib. 426, 5).
Maimonides (twelfth century), in his code written
in Egypt, says: "It is forbidden to defraud or de-
ceive any person in business. Jew and non-Jew are
to be treated alike. If the vendor knows that his
merchandise is defective, he must so inform the pur-
chaser. It is wrong to deceive any person in words,
even without causing him a pecuniary loss (" Yad,"
Mekirah, xviii. 1). In his Mishnaic commentary
Maimonides remarks: "What some people imagine,
that it is permissible to cheat a Gentile, is an error,
and based on ignorance. The Almighty — praised
be His Name! — instructed us that in redeeming a
Hebrew servant from the services of a Gentile owner
' he shall reckon with him that bought him ' " (Lev.
xxvi. 50), meaning to be careful in his calculation
not to cheat the Gentile. This was in Palestine,
where the Jews had the upper hand over the Gen-
tiles. How much more should the law be observed
at the present time, when they have no sovereignty
over the Gentiles. Moreover, neglect of the precept
would cause the desecration of His Name, which is a
great sin. Deception, duplicity, cheating, and cir-
cumvention toward a Gentile are despicable to the
Almighty, as " all that do unrighteousl}^ are an abom-
ination unto the Lord thy God" (Deut. xxv. 16;
commentary to Kelim xii. 7).
Moses de Coucy (thirteenth century) writes: "I
have been preaching before those exiled to Spain
and to other Gentile countries, that, just because
our exile is so prolonged, it behooves Israel to sep-
arate from worldly vanities and to cleave to the seal
of the Holy One, which is Truth, and not to lie, either
to Jew or Gentile, nor to deceive them in the least
thing; to consecrate themselves above others, as
' the remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity nor speak
lies.' . . . Behold, the visitation of the Flood for the
violence done to the wicked Gentiles! " ("Semag,"
§74).
About the same period R. Judah of Ratisbon,
compiler of the "Sefer Hasidim," quotes: "It is for-
bidden to deceive any person, even a Gentile. Those
who purposely misconstrue the greeting to a Gen-
tile are sinners. There can be no greater deception
than this" ("Sefer Hasidim," § 51, Frankfort-on-the-
Main,' 1817). " If either a Jew or Gen-
Opinions of tile should request a loan, he should
Jewish get a frank answer. Do not say, ' I
Scholars, have no money, ' when the reason is the
fear to trust " (ib. % 426). " One shall
not act in bad faith even to Gentiles. Such acts
often bring down a person from his rank; and there
is no luck in his undertaking. If perchance he
succeeds, punishment is visited on his children " {ib.
% 1074).
In the fifteenth century R. Isaac b. Sheshet, who
lived in North Africa, in response to an inquiry re-
garding the status of a non-Jew, quotes authorities
to prove that the Gentiles nowadays are not ultra-
idolaters, and consequently are not subject to the
Talmudic restrictions mentioned above. He further
says: " We must not presume that such restrictions
were fixed rabbinical ordinances, not to be changed.
On the contrary, they were made originally to meet
only the conditions of the generations, places, and
times" (Responsa, No. 119).
Caro (sixteenth century), the author of the Shul-
han 'Aruk, decides that "the modern Gentiles are
not reckoned as heathen with reference to the res-
toration of lost articles and other matters" (Bet
Joseph to ^UT Hoshen Mishpat, § 266; see also Tur
Yoreh De'ah, §148, ed. Venice, 1551).
R. Benjamin (seventeenth century), replying to an
inquiry regarding an error of a Gentile in overpay-
625
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Gentile
ing eighteen ducats, says: "For the sake of conse-
crating the Holy Name, a Jew shall correct and make
good the error of a Gentile. . . . Jacob charged his
sons to return to the governor of Egypt the silver
put, perhaps by oversight, in the sacks of corn pur-
chased by them from him. One must not take ad-
vantage of an error made either by a JMohammedan
or by a Christian. Otherwise, the nations would
rightly reproach the chosen people as thieves and
cheats. I myself had occasion to restore to a Gen-
tile money received through error " (Benjamin Beer,
Responsa, No. 409, Venice, 1539).
Eliezer of Mayence writes: "The commandment
prohibiting theft, like those against murder and
adultery, applies to both Jews and Gentiles " (" Sefer
Ra'aban," § 91, Prague, 1610).
Ezekiel Landau (eighteenth century), in the intro-
duction to his responsa " Noda' bi-Yehudah " {ib.
1776), says: "I emphatically declare that in all laws
contained in the Jewish writings concerning theft,
fraud, etc., no distinction is made between Jew and
Gentile; that the titles ' goi,' ' 'akkum,' etc., in no-
wise apply to the people among whom we live."
Senior Zalmon (d. 1813), the representative author,
ity of the modern Hasidim, in his version of the
Shulhan 'Aruk (vi. 2'7b, Stettin, 1864), says: "It is
forbidden to rob or steal, even a trifle, from either a
Jew or Gentile, adult or minor; even if the Gentile
grieved the Jew, or even if the matter devolved is
not worth a peruta [mite], except a thing that no-
body would care about, such as abstracting for use as
a toothpick a splinter from a bundle of wood or
from a fence. Piety forbids even this."
Israel Lipschiitz (nineteenth century), in his com-
mentary to the Mishnah, says: "A duty devolves
upon us toward our brethren of other nations who
recognize the unity of God and honor His Scrip-
tures, being observers of the seven precepts of Noah.
. . . Not only do these Gentiles protect us, but they
are charitably inclined to our poor. To act other-
wise toward these Gentiles would be a misapprecia-
tion of their kindness. One should say with Joseph :
' How can I do this great wickedness and sin against
God? ' " ("Tif'eret Yisrael " to B. K. iv. 4).
Bibliography : Hamburger, in Hebrew Review, i. 145-1&1,
Cincinnati, 1880.
J. D
E. G. n.
— Attitude of Modern Judaism
E.
Modern Ju-
daism, as inculcated in the catechisms and explained
in the declarations of the various rabbinical confer-
ences, and as interpreted in the sermons of mod-
ern rabbis, is founded on the recognition of the unity
of the human race; the law of righteousness and
truth being supreme over all men, without distinc-
tion of race or creed, and its fulfilment being possi-
ble for all. Righteousness is not conditioned by
birth. The Gentiles may attain unto as perfect a
righteousness as the Jews. Hence the old Jewish
doctrine, "The righteous among the Gentiles are
sharers [in the felicity] of the world to come "
(Tosef., Sanh. xiii.), is reaffirmed by the modern
Synagogue. "Neighbor," in the command, "Thou
Shalt love thy neighbor like thyself" (Lev. xix.),
signifies every human being.
Modern Judaism does not accept the rabbinical
maxim, "Kiddushin en lahem, abal be'ilat ba'al yesh
V— 40
lahem," to the effect that coition but not marriage
obtains among the Gentiles. This reflection on the
morals of the non-Jewish world arose out of the con-
ditions of Roman civilization; but, in view of the
observance in civilized countries of the Biblical laws
of marriage, tlie modern Synagogue acknowledges
without quibble the sanctity of matrimony con-
tracted under the sanction of the civil law or of the
Church. Where the civil law is in conflict with the
Jewish law, the civil law in general takes precedence ;
where degrees of consanguinity are
On permitted in the Mosaic law, but forbid-
Marriage. den in the civil law, the latter is recog-
nized by the Synagogue. But where
the civil law permits marriages within certain de-
grees of consanguinity forbidden in the Mosaic code,
the Jewish law is respected.
The jurisdiction of the Gentile tribunals is also
recognized in civil suits, whether the parties be
Jews or Gentiles. In these cases the maxim of Sam-
uel, " The law of the land is law " (" Dina de-malkula
dina " ; Git. 6b), is applied in its broadest sense. The
term "hukkot ha-goyyim," after rabbinical prece-
dent (see above, under R. Mei'r), is applied, if at all,
only to such customs as conflict with the implica-
tions of ethical monotheism (sorcery, superstition:
see Pes. Ilia), and to the introduction into the syn-
agogal service of rites repugnant to the genius of
monotheistic Judaism. The rabbinical injunction
against placing animals in the stable of a Gentile
(Git. 46b), as well as the provisions freeing the slave
sold to a non-Jew, had its root in the horrid indul-
gences of the Roman-Greek world. Slavery, wkethef
of Jew or Gentile, is abhorrent in the eyes of modern
Judaism. The caution against being found alone
with a Gentile, and against leaving a woman alone
with one ('Ab. Zarah ii. 1), has lost what reason-
ableness it had in the days of Roman depravity (see
Sifra, Ahare Mot, 9). The Jewish religion teaches
the very contrary of the assumption basic to these
injunctions. The Christian, whose morality is fun-
damentally Jewish, never fell under the designation
used in these rabbinical warnings.
Jewish philanthropy draws no distinction between
Gentile and Jew. The provision for the relief and
care of Gentile dependents and the burial of their
dead (Git. 61a) is in full authority, not merely
"mi-pene darke shalom " (see above).
Impartial- but as grounded in the very essence of
ity of Jew- Jewish benevolence. The examples
ish. Philan- of the old rabbis, quoted in part above,
thropy. in extending the law of reverence for
old age (Maimonides, " Yad," Talmud
Torah, vi. 9) to the aged among the Gentiles (Kid.
33a) ; in giving the salutation of peace to the non-
Jew (Ber. 17a; Git. 61, 62); in gladdening the hearts
of Gentiles on their holidaj's ('Ab. Zarah 12a, 65a),
are recalled in modern catechisms and treatises of
Jewish ethics, to teach that the same regard for the
dignity of man shall be extended to every one
created in God's image. The Mishnaic interdiction
of celebrating the holidays of the heathen by in-
tercourse with them on those days {ib. i. 1), reason-
able enough when idolatry was supreme, has been
superseded by the injunction to have due and rev-
erent regard for the religious usages of non-Jews,
Qentili
Georgria
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
626
and to enter heartily into the spirit of such common
celebrations as have no bearing on the positive mono-
theistic tenets of Judaism.
The oath before a Gentile magistrate is inviolable,
though Judaism discourages the practise of taking
an oath, believing that "one's yes should be yes, and
one's no should be no" (B. M. 49a; Sheb. 36a).
Honesty and truthfulness are insisted on in all deal-
ings, whether with a Jew or a Gentile. Tlie Rabbis
insisted that the sin known as " genebat da'at " (the
stealing of another's good opinion by false represen-
tations or by the pretense of friendship and the like)
be avoided in one's intercourse even with a heathen
(Hul. 94a). In view of the virulent aspersions on
Jewish morality, it should be noted that modern
Judaism, like rabbinical Judaism, makes false deal-
ings, usury, theft, and the like of which a Gentile is
the victim, a "hillul ha-shem" on the part of the
Jew, the one sin for which only death may bring
atonement (Lev. R. xxii. ; Yer. Ned. 38b; Ab. iv. 4).
The modern prayer-books {e.g., the English edition
of Einhorn's " 'Olat Tamid," Chicago, 1896) have
substituted in the prayer for peace in the " Shemo-
neh 'Esreh " the words "all nations" and "all the
sons of man, thy children," for the old reading " thy
people Israel."
Intermarriage is not countenanced by modern
Judaism ; but this is not due to contempt for the
Gentiles, but to the conviction that unity of religion
is essential to the happiness of the home.
E. c. E. G. H.
GENTILI (}>sn) : Italian family of Gorizia, sev-
eral members of which were eminent rabbis and
Talmudic authorities. Of these the most important
were:
Azriel Gentili : Cabalist ; lived at Gorizia in the
seventeenth century. He is quoted by Issachar Bar
in " Be'er Sheba' " on the Pentateuch, in connection
■with the explanation of Ex. xxxiv. 23.
Gershou ben Kalonymus Gentili : Talmudist ;
lived, probably at Venice, in the seventeenth cen-
tury. He was a pupil of Menahem Porto, to whose
work on mathematics entitled "'Ober la-Soher" he
wrote a preface.
Gershon ben Moses Gentili : Italian scholar ;
born at Gorizia 1683; died there 1700. Although
but seventeen years old at his death, he had become
a recognized scholar ; and his riming dictionary en-
titled " Yad Haruzim " obtained the approbation of
his elder contemporaries. The book was published
after his death by his father (Venice, 1700), who
wrote a preface containing a biography of the au-
thor. Appended to the work are a funeral sermon
by Gershon, and a poem by Isaiah Nizza containing
the 613 commandments. A second edition with
some additions was published by Simon Calimani,
Venice, 1740 (?). I. Br.
Jacob Hai Gentili : Talmudist ; lived at Gori-
zia in the seventeenth century. He is cited by
Samuel Aboab in his responsa "Debar Shemuel"
(p. 299).
Jacob Hai b. Manasseh Gentili : Grandson of
Jacob Hai Gentili. Rabbi at Gorizia; died in 1749.
He was prominent as preacher, poet, and Talmudist.
He wrote several responsa, some of which, on the
levying of taxes in the communities, were reprinted
in the now very rare "Hilkot Missim," published at
Venice in 1709. His funeral oration was delivered
by Isaac Lampronti, who spoke of Gentili 's great
scholarship. Menahem Novara, author of the " Pene
Yizhak," was his pupil.
BiBLtor.RAPHY : Nepi-Ghirondi, Toledot Gedole Yisrael, p.
167; Steinscbneider, Cat. Bodl. col. 535; Mortara, Indice,
p. 27.
L E.
Manasseh ben Jacob Gentili : Head of the
rabbinical school of Verona in the eighteenth cen-
tury. An approbation of his on a halakic decision
by the rabbis of Ancona is given by Samson Mor-
purgo in his " Shemesh Zedakah " (iii. 25). Manas-
seh was one of the four rabbis who were active in
the abolition of the tax imposed by the inhabitants
of Reggio on those of Mantua who visited the fair
at the former town. I. Bu.
Moses b. Gershon Gentili : Italian writer; born
at Triest in 1663; died in 1711 at Venice, where he
had lived for many years as teacher of the Talmud
and Midrash. He was noted for his scholarship, and
devoted much time to the study of philosophic,
mathematical, and scientific subjects. He wrote:
"Meleket Mahshabot," a commentary on the Penta-
teuch, printed at Venice in 1710 with a portrait of
the author at the age of fortj^-six, and reprinted with
notes under the title "Mahashebet Hosheb," by
Judah Lob b. Eliezer Lipman Jafe, Konigsberg,
1860; "Hanukkat ha-Bayit," a treatise on the
Second Temple, with a map, Venice, 1696. His
works were praised by the foremost of his contem-
poraries, as Solomon Nizza, Jacob Aboab, and David
Altaras.
Bibliography: Nepl-Ghirondl, Toledot Gedole Yisrael, p.
239; Mortara, Indice, p. 27.
Seligman (Isaac) b. Gershon Gentili : Italian
Talmudist; director of the Talmudic academy at
Cremona after the death of Joseph Oetling in 1583.
Some of his halakic decisions are included in the re-
sponsa collection "Nahalat Ya'akob," Padua, 1623.
Bibliography : Ha-Asif, iii. 220 ; Mortara, Indice, p. 27.
G. I. E.
GENTTBATH (nnJJ) : Son of Hadad the Edom-
ite by an Egyptian princess, the sister-in-law of
the Pharaoh who governed Egypt at the time of
David and Solomon (I Kings xi. 20).
E. G. H. M. Sel.
GENUFLEXION. See Adoration.
GEOGRAPHERS : Persons proficient in de-
scribing the surface of the earth. Jews have con-
tributed in different ways to the advancement of
geographical science. In Biblical times geograph-
ical information was mainly given in the form of
genealogies, as in the table of the nations in Gen. x.
Jewish influence on the progress of geography in
the Middle Ages was mainly indirect, the chief point
being the tendency to place Jerusalem in the mid-
dle of medieval maps, due to the literal adoption of
the passage in Ezek. v. 5.
Besides this, several individuals added to the
knowledge of the world's surface by actual discovery
or learned investigation. The chief Jewish traveler
of the Middle Ages was Benjamin of Tudela, to
whom is owed considerable knowledge of the Levant
in the twelfth century. Another of ihe same period.
627
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Gentili
Georgia
Pethahiah of Regensburg, traveled through Poland,
the Crimea, and Mesopotamia. For others see
Travelers.
The modern history of geography begins with the
establishment of an observatory at Sagres, in south-
western Portugal, by Prince Henry the Navigator.
He appointed as the chief director of this estab-
lishment JafudaCresques, son of Abraham Cresques
of Palma, capital of Mallorca in the Balearic Is-
lands (see Cresques lo Juheu). As the author of
the Catalan map, Cresques was in a measure the
founder of modern chartography, having made use
for the first time of the results of the recent discov-
eries of Marco Polo in Farther Asia.
Jews were especially prominent in connection
with the discovery of America, and almost equally
so in the attempt to reach India by the eastern
route, when Pedro de Covilhao was sent to discover
the country of Prester John. He was followed
later by Abraham de Beja and Joseph Zapateiro of
Lamego, both Jews, who brought back information
in regard to Covilhao's settlement in India.
Apart, however, from descriptions of pilgrimages
to the Holy Land, there is little evidence of inde-
pendent interest in geography, except Meir Aldabi's
"Shebile Emunah," the writings of Abraham Faris-
sol, and David Gans's " Gebulot ha-Arez." In more
recent times, however, there have been a larger
number of works on travels and geography by Jews,
among them Julius Lowenberg's "Geschichte der
Geographic," Berlin, 1840; G. S. Pollack's "Descrip-
tion of New Zealand " ; N.Isaacs' "Zululand," 1834.
W. G. Palgrave was almost the first European to
visit the Nejd, while Joseph Wolf ventured into Bo-
khara, and Joseph F. Stern and J. Halevy into
Abyssinia. Bessels wrote on a north-pole expedi-
tion, and was followed by Angelo Heilprin. Cap-
tain Binger discovered and described the bend of
the Niger; while Captain Foa traversed the whole
of South Africa from south to north, losing his life
as a result.
Bibliography: M. Kayserling, Christopher Columbus and
the Jeicx: J. Jacobs. Sfori/ of Geographical Discovery;
Zunz. On the Geouj-aphical Literature <>/ the Jews, in Ash-
er's Travels of Benjamin of Tudela, App. ii, London, 1841.
J.
GEOMANCY (Sinn hy\i) • Divination by means
of points made in sand, or by means of pebbles or
grains of sand placed on a piece of paper. Some Mos-
lem writers attribute the science of geomancy to
Enoch, others to Daniel. It originated in northern
Africa about the ninth century, and from there it
penetrated into Jewish literature. It is referred to
by Maimonides in his commentary to the Mishnah
('Ab. Zarah iv.), by Nahmanides in the introduction
to his commentary on the Pentateuch, and by Nissim
b. Moses ("He-Haluz," vii. 124). Aaron b. Joseph,
the Karaite Biblical commentator, gives " yidde'oni "
(Deut. xviii. \\,et al.) the meaning of "he who casts
lots by means of points." Joseph Albo, too, speaks
of geomancy ("'Ikkarim," iv. 4), calling it "goral
ha-hol" (the lot by sand) or "hokmat ha-nekuddot"
(the science of points). According to Jacob Koppel-
mann in "Ohel Ya'akob," his commentary on the
"'Ikkarim," "hokmat ha-nekuddot " is used because
the geomancer takes a handful of sand and makes
points in it. Albo {I.e.) calls the upper point XIK'J
tJ'XI and the lower one K'XI ^DK>- There are sev-
eral works entitled "Sefer ha-Goralot " which are
treatises on the casting of lots as based on geomancy.
One is attributed to Ahithophel ha-Giloni, one to
Saadia Gaon, another to Abraham ibn Ezra, and
there are several anonymous treatises. Although in
all these works answers to questions are obtained
by means of calculation, the calculation itself is
based on the principle of geomancy. There is also
an anonymous treatise entitled "Goralot ha-Hol,"
which is attributed to one of the Geonim. It is ar-
ranged according to the twelve constellations of the
zodiac and the seven planets, and is based on Shab.
139b.
Bibliography: Stelnschneider, Hchr. Uehers. pp. 85.'>-857;
Idem, Hehr. Dihl. xvii. 128, xix. 100: idem, in Z. D. M. G.
xxxi. 763; Monatsschrift, 1883, p. 466.
J. M. Sel.
GEOMETRY IN THE TALMUD. See
Mathematics.
GEORGIA : One of the thirteen original states
of the United States, situated on the Atlantic coast;
settled by a chartered company of English colonists
under James Oglethorpe in June, 1733. Its Jewish
settlement dates almost from the foundation of the
colony.
Savannah : The second vessel which reached the
colony arrived in Savannah from England on July
11, 1733, and had among its passengers the follow-
ing Jews: Dr. Samuel Nunez Ribiero (also known
as Dr. Nunez) and Sipra Nunez Ribiero, his mother;
Moses Nunez Ribiero, Daniel Nuiiez Ribiero, Shem
Noah; Isaac Nuiiez Henriques, his wife and son;
Raphael Bornal and wife; David de Olivera and
wife; Jacob Lopez de Olivera, wife, and children;
David, Isaac, and Leah de Olivera; Aaron Sepivea,
Benjamin Gideon, Jacob Lopez deCrasto; David
Lopez de Pas and wife ; Vene Real (probably Villa-
real), Molena, David Moranda, Jacob Moranda;
David Cohen del Monte and wife, together with their
son Isaac Cohen, and daughters Abigail, Hannah,
and Grace; Abraham Minis and wife, with their
daughters Leah and Esther; Simeon Minis, Jacob
Yowel, Benjamin Shef tall and wife ; and Abraham
de Lyon. These first settlers brought over with
them a Sefer Torah with two cloaks, a circumcision-
box, and an ark of the law.
Prior to the settlement of Georgia commissions
were issued (Sept. 21, 1732) to Anthony da Costa,
Francis Salvador, and Alvaro Lopez Suaso of Lon-
don, " to take subscriptions and collect money for
the purposes of the charter." As early as January,
1783, and therefore before the actual settlement of
Georgia, the trustees, having apparently learned
that it was the intention of these gentlemen, who
were among the most distinguished Jews of London,
to settle some Jews in the colony, directed their sec-
retary to wait upon Da Costa and his colleagues
and require them to surrender their commissions.
This action Avas repeated in 1733, the complaint
being made that "certain Jews have been sent to
Georgia contrary to the intentions of the trustees
and which may be of ill consequence to the colony."
Various other resolutions and correspondence upon
this point appear in the minutes of the trustees,
from which extracts are given by the Rev. George
Georgia
Gerar
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
628
White in his " Historical Collections of Georgia "
(New York, 1854).
It has been assumed by Stephen ("History of
Georgia"), by Charles C. Jones ("Publications Am.
Jew. Hist. Soc." No. 1, pp. 5, 6), by Daly ("Settle-
ment of the Jews in North America," p. 66), and by
practically all writers on the history of Georgia,
that the protests of the trustees related to this first
settlement of Jews. Recently, however (" Publica-
tions Am. Jew. Hist. Soc. " No. 10), Leon Hiihner
asserted that there were two sets of Jewish settlers
who went to Georgia — Portuguese and German.
The Portuguese were those whose names are given
above, many of whom were refugees from the In-
quisition and had independent means; while the
Germans were dependent upon charity, and con-
sisted of about twelve families sent over by a com-
mittee of the Loudon congregation. The evidence
for this statement is derived from the journal of the
Rev. Mr. Bolzius, a Protestant clergyman who ar-
rived in the colony in 1734 with a number of Prot-
estant refugees from Salzburg. He speaks of the
Jews as understanding the German language, and
later on says explicitly that some of the Jews "call
themselves Spanish and Portuguese; others call
themselves German Jews. The latter speak High
German." It would therefore seem that it was
against these latter, for whom the Loudon committee
used the funds collected, that the protest of the
trustees was directed. However this may have been,
Oglethorpe disregarded the attitude
First Con- of the trustees and permitted all the
greg-ation Jews to stay in the colony. During
Organized, the very month of their arrival a con-
gregation was organized under the
name of "Mickve Israel," which occupied a small
house near the present Market Building on Market
street, the services being conducted in turn by the
members of the congregation. In 1737 Benjamin
Mendes of London sent the congregation a Sefer
Torah, a Hanukkah lamp, and some books.
A few months after the original settlement of
the Portuguese Jews three others arrived, Isaac
de Val, Moses le Desma, and Abraham Nunez Monte
Santo. The deed confirming the original allotments
of land includes the record of ground secured by the
Jews and probably paid for, as several received
larger allotments than did Christian colonists. This
deed contains tliese names and a number of others.
Nuiiez had six farms; Henriques, seven; and Le
Desma, ten. One of the colonists, Abraham de
Lyon, had been for years prior to his settlement
in Georgia a " vineron " in Portugal, and a detailed
account of his American vineyard, the first planted
within the limits of Georgia, is contained in a mem-
orandum of Col. William Stephens, the agent of
the trustees, under date of Dec. 6, 1737 {ih. No. 1,
p. 11). The growth and manufacture of silk were
also an industry followed by the Jewish settlers, to
which they added general agriculture and commer-
cial pursuits. According to the diary of Benjamin
Sheftall, one of the original settlers, the Jews dur-
ing the first year of the colony's existence constituted
one-third of the entire population. The fii'st white
male child born in the settlement of Georgia (July
7, 1734) was Philip Minis, the son of Abraham Minis.
In 1740-41, owing to the refusal of the trustees to
permit the introduction of slaves, a considerable
number of colonists. Christians as well as Jews, left
Savannah and went to South Carolina. The num-
ber of Jews left in Savannah being insuflicient to
support the congregation, the latter was dissolved.
About 1750 a number of the Jews returned to
Georgia, and in 1751 the trustees sent over Joseph
Ottolenghi, a Jew by birth, to superintend the silk
industry in the colony. Ottolenghi was probably
one of the most prominent men in the colony; in
1761 he was elected a member of the Assembly, and
retained his seat until 1765.
In 1750 there was founded in Savannah the
Union Society, having for its object the education of
orphan children ; the five founders were of different
religious denominations. The names of but three of
these have been preserved; the Jew, Benjamin Shef-
tall; Peter Tondee, a Catholic; and Richard Mil-
ledge, an Episcopalian. The society is still in ex-
istence, and it is regarded as the representative
charitable organization of Savannah.
That the Jews participated in the events leading
up to the Revolution is indicated by the fact that in
a list of persons disqualified from holding any office
of trust, etc., in the province, because of a "most
audacious, wicked, and unprovoked rebellion," there
occur the names of Mordecai Sheftall, "chairman
rebel committee," Levy Sheftall, Philip Jacob Cohen,
Sheftall Sheftall, "rebel officer," and Philip Minis.
Mordecai Sheftall was deputy commissary-general
of issue, and on Sept. 29, 1778, he was captured
with his son by a body of Highlanders and placed
on board a prison-ship (see Simon Wolf, " The Amer-
ican Jew as Patriot, Soldier, and Citizen," p. 40).
At the clo.se of the war he and his family returned
to Savannah; and at about the same time the Jew-
ish community was increased by the following addi-
tional arrivals: Lyon Henry and wife, with their
son Jacob Henry ; David Cardozo, David Levi, Cush-
man Pollock, Levy Abrahams, Abraham Isaack,
Moses Simons, Emanuel de la Motta, Abraham da
Costa, Samuel Mordecai and family, and Isaac
Pollock.
On July 7, 1787, the Jews of Savannah reestab-
lished the congregation Mickve Israel, hiring suita-
ble houses in the rear of St. James square. Mor-
decai Sheftall having deeded a piece of land to be
used by the Savannah Jews as a cemetery, the
benevolent society Meshebet Nefesh on July 31,
1787, laid the foundation-stones of the enclosing
wall. The burial-ground is at present (1903) under
the care of a board of trustees appointed from the
congregation by the Superior Court
Incorpora- of Savannah. On Nov. 30, 1790, Gov.
tion of Con- Edward Telfair granted to Levy Shef-
gregation tall, Cushman Pollock, Joseph Abra-
Mickva hams, Mordecai Sheftall, Abraham de
Israel. Pas, Emanuel de la Motta, and their
successors a charter of incorporation
wherein they were declared to be "a body incorpo-
rate by the name and style of the ' Parnass and Ad-
juntas of the Mickve Israel at Savannah.'" This
charter is still in the hands of the congregation, as
are also the minutes and records of all congregational
transactions from the year 1790 to the present time.
629
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Georgia
Gerar
Under date of May 6, 1789, Levy Sheftall, in behalf
of the Hebrew congregation of Savannah, presented
an address to General Washington on tiie occasion
of his election to the presidency, to which Washing-
ton made a gracious reply (see "Publications Am.
Jew. Hist. Soc." No. 3, pp 88, 89).
From 1797 until 1820 there was quite an exodus
from Savannah. In the last-mentioned year, how-
ever, the Jewish community began to increase. A
building committee for tlie erection of a synagogue
■was appointed; and tiiecityof Savannah granted to
the congregation a plot of groimd situated at the
corner of Liberty and Whitaker streets. On July
21, 1820, the new building was consecrated by the
honorary hazzan. Dr. Jacob de la Motta, who de-
livered an address. This address was published,
and it is one of the earliest prints bearing upon the
history of the Jews of America: a copy of it is pre-
served in the Leeser Library, Philadelphia. Copies
were sent by De la Motta to Thomas Jefferson and
James Madison, from both of whom sympathetic re-
plies were received. On Dec. 4, 1829, the syna-
gogue was destroyed by fire, but the scrolls of
the Law and the Ark were saved uninjured. In
1838 the erection of a brick structure upon the old
site was commenced, and it was consecrated Feb.
24, 1841, by Isaac I^eeser. In 1876, the Jewish pop-
ulation having increased considerabl}', the congre-
gation purchased two large building-lots fronting
on Bull street; on March 12, 1876, the corner-stone
of a new synagogue was laid ; and on April 12, 1878,
the old synagogue was closed with religious exer-
cises, the new building being consecrated the same
day.
Many offices of trust in the city have been held by
Jews (see Sheftall ; Minis; Levy, Samuel Yates).
Solomon Cohen, a lawyer of prominence, was post-
master at Savannah ; he established the first Jewish
Sunday-school in Georgia (1838). Octavus Cohen
(1814-77), merchant, was quartermaster of state
troops during the Civil war. The Jews of Georgia
contributed, about 140 men in that war (see Wolf,
I.e. pp. 129 et seq.), and a considerable number were
enrolled in Georgian companies during the Spanish-
American contest (see Cyrus Adler, in "American
Jewish Year-Book," 5661, pp. 552-553; Atlanta;
Algusta).
Albany has a congregation, B'nai Yisrael, organ-
ized in 1876. Tlie Hon. Charles Wessolowsky of
that town was for some years the editor of the
"Jewish South," published in New Orleans. He
also served as a member of the state legislature.
Athens has a congregation, Children of Israel,
founded in 1872. The University of the State of
Georgia is located in Athens; and many young Jews
from adjacent cities are students of that institution.
Jews have taken some of the highest honors of the
university, and have gained prominence in law,
medicine, science, and commerce. The first Jew
to receive the degree of doctor of divinity was Isaac
P. Mendes of Savannah (1899).
Brunswick has a congregation, Beth Tefilah,
organized in 1885. The temple was built about two
years later, and was consecrated by Isaac M. Wise.
A Sunday-school was established about 1887 by Mrs.
Arnold Kaiser, a former resident of Savannah, and
for many years one of the teachers of the Mickve
Israel Sunday-school.
Columbus has a congregation, Benai Israel,
founded about 1854. The town has the honor of
having given to Georgia one of its most prominent
and worthy Jews, Raphael J. Moses. At the time
of the Civil war he was a member of General Long-
street's staff. Simon Wolf (I.e. p. 115) pays eloquent
tribute to his honesty and worth. His rebuke to his
opponent, the Hon. W. O. Tuggle, who during liis
congressional campaign of 1887 taunted Moses with
being a Jew, has become a part of the history of the
Jews of Georgia. Moses was a member of the state
legislature.
Macon has a congregation, Beth Israel, founded
in 1859. The exact date of the first settlement of
Jews in Macon is not known. About 1850 a few
Hebrew families were living there, most of whom
had emigrated from Germany.
Rome has a congregation, Rodef Sholem, founded
in 1871. The Jewish community has always been
very small, and the congregation has had no regular
minister. Max Meyerhardt, a learned jurist and a
stanch Jew, has for many years conducted the serv-
ices and superintended and instructed the Sunday-
school. He is grand master for the state of Georgia
of the order of Free and Accepted Masons.
All these congregations possess cemeteries, Sun-
day-schools, benevolent, educational, and orphan-
aid societies, besides associations for repairing and
beautifying the places of worship. The Council of
Jewish Women has sections in Savannah, Augusta,
and Atlanta. Junior circles have also been formed
in Savannah and Atlanta. The Independent Order
B'nai B'rith and the Kesher Shel Barzel have sub-
ordinate lodges in all the principal cities of the state.
For the Hebrew Orphans' Home see Atlanta.
There are about 7,000 Jews in the entire state, in
a total population of 2,216,331.
Bibliography : In addition to the references given In the arti-
cle, Willard Preston, in Records of Union Society ; R. Mack-
enzie, Amei-ica: A History; extracts from the Sheftall diary
in Occident, i.; HiJhner, in Am. Jew. Hist. Soc. Puhl. x.; The
Morning News, Savannah. Ga., April 12, 1878 ; The Recorder,
Savannah, Ga., April 12, 18~S; Chui-leston NeivKijnper, July
11, 1797 : Minutc-Book of Congrcijation Mickve Im-ael,
Savannah, Ga., 1790-1891; The Times, Columbus, Ga.. 1887;
Adelaide Wilson, Historical and Picturesque Savannah.
A. I. P. M.
GEE.. See Proselyte and Proselytism.
GERA (X"IJ) : !• Fourth son of Benjamin (Gen.
xlvi. 21). He is not mentioned in the list of Benja-
min's sons given in Num. xxvi. 38-40. In I Chron.
viii. 3 Gera is given as the son of Bela, the first son
of Benjamin.
2. Father of Ehud the Benjamite, who judged
the Israelites in the time of Eglon, King of ^loab
(Judges iii. 15). In I Chron. viii. 7 Gera is said to
have been the son of Ehud.
3. Father of Shimci, also a Benjamite, who cursed
David when he fled from before his son Absalom (II
Sam. xvi. 5).
E. G. H. M. Sel.
GERAH. See Weights and :Measures.
GERAR : Seat of a Philistine prince (Gen. x. 19,
XX. 1 etseq., xxvi. 20; I Chron. iv. 39 [LXX.]; II
Chron. xiv. 12 et seq.). Following the statement
Gerasi
Q-ermany
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
630
in Gen. xx. 1 ("between Kadesh and Shur"), Trum-
bull ("Kadesh Barnea," pp. 255, 631) tries to find it
in the Wadi Jarur, southwest of Kadesh. But the
statements in Gen. xxi. 21, xxvi. 22 et seq. do not
agree with this; neither do they suggest that Gerar
may have been a city. Since Eusebius mentions a
city " Gerara " south of Eleutheropolis, and since
tliere is an Umm Jarar south of Gaza, Gerar is
doubtless to be sought there, and it may be con-
cluded with Gunkel that there is a gap in the ac-
count in Gen. xx. 1.
E. G. H. F. Bu.
GERASI, DANIEL BEN ELIJAH : Turkish
Talmudist and preacher of the seventeenth century;
lived at Salonica, where he died about 1705. He
was the author of " Odeh Adonai," sermons (Venice,
1681-82). Some Talmudic sentences of his are re-
Fanatiker, " ib. 1816. The latter work passed through
two editions.
Bibliography : Furst, Bibl. Jud. 1. 303 ;
graphic^ vii. 389 et seq.
D.
Allg. Deutsche Bio-
A. M. F.
GEHIZIM, MOUNT (nniJ in).— Biblical
Data : Mountain south of the valley in which
Shechem was situated; the present Jabal al-Tur
(Deut. xi. 29, xxvii. 12; Josh. viii. 33; Judges ix.
7). It is 2,849 feet high, declines sharply to the
north, and is sparsely covered at the top with
shrubbery. After their separation from the Jews
the Samaritans built a temple on it, which was
destroyed by John Hyrcanus. But the mountain
continued to be (John iv. 20), as it is to-day, the holy
place of the Samaritans, reverenced by them as
the scene of the sacrifice of Isaac and as the site of
Mount Gerizim, from Nablus.
(From a photograph by Bonfils.)
ferred to by Hayyim Benveniste ("Ba'i Hayye,
Yoreh De'ah," 'l20; "Hoshen Mishpat," 154, 155;
"Keneset ha-Gedolah," second part, Id).
Bibliography: Steinschneider, Cat. Bodl. col. 853; Michael,
Or ha-Hayyim, No. 790.
D. ' I. Ber.
GEB.ESH. See Accents in Hebrew.
GERGESITES. See Gikgashites.
GERHARD, FRIEDRICH : German Christian
writer against the Jews; born in Frankfort-on-the-
Main Jan. 2, 1779; died there Oct. 30, 1862. He
was a Lutheran clergyman at Frankfort and a wri-
ter on theological subj(;cts. For a time he edited
" Der Protestant, " a religious periodical. He was the
author of the following works, directed against Jews
and Jewish influences: "Das Judenthum in der
Freimaurerei," Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1816; "Ein
Wortzur Beherzigung fur Wahrheitsfreuude Gegen
their temple, and upon which they still celebrate
tlie Passover. The temple was surrounded by for-
tifications (comp. II Mace. v. 23), which survived the
destruction of the temple (Josephus, "Ant." xiv. 6, §
2; xviii. 4, § 1 ; "B. J." iii. 7, § 32). After Chris-
tianity had secured a foothold in Shechem, there were
frequent disturbances among the Samaritans, on ac-
count of which Justinian in 529 built a wall round
the church which had been erected on Gerizim, to
protect it; the line of this wall is probably to be
seen in the extensive ruins still existing on the top
of the mountain. Among others there are some
ruins called "Lozali," the "Luza" mentioned by
Eusebius ("Onomasticon," 214, 135), nine (Hierony-
mus says three) Roman miles from Shechem.
Bibliography: Robinson, Researches, ill. 318-321; Pal. Ex-
plor. Fwid, No. 2. pp. 187 et seq.; Gael, Altisraelitische
Kultstdtten, pp. 102 et seq.
E. G. H. F. Bu.
631
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Gerasi
Germany
In Rabbinical Literature : Mount Gerizim,
though more than sixty miles from the Jordan, was
miraculously reached by the Israelites on the same
day that they crossed that river. They proceeded
at once to perform the solemn ceremony enacted
there. Six tribes ascended to the summit of Geri-
zim, and the remainder placed themselves on the top
of Mount Ebal ; while the priests and the Levites,
clustering round tlie Ark, took their stand in the
valley between the two mountains. On turning
their faces to Gerizim the Levites pronounced a ben-
ediction; on turning to Ebal, a curse (Sotah 3oa,
36a).
Mount Gerizim was one of the foremost causes of
division between the Israelites and the Samaritans,
the latter of whom, regarding it as the holy place
chosen by God, builttheir temple there. This temple
was destroyed on the twenty-fifth of Tebet in the
days of Alexander by Simeon the Just, to whom that
monarch had given permission to destroy it (Yoma
69a; comp., however, Josephus, "Ant." xiii. 3, § 4;
"Yuhasin," p. 138; Karme Shomron," p. 12).
The Samaritans are charged with having changed
the words "in mount Ebal" (Deut. xxvii. 4) to "in
mount Gerizim " ("Karme Shomron," p. 37). In the
Samaritan Bible the words D'^T^J "in are always
written as one, and nriT "1CX D1p03 is always
changed into "in3 "IC^'N (ib). According to Simeon
ben Eliezer, the wines of the Samaritans Avere for-
bidden because the latter used them in the worship of
an image of a dove erected on the summit of Mount
Gerizim (Hul. 6a). According to a midrash, this
image was the idol that was buried by Jacob under
the oak at Shechem (Gen. xxxv. 4; Tosafot Hul.
I.e.). The first condition a Samaritan has to fulfil
to be admitted into the fold of Judaism is to re-
nounce the belief in the sanctity of Mount Gerizim
(Masseket Kutim, end).
J. I. Br.
GERMANTJS, MOSES. See Speeth, Moses.
GERMANY : Country of central Europe. The
date of the first settlement of Jews in the regions
called by the Romans "Germania Superior," "Ger-
mania Inferior, " and " Germania Magna, " and which,
on the whole, are included in the present German
empire, is not knoAvn. The first authentic docu-
ment relating to a large and well-organized Jewish
community in these regions, dates from 321, and
refers to Cologne on the Rhine; it indicates that
the legal status of the Jews there was the same as
elsewhere in the Roman empire. They enjoyed full
civic liberty, being restricted only in regard to
the dissemination of their faith, the keeping of
Christian slaves, and the holding of office imder
the government. But they were otherwise free to
follow any occupation open to their fellow citizens.
They were engaged in agriculture, trade, and indus-
try, and only gradually took up money-lending.
These conditions at first continued in the subse-
quently established Germanic kingdoms under the
Burguudians and Franks, for ecclesiasticism took
root here but slowlj^ and the Jews lived as
peaceably with their new German lords as they had
done formerly with the Roman provincials. The
Merovingian rulers, also, who succeeded to the Bur-
gundian empire, were devoid of fanaticism, and
gave scant support to the efforts of the Church to
restrict the civic and social status of the Jews.
Neither was Charlemagne, who readily made use
of the Church for the purpose of infusing coherence
into the loosely joined parts of liis ex-
XJnder tensive empire, by any means a blind
Charle- tool of the canonical law. He made
magne. use of the Jews so far as suited his
diplomacy', sending, for instance, a
Jew as interpreter and guide with his embassy to
Harun al-Rashid. Yet even then a gradual change
came into the life of the Jews. Unlike the Germans,
who were liable to be called to arms at any moment in
those troublous times, the Jews were exempt from
military service ; hence trade and commerce were left
almost entirely in their hands, and thej' secured the
remunerative monopoly of money-lending when the
Church forbade Christians to take usury. This de-
cree caused the Jews to be everywhere sought as
well as avoided, for their capital was indispensable
while their business was viewed as disreputable.
This curious combination of circumstances increased
their influence. They went about the country freely,
settling also in the eastern portions. Aside from
Cologne, tlie earliest communities seem to have been
established at Worms and Mayence.
The status of the Jews remained unchanged under
Charlemagne's weak successor, Ludwig the Pious.
They Avere unrestricted in their com-
XJp to the merce, merely paying into the state
Crusades, treasury a somewhat higher tax than
did the Christians. A special officer, the
" Judenmeister," was appointed by the government
to protect their privileges. The later Carolingians,
however, fell more and more in with the demands of
the Church. The bishops, who were continually
harping at the synods on the anti-Semitic decrees of
the canonical law, finally brought it about that the
ignorant and superstitious populace was filled with
hatred against the unbelievers. This feeling, among
both princes and people, was further stimulated by
the attacks on the civic equality of the Jews. Be-
ginning with the tenth centur}-, Holy Week became
more and more a period of persecution for them.
Yet the Saxon emperors did not treat the Jews badly,
exacting from them merely the taxes levied upon
all other merchants. Although they were as igno-
rant as their contemporaries as regards secular stud-
ies, j^et they could read and understand the Hebrew
prayers, and the Bible in the original text. Halakic
studies began to flourish about 1000. At that time
R. Gershom b. Judah was teaching at Metz and
Mayence, gathering about him pupils from far and
near. He is described as a model cf wisdom, humil-
ity, and piety, and is praised by all as a " lamp of the
Exile " (n^ljn "iIKO). He first stimulated the German
Jews to study the treasures of their national litera-
ture. This continuous study of the Torah and the
Talmud produced such a devotion to their faith that
the Jews considered life without their religion not
worth living; but they did not realize this clearly
until the time of the Crusjides, when they wereoftea
compelled to choose between life and faith.
The Avild excitement to which the Germans had
been driven by exhortations to take the cross first
Qermany
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
632
broke upon the Jews, the nearest representatives of
an execrated opposition faitli. Entire communities,
like those of Treves, Speyer, Worms,
After the Mayence, and Cologne, were slain, ex-
Crusades, cept where the slayers were antici-
pated by the deliberate self-destruc-
tion of their intended victims. About 12,000 Jews
are said to have perished in the Rlienish cities alone
between May and July, 1096 (see Crusades). These
outbreaks of popular passion during the Crusades
influenced the future status of the Jews. To salve
their consciences the Christians brought accusa-
tions against the Jews to prove that they had de-
served their fate; imputed crimes, like desecration
of the host, ritual murder, poisoning of the wells,
and treason, brought hundreds to the stake and
drove thousands into exile. Tliey were accused of
having caused the inroads of the Mongols, although
they suffered equally with the Christians from those
savage hordes. When the Black Death swept over
Europe in 1348-49, the Jews were accused of well-
poisoning, and a general slaughter began through-
out the Germanic and contiguous provinces (see
Black Death).
Nevertheless, the legal and civic status of the Jews
was undergoing a transformation. They found a
certain degree of protection with the
Their emperor of the Holy Roman Em-
Legal pire, who claimed the right of posses-
Status, sion and protection of all the Jews
of the empire in virtue of being the
successor of the emperor Titus, who was said to
have acquired the Jews as his private property.
The German emperors claimed this right of posses-
sion more for the sake of taxing the Jews than of
protecting them. Ludwig the Bavarian especially
exerted his ingenuity in devising new taxes. In
1342 ne instituted the " golden sacrificial penny," and
decreed that every year all the Jews should pay to
the emperor one kreutzer in every gulden of their
property in addition to the taxes they were paying
to the state and municipal authorities.
The emperors of the house of Luxemburg devised
still other means of taxation. They turned their
prerogatives in regard to the Jews to further ac-
count by selling at a high price to the princes and
free towns of the empire the valuable privilege of
taxing and mulcting the Jews. On the reorganiza-
tion of the empire in 1356, Charles IV., by the
"Golden Bull," granted this privilege to the seven
electors of the empire. From this time onward the
Jews of Germany gradually passed in increasing
numbers from the authority of the emperor to that
of the lesser sovereigns and of the cities. For the
sake of sorely needed revenue the Jews were now
invited, with the promise of full protection, to re-
turn to those districts and cities from which they
had shortly before been cruelly expelled; but as
soon as they had acquired some property they
were again plundered and driven awaj'. These epi-
sodes thenceforth constituted the history of the Ger-
man Jews. Emperor Wenceslaus was most expert
in transferring to his own coffers gold from the
pockets of rich Jews. He made compacts with
many cities, estates, and princes whereby he annulled
all outstanding debts to the Jews in return for a cer-
tain sum paid to him, adding that any one who
should nevertheless help the Jews to collect their
debts should be dealt with as a robber and peace-
breaker, and be forced to make restitution. This
decree, which for years injured the public credit, im-
poverished thousands of Jewish families during the
close of the fourteenth century.
Nor did the fifteenth century bring any ameliora-
tion. What happened in the time of the Crusades
happened again. The Avar upon the Hussite heretics
became the signal for the slaughter of the unbe-
lievers. The Jews of Austria, Bohemia, Moravia,
and Silesia passed through all the terrors of death,
forced baptism, or voluntary immolation for the
sake of tlieir faith. When the Hussites made peace
with the Church the pope sent the Franciscan monk
Capistrano to win the renegades back into the fold
and inspire them with loatliing for heresy and unbe-
lief ; forty -one martyrs were burned in Breslau alone,
and all Jews were forever banished from Silesia.
The Franciscan monk Bernhardinus brought a sim-
ilar fate upon the communities in southern and west-
ern Germany. As a consequence of the fictitious
confessions extracted under torture from the Jews
of Trent, the populace of many cities, especially of
Ratisbon, fell upon the Jews and massacred them.
The end of the fifteenth century, which brought a
new epoch for the Christian world, brought no re-
lief to the Jews. They remained the victims of a
religious hatred that ascribed to them all possible
evils. When the established Church, threatened in
its spiritual power in Germany and elsewhere, pre-
pared for its conflict with the culture of the Renais-
sance, one of its most convenient points of attack
was rabbinic literature. At this time, as once be-
fore in France, Jewish converts spread false reports
in regard to the Talmud. But an advocate of the
book arose in the person of John Reuchlin, the
German humanist, who was the first one in Germany
to include the Hebrew language among the humani-
ties. His opinion, though bitterly attacked by the
Dominicans and their followers, finally prevailed
when the humanistic Pope Leo X. permitted the
Talmud to be printed in Italy.
The feeling against the Jews themselves, however,
remained the same. During the sixteenth and seven-
teenth centuries they were still subject to the will of
the princes and the free cities, both in
Sixteenth Catholic and in Protestant countries.
and Seven- The German emperors were not al-
teenth ways able to protect them, even when
Centuries, they desired to do so, as did the chiv-
alrous Emperor Maximilian I. ; they
could not prevent the accusations of ritual murder
and of desecration of the host. The unending re-
ligious controversies that rent the empire and finally
led to the Thirty Years' war further aggravated
the position of the Jews, who were made the prey
of each party in turn. The emperors even occasion-
ally expelled their " Kammerknechte " from their
crown lands, although they still assumed the office
of protector. Ferdinand I. expelled the Jews from
Lower Austria and Gorz, and would have carried
out his vow to banish them also from Bohemia had
not the noble Mordecai Zemah Cohen of Prague in-
duced the pope to absolve the emperor from this
633
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Germany-
vow. Emperor Leopold I. expelled them in 1670
from Vienna and tlie arcluiueliy of Austria, in spite
of their vested rights and the intercession of princes
and ecclesiastics; the exiles were received in Bran-
denburg. The "Great Elector," Frederick William
(1620-88), deciding to tolerate all religious beliefs
impartially, protected his new subjects against op-
pression and slander. In spite of the civic and re-
ligious restrictions to which they were subjected
even liere, the Jews of this flourishing community
gradually attained to a wider outlook, although
their one-sided education, the result of centuries of
oppression, still severed them entirely from Euro-
pean culture and kept them in intellectual bondage.
Fortunately, the Jews had kept their piety, their
morality, and their intellectual activity. They were
devoted to the study of the Halakah.
Literature. In the eleventh century R. Gershom's
pupils had been the teachers of Rashi,
and his excellent commentaries on the Bible and
Talmud marked out new paths for learning. The
German Jews contributed much to the spread and
completion of these commentaries. Beginning with
the twelfth century they worked independentlj^ es-
pecially in the fields of Haggadah and ethics. R.
Simon ha-Darshan's " Yalkut" (c. 1150), the "Book
of the Pious " by R. Judah ha-Hasid of Ratisbon (c.
1200), the " Salve-Mixer " (Rokeah) of R. Eleasar of
Worms {c. 1200), the halakic collection "Or Zarua' "
of R. Isaac of Vienna (c. 1250), the responsa of R.
Mei'r of Rothenburg (d. 1293), are enduring monu-
ments of German Jewish industry. Even the hor-
rors of the Black Death could not completely des-
troy this literary activity. Profound and wide
scholarship was less common after the middle of
the fourteenth century, which led to the institu-
tion of allowing only those scholars to become rab-
bis who could produce a written authorization to
teach ("hattarat bora 'ah") issued by a recognized
master. To this period of decline belong also a
number of large collections of responsa and of use-
ful commentaries on earlier halakic works. The
customs and ordinances relating to the form and
order of worship were especially studied in tliis
period, and were definitely fixed for the ritual of
the synagogues of western and eastern Germany
by Jacob Molln (Maharil) and Isaac Tyrnau. As it
was difficult to produce any new works in the field of
the Halakah, and as the dry study of well-worn sub-
jects no longer satisfied, scholars sought relief in the
fantastic interpretations and subtle traditions em-
bodied in the Cabala. There arose a new, ascetic
view of life, that found literary expression in the
" Shene Luliot ha-Berit " by R. Isaiah Horovitz of
Frankfort-on-the Main (d. 1626), and that appealed
especially to the pietistic German Jews. The end
and aim of existence were now sought in the aspira-
tion of the soul toward its fountainhead, combined
with the endeavor to saturate the earthly life with
the spirit of God. By a continuous attitude of rev-
erence to God, by lofty thoughts and actions, the
Jew was to rise above the ordinary affairs of the
day and become a worthy member of the kingdom
of God. Every act of his life was to remind him of
his religious duties and stimulate him to mystic con-
templation.
The oi)pressions under which the Jews suffered en-
couraged this austere view of life. They lived in
fear in their Jews' streets, subsisting on wiiat they
could earn as pedlers and as dealers in old clothes.
Cut off from all participation in pub-
Separation lie and municipal life, they liad to seek
from the in their homes compensation for the
World. things denied them outside. Their
family life was pure and intimate,
beautified by faith, industrj-, and temperance. They
were loyal to their community. In consequence of
their complete segregation from their Christian fel-
low citizens, the German speech of the ghetto was
increasingly interlarded with Hebraisms, and also
with Slavonic elements since the seventeenth cen-
tury, when the atrocities of Chmielnicki and his
Tatars drove the Polish Jews back into western
Germany. As the common people understood only
the books written in this peculiar dialect and printed
in Hebrew characters, a voluminous literature of
edifying, devotional, and belletristic works sprang
up in Juda'o-German to satisfy the needs of these
readers. Although this output was one-sided, pre-
supposing almost no secular knowledge, its impor-
tance in the historj' of Jewish culture must not be
underestimated. 'The study of Bible, Talmud, and
halakic legal works, with their voluminous commen-
taries, preserved the plasticity of the Jewish mind,
until a new Moses came to lead his coreligionists out
of intellectual bondage toward modern culture.
From Moses Mendelssolm to the Present
Time (1750-1900): Moses Mendelssohn located
with true insight the point of depar-
Sloses ture for the regeneration of Jewish
Mendels- life. The Middle Ages, which could
sohn. take from the Jews neither their faith
nor their various intellectual gifts, had
yet deprived them of the chief means (namely, the
vernacular) of comprehending the intellectual labors
of others. The chasm that in consequence separated
them from their educated fellow citizens was bridged
by Mendelssohn's translation of the Torah into Ger-
man. This book became the manual of the German
Jews, teaching them to write and speak the German
language, and preparing them for participation in
German culture and secular science. Mendelssohn
lived to see the first-fruits of his endeavors. In 1778
his friend David Friedlander founded the Jewish
free school in Berlin, this being the first Jewish edu-
cational institution in Germany in which the entire
instruction, in Scripture as well as in general science,
was carried on in German only. Similar schools
were founded later in Breslau (1792), Seesen (1801),
Frankfort-on-the-Main (1804), Wolfenbuttel (1807),
Brody and Tarnopol (1815). In 1733 the periodical
" Der SamHiler " was issued Avith the view of pro-
viding general information for adults and of en-
abling them to express themselves in pure, harmoni-
ous German.
Aj'outhful enthusiasm for new ideals at that time
pervaded the entire civilized world; all religions
were recognized as equally entitled to respect, and
the champions of political freedom xmdertook to re-
store tlie Jews to their full rights as men and citi-
zens. The humane German emperor Joseph II. was
foremost in espousing these new ideals. As early as
Oermany
Qerona
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
634
1782 he issued the "Patent of Toleration for the
Jews of Lower Austria," establishing thereby the
civic equality of his Jewish subjects. Prussia con-
ferred citizenship upon the Prussian Jews in 1812,
though this by no means included full equality with
other citizens. The German federal edicts of 1815
merely held out the prospect of full equality; but it
was not realized at that time, and even the promises
that had been given were modified. In Austria
many laws restricting the trade and traffic of Jewish
subjects remained in force down to the middle of
the last century, in spite of the patent of toleration.
Some of the crown lands, as Styria and Upper Aus-
tria, forbade any Jews to settle within their terri-
tory ; in Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia many cities
were closed to them. They were, in addition, bur-
dened with heavy taxes and imposts.
In Prussia, also, the government modified mate-
rially the promises made in the disastrous year
1813. The promised uniform regulation of Jewish
affairs was time and again postponed. In the period
between 1815 and 1847 there were no less than
twenty-one territorial Jews' laws in the eight prov-
inces of the Prussian state, of which each one had to
be observed by a part of the Jews. There w^as at
that time no official authorized to speak in the name
of all German Jews. Nevertheless a few courageous
men came forward to maintain their cause, fore-
most among them being Gabriel Riesser, a Jewish
lawyer of Hamburg (d. 1863), who demanded full
civic equality for his race from the German princes
and peoples. He aroused public opinion to such an
extent that this equality was granted in Prussia
April 6, 1848 ; in Hanover and Nassau respectively
Sept. 5 and Dec. 12 of the same year. In Wilrttem-
berg equality was conceded Dec. 3, 1861 ; in Baden
Oct. 4, 1862; in Holsteiu July 14, 1863; in Saxony
Dec. 3, 1868. After the establishment of the North-
German Confederation by the law of July 3, 1869, all
existing restrictions imposed upon the followers of
different religions were abolished ; this decree was
extended to all the provinces of the German empire
after the events of 1870.
The intellectual development of the Jews kept
pace with their civic enfranchisement. Recognizing
that pursuit of modern culture would not at once
assure them the civic status they desired, their lead-
ers set themselves to reawaken Jewish self-conscious-
ness by applying the methods of modern scholarship
to the study of Jewish sources, and to stimulate
the rising generation by familiarizing them with
the intellectual treasures of their forefathers which
had been accumulating for thousands of years ; and at
the same time they sought to rehabilitate Judaism in
the eyes of the world. The leader of this new move-
ment and the founder of modern Jewish science was
Leopold Zunz (1794-1886), who united
Jewish broad general scholarship with a thor-
Science. ough knowledge of the entire Jewi.sh
literature, and who, with his contempo-
rary Solomon JudahLob Rapoport of Galicia(1790-
1867), especially aroused their coreligionists in Ger-
many, Austria, and Italy. The German scholars who
cooperated in the work of these two men may be noted
here. H. Arnheim wrote a scholarly manual of the
Hebrew language ; Julius Furst and David Cassel
compiled Hebrew dictionaries; Flirst and Bernhard
Bar compiled concordances to the entire Bible;
Adolf Heidenheimer and S. Bar edited correct Maso-
retic texts of the Bible, and S. Frensdorff subjected
the history of the Masorah to a thoroughly scien-
tific investigation ; the Bible was translated into
German under the direction of Zunz and Salomon;
Ludwig Philippson, Solomon Ilirscheimer, and Ju-
lius Fiirst wrote complete Biblical commentaries;
H. Gratz and S. R. Hirsch dealt with some of the
Biblical books; Zacharias Frankel and Abraham
Geiger investigated the Aramaic and Greek transla-
tions. Nor was the traditional law neglected. Jacob
Levy compiled lexicographical works to the Talmud
and Midrashim. Michael Sachs and Joseph Perles
investigated the foreign elements found in the lan-
guage of the Talmud. Numerous and, on the whole,
excellent editions of the halakic and haggadic mid-
rashim were issued — for instance, Zuckermandel's
edition of the Tosefta and Theodor's edition of Mid-
rash Rabbah to Genesis. Zacharias Frankel wrote
an introduction to the Mishnali and to the Jerusalem
Talmud, and David Hoffmann and Israel Lewy
investigated the origin and development of the
Halakah.
Religio-philosophical literature was also assidu-
ously cultivated, and the original Arabic texts of
Jewish religious philosophers were made accessible.
H. Landauer issued Saadia's works, and H. Hirsch-
feld the works of Judah ha-Levi. M. Joel and I.
Guttmann investigated the works of the Jewish
thinkers and their influence on the general develop-
ment of philosophy, while S. Hirsch attempted to
develop the philosophy of religion along the lines
laid down by Hegel, and Solomon Steinheim pro-
pounded a new theory of revelation in accordance
with the system of the Synagogue.
The extensive field of Jewish history was culti-
vated still more enthusiastically — by I. M. Jost,
David Cassel, L. Landshuth, L. Herzfeld, A. Ber-
liner, and, foremost among them all, H. Gratz. His
large work in twelve volumes, covering the 3,000
years of Jewish history down to recent times, is con-
sidered the most brilliant product of modern Jew-
ish scholarship. Moritz Steinschneider has written
a history of Jewish literature, and has issued cata-
logues of the most famous collections of Hebrew
manuscripts and books, while single epochs of Jew-
ish history and literature have been treated by nu-
merous scholars.
The enfranchisement of the Jews and the reflores-
cence of Jewish science led to a reorganization of
their institutions with a view to trans-
Reorgani- mitting the ancient traditions intact
zation. to the new generations. Opinions
differed widely as to the best methods
of accomplishing this object. While Geiger and
Holdheim were ready to meet the modern spirit of
liberalism, Samson Raphael Hirsch defended the
customs handed down by the fathers. And as
neither of these two tendencies was followed by the
mass of the faithful, Zacharias Frankel initiated a
moderate Reform movement on a historical basis, in
agreement with which the larger German commu-
nities reorganized their public worship by reducing
the medieval payyetanic additions to the prayers,
635
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Germany
Gerona
introducing congregational singing and regular ser-
mons, and requiring scientifically trained rabbis.
It was easiei- to agree upon tJie means of training
children for the Reformed worship and of awaken-
ing the interest of adults in Jewisli affairs in general.
The religious schools were an outcome of the desire
to add religious instruction to the sec-
Religious ular education of the Jewish children
Education, prescribed by the state. As the Tal-
mudic schools, still existing in Ger-
many in the first third of the nineteenth century,
were gradually deserted, rabbinical scminaiies were
founded, in which Talmudic instruction followed
the methods introduced by Zacharias Frankel in the
Jewish Theological Seminary opened at Breslau in
1854. Since then special attention has been devoted
to religious literature. Text-books on religion and
on Biblical and Jewish history, as well as aids to
the translation and explanation of the Bible and
the prayer-books, were compiled to meet the de-
mands of modern pedagogics. Pulpit oratory began
to flourish as never before, foremost among the
great German preachers being M. Sachs and M. Joel.
Nor was synagogal music neglected, Levandowsky
especially contributing to its development.
The public institutions of the Jewish communities
serve to supplement the work of teachers and lead-
ers, and to promote Jewish solidarity. This is the
primary object of the Jewish press, created by Lud-
wig Philippson. In 1837 he founded the "Allge-
meine Zeitung des Judenthums," which has been
followed by a number of similar periodicals. They
have succeeded in preserving a certain unity of re-
ligious opinion and conviction among the Jews, with
the gratifying result of unity of action for the com-
mon good. Societies for the cultivation of Jewish
literature were founded, as well as associations of
teachers, rabbis, and leaders of congregations.
See also separate articles on the various kingdoms
and cities of Germany.
E. c. M. Br.
GERNSHEIM, FRIEDRICH: German pian-
ist and composer; born at Worms July 17, 1889.
He was a pupil of L. Liebe, Paucr, Rosenhain
(piano), I. C. Hauff (theory), and H. Wolff (violin).
At the age of eleven Gernsbcim made his first pub-
lic appearance at a concert in the Frankfort Theater,
on which occasion one of his compositions, an over-
ture, was performed. He later (1853) made a tour
through the Palatinate and Alsace as far as Stras-
burg. Proceeding to Cologne, and thence to Leipsic,
he continued his studies for three years with Mosch-
eles, Hauptmann, Rietz, and Richter. After a sup-
plementary course at Paris (1855-61), he gave there a
series of concerts, and was recognized as one of the
best interpreters of Chopin and Schumann.
Gernsheim became musical dii'cctor at Saarbriick
as successor to Herman Levi in 1861, and in 1865 was
called to the Conservatorium of Cologne, where he
was shortly afterward appointed musical director
of the Musikalische Gesellschaft, the Stiidtischer
Gesangverein, and the Sangerbund. The leader-
ship of the opera orchestra at the Stadttheater was
also entrusted to him (1873). He went to Rotter-
dam in 1874 as director of the Conservatorium and
conductor of the " winter concerts " ; and since 1890
has been teacher at the Stern Conservatorium at Ber-
lin and conductor of the Choral Society connected
with that institution. In 1897 he became a member
of the senate of the royal academy of fine arts at
Berlin, and in 1901 was appointed president of the
Akademische Meisterschule flir Musikalische Kom-
position.
It is as a composer that Gernsheim is most favor-
ably known. His works are chiefly instrumental,
and include the following: four symphonies, many
compositions for male or mixed chorus and orches-
tra, a pianoforte concerto, a violin concerto, a piano-
forte quintet, three pianoforte quartets, two piano-
forte trios, one string quintet, two string quartets,
two violin sonatas with pianoforte, a sonata for
pianoforte and violoncello, songs, etc.
Bibliography: MusikatischesWochenblattA. 331^,^9 ; Men-
del, Musikalisclies Knnversations-Lerihon ; Baker, Bio-
graphical Diet, of Mtisicians.
s. J. So.
GERO, KARL: Hungarian dramatist; born at
Hevizgyork Oct. 18, 1856; studied law at Kaschau
and Budapest. While still a student he devoted
much time to literature and esthetics, attending lec-
tures on those subjects, and frequently visiting the
theater. His first play, written at this time, " Turi
Borcsa," was produced at the People's Theater of
Budapest (1883), when he accepted the position of
playwright at that theater. In 1886 he was ap-
pointed secretary of the Hungarian People's Theater,
but retained this position for a short time only. His
most important plays, dealing chiefly with Hunga-
rian popular life, are as follows: " Vadgalamb," "Az
Elado Leany " (crowned by the Hungarian Academy
of Sciences), "Az Uzsai Gyongy," "Angyal es Or-
dog," "Probahazassag," "A Vadonban " (crowned).
Bibliography: Szinuyei, Maqyar Ir6k Elcte: A Het, 1892;
Pallas Nagy Lex.
s. L. Y.
GERON. See Giitron.
GERONA (xnjnV NJn"'! njlTJ, njIT' ; formeriy
Gerunda) : Fortified city in northern Spain. As
early as 1002 Pope Sylvester acknowledged to Bishop
Odo of Gerona the receipt of the tax (" census ") of
the Jewish community there (''Marca Hispanica,"
Appendix, No. 150, p. 959). The Jews were in pos-
session of houses and lands, which they could hold
without restriction; but the councils of Gerona
(1068, 1078) decided that a tenth of any lauded prop-
erty which a Jew acquired from a Christian should
accrue to the state. The Jews lived in a separate
quarter situated at the outermo.st end of the fortifi-
cations on the right bank of the River Onyar, which
intersected the city. The quarter included a rather
long lane called Carre de S. Lorenzo, or Calle de la
Forsa, north of Avhich was the real Calle Judaica;
then came the Carre de la Ruca, a continuation of
which was the Carre de la Claveria. From this
opened a narrow street which led to the synagogue
and extended to the Carre de S. Lo-
Situation renzo. The Calle Judaica with the
of Jewry, market-place formed the center of the
Juderia. At the end of the Calle de la
Forsa stood the Jewish assembly-hall or communal
house, now the Church of the MM. Escolapias,
near which was the house of the wealthy Bonastruc
Gerona
Gerondi
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
636
family ; and not far off was the house of the rich Jew
Abraham Isaac. The Jewish cemetery, as iu Barce-
lona, was on the Monjiiich, a hill near the city,
called "Monte Judaico " in the old records. A hun-
dred years ago Hebrew inscriptions were still found
in this cemetery, the "Fossar dels Juhcns."
The Jews of Gerona lived undisturbed under the
Saracens and during the long reign of King Jaime
the Conqueror. The latter showed himself just and
even benevolent toward them. Iq 1229 he fixed
their rate of interest at 20 per cent; at the instance of
the Bishop of Gerona, he forbade Christian women to
live in the same house with Jews ; and he directed the
officials to act j ustly toward the Jews as debtors. In
1257 he appointed lionastruc de Porta as " bayle " of
Gerona, and Astruc Ravaya (whom he released from
all taxes for life) and his son Yucef as tax-farmers.
To Bonastruc de Porta, " maestro de los Judios de
Gerona," who is identified by Graetz and others with
Rabbi Moses ben Nahman, he gave a mill located in
the market-place. This learned Jew was invited by
the king himself to take part in a public debate on
Judaism and Christianity with the Dominican Pablo
Christiani at Barcelona in 1263. The evil effects of
this discussion were soon felt in Gerona, a city which
was the seat of a fanatical bishop, and in which a
strong clerical spirit was predominant. On a cer-
tain Good Friday the antagonism against the Jews
manifested itself in an outbreak of such vehemence
that the king was obliged to interfere with an
armed force.
The subsequent history of the Jews in Gerona is
a long series of molestations and persecutions. After
the accession of Pedro III., at a time
Per- of general insurrection against the
secutions. king, the clergy, with a mob incited
by them, attacked the Jews and their
houses, laid waste their vineyards and olive-orchards,
and devastated their cemetery. When the town-
crier gave warning in the name of the king against
a repetition of such excesses, the clergy made such
a tumult that his voice could not be heard. Pedro,
who in 1276 had given the taxes from the Gerona
Jewry to his wife, Constanta, regarded these disturb-
ances as a personal insult as well as an injury to
the treasury, and in a document dated April, 1278,
remonstrated earnestly with Bishop Pedro de Cas-
tellnou, who had showed himself ill disposed toward
the Jews, and also with the " bayle " of the city.
When in 1285 Gerona was preparing to defend itself
against the advancing French army, the Spanish
mercenaries forced their way, murdering and plun-
dering, into the Jewry. Pedro had some of the
guilty persons hanged.
The persecution of the Pastoureaux also affected
the Jews of Gerona. During the Black Death (1348)
the loss of life in Gerona was appalling, two-thirds of
the population being swept away. At the end of
May, 1348, the people, incited by certain of the
knigiits and clergy, removed Jewish corpses from
their graves and burned them together with the
bodies of the Jews whom they had killed.
The Jewish communit}^ of Gerona, at the head of
which was a directorial board consisting of twenty
persons, was distinguished for its size, prosperity,
and piety. Toward the end of the fourteenth cen-
tury it was so wealthy that it was required by the
authorities to defray half the expenses incurred in
erecting the city fortifications. Its burden of taxa-
tion was both excessive and oppressive. In addition
to the usual taxes, which amounted annually to 13,-
000 sueldos, the Jews had to pay 500 sueldos at each
coronation and were further required to make
extra contributions on many occasions. In 1314, in
order to enable Jaime II. to purchase the county of
Urgel, the Jewries of Gerona, Valencia, Lerida, Bar-
celona, and Tortosa placed 11,500 libras at his dispos-
al. As a sign of his appreciation he released them
from paying taxes for four years. When Pedro IV.
in 1343 was in need of money for the
Contribu- purpose of conquering the county of
tions to the Roussillon, he summoned the Jewish
Treasury, communities of Gerona, Barcelona, and
other towns to come to his aid imme-
diately ("Coll. de Documentos Ineditos,"xxxi. 291).
The kings regarded the Jews as a reliable source of
income, and were not averse to seeing the communi-
ties increase in size; thus in 1306 the Jewry of Ge-
rona was permitted to receive ten of the Jewish
families driven out of France.
After 1391, however, the splendor of the Jewry
in Gerona disappeared, and the community fell into
an impoverished condition. All sorts of crimes were
laid at the door of the Jews as pretexts for tor-
menting and oppressing them. The persecutions
of the year 1391 began on Aug. 10, St. Lorenzo's
Day. Armed peasants in large numbers ran furi-
ously into the Jewry, attacked the unarmed Jews
without mercy, butchered them in the most cruel
manner, and burned their houses and goods. Ac-
cording to a report presented by the councilors to
the King and Queen of Aragou on Aug. 13, 1391
(which report agrees with that of Hasdai Crescas),
many Jews were killed, while only a few embraced
Christianity in order to save themselves. The re-
mainder sought protection in the fortified tower of
Geronella, but even there they were attacked by the
peasants (Aug. 18), and, as the councilors reported
to John I. on Sept. 11, were daily insulted and
derided. On Sept. 18 the councilors again com-
plained to the king that the peasants of the vicinity
had united with the knights and clergy, and were
planning a new attack upon the Jews, and that
they themselves were not in a position to protect
them. Not until a year had passed did Queen Vio-
lante, wife of John I., commend the Jews to the
protection of the city and advise clemency with re-
gard to the taxes, which they were unable to pay
(Sept. 25, 1392). Aftcrstillanother attack had been
made on the Jews and many of them had been
forced to accept baptism, John I., who cared more
for the dance and the chase than for affairs of state,
commanded the " jurados" of Gerona to punish the
ringleaders with great severity (Feb. 1, 1393). The
sentence was repealed the same day, however, and
the punishment changed into a money fine which
would fall to the king. Martin I. , brother and suc-
cessor of John, was more energetic in his measures
against those who attacked the Jews in the tower of
Geronella in 1391.
On Dec. 8, 1412, Pope Benedict XIII. sent through
Bishop Ramon de Castellar a command to the com-
637
THE JEWISH EXCYCLOPEDIA
Gerona
Gerondi
munit}' in Gerona to send delegates to the disputa-
tion at Tortosa. The representatives of Gerona at
that time were Bonastruc Desmaks-
Share in the, Azay Toros (Todros), Xissim Fer-
the Tortosa rer, JafYuda (Judah) Alfaquin ("the
Dis- physician"), and Bonastruc Joseph.
putation. Of these Azay Todros (ben Yahya) and
the learned Bonastruc DesmaCstre were
chosen to go to Tortosa. Scarcely had the disputation
commenced when a popular uprising against the
Jews broke out in Gerona itself, probably on ac-
count of the speeches made bj* the delegates from
that city. The king punished by a fine of 20 sueldos,
or twenty days' imprisonment, any insult to a Jew
or damage to his property.
The Jews were held responsible for every accident
and misfortune that befell the city. "When the old
tower of Geronella fell in 140-4, the clergy announced
that this was God's punishment upon the city for
tolerating the Jews within its walls; and even the
terrible earthquake which visited Gerona and its
vicinity in 1427 was laid at their door. The Jives of
the Jews were in danger on every Christian feast-
day and during every procession. On the occasion
of one procession (April 16, 1418), which purposelj'
went through the Jewry, the young clergy together
with a large crowd forced their way into the syna-
gogue, shattered doors and windows, and tore up all
the books they could find. To put an end to such fre-
quently recurring excesses, the Jewry was shut off on
the side of Calle de S. Lorenzo, and Jews were forbid-
den to live in that street. They were forced to at-
tend church in order to hear sermons for their con-
version ; and in 1486 they were compelled to wear
special clothing in order to distinguish them from
Christians.
The Jews left Gerona on Aug. 2, 1492, only a few
accepting baptism; and the houses in the Jewry
were sold at auction. The old syna-
Expulsion gogue, which had been destroyed in
in 1492. 1285 with the rest of the Jewry— the
Jews apparently having been driven
out (Solomon ibn Adret, Responsa, No. 634) — and re-
built some years later, passed in 1494 into the posses-
sion of the presbytery of the cathedral, and, unaltered
in its main features, now belongs to D. Jose Bover de
Besalu. An inscription pertaining to it, found about
fifteen years ago, is now in the Archeological Mu-
seum at Gerona.
Gerona, a strictly religious community, in which
much attention was paid to the study of the Tal-
mud, was the birthplace of several men bearing the
cognomen " Gerondi, " who have made the city
famous. Among the scholars who lived in Gerona
were: Isaac ha-Levi and his son, Zerahiah ha-Levi;
Jonah ben Abraham Gerondi, Nissim ben Reuben
Gerondi (RaX), Abraham Hazzan Gerondi, Isaac b.
Judah Gerondi, Solomon ben Isaac Gerondi (a pupil
of Moses b. Xahman), ]\Ioses de Scola Gerondi,
Samuel b. Abraham Saporta (a tombstone of Enoch
ben Shealtiel Saporta, who died in 1312, was found
in Gerona in 1873), the eminent Moses ben Xahman
(RaMBaX), called "Rab d'Espaiia"; and his son,
Xahman ben jNIoses. Gerona was also the birthplace
of the cabalists Azriel and Ezra and of Jacob ben
Sheshet Gerondi. The tombstone of a Joshua ben
Sheshet and his wife was found on the Monjuich
near Gerona in 1883.
BiBi.iofiKAPHV: Girbal, Los Jndios en Gerona, Gerona, 1876,
with some addiiions from De los Rios ; liasdai Crescas,
in Slichct YcliudcOt. ed. Wiener, p. 130; Bolctin Acad.
HiM. viii. 498, xiii. 324 et xcq.; Revista Hist. i. 1 et seq.. 33
et scq.: iii. V.i>i et seq.; R. E. J. x. 108 etseq. (Isaac b. Sheshet,
Responm, No. 22(1), xvii. U9 et seq.: Rei-ixta de Gerona,
xiii. 22.5 et seq. : Jacobs, Sources, Nos. 142, 144, 173, 308, 723,
7.%, 980 ; Gratz, Geach. vi. 231 et seq.
G. M. K.
GERONDI, ISAAC B. ZERAHIAH HA-
LEVI (called also Ha-Yizhari, nnV\T) : Talmud-
ist; lived in Gerona in the twelfth century. He was
the father of Zerahiah ha-Levi, author of "Sefer
ha-Ma'or," and of Berachiah ha-Levi, autlior of
some piyyutim; among the latter are to be found
compositions for Sabbath Parah which perhaps
formed a supplement to Gerondi "s poems for the
four special Sabbaths (nVETID y2"lN). Gerondi is
the author of "Megillat ha-Xehamah," a work on
civil law, which is no longer extant. Of his relig-
ious poems about fifty have been preserved; thej'
include piyyutim for Sabbaths Shekalim, Zakor, and
Rosh ha-Hodesh, for the Feast of Weeks, and for the
Day of Atonement (among them a so-called " Short
'Abodah" for Shaharit, beginning pn niJn "Ip",
and quoted by Isaac Kimhi) ; a piyyut on the death
of Moses, one for Simhat Torah, and some selihot.
In his poetry he makes use of meter, for which he
expresses a preference.
Gerondi 's poems are highly praised by Menahem
di Lonsano, and have been introduced into the rit-
uals of Avignon, Carpentras, Montpellier, Oran,
and Tlemgen; some are also found in "Aj-yelet
ha-Shahar," as well as in the French, Polish,
and Roman rituals. He wrote an Aramaic poem
to Zerahiah's " Sefer ha-Ma'or," in which he clear-
ly demonstrates his familiarity with the Aramaic
idiom.
Bibliography : Conforte, Kore ha-Dorot (ed. Cassel), p. 13h;
Reifmann, Toledot Rabin Zerahyah ha-Levi, pp. 3. 37;
Landshuth, 'Ammude ha-^Abodah, p. 116; Zunz, Lite-
raturaesch. -pp. 410.463; LnzziLtto, Nahalat, p. 43; Gross,
Gallia Judaica, p. 2.55.
s. s. H. B.
GERONDI, JONAH B. ABRAHAM (HE-
HASID), THE ELDER: Spanish rabbi and
moralist of the thirteenth century ; died in Toledo,
Spain, Xov.,1263; a cousin of Xalimanides. He
came from Gerona, in Catalonia. Gerondi was the
most prominent pupil of Solomon of Montpellier,
the leader of the opponents of Maimonides' philo-
sophical works, and was one of the signers of the
ban proclaimed in 1233 against the "Moreh Xebu-
kim " and the " Sefer ha-Madda'." According to his
pupil, Hillel of Verona, Gerondi was the instigator
of the public burning of Maimonides" writings by or-
der of the authorities at Paris in 1283, and the indig-
nation which this aroused among all classes of Jews
was mainly directed against him. Subsequently
(not forty days afterward, as a tradition has it,
but in 1242; see note 5 to Griitz, "Geschichte,"
vol. vii.), when twenty-four wagon -loads of Tal-
muds were burned at the same place where the
philosophical writings of ^laimonides had been des-
troyed, Gerondi saw the folly and danger of ap-
pealing to Christian ecclesiastical authorities on
questions of Jewish doctrine, and publicly admitted
Oerondi
Gersbon
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
638
in the synagogme of Montpellier that he had been
wrong in all his acts against the works and fame
of Maimouides. In his repent<mce lie vowed to travel
to Palestine and prostrate himself on the grave of
the great teacher and implore his pardon in the
presence of ten men for seven consecutive days. He
left France with that intention, but was detained,
first in Barcelona and later in Toledo. He remained
in Toledo, and became one of the great Talmudical
teachers of his time. In all his lectures he made a
point of quoting from Maimouides, always mention-
ing his name with great reverence. Gerondi's sud-
den death from a rare disease was considered by
many as a penalty for not having carried out the
plan of his journey to the grave of Maimouides.
Gerondi left many works, of which only a few
have been preserved. The " Hiddushim " to Alfasi
on Berakot which are ascribed to "Rabbenu Jonah"
were in reality written in Gerondi's name by one,
if not several, of his pupils. The "Hiddushim"
originally covered the entire work of Alfasi, but
only the portion mentioned has been preserved.
Gerondi wrote novelke on the Talmud, which are
often mentioned in the responsa and decisions of his
pupil Solomon Aduet and of other great rabbis,
and some of which are incorporated in the " Shittah
Mekubbezet" of R. Bezalel Ashkeuazi. Azulai had
in his possession Gerondi's novelliE on the tractates
Baba Batra and Sanhedrin, in manuscript ("Shem
ha-Gedolim," p. 75, Wilna, 1852). His noveliae on
the last-named tractate form part of the collection
of commentaries on the Talmud by ancient authors
published by Abraham b. Eliezer ha-Levi under the
title " Sam Hayyim " (Leghorn, 1806 ; see Benjacob,
"Ozar ha-Sefarim," p. 422). His commentary on
Pirke Abot was first published by Simhah Dolitzki
of Byelostok (Berlin and Altona, 1848). The work
"Issur we-Hetcr" is wrongly attributed to Gerondi.
A commentarj^ by him on Proverbs, which is very
highly praised (see Bahya b. Asher's preface to his
commentary on the Pentateuch), exists in manu-
script. Among other minor unpublished works
known to be his are"Megillat Sefarim," "Hilkot
Hanukkah," and "Hilkot Yom Kippur."
But the fame of Gerondi chiefly rests on his moral
and ascetic works, which, it is surmised, he wrote
to atone for his earlier attacks on Maimouides and
to emphasize his repentance. His " Iggeret ha-Te-
Shubah," " Sha'areTeshubah,"and " Sefer ha-Yir'ah"
belong to the standard Jewish ethical works of the
Middle Ages, and are still popular among Orthodox
preachers. The "Sefer ha-Yir'ah" was published
as early as 1490, as an appendix to Joshua b. Joseph's
"Halikot '01am" (see Zedner, "Cat. Hebr. Books
Brit. Mus." p. 783). The " Sha'are Teshubah " first
appeared in Fano (1505) with the " Sefer ha-Yir'ah,"
while the " Iggeret ha-Teshubah " was first pub-
lished in Cracow (1586). All have been reprinted
many times, separately and together, as well as
numerous extracts from them; and they have been
translated into Jud.TOrGerman. A part of the " Ig-
geret ha-Teshubah " (sermon 3) first appeared, under
the name "Dat ha-Nashim," in Solomon Alami's
" Iggeret Musar " (see Benjacob, I.e. p. 123). For an
estimate of Gerondi's ethical works and his partial
indebtedness to the "Sefer Hasidim " see "Zur
Ge.schichte der Judisch-Ethischen Literatur des Mit-
telalters" (in BrliU's " Jahrb." v.-vi. 83 et seq.). He
is also supposed to be mentioned, under the name of
"R.Jonah," five times in the Tosafot (Shab. 39b;
M. K. 19a, 23b; Ned. 82b, 84a; see Zunz, "Z. G."
p. 52, Berlin, 1845).
Bibliography: Steinschneider, Cat. Bodl. No. 5859; Edel-
mann, Hemdah Genuzah. No. 6 (letters of II. Hillel of Ve-
rona), Konigsberg, 18.5e; Gratz, Gesch. vol. vli.. Index ; Fiirst,
Bibl. Jtul. i. 327-328 ; Conforte. Kure ha-Dorot, pp. 37-38,
Berlin, 1845; Azulai, Shem ha-Gedolim, ed. Benjacob, pp.
75-76; Karpeles, Gesch. der JUdigchen Literatur, pp. 621
et seq.; Winter and Wiinsche, JUdischc Literatur, 11. 425-
436, Treves, 1894; Fuenn, A'e/ie.stf Yiarael, pp. 448-449, War-
saw, 1886 ; Michael, Or ha-Hayyim, No. 1038, Frankfort-on-
the-Main, 1891.
8. S. P. Wl.
GERONDI, MOSES B. SOLOMON D'ES-
COLA (X^lpt^n. N^lptrSl, N^ipB'n ; also nh^p^^
= "Escola"): Hebrew poet; relative of Moses Nah-
manides ; lived at Gerona, Catalonia, in the second
half of the thirteenth century. In the letter Nah-
manides wrote to his son from Jerusalem he sends
his greetings to Gerondi, whom he calls "beniwe-
talmidi," and asks his son to tell the poet that he has
read his (Gerondi's) verses with bitter tears on the
Mount of Olives, opposite the Temple. This refers
probably to a dirge on the destruction of Jerusalem
which Landshuth takes to be identical with the elegy
'XV tnpn n""!? D'^f'triT included in Nahmanides' com-
mentary to the Pentateuch (toward the end). Of
Gerondi's religious poems only a Kaddish for Sab-
bath Zakor, ^nn ll'-K' Cnn nVD •T'K' ••Cnno, and a
pizmon for Purim, ^5^^ 'n't;' lr^n llZnH TK', are
known ; perhaps he also wrote the piyyut ^^^J pH
yt^J "'3T101. Rapoport-Hartstein in his " Toledot
ha-Ramban,"p. 13, Cracow, 1898, identifies him curi-
ously enough with the German Moses b. Solomon
ha-Kohen.
Bibliography: Zunz, Uteraturgesch. p. 482; Landshuth,
'Amm^ide ha-'Abodah, pp. 235, 259; Gross, Gallia Judaica,
p. 147.
K. H. B.
GERONDI, NISSIM. See Nissim b. Reuben.
GERONDI, ZERAHIAH HA-LEVI. See
Zerahiah iia-Levi.
GERONIMO DE SANTE FE. See Ibn Vives
Allorqui, Joshua ben Joseph.
GERSHOM (Dt^lJ) : First-born son of Moses and
Zipporah (Ex. ii. 22, xviii. 3). The circumcision of
a child of Moses described in Ex. iv. 25 is evidently
that of Gershom, but the Midrash refers it to Eliezer.
As to the Gershom mentioned in Judges xviii. 30 see
Jonathan (son of Gershom). Gershom is mentioned
in I Chron. xxiii. 15-16, xxvi. 24 as the founder of a
Levitic family.
e. g. h. M. Sel.
GERSHOM BEN JTJDAH (called also Ger-
shom ha-Zaken = " Gershom the Elder," and
Me'or ha-Golali = " Light of the Exile ") : French
rabbi ; born at Metz in 960 ; died at Mayence in 1040.
He was the founder of Talmudic studies in France
and Germany. As he himself says in a responsum re-
ported by R. Men- of Rothenburg, he owed most of
his knowledge to his teacher, Judah ben Mei'r ha-
Kohen (Sir Leontin), who was one of the greatest au-
thorities of his time. Having lost his first wife, Ger-
shom married a widow named " Bonna " and settled
639
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Qerondi
Qershon
at Mayence, where he devoted himself to teaching the
Talmud. He had mauj' pupils from different coun-
tries, among whom should be mentioned Eleazar beu
Isaac (ha-Gadol = "the Great "), nephew of Simeon
ha-Gadol; and Jacob ben Yakar, teacher of Il;ishi.
The fame of his learning eclipsed even that of the
heads of the academies of Sura and Pumbedita. Ques-
tions of religious casuistry were addressed to him
from all countries, and measures which he author-
ized had legal force among all the Jews of Europe.
About 1000 he called a synod which decided the fol-
lowing particulars: (1) prohibition of polygamy ; (2)
necessity of obtaining the consent of both parties to
a divorce ; (3) modification of the rules concerning
those who became apostates under compulsion ; (4)
prohibition against opening correspondence ad-
dressed to another. See Synods, Rabbinical.
Gershom's literary activity was not less fruitful.
He is celebrated for liis works in the field of Bib-
lical exegesis, the Masorah, and lexicography. He
revised the text of the Mishnah and Talmud, and
wrote commentaries on several treatises of the lat-
ter which were very popular and gave an impulse to
the production of other works of the kind. His
selihot were inspired by the bloody persecutions
of his time. Gershom also left a large number of
rabbinical responsa, which are scattered throughout
various collections. His life conformed to his teach-
ings. He had a son, who forsook his religion at the
time of the expulsion of the Jews from Mayence in
1012. When he died a Christian, Gershom none the
less grieved for him, observing all the forms of
Jewish mourning, and his example became a rule
for others in similar cases. His tolerance also ex-
tended to those who had submitted to baptism to
escape persecution, and who afterward returned to
the Jewish fold. He strictly prohibited reproaching
them with infidelity, and even gave those among
them who had been slandered an opportunity to pub-
licly pronounce the benediction in the synagogues.
Bibliography : AUgemeine Deutsche Biographic, vol. Ix.,
Leipsic, 1879; Azulai, Shcm ha-Gednlirn: Bloch and L6vy,
Histoire dc la Littirature Juivc, p. 310 ; Histnirc Litteraire
de la France, xiii. 2 et seq.; Gratz, Gesch. v. 405-407; Zunz,
Literatia-gesch. pp. 238-239; Carmoly, La France Israelite,
pp. 13-21 ; Gross, Gallia Jiidaica, pp. 299 et seq. With re-
gard to the so-called "Ordinances of Rabbi Gershom" see es-
pecially Rosenthal, in Jiibelschrift zum Siebzigsten Gebia-ts-
tag des Dr. Isiacl Hildeshelmcr, pp. 37 et seq., Berlin, 1890.
S. S. I. B.
GERSHON ASHKENAZI. See Ashkenazi,
Gershox.
GERSHON BEN ELIEZER HA-LEVI
(YIDDELS) OF PRAGUE : Traveler of the first
half of the seventeenth century. He was the author of
the curious and extremely rare book " Gelilot Erez
Yisrael," in Judseo-German, in which he describes
several routes to Jerusalem and gives an account of
his travels (about 1630), byway of Salonica, Alexan-
dria, Mecca, and Jiddah, to the countries on the shores
of the fabulous river Sambation and to the states of
Prester John. He relates having seen three-eyed
beasts, headless living men, and other strange beings.
This led Asher to think that R. Joel Sarkes of Cra-
cow, whose approbation is found at the beginning of
the work, had probably never read the curious part
of it. The first edition, which (published presuma-
blj' in Lublin, 1635) was burned publicly in Warsaw
by order of the Jesuits, is probably the only Judaeo-
German book thus condemned. It was reprinted in
Flirth, 1691; Amsterdam, 1705; Prague, 1824. It
was also printed together with the"Ma'aseh Buch"
(Amsterdam, 1723; see Zedner, "Cat. Hebr. Books
Brit. Mus." p. 506). A Hebrew translation, entitled
"Iggeret ha-Kodesh," passed through several edi-
tions. A long extract from the original edition is
found in Eisenmenger's "Entdecktes Judenthum,"
ii. 546-564.
Bibliography : Asher, The Itinerary nf R. Benjamin of Tw-
dela, ii. 281-282, London and Berlin, 1841 ; Ersch and Gruber,
Allg. Enc]ic. section i., part 62, s.v.: Fiirst, Bibl. Jud. i. 320
(referring to Manasseh b. Israel's 3ftfcu'e/i ITvsrael, ch. 10);
Luncz. Jerusalem, iii. 61-62 (German part), Jerusalem, 1889;
Benjacob, Ozar ha-Sefarim, pp. 14, 97.
G. ■ P. Wl.
GERSHON HEFEZ. See Gentili, Gershon
ben Moses.
GERSHON BEN HEZEKIAH : Provencal
physician, astronomer, and grammarian; lived at
Beaumes toward the end of the fourteenth century
and at the beginning of the fifteenth. He was the
author of: "Shib'ah 'Enayim," a treatise on gram-
mar and on the Masorah; "Shib'ah Mizbehot," a
treatise in verse on astronomy; "Zeh Helki mi-Kol
'Amali," a treatise on the immortality of the soul;
and "Af Hokmati," his last work, and the only one
that has been preserved (Bibl. Nat., Paris, MS. No.
1196), being a medical treatise divided into seven
parts entitled "Shib'ah Shibbolim," each of which
is accompanied by a commentary entitled "Erek
Appayim. " In the preface Gershon says he wrote the
" Af Hokmati '' in the prison of pxt31p, during an in-
carceration of 119 days. He relates, further, that he
undertook this work in obedience to the wishes of
his ancient masters, Maimon of Lunel, Moses ha-
Kohen, and Prince Todros, the renowned rabbis of
Provence, who had appeared to him in a dream.
Bibliography : Carmoly, La France Israelite, p. 177 ; Isidore
Loeb, in R. E. J. i. 80 et seq.; Renan-Neubauer, Les Ecrv-
vains Juifs Frangais, pp. 435 et seq.
G. I. Br.
GERSHON, ISAAC : Rabbi and corrector of the
press at Venice at the end of the sixteenth and the
beginning of the seventeenth century. He was
born in Safed, to which place he returned some time
after 1625. According to Conforte, he corrected all
the Hebrew books printed in Venice while he was
there. His name is found on a large number of
works printed between the years 1587 and 1615. He
edited "Kol Bokim," comments on Lamentations,
Venice, 1589; David B. Hin's "Likkute Shoshan-
nin," comments on Joshua, Venice, 1602; and "Mash-
bit ^lilhamot," a collection of decisions on the ritual
bath, Venice, 1606, to which he added a preface.
He seems to have been the author of some comments
on the Pentateuch. Further writings of his are
to be found in " Hadrat Kodesh," edited by Isaac
b. Jacob, Venice, 1600, and in the responsa of Yom-
Tob Zahalon (Azulai. "Shem ha-Gedolim." i. 15b).
He is not to be confounded with Isaac b. iVIordecai
Gershon (Nepi-Ghirondi, "Toledot Gedole Yisrael,"
p. 145) nor with Isaac b. Gershon Treves (Conforte,
"Kore ha-Dorot," p. 48).
Bibliography: Conforte, ^vorc /ia-Doro(, p. 43b ; Stelnschnel-
der. Cat. Bodl. Nos. 5352, 8190.
G.
G«rshon
Gerstle
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
640
QERSHON B. JACOB HA-GOZER (="the
Mohel"): German Talmudist ; flourished in the
twelfth and thirteenth centuries. He was a grand-
nephew, and probably pupil, of Ephraim b. Jacob
of Bonn. Like his father, Jacob b. Gershon ha-
Gozer, he was a mohel, continuing the work, begun
by the latter, of collecting the regulations and cus-
toms relating to circumcision. He wrote "Kelale
ha-Milah," rules for circumcision, describing in de-
tail the process of the rite according to the Tal-
mud and the works of the Geonim and the later hala-
kists ; it contains also notes on the liturgy of the day.
Extracts from Gershou's work are included in the
AsuFOT, still in manuscript, from which they have
been taken by Glassberg for his collection " Zikron
Berit ha-Rishonim " (Berlin, 1892). Gershon's book
also contains many notes on remedies, and is therefore
of interest to students of Jewish folk-lore. Kohn
("Mardochai b. Hillel," p. 119) shoves that Gershon
is quoted in "Mordecai" under the abbreviation n"3
= " Gershon ha-Mohel," which the editors have
changed to y'n = " Halakot Gedolot."
Bibliography : Joel Miiller, in the introduction to Glassberg's
Kelale ha-Milah; Brull's Jahrh. ix. 13.
K. L- G.
GERSHON (CHRISTIAN) BEN MEIR OF
BIBERBACH : Jewish convert ; born at Reckling-
hausen, Prussia, Aug. 1, 1569; drowned at Drohelm
Sept. 25, 1627. After teaching Hebrew and Talmud
for many years in different German towns, Gershon
was baptized at Halberstadt Oct. 9, 1600. He was
first appointed deacon, then Protestant pastor, of
Drohelm. He devoted himself to vilifying the
Talmud, and published for this purpose certain ex-
tracts from that work, choosing the seemingly
most ridiculous passages contained in it. Rich-
ard Simon, the well-known Catholic theologian,
justly characterized Gershon's writings in his
"Lettres Choisies" (i.. No. 7), saying that he took
Talmudic puns and legends for serious narratives,
and that he imputed to the whole Jewish nation
errors with which only the credulous among them
should be charged. Still Gershon was one of those
who refuted the blood accusation. His anti-Tal-
mudic works are : " Jiidischer Talmud," the first part
being a synopsis, and the second a refutation, of the
Talmud (Goslar, 1607); "Helek." a German trans-
lation of the eleventh chapter of Sanhedrin, with
notes, intended as a specimen of Jewish superstition
(Helmstadt, 1610).
Bibliography: Schudt, Jlldische MerckvMrdigkeiten, iv.
continuation, 11. 274-303; Wolf, Bihl. Hebr. i. No. 1896;
Griitz, Oeach. 3ded., x. 266.
K. M. Sel.
GERSHON BEN SOLOMON OF ARLES :
Provencal philosopher ; flourished in the second half
of the thirteenth century ; said to be the father of
Gersonides. He was the author of " Sha'ar ha-Sha-
mayim" (Venice, 1547; Rodelsheim, 1801), a sort
of encyclopedia divided into three parts, treat-
ing: (1) of natural phenomena, metals, plants, ani-
mals, and man; (2) of astronomy, principally ex-
tracted from Alfergani and the Almagest ; and (3)
of metaphysics, taken from Maimonides' "Moreh
Nebukim."
Bibliography: Zunz, Benjamin of Tudela, 11. 259; Stein-
schneider, Cat. Bodl. col. 1014; idem. In R. E. J. v. 278;
Sachs, Kerem itemed, vlll. 157 ; Monatsschrift, 1879, pp. 20
et seq.i Renan-Neubauer, Les Rabbins FranQais, pp. 589 et
sea- Gross, Gallia Judaica, p. 82.
G. I. Br.
GERSHON BEN SOLOMON BEN ASHER :
French Talmudist; flourished at Beziers in the
twelfth century. He was the author of a casuistic
work entitled "Sefer ha-Shalmon," finished by his
son Samuel. Isaac b. Sheshet quotes this work in
his Responsa(No. 170), but he quotes also (No. 40) a
"Sefer ha-Shulhan," the same title being given also
by Azulai ("Siiem ha-Gedolim," s.v. "Gershon").
Gershon also wrote a collection of responsa (see
Abudarham, "Hibbur," ed. Venice, p. 26a).
Bibliography: Neubauer, in R. E. J. ix. 222; Gross, Gallia
Judaica, p. 99.
K. M. Sel.
GERSON, FELIX NAPOLEON: American
lyrist, writer, and journalist ; manager of " The Jew-
ish Exponent" (Philadelphia); born in Philadelphia
Oct. 18, 1862. He was educated in the public
schools of that city, and from 1880 to 1890 was in
the employ of the Philadelphia and Reading Rail-
road. Gerson was largely instrumental in termina-
ting the railroad strikes of 1887 in Philadelphia and
New York. In 1890 he was appointed managing
editor of "The Chicago Israelite," but returned to
Philadelphia in 1891 to assume the duties of busi-
ness manager of "The Jewish Exponent," published
in that city. Gerson has held various press posi-
tions, having been on the staff of " The American
Musician" (1885-90), Freund's "Music and Drama,"
of New York (1896-1903), and " The Public Ledger,"
Philadelphia.
Gerson is the author of a volume of poems entitled
" Some Verses " (Philadelphia, 1893), and of a number
of essays, sketches, poems, etc., which have appeared
in the Jewish and in the general periodical press.
A. F. H. V.
GERSON, GEORGE HARTOG: German
physician; born in Hamburg 1788; died there 1843.
After taking his degree he traveled in Norway and
Sweden, and finally settled in London, where he was
ultimately appointed assistant surgeon at a military
hospital. In 1811 he became assistant surgeon (with
the rank of lieutenant) to the 5th battalion of the 1st
division of the German Legion, and accompanied
his battalion to Spain, where he took part in the
Peninsular war. In 1813 and 1814 he followed Well-
ington into France, and returned to England on the
accession of Louis XVIII. Gerson was present at
the battle of Waterloo and superintended^ the Hos-
pital des Visitandines. On the breaking up of the
German Legion in 1815, he returned to Hamburg,
where he earned the gratitude of the local au-
thorities by improving the anatomical institute of
that town. His surgical practise afterward increased
rapidly, and he retired in 1835, occupying himself
with the editorship of the " Hamburger Magazin."
Gerson was one of the first writers on astigmatism.
Bibliography : Jewish Chronicle, Jan. 5, 1900.
s. G. L.
GERSON, KARL : German physician ; bom at
Hamm, Westphalia, July 19, 1866 ; educated at the
universities of Munich, Rostock, Leipsic, and Bonn;
graduated as doctor of medicine at Bonn in 1890.
The following three years he was surgeon in the
German merchant navy. Returning to Europe, he
641
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Oershon
Qerstle
took a postgraduate course in Berlin and Paris.
Since 1894 he has practised in Berlin as a specialist
in throat diseases. He wrote : " Ueber Stottern "
<1893); "Madchen-Turnen" (1896); "Weibliche
Gymnastik" (1897); "Einfache Verbaude" (1902).
s. F. T. H.
GEBSONI, HENRY: American rabbi and
Journalist; born in Wilua, Russia, 1844; died in New
York June 17, 1897. He attended the rabbinical sem-
inary of his native city and the University of St.
Petersburg, where he remained till about the middle
of 1866, when he went to England. In 1868, while
in Paris, he published his so-called "confession,"
"U-Modeh we-'Ozeb Yeruhara," an account of his
conversion to the Greek Orthodox Church in Russia,
in which he relates how, after repenting and leaving
Russia in order to become a loyal Jew again, he met
several English missionaries to the Jews on his ar-
rival in London, and spent ten months in the Chris-
tian Bible lloiise. He was, however, thoroughly
repentant; and Senior Sachs, in an appendix to the
"confession," testifies to Gersoni's sincerity (see
"Ha-Maggid," 1868, xii., Nos. 38-40).
In 1869 Gersoni went to the United States and be-
came a teacher in the Temple Emanu-El Sabbath-
school, New York, which position lie held till 1874.
In that year he was elected rabbi of Atlanta, Ga. ,
and about two years later was called to the pulpit
of Congregation Bene Sliolom of Chicago. He re-
mained with that synagogue about four years, and,
after severing his connection with it "under a cloud
of apostasy," he continued to live in Chicago until
1882, when he returned to New York and supported
himself by literary work.
In 1871 Gersoni published a Hebrew translation
of Longfellow's "Excelsior," for which he received
a complimentary letter from the poet himself. In
1872 he published "Sketches of Jewish Life and
History" (New York), of which the first, "The
Singer's Revenge," is an adaptation from the He-
brew of M. A. Gin/.burg's "Tikkun Laban ha-
Arami," and the second, " The Metamorphosis of a
Lithuanian Boy , " is to some extent autobiographical.
In 1878 Gersoni established in Chicago "The Ad-
vance, " a German and English weekly, which ran
for three years. In 1879 he edited five numbers of
an English monthly, "The Maccabean." He trans-
lated into English several stories by the Russian
novelist Turgenef, and was a contributor to Sev-
eral New York periodicals. He was also connected
with a Yiddish newspaper in the same city.
Bibliography: American Jewish Year Book, 1900; Reform
Ailiricate, Mav 4, 1901, pp. 300-301 ; Ner ha-Ma'arabi, Feb.,
189.5 ; Ha-Shiloah, ii. 345-3515.
H. R. P. Wl.
GERSONIDES. See Levi b. Gershon.
GERSTEIN, JONAH: Lithuanian education-
ahst and Hebraist; born at Wilna Dec. 4. 1827;
died there Dec. 6, 1891. Gerstein was one of the first
pupils who attended the rabbinical school of Wilna.
After graduating he was appointed special agent of
Jewish affairs to the governor-general Potapov, an
office which afforded him the opportunity of bringing
about an amelioration of the condition of the Jews.
After the death of tlie government rabbi of Wilna,
v.— 41
Ephraim Kalian, Gerstein was elected his successor,
and in that capacity signed, with others (Nov. 4, 1860),
the prohibition against translating the Mishuah into
Judaeo-German. Gerstein resigned in 1861, and was
made superintendent of the Talmud Torah of Wilna,
the administration of which he reorganized. He
succeeded in collecting considerable sums, and by
this means so increased the number of pupils of the
school that it became necessary in 1882 to erect a
new building. In 1890 he founded a technical school
in which the pupils of the Talmud Torah, after
finishing their studies, might acquire a handi-
craft. He was decorated by the Russian govern-
ment in recognition of his philanthropic activity.
In collaboration with Levanda, and at the request of
the Russian Society for the Promotion of Culture
Among the Jews, Gerstein translated the Pentateuch
into Russian. He also contributed many articles to
Fuenn's "Ha-Karmel."
II. R. B. R.
GERSTLE, LEWIS : Californian pioneer ; born
in Ichenhausen, Bavaria, Dec. 17, 1824; died at San
Francisco, Cal., Nov. 19, 1902. In 1845 he emi-
grated to America and proceeded to Louisville,
where he began his career as a pedler. There he
met Louis Sloss, who afterward became his part-
ner and brother-in-law. In 1849 Gerstle moved to
New Orleans, where he resided for some time, and
then, attracted by the discovery of gold, proceeded
to San Francisco. Here for a time he sold apples,
then worked as a miner at Placerville, and finally
opened a small business in Prairie City, near Sacra-
mento. In 1853 he met Stern, who also had gone
West, and in the following year joined him and a
man named Grunwald in a produce and grocery
business at Sacramento. In 1862 the business was
destroyed by the historic flood; and the partners
then engaged in stockbroking at San Francisco,
where they gradually became prosperous.
When the United States acquired possession of
Alaska in 1867, Gerstle and Stern became ac-
quainted with Hay ward M. Hutchinson and General
Rousseau, the latter of whom had been appointed by
the government to take possession of the territory
in its name. An agreement was entered into be-
tween the four, whereby Hutchinson was to proceed
immediately to Sitka to acquire by purchase all the
belongings of the old Russian- American company.
But other firms were also intent upon the opportu-
nities which Alaska afforded, and finally the Alaska
Commercial Company was formed, consisting of
Gerstle, Sloss, Grunwald, Wasserman, and Barco-
witz, all Jews, as well as of four other partners. The
company proved a great success ; and it is estimated
that its payments to the government for the twenty
years' sealing contract, which it obtained in 1870,
covered the entire cost of the purchase of Alaska.
The company, of which Gerstle was president from
1885 until his death, may be said to have supplied
the whole world with dyed sealskins.
Bibliography: Records of the Alaska Commercial Com-
panu; Congressional Record, 1874,1885; Elliott. T/ie S,nl
Mahds of Alaska, In the RepoH of the U. S. roniwis.-noH
of Fish and FUiheries, vol. x.; Report of the Pnpnlatio»,
Tndxtstries, aiid Resonrces of Alaska. Petrow, 1884 ; Louis
Gerstle, in Emanuel, 1. No. 3.
A. J- *•
O-erstmann
Geshem
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
642
GEBSTMANN, ADOLF JOSEPH: German
author; born July 31, 1855, at Ostrowo, Prussia. In
infancy he was taiien by his parents to Berlin ; there
he attended the Friedrich-Werder gymnasium, and
later the universit3^ studying philosophy and lit-
erature. In 1879 he joined the staff of the " Kleine
Journal " as literary editor, and in 1883 that of the
" National Zeitung " ; at the same time he was cor-
respondent for the "Pester Lloyd." He was en-
gaged by Ludwig Barnay as teacher of dramatic art
when the latter opened the Berliner Theater in the
fall of 1888 ; and in the same capacity he went to the
Hoftheater at Stuttgart in 1894. He is an authority
on the history of the drama ; editor of the " Theater-
geschichtliche Rilckblicke " ; and one of the directors
of the Deutsche Gesellschaft filr Theatergeschichte,
founded in 1901. His works include: the dramas
"Preussen in Paris," "Ein Bild des Lebens," " Auf
Verbotenen Wegen," and "Die Leute von Hohen-
selchow "(1884); the comedies "Vergesslich," "Zwei
Lebensretter," "Der Ehestifter," "Der Kernpunkt,"
" Die Kombdie Seiner Durchlaucht " (in collabora-
tion with Michel Klapp) ; a critical work, " Alphonse
Daudet, Sein Leben und Seine Werke bis zum Jahre
1883 " ; an edition of the medieval play " Kurze
KomOdie von der Geburt des Herrn Christi," with
introduction and notes (1886) ; many stories, essays,
and reviews ; and translations from Turgenef , Dau-
det, and others. S.
GEBTJSIA {yepovaia): A council of elders.
Moses was assisted by a council of seventy elders
(Num. xi. 16), and the elders as representatives of
the people of Israel are often referred to (I Kings
viii. 1, XX. 7; II Kings x. 1; Ezek. xiv. 1, xx. 1),
not as an organized magistracy, but as men that ap-
peared as leaders of the people in time of need.
Traditional literature regards them as an actual
magistracy, which exercised authority as such even
in the time of the Judges (Mishnah Abot i. 1). Jo-
sephus also designates as a yepovaia the body of
men appointed to assist Moses ("Ant." Iv. 8, § 14).
Actual magistrates were appointed only under
Jehoshaphat (IlChron. xix. 8), forming a court and
not an advisory body. The elders are mentioned
under Ezra as taking part in the government
(Ezra X. 8), while by Nehemiah they are called
"nobles" and "rulers" (Neh. ii. 16, iv. 13. v. 7, vii. 5).
Once (Neh. v. 17) the number of these nobles (D^JJD)
is given as 150, which would seem to indicate an
organized body. It is probable that this body de-
veloped into the one which is known in rabbinical
sources as the "Great Synagogue." According to
the so-called "Breviarium Philonis" (Herzfeld,
"Geschichte desVolkes Yisrael," i. 581, iii. 396), the
elders ruled in Israel down to Hasmonean times.
The first definite traces of agerusiaat Jerusalem are
found in the reign of Antiochus the Great (223-187
B.C.); its members were exempt from the poll-tax
(Josephus, "Ant."xii. 3, g 3). It was
In doubtless composed of men eminent
Jerusalem, for their learning and piety, but not
necessarily old men, like the geron-
tes of Sparta, nor chosen exclusively from aristo-
cratic families, although the direction of the affairs
of a community naturally falls to such.
The existence of the gerusia in the period of the
Maccabees is indicated in various sources. It ex-
isted under Judah (II Mace. i. 10, iv. 44, xi. 27), the
"elders of the people" (I Mace. vii. 33) being prob-
ably its members. It occurs again under Jonathan,
in the correspondence of the Jews with the Spartans
(I Mace. xii. 6; "Ant." xiii. 5, § 8)— where the Jews
write in the name of the high priest, the gerusia,
the priests, and the people — and in the answer of
the Spartans, where "elders" is used for "gerusia"
(I Mace. xiv. 20; comp. ib. xi. 23, xii. 35). The
elders are again mentioned under Simon {ib. xiii.
36; xiv. 20, 28). According to the last passage, the
priests, the people, the archons, and the elders con-
stituted a great legislative assembly, and it may be
inferred from this that the " Great Synagogue " of
the rabbinical sources really existed, inasmuch as it
seems probable that the gerusia on Important oc-
casions actually took on the form of such a " Great
Synagogue," and furthermore that it was not com-
posed solely of the aristocracy. The gerusia is also
presupposed in the Book of Judith, which must be
ascribed to the time of the Maccabees (Judith iv.
8, xi. 14, XV. 8).
The Greek word -n-pea^vTepoc has exactly the same
meaning as the Hebrew D'JpT. and it is perhaps the
elders that are referred to in a prophecy which some
scholars date at the Greek period (Duhm to Isa.
xxiv. 23). Hanukkah, a Maccabean institution, is
also aptly designated as a "law of the elders"
(Pesik. R. 3 [ed. Friedmann, p. 7b] ; see "R. E. J."
XXX. 214). The " court of the Hasmoneans," men-
tioned several times in Talmudic sources (' Ab. Zarah
36b; comp. Mishnah Mid. i. 6), may be identical
with the Hasmonean gerusia. The elders are again
mentioned under Queen Alexandra ("Ant." xiii. 16,
§5). Under Roman influence, in 63 B.C., this pecul-
iarly Jewish institution seems to have given place
to the Sanhedrin; at least Josephus ("Ant." xiv. 5,
§ 4) states that Gabinius instituted five Sanhedrius.
In addition to the gerusia at Jerusalem, according
to Philo (" Ad versus Flaccum, " § 10) there was one at
Alexandria under Augustus; other authorities, how-
ever, mention only an ethnarch in this city. Flac-
cus had thirty-eight members of this gerusia killed in
the theater. According to several in-
The scriptions in the catacombs, there was
Diaspora, a gerusia at Rome. A man by the name
of Ursacius, from Aquileia, became
its president (Vogelstein and Rieger, " Geschichte der
Juden in Rom," i. 61), and a certain Asterius is
also mentioned as president (Garrucci, "Cimitero
. . . in Vigna Randanini," p. 51). The catacomb
inscriptions also record the existence of a gerusia at
Venosa (" R. E. J. " vi. 204). At Berenice there were
nine gerusiarchs ("C. I. G." No. 5261). There was
agerusiarch at Constantinople with the title "presi-
dent of the elders," according to Reinach; but Will-
rich takes the phrase to mean the " president of the
chorus of the old men " (" Zeitschrift flir Neutesta-
mentliche Wissenschaf t, " i. 95, note 3).
BiBLiOfiRAPHY : J. Jelski, Die Innere Einrichtung des Gmssen
Synedrii)7is zu Jerusalem, pp. 19-20, Breslau, 1894 ; S.
Krauss, in J. Q. R. x. 348 ; Wellhausen, Ifsraelitische und
JUdiache Oesch. 1894, pp. 2.3.5-238; Willrich, Judaica, p. 155,
note 1, Gottlnsen, 1900 ; Schurer, Oesch. 3d ed., ii. 193 et seq.;
Biichler, Das iSyjihedrion in Jerusalem, pp. 82, 218, Vienna,
1902; Weiss, Dor, i. 109; Gratz, Oesch. 4th ed., ill. 100.
G. S. Kr.
643
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Gerstmann
Geshem
GESELLSCHAFT DER HEBRAISCHEN
LITTERATUR-FREUNDE : Society for pro-
moting study of the Hebrew language, called la He-
brew "Hebrat Doreslie Leshon 'Eber." It was
founded at KiJnigsberg in 1783 by Isaac Euchel and
IVIendel Bresslau, two young Hebrew scholars, for
the study of the peculiarities of Hebrew and for the
spread of the knowledge of that language. They
intended to issue a Hebrew weekly devoted to poetry
and cssa3's. Many philanthropic Jews helped them
to carry out their enterprise. They applied to Naph-
tali Wessely, who advised them to publish a monthly
review, the first number of which appeared under
the title "Ha-Meassef," in 1784 (see Meassefim).
In 1787 the society assumed the name " Verein fiir
Gutes und Edles" ; in Hebrew, " Hebrat Doresheha-
Tob weha-Tushiyyah " (Society for the Good and the
Noble).
Bibliography: Jost, Gesch. dcr Israeliten, ix. 92; Gratz,
Gesch. 3d ed., xi. 119; Delitzsch, Gesch. der Jild. Pnesie, p.
100; Ha-Meassef, 1884, pp. 1-8; Israel Davidson, The Gene-
sis of Hebrew Periodical Literature, Baltimore, 1900.
G. M. Sel.
GESEM. See Goshen.
GESENIUS, HEINRICH FRIEDRICH
WILHELM: Christian Hebraist and Orientalist;
born at Nordhausen Feb. 3, 1786; died Oct. 23, 1843.
At first devoting his attention to classical studies,
he became a teacher at Heiligenstadt in 1809, but
in the following year was appointed assistant pro-
fessor of theology at Halle, where he remained act-
ive till his death. There he exercised remarkable
influence on the study of the Hebrew language and
on the exegesis of the Old Testament, which he
helped to place on a purely philological founda-
tion. Besides publishing various works on Semitic
languages {e.g., "Versuch liber die Maltesische
Sprache," 1810, on Maltese; " Palaographische
Studien iiber Ph5nizische und Punische Schrift,"
1835; and "Scripturae Linguaeque Phoeniciae Mon-
umenta," 1837, on Punic and Phenician), he
devoted himself to Hebrew grammar and lexicog-
raphy. His first lexicographical work was a " Hand-
worterbuch" in two volumes, 1810-12; a shorter
edition appeared in 1814, which became the stand-
ard Hebrew dictionary, not alone for Germany, but
also for the English-speaking world — the English
editions by Robinson, Tregelles, and the Oxford im-
proved edition by Briggs, Brown, and Driver being
the main sources of Hebrew lexicography. (See
Jew. Encyc. iv. 583b.) His greatest work in this
direction, however, was the " Thesaurus Philologico-
Criticus Linguae Hebraicae et Chaldaicae Veteris
Testamenti," which was completed by E. RSdiger
in 1858. This is, in a measure, both concordance and
dictionary, giving references to all the passages in
which occurs each form discussed. His " Hebraische
Grammatik " appeared first in 1813, and ever since
has been a standard work on the subject, no less
than twenty-seven editions having appeared in Ger-
many, as well as translations in most European
languages. Gesenius kept for the most part to the
lines laid down by the Hebrew grammarians of the
Middle Ages, the Kimhisand their followers, but in
the successive editions made ever greater use of com-
parative Semitic philology. As a supplement to
these works, Gesenius issued in 1815 his " Geschichte
der Hebrilischen Sprache und Schrift," and this still
remains the only available sketch of the history of
the study of the Hebrew language. His chief con-
tribution to Biblical exegesis was his translation of
and commentary on Isaiah (1820), treated entirely
from a philological standpoint; in this he occasion-
ally used the Hebrew commentaries of Ibn Ezra and
Rashi.
Bibliography: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie, s.v.;
Cheyne, Founders of Old Testament Crittcism, pp. 53-6.5.
R. C. J.
GESHAN (]^''i) : One of the sons of Jahdai, of
the family of Caleb (I Chron. ii. 47).
K. 0. II. M. Sel.
GESHEM : One of the Hebrew words for " rain, "
applied mostly to the heavy rains which occur in
Palestine in the fall and winter. This half of the
year is called in the Mishnah "yemot ha-geshamin"
(days of rains). In the liturgy of the German-Polish
ritual " Geshem " stands for the piyyutim which in
the Musaf or additional service for the Eighth Fes-
tival Day (Shemini 'Azeret) are read and sung as an
introduction to the first mention of the " powers of
rain," i.e., the words "He causeth the wind to blow
and the rain to descend. " " Geshem " corresponds to
the " Tal " (Dew) occurring in the liturgy for the first
day of the Passover, when the above-quoted passage
is omitted as being inapplicable to spring and sum-
mer. These piyyutim end with an invocation in six
stanzas, each of which closes either with " for his sake
do not withhold water! " or with " through his merit
favor the outflow of water ! " the merits of the Patri-
archs, of Moses, of Aaron, and of the twelve tribes
crossing the Red Sea being successively referred to.
TheReform congregations, which are sparing in the
use of the later piyyutim, as well as the Hasidim and
those South-Russians who have adopted the ritual
of that sect, confine themselves to this sixfold invoca-
tion; but the ordinary German-Polish festival prayer-
book contains also a number of other compositions.
Foremost among these is one which sketches the
agricultural work in each of the twelve months,
and parallels therewith the influence of each of the
twelve signs of the zodiac, setting Aries against Ni-
san, and so on through the j^ear. Old mahzorim often
have the text illustrated with twelve rude woodcuts.
It has become customary for the reader of the
Musaf on the days on which " Geshem " or " Tal " is
inserted, to put on the white shroud and cap, as on
the Day of Atonement, and before the additional
prayer to intone the Kaddish in the accents of that
solemn day. After the invocation above he proceeds :
" For thou, O Lord our God, causest the wind to blow
. . . For a blessing and not for a curse. For plenty
and not for famine. For life and not for death!"
And the congregation thrice answers, " Amen ! "
When Abudarham wrote his book on the liturgy,
the Sephardim were still faithful to the Talmudic rule
that " a man must not ask for his worldly necessities "
in the first three benedictions; hence Abudarham
distinguishes the additional service for the Eighth
of the Feast only by having the reader proclaim " He
causeth the wind," etc., before the silent prayer.
But the modern Sephardic service-books give a
poetic prayer after "Shield of Abraham," and an-
other which leads up to the distinctive words of the
Gesheiu
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
644
season ; these words being added : " For a blessing,
for grace, for joy," etc.
s. s. L. N. D.
From an early date (comp. Ta'an. 2b; Ber. 33a)
it has been customary to introduce the benediction
in the Musaf on the eighth day of Tabernacles, in
the fall of the year, and it is recited for the last time
on the first day of Passover, in the spring. On the
latter occasion the word "513 (" dew") is substituted for
the word DK'J (" rain "), used on Shemini 'Azeret, and
hence the titles "Geshem" and "Tal" given to the
Musaf of these festivals. The Talmudists had de-
cided that the actual prayer for rain, "Give dew
formula, and of publicly and formally removing it
before the Musaf commenced on the first daj^ of
Passover.
.!So much being held to depend on the proper proc-
lamation of the " Geshem " and " Tal," a special mel-
ody was naturally adopted for each, for the sections
of the '"Amidah," and for the piyyutim therein in-
troduced and associated with them. Hence in each
European ritual melodies arose of much quaint
charm, which are already of some antiquity and are
well worthy of perpetuation. The melody thus
used by the Ashkenazim is the most Oriental in
stvle, but this is due only to the utilization, for the
GESHEM (A)
$^-
Allegretto.
^^
H 1-
-t-
S>-
1. Thou hasi
-<s^
•poini
■ ed
the powers
^ :fy dolce.
of
na
lure that
-+-
:i2=W:
gath - er ica - ter to bring the rain. . . .
2. 0 let noi .... sin de
4. 0 glad - den Thy crea - lures in
1^=H
:»e:
:U=t2:
^3*=S
:3Pe:
prive nil Thy crea - lures of this need -ful bless - ing, but crown all the val - leys icith
field and in for - est, in vale and in moun - tain, and bright - en the green - wood, and
Fine.
Id:
i
fresh smi - ling ver - dure, that they may live who ask. . for. . . rain!
strength- e7i the hnr - vest, by send - ing down a plen - teous rain!
Maestoso.
2^
:po
--tmz=ir.
ip^
3. Gath
er
and dis
Irib - ute
P=
the. . . wa - ter to mois
tempo primo.
ten
-1^-
the
^i
:*=«*:
:i:=t;2:
:^
hard.
and
thirst
soil.
to
ban • ish
pain.
and rain for a blessing upon the face of the earth,"
in the ninth benediction of the Shemoneh 'Esreh,
should be introduced only at the actual inception of
the rainy season. The announcements in " Geshem "
and " Tal " were regarded rather as an affirmation of
the divine control of the seasons. Indeed, this view
led to the rabbinical instruction that no private
individual should utter the fornuila either within or
without the synagogue until it had been proclaimed
by the officiant, or, according to a later view, by the
beadle, before the commencement of the " 'Amidah "
(Mordecai on Ta'an. i. ; Shulhan 'Aruk, Orah Hay-
yim, 114, 2, 3). For a similar reason the custom
arose of displaying in the synagogue on the eighth
day of Tabernacles a board inscribed with the
" Geshem " service originally, of two characteristic
phrases reminiscent of services performed on the
two important occasions of the Jewish year imme-
diately preceding the Eighth Day of Solemn As-
sembly, when it is sung.
These phrases are taken, the one from the intro-
duction to the "Ne'ilah " at the close of the Day of
Atonement, the other from the chant sung during
the waving of the palm-branch (" lulab ") during the
Hallel of Tabernacles; and they are developed with
new phrases into the effective combination here
transcribed. As, according to the system in which
so many of the traditional intonations are utilized
(see Cantii.lation; Music. Synagog,\l), it is the
particular occasion and service rather than the par-
645
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Geshem
ticular text which determines tlie tonality and out-
line of the officiant's cliant, there is no need to present
independently tlie Kaddish, the opening benedictions
of tlie ]\Iusaf, or the following medieval verses, with
all of which the motive is employed; but it will
suffice to summarize the imderlying thought for
which the chant is generally appropriated. The pre-
ceding melody (A) is used by the Ashkenazim as the
services the Turkish Jews preserve a chant of far
more Eastern character, the tonality and construction
of which brand it as a more recent offshoot of the
Perso-Arab musical system. The Levantine tra-
dition attributes to Israel Najara (d. 1581) the
selection of the non-Jewish melodies which are
utilized in their rendering of the service. Among
the 650 which he adapted to Hebrew words this
GESHEM (B)
Moderaio.
^
-^ ~^ ) V erses 1 io 3.
JLrt — \ ^, — ***_ •i^^.
1 ~r ^ m \ * m
-^^ S ^ '
^ — ;i^.-i^-^^^— J— j-
-J W^ ^ ^— J-- f-
'^^^^—^ J ?
d *
Last verse.
rit.
:S2:
t
9
traditional intonation for both " Geshem" and " Tal."
With the Sephardim the most representative mel-
ody of the " Geshem " and " Tal " is that leserved for
the beautiful poem by Solomon ibn Gabirol com-
mencing "Leshoni bonauta," which occurs in both
services. This melody (B) is of Spanish origin, and
bears evidence of having been originally set to words
of a different rhythm. It is probably one of those
melody may well have found a place, especially
as the modes of the Perso-Arab musical system
were most favored by him in his selection of tunes.
Bibliography : Baer, Jia'al TefiUali, Nos. 834-a38 (Ashkenazic
airs); De Sola and Agruilar. Ancient Melndiei^, No. 45 (Seph-
ardic); Lowit and Bauer, in Shir ha-Kahod. part i.. No. 20
(Turkish); F. I.. Cohen, in hrnel, 1899. iii. 178; Journal of
the Foikaona Sacietti, vol. i., No. 2, p. 34.
.T. F. L. C.
GESHEM (C)
Andante.
•ry
^-
-t-
^i^^^zr.
53T-^^r=ij
Offi- 1. Her that hot wrath had well burnt, her that E
ciANT. 1. Her cast - out ones yet give joy in the soft..
3. 0 Thou God! an - swer yet those that io Tliee.
gypt nigh slew, .
fall - ing dew;,
still are true. .
Other
verses
similarly.
CoNGRE-4. 0 Thou shield
GATION.
to
Thine own.
their
trust
to
re
new!
numerous folk-songs which, according to the re-
peated testimony of contemporaries, were constantly
being adapted for syuagogal use from the tenth to
the tifteenth century. The close in the major at
the end is of course the inspiration of some hazzan
after the adaptation of the tune.
The version preserved in the Levant (C) appears to
be a mutilated fragment of the Sephardic melody.
But in place of the other hymns of Gabirol in these
GESHEM THE ARABIAN : Ally of Sanbal-
lat and Tobiah and adversary of Nehemiah (Neh. ii.
19, vi. 1). In Neh. vi. 6 he is called " Gashmu, " which
is probably more correct, as an Arab tribe named
"Gushamu" is known (Cook, "Aramaic Glossary,"
•v •". IJ^K'J). When Nehemiah proceeded to rebuild the
walls of Jerusalem, the Samaritans and the Arabs
made efforts to hinder him. Geshem or Gashmu,
who probably was the chief of the Arabs, joined the
Geshur
Get
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
646
Samaritans and accused Nehemiah of conspiracy
against the Persian king.
E. G. H. M. Sel.
GESHUR, GESHURITES (nitJ'J. niK'J) : 6e
shur was a territory iu the northern part of Bashan,
adjoining the province of Argob (Dent. iii. 14) and
the kingdom of Aram or Syria (II Sam. xv. 8;
I Chron. ii. 23). It was allotted to the half-tribe of
Manasseh, which settled east of the Jordan ; but its
inhabitants, tlie Geshurites, could never be expelled
(Josh. xiii. 13). In the time of David, Geshur was
an independent kingdom: David married a daughter
of Talmai, King of Geshur (II Sam. iii. 3). Her son
Absalom fled, after the murder of his half-brother,
to his mother's native country, where he stayed three
years {ib. xiii. 37, xv. 8). Geshur is identified with
the plateau called to-day "Lejah," in tlie center of
the Hauran. There was also another people called
"Geshurites" who dwelt in the desert between Ara-
bia and Philistia (Josh. xiii. 2 [A. V. "Geshuri"];
I Sam. xxvii. 8; in the latter citation the Geshu-
rites are mentioned together with the Gezrites and
Amalekites).
E. G. H. M. Sel.
GESIXrS, FLORUS. See Florus Cestius.
GESUNDHEIT, JACOB BEN ISAAC : Po
lish rabbi ; born in Warsaw 1815 ; died there Sept. 11,
1878. He conducted a yeshibah for forty -two years,
some of his many pupils becoming well-known
rabbis. In 1870 he was chosen rabbi of Warsaw in
succession to R. Bar ben Isaac Meisels, and held
the office for about four j^ears, when he was com-
pelled to relinquish it on account of not being
acceptable to the Hasidim. Jacob finished his
"Sifte Kohen" at the age of eighteen. At twenty-
three he wrote his "Tif'eret Ya'akob," on Sliulhan
'Aruk, Hoshen Mishpat (Warsaw, 1842), but the
larger part of the editroil was destroyed by order
of the censor (see Furst, "Bibl. Jud." v. 3). His
other published works also bear the same name,
"Tif'eret Ya'akob," and comprise novelise on Gittin
{ib. 1858) and Hullin(ii. 1867), which are very highly
esteemed by Talmudical scholars of eastern Europe.
He also left several works in manuscript.
BiBUOGRAPHT: Ha-Meliz,\.U, No. 15; Fuenn, Keneset Yis-
rael, pp. 543-543, Warsaw, 1886 ; Yevnin, Nahalat '■Alumim,
pp. 70-n, ib. 1882.
K. P. Wl.
GET ("bill of divorce"): The earliest use of
tlie get, an institution peculiar to the Jews, can not
be estabhshed with certainty. Although the sugges-
tion of the Rabbis that it has existed among the
Jews since the time of Abraham (Yalk. Shime'oni, i.
95) may be regarded as fanciful, yet in Deut. xxiv.
1-4 the get is spoken of as being well known to the
people. The complexity of the system of procedure
in the writing and the delivery of the get is, how-
ever, of much later origin. Even in the times of the
Mishnah, the form seems to have been very simple,
requiring, besides the date, place, and the names of
the parties, the phrase " Thou art free to any man "
(Git. 85b). It was later, in the Babylonian schools,
that the minute details in the preparation of the get
were established, and its form and phraseology
fixed. Tliese minute regulations were intended to
diminish mistakes and misunderstandings; for only
such men were able to prepare the get as were well
versed in the Law and were familiar with Jewish
institutions (Kid. 13a).
The order to the scribe to prepare the get must
come directly from the husband. If he directs more
than one person to write the get, only one of them
must write it, while the others must sign their
names as witnesses (Git. 66b). The
Method of bill of divorce may be written on any
Writing, material except such as pertains to
the soil, and with any kind of indel-
ible ink {lb. 19a, 26b). The get must be especially
written for , the parties to be divorced; and blank
forms which are later filled out, although admissible
in other cases, are considered void when used for a
bill of divorce (ib. 24a, 26a). The form of the get,
as described by Maimonides, and used with a few
slight changes to the present day, is as follows:
" On the . . . day of the week, the . . . day of the month of
... in the year . . . since the creation of the world, accordinp
to the numbering we are accustomed to regard here in the town
of . . . (which is also called . . . ), which is situated on the river
. . . , and contains wells of water, I, . . . (who am also called
. . . ), the son of . . . (who is also called . . . ), who am
this day in . . . (which is also called . . . ), the city situated on
the river . . . and containing wells of water, do hereby consent
with my own will, being under no restraint, and I do release,
send away, and put aside thee, my wife, . . . (who is also called
. . . ), daughter of . . . (who is also called . . . ), who art
this day tn . . . (which is also called . . . ), the city situated on
the river . . . and containing wells of water, who hast been my
wife from time past; and thus I do release thee, and send thee
away and put thee aside, that thou mayest have permission and
control over thyself to go to be married to any man that thou
mayest desire ; and no man shall hinder thee from this day for-
ever, and thou art permitted to any man, and this shall be unto
thee from me a bill of dismissal, a document of release, and a
letter of freedom, according to the law of Moses and Israel.
"... the son of ... , witness.
. . . the son of ... , witness."
The language commonly employed is the Tal-
mudic idiom, a mixture of Hebrew and Aramaic,
although the use of another language does not in-
validate the document {ib. 87b).
The important features of the get are the date,
the place, the names of the parties, the signatures
of the witnesses, and the phrases which express
separation. The writing of the get and the attesta-
tion of the witnesses must take place on the same
day ; and if a delay is caused so that the witnesses
can not sign during the day, and they sign in tlie
evening, this fact must be mentioned
Essential over their signatures in the get (ib.
Details. 17a; Shulhan 'Aruk, Eben ha-'Ezer,
127, 3). Not only must the place
of residence of the parties to the divorce be stated,
but the name of the place where the get is signed
by the witnesses must also be mentioned at the
beginning of the document (Git. 79b). As a further
precaution, it is neces-sary to mention the name of
the river near which the town is situated (Eben ha-
'Ezer, 128, 4-7).
In writing the names of the parties, the scribe
should first mention those by which they are best
known, and then add all other names by which they
may be known. The insertion of titles in a get is
not permitted, but the word "Cohen" or "Levi"
may be added after the name, if the husband or
the wife's father is a Cohen or a Levi. The scribe
647
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Geshur
Get
must be very careful to spell correctly the names of
the parties. Lists of names of men and of women
with their correct spellings were prepared by various
rabbis from time to time and served as guides to
the scribe {ib. 129). The signatures of the witnesses
have three elements — the-pra.'nomen, the patronymic,
and the word " 'ed " (witness) — any two of which are
sufficient to make the get valid (Git. 87b; see At-
testation OF Documents). The most essential
part of the get is the expression "Thou art per-
mitted to any man " (ib. 85a). If the husband re-
stricts his wife from marrying after she has been
divorced from him, the get is not valid (ib. 82a).
The get itself must contain no condition, although
the husband may impose certain conditions upon the
wife at its delivery {ib. 84b). Conditions then im-
posed have to be strictly fulfilled by
Must be the wife in order that the get may be-
Uncondi- come valid. The death of the hus-
tional. band may be made a condition, in
which case the language of the condi-
tion must be retrospective ; that is, he must say " This
will be thy bill of divorce from now on [" me'ak-
shaw "] if I die " ; and if he dies she is considered di-
vorced from the time the get is delivered to her {ib.
73a ; see Conditions).
After the get has been written and signed by the
witnesses, it is given to the rabbi, who together with
the witnesses must read and examine it carefully
to see that there is no error in spelling. (It is recom-
mended that a correct copy of a get be in the pos-
session of the rabbi, for the purpose of comparison
with any later get.) The rabbi then questions the
scribe whether he wrote the get at the request of the
husband; and the witnesses are then questioned in
the same manner. Then the get is given to the hus-
band, who is asked whether he ordered it of his own
free will. The husband then repeats the declaration
which he had made before the get was written ;
namely, that he has not raised and will not raise any
protest against the validity of the get, and that ho
has not been constrained by any one to give the get
to his wife, but that he does so all of his own free
will. If the husband wishes to leave the room be-
fore the delivery of the get, he is sworn not to raise
any protest which may invalidate the proceedings.
Then comes the last stage in the proceedings, the
delivery of the get to the woman. It is customary
to assemble ten men, including the rabbi, the wit-
nesses, and the scribe, to act as wit-
Delivery of nesses to the delivery. The rabbi then
Get. addresses them as follows: "If there
is any man here who knows aught to
invalidate the get, let him come forth and state his
protest now; for after the delivery the ban of ex-
communication will be pronounced upon any one
who will attempt to invalidate the get." The
w^oman is then told to remove any rings she may
have upon her fingers, and to spread out her hands
to receive the get, which the husband places in her
hands, saying : " This is thy bill of divorce, and thou
art divorced from me by it, and thou art permitted
to any man." She then closes her hands and lifts
them up with the get in them, and then the rabbi
takes it away from her and reads it a second time
with the witnesses, and pronounces the ban of ex-
communication upon any one who may attempt to
invalidate it. Then he tears it crosswise and keeps
it with him for future reference.
While this is the regular procedure in the delivery
of the get, it is not essential that the get should be
placed in the hands of the woman. It is sufficient
to place it in her possession or within her reach to
constitute a divorce {ib. 77a). The woman, how-
ever, must have a knowledge of its nature and con-
tents; and if the husband tells her that it is a docu-
ment or a bond, or if he puts it in her lap while slie
is asleep, she is not divorced (ib. 78a). If the woman
is so young that she does not understand tlie nature
of the get, she may not be divorced (ib. 64b).
The get may also be delivered to the woman
through a messenger; and all the laws of delivery
apply with equal force to the messenger and to the
woman herself. The messenger may be appointed
either by the wife or by the husband, and, in accord-
ance witli the Talmudic principle that " a man's agent
has the same powers as the principal " (see Agency,
Law of), in either case the messenger is possessed
of all the prerogatives of the principal. Three kinds
of messengers are recognized by the
Delivery Rabbis with regard to divorce: (1) a
by Proxy, messenger appointed by the husband
to take the get to his wife (" holakah "),
when the get goes into force only after it reaches
her; (2) a messenger appointed by the wife to re-
ceive the get from her husband ("kabbalah "), when
she becomes divorced as soon as the get is diJivered
to the messenger; and (3) a messenger appointed by
the woman to bring the get to her ("haba'ah"), in
which case she becomes divorced only after the get
has been given to her (ib. 62b). All persons except
deaf-mutes, idiots, minors, the blind, the heathen,
and slaves are eligible to act as messengers in cases
of divorce (ib. 23b).
The messenger who conveys a get from the hus-
band to the wife, from Palestine to a foreign coun-
try, or vice versa, or from one place to another out-
side of Palestine, must pronounce the following
testimony : " In my presence it was written and in
my presence it was signed " ; and if he can not testify
to that effect, the signature of the witnesses must
be authenticated (ib. 2a; see Authentication of
Documents; Evidence). Such a messenger, there-
fore, may not appoint a submessenger when he him-
self is unable to execute his mission. If he falls sick
on the way, and can not proceed to his destination,
he must deposit the get with the court of the town
and must deliver his testimony before it ; and the
court then appoints a messenger to deliver it to the
woman. This messenger is merely obliged to an-
nounce himself as the messenger of the court; for it
is presumed that the court executed the matter prop-
erly (ib. 29b).
Concerning the presumption of life with regard
to the husband, see Hazakah. See also Deaf and
Dumb in Jewish Law; Deeds ; Divorce i^illus-
trated); Insanity; Ketubah; Majority.
Bibliography: Maimonldes, Yad, Geriishin, i.-x.; Shull}nn
'Arxik. El>en ha-'Ezer. 119-154: Hamburfrer, R. B. T. ii..
s.v. Scheidung; Saalschiitz. Dcu< Mominche Recht, cb. cvi.,
Berlin, 1853; Mielzlner, The Jeici)^h Law of MarrUige and
Divorce, rincinnati, 18A1; Amram, The Jeicish Laiv of Di-
vorce, Philadelphia, 1896.
s. s. J. H. G.
Ge'ullah
Qbazali
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
648
GE'UIiLAH ("Redemption"). The name of the
benediction which follows the reading of the Shema'.
It refers to God's redemption of Israel from Egyp-
tian bondage, and closes with the words " who hath
redeemed ["ga'al"j Israel." The forms for the
evening and for the morning service differ, that for
the latter being much longer than that for the former.
Both compositions, however, refer to the departure
from Egypt and to the crossing of the Red Sea,
when "Moses and the children of Israel struck up a
song to thee in great gladness, and all of them said
[quoting from the Song on the Sea] ; ' Who is like
thee among the gods, O Lord? Who is like thee, re-
vered in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders? ' "
Both the evening and the morning service then in-
troduce the last verse of the song: "The Lord will
reign forever and ever," and after a verse from the
Prophets concerning Israel's redemption, come the
closing words- "Blessed .... He has redeemed
Israel." The past tense — in other words, the exclu-
sive reference to the redemption from Egypt — is
noted in Pes. 117b.
The forms for the Sephardic and for the German
liturgy differ but slightlj' ; the latter, in the morning,
introduces near the end a supplication, "Rock of
Israel, arise in the help of Israel, and ransom accord
ing to Thy word Judah and Israel," which the Seph-
ardim reject as being foreign to the substance of the
benediction. Parts of the " Ge'ullah " for the morn-
ing service are full of such assonances, unknown in
Mishnaic times. An insistence is also found on the
unchangeable character of the Law, which sounds
like a protest against Christianity. Zunz, in his
" Gottesdienstliche Vortrage," and other scholars
have attempted on such inner evidence to find the
original and shortest form and to trace the accre-
tions. The opening words "Eniet we-emunah "
(Truth and faith) for the evening, and "Emet we-
yazzib " (It is true and established) for the morning,
are given in the Mishnah.
The Talmud (Ber. 14b) suggests the following short
form of the "Ge'ullah" as sufficient: "We thank
thee, O Lord, our God, for that thou hast brought
us forth from the land of Egypt and ransomed us
from the house of bondage, and hast done for us
wonders and mighty deeds upon the sea ; and there
we sang to thee." This is supposed to be preceded
by the words " Truth and faith is all this " (as it seems
to be intended for the evening only), and is followed
by " Who is like thee," etc., from the Song on the Sea
to the end, as in the present form of the benediction
— probably including the prophetic verses, Jer. x.xxi.
10, in the evening, and Isa. xlvii. 4, in the morning,
now recited before the closing "Blessed," etc.
The smiting of the first-born as well as the divi-
ding of the Red Sea seems to have been mentioned
in tiie "Ge'ullah " in early times (Ex. R. xxii.).
The Talnnid often {e.g., Ber. 4b) insists on "join-
ing the 'Ge'ullah' to the prayer" without inter-
ruption; this is in practise carried out fully in the
morning service only.
The word "Ge'ullah" hasalso in the later service-
books of the German ritual been applied to such
poetic pieces as may be inserted on festivals or espe-
cial Sabbaths in the morning service near the end of
this benediction.
The use of poetic insertions on festival evenings
is comparatively old, and is also confined to the
German ritual. Some of those now in use are found
in, the MahzorVitry (1208). Whenever such poetry
is inserted at the end of the "Ge'ullah," the close
of the benediction has the form " Blessed . . . King,
Rock of Israel, and its Redeemer."
s. s. L. N. D.
GEZER : Ancient Canaanitish city mentioned in
Egyptian inscriptions and the Amarna letters a&
being the seat of a local prince (comp. Josh. x. 33,
xii. 12). The Israelites failed to conquer it (Josh,
xvi. 10; Judges i. 29; comp. II Sam. v. 25; I Chron.
xiv. 16). Solomon received it as a present from
the Egyptian king (who had destroyed it), and re-
built it (I Kings ix. 15-17). The city is mentioned in
Josh. xvi. 3 and 1 Chron. vii. 28 as an Ephraimite
border city ; in Josh. xxi. 21 and I Chron. vi. 52 as
a Levitical city (comp. I Chron. xx. 4; reading un-
certain). At the time of the Maccabees it is again
met with ; it was fortified by Bacchides, but was
conquered by Simon, who drove out the inhabitants
and settled it with faithful Jews (I Mace. iv. 15;
vii. 45; ix. 52; xiii. 43, 53; xiv. 7, 34; xv. 28; xvi.
1). Under Gabiuius, Gazara (Greek, "Gadara")
became the chief town of its district. The site was
unknown until Clermont -Gauneau in 1873 discov-
ered it in Tell al-Jazar, near 'Amwas. Here the fa-
mous boundary-stone was found with the inscription
ITJ • Dnn in ^Nlaccabean characters. See illustra-
tion under Boundaries.
Bibliography: Max Miiller, A&ien und Europa, p. 160;
ComptcK Reudn,^ dr,s Seances de r Academic de.s Inscrip-
tions, 1S74; Fat. E.rplnr. Fund, Memoirs, ii. 428; Schiirer,
Gesc/i. i. 245 et seq., <J39.
E. G. H. F. Bu.
GEZERAH (pi. Gezerot) : A rabbinical enact-
ment issued as a guard or preventive measure ; also
a prohibition or restriction generally ; from the root
"gazar" (to cut; to decide). The term is especially
applied to a negative ordinance ("takkanah " being
applied to a positive one) which the Rabbis insti-
tuted as a guard or a fence (" geder ") to a Biblical
precept. A gezerah was instituted when occasion
demanded, either on account of internal laxity with
regard to the laws or because of some external dan-
ger that threatened neglect in the observance of
Biblical injunctions. Thus, on one
Examples, occasion at a meeting of rabbis eight-
een gezerot or restrictions Avcre or-
dained, some of which aimed at a better observance
of the lav/s of cleanliness, while others had as their
aim the restraining of too close a contact with the
Gentiles. Among these gezerot were included pro-
hibitions against tasting the bread, oil, or wine of
the Gentiles, and against intermarriage or improper
relations between Jews and non-Jews (Shab. 17a;
' Ab. Zarali 36a). An individual rabbi with his court
sometimes saw fit to institute a gezerah; but such
an ordinance was not always universallj' accepted
by the people, and repeated enactments had to be
made in order to enforce it (Hul. 6a, with regard to
the prohibition against the use of the wine of the
Kuthites). The Palestinian rabbis, because they
wished to make the laws uniform for all Israel ('Ab.
Zarah 35h). withheld for twelve months the reason
649
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Ge'ullah
Ghazali
for their restrictions, so that the gezerah might first
go into force and be conuuouly observed even by
tliose to whom the reason for its enactment did not
apply.
The Rabbis based their institution of such enact-
ments upon the Biblical passages, "Thou shalt not
depart from the sentence," etc. (Deut. xvii. 11), al
though at the same time they transgressed another
commandment: "Ye shall not add unto the word
which I command thee, neither shall ye diminish
from it" (Deut. iv. 2; Shab. 23a; Ab. K. N. 25b).
I. H. Weiss in his "Dor" (partii., ch. 7, Vienna, 1876)
enumerates ten principles by wiiich the Rabbis were
guided in enacting the gezerot. It is especially
worthy of note that they did not hesitate to enact a
gezerah even when it contradicted a Biblical law
(Ber. 54a; Sanh. 46a), and that when the reason for
the gezerah no more existed, they abolished the
gezerah itself. It was a principle, however, that
the abolition of a gezerah should be confirmed by a
competent court and not by individuals, though
sucli a court need not necessarily be greater in num-
bers and in wisdom than the one by which the geze-
rah had been instituted ('Eduy. 1. 5 ; comp. ' Ab. Zarah
36a; Git. 36b; also Bloch, "Sha'are Torat ha-Tak-
kanot," introduction to vol. i., Vienna, 1879). An-
other principle was that no gezerah should be im-
posed upon a communit3% unless the majority thereof
was able to endure its restrictions. While they
forbade the breeding of small cat-
Communal tie in Palestine, tlie Rabbis refrained
Gezerot. from extending the prohibition to
large cattle, because they realized the
difficulty connected with the importation of such
animals (B. K. 79b). After the destruction of the
Second Temple, the Talmud relates, there was a
number of Pharisees who in the intensity of their
grief wished to forbid the eating of meat and the
thinking of wine. R. Joshua prevented them from
doing so, for the reason that the majority of people
could not exist without these necessary articles of
food (B. B. 60b).
Since the gezerah was intended mainly to guard
against the infringement of the Biblical law, it was
instituted onl}'^ when such infringement was general
and usual, and not in unusual and exceptional cases
(Er. 63b). Nor did the Rabbis establish one geze-
rali for the purpose of guarding against the in-
fringement of another gezerah which was merely a
rabbinical institution ("gezerah li-gezerah "). For
judges of gezerot, see Fee; Judge.
Bibliography : Hamburger. R. B. T. s.v. Rabbinisrmu^.
s. s. J. II. G.
GEZERAH SHAW AH. See Hermeneutics.
GHAY YAT, ISAAC IBN. See Ibn Ghaytat,
Isaac ben Jidah.
GHAYYAT, SOLOMON B. JUDAH : He
brew poet of the twelfth century; possibly a grand-
son of Isaac Ghayyat, the famous teacher of Lucena.
Solomon was on terms of friendship with Judah ha-
Levi, who dedicated to him one of the most important
compositions of his " Diwaii " (ed. Brody, i., No. 94).
Tliis poem, which is a rejoinder to one of Ghayyat's,
not only shows the high esteem wliich Ha-Levi had
for his friend, but also refers to Ghayyat's poetic
activity and talent.
Only two poems by Ghayyat have been preserved,
and the.se are religious ones, namely, "Shahoti we-
Nidketi we-Libbi Zohel," a selihah for the tenth of
Tebet, in the ritual of Carpentras, and " 'Enenu
Zofiyyah 'Anenu mi-Sheme 'Aliyyah," a"tokahah"
for the minhali of the Day of Atonement, in the
rituals of Castile and Fez, as well as in some earlier
editions of tl 3 Spanish Mahzor.
Bibliography: Zunz. lAteraturgesvh. p. 216; Sacbs, Religir
Ose Poexie der Juden in Sijanien, ]). :i.59.
(i. H. B.
GHAZALI, ABTJ HAMID MOHAMMED
IBN MOHAMMED AL- : Arabian theologian
and moralist ; born at Tuz, Khorasan, 1058 ; died there
1111. His works exerted a great influence upon
Jewish thought in the Middle Ages. Both the stu-
dents and the adversaries of philosophy found in
them rich material. From his "Makasid al-Falasi-
fah," in which he expounded logic, physics, and
metaphysics according to Aristotle, many a Jewish
student of philosophy derived mucli accurate in
formation. Without going so far as David ben
Judah Leon, who asserted in his "'En ha-Kore"
that Maimonides drew his Peripatetic theories from
the "Makasid "(comp. Steinschneider, " Hebr. Bibl."
ii. 86), it is certain that the work was to some ex-
tent used bj'^ the author of the "Moreh" (comp.
Scheyer, "Die Psychologic des Maimonides," p. 80).
Far greater influence was exercised b}'^ Ghazali 's
"Tahafut al-Falasifah," a sequel to the "Makasid."
After having expounded in the latter work the
teachings of the philosophers, he shows in the " Ta-
hafut " their weakness. He makes a critical anal-
ysis of twenty points — sixteen of which belong in
the domain of metaphysics, and four in that of
ph^'sics — and demonstrates their contradictions.
The most interesting criticism is that
His Views, on the theory of causality. Accord-
ing to Ghazali, there is not necessa-
rily any connection between phenomena that usually
occur in a certain order; he asserts that the divine
mind has ordained that certain phenomena shall
always occur in a certain order. Ghazali was fol-
lowed in his attacks on philosophy by Judah ha-
Levi, who in his "Cuzari" often used the phrase-
ology of the "Tahafut." Hasdai Crescas also
received inspiration from the same source, though
he gave it far more oiiginal expression. How far
Ghazali was sincere in his attacks on iihilosophy is
a matter of controversy. Averroes, in his "Taha-
fut al-Tahafut," refutes Ghazali's criticisms and
reproaches him with duplicity, while Moses Nar-
boni, in his commentary on the "Makasid," affirms
that Ghazali wrote a small work entitled "Maka-
sid al-Makasid," in which he answered the objec-
tions which lie himself had raised in the "Makasid."
In fact, in some Hebrew manuscripts the "Tahafut"
is followed by a small treatise in wiiich Gliazali
establishes some metaphysical points which he com-
bated in the former as undemonstrable.
It was not, however, through his attacks on phi-
losophy that Ghazali's authority was established
among Jewish thinkers of the Middle Ages, but
through the ethical teachings in his theological
works. He approaclied the ethical ideal of Judaism
to sucli an extent that some supposed him to be acta-
Gbazali
G-hazzati
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
650
ally drifting in tliat direction (comp. Gedaliali ibn
Yahya, "Shalslielet ha Kabbalali," p. 92b, Amster
dam), and his works were eagerly
His Ethics, studied and used by Jewish writers.
Abraham ibn Ezra borrowed from
Ghazali's " Mizan al-' Amal " (Hebr. " Mozene Zedek,"
p. 40) the comparison between the limbs of the human
body and the functionaries of a king, and used it
for the subject of his beautiful admonition "Ye
shene Leb " ; Abraham ibn Daud borrowed from the
same work (pp. 173-175) the parable used by Ghaza-
li to prove the difference in value between various
branches of science ("Emunah Ramah," p. 45); and
Simon Duran cites in his " Keshct " (p. 24) a passage
from the " Mozene
ha-'Iyyunim," which
he calls "Mozqne
ha-Hokmah."
Ghazali's princi-
pal works begr^n to
be translated into He-
brew as early as the
thirteenth century.
Isaac Albalag seems
to have been the first
to translate the " Ma-
kasid al-Falasifah "
("De'ot ha-Pilusu-
fim," with explana-
tory notes). It was
translated again in
the following cen-
tury, under the title
" Kawwanot ha Pilu-
sufim," by Judah Na-
than (Maestro Bon
godas). The "Ma-
kasid al - Falasifah "
was the subject of
many commentaries,
the most important
of which is that b}-
Moses Narboni. Par-
tial commentaries
were written by Isaac
ben Shem-Tob (met-
aphysics) and (prob-
ably) by Elijah Ha-
billo (metaphysics
and physics). Moses
Almosnino cites a
commentary by Elijah Mizrahi which is no longer
extant. The last commentator of the " Makasid al-
Falasifah" was the Karaite Abraham Bali (15i0).
Besides these there are to be found in the various
European libraries about eleven anonymous com-
mentaries on the "Makasid." Less favored was the
"Tahafut al-Falasifah," which was
Com- translated only once ("Happalat ha-
mentaries. Pilusufim," by Zerahiahha-Levi,1411).
A small treati.se of Ghazali's contain-
ing answers to philosophical questions was trans-
lated, under the title "Ma'amar bi-Teshubot She'e-
lot Nish'alMehem," by Lsaac ben Nathan of Cordova
(fourteenth century). This treatise is supposed to be
the same as mentioned by Moses Narboni under the
title " Kawwanot ha-Kawwanot. " It was published
by H. Malter, Frankfort-on-theMain, 1897. Jacob
ben Makir (d. 1308) translated, undef the title "Mo
zene ha-'Iyyunim," a work in which Ghazali refuted
the pliilosophical ideas which are rejected by reli-
gion. The ideas expressed in this work are the same
as those given by Batalyusi in his " Al-Hada'ik."
Specimens of the " Mozene ha-'Iyyunim " were given
by Dukes in " Ozar Nehmad " (ii. 197). Of Ghazali's
ethical works the "Mizan al-'Amal" ("Mozene Ze-
dek ") was translated by Abraham ibn Hasdai ben
Samuel ha-Levi of Barcelona, who clothed it in Jew-
ish garb by substituting Biblical and Talmudicfor
Koranic quotations. The " Mozene Zedek" was pub-
lished by J. Golden-
thai (Leipsic, 1839).
Ghazzali's work on
the various concep-
tions of God, " Mish-
kat al-Anwar fl
Riyad al-Azhar bi-
Taufi'k al-Anhar,"
was translated by a
certain Isaac ben Jo-
seph Alfasi ("Mas-
kit ha-Orot be Pardes
ha-Nizzanim "), and a
specimen of the trans-
lation was given by
Dukes in " Shire She-
lomoh." Moses ibn
Habib cites the
"Mishkat" in his
commentary on the
"Behinat '01am" (p.
105), where he com-
pares the Law to the
sun. Johanan Ale-
ma n n o ( " Heshek
Shelomoh") recom-
mends Ghazali's her-
meneutic methods,
and compares the
order and graduation
of lights in Ghazali's
theory with those in
the theory of the cab-
alists.
Nathan Ghazzati.
(From Coeueu's " Sabethai Zevi," Ainsterdan
16ti<l.)
Bibliography : Stein-
schneider, Hebr. Ue-
bers. pp. 296 et Keq. ;
Munk, Mf'langes, pp. 366 et seq.; Schmoelders, Essai su7- les
Ecoles Philosophiques chez les Arabes, p. 220 ; Kaufmann,
Die Attribiitenlehre, passim ; idem. Die Spuren Batalju-
sis in der JUdischen RcUgionspfiilosophie, p. 20.
K. I. Bu.
GHAZZATI, NATHAN BENJAMIN BEN
ELISHA HA-LEVI (called also Nathan
Benjamin Ashkenazi): Shabbethaian prophet;
born at Jerusalem 1644; died at Sofia 1680. After
studying Talmud and Cabala in his native town
under Jacob Hagis, he settled at Gaza, whence his
name "Ghazzati." The fact of his father being
a German Jew gave him the name of "Ashkenazi."
When Shabbethai Zebi reached Gaza on liis way
back from Cairo, Ghazzati entered into close rela-
tionship with him and became an ardent supporter
651
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Ghazali
Qhazzati
of his claim and mission, advocating liis cause with
a vigorous pen. Shabbethai Zebi's disciples de-
clared that Ghazzati had dug up a part of the an-
cient writing which testitied that tiieir master was
the ]VIc'Ssiah. Ghazzati then professed to be the
risen Elijah, who was to clear the way for the j\Ies-
siah. Prophetic revelations followed. In the spring
of 1665 he announced that about the middle of the
next year the Messiah would appear in glory, would
take the sultan captive, and would establish the
sway of Israel over all the nations of the earth.
The dominion of Turkey would be entrusted to
Jiimself, while Shabbethai Zebi would conquer the
other nations.
Seeing that the rabbis of Jerusalem were very
hostile to the Shabbethaian movement, Ghazzati pro-
the Shabbethaians of Adrianople to proclaim their
adhesion to the cause by abolishing the fasts of the
17th of Tammuz and the 9th of Ab
Again excommunicated at Adrianople, he went
with a few followers to Salonica. There he met with
scant welcome, but had more success in the com
munities of Chios and Corfu. From
Travels Corfu he went to Venice (March, 1668),
Through wliere the rabbinate and the council of
Europe. the city compelled him to give them a
written confession that all his prophe-
cies were the production of his imagination. The
confession was published, whereupon Abraham ha-
Yakini, the originator of the Shabbethaian move-
ment, wrote Ghazzati a letter in which lie condoled
with him over his persecution and expressed his
Career or Nathan ghazzati.
(From a contemporary woodcut.)
claimed Qaza to be henceforth the holy city. He
first spread about the Messiah's fame by sending
circulars from Palestine to the most important com-
munities in Europe. Then he visited several of the
chief cities in Europe, Africa, and India, and finally
returned to Palestine. Even after Shabbethai Ze-
bi's apostasy Ghazzati did not desert his cause;
but, thinking it unsafe to remain in Palestine any
longer, he made preparations to go to Smyrna. The
rabbis, seeing that the credulous were confirmed
anew in their belief, excommunicated all the Shab-
bethaians, and particularly Ghazzati (Dec 9, 1666),
warning everybody against harboring or even ap-
proaching him. After a stay of a few months at
Smyrna he went (end of April, 1667) to Adrianople,
where, in spite of his written promise that he would
remain quiet, lie continued his agitation. He urged
indignation at the acts of the Venetian rabbinate.
The Venetian Jews then induced Ghazzati to set out
for Leghorn, where the Jewish population was known
to be inimical to him. They sent an escort with him,
ostensibly as a mark of honor, but in reality to prevent
him from going elsewhere. He divined their motives
in sending him to Leghorn, however, and, succeeding
in eluding his escort, proceeded to Rome. In spite
of his disguise he was recognized there, and was
banished from the city. He then went to Leghorn
voluntarily, and even there made converts to liis
cause. From Leghorn he returned to Adrianople,
and seems to have spent the remainder of his days
in travel.
Ghazzati is supposed to have been the author of the
anonymous " Hemdat Yamim. " on morals, ritual cus-
toms, and prayers for week-days and holidays, a work
Ghent
Ghetto
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
652
in three parts, the second of which is followed by a
pamphlet entitled " Hadrat Kodesh," cabalistic notes
on Genesis (Constantinople, 1735). His " Ozar Neh-
mad " consists of extracts of and additions to the
preceding work (Venice, 1738). He also wrote
"Peri 'Ez Hadar," prayers for the 15th of Shebat
{ib. 1758), and "Tikkun Keri'ah," an ascetic work
according to Shabbethaian doctrines (Amsterdam,
1666). His account of his travels was translated into
German by M. Horschetzky and published in "Ori-
ent, Lit." ix. 170-173, 299-301.
BinLiOGRAPHY: Gratz, Gcxch. 3d ed.. x. 197-202, 205. 215, 222-
225: A. Ep.stein, in R. E. J. xxvi. 209-219; Jacob Emden,
Torat ha-Kcnaot, passim.
K. ' M. Sel.
GHENT : Chief city of eastern Flanders, Bel-
gium. That at the time of the Crusades there were
Jews in Ghent is known, as they were the victims
of pillage and massacre. In 1125 the Jews were
expelled from Flanders by Charles I. "the Good,"
Count of Flanders, who attributed to them the great
famine which afflicted his domains in that year.
The exclusion of Jews was not of long duration, for
in the thirteenth century a community in a flourish-
ing condition is found at Ghent. After the establish-
ment of the Inquisition in Portugal in 1531 many
Maranos are said to have taken refuge in the Low
Countries, but they were driven out by a decree dated
July 17, 1549. In 1724 the judicial authorities of
Ghent issued a decree regulating the form of the
Jewish oath. In 1756 Charles, Duke of Lorraine, is-
sued to the magistracy of Ghent, as well as to the
chief cities of Belgium, a decree imposing upon the
Jews an annual poll-lax of 300 florins for the benefit
of the empress Maria Theresa. This tax was so
exorbitant that its payment could not be enforced.
During the reign of Joseph II. (1780-90) the Jewish
commimity of Ghent was given for use as a ceme-
tery a parcel of land, about eight yards by seven,
which lay close to the Antwerp gate. Hei-e was
found a tombstone bearing the date 27th of Adar,
5546 (March 27, 1786). In 1837 the town of Ghent
granted to the Jewish community a site for a ceme-
tery situated near that of the Catholics at the Col line
gate ; this grant involved it in a lawsuit with several
churches, resulting in a victory for the congregation
in 1838. This decision is of interest because it bears
witness to the civil standing of the community. Its
actual position was regulated by the decrees of Feb.
23, 1871, and Feb. 7, 1876. The Ghent synagogue
is recognized by the state, which pays the salary
of a hazzan. From 200 to 300 souls comprise the
community.
BiBLior.RAPHY : Ouverleaux, iVofeset Documents sniJeKJiiifi<
de BeUiitine,'imo: Carmoly, in La Revue Orientalc, 1841-44:
Coutumcx (1e la V>Ue de Orand. vol. ii.. documPTit ocxxxvli.;
Ch. Demeiire, Lex Juifn e/i. Bclgique, 1888; Ordi)iiua)itic)U
SitaUtten, Kdictcii ende Placcaerteii von Vlaendcren,
186,2, i. 2(11-204.
D. A. Bi..
GHETTO : Originally the street or quarter of a
city in which the Jews were compelled to live, and
which was closed every evening by gates ; the term is
now apitlicd to that part of any city or locality chiefly
or entirely inhabited by Jews. " Ghetto " is probably
of Italian origin, although no Italian dictionary gives
any clue to its etymology. In documents dating back
to 1090 the streets in Venice and Salerno as.signed to
the Jews are called "Judaea" or " Judacaria." At
Capua there was a place called "San Nicolo ad Ju-
daicam," according to documents of the year 1375;
and as late as the eighteenth century another place
was called "San Martino ad Judaicam." Hence it
is assumed that "Judaicam" became
Derivation the Italian "Giudeica," and was then
ofWord. corrupted into "ghetto." Other schol-
ars derive the word from "gietto," the
cannon-foundry at Venice near Avhich the first Jews'
quarter was situated. Both of these opinions are
open to the objection that the word is pronounced
"ghetto "and not "getto" (djetto); and it .seems
probable that, even if either of the two words sug-
gested had become corrupted in the vernacular, at
least its first letter, the sound of which is the domi-
nating one in the word, would have retained its
original pronunciation. A few scholars, therefore,
derive the word "ghetto" from theTalmudic"get,"
which is similar in sound, and suppose the term to
have been used first by the Jews and then gen-
erally. It seems improbable, however, that a word
originating with a small, despised minority of the
people should liave been generally adopted and even
introduced into literature.
The ghettos in the various cities were not all or-
ganized at the same time, but at different periods.
Venice and Salerno had ghettos in the eleventh cen-
tury, and Prague is said to have had one as early as
the' tenth. There were ghettos in Italy, Boiicmia,
Moravia, Austria, Hungary, Germany, Poland, and
Turkey. They weie chiefly an outcome of intoler-
ance, and oppressive conditions were often added to
compulsory residence within the ghetto. When a
ghetto was about to be established in Vienna in 1570,
the citizens objected to having a place outside the
city assigned to the Jews for the following three
curious reasons: (1) they feared that if tiie Jews
lived alone outside the city they could the moie easily
engage in their "nefarious practises"; (2) the Jews
would be liable to be surprised by enemies; (3) the
Jews might escape ! The citizens therefore proposed
that all the Jews should live in one house having
only one exit; that windows and doors should be
well fastened, so that no one might go out at night;
and that the possibility of entrance or exit by secret
passages should also be guarded against. As the
Jews objected to this scheme the project w^as soon
dropped.
The Roman ghetto was established by Pope Paul
IV., and was entered on July 26, 1.556. Its site was
between the Via del Pianto and the Ponte del Quattro
Capi. It consisted of a few narrow,
Ghetto dirty, and unhealthful streets, which
in soon became painfully overcrowded.
Rome. Its first name was " Vicus ludacorum" ;
later it came to be called the " ghetto."
It was annually flooded !)y the Tiber. Each year the
Jews had to go through the humiliating ceiemony of
formally imploring permission to continue living
there during the ensuing year, for Avhich they paid a
yearly tax. This ceremony was observed as late as
1850. The restrictions and regulations which were
issued from time to time in regard to life in the
ghetto, and which were alternately abolished and
reimposed by succeeding popes, were repeated in
653
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Ghent
Ghetto
tlie ciuc'l legislation of Pius VI. in ITT.l. In 1K14
Pius VII. pormittod a few Jews to live outside the
ghetto; in 1847 Pius IX. tinally decided to do away
with the ghetto gates and walls and to give the Jews
the right of residence in any part of Rome; but the
reactionary movement of 1848 reestablished the re-
strictions. In 1870 the Jews of Rome presented to
Pope Pius IX. a petition for the abolition of the
ghetto. But it was reserved for Victor Innnanuel,
who entered Rome in that year, to fultil their de-
sire by definitely and finally abolishing the ghetto.
Its walls remained until 188o, a memorial of medie-
val tyranny (see Berliner, " Aus den Letzten Tagen
dcs Romischen Ghetto." Berlin, 1886).
On Jan. 14, 1711, afire, the largest conflagration
over known in Germany, destroyed within twenty-
four hours the entire ghetto of Frankfort on-the-
Main, including thirty-six scrolls of the Torah that
liad been placed for safety iu a cellar. Blind to the
interests of the city, the magistrate put great difh-
culties in the way of the emperor, who was anxious
to rebuild the ghetto, and also created obstacles for
Samson Wektheimek, the court factor of Austria,
who desired to rebuild the two houses he had owned
iu the ghetto, and also to erect a house on a plot
of ground immediately adjoining the
Frankfort ghetto, which he had bought from a
and widow on June 10, 1710, for 5,000
Nikolsburg' reichsthaler. The magistrate not only
Ghettos, attempted to confine the Jews still
more strictly within the space the}'
had occupied for centuries, but also made regula-
tions regarding the lieight of the new houses, and
would not allow Wertheimer to build on his plot
outside the ghetto, although he had the special per-
mission of the emperor to do so. Disregarding the
rescript sent by Joseph I. March 4, 1711, and that
sent by Charles VI. July 6, 1716, the magistrate
yielded only to the emphatic second rescript of the
latter of June 28, 1717. The following is a further
example of the way the citizens in general endeav-
ored to restrict the limits of the ghetto : On April
10, 1719, fire destroyed the entire ghetto of Nikols-
burg, with the exception of a single house, the de-
structiveness of the fire being ascribable only to the
narrow streets and the lack of any open spaces in
wiiich movable property might have been saved
from the flames. Samson Wertheimer, the loyal
protector of his oppressed coreligionists, hearing
soon after that Councilor Walldorf of Brimn had a
plot of ground for sale near the ghetto of Nikols-
burg, entered into negotiations for the same, and
asked permission of Charles VI. to purchase it "ex
caiisa boni publici," pointing out that in case of epi-
demic or fire the crowded buildings of the ghetto
would be a .source of danger to the Christians also
{June 30, 1721). The magistrate, liowever, antici-
pated Wertheimer by inducing Walldorf to sell the
plot to the city for the sum of 1,700 gulden, "for
the sake of Christian charity," as against the 2,r)00
gulden offered by Wertheimer.
Although the ghettos owed their origin primarily
to the intolerance and tyranny of the citizens, yet
the Jews themselves must have found it imdesirable
to live scattered among a hostile population, and
must have regarded the ghetto as a place of refuge.
Lippmann Heller, rabbi of the community of Vi-
enna, claims cicdit for having been instrumental
in organizing the ghetto of that city; it existed,
however, only from 1625 to 1670. The Jews of
that time found it in many cases impossible to
live together with the Christians. Not only were
they in constant fear of being derided and in-
sulted, injured in property, health, and honor, and
even of being murdered, but they were in continual
danger of being falsely accused of crime and con-
demned. Another reason assigned for the origin of
the ghettos is that the Jews in their pride would
not mix with their non-Jewish fellow citizens, and
in support of this is cited the following inscription,
said to have existed on a ghetto gate in
Reason for Padua in the sixteenth century: "The
Sag-- people, the inheritors of the kingdom
regation. of heaven, shall liave no communion
with the disinherited." It is more
likely, however, that this sentence, if it really was
affixed to the gate of the ghetto of Padua, was
placed there by the Christians, who applied the term
"disinherited" to the Jews, at that time the pariahs
of society.
The gates of the ghettos were closed at night —
from the outside in those localities where the object
was to confine the Jews, and from the inside where
the gates served chiefly as protection against at-
tack. During the Middle Ages, and later in some
localities, the Jews were strictly forbidden to leave
the ghetto not onlj' after sunset, but also on Sundays
and on the Christian hoi}' days. In some localities
where the ghetto did not afford room enough a cer-
tain place outside the ghetto was assigned to the
Jews for mercantile purposes, as, for instance, the
Jewish "Tandelmarkt" at Prague. Seclusion from
the outer world developed a life apart within the
ghetto, and close communion amohg the members
was in a certain way a power for good, fostering not
only the religious life, but especially morality. Con-
stantly within sight of his neighbor, each person
was obliged to keep strict watch over himself. The
Bohemian chronicles of the sixteenth century desig-
nate the ghetto of Prague as a "rose-garden," and
add that when the gates of the ghetto were closed
at night there was not one woman inside whose rep-
utation was in the least tarnished. Social life, also,
was developed along peculiarly Jewish lines. The
women, who could not appear beyond the ghetto
limits dressed in their finery without exciting the
envy and ill-will of the populace, made Sabbaths
and feast-days, and weddings, betrothals, and other
family festivals, occasions for arraying themselves
as proudly as their means would allow. At Purim
the large ghetto of Prague was crowded with hun
dreds of girls in festive garb, who
Entertain- were entertained in whatever house
ments in they entered. At weddings and ban-
the Ghetto, quets professional jesters — called
" Schalksnarren " in Germany, "Mar-
shalka" in Poland — furnished entertainment for the
company.
At the end of the seventeenth century theatrical
representations were given in the ghetto of Frank-
fort-on-the-Main in the house "zur weissen Kanne"
(or "zur silbernen Kanne"); the "Comedy of tlie
Ghetto
Ghez
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
654
Sale of Joseph," in which, according to trustworthy
witnesses, "fire, heaven, thunder, and all sorts of
curious things could be seen," was especially popu-
lar. Even a " Pickel-Hering " (clown) occasionally
appeared there, in a ridiculous motley garment. Ex
travagance in dress was carried so far in some ghettos
that the rabbis preached against it from the pulpits,
and the elders of the communities, in Moravia even
the elders of the whole province, were obliged to
restrict such luxury. Tiieir decrees, called "takka-
not," contained specific regulations in regard to the
mode of dressing, determining the ornaments the
women might wear respectively on Sabbaths, festi-
vals, week-days, weddings, and other occasions,
and also the materials for garments to be worn on
feast-days and week-days. Similarly, regulations
were issued regarding the number of persons to
be invited to a banquet, and even the number of
courses to be served. Those failing to observe these
rules were punished by fines and sometimes im-
prisonment.
The administration of the communities also devel-
oped along peculiar lines, and a description of the
governments obtaining in the different communities
would fill a large-sized volume. It must suffice
here to describe as a prototype the administration of
the largest and most famous ghetto, that of Prague.
This ghetto was, in a way, a state within a state,
a peculiar microcosm, officially desig-
Ghetto nated as the " fifth chief district" of the
of Prague, city of Prague. It was considered the
leading ghetto in existence, in virtue
of its size, its learned rabbis and scholars, its famous
Talmudic schools (to which students from all parts
of the world flocked), the prominent position occu-
pied by some of its members, and its magnificent in-
stitutions. The ghetto had its own town hall, built
by the famous philanthropist Mordecai Meisel ; on
its tower there was a clock, a rare distinction for the
period ; it was the only tower-clock in existence, and
had a dial lettered in Hebrew, the hands of which
moved from right to left. The directors of the com-
munity, who were chosen from those owning houses
in the ghetto, held their sessions in this building ; it
is at present the administrative building of the
Jewish congregation of Prague.
There were one large and many small sj^nagogues
in the ghetto. The community enjoyed great priv-
ileges and distinctions. Since the earliest time there
were four gilds in the ghetto of Prague, namely, the
butchers', goldsmiths', tailors', and shoemakers'.
At the entry of the emperor, the butchers had the sig-
nal privilege of preceding with their flags all the gilds
of the four quarters of Prague, a privilege conferred
in recognition of the courage they had displayed
when Prague was besieged by the Swedes in 1648.
The religious affairs of the community were direct-
ed by the rabbinate under the presidency of the chief
rabbi, and the secular affairs by the college of direct-
ors under the presidency of the primator. The col-
lege had police authority in the ghetto, and was
empowered to punish by imprisonment in the com-
munal prison ; a number of " gassenmeshorsim "
(communal servants) were detailed as policemen to
keep order in the Jews' city. Legal difficulties ari-
sing in the ghetto of Prague were hardly ever car-
ried into the courts of the state. The plaintiff could
appeal either to the college of directors in cases
involving his honor or simple business ulfairs, or to
the rabbinate in more difficult cases, as of settling
estates or disputes relating to the possession of land.
The latter frequently arose in consequence of pecul-
iar conditions in regard to ownership of real es-
tate, such as are found nowhere else except in Salz-
burg. Through bequests and the sale of separate
parts, every house in the ghetto had two or more
owners severally owning the separate parts, and
numerous difficulties arose whenever it became nec-
essary to repair the parts held in common, such as
the house -door, the stairs, or the garret and roof, or
to paint the outside.
The rabbinical courts consisted of an upper and
a lower court. Verdicts were rendered in agree-
ment with the Mosaic-rabbinic law. There were
" mehzim " (lawyers) in the ghetto of Prague to
advise plaintiff and defendant. The partj"^ which
thought the decision of the lower court unfair might
appeal to the superior court ; hence the members of
this court were called by the state "higher judges,"
and popularly, though incorrectly, "appellants."
Generally, the decisions of these judges were im-
plicitly obeyed.
A long hierarchy of officials had developed in the
larger ghettos. There were many persons eager to
take charge of the numerous philanthropic and relig-
ious institutions, either for the sake of engaging
in a good work or from ambition. The hebra kad-
disha of Prague was founded toward the end of
the sixteenth or the beginning of the seventeenth
century. There were also a hospital and a school
for poor children, both founded by the philanthro-
pist Mordecai Meisel. Although the numerous syna-
gogues were under the general direction of the com-
munal authorities, they were largely autonomous,
the relation of the authorities to them being, so to
speak, that of a suzerain, not that of a sovereign.
In consequence of a dispute as to precedence at
the call to read the Torah on occasions of solemn
processions, the following order was adopted after
much debating: chief rabbi, primator, upper judges,
directors of the community, lower judges, directors
of the hospital (also in charge of the poor, and
with the pompous title of "city gabba'im" = " city
directors " ), directors of the hebra kaddisha, rabbis
of the synagogues, directors of the synagogues, etc.
In the German ghettos the directors were called
"barnossim" {i.e., "parnasim," "p" being pro-
nounced " b " in the southern German dialects).
Foreign Jews were treated most hospitably in the
ghettos, especially in the centers of learning, where
the yeshibot attracted pupils from a great distance ;
these were boarded by the members of
Immi- the community. The wealthy stu-
grants in dents ("bahurim": see Bahur) formed
the Ghetto, clubs for the support of their indigent
fellow students. The men of the
ghetto wore a special dress on the Sabbath, in con-
formity with the rabbinical rule that the Sabbath
should be kept distinct in every way, even in the
matter of dress. The piety of the ghetto was shown
in the frequent services in the synagogue. The
" Schulklopfer " called the people to morning and
855
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Ghetto
Ghez
evening service. In the ghetto of Prague it was ciis
ternary for this official, who bore the title of " Stadt
Shammes" (city servant), to summon once a day
in German and once in Bohemian. In consequence
of the seclusion within the ghetto, the Jewish dia-
lect, a mixture of the vernacular with Hebrew, was
kept alive. The ghettos were situated in the most
unwholesome parts of the cities, generally near a
river, where they were liable to be flooded.
It is a noteworthy fact that the ghettos were fre-
quently devastated by conflagrations. This was
due to the crowded conditions that prevailed and to
the narrow streets where fire was sub-
Con- dued only with difficulty, the Jews
flagrations. being left to their own resources; in
fact, they often closed the gates of
the ghetto on the outbreak of a fire, lest the mob
coming in from outside might take advantage of the
general confusion to plunder. Aside from the great
conflagrations at Frankfoi-t and Nikolsburg, men-
tioned above, the fire that destroyed the ghetto of
Bari in 1030 and the two fires that raged in Prague
in 1689 and 1750 may be noted here: in the fire of
1689 many persons lost their lives and all the syna-
gogues were destroyed ; in the fire of 1750 the town
hall was burned. The ghettos were often attacked
by mobs bent on plunder. The most noteworthy
affair of this kind was the pillaging of the ghetto
of Frankfort-on-the-Main (Aug. 22 old style, Sept.
1 new style, 1614; see Fettmilch, Vincent).
The Jews were frequently expelled from their
ghettos, the two most important expulsions occur-
ring in the years 1670 and 1744-45. In 1670 they were
driven from the ghetto of Vienna, which had been
organized in 1625, and which covered
Ex- part of the site of the present Leopold-
pulsions. stadt; this expulsion was due partly
to the ill will of the merchants of
the city, who desired to be rid of Jewish competition,
and partly to the religious fanaticism of the Bishop
of Wiener-Neustadt, subsequently Cardinal Count
Kolonitz. The Jews heroically bore their fate, not
one of them renouncing his faith for the sake of re-
maining in the city. After a time, however, the
city and even the court began to suffer in conse-
quence of the departure of the Jews, which meant a
serious loss of income in taxes. The exiles were
therefore permitted to return. They did not go
back to their former ghetto, which by that time was
occupied by other tenants, the synagogue having
been transformed into a church ; but they settled in
the inner part of the city. A few obtained special
privileges, Samuel Oppenheimer, the chief court
factor, and Samson Wertheimer, the chief rabbi of
the German empire and of the Austrian crown lands,
being among them. Both acquired magnificent pal-
aces.
In 1744-45 the Jews of Prague were expelled from
their ghetto for a short time. While the French
were in possession of that city during the Austrian
War of Succession, Jonathan Eybeschlitz, then liv-
ing in Prague, was called to the rabbinate of Metz,
and had several conferences with the commander of
the French army for the purpose of obtaining a pass-
port. On Dec. 24, 1744, Maria Theresa ordered the
expulsion of the Jews from Bohemia on the ground
that "they were fallen into disgrace," and on Jan.
2 following she included the Jews of Moravia also.
Eybeschutz's personal enemies later on denounced
him, saying that he had left Prague under the pro-
tection of the French. It is not surprising, there-
fore, that he occasionally complains of the denun-
ciatory spirit which prevailed at this time among
the Jews of Prague. Maria Theresa's order, how-
ever, met with the disapproval of the whole of
Europe, and the ambassadors of England and Hol-
land especially protested so energetically that the
empress felt obliged to revoke her decree (see Frankl-
Griln, "Gesch. der Juden in Kremsier," i. 163; Frey-
mann, "Beitrage zur Gesch. der Juden in Prag,"
ii. 32-37, Berhn, 1898). Meanwhile the Jews, who
were not aware of this powerful advocacy, had sent
a delegation to the empress offering to pay a special
yearly tax for the privilege of returning; thus it
came about that the Jews of Bohemia paid a sep-
arate Jews' tax, which was abolished only in 1846,
under Ferdinand I.
The most important ghettos were those at Venice,
Frankfort-on-the-Main, Prague, and Triest. The
French Revolution (1789), which proclaimed the prin-
ciple of freedom and equality, first shook the founda-
tions of the ghetto, and the general uprising of 1848'
throughout Europe finally swept away this remnant
of medieval intolerance. In the whole civilized
world there is now not a single ghetto, in the origi-
nal meaning of the word. The gates of the ghetto
of Rome were recently destroyed.
Bibliography: D. Philipson, Old European Jewries, Phila-
delpbia, 1894; Abrahams, Jewish Life in the Middle Ages,
pp. 62 et seq.; Berliner, Aus dem Lehen der Deutschen Ju-
den im Mittelalter, passim, Berlin, 1900.
G. S. K.
GHEZ (T3) : A Tunisian family including several
authors.
David Ghez : Talmudist ; lived at Tunis in
the second half of the eighteenth century. He
was a pupil of Isaac Lombroso and Zemah Zarfati.
He wrote several works, only one of which, a com-
mentary on several treatises of the Babylonian Tal-
mud, has survived. It was published by his great-
grandson Zion Ghez, under the title "Ner Dawid"
(Leghorn, 1868).
Joseph. Ghez : Son of the preceding ; died at
Tunis after 1850. His copious commentary on the
Pesah Haggadah, entitled "Pi ha-Medabber," was
published posthumously by his grandson Zion Ghez
(Leghorn, 1854). He wrote a commentary on Mai-
monides' " Yad," entitled " Reshit ha-Gez " ; notes to
the Pentateuch and the Bible ; and a collection of
funeral orations, etc., all of which are extant in
manuscript.
Moses Ghez : Scholar ; known for his wide learn
ing. Under the title " Yismah Yisrael " he wrote a
commentary to the Pesah Haggadah, and also to the
Hallel and the grace after meals, with various rules-
regarding the ritual of the first two evenings of
Passover (Leghorn, 1863). Two of his works, a
commentary on the treatise Sheb'uot and a com-
mentary on Elijah Mizrahi's work, have not yet
been printed.
Bibliography: D. Caz^ Notes BibHographiquea, pp. 194 et
seq.
D. M. K.
Qhiron
Giants
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
656
GHIRON : An old family originally from Ge-
roua, Spain, and known in Hebrew as " the Gero-
nim." It has produced many rabbis, among whom
may be mentioned the following:
Abraham Ghiron : Son, and successor in Adrian-
ople, of Jacob Yakkir Ghiron.
Eliakim Ghiron : Son and successor of Raphael
Jacob Abraham Ghiron. He died in Constantinople.
Jacob Yakkir Ghiron : Hakam bashi in Con-
stantinople ; born at Adrianople 1813 ; died at Jeru-
salem Feb., 1874. In 1835 Jacob, who was an able
Talmudist, became rabbi in Adrianople, and in 1863
was chosen hakam bashi or chief rabbi of Constanti-
nople. Thanks to his efforts, the synagogue in his
native city, which had been burned to the ground in
1846, was rebuilt. While hakam bashi he intro-
duced various reforms, and drew up a constitution
and by-laws for the communities in Constantinople
which were approved by Sultan 'Abd al-'Aziz, with
whom he stood in high favor, and from whom he re-
ceived various decorations. Ghiron resigned his office
in 1873 in order to spend the remainder of his days in
Jerusalem, where he founded a bet ha-midrash. He
was the author of a work entitled "Abir Ya'akob,"
Salonica, 1838.
Raphael Jacob Abraham Ghiron (usually cited
as Abraham Geron) : Rabbi in Adrianople after
1732; died June 4, 1751. His "Tikkun Soferim "
was published posthumously, Constantinople, 1756.
He left in manuscript homilies, novellae, and re-
sponsa.
Yakkir Ghiron : Rabbi in Adrianople ; died in
Jerusalem in 1817.
Bibliography : Danon, Yosif Da'at o El Progreso, 1. 69, 85 ;
Franco, Histoire des Israelites de VEmpire Ottoman, p. 166.
D. M. K.
GHIRONDI: Italian family of Padua, the
founder of which settled there toward the end of the
sixteenth century. The name indicates that he was
a native of Gerona in Spain. He was also called
" Zarfati " (the Frenchman), either because Gerona
is near the border of France or because he had at
some time lived in that country. The most promi-
nent members of the Ghirondi family are:
Benzion Ghirondi (Zarfati) : Founder of the
family; lived in the sixteenth and seventeenth cen-
turies. He was the author of a work entitled " Kiz-
zur Hilkot Shehitah u-Bedikah," a compendium of
the laws on the slaughtering of animals (unpub-
lished).
Benzion Aryeh Ghirondi ben Mordecai :
Grandson of Benzion Ghirondi (Zarfati); born at
Cittadella, a village near Padua, Dec. 27, 1763; died
at Padua Dec. 21, 1815. He was the author of a
volume containing homilies, poems, and exegetical
notes on the Bible (unpublished).
Mordecai Samuel b. Benzion Aryeh Ghi-
rondi: Author and chief rabbi of Padua; born in
Padua Oct.. 1799 ; died there Jan. 4, 1852. Ghirondi
studied at the rabbinical college of Padua, in Avhich
he was appointed professor of theology (1834). In
1839 he was appointed assistant rabbi of Padua; two
j'ears later he became chief rabbi. He was a rec-
ognized authority in rabbinics, and was consulted
by rabbis of several communities. He wrote : " Toko
Razuf Ahabah," a work on ethics produced when he
was only sixteen years old (Pisa, 1818); "Ma'amar
Keriyyat ha-Borot," a treatise on artesian wells,
showing references to them in the Talmud (printed in
I.S. Reggio's "Iggerot Yosher," Vienna, 1834). But
his most important work is " Toledot Gedole Yis-
rael," a biographical and bibliographical dictionary
of Italian rabbis and secular scholars. He had in
his possession Nepi's biographical work entitled
" Zeker Zaddikim " ; to this he added 831 numbers of
his own, two-thirds of which are not found in any
earlier biographical dictionary. The combined work
was published by Ephraim Raphael Ghirondi, the
author's son — Nepi's and Ghirondi's on opposite
pages (Triest, 1858). The latter also wrote " Kebuzat
Kesef," responsa, in two parts, and "Likkute Sho-
shannim," novelise, in two volumes (both unpub-
lished). Letters of Ghirondi's on different sub-
jects were published in "Kerem Hemed" (ii. 53;
iii. 88 et seq. ; iv. 13).
Solomon Eliezer b. Benzion Ghirondi (Zar-
fati): Talmudic scholar and scribe of the seventeenth
century. Besides his responsa, published in Samuel
Aboab's " Debar Shemuel " (Nos. 336-337), he left a
work entitled "Ma'aseh Nissim," a history of the
important events in Judaism that occurred in his
time (unpublished).
Bibliography : Nepi-Ghirondl, Toledot Gedole Yisrael, pp.
.56, 354, 374 et seq.; Orient, Lit. xii. 608; Furst, Bibl. Jud.
Preface, pp. 97 et seq.; Mortara, Indice, pp. 27, 28.
D. M. Sel.
GHOSALKER, SOLOMON DANIEL : Beni
Israel soldier; born 1804; died at Dhulia, India, Oct.
14, 1869. He enlisted in the 25th regiment of the Bom-
bay native light infantry, and served in the Scinde
campaign in 1843-45, the Indian mutiny, and the
Abyssinian expedition of 1867-68. He rose to the
highest regimental rank, that of sirdar bahadur, and
was honored with a first-class star of the Order of
British India. After his death a monument was
erected to his memory by the European officers of
his regiment.
Bibliography : H. Samuel, Sketch of Bent-Israel, pp. 27-28,
Bombay (n.d.).
J.
GIANTS.— Biblical Data: Word derived from
the Greek yiya^ (in LXX.), denoting a man of extraor-
dinary stature ; in the English versions the render-
ing for three Hebrew words : (1) " Nefilim " (see Fall
OF Angels), Gen. vi. 4a, an extinct (mythological,
only semihuman) race, inhabitants of the earth be-
fore the Flood, the progeny of the Bene Elohim and
the daughters of men. In Num. xiii. 33 this name
is used of the pre-Israelitish population of Pales-
tine. Gen. vi. 4b calls them the (2) " Gibborim " =
mighty men. In the singular in Job xvi. 14 this word
is translated "giant" (but R. V. margin, "might}"-
man "). (3) " Refa'im" (A. V." Rephaim"), a collective
appellation for the pre-Canaanite population settled
both east and west of the Jordan and described as of
immense height (Deut. iii. 11; II Sam. xxi. 16-21);
the singular occurs as "rafah" (with the definite
article, " the giant" ; II Sam. xxi. 16, 18, 20, 23) or
" rafa' " (I Chron. xx. 4, 6, 8). In the account of tlie
war of the four kings (Gen. xiv.) the Rephaim are
mentioned among the defeated (verse 5), along with
the Zuzim (— Zamzummim), the Emim, and the
Hoiim, peoples cited in Deut. ii. 10, 11, 13, 30, 31 as
657
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Ghiron
Giants
autochthons of Palestine ; with the exception of the
last-mentioned, they were said to be " powerful and
numerous and tall," and considered to be Rephaini
like the Anakim, the context showing
Ab- that the Horini as well as the Avim
origines. (Deut. ii. 23), even if not cxjilicitiy
described as such, were also deemed
to have belonged to these prehistoric Palestinian
tribes. In Gen. xiv. the Rcpliaim are enumerated
along with the Ke'uites, the Ilittites, etc., as being
in the land in Abraham's time. Before the con-
quest, Og, the King of Bashan, is mentioned as the
only survivor of the Rcpliaim (Deut. iii. 11) east
of the Jordan, while the Anakim were located west
of the river (Num. xiii. 22; Josh. xiv. 12-15, xv. I'S;
Judges i. 20), as well as among the Philistines (Josh.
xi. 21, 22). Even near Carmel (Josh. xvii. 15) they
M ere settled, and the name " valley of Rephaim "
(Josh. XV. 8, xviii. 16) indicates their early presence
near Jerusalem (comp. "Avim," a Benjamite city,
Josh, xviii. 23). Under David these giants are con-
nected with Gath (I Chron. xx. 6-8). Goliath (I
Sam. xvii.), Ishbi-benob, Saph(="Sippai" ;I Chron.
XX. 4), Goliath the Gittite ("Lahmi, the brother of
Goliath the Gittite " ; I Chron. xx. 5), and a man of
great stature with 24 fingers and toes (II Sam. xxi.
16, 22 ; I Chron. xx. 4-8), are mentioned as born to
" the giant." This giant may have been the Goliath
that was slain by David, or the phrase may mean
that these men were of the breed of the giants living
at Gath.
Critical View : The Hebrew term for " giants "
is "refa'im," a grammatical plural. Non-Israelitish
clans are designated as "the Gazzite," "the Ashdo-
dite," "the Gittite," "the Hittite," "the Perizite,"
etc. (Josh. xiii. 3; Gen. xv. 20), i.e., by the race-
names in the singular with the definite article pre-
fixed, the names "Caphtorim" and "Pelishtim"
constituting the exceptions. From this it would ap-
pear that "rephaim "and the singular "ha-rafa'"
are appellatives ("the giants," "the giant"), and
that in the opinion of the writers the giants did not
constitute a distinct, non-Israeli tish race or nation-
ality, but were a breed of men of great stature found
among various peoples. Thus Og belonged to Ba-
shan (Josh. ii. 10) ; the Anakim were politically Amor-
ites at the time of the conquest, while they were
presumably Hittites under Abraham.
Not David's giants were Philistines and
a Distinct Gittites. If the Horites were Rephaim,
Race. they are the exception, inasmuch as
they maintained their identity as a dis-
tinct people. This view, however, is not generally
accepted. It is contended that the Rephaim consti-
tuted the earliest population of Palestine, later sub-
jugated and absorbed by the Canaanites, Philistines,
and Hebrews. In the case of the Emim and the
Zamzunimim it is expressly stated (Deut. ii. 10, 11,
20, 21) that they were replaced by the IMoabitcs and
Ammonites, while the Avim Avere annihilated by the
Philistines (Deut. ii. 23). The Amorites (among the
Canaanites; Gen. x. 16) seem to have absorbed a
large portion of the aboriginal population. In Amos
ii. 9 their description recalls tliat of these autoch-
thons, whose racial affinity, however, is not clear.
It lias been suggested that thev may have been the
v.— 42
first invaders of Hamitic origin, to which the later
immigrants, viz., the Amorites and Canaanites, also
belonged (Riehm, " Worterbuch," ii. 1302b; but see
Patten, " Early History of Syria," pp. 36, 37). What-
ever basis of fact may underlie tlie tradition of the
existence of thispr(!liistoric population, it is certainly
overlaid with mythical elements. This gives weight
to the theory that these Biblical references are of the
same historical value as the many non Hebrew ac-
counts of giants (see Bohlen, "Genesis," p. 82;
Winer, "B. R." ii. s.v. "Riesen") preceding the men
of ordinary stature, or living among them. Granted
that the names " Rephaim," "Emim," "Zamzum-
mim " are Hebrew folk-etymological adaptations of
non Hebrew words (Patten, ^.c), this very fact would
prove that in the consciousness of the Hebrew writers
the historical authenticity of these aboriginal races
had been entirely crowded out by mythological and
legendary conceits, though there is no occasion for
holding with Eduard Meyer ("Zeit. filr Alttesta-
mentliche Wissenschaft," i. 139) that the existence
of the Anakim and the Rephaim as a people is a
free development of the popular tradition that indi-
vidual giants had their home in Palestine.
"Rephaim," "Emim," "Zamzummim," and
" Nefilim " are in Hebrew etymologically connected
with the various designations for the spirits of the
departed, the "shades" (Schvvally, "Das Leben nach
dem Tode," p. 64; "Zeitschrift fiir Alttestament-
liche Wissenschaft," xviii. 127 et seq.). The diffi-
culty involved in this terminology, by whicii words
denoting the limp weakness of the dead are applied to
men of notorious strength, is removed
Connected if it be borne in mind that the Hebrew
with the Bible probably contains only frag-
'* Shades." ments of popular stories (Gunkel,
"Genesis," p. 54) more fully given in
later books. The tradition in Enoch and the Book
of Jubilees supplies the explanation why the giants
were designated as "Rephaim." According to th^
Book of Jubilees (ch. vii.), these Nafidim (Nefilim)
slew one another, and thus the curse pronounced
against the shedders of blood fell upon them. " Into
Sheol will tliey go and into the place of condemna-
tion will they descend" (Jubilees, vii. 29; comp.
Enoch ciii. 7, 8). These giants were thus known as
the typical dwellers in Sheol, i.e., the Rephaim.
Because they were without progenj' or because they
killed their own issue (Jubilees, vii. 22; comp. Enoch,
Ixxxvi. 4, Ixxxviii. 2), they were called "Nefilim,"
frcmi the root ^2J. ("childless ") (comp. Midrash Le-
kah Tob to Gen. vi. 4). The fact that the black basalt
bed or sarcophagus of Og was shown at Rabbah,
the chief city of the Ammonites (Deut. iii. 11), con-
firms rather than confutes the legendary nature of
the giant stories. As the last of "the dead," i.e.,
the Rephaim, Og naturally was supposed to have
had a sarcophagus. Among the many sarcophagi
found in that region and identified as the tombs of
various historic personages (Driver, Commentary to
Deut. iii. 11), this one — if it was not merely a large
black basalt block in which popular imagination de-
t 'cted a likeness to a couch (" 'eres ") fit for a giant —
was, on account of its size, naturally associated with
the giant king of liie story. Such associations of
curious natural formations or historic relics are verj'
GKants
Gibeah
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
658
common in popular tradition {e.g., the pillar of salt
and Lot's wife).
Post-Biblical Data : The giants of the Bible
are not monsters; they are rather the children of
evil than perpetrators of evil. In the later litera-
ture they appear as bereft of reason (Bar. iii. 26-28);
of an insolent spirit, rebelling against God (Wisdom
of Solomon xiv. 6; III Mace. ii. 4; Ecclus. [Sirach]
X vi. 7). The Hebrew text has DTp ^^'DJ (" the princes
of olden days"), which may be a reference to the
chief angels enumerated in Enoch (see Fall op An-
gels) ; and these are described as D^IJ? D''"110n (" that
guided the world "). But the tinal D in the fragments
as reproduced by Schechter looks like a possible '^
followed by the line for abbreviations, which would
give the reading [D'']t^''"l')?on, meaning "who ruined
the world" (by their violence, Dn"l13J3; comp.
Enoch vli. 3, 4). These giants are descended from
the fallen angels; three tliousand ells is their height;
and they comprise three classes: the original giants,
who begot the Nefilim, to whom in turn were born
the Eliud (Book of Enoch, vii. 2; and the Greek
Syncellus [Charles, "Book of Enoch," p. 65]). In
the Book of Jubilees the last-mentioned are called
"Elyo" (vii. 22). These three classes correspond
to the three names employed in Gen. vi. 4 =
"Nephilim," "Gibborim," and "Anshe ha-Shem "
(i.e., "Anakim "; "Elyo " is certainly a misreading
for the abbreviation n'x)- In the Book of Jubilees
these three are described as being unlike (vii. 22),
which Cliarles and Littmann (in Kautzsch, " Pseud-
epigraphen ") read as signifying " they fought with
one another." It is more likely that this contains a
reminiscence of the midrashic conceit according to
whicli Adam before tlie Fall was of gigantic stature
(Hag. 12a), but in consequence of his sin was re-
duced to ordinary human proportions, and in addi-
tion lost the " demut " (likeness) to God (Midrash
lia-Gadol to Gen. vi. 4, ed. Schechter). These giants,
thougli molded like Adam before the Fall, " were not
like " God ; while they were exempt from the for-
feiture of original stature, they, like man, had lost
the demut (comp. Enoch, xv.). The Rabbis hold
that these giants had seven names: (1) "Emim," be-
cause whoever saw one of them was
Their seized with terror. (2) " Rephaim, " be-
Names. cause their sight made people "soft"
(fearful) like wax. (3) "Gibborim,"
because their brains alone measured 18 ells. (4) " Zam-
zummim," because they inspired fear and were fierce
warriors. (5) "Anakim," because they wore huge
necklaces in great numbers (see also Anakim). (6)
"Avim," because they destroyed the world and were
themselves destroyed. According to another au-
thority, this name was due to their knowledge of
the soil, which was as subtle as that of the serpent
(" 'iwya, " the Galilean for " serpent "). (7) " Nefilim,"
because they caused the world to fall and fell them-
selves (Ber. R. xxvii.). The description "Anshe
ha-Shem" (Men of the Name) is interpreted as
" men of destruction " ( ih. ). The cabalistic commen-
tators (Recanate, among others) allege that they
were called "Men of the Name" because tliey im-
parted to men the mysteries of the Divine Name
and the names of demons, to conjure therewith.
For doing this some of their kind had their noses
pierced and were suspended from, the dark moun-
tains so that never again could they see the sun (see
Grlinbaum, "Sprach- und Sagenkunde," p. 72, Ber-
lin, 1901). The Anakim were the sons of the Nefilim
(Pirke R. El. xxii.), and the giants Og and Sihon
were the sons of Ahiah (" Hiya " in the Midrasli Ab-
kir), the son of Shemhazai, the fallen angel (Niddah
61a). Some of these giants had feet 18 ells in length
(Deut. R. i.), and the same length is given for
the thighbone (Buber, "Tanhuma," Debarim, addi-
tion 7). Numerous rows of teeth are also ascribed
to them (Hul. 60a). They were very voracious,
eating as many as a thousand oxen, liorses, and
camels each day (Midrash Abkir). Relying upon
their great size, and upon the power of their enor-
mous feet to stop the rising waters, they ridiculed
Noah's warning (see Flood in Rabbinical Lit-
euature). According to other versions that were
inspired by a desire to attenuate the expression
"sons of Elohim " (see Fall of Angels), the giants
were the progeny of the union of the Sethites and
the Cainite women ("Das Christliche Adamsbuch,"
p. 140, note 70; Ephraem Syrus, "Opera," ii. 477;
Lagarde, "Materialien," p. 65; Eutychius, i. 26; Ibn
Ezra to Gen. vi. 2). The " Shalsheiet ha-Kabbalah "
(ed. Venice, p. 92b) reports that Seth had com-
manded his descendants to keep aloof from the daugh-
ters of Cain. Seven generations obeyed his injunc-
tion, but they then cohabited with the accursed
breed, and the result was the birth of the Anakim, the
perpetrators of all kinds of evil. These giants led a
most shameful life, thus causing God to send the
Flood. This is also the view taken by Arabic au-
thors. 'Tabari (i. 127 et seq. ) records that Adam had
enjoined the Sethites to avoid the Cainite women, but
that the latter seduced them by bewitching music
and by their personal charms heightened by cos-
metics (see also Baidawi to sura xxiii. 33) ; they were
also accustomed to adorn themselves with pearl
necklaces (from the rabbinical interpretation of the
name "Anakim," " 'anak " meaning neck). The same
story is told of the generation of Sethite-Cainite
giants by Ibn al-Athir (i. 41) and Ya'kubi (p. 7;
comp. "Die Schatzhoehle," ed. Bezold, ii. 18).
Of all the giants onl}^ Og escaped destruction in
the Flood. Noah made a place for him near the
lattice door of the ark, through which (Pirke R.
El. xxiii.), because Og had sworn to serve Noah
and his descendants for all time, he handed him liis
food every day. The Talmud (Niddah
Og-, King- of 61a) sees a reference to this in the word
Bashan. "ha-palit"(Gen. xiv. 13), "theescaped"
fugitive being identified with Og
(comp. Pseudo-Jonathan to Gen. xiv. 13; Deut. iii.
11; see Eliezer). Arabic writers (Tabari, i. 193;
and Ibn al-Athir, i. 51) quote this escape of Og as a
"Jewish " story ("according as the people of the To-
rah fancy "). According to Mohammedan tradition,
Og was a son of Noah's sister, and survived his uncle
1,500 years, being killed by Moses (see Bemidbar
Rabbah to Num. xxi. 34; Tan., Hukkat, ed. Buber,
55 ; Pseudo-Jonathan to Num. xxi. 34). The story of
his death runs as follows : When Og saw the camp of
the Israelites, six parasangs in area, fearing lest his
fate be a repetition of Sihon 's lie proposed to kill them
all at once. He l)roke off a mountain and lifted it
659
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Giants
Gibeah
above his head to throw it upon tlie Israelites. But
God sent a worm which bored a hole into the moun-
tain so that it fell upon Og's neck, his teeth becom-
ing imbedded in it. Moses, taking a mace ten ells
long, beat the ankles of Og until hedied(comp. "Se-
fer ha-Yashar," and Ber. 54b, where ants perforate
the mountain). The Arabic historians relate similar
stories (Tabari, i. 50 [Zotenberg transl. i. 391] ; Ibn
al-Athir, i. 137). Og's height is given by Kazwini
(i. 449) as 23,330 ells; he lived 3,600 years. The
waters of the Flood reached only to about the middle
of his body. In Parhon's "Mahberet," s.v. Cj^n, as
in Kazwini {I.e.), it is a bird, riD^an, that sphts the
mountain.
Ishbi-benob (II Sam. xxi. 16) is another giant-hero
of a Talmudical legend. Into his hand God deliv-
ered David on account of the destruction of the
priest-city Nob and other misdeeds, Satan masquer-
ading as a deer leading David in pursuit to the land
of the Philistines, that Ishbi-benob, the brother of
Goliath, might discover him and do him harm.
The giant bound David and laid him on the ground
under an olive-tree and an oil-press. But by a
miracle the earth softened under him and thus
saved him from being crushed. All this happened
on Sabbath eve. Abishai, the son of Zeruiah, when
making his toilet detected blood in the vessel (accord-
ing to others, it was a dove in distress that he be-
held), which circumstance apprised him of David's
tlanger. Looking for the king in his house and then
in the bet ha-midrash, and not finding him, he in-
quired whether it was lawful to mount a royal horse
(on Sabbath) when the king was in peril of his life.
Receiving permission, he mounted the steed and was
carried to the place with miraculous velocity (the
earth jumping so that the intervening space van-
ished), killing the giant's mother on the way. Upon
Abishai's approach, Ishbi-benob, taking hold of
David, hurled him high into the air, and placed his
sword in position so that the king in his fall would
be cut to pieces. But Abishai pronounced "the
Name," which kept David suspended in mid-air.
Descending then in safety, David apprised Abishai
of all that had happened. Both ran away, which
induced the giant to pursue them ; but on reaching
the place where Orpah, the giant's mother, had
been killed, they turned and despatched the giant
(Sanh. 95a; Sho'her Tob to Ps. xviii. 37; Gen. R.
lix. ; see Goliath). The Pelishtim (in Gen. x. 14)
were identified with the giants, while the Caphtorim
were said to be dwarfs (Gen. R. xxxvii.). Men of
giantlike stature were warned not to marry women
of like proportions, lest a "mast" (very tall being)
be born unto them (Bek. 45b). Gigantic stature is
considered a blemish rendering a priest imfit for
service (Sifra to Lev. xxi. 31; Pseudo-Jonathan to
Lev. xxi. 20). E. G. H.
In Arabic Literature: The Hebrew "nefilim
bene 'Anak" (Num. xiii. 33) are called "jabbarun"
in the Koran (sura v. 25), and " jababirah" in other
works, both words being the plural of "jabbar"
(giant). In the Koran (I.e.) giants are mentioned in
connection with the twelve spies sent by Moses to
explore the land of Canaan. According to Mas'udi,
the giants were of the Amalekite race. The Arabian
writers speak particularly of "Uj (Og) ibn 'Unk
(Og with the Neck), for the reason that when he
went out to fight Moses he tore out a mountain and
put it on his head with the intention of throwing it
upon the Israelites and crushing them ; but God
sent a bird that bored a hole in the mountain, which
thereupon fell on Og's neck. According to Moslem
legends, in the eyes of the giants the twelve spies
appeared as small as ants (comp. "grasshoppers,"
Num. I.e.).
The Arabs call Jericho "the city of giants," but
their traditions do not agree as to which leader of the
Jews fought against the giants. According to Ibn
'Abbas, Moses died in the wilderness, and the land
of the giants was conquered by Joshua; but Mo-
hammed ibn Ishak writes that Moses himself fought
the giants at Jericho. Those who survived were
led by a certain Ifrikish ibn Kais to Africa, and,
having killed the king of that country, settled there.
The Berbers are their descendants.
Bibliography : Tabari, Chroniqiie, French transl. by Zoten-
berg, i. 51 ; Maft'udi, ed. B. de Mevnard, 1. 19; Ibn al-Athir,
Al-Tcrrikh al-Kamil, i. 72, 73, Cairo, 1894; Hughes, Dic-
tionary of Mam, s.v.
E. G. H. M. SeL.
GIAT. See Ibn Ghayyat.
GIBBOR, JUDAH BEN ELIJAH BEN
JOSEPH : Karaite scholar ; flourished at Constanti-
nople between 1500 and 1540. His main work,
which was highly esteemed by the Karaite scholars,
was a poem entitled "Minhat Yehudah"; it con-
sisted of 1,612 verses ending in Qn, containing all the
Biblicalcommandments and written in the style of the
rabbinical azharot. It was inserted in the Karaite
ritual (Venice, 1529; Chufut-Kale, 1734, 1805; Eupa-
toria, 1836), and was commented upon by Eliezorben
Judah ("BezirEliezer"), Elijah Yerushalmi ("Zeror
ha-Mor"), Judah Troki ("Kibbuz Yehudah"), and
Isaac Simhah Luzki (" Be'er Yizhak "). In this poem
Gibboi pays a tribute of respect to Maimonides.
Gibbor also wrote the following works, which
are no longer extant, but are mentioned by Simhah
Luzki, namely: "Hilkot Shehitah," Karaite laws
concerning the slaughtering of animals; "Sefer
Mo'adim," on the feasts of Rosh ha-Shanah, Sukkot,
and Purim; "Mo'ed Katan," a theological treatise
in six volumes dealing with the mysteries of the
Law, metaphysics, tlie elements of the speculative
Cabala, etc.
Bibliography : Rossi, Diziouario, s.v.; Steinschneider. Cat.
Bodl. col. 1327; Jost, Gesch. dcs Judcntlmins uiui Seiner
Sekten, ii. 369 ; Filrst, Get<eh. des Kariiertums. ill. (>.
K. I. Bk.
GIBEAH ("hill"): The name of several cities
situated on hills. The difficulty of keeping these
distinct is increased by the fact that sometimes
"Geba" is used for "Gibeah," and vice versa (see
Geba). In one passage, however, Isa. x. 29, " Geba "
is distinguished from the "Gibeah of Saul," whicVi
must have been near Ramah ; according to Jo-
sephus ("Ant." v. 2, § 8; "B. J." v. 2, § 1), it was
situated about thirty furlongs from Jerusalem, and
is by most scholars rightly identified with Tulail al-
Ful. This agrees with Josh, xviii. 24, 28, which
enumerates both Geba (" Gaba ") and Gibeah (" Gibe-
ath") among the cities of Benjamin. In the fol-
lowing passages " Gibeah " may with certainty be
identified with the present Jeba' : Judges xx. 33;
Gibeon
Gideon
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
660
I Sam. xiii. 16, xiv. 5. It is probable, moreover, that
the references in I Kings xv. 22; II Kings xxiii. 8;
II Cbrou. xvi. 6; Zech. xiv. 10 are to Geba. Doubt-
less the same citj' is also referred to under the name
"Gibeah " in I Sara. xiii. 15; xiv. 2, 16; and perhaps
in xiii. 2.
The Gibeah which is identical with Tulail al-
Ful is met with as Saul's Gibeah in I Sam. x. 26, xi.
4, XV. 34, xxii. 6, and as Benjamin's Gibeah in
Judges xix. 12-16, xx. 4 etneq., and in Hosea v. 8, ix.
9, X. 9. Geba is mentioned in one passage (Judges
XX. 10)-; here again Gibeah (Tulail al-Ful) may be
intended; whereas its identification Avith the "hill
["gibeah"] of God," I Sam. x. 5 (with which the
Geba in I Sam. xiii. 3 must coincide), is very doubt-
ful (comp. Budde's commentary ad loc). Several
passages in which one or the other name occurs
are also doubtful, viz., "Geba" in Josh. xxi. 17;
I Chrou. vi. 45, viii. 6; Ezra ii. 26; Neh. vii. 30, xi.
31, xii. 29, and "Gibeah" in II Sam. xxiii. 29; I
Chron. xi. 31, xii. 3; II Chron. xiii. 2. In some
passages "Gibeah" or "Geba" occurs incorrectly
for "Gibeon," e.g., Judges xx. 31; II Sam. v. 25,
xxi. 6.
E. G. II. F. Bu.
GIBEON AND GIBEONITES : Gibeon was one
of the four cities of the Hivites, reckoned in Josh,
xviii. 25 among the cities of Benjamin. That it was
not, however, wholly in the possession of the Israel-
ites until a late period is shown by Josh. ix. and
II Sam. xxi. 1 et seq. In Josh. x. 12 mention is made
of a battle there. The tight between the soldiers of
Joab and those of Abner took place beside " the pool
of Gibeon " (II Sam. ii. 12 et seq. ; comp. Jer. xii. 12).
Near it David conquered the Philistines (II Sam.
V. 25 [read " Gibeon " for " Geba "] ; I Chron. xiv. 16 ;
Isa. xxviii. 21); and here Amasawas killed (II Sam.
XX. 8 et seq.). Tliere was a "great high place" in
Gibeon (I Kings iii. 4; according to I Chron. xvi.
39, "the tabernacle"). Hananiah came from this
city (Jer. xxviii. 1). In post-exilic times Gibeon
belonged to Judea (Neh. vi. 7). Its site, which, ac-
cording to Josephus, was fortj^ ("Ant." vii. 11, § 7)
or fifty ("B. J." ii. 19, § 1) furlongs distant from
Jerusalem, is now supposed to be occupied by Al-
Jib, a village on a slight elevation in a fruitful
region about six miles north of that city.
The men of Gibeon after the fall of Jericho were
said to be alarmed at the advance of the Israelites,
and accordingly sent to Joshua envoys covered with
dust and with other signs of having made a long
journey before reaching the Israelite camp. Joshua
granted them an alliance, and a covenant was drawn
up before it was found out that they resided in the
immediate neighborliood. Although the covenant
was kept, they were punished bj' being made " hewers
of wood and drawers of water for the whole congre-
gation " (Josh. ix. 3-27). According to the Kabbis,
the Nethiuim were descendants of these Gibeonites
(Yeb. 79a; Num. R. § 8). This, however, does not
agree with the statement in II Sam. xxii. 19, where
David ])ermits the Gibeonites to revenge tliemselves
on Saul's children for injuries stated to liave been
done to them by Saul. The men of Gibeon, with
Melatiah the Gibeonitc at their head, rejiaired a
jiieoe of .the wall of Jerusalem near the old gate on
the west side of the city (Neh. iii. 7), while the
Nethinim dwelt at Ophel on the east side {ib. 26).
E. G. II. F. Bt;.— J.
G-IBRALTAB : British pos.session, south of
Spain. Jews appear to have settled there shortly
after the British took possession of the fortress in 1704,
and the synagogue Etz Hayyim in Market Lane avus
founded in 1760, while that in Engineer Lane, entitled
" Shaar ha-Shamayim" after the similar institutions in
Amsterdam and London, was dedicated in 1768. A
third synagogue, Nefuzot Yehuda, was founded in
1790, and a fourth, theBet Joseph synagogue, in 1890.
Gibraltar formed a city of refuge for the Maranos of
the Peninsula; even as early as 1473 a proposal was
made to hand it over to them (Griltz, "Gesch." vii.
236). Thus Moses de Paz took ship there in
1777 on his way to England (Picciotto, " Sketches
of Anglo-Jewish History," p. 179). A community
grew up there wliich contributed considerably to
the growth of trade between Gibraltar and IMorocco
and between Gibraltar and England. At times
Jews of Gibraltar venturing on Spanish soil were
seized by the Inquisition and forced to "recant"
(see Jacobs' "Sources of Spanish- Jewish History,"
No. 97). After the famous siege of 1779-83 the
community still further increased, and the third syna-
gogue was built in Bombhou.se Lane. In the earl)'
part of the nineteenth century the Jews of Gibraltar
had often to ransom coreligionists who had fallen
into the power of the Dey of Algiers. In 1878 there
were 1,533 Jewish inhabitants in Gibraltar. More
recently they have afforded shelter to many Russian
and Rumanian Jews, and the total Jewish popula-
tion of the neighborhood has been set down at as
much as 9,400, of which 7,000 are native Sephardim
and 2,400 Ashkenazic immigrants. The town proper
shelters only about 3,000. The affairs of the com-
munity, which maintains 6 hebras, 2 day-schools,
and 1 night-school with an attendance of 177 pu-
pils, are administered by a managing board of five
members with a chief rabbi at its head. The mem-
bers enjoy a certain prosperity, the Sephardim form-
ing a majority in the town council. The best-known
families of Gibraltar are the Benoliels, Elmalehs, and
Abudarhams. See also Don Aaron Cardoza. Joseph
Elmaleh was the author of two works on ritual
slaughter, one of which, "Dat Yeliudit," was trans-
lated into Spanish. Other authors were Abraham
Benatar and Emanuel del Mar, who in 1843 pro-
duced a Ladino newspaper, "Cronicalsraelitica."
BiBMOGRAPHY : Harris, Jeivish Venr Bool;. 56G3, p. 171 ; A.
Perl, in Ha-ZeHrah, 1888, No. 14; Maximilian (Emperor of
Mexico), Aui Meinem Lehcn, ii. 110, v.49-<i2; Gratz, (lexrh.
3d ed., viii. 236; Colonial Reiiorts, No. :.'76 (1898), p. lit;
AUij. Zeit, des Jud. Sept. 10, 1878; Reixirt Analo-Jciv.
Afsoc. 1877.
J.
GIDEON.— Biblical Data : Son of Joash the
Abiezrite; also called "Jerubbaal" (Judges vi. 32;
" Jerubbesheth " in II Sam. xi. 21); one of the prom-
inent judges of Israel. His story is told in Judges
vi.-viii. Midianitesand other Bedouin peoples harry
Israel for seven years, this bitter experience being a
jirovidcntially appointed punislimentof the descend-
ants of those whom Yiiwii liad freed from Egyptian
bondage, but who did not harken unto His voice (see
the speech of the prophet in vi. 8-10). At every
661
THE JEWISPI ENCYCLOPEDU
Gibeon
Gideon
harvest- time tlie enemy descends upon the land in
swarms, like voracious locusts, and strips it bare.
"Wliile "beating out wheat in the -wine-press" Gideon
is summoned by Yiiwu's messenger, sitting under
the holy tree in Ophrah, his father's possession, to
free Israel (vi. 11-24). He doubts Yawn's solici-
tude for Israel and himself, in view of the fact that
" his family is the i)oorest in Manasseh " and he him-
self is its most insignificant member. But his dis-
inclination is overcome at seeing the fire consume
the food he has prepared for his divine visitor, who
after giving this sign vanishes from sight. Gideon,
reassured by Yiiwii that he will not die as a conse-
quence of seeing His messenger (that is, Yhwh
Jordan and encamp in the Great Plain. The spirit
of Yhwh now fills Gideon ; he rouses his clan Abie-
zer, then tiie tribe Manasseh and finally the tribes
of Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, to march out to
meet the invaders. Gideon asks a sign that Yhwh
will give him tiie victory. A fleece exposed at night
on the thrashing-lloor is drenched witii dew, the
ground around remaining dry. The test is rei)eated
witli reversed conditions (vi. 33-40). Gideon with
32,000 men pitches his camp at the well of Harod.
Lest the victory be claimed by the people as due to
their strength, Gideon sends back all those that are
timorous. Ten thousand remain, from whom 300
are finally selected, only those that lap the water
Interior of the Sy.vAGOGUE at Gibraltar.
CFrom a phnlogr.iph in possession of Leon II. Eimaleh, riiiiadeli>hia.)
Himself) face to face, builds an altar (which was still
standing at the time the narrative was written), and
names it " Jehovah-slialom " (God is well dispo.sed).
The very night after this Iheophanj-, Gideon is
called by Yiiwh to destroy Baal's altar, belonging
to his fatiier, and the AsiiKU.\n standing beside it,
and to build instead an altar to Yhwh and dedicate
it by an offering of a bullock. He obeys tlie divine
command. His fellow townsmen, discovering tJic
destruction, demand his death ; but his father, Joash,
with fine irony persuades them to leave the outrage
to be avenged b}' Baal. As Baal is expected to con-
tend with him, Gideon is named " Jerubbaal " (vi.
2r)-32). The Midianitcs and their allies cross the
with their tongues, "as a dog lappeth," being
chosen. These he provides witii food and the horns
of the others. Thereupon reconnoitering the camp
of the enemy in the valley beneatii, accompanied by
Thurah, his "boy," he overhears a ]\Iidianite telling
an ominous dream of a "cake of barley bread " roll-
ing through the camp and striking and overturning a
tent. The Midiaiiitc's conuade explains the dream
to refer to the sword of Gideon, into whose hands
God has delivered the host of IMidian (vii. 1-15).
Gideon, returning, calls upon his 300 men, and
divides them into three parties, each man carrying
a horn, and a jar with a torch inside. Each is to
do as Gideon does: when lie blows a blast, thev also
G-ideou
Gifts
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
662
shall blow. At the beginning of the middle watch
Gideon creeps upon the camp : following his exam-
ple, his men blow their horns, smash their jars,
brandisii their torches, and crj- : " The sword of the
Lord and of Gideon " (vii. 15-20). The Midianites,
panic-stricken, mistake friend for foe in the dark-
ness, and flee for safety, Naphtali and Manasseh
pursuing them. Ephraim is rapidly summoned to
intercept Midian's flight at the Jordan. Two chiefs,
Oreb and Zeeb, are captured and put to death, and
their heads brought to Gideon (vii. 21-26).
The Ephraimites quarrel with Gideon (viii. 1-3).
After allaying their anger by a well-turned compli-
ment, he takes up the pursuit of Midian across the
Jordan. Refused food by the men of Succoth and
Penuel, he presses on, threatening vengeance (viii.
4—9). Surprising the camp of Midian, he makes
two kings prisoners (viii. 1 0-12). Retracing his steps,
he takes vengeance on the elders and men of Suc-
coth, and destroys Penuel, slaying its inhabitants.
Zebah and Zalmunna, the captured kings, he then
puts to death to avenge his brothers, slain by them
in a foray (viii. 18-21). He declines the kingdom
which is offered him, and makes an Ephod out of
the rings of the fallen Midianites, which ephod he
sets up at Ophrah (viii. 21-27).
Gideon had seventy sons. He lived to a ripe old
age, and was buried in Ophrah, in the burial-place
of his father (viii. 28-32).
Critical View : Tlie critical school declares the
story of Gideon to be a composite narrative, main!}-
drawn from three sources: the Jahvist (J), the Elo-
hist (E), and the Deuteronomic (D) Avriters. In the
portion credited to E there is recognized by the
critics an additional stratum, which they denominate
" E'^ ". Besides, later interpolations and editorial com-
ments have been pointed out. Behind these various
elements, and molded according to different view-
points and intentions, lie popular traditions concern-
ing historical facts and explanations of names once
of an altogether different value, but now adapted to
a later religious consciousness. The account of Gid-
eon's war against Midian is a reflection of the strug-
gle of his own clan or tribe Avith the hostile Bedouins
across the Jordan for the possession of the territory,
mixed with reminiscences of tribal jealousies on the
part of Ephraim; while the interpretation of the
name of the hero, and the endeavor to connect Yiiwh
with the shrine at Ophrah, indicate the religious
atmosphere of a later (prophetic) age. " Jenibbaal "
is a theophorous name in which " Baal " originally
and without scruples was the synonym of " Yhwh,"
its meaning being "Ba'al contends" or "Ba'al
founds " = ^ynnv from ."nv The story (Judges vi.
29-32) belongs to a numerous class of similar "'histor-
ical " explanations of names expressive of a former
religious view, either naively provoked by the no
longer intelligible designation, or purposely framed
to give the old name a bearing which would not be
offensive to the later and more rigorous develop-
ment of the religion of Yhwh, a purpose clearly ap-
parent in the change of such names as " Ishbaal "
and "Jenibbaal" into "Ishbosheth" and "Jerub
besheth " (II Sam. xi. 21). AVhile it is exceedingly
difficult to separate in all particulars the various
components of the three main sources, the composite
nature of the Gideon narrative is apparent not so
much, as has been claimed by some, from the use of
the two names " Gideon " (an appellative meaning
"hewer") and "Jerubbaal"' as from the remarkable
repetitions in the narrative. The incidents repeated
or varied are as follows :
The summons of Gideon and the sign of his appointment
(Judges vl. 11-24 and vi. 33-38, 39-40; comp. also vii. 1-15).
Gideon's offering (vi. 20 and vi. 25).
The erection of the altar (vi. 23 against vi. 26 ; comp. viii. 27 :
in the first passage he fears lest he die, having seen Yhwh ; in
the second he shovrs fear of the people and their "contend-
ing" Baal).
Ephraim's jealousy (viii. 1-3) against that of the men of Suc-
coth and Penuel (viii. 4-10).
The captive chiefs Oreb and Zeeb (vii. 25, viii. 3) and their
fate as against that of the captured kings Zalmunna and Zebah
(vlil. 7-12, 18-20).
The offering of the crown to Gideon (viii. 22 et Keq.) con-
trasted with his uneventful return " to his house " (viii. 29).
Clearly to the editor belongs the introduction vi.
1, 6b; it gives the usual pragmatic explanation of
Israel's suffering as appointed for a punishment for
their doing "evil in the sight of the Lord"; while
in vi. 2-6a the Deuteronomic phraseology is ap-
parent.
To the oldest narrative (J) are assigned: Judges
viii. 4-lOa, 11-21, 24-27a, 29-32. Gideon, prompted
by the desire to avenge the death of his brothers
(viii. 18), attacks and pursues with 300 men of his
own clan Abiezer the Midianite chiefs Zebah and
Zalmunna, and slays them, after having punished
the Israelitish subclans Succoth and
The Penuel. He makes from the booty an
Sources, idol ("ephod"), in consequence of
which his city (Ophrah) becomes the
seat of an oracle, and he is enabled to lead the life
of a rich chief with a large harem, enjoying al-
most royal honors. The somewhat later narrative
(E) comprises: vi. 11-24 (possibly 25-32, which, how-
ever, more probably belongs to E'). 33, 34, 36-40;
vii. 1 (2-8, E^), 9-11, 13-22, 25a; viii. 1-3 (22 et seq.,
E '■'). It regards the struggle as concerning all the
northern tribes. Gideon is commissioned by Yhwh.
It utilizes old traditions somewhat different from
those of J (compare the names of the chiefs in vii. 25).
Its religious point of view is one of antipathy to
idolatry (vi. 25 et seq.), and Gideon is a fighter for
Yhwh (= " Jerubbaal " ; compare the battle-crj^ vii.
18 ; viii. 22, E^). The Deuteronomic editor in vi. 3-33,
vii. 12, viii. 10 adds to the Midianites the Amalek-
ites and other eastern enemies, and in vi. 7-10, viii.
27b-28, 33, 34 emphasizes the religious element.
Gideon's victory is alluded to in Isa. ix. 3, x. 26
(" Oreb " here is a rock [or idol]), and in Ps. Ixxxiii.
12 (A. V. 11), where the four chiefs are quoted,
showing that at the time when the psalm was writ-
ten the story must have been known in its pre.sent
Biblical form.
BiBLiooRAPHY : Studer. Das Buch der Richter. 1835; the com-
mentaries on Jiiil{ic)i by Bertheau, Moore. Budde, and No-
wack ; the histories of Israel by Stade, Kittel, and others ;
the introductions by Konig, Wildeboer, Cornill, Driver, and
Baudissin ; Winckler. AUnrirntalUche F(/r.«c/a()i(/f h, i. 42
et seq.: WeUhausen, Die Composition rto He.rateucltsxaid
der Historixchen Bilclier des Alten Testaments; Kuenen,
Hi.-^torisch-Kiit i.'ich Onderzoek naar het Ontstaan en de
VcrzameUny I'an dc Bocken des Ouden Verbonds, vol. 11.
E. G. H.
GIDEON, SAMSON : English financier; born
in London 1699; died 1762. He was a son of Row-
663
THE JEV<aSH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Gideon
Qifts
land Gideon (died 1720), a West-Iudian merchant,
who clianged his name from the Portuguese "Abu-
diente " on settling in England, and became a free-
man of the city of London and a member of the
Paper-Stainers' Company Feb. 17, 1697. Samson
Gideon began business in 1720 with a capital of
£1,500, which increased so rapidly that in 1729 he
was admitted a sworn broker with a capital of £25,-
000, invested chiefly in landed estates. His fortune
continued to increase so that in 1740 he had become
"the great oracle and leader of Jonathan's Coffee
House in Exchange Alley." So prudently were his
speculations conducted that he seldom suffered
losses.
In the disastrous period which followed the South
Sea Bubble (1720), Gideon had gained the public
admiration by the calmness with which he ignored
the gambling mania that almost brought ruin upon
the country, and by his services to the prime minis-
ter in restoring the public credit. Similarly, during
the panic ensuing when the Pretender advanced to
London in 1745, and investors sold stock at any
price, Samson Gideon continued to buy good secu-
rities, and had the gratilication of seeing his fortune
doubled by the operation. From 1742 he was con-
sulted by the English government, to whom he of-
fered loans during the Spanish and French hostilities
of 1742-44. In 1745 he raised a loan of £1,700,000,
and in 1749 carried through the consolidation of the
national debt and the reduction of its interest. He
is said to have raised in the following j'ear a million
three per cent at par; and at the beginning of the
Seven Years' war (1756) he paid a bounty from his
estates for recruiting the army. In 1758 and 1759,
the great years of the war, he was almost wholly
relied upon to raise loans for the government.
The great object of Gideon's life was to found a
landed family, which was almost impossible to ac-
complish as a Jew. Accordingly in 1754 he resigned
his membership in the Sephardic congregation, and
from that time reared his children in the Christian
faith. Through his influence with Sir Robert Wal-
pole he was able to obtain a special act of Parliament
sanctioning the purchase of an estate he coveted ;
and in 1759 a baronetcy was conferred upon his son
Samson, then a boy of fifteen, being educated at
Eton.
Gideon was a man of remarkable amiabihty and
geniality, " of strong natural understanding, and of
some fun and humor." He collected pictures with
great care, having acquired many of those belonging
to Sir Robert Walpole; these are now at Bedwell
Park, Hertfordshire, England. He held liberal
views, making an annual donation to the Sons of the
Clergy, and bequeathing £2,000 as a legacy to that
body and £1,000 to the London Hospital. He died in
the Jewish faith, leaving £580,000, £1,000 of which
was left to the Bevis Marks synagogue on condition
that he be interred in the Jewish cemetery. It was
found that he liad throughout his life paid his syna-
gogue subscriptions under the title " Almoni Peloni. "
In 1766 his sou Samson married the daughter of
Chief Justice Sir John Eardloy Wilmot, assumed the
name of Eardley in July, 1789, and in Oct., 1789, was
created Lord Eardley in the Irish peerage. The
peerage became extinct at his death in 1824. his two
sons, Samson Eardley and Colonel Eardley of the
Guards, having died before him. His daughters
had married Lord Saye and Sele, Sir Culling Smith,
and J. W. Childers, among whom his estates were
divided.
Bibliography: Francis, OironicJes of the Stock Exchange,
pp. 88-90; Nichols, Literary Anecdote>i,ix. bi2; Idem, Illus-
tratioiis, vl. 277-284; Jew. World, Feb.. 1878; Plcclotto,
Sketches of Anglo-Jewiah HiMorii , pp. 60-64.'84, 113. London,
1875; I'oxing Israel, June, 1899; Diet. National Bioyraphu.
J. G. L.
GIER-EAGLE. See Vilture.
GIFTS.— Biblical Data: The interchange of
gifts was a custom common among the early Israel-
ites in the ordinary transactions of life as well as at
all family celebrations. The subordinate gave pres-
ents to his superior " to smooth his face " and to
make him gracious (Ps. xlv. 13 [A. V. 12]). Gifts
were also given to appease anger (Prov. xxi. 14), to
procure admission to the palaces of nobles {ib. xviii.
16), and to strengthen the bonds of friendship {ib.
xix. 6). One did not come before God (Ex. xxiii. 15),
a prophet (I Sam. ix. 7; I Kings xiv. 3; II Kings
viii. 9), or a king (I Kings x. 10) with empty hands.
Still, the proverb " He that hateth gifts shall live "
(Prov. XV. 27) was considered of great weight and
was often quoted by later authorities.
Gifts were frequently offered as tribute by a con-
quered people to its conqueror (Judges iii. 15;
II Sam. viii. 2, 6; I Kings v. 1 ; II Kings xvli. 3;
II Chron. xvii. 11, xxvi. 8, xxxii. 23); hence the ex-
pression "to bring presents" often means to offer
submission (Isa. xviii. 7; Ps. Ixviii. 30). Jacob sent
presents to Esau in the hope of appeasing his anger
(Gen. xxxii. 14). Neglect to send gifts to kings by
way of homage on the day of their ascension to the
throne was considered an insult (I Sam. x. 27).
Kings sent presents to each other at the conclusion
of a treaty (I Kings xv. 18). They also frequently
distributed gifts, either indiscriminately among their
subjects (II Sam. vi. 19), or to favorites (Geu. xli.
42 ; II Sam. xi. 8), or to officers in recognition of their
services (Esth. viii. 2).
Gifts played an important part in marriage cere-
monies. Eliezer, the servant of Abraham, gave
presents to Rebekah, the bride he chose for his mas-
ter's son (Gen. xxiv. 22, 53). Solomon on marry-
ing Pharaoh's daughter received some valuable gifts
from her father (I Kings ix. 16; comp. Judges i. 14).
In addition to the Dowky ("mohar"), the groom
gave presents ("mattan") to his bride-elect (Gen.
xxxiv. 12). The custom for guests invited to the
wedding to present the newly married couple with
some gift extends to the present day. Among the
Polish Jews such gifts are called " drosho-geschenk "
(presents for the sermon) becau.se they are presented
soon after the groom delivers the lecture which he
has prepared for the occasion.
In Ex. xxiii. 8 and in Deut. xvi. 19 it is forbidden
to offer gifts as bribes ("sliohad '") to administrators
of justice. Such gifts " blind the eyes of the wise "
and pervert tlie words of the righteous (Ecclus.
[Siracli] xx. 29; comp. BiunKUY). It is also for-
bidden to bring as an offering upon the altar the
hire given to a harlot ("etnan"; Deut. xxiii. 19
[A. V. 18]; Isa. xxiii. 17, 18; Ezek. xvi. 31, 34;
Ilosea ix. 1 ; Micah i. 7).
Gifts
G-ikatilla
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
664
In the simple agricultural state it was natural that
gifts should consist of grain, fruit, or cattle (Gen.
iv. 3, 4; xii. 16; xxxii. 15, 16; xliii. 11; I Sam. xxv.
18); but money (I Sam. ix. 8; II Sam. xviii. 11;
Job xlii. 11; comp. Matt. ii. 11), ornaments (Gen.
xxiv. 22, 53), robes (Gen. xli. 42, xlv. 22 ; II Kings
V. 22), furniture and utensils (II Sam. xvii. 28),
armor (I Kings x. 25), and other costly articles
were also given. These presents were usuall}' con-
veyed either by servants (Gen. xxxii. 17) or on the
backs of beasts of burden (II Kings viii. 9).
Bibliography : Hamburger, R. B. T. s.v. Geschenk ; Smith,
Diet. Bible; Hastings, Diet. Bible; McCurdy, History,
Prophecu, and the Monuments, ii. 211, New York, 1894.
E. G. H. J. H. G.
-In Rabbinical Law : Property voluntarily
conveyed or transferred without compensating con-
sideration. Any person has the right to give away
part or all of his possessions, as he may desire. The
law governing the acquisition of gifts considers (1)
whether the donor is in good health (N^~i3 njno), or
(2) whether the donor is in ill health (j;-H3 2^^l^ rUDID),
and varies accordingly.
1. The gift of a healthy person is vahd only when
the following conditions have been complied with :
(d) The donor must be an intelligent, responsible
being. An idiot can make no gifts. A minor, even
though posse.ssed of intelligence, and a deaf-mute
can give away only movable property (Git. 59a;
Maimonides, " Yad," Mekirah, xxix. 1 et seq. ; Caro,
Shulhan 'Aruk, Hoshen Mishpat, 225, 1 et seq.).
A minor who shows no signs of intelligence, and
an idiot can not acquire gifts. But a minor who
has reached the age of discrimination, and a deaf-
mute may be made recipients of gifts (Git. 65a;
Maimonides, "Yad," Zekiyyah, iv. 6, 7; Hoshen
Mishpat, 243, 14-17).
(b) While a sale transacted under duress is valid,
since it is presumed that at the acceptance of the
money the seller becomes reconciled, in the case of a
gift made through compulsion where this argument
does not exist, the donor may afterward retract, if
he has previously protested before witnesses, or if it
is generally known that the gift was
Validity made under duress (B. B. 40b, 43b,
of Gifts. 47b; Zekiyyah, v. 4; Mekirah, x. 1;
Hoshen Mishpat, 205, 1-7; 242, 1, 2).
A gift, therefore, must never be made in secret, and
the deed of gift, drawn up by the witnesses, must
contain the phrase " and the donor told us, ' Sit down
in the market-places and in the open squares and
write a bill of gift openly and publicly ' " (B. B. 40b).
(c) If there is an evident cause for the donor's
action, as when one, for instance, on hearing that
his son has died, gives away all his possessions to
another, he may retract when the cause is re-
moved by the disproval of the report. If, how-
ever, he does not give away all Ins property, but re-
tains some portion of it, showing thereby that he
does not entirely believe the report, he can not
retract (B. B. 146b; Zekiyyah, vi. 1; Hoshen Mish-
pat, 246, 1).
{d) The object presented must be in existence at
the time of the transaction. A gift of the future
jiroduce of a tree or field, or of what a slave or cattle
may bear, has no validity (B. B. 79b e« al. ; Mekirah,
xxii. 1 ; Hoshen Mishpat, 209, 4). Some authorities
are of the opinion that the thing bestowed must be
described in detail in the bill of gift, as in the case
of a field, where all its boundaries must be given {ib.
241, 4; see Zekiyyah, iii. 5, and Maggid Mishneh ad
loc). The object must be in the possession of the
donor at the time of the transaction. An expected
inheritance can not be given away during tlie life
of the testator (B. M. 16a; Mekirah, xxii. 5; Hoshen
Mishpat, 211, 1 ; 60, 6). Just as the object must be
in existence at the time of the transaction, so must
the donee be in existence. A gift to another's un-
born infant is invalid; one to his own child, i)rovi-
ded his wife is pregnant with it at the time the gift
is made, is vahd (B. B. 141b; Mekirah, xxii. 10;
Hoshen Mishpat, 210, 1).
(e) The bill of gift must be so worded as to enable
and empower the donee to take possession of the
object during the life of the donor. A gift that can
take effect only after the death of the donor is in-
valid. If, however, it contains the word DVHD
(" from to-day "), or Vti'SyO (" from now "), then the
object itself belongs to the donee, but the fruit that
the object may yield belongs to the donor during his
lifetime (B. B. 136a; Zekiyyah, xii. 13-15; Hoshen
Mishpat, 257. 6; 258, 1, 2).
(/) The gift as well as the sale is valid only when
accompanied by one of the forms of acquisition.
The testimony of witnesses is not necessary to estab-
lish the gift when both donor and donee testify to
it. A gift may also be made through a third party,
without the knowledge of the donee, but in this
case the latter may refuse to accept it (Git. 14a;
Zekiyyah, iv. 2; Hoshen Mishpat, 243, 1). Tlie lan-
guage of the donor in making a gift must be cither
in the past or in the present tense. If the term jnx
("I shall give ") be u.sed, even though it be spoken
before witnesses, and, according to some authorities,
even though some form of acquisition has been com-
plied with, the gift is not valid unless it contains
also the word VK'DyO ("from now on"), which
makes it immediately effective (Git. 40b ; Zekij-yah,
iv. 11 ; Hoshen Mishpat, 245, 1-4).
2. "The utterance of a person who is near his
death is considered as if written down and delivered. "
" It is a commendable act to gratify the wishes of a
dying person." Therefore, the Rabbis ordained that
a gift by a person who deems himself in danger of
death, either when suffering from a dangerous illness,
or before going out on a sea-voyage or on a journey
into the desert, or when convicted of a crime wliicli
makes him liable to capital punishment, should
be valid even without any formality of acquisition,
and should take effect soon after his death. The only
condition necessary in such a case is that it shall be
known to have been done in contemplation of death.
Since this is merely an institution of the Rabbis
for the purpose of quieting the mind of the ill, the
donor is allowed to retract not only when he recov-
ers from his illness, but also during his illness. A
later wish or document always annuls a former one
(B. B. 151a. 152b; Zekiyyah, ix. 15; Hoshen Mishpat,
250, 2, 13-16). If, however, the donor says VtJ'^yD.
the gift has the same validity as that of a person
who is well, if the necessary conditions have been
fulfilled (B. B. 135b; Zekiyyah, viii. 18; Hoshen
665
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Gifts
Gikatilla
Mishpat, 250, 9). In all cases the court can collect,
imiiR'diately after the donor's death, from the prop-
erty thus given away monej' due to the widow by
her marriage contract, or to the children of the
widow for their sustenance, and all other debts that
fall upon the property (B. B. 133a; Zekiyyali, viii.
8, 9; Hoshcn Mishpat, 252, 1 ; Shulhan 'Aruk, Eben
ha-'Ezer, 93, 20).
See Alienation and Acquisition; Assignment;
Bequest; Derelict; Inheritance; Orphans;
Widow.
Bibliography: Bloch, Der Vcrirag nach M<»<aisch-Tal-
miidischem Recht, pp. 87-yO, Budapest, J893; idem, Ei-b-
recht, pp. 43-68, lb. 1890 ; Frankel, £»tr Grcric/ifh'c/ie Beiveia,
pp. 368-370, Berlin, 1846; Saalschiitz, Das Mosaische Recht
(see Index), Berlin, 1853; Mielziner, Legal Marims, Cin-
cinnati, 1898.
6. S. J. H. G.
GIHON (prT":) : 1- The second river of Eden,
surrounding the whole land of Cush or Ethiopia
(Gen. ii. 13). Its identification has been a mat-
ter of dispute among Biblical exegetes and critics.
Josephus ("Ant." i. 1, § 3) identifies Gihon with the
Nile, and the Septuagint renders "Sihor " (the Nile;
Jer. ii. 18) by Ttjuv, But tlie Midrash and later com-
mentators, as Saadiaand Rashi, think Pison, the first
river of Eden, to be the Nile. The Arabs call the
Oxus " Jaihun," and it has been assumed by certain
critics to be the " Gihon " of the Bible. The fact is that
the identification of Gihon depends on tliat of Cush.
Huet identities Cush with Chusistan, and Bochart
identifies it with Susiana; apparently, therefore,
Gihon must be sought among Asiatic rivers, and it
may be the Oxus, the Orontes, or the Ganges. But
the medieval commentators, following the Septua-
gint, considered Cush to be Ethiopia, thus making
Gihon an African river. Abraham Farissol, speak-
ing of the position of Eden ("Iggeret Orhot 'Olam,"
ch. XXX.), identifies Pison with the Nile, and speaks
of Gihon in a way which led his annotator, Thomas
Hyde (Ugolinus, "Thesaurus Antiquitatum Sacra-
rum," vii.), to think that he meant the Niger.
Placing Eden in the region of the Mountains of the
]\Ioon, Farissol removes the difficulty presented by
the fact that the Euphrates and Tigris are in Asia
by declaring that these rivers, though taking their
rise in Africa, actually run underground till they
reappear in Assyria (comp. Pausanias, ii. 5).
2. A fountain near Jerusalem where the anointing
and proclamation of Solomon as king took place (I
Kings i. 33, 38, 45). According to one passage it was
on low ground (see II Chron. xxxiii. 14), but in an-
other {ib. xxxii. 30) it is said that Hezekiali stopped
the " upper watcrcour.se " of Gihon. This fountain is
mentioned by Josephus as being outside the city
("Ant." vii. 14, § 5). Robinson ("Researches," i. 513)
came to the conclusion that " there existed anciently
a fountain Gihon on the west of the city, which was
' stopped ' or covered over by Hezekiah, and its
waters brought down by subterranean channels
into the city." The Jewish commentators consider
this Gihon to be the river mentioned above. The
Targum of Jonathan, as well as the Syriac and
Arabic versions have " Shiloah " for " Gihon " in
I Kings i., while in Chronicles they agree witli the
Hebrew text.
e. g. n. M. Sel.
GIKATILLA, JOSEPH B. ABRAHAM:
Spanish cabalist; born at Medinaceli, Old Castile,
1248; died at Penafiel after 1305. Gikatilla was
for some time a pupil of the cabalist Abraham
Abulafia, by whom he is highly prai.sed ; his
cabalistic knowledge became so profound that he
was supposed to be able to work miracles, and
on this account was called " Josepli Ba'al ha-Nissim "
(the Thaumaturge; Zacuto, "Yuhasin," p. 224a).
Like his master, Gikatilla occupied himself with
mystic combinations and transpositions of letters
and numbers; indeed, Abulafia considered him as
the continuator of his school (Jellinek, "B. H." iii.
p. xl.). But Gikatilla was not an adversar_v of phi-
losophy; on the contrary, he tried to reconcile phi-
losophy with the Cabala, declaring that the latter
is the foundation of the former. He, however, strove
after the higher science, that is, mysticism. His
works in general represent a progressive develop-
ment of philosophical insight into mj-sticism. His
first work shows that he had considerable knowl-
edge of secular sciences, and that he was familiar
with the works of Ibn Gabirol, Ibn Ezra, Maimon-
ides, and others.
Gikatilla was a prolific writer; he wrote his first
work("GinnatEgoz ") when only twentj'-six. It is a
cabalistic treatise in three parts (Hanau, 1615). The
title (from Cant. vi. 11) means "garden of nuts,"
"Ginnat" consisting of the initials of "Gematria,"
"Notarikon," "Temurah " (nJ3), the three main ele-
ments of Cabala, while "Egoz " (the nut) is the em-
blem of mysticism. The first part, in five chapters,
treats of the various names of God occurring in the
Bible. According to Gikatilla, " Yiiwn " is the only
name which represents the substance of God ; the
other names are merely predicates of the divine at-
tributes. "Yhwh" stands for God as He is, while
" Elohim " denotes God as the creative power. The
name " zeba'ot " (hosts), he says, applies to all the
beings of the three natures, earthly, heavenly (or
spheres), and spirits (or forms). The interpretation of
mX^V as nvniK xavC'hostof letters") leads him
over to the second part, which treats of the letters
of the alphabet. He declares that the number ten
emanated from Yhwh, the primitive
System of cause, and is the source of all being;
Gematria. he attempts to prove his statement by
different combinations based on relig-
ion, philosophy, phj'sics, and mysticism. He shows
that the Talmudic view that space is filled with spirits
agrees with the belief of the philosophers that there
is no vacuum. He also treats here of the revolutions
of the sun and moon, giving the relative sizes of the
planets. The third part is a treatise, in four chap-
ters, on the vowels. The three primitive vowels,
"holem," "shuruk,"and "hirik," represent the up-
per, middle, and lower worlds ; tlie three compound
ones, "zere," "segol," and "siiewa." represent the
composition or the construction of the worlds; the
" patah " and "kamcz " represent their movements.
Gikatilla at times criticizes tlie "Sefer Yezirah "
and the "Pirke Ilekalot." Theseven lieavensfHag.
12a) are identified by him with the seven planets.
He holds Maimonides in great esteem even when he
opposes him, and quotes liim very often. Otlier au-
thorities quoted by iiim are Ibn Gabirol, Samuel ibn
Gikatilla
Oilead
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
666
Nagrella, and Abraham ibn Ezra. Isaac b. Samuel
of Acre in bis "Me'irat 'Enayyim" severely criti-
cizes Gikatilla for too free usage of the Holy Name.
In another work, "Sha'are Orah," or "Seferha-
Orah," dealing in ten chapters with the names of
God (Mantua, 1561), Gikatilla takes an attitude
somewhat hostile to philosophy. He quotes only the
" Sefer Yezirah " and the " Pirke Hekalot, " and there
is even a contradiction of his previously stated views
regarding the spheres. Landauer (" Orient, Lit." vi.
227) therefore denies Gikatilla's authorship of this
work, though it is credited to him by all the ancient
authors. These differences, however, are merely in-
dicative of Gikatilla's transition from philosopher to
mystic. The " Sha'are Orah" is quoted by Shem-Tob
b. Shem-Tob, Moses al-Ashkar, and Judah Hayyat,
and long extracts from it are inserted by Reuben b.
Hoshke in his "Yalkut Reubeni." It was trans-
lated into Latin by Paul Ricius and used by Reuch-
lin as a defense against his adversaries. "Sha'are
Zedek," or "Sha'ar ha-Shamayim," a treatise by Gi-
katilla on tlie ten spheres (Riva, 1561), is merely a
recasting of the " Sha'are Orah." In different manu-
scripts of the work the author'-, name is variously
written "Gribzul," "Karnitol," and "Necatil," all
corruptions of "Gikatilla."
" Hassagot " (unpublished) consists of strictures on
the "Moreh." Gikatilla used Al-Harizi's transla-
tion, in which he corrects many mis-
Other takes and sometimes differs from Mai-
Works, monides. It seems that he wrote the
" Hassagot " in the beginning of his lit-
erary career, when he was more of a philosopher and
less of a mystic His other works are as follows:
"Sefer ha-Nikkud," mystical explanation of the
vowel-points, included with the " Arze Lebanon "
(Venice, 1601); "Sod ha-Hashmal," according to
Zunz identical with the "Perush Merkabah," a
cabalistic commentary on tlie vision of Ezekiel, also
printed with the "Arze Lebanon"; "ZofnatPa'a-
neah," commentary on the "Pesah Haggadah" (ib.
1606[?]); "Sodot ha-Mizwot," cabalistic explana-
tion of the commandments; "Iggeret," cabalistic
essays (Ferrara, 1556); "Teshubot," responsa;
"Sha'ar Meshalim," cabalistic essay in 138 para-
graphs; "Ozar ha-Kabod," according to Jellinek,
the same as the " Sodot ha-Mizwot, " a commentary on
Canticles. Jellinek thinks that Gikatilla composed
a cabalistic treatise entitled " Hekalot " of the same
character as the "Pirke Hekalot."
Bibliography: Jellinek, Beitrdge zur Gesch. der Kabbala,
li. 61 et seq.; Zunz, Additameiita (to the catalogue of the
Hebrew manuscripts in Leipsic). pp. 3:iO-32I ; Cassel, in Ersch
and Gruber, Encuc. section ii., part 31, pp. 76-80 ; S. Sachs, in
Ha-Yo)tah, p. 80; Landauer, in Orient, Lit. vi. 227-228;
CaiTOOly, Itinerairett. p. 276 ; Gratz, Gesch. 3d ed., pp. 194,
198 ; Steinschneider, Cat. Bodl. cols. 1461-1470.
K. M. Sel.
GIKATILLA, MOSES IBN : Grammarian and
Bible exegete of the latter part of the eleventh cen-
tury. His full name was "Moses b. Samuel ha-
Kohen," but Abraliam ibn Ezra generally called him
"Rabbi Moses ha-Kohen." His surname, which ap-
pears as early as the tenth century in the writings of
a pupil of Menahem b. Saruk, was probably derived
from the Spanish (diminutive of "chico," small); its
Arabic-Hebrew transcription, "Ibn Gikatilla," is the
form usually adopted.
About Gikatilla's life little is known. His native
place was Cordova, but he resided later at Sara-
gossa, where he may have enjoyed personal inter-
course with the eminent Hebrew grammarian, Abu al-
Walid Merwan ibn Janah. He appears to have lived
for some time also in southern France, and there, at
the suggestion of Isaac b. Solomon, translated tlie
writings of Hayyuj from Arabic into Hebrew.
Judah ibn Balaam, his somewhat younger contem-
porary, says of him: "He was one of the foremost
scholars and grammarians and one of the most noted
writers, being distinguished for prose and poetry in
both Hebrew and Arabic. Physical weakness alone
detrimentally affected his position as one of the most
eminent men of his time." Judah al-Harizi ("Tah-
kemoni," ch. iii.) likewise praised his poems, of
which, however, not one has been preserved. Gika-
tilla's importance is in the province of Hebrew gram-
mar and Bible exegesis. Abraham ibn Daud, the
historian (twelfth century), places him alongside of
Abu al-Walid as successor to Hayyuj in this prov-
ince, and Abraham ibn Ezra terms him the " great-
est grammarian."
Gikatilla wrote a monograph on Hebrew gram-
mar, which, however, has been lost; it was entitled
" Kitab al Tadhkir wal-Ta'nith " (in Hebrew " Sefer
Zekarim u-Nekebot," i.e., Book of Masculines and
Feminines). He translated into Hebrew the two
principal works of Hayyuj, the treatises on "Verbs
Containing Weak Letters " and " Verbs Containing
Double Letters" (edited from Bodleian MSS., with
an English translation by John W. Nutt, 1870).
Numerous citations are found, especially in
Abraham ibn Ezra, from Gikatilla's commentaries
on Isaiah, the Minor Prophets, and the Psalms.
Gikatilla is the first Jewish exegete who gave a
purely historical explanation of the prophetical
chapters of Isaiah and of the utterances of the other
prophets. He refers the prophecies in the first part of
Isaiah to the time of King Hezekiah and to the As-
syrian period, and those in the second part to the time
of the Second Temple. According to him, Joel iii. 1
(A. V. ii. 28) does not refer to the Messianic time,
but to the numerous prophets' disciples contem-
porary with Elijah and Elisha. He also assumes
the existence of exilic psalms, recognizing as such
Ps. xlii., cxxxvii., and others, and considering the
last two verses of Ps. li. an addition made to a Psalm
of David by a pious exile in Babylon. In the course
of a disputation which lie once held with Judah ibn
Balaam concerning Josh. x. 12, Gikatilla rationalizes
the so-called miracle of the sun and moon by main-
taining that after sunset the reflection of the sun lin-
gered so long that daylight remained while Joshua
pursued the enemy ; and Judah ibn Balaam remarks
in his account of the disputation tliat this opinion
was one of Gikatilla's many misleading and per-
nicious notions.
In addition to the commentaries above mentioned
on the three books of the Bible (Isaiah, the Minor
Prophets, and the Psalms), Gikatilla wrote a com-
mentary on Job. In a manuscript at Oxford there
exists a considerable portion of this commentary, its
introduction and a large part of the Arabic transla-
tion of the text, to which the commentary is attached
(Ncubauer, "Cat. Bodl. Hebr. MSS." No. 125). He
667
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Qikatilla
Gilead
seems also to have written a comnientar}- ou the
Pentateuch, from which Abraham ibn Ezra and
Aaron b. Joseph, a Karaite author of the tliirteenth
century, quoted freely ; a commentary
Coin- to the earlier prophets, some points of
mentaries. which Judah ibn Balaam controverted ;
and perliaps also a commentary to the
Song of Songs, which, as Joseph ibn 'Aknin says,
Gikatilla explained according to the method of
" pesliat," that is, in the simplest literal sense. The
fragments of Gikatilla's writings, existing for the
most part as quotations by Abraham ibn Ezra, were
collected by Samuel Poznanski in his monograph,
" Moses b. Samuel ha-Kohen ibn Chiquitilla, Nebst
den Fragmenten Seiner Schriften," Leipsic, 1895.
Bibliography : Bacher, in Rev. Et. Juives, xxxi. 307-31".
T. W. B.
GIL VICENTE: Portuguese dramatist; born
at Lisbon about 1470; called by the Portuguese their
Plautus, their Shakespeare, and the father of their
comedy. He numbered secret Jews among his
friends, to one of whom, Affonso Lopez Capaio, a
poet at Thomar, he addressed several short poems.
When in Jan., 1531, Portugal, and especially the
city of Santarem, was terrified by an earthquake,
the monks seized the occasion to anathematize from
the pulpit all those that harbored Jews or Maranos,
the latter of whom were driven from tiieir homes
and obliged to seek refuge in the mountains. When
Gil Vicente, then sixty years of age, saw the fury
to which the populace had been incited, and its
danger to the innocent victims, he summoned the
fanatic monks to the chief church, and, reminding
them earnestly of their true mission of love, per-
suaded them to induce the people to desist from fur-
ther persecutions. He actually succeeded in restor-
ing peace and quiet where the ministers of the
Church had sown dragons' teeth; and he considered
this one of the most valuable services that he had
rendered to his king. He sent a detailed report of
the occurrence to his pious monarch (" MS. Carta
que Gil Vicente mandon de Santarem a El Rei D.
Joao III. sobre 6 tremor de terra, que foi a 26. de
Janeiro de 1531," in "Obras," iii. 385 et seq.).
Bibliography: Kayserling, Gefch. der Juden in Portugal,
pp. 181 et seq.; Ersch and Gruber, Encyc. section 1., part 67,
pp. 325 et seq.
(i. M. K.
GILBOA: The ancient name given to the bow-
shaped mountain chain situated north of the Ras
Ibzik, separating the plain of Jezreel from the val-
ley of the Jordan, and sloping off abruptly toward
the Jalud ravine at the northwest. The region is
known as the scene of Saul's last fight with the
Pliilistines, and the place of his death (I Sam. xx viii.
4; xxxi. 1, 8; II Sam. i. 6, 21; xxi. 12; I Chron. x.
1, 8). In its center is situated the village of Jalbon,
which appears to have preserved the old name (see
Buhl, "Geographic des Alten Palastina," pp. 103,
107, 204).
E. G. H. F. Bf.
GILDS : Associations for the restriction of com-
petition in the production and distribution of com-
m.odities. From the twelfth century onward most
of the towns of western Europe were organized in
such a manner as tc restrict each craft and trade to
the control of a close corporation, which determined
the conditions under which men were allowed to
work, to sell goods, etc. As a rule, gilds were in-
tended for charitable, social, and religious purposes.
According to Schanz (" Zur Geschichte der Deutschen
Gesellenverbande," p. 69), they were modeled on the
church fraternities, and invariably included arrange-
ments for church festivities. The merchant and craft
gilds of England were also organized for common
worship (Asiiiey, " Introduction to English Economic
History," i. 91), especially to provide for masses
and vigils, to furnish candles, and to perform other
duties on the occasion of the deatli and burial of any
of their members {ib. 92). In no case might Jews be
admitted to these confraternities. Thus at Florence,
among the seventy-three organizations enumerated
by Doren (" Entwicklung und Organization der Flor-
entiner Ziinfte," pp. 205-207) none would admit any
person that had not received the freedom of the city,
a privilege which was denied to Jews. Similarly, in
London no "foreigner" (that is, a person not born in
the liberty) might be received in the city or might
trade there (Ashley, I.e. ii. 89). Only a member of
a craft gild might manufacture goods; none but
a member of the gild merchant might sell them.
Only one instance is known of a Jew being a mem-
ber of a gild merchant in England (Kitchin, "Win-
chester," p. 108), and throughout the Middle Ages
distinct ordinances were passed preventing the Jews
from trading in various towns and thus from com-
peting with the merchants of the gild, as in the case
of the Jews of Linz in 1396 (Kurtz, " Handel Oes-
terreichs," p. 89). Even as late as 1683 Jews were
not allowed to engage in retail trade in New York.
The gilds everywhere took steps to prevent the Jews
from interfering with their monopoly. Thus, through
their influence, the Jews of Neisse were expelled from
that city in 1468, while those of Rome were forced
by the action of the gilds to confine their trading
to second-hand clothing (Vogelstein and Rieger,
"Gesch. der Juden in Rom," p. 298). Owing to tlie
exclusiveness of the gilds throughout the Middle
Ages the Jews were restricted entirely to trading in
money, and in many instances this restriction was
imposed till the middle of the nineteenth century.
One of the chief features of the emancipation strug-
gle in Germany was the overcoming of the power of
the gilds.
In Russia the gilds, which are of more recent crea-
tion, do not seem to be of so distinctly religious a
character as in western Europe during the Middle
Ages. Consequently, Jews are permitted to join
them, and Jewish merchants of the First Gild have
certain privileges not accorded to other Jews, espe-
cially tiiat of liberty to travel and reside outside the
Pale of Settlement.
Bibliography : Ii. Eberstadt, Maffisterium und Fratemitai<.
J.
GILEAD : 1. District, mountain, and city east of
the Jordan. Tlie name "Gilead " in Gen. xxxi. 48 is
explained by popular etymology to mean "heap of
witness," in connection witli the story of the heap of
stones which Laban and Jacob piled up as a sign of
their covenant. In the Old Testament "Gilead"
sometimes designates a district or mountain, some-
times a city. The mountain of Gilead is found, for
Gileaa
Ginsburg', Christian
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
668
instance, in Deut. iii. 12; Gen. xxxi. 21 et seq.\
Cant. iv. 1 ; comp. vi. 5. The district of Gilead has
an undetermined boundary. It often designates in
general the land east of the Jordan in so far as it
was inhabited by Israelites; e.g., Num. xxxii. 29;
Josh. xxii. 9; II Sam. ii. 9; Amos i. 3. Hence, in
an ideal sense it includes the northernmost part of
the laud east of the Jordan as far as Hermon (Djut.
xxxiv. 1 ; comp. the obscure passage in II Kings x.
33, which is probably the result of the combination of
several original variant accounts). The same ex-
planation may be given for I Mace. v. 20 ctseq.,
where the regions occupied by Jews north of the
Yarmuk are designated as " Gilead. " In other places
Gilead includes only the territory between the Yar-
muk and Moab(i.e., 'Ajlunand the northern Balka);
thus, for example, Deut. iii. 10; II Kings x. 33.
Here the land is called "all the land of Gilead " be-
cause it was divided into two parts which were
separated b}' the Jabbok (comp. Deut. iii. 16; Josh,
xii. 2). Each of the two parts is called "the half of
Gilead " (comp. Deut. iii. 12 et seq.), or simply "Gil-
ead " {e.r/.. Josh. xii. 6 and elsewhere; Num. xxxii.
1). Sometimes the land of Jazer in the south is ex-
plicitly distinguished from Gilead (Num. xxxii. 1;
II Sam. xxiv. 5). The inhabitants of Gilead were
Reuben, Gad, and a part of Manasseh. Neverthe-
less, Gilead is mentioned alongside of Reuben in
Judges V. 17; of Gad in 1 Sam. xiv. 7; of ]\Ianasseh
in Judges xi. 29; Ps. Ix. 9 (A. V. 7), cviii. 9 (A. V.
8). It is difficult to decide with which part of the
trans-Jordanic land the name " Gilead" was originally
associated. At the present day there is a Mount
Jal'ad, two hours south of the Jabbok; but this
offers no proof of conditions in Biblical times, and
the account in Gen. xxxi. argues against such a
location.
2. City mentioned in Hosea vi. 8, and perhaps
in Judges x. 17. It is now identified with the ruins
Jal'ud upon the mountain mentioned above.
Bibliography : Smend, in Stade's Zcltschrift, xxii. 14.5.
E. G. II. F. Bu.
GILGAL : The first camping-place of the Israel-
ites in the land west of the Jordan (Josh. iv. 19);
the place to which they could retreat during their
struggles for conquest (Josh. x. Q et seq.)\ it was
also a sanctuary, the origin of which is explained in
Josh. iv. 3 et seq. ; and it is mentioned as a place of
sacrifice in I Sam. x. 8, xi. 15, xv. 12; comp. also II
Sam. xix. 16 (A. V. 15). This Gilgal does not seem
to be identical with the city visited by Samuel (I
Sam. vii. 16), which should rather be identified with
Jil jilya, southwest of Shiloh. Nor — even if the read-
ing "they went down " should be accepted as uncer-
tain—does it seem to be the Gilgal mentioned in II
Kings ii. 1 etseq., from which Elijah journeyed to
Beth-el and then to Jericho. The " Gilgal " of tliis pas-
sage, where according to II Kings iv. 38 a company
of prophets lived, is usually identified with the Jil-
jilya mentioned above, or with a Julaijil southeast
of Shechem. Deut. xi. 30, the passage supporting
these identifications, is, however, rather doubtful
from a critical standpoint, and lience the question
can not be decided witli absolute certainty. Tlie
Ephraitic sanctuary, so severely conckanned by the
Prophets (Amos iv. 4, v. 5; Hosea iv. 15), is probably
to be identified with the "Gilgal" of the Joshua
narrative. Its name could still be found not many
years ago in that of a hill Jaljul. east of Jericho,
but even that name seems now to be forgotten.
BiBLiOGR.^PiiY: Zsohokke. Beitriigc zur Topoqraphie d.
Wa<tl. Jordaiuwc, 1.S66, pp. 26 ct sf q.; Palestine Exploration
Fiiml, No. 3, pp. 173 1'< seq., 181 et seq.. 191 ; MUteHuugen und
NachricMcn des Deutsehen PaUistinn-Veieins, 1899, pp. 30
et seq.. 97 ct seq.; Schlatter, Zur Topograph ie und Gesch ichte
PaUintiiias. pp. 246 et seq.; Bertholet, on Deut. xi. 30.
E. G. H. F. Bu.
GILGUL-NESHAMOTH. See Tr.\nsmigra-
TION OF Sofl.S.
GILYONIM (Q'':v^J = " Gospels"; lit. "scrolls"):
Term used by the scribes flourisliing between 100 and
135 to denote the Gospels. The designation as used
by them did not imply any mockery ; R. Meir, who
tlourished after 135, a descendant of Greek proselytes,
was the first to play upon the word kvayyiMov by
translating it as p^J px (= " worthlessness of [i.e.,
written upon] a scroll "). Although R. Mei'r's words-
are generally interpreted in this .sense, it is possible
that, having had a Greek education, lie simply in-
tended to represent the sound of "evangelium" more
exactly. R. Johanan (d. 270), on the other hand, calls
the Gospel p^jn pv = "sin-scroll" (Shab. 116a, in the
unexpurgated editions, and in Rabinovitz, "Varioe
Lectiones," adloc). Only one Gospel is referred to.
The Munich manuscript has in the decisive passages,
Shab. 116a, the singular (p'^JH) where the printed
editions have the plural. The title may have been
originally briefly ayyeAiov = p^^JH- In the first pas-
sage quoted below D^JV^JH ("Gospels") does not
mean several recensions — i.e., three or four different
Gospels — but only several copies of one and the same
work.
The principal passages are as follows:
"The '(;ilyon[im] ' and the [Biblical] books of the Judaeo-
Christians ["Minim"] are not saved [on the Sabbath] from
fire ; but one lets them burn together with the names of God
written upon them." R. Jose the Galilean says : " On week-days
the names of God are cut out and hidden while the rest is
burned." R. Tarphon says : " I swear by the life of my children
that if they fall into my hands I shall bum them together with
the names of (iod upon them." R. Ishmael says : " If God has
said. 'My name that has been written in holiness [i.e., in the
" jealousy roll " mentioned in Num. v. 21 ct seq.l shall be wiped
out by water, in order to make peace between husband and
wife,' then all the more should the books of the JudsEo-Christians,
that cause enmity, jealousy, and contention between Israel and
its heavenly Father. ... As they are not saved from fire, so
they are not saved when they are in danger of decaying, or
when they have fallen into water, or when any other mishap
has befallen them " (Tosef., Shab. xiii. 5 [ed. Zuckermandel, p.
129] ; comp. Shab. 116a; Yer. Shab. 15c, 52 ; Sifre, Num. 16).
M. Friedlilnder ("Der Vorchristliche Jlidische
Gnosticismus," pp. 80 et seq., Gottingen, 1898) has
erroneously contended that this passage does not
treat of the Gospel. The Jewish Christians of Pal-
estine had a Gospel of their own, the so-called Ile-
bi'ew Gospel, from which still later Church Fathers
([uote (see Ilarnack, " Altchristliche Litteratur," i. 6
et seq.). Matthew was, likewise, originally written
in Hebrew (Aramaic) ; many copies must, therefore,
have been in circulation, and doubts must naturally
have arisen concerning the manner in which they
were to be disposed of, since they contained men-
tion of the divine name. Furthermore, the whole
tenor if tlie passage shows that those w'ho asked
the question which elicited these remarks concern-
669
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Gilead
Grinsburg, Christian
ing the " Gilj^on " were pious Jews, and the}' cer-
tainly used, and consequently inquired concerning,
the Hebrew Gospel. Indeed, the correct reading in
this passage lias " Gilyon " in the singular ; the
gnostic writings (which were sometimes called "Gil-
yonim " also), however, were many ; and liad ref-
erence to these been intended here the plural would
have been used.
Another passage shows that tlie Gospels have not
the sanctity of the Biblical books. " The Gilyonim
and the [Biblical] books of the Juda?o-Christians do
not render the hands unclean. The books of Ben
Sira and all books written from now onward do not
render the hands unclean" (Tosef., Yad. ii. 13, ed.
Zuckermaudel, p. 683).
The Gospel is twice quoted in an anecdote, appar-
ently from Babylonia, preserved in Shab. 116b
(beginning) : " The patriarch Gamaliel II. [c. 100] and
his sister, the wife of R. Eliezer, were living near
a philosopher who had the reputation of rejecting
bribes. Desiring to cast ridicule upon him, the
woman took a golden candlestick to him and said :
'I desire to be a coheir.' He answered: 'Divide.'
Then she said: 'It is written in the Torah, "The
daughter shall not inlierit where there is a son." '
He answered: 'Since you have been
Talmudic exiled from your country the Torah
Quotations of Moses has been abrogated, and in
from its place the Gospel []vbi |1J?] bas been
Gospels, promulgated, in which it is written,
" Son and daughter inherit together." '
On the following day Gamaliel brouglita Libyan ass
to him, whereupon the philosopher said: 'Observe
the principle of the Gospel, where it is written, " I am
not come to take away aught from the teaching of
Moses, but to add to it " ; and it is written in the
Torah, " Where there is a son the daughter docs not
inherit. " ' The woman said to him : ' Let your light
sliine like a candle. ' Then Gamaliel said : ' The ass
came and overthrew the candlestick.'" It can not
be ascertained whether the new law regarding the
right of daughters to inherit was included in the
original Hebrew Gospel. Tiie Gospels are not other-
wise mentioned in the Talmud or Midrash.
From the Talmudic narratives about Jesus it ap-
pears tliat the contents of the Gospel were known
to the Talmudic teachers. In post-
In the Mid- Talmudic days the Jews were often led
die Ages, to study the Gospels througli contro-
versy with Ciiristians (see Polemics).
David Kimhi (in"Milhemet Hobah," and in his com-
mentary on the Psalms) quotes them several times.
They were early rendered into Hebrew. Sebastian
Miinster translated one. In modern times they have
been translated into classical Hebrew by Salkinson,
and into Misimaic Hebrew by Franz Delitzseh.
Tlie great mass of the Jewish people have in the
past known the New^ Testament only from hear.say ;
and even to-day tiiey do not read it, in spite of all
inducements and of its translation into Jewisii-Ger-
nian jargons. The following editions of the New
Testament exist in tlie Hebrew language:
1. n^ii'^n riTi. The fiospt>l acconlinsr to .Matthew, witli :i
Latin translation and notes by Sebastian Miinster, Riisel, ir>:!7.
2. n^ia n-\i::'3 iod. The dospel accorciin": to Luke, trans-
hiled into Hebrew liv H. Cliri.st. Inini. Fronnnaii. eilited by J. II.
Callenberfr, Halle. irx>.
3. nt:'^^ n^ia. The New Testament, printed by A. Macin-
tosh, London, 1817.
4. ii'-ipn iflD. The Old and New Testaments, published by
S. Bagster, London, 1B35.
5. .n^r-inn p>-\2n -\dd. The New Testament, published by S.
Bagster, London, 1836.
6. na'-inn n^ijn icD. The New Testament, published by S.
Bagster, London. 1H44.
7. .■T»^'^^^ nna -»dD. The New Testament. London, 1846.
8. a-cnn Sn pijn. The Epistle to the Romans, published
by G. Ph. Low, Berlin, 1855.
9. a-'-i^jjn --N r-iJN. The Epistle to the Hebrews, published by
G. Ph. LOW, ib. 1858.
10. cn^*^;:'.! I'^VD ncD. The Acts of the Apostles, published
by G. Ph. Low, ih. 1867.
11. naia niitro idd. The Gospel According to Luke, pub-
lished by G. Ph. Low, ih. 1869.
12. n:;'-inn n'-ian •'-idd. The New Testament (Delitzsch's
edition), printed by Trowitzsch & Son, Berlin, and published by
the British and Foreign Bible Society, London, 1885.
13. n::nnn D^-\::n. The New Testament (Salkinson-Ginsburg
edition), printed by Carl Fromme, Vienna, 1886, and published
by the Trinitarian Bible Society at London.
Since the eleventh or twelfth century a legend is
known of St. Matthew which was originally written
in Hebrew — according to Noldeke, by a baptized
Jew (Lipsius, " Die Apokryphen Apostelgeschichten
und Apostellegenden," II. ii. 264) — of which, how-
ever, only a Latin translation is now extant. See
also New Testament.
Bibliography: Kohut, Ai'uch Completum, I. 45b, ii. 295a;
Levy, Neulichr. Wurtcrh. i. 41a, SUh; Krauss, Lehnicurter,
ii. 21; Jost, Gench. des JuflenUnims ujjri Seiner Sekten, 11.
;J8, Lelpsic, 1858; Griitz, Gesch. iv. 112; Derenbourg, Hist. p.
379; Schiirer, Gesch. 3d ed., ii. 378; Griinbaum, Genammelte
Ahhamlhingen. p. 450, Berlin, 1901 ; Blau, Shidieti zum Alt-
hehrdi!<chen Buchiccscii. pp. 92, 119.
E. c. L. B.
GIMEIi (J) : Third letter of the Hebrew alpha-
bet, so called, perhaps, because the shape of the let-
ter in the ancient West-Semitic script bears a resem-
blance to the neck of the camel. In pronunciation
gimel corresponds to the Greek y or to the English
g in " go. " It is classified bj' the grammarians among
the four palatals (p3'J), and being, with the excep-
tion of the letter v the softest of this group, it is
often Interchanged with the harder ones 3 and p;
for instance, pa and pj. "to cover," "to protect";
?J-) and 7DT, "to rtin up and down." According to
the Masorah, gimel belongs to the letters n231J3,
which have a double pronunciation, softened or as-
pirated, and hard or unaspirated. In the grammat-
ical division of the letters, gimel is included in the
eleven which occur only as root sounds, and never
as functional sounds. As a numeral, it has the
value 3. In Arabic Avritten in Hebrew script J rep-
resents the ghain (gh) and sometimes jim (j).
G. I. Bk.
GIMZO : A citj' in the Judean plain ; conquered
by the Philistines according to II Chron. xxviii. 18;
present village of Jimzu, southeast of Lydda.
BHiLiOGRAPUY : Ncubauer, Gcofjraijhic ilu Talmud, p. 98.
K. c. II. F. Bi-.
GINSBURG, CHRISTIAN DAVID : English
Masoretic sciioiar and Christian missionuiy; born
at Warsaw Dec. 25, 1831. He was converted in
1846, and was for a time connected with the Liver-
pool branch of the London Society's Mission to the
Jews, but retired in 1863, devoting himself entirely
to literary work. Besides editions of the Song of
Songs, 1857, and Ecclesiastes, 1861, he published
es.says on the Karaites. 1862; and Essencs, lS(i4:
and a full account in English of the Cabala. 1S65.
Q-insburg-, Saul
Girth of the Chest
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
670
He then devoted himself to Masoretic studies, pub-
lishing the text and translation of Elias Levita's
"Massoretha-Massoret"inl867, and of Jacob b. Hay-
yim's "Introduction to the Eabbinic Bible" in the
same year. He was elected a member of the Board of
Revisers of the Old Testament in 1870, and devoted
himself to the collation of all the extant remains of
the Masorah, three volumes of which he published in
1880-86. Based upon these collations, he edited a
new text of the Old Testament for the Trinitarian
Bible Society, which was published in 1894 under the
title " The Massoretico-Critical Text of the Hebrew
Bible. " To this he wrote an introduction, published
together with a volume of facsimiles of the manu
scripts of the Hebrew Bible, in 1897. His method
of settling the Masoretic text has been somewhat
severely criticized by Blau in the " Jewish Quarterly
Review " (viii. 343 et seq.). Ginsburg wrote the
most elaborate account printed in English of the
Moabite Stone (1871), and was instrumental in ex-
posing forgeries of Shapira.
Bibliography: Men and Women of the Time, 1899; De le
Roi, Geschiclite der Evangelischen Judenmission, iii. 129;
J. Dunlop, Memories of Gospel Triumphs, pp. 368-373, Lon-
don, 1894 ; Encyclopedia Britannica, Supplement, s.v.
J.
GINSBURG, SAUL MOISEYEVICH : Kus
sian lawyer and author ; born at Minsk 1866 ; grad
uated from the law department of the University of
St. Petersburg 1890. Since 1898 he has held the
position of secretary to the Society for the Promo-
tion of Education Among the Jews of Russia. From
1896 to 1900 he was in charge of the " Literary Re-
view " of the "Voskhod." His own reviews ap-
peared under the pseudonym "Ha-Kore." Among
other essays, he published in the " Voskhod "
sketches on "P. Smolenskin" (1897, ii.), corre-
spondence of L. Gordon (1896, iv.), "A. Mapu"
(1892, viii.), the " Te'udah be-Yisrael " of I. B. Levin-
sohn(1898, iv.-v.), and "Morris Rosenfeld " (1899,
iv.); and in "Yevreiski Yezhegodnik" (1902, ii.),
"Michael Lebensolui." Together with P. Marek,
he published, under the title " Yevreiskiya Narod-
nyya Pyesui" (St. Petersburg, 1901), a volume of
Judaeo-German folk-songs which had been collected
by his correspondents in various parts of the Pale
of Settlement in Russia.
n. R. J. G. L.
GINZBERG, ASHER (AHAD HA-'AM) :
Russian scholar; born at Skvira, government of
Kiev, on Aug. 5, 1856. His father, Isaiah, be-
longed to a family of Hasidim and brought up his
son as a Hasid. Ginzberg studied Talmud in a
heder, and when only eight years of age acquired,
unknown to his parents, the Russian and German al-
pliabets from boys of his own age. In 1868 his father
became the tax-farmer of the village of Gopishitza,
government of Kiev, where the entire family, with
short interruptions, lived until 1886. During the
time he lived there Ginzberg continued to study the
Talmud and the allied literature; he became so well
versed in rabbinical matters that the rabbis of the sur-
rounding towns habitually consulted him. He also
studied the works of the Spanish philosophers. In
1873, before he had attained his eighteenth year, he
married.his wife being a relative of Menahem Men-
Asher Ginzberg ("A had ha-' Am
del, rabbi of Linbavich, and of Jacob Israel, rabbi
of Cherkasi. At that time he had become more or
less imbued with the critical spirit. In 1878, during a
visit to Odessa, he became acquainted with the works
of such Russian critics as Pisarev and others. About
this time he took up the study of Latin, mathe-
matics, history, and geography. In 1883 he went to
Vienna, and in 1883-84 to Berlin and Breslau; but,
urged by his wife and parents, he soon returned to
Gopishitza. In 1884 Ginzberg entered upon a new
phase of activity, one dominated by i-)ublic and lit-
erary interests. In
April, 1884, he revis-
ited Odessa, the cen-
ter of the Cliovevei
Zion organization,
and was elected a
member of its central
committee, under the
presidency of Dr.
Pinsker. Ginzberg
soon became one of
its guiding members.
In 1885 he returned
to Gopishitza for a
short time, and in
1886 he settled per-
manently in Odessa.
In 1889 his first ar-
ticle, "Lo Zeh ha-
Derek," appeared in
"Ila-Meliz." The
ideas contained in this article are embodied in
the Zionist League (Bene Mosheli) founded by
him in the same year. The character and the
aim of that league are elaborated in his " Derek
ha-Hayyim," which appeared in the pamphlet
"Sefer Kenisat ha-Haberim" (Jerusalem, 1891).
The league lasted eight years (1889-97). and al-
most all the notable Chovevei Zionists were mem-
bers of it, Ginzberg being its chief. It occupied
itself with the improvement of Hebrew education,
with the dissemination of Hebrew literature, and
with the interests of the Palestinian settlements.
In 1890 Ginzberg was the editor of " Keweret," a pub-
lication devoted to Zionism, in which many of his
articles appeared. In that year the Rus.sian govern-
ment permitted the formation at Odessa of a com-
mittee for the purpose of helping Jewish colonists
and artisans in Syria and Palestine; Ginzberg was a
member thereof imtil 1902, when he resigned. In
1891 and again in 1893 he visited Palestine, each
visit resulting in an article entitled "Emet me-Erez
Yisrael " (in " Ha-Meliz " 1891, No. 13; 1893, No. 3).
Between 1891 and 1894 Ginzberg was a frequent
contributor to " Pardes," published by Rawnitzki, in
which his best articles appeared: "Ha-Adam ba-
Ohel," "Torah sheba-Leb," "Perurim," and various
philosophical essays. At that time, supported by the
Bene Moslieh and the committee at Odessa, he was in-
strumental in founding a school at Jaffa. In 1894 he
was inspired with the idea of publishing a popular
Jewish encyclopedia in Hebrew under the title " Ozar
ha-Yahdut." In 1895 all his articles were collected
into one volume under the title " 'Al Parashat Dera-
kim, " and published in Odessa. A second and revised
671
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Ginsburg-, Saul
Girth of the Chest
edition was publislied by the Ahiasaf Society in 1902
(Berlin). Many of tliese articles have been trans-
lated into Russian by Vasilevski, Sheinkin, JafFc,
Landsman, and Klausner, and into Geruian by Fried-
lander and Berkovich. In 1896 Ginzberg was invited
to Warsaw by the Ahiasaf Societ}', and became one
of its directors; he also modified and enlarged its
program. In 1896 he became editor of " Ha-Shiloah, "'
a monthly magazine still under his direction. In
August, 1897, he took part in the Zionist Congress
of Basel, but opposed most of the ideas expressed
by Dr. Herzl.
Ginzberg's opposition to " political " Zionism in
the name of "moral" Zionism, expressed in "Ha-
Shiloah," dates from that congress. In the summer
of 1900 he Avas sent by the Palestine Committee to
inspect the Palestinian colonies; his return was sig-
nalized by the appearance in " Ha-Shiloah " of his
articles "Bet ha-Sefer be-Yafo," on the state of edu-
cation in Palestine, and " Ha-Yishshub we-Apotrof-
saw," on the settlements. His formal report, writ-
ten in Russian, was published at the cost of the
Palestine Committee. In August, 1902, he spoke
before the great Zionist meeting at Minsk on Jewish
culture and the rejuvenescence of Israel through
Zionism. His speech was published, under the title
"Tehiyyat ha-Ruah," in "Ha-Shiloah" (Nov. and
Dec, 1902).
Ginzberg is the best-knowm Hebrew writer of
the present time, and is reputed an able publicist
and philosopher. He has created a new school of
Zionism known under the name of "Ahad ha-
'Amism," or "Moral Zionism." The spread of the
Jewish race throughout the world having inevita-
bly loosened the bonds of the Law, a new "moral "
center for Judaism must be established in Palestine,
to which the Jews of to-day in all parts of the earth
may look for inspiration and guidance as in the
olden days the Judaism of the Diaspora looked
toward Jerusalem. To this end the majority of the
inhabitants of Palestine must be Jewish. The es-
sential difference between Ginzberg's Zionism and
Dr. Herzl's consists in the abandonment by the
former of the economic and political point of view
in order to concentrate the efforts of Judaism upon
the establishment in Palestine of a permanent and
authoritative center for the Jewish spirit and Jew-
ish culture. In Ginzberg's view this center may
contain the germ of an organized Jewish political
state ; but such a development belongs, in the nature
of things, to the distant future.
Klausner, Duk-
Bibuographt: Ha-Shiloah, 1896-1902; J
hovni Sioniam, St. Petersburg, 1901.
H. R.
J. Kla.
GINZBERG, LOUIS : Hebrew scholar; born at
Kovno, Russia, Nov. 28, 1873. He received his early
training in the Talmudical school at Telsh, Russia,
under Rabbis S. Abel and M. Atlas, and later studied at
Kovno under E. Blaser. In 1889 he removed to Frank-
fort-on-the-Main, and there attended tiie gymnasium.
He studied at the universities of Berlin, Strasburg,
and Heidelberg, graduating from the last-named as
doctor of philosophy in 1898. From 1898 to 1899 he
lived at Amsterdam, and from there went to New
York city, where, in 1900, he joined the staff of the
Jewish Encyclopedia, becoming editor of the rab-
binical department. Resigning in 1903, Ginzberg
was appointed professor of Talmud at the Jewish
Theological Seminary of America, New York city, a
position he still holds. Ginzberg has written essays
for the "Monatsschrift," and is the author of "Die
Haggada bei den Kirchenvatern " (vol. i., Amster-
dam, 1898; vol. ii., Berhn, 1900), "Het Zionisme"
(Amsterdam, 1899), and several minor publications.
s • F. T. H.
GINZBURG. See Gunzburg.
GINZE NISTOROT. See Periodicals.
GIRADI, DANIEL B. ELIJAH. See Ge-
rasi, Daniel is. Ki.ijaii.
GIRBAL, ENRIQUE CL AUDIO : Spanish
scholar; born at Gerona Nov. 16, 1839. He was
chronicler of his native city and member of several
learned bodies. He published the following works:
"Los Judios de Gerona," Gerona, 1870; "Escrip-
tores Gerundenses o Sea Apuntos Biograficos de los
Principales que han Florecidos desde los Primeros
Siglos Hasta Nuestros Bias," ib. 1867; supplement to
the preceding, ib. 1875. Several articles from his
pen on Hebrew epitaphs and other Jewish matters
have appeared in tlie " Revista Historica, " Barcelona,
i. ct seq.
Bibliography: Don Antonio Elias de Molins, Diccionario de
Escritnres y Articles Catalanes, i. 658 et seq.
s. M. K.
GIRGASHITES ("':;>J-ijn) : One of the nations
which possessed the land of Canaan before the Israel-
itish conquest. In Hebrew the name occurs only
in the singular and with the definite article. In
Gen. X. 16 and I Chron. i. 14 "the Girgashite " is
mentioned as the fifth son of Canaan, while in other
passages (Gen. xv. 21 ; Deut. vii. 1 ; et al.) the name
designates the whole tribe. The territory of the
Girgashites has never been exactly located ; the only
certainty is that it lay west of the Jordan (Josh,
xxiv. 11). Josephus says ("Ant." i. 6, § 2) that in
his time nothing was known of the Girgashites save
the name.
E. G H. M. SeL.
GIRTH OF THE CHEST: While among most
other races the average chest-girth measures over
one-half the average stature, that of the Jews, it has
been alleged, does not reach this standard. Gold-
stein has therefore concluded that the Jews are in-
ferior in this regard, and he credits them with a
lesser "index of vitalitj-." On this account, also, it
has been stated that the Russian and Austrian Jews
are not fit for military duties. As a basis for these
allegations the measurements of 6.592 Jews in Po-
land and Lithuania, given by Snigiref from the re-
ports of the Russian recruiting officers in 1875,
have been generally used. These reports give the
girth of chest as less than 50 per cent of the
stature. Majer and Kopernicki's measurements re-
vealed the same condition among the Galician Jews.
In the appended Table I. are given other chest
measurements taken from 7,944 Jews in various
countries. Tlie measurements of recruits show that
the Jews are deficient in this respect, while the
measurements taken on the general population are
rather more favorable, and give a girth exceeding
50 per cent of the stature.
Girth of the Chest
Gittin
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
672
The reason for this discrepancy is not far to seek.
At the age of twenty, when military service begins,
the Jew has not yet attained his full growth. The
observations made on Jews reveal that while the
body grows in length very rapidly during the years
of adolescence (although it does not attain its full
height at the age of twenty), the width of the body
does not grow correspondingly. The body grows
in width even "after increase in height ha? <jeased.
The girth of the chest keeps on increasing up to the
age of forty and even fifty. This is best proved by
the figures presented in the appended Table II.
After twenty the girth begins to increase, and
reaches 54.5 per cent of the stature at from forty
to fifty years of age. The practical deduction to be
drawn from this condition is that the Jews are still
undeveloped at the age of twenty.
The causes of this slenderness of chest in young
Jews are to be sought for in the economic conditions
TABLE I.
Girth of Chest of 7,944 Jews.
Country.
Number of
Individ-
uals.
Poland . . .
Lithuania
Galicia...
Various . .
Russia . . .
■Caucasia..
198
4.470
2,122
569
19
ItK)
100
139
74
53
60
41
Girtli of
Per cent
Chest (in
of
mm.).
Stature.
830
51.57
801
49.68
800
49.55
793
49.2
846
.52.90
832
51.38
885
53.6
848
52.45
828
51.9
841
.53.3
835
51.2
822
50.7
Observer.
Elkind.
Snigiref.
Majer and Ko-
pernicki.
Weisbach.
Blechman.
Weissenberg.
Yakowenko.
Pantukhof.
TABLE II.
GiuTH OF Chest of Jews at Various Ages.
Age.
16....
17....
18 ...
19....
20....
21....
22 ...
23....
24....
25. . . .
26-;i(l.
31-40.
41-50.
51-75.
Per cent of Stature.
"S
^
o
c8 C3
,s§
CS^
"^ T-,
Km
^1
^
OS
s
«
49.2
49.69
50.3
48.76
50.8
49.46
51.0
51.61
51.0
52.37
50.15
49.0
51.64
.50.53
48.9
51.35
)
/
51.6
V 51.25
U9.4
J
51.45
51.4
.5:10
•52.45
53.4
54.5
51.75
....
11
50.58
51.00
52.11
51.89
5:148
under which the bulk of eastern European Jews
exist. Indoor domestic occupations, sedentary
habits, bruin-work, and lack of physical culture are
common. All these tend to retard the chest devel-
opment of the Jews. In the United States, wliere
the social and economic conditions of tlie Jews are
greatly superior to those in eastern Europe, it is
found that Jewish young men have an excellent
chest development — exceeding 50 per cent of their
stature, and reaching even 55 per cent.
Bibliography : Srigiref, Materiall Dlla Medizinskoi Statis-
tiki i Geografli Rosnii, Voenno Mediziruiki Zshiirnal, 1878-
1879 ; E. Goldstein, Des Circonferencesdu Thorax et deLeur
Rapport d la Taillc, in Revue d' Anthropologie, 1885, series
ii., part 7, pp. 460-485; S. Weissenberg, Die SUdrussiachen
Juden, in Archiv fUr Anthropnlogie, xxiii. 347-423, 531-
579; Yakowenko, Materials k Aidropologii Evreev, St. Pe-
tersburg, 1898; B. Blechman, Eiii Beitroi) ziir Anthropolo-
gie derjuden, Dorpat, 1883 ; J. Majer and J. Kopemicki, Cha-
raketerystyka Fizyezna Ludnotsci Galicyjskiej, Zbior Via-
dam do Anthrnp Krajowej., Cracow, 1877, 1885 ; J. Jacobs and
I. Spielman, On the Comparative Anthropometry of English
Jews, in Journal of the Anthropological Institute, 1890,
xix. 76-88.
J. M. Fi.
GIRZITES or GIZRITES Cnjil, ketib; nWH,
keri, adopted by the Targumim): A tribe rich in
cattle and apparel; with the Geshurites and the
Amalekites it occupied the land between the south
of Palestine and Egypt (I Sam. xxvii. 8, 9).
E. G. h. M. Sel,
GISCALA : City of Galilee, not far from Tyre;
known as the native city of the patriot John of
GiscALA. John tried to keep his fellow citizens
from engaging in battle with the Romans, but when
Giscala was captured and burned by the surround-
ing pagan population — from Gadara, Gabara, and
Tyre — John rose up in righteous anger and, fall-
ing upon the assailants with his army, defeated
them. He then rebuilt Giscala, making it more beau-
tiful than it had been before, and fortified it with
walls (66 c.E. ; Josephus, "Vita,"§ 10; comp. ib.
§ 38). He seems to have secured the means by seiz-
ing and converting into money the grain gathered
from Upper Galilee for the emperor (ib. § 13). The
statement of Josephus (ib. % 21) that the rest of the
Galileans desired to destroy the city of Giscala, and
were prevented only by himself, can not be credited.
He felt himself to be master of the whole of Galilee,
although he did not dare to set foot into Gabara or
Giscala, which sided with his enemy John (ib. % 54).
Nor were the walls of Giscala built by Josephus'
order (Josephus, "B. J." ii. 20, § 6). Josephus must
have been hostile to that city; but the statement
made by Gratz ("Gesch." 4th ed., iii. 492) that he
captured and plundered it is due to a corrupt text.
In the Niese edition " Sepphoris " is substituted for
"Giscala" ("B. J." ii. 21, §10).
Giscala held out longest among all the cities of
Galilee (ib. iv. 2, § 1). Finally Titus attacked it
with 1,000 horsemen, and, it being the Sabbath, John
requested a truce, and secretly escaped in the night
with his warriors. The city opened its gates the
second day afterward, and Titus had the walls razed
and the fugitive inhabitants massacred (67 c.E. ; ib.
iv. 2, §§ 2-5). According to Jerome, the apostle
Paul's parents lived at Giscala (" De Viris Illustri-
bus," § 5).
" Giscala " is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew
" Gusli-halab," meaning " fat clod of earth." Large
quantities of fine oil, which was a staple article of
commerce, were produced there (Josephus, "Vita,"
§ 13; idem, "B. J." ii. 21, § 2; Sifre, Deut. 355;
Tosef. , Men. ix. 5; Men. 85b); also fine raw silk
("metaxa" ; Eccl. R. ii. 8, where, as David Luria re-
marks, the correct reading of tJ'^J with yod has been
673
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Girth of the Chest
Oittin
preserved in the text). The city was considered to
be a very ancient fortress ('Ar. ix. 6; Sifra, Behar,
iv. 5 ; the remark in question certainly dates from
the time before the Roman destruction).
Meron is mentioned as a community in the neigh-
borhood of Giscala (Ex. R. v. 1 ; Cant. R. viii. 1).
Ruins still remain of the ancient synagogue (Renan,
"Mission de Phenicie," pp. 778 et seq.). Both in
Meron and in Giscala are shown the tombs of several
prominent men of Biblical and tannaitic times, which
from the IMiddle Ages down to the present (" Jerusa-
lem," i., Nos. 69, 89, 121, 127, 141) have been places
of pilgrimage not only for the Jews, but also for the
Mohammedans (Goldziher, in "Revue de I'Histoire
des Religions," 1902, p. 7). Giscala is identical with
the present Al-Jish in northern Galilee.
bibliography: Gratz, Oesch. 4th ed., iii. 477-502; Kohut,
Aruch Completum, fl. 379 ; Carmoly, Itinernires de la Tcrre
Sainte, 1847, passim ; Schwarz, Das Heilige Land^ p. 157 ;
Ewald, Gescii. des Volkes Israel, vl. 653 ; Schurer, Oesch. 3d
ed., 1. 616, note 50: Zunz, O. S. 111. 303; Badeker, PalOstina
und Syrien, 5tli ed., p. 287.
G. S. Kr.
GII!TIN (|''t3''J, plural of DJ = "document"):
Name of a treatise of the Mishnah and of the To-
sefta, elaborated in the Palestinian and in the Baby-
lonian Gemaras. It belongs to the third order,
"Nashim" (Women), but occupies different places
in the different compilations. Thus, in the separate
Mishnah editions and in the Tosefta it stands sixth;
in the Tosefta attached to Alfasi and in the Babli,
fourth ; and in the Yerushalmi, fifth. The number
of chapters in this treatise is nine, except in the
Tosefta appended to Alfasi, where the number is
reduced to seven, the third, fourth, and fifth chap-
ters being united into one. While the name of the
treatise signifies " documents, " it is specifically ap-
plied to bills of divorce, and of these, and of the
parties thereto, the treatise discourses, referring only
incidentally to other documents. The chapters pro-
vide as follows:
Ch. i. : The bearer of a "get" (bill of divorce) from the hus-
band to his wife In another country must be positive of its genu-
ineness ; he must be able to declare.that thedocument was writ-
ten and signed in his presence, and for the special purpose of
divorcing the parties named therein. If an accident disables the
bearer from making such declaration, the get will be valid only
after the original witnesses to it have authenticated their sig-
natures, or others have authenticated those signatures ; and as
the Rabbis consider divorce as well as marriage a religious act,
they provide that all parties concerned in the proceedings must
be Jews. If before the delivery of a bill of divorce or a bill
of manumission the sender annuls it, the annulment will be
effective in the case of a wife, but not in that of a slave.
If the giver of either document dies before its delivery, it is
not valid, there being no authority to consummate the act of
divorcement or of manumission (comp. ill. 3) .
Ch. ii. : At least two witnesses must authenticate the get
(comp. iv. 3); it must be written and signed within a single
day, between sunset and sunset; and there are regulations as
to the parties who are qualified to write It, as to the materials
on and with which it may be written, and as to who may carry
it between husband and wife (see Get).
Ch. iii. : The get must be written specially for the woman
to be divorced. For example, if a man has two wives of the same
name, and the get is written for the purpose of divorcing one of
them, and he changes his mind and determines to divorce the
other by the same get, he can not legally do so. Nor may one
have the get written with the reservation that It be valid to
divorce either one of two wives ; neither may blank forms be
used in divorce proceedings : the whole of the get must be spe-
cially written for the parties intended. If the bearer loses the
get. and then recovers it, there must be no doubt of its Identity
or it will not be valid. If the bearer of the get leaves the giver
v.— 43
sick or very old, he may deliver the get on the preeumptlonthat
his pnnclpal still lives (comp. i. 6) . if an accident befalls the
bearer and renders him unable to deliver the get. he may ap-
point a substitute, provided the husband has not commissioned
him to return with some object from the wife.
Ch . iv. : Legally, until the get reaches the woman It is the
property of the husband, even while it is in the possession of hla
messenger ; therefore he has the right to annul It before any
court without the cognizance of either his wife or his messenger.
However, as such procedure might eventuate
Annulment in unwitting polyandry, R. Gamaliel I. or-
of Gtet, dained that the annulment shall have no effect
unless it take place either in the presence of
the wife or in that of the messenger. Gamaliel also ordained
that the get must bear in full the names by which the respect-
ive parties to the divorce are anywhere known. Further, this
chapter treats of a widow's dower and maintenance (see Ali-
mony ; Dowry); of the status of a captive or hypothecated
slave ; of the half-slave (a person formerly the property of two
persons, but emancipated by one of them, or one who .'as
purchased from his master half liberty) ; of Jewish slaves sold
to idolaters, and of the redemption of captives and of sacred
things which have fallen into the hands of idolaters ; and It con-
cludes with the enumeration of causes for divorce which act as
bars to a remarriage between the divorced.
Ch. v.: Regulations of an economic nature, concerning levy-
ing on lands to satisfy damuge claims, debts, alimony, dowry ;
laws governing restitution for the consumption of the produce
of land bought of a usurper; concerning transactions Involving
confiscated property, and those with m inors or deaf and dumb per-
sons ; and other provisions calculated to promote social order.
Ch. vi. : Concerning the rights of the husband to annul the
get after delivery to his messenger or to his wife's proxy ; the
process adopted in divorcing a minor, and the effect of the des-
ignation of the place where the get should be delivered or re-
ceived; the difference, as regards the status of the woman,
between appointing a messenger to "convey the get to her"
and appointing a messenger to "accept the get for her"; the
legal presumptions to be drawn from the husband's expressions
In ordering the get; the husband's condition and circumstances
at the moment of ordering the get. or immediately following it,
the scope of the agent's mission depending upon the husband's
expressions.
Ch. vii. : Where the husband, while in the throes of " kar-
diakos" (delirium tremens, melancholia), orders that a get be
written for his wife, his order is void ; but
Competence, where the order precedes the attack, even if
during the attack he countermands It, the get
must be written and delivered. If the husband is stricken
dumb, and at the suggestion that a get be written for his
wife he moves his head affirmatively, and the bystanders are
satisfied that he is conscious, the get is to be written and de-
livered. But where such a suggestion is made to a healthy
man, even if, after the get is written and signed, he himself de-
livers it to his wife, that get Is void, the law requiring that the
orders concerning the writing and attesting of the get should
emanate from the husband himself. No get can take effect
after the death of the husband (see 1. 6) ; and if in handing the
get to his wife he stipulates that it go into effect after his
death, it is void. On the other hand, if he stipulates that in
case of his death the get should have effect from and aiter the
time of delivery, it is valid. If he says, " In case of my death
from my present illness this get shall have effect from this
date," the effect is doubtful ; wherefore the woman Is neither
his widow nor divorced, and while he lives She must not stay
with him in private. Where the husband imposes conditions,
these conditions must be complied with ; otherwise the get will
be void.
Ch. viii. : The get does not take effect unless It comes into
the divorcee's possession ; hence if she is on the husband's
premises and he thrusts the get. at her, the act of divorcement Is
not completed, even if the get falls at her side. On the other
hand, if this is done on her own premises (or even on his prem-
ises if the get falls into her lap or on her personal property),
it is effective. If the get is In any way misdated, or the names
of the parties concerned are in any way misstated, the get Ls
void (see iv. 2).
Ch. ix. : The pith of the get is the phrase, " Thou art free to
marry any man." Therefore, if on delivering the gej the hus-
band interdicts the wife's marriage to any man, the get wIU have
no effect, unless he takes it back and redelivers it to her with an
unqualified declaration of her freedom. Where the limitation
is embodied in the get, the get is invalid, everi if the husband
himself takes It back and erases therefrom the objectionable
clause. See Divorce; Get.
Gittin
Glaphyra
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
674
The Gemaras, both Palestinian and Babylonian,
discuss and exemplify the rules laid down in the
Mishnah. The Palestinian Gemara is comparatively
concise, and contains few digressions; the Babylo-
nian is, as a rule, more diffuse, and quite frequently
breaks the argumentation with hagga-
Digres- dot. One example from the former
sions in may be given. Discussing the require-
Gemara. ment of the Mishnah (i. 2) that the
bearer of a get must be able to declare
that the bill was written and signed in his presence,
it cites the name of the city of Acco. That name re-
calls to the memory of the compiler a story regard-
ing something that occurred at Acco which gave
rise to the decree that no "talmid " (pupil, uuor-
dained scholar) should decide ritualistic questions.
This, again, recalls a baraita declaring that the pre-
mature death of Nadab and Abihu (Lev. x. 1 et seq.)
was the punishment for presuming to act on their
own decisions in the presence of Moses, their master
(see 'Er. 63a). This in turn recalls another story.
It happened that a talmid decided a question in the
presence of R. Eliezer, who thereupon predicted to
Imma Shalom, his Avife, the early death of that tal-
mid, and the prediction was soon fulfilled. Eliezer's
disciples then inquired: "Master, art thou a proph-
et ? " To which the master replied ; " I am neither
a prophet nor the son of a prophet ; but I am aware
of a traditional doctrine declaring that the talmid
who decides questions in his master's presence de-
serves death " (Yer. Git. i. 43c).
The Babylonian Talmud, among other haggadot,
describes the last struggle of the Jews with the
Romans (55b-58a). It introduces R. Johanan as re-
marking that the verse, "Happy is the man that
feareth alway : but he that hardeneth his heart shall
fall into mischief" (Prov. xxviii. 14), teaches that
man's actions must be governed by caution and pru-
dence, since trifling causes may produce stupendous
results. Thus the destruction of Jerusalem resulted
from an invitation to a banquet extended by mis-
take to Bar Kamza instead of to Kamza ; that of Tur
Malka was brought about by a cock and a hen ; and
that of Bettar resulted from some trouble about the
shaft of a litter! In the quasi-historical accounts
which follow, many legends are embodied. The
following is one of them: Nero was ordered to re-
duce Jerusalem. He came, and prognosticated his
fortunes by shooting arrows. He shot eastward,
and the arrow fell toward Jerusalem; he shot west-
ward, and again the arrow fell toward Jerusalem ;
he shot toward the other points of the compass —
with the same result. Though thus assured that his
arms would triumph, he nevertheless sought an-
other oracle: he ordered a Jewish lad to quote a
verse of the Bible, in the purport of which he ex-
pected to read assurance or discouragement. The
lad responded by repeating: " I will lay my venge-
ance upon Edom [Rome] by the hand of my peo-
ple Israel," etc. (Ezek. xxv. 14). On hearing this,
Nero exclaimed: "God wishes to destroy His house
and make me His atonement." Thereupon he fled
and embraced Judaism, and eventually became the
ancestor of R. Meir (Git. 56a).
Another legend is as follows: A mother and her
seven sons were brought before Ca?sar. The first son
was ordered to worship an idol, but he replied : " It
is written in our Law, ' I am the Lord thy God ' "
(Ex. XX. 2). He was led forth and executed. The
second refused, saying: "In our Law it is written,
' Thou shalt have no other gods before
Other me'" (xx. 3); he also was executed.
Haggadot. The third said: "He that sacrificeth
unto any god, save unto the Lord
only, he shall be utterly destroyed" (xxii. 18 [A.V.
20]) ; the fourth : " Thou shalt worship no other god "
(xxxiv. 14); the fifth: "Hear, O Israel: the Lord our
God is one Lord" (Deut. vi. 4); the sixth: "Know
therefore this day, and consider it in thine heart,
that the Lord he is God in heaven above, and
upon the earth beneath : there is none else " (iv. 39) :
all of these likewise were killed. At last came the
turn of the seventh son ; he, too, refused to desert
his God, saying: "It is written in our Law, ' Thou
hast avouched the Lord this day to be thy God . . .
and the Lord hath avouched thee this day to be his
peculiar people' [xxvi. 17] ; thus we have bound
ourselves before the Holy One, blessed be He ! not
to exchange Him for another god, and He has prom-
ised us not to desert us for another people." Caesar
then suggested that he would drop a ring, and that
the lad should stoop down and pick it up, that it
might be thought that he had complied with the
royal behest ; but the lad vehemently refused, ex-
claiming: "Wo unto thee, Caesar! wo unto thee!
Thou art thus anxious to preserve thine own honor:
how much more should I be anxious for the honor
of the Holy One ! Blessed be He ! " As this son also
was led forth to execution, his mother requested per-
mission to kiss him, and then said : " My children, go
and say to Abraham, your father, 'Thou hast prepared
one altar, while I have offered on seven altars ! ' "
Thereupon she ascended to a roof and threw herself
off. As she died a " bat kol " was heard repeat-
ing the words of Psalm cxiii. 9: "A joyful mother
of children! " (Git. 57b; comp. II Mace. vii.).
In its discussions on the first mishnah of the sev-
enth chapter the Babylonian Talmud devotes con-
siderable space to pathology (67b-70b), for which
see Bergel, "Medizin der Talmudisten," pp. 32-54,
and Brecher, "Das Transcendentale . . . im Tal-
mud, " passim.
E. c. S. M.
GITTITH {rVT\i) '■ A musical instrument men-
tioned in Ps. viii. 1, Ixxxi. 1, Ixxxiv. 1. The word is
explained by Gesenius (" Thesaurus, " s.v. pj) as mean-
ing "striking instrument," but it is now generally
held to denote a zither. Rashi, following the Tar-
gum, derives the name from " Gath " ; it would then
mean " fabricated by the people of Gath. " He also
quotes a Talmudic saying that " Gittith." is an allu-
sion to Edom, which will be trodden down like a wine
press (nJ ; compare Isa. Ixiii. 3), and combats this
view by arguing that the context of the chapter has
nothing to do with Edom. Ibn Ezra explains the
name " Gittith" as referring to the fact that the above-
mentioned psalms were composed for the sake of the
descendants of Obed-edom the Gittite, who was a
Levite. The interpretation (also found in the Sep-
tuagint) that "Gittith" means "to be sung to the
tune of the wine-presses " is ridiculed by Ibn Ezra.
E. G. H. M. Sel.
675
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Qitfin
Glaphyra
GIZA (GIZAI): A sabora; head of the Baby-
lonian school in the first half of the sixth centur3\
In a very old source, the "Seder Tanna'im wa-
Amora'im," he is mentioned, together with Simuna,
as tlie last of the Saboraiin (Neubauer, " Media;val
Jewish Chronicles," i. 180); and the same source
names in another passage (p. 181) Giza and Simuna
as the last pair of those tliat preserved the tradition
immediately after R. Ashi and Rabina, the last two
amoraim. It is remarkable that in Slierira's let-
ter, the most important source for the history of
the Babylonian academies of post-Talmudic times,
Giza is not referred to, but 'Ena is mentioned in-
stead in the same capacity. Sherira (Neubauer,
I.e. p. 16) regards 'Ena and Simuna as the saboraim
par excellence, whose glosses were included in the
Talmud; they are the last among the saboraim enu-
merated by him {ib. p. 45). 'Ena taught (after the
year 515) at Sura; Simuna, at Pumbedita.
There is no doubt that this 'Ena is identical with the
Giza mentioned in " Seder Tanna'im wa-Amora'im,"
tlie one name being but a corrupt reading of the other.
Abraham ibn Daud quotes in his " Sefer ha-Kabba-
lah " (Neubauer, I.e. i. 62) the last-mentioned state-
ment by Sherira, but does not refer to the name of
" Giza. " A third source (" Seder '01am Zuta, " in Neu-
bauer, I.e. ii. 73; other versions, ib. p. 76) says that
Giza was a brother of the progenitor of the gaon Ne-
hilai (beginning of the eighth century), who settled
on the River Zab at the time of the Persian religious
persecutions under Kobad, when the school of Sura
was closed for a long time after the defeat of the
exilarch Mar Zutra. See Saboraim.
Bibliography : Epstein, Les Saboraim, in B. E. J. xxxvl.
222-231.
8. s. W. B.
GliADIATOB. : A fighter in the gymnasium or
arena. Gladiatorial contests were an aspect of Ro-
man life which was intensely hated by the Jews.
In Greek a gladiator is called a-dXrjTTjQ or fxovofiaxoc,
meaning a single fighter, and he is also so called in
rabbinical literature. A gladiator, on being success-
ful at his first appearance, received as a testimonial
a little tablet with the inscription " Spectatus "
(=" Observed "); hence the Midrash says: "Be
among the observers and not among the observed "
(Greek, ^eupoi; Pesik., ed. Bubcr, 191b). The blow-
ing of a horn announced the entry of the gladiators
into the arena (Tan., Wayikra, Emor, 18). Such a
contest, which ended with a palm for the victor
(Palma gladiatoria), is also mentioned in Tan., ib. ;
Pesik., ed. Buber, 180a; and Lev. R. § 30.
Emperors used to be present at such spectacles ;
and a gladiator who was wounded might appeal
to the monarch for pardon. Thus it is recorded:
"Two athletes fight before the emperor. If the em-
peror wishes to separate them, he separates them ;
if not, he does not separate them. If one is de-
feated, ho cries, ' I appeal to the emperor ' " (Gen. R.
§22).
In the decadent period of the Roman empire the
emperors themselves entered the arena as gladiators;
at least in the Midrash this is mentioned of the son
of .an emperor (//;. § 77). Sometimes the contest
was unequal: one athlete was strong, the other
weak (Ex. R. ti, 21). Since gladiators were usually
slaves, it is said with justice that a gladiator could
make no will (Tan., Wayehi, 8), and a similar rule
may be found in the Syriac laws published by Land
in his "Anecdota Syriaca,"i. 196 (see Fttrst, "Glos-
sarium Grseco-IIebraium," p. 131).
In Jewish annals the most remarkable example of
the life of a gladiator is that of the eminent amora
Simeon ben Lakish, who at one time sold himself to
the "ludarii," those who arranged for gladiatorial
contests (Git. 47a) Other Jews did the same thing
from necessity, being paid large sums (Yer. Ter.
45d). In the Talmud it was commanded to ransom
such persons, since they were not criminals (Yer.
Git. 46b).
The gladiators had a special diet; thus the Tal-
mud mentions the meal-time of the ludarii (Shab.
10a; Pes. 12b), and a kind of pea (Sar/iiui gladia-
toria) which was their food (Tosef., Bezah, i. 23,
according to the correct reading). In this respect,
also, the rabbinical sources display an intimate ac-
quaintance with ancient Roman life. Gladiatorial
contests are mentioned much less often than the cir-
cus, although under Titus Jews were forced into
fighting with wild beasts. In the Hellenistic cities
gladiatorial contests were frequent (Schilrer, "Ge-
schichte," 3d ed., ii. 45).
Bibliography: Sachs, BeitrOge zur Sprach- und Alter-
thumskunde, 1. 120 ; Gratz, Gesch. 3d ed., iv. 240 ; Jastrow,
in R. E. J. xvii. 308 ; Bacher, Ag. Pal. Amor. i. 342.
G. S. Kr.
GLAGAir, OTTO: Anti-Semitic writer; born
in KOnigsberg, Prussia, Jan. 16, 1834; died in Berlin
March 2, 1892. As a journalist and political writer
Glagau had already made quite a reputation when
he began, in the " Gartenlaube " of 1873, a series
of articles on fraudulent stock- jobbing which were
so full of invective that the editor discontinued them.
Glagau had lost heavily in unfortunate speculations,
and was very bitter against the stock exchange. In
this spirit he wrote " Der Borsen- und Grilndungs-
schwindel in Berlin " and " Der Borsen- und Griind-
ungsschwindel in Deutschland " (Leipsic, 1877), in
which he made some exposures of dishonest business
methods, but in general caricatured rather than de-
scribed the German business world. He naturally
became involved in numerous libel suits. In this
book he attacked the Jews vehemently as the perpe-
trators of all questionable financial transactions. It
may be said that this book inaugurated the anti-
Semitic movement (see Anti-Semitism). D.
GLAPHYRA: Daughter of the Cappadociau
king Archelaus. Her first husband was Alexander,
son of Herod I. and Mariamne. After his execution
(7 B.C.) she married King Jubaof Mauretania, whom
she is said to have met for the first time during
Caesar's Oriental expedition, which Juba accompa-
nied. As this marriage was not a happy one, it was
dissolved, and Glaphyra returned to her father. She
then met Archelaus, son of Herod the Great and
Malthace. who, although married, fell in love with
lier, and took her to wife after having cast off his
first wife, Mariamne. As Glaphyra had children by
her first husband, who was stepbrother to Archelaus,
this last marriage was not legal, and it met with
much censure. The union was, however, of but
aiaser
Oleaniug
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
676
short duration, for Glaphyra died soon after her ar-
rival iu Judea.
Bibliography: Josephus, Ant. xvi. 1, § 2; xvU. 13, §§ 1 et scq.;
Idem, B. J. ii. 7, § 4; Miiller, Fragmenta HUtoricorum
Qrcecorum. p. 466; C. I. A. III. 1., No. 549; Schiirer, Gesch.
3d ed., i. 4-51 ft seq.; Brann, Die SOhne des Herndes, Bres-
lau, 1873 ; Grat2, Gesch. 4th ed., iii., passim.
G. H. Bl.
GLASER, ADOLF: German author; born at
Wiesbaden Dec. 15, 1829. He traded in art wares
while preparing himself for the university. From
1853 to 1856 he studied history and philosophy at
the University of Berlin. In 1856 he became editor
of Westerniann's " lUustrirte Deutsche Monatshefte "
(Brunswick), which he conducted until 1878, when
he resigned, but took up the work again in 1883.
Glaser began liis literary career with the two dramas
"Kriemliilden's Rache " (Hamburg, 1853) and "Pe-
nelope " {ib. 1854). He also published the follow-
ing works: "Familie Schaller," 2 vols., Prague,
1857; "Bianca Caudiano," Hanover, 1859; "Ge-
schichte des Theaters zu Braunschweig," Bruns-
wick, 1861; "Galileo Galilei," a tragedy, Berlin,
1861; "Erzahlungen und Novellen," 3 vols., Bruns-
wick, 1862; "Gedichte," ib. 1862; "Leseabende," 4
vols.,*. 1867; "Was 1st Wahrheit?" Brunswick,
1869 ; " Der Hausgeist der Frau von Estobal, " Ber-
lin, 1878; "Schlitzwang," ib. 1878; "Eiue Magda-
lene ohne Glorienscheiu," ib. 1878; "Weibliche
Damonen," 2 vols., ib. 1879; " Aus dem 18. Jahrhun-
dert," Leipsic, 1880; "Mulshilde," Leipsic, 1880;
"Moderne Gegensatze," zA. 1881; "Aus Hohen Be-
gionen," Wismar, 1882; "Savonarola, "Leipsic, 1883;
"Cordula," ib. 1885. A selection of his novels and
stories was published in Leipsic (1889-92) in twelve
volumes. Glaser also translated the Dutch authors
Gerard Kelter, Cremer, Lennep, etc.
Bibliography: Meyers Konvc rsatimis-Lezikon, 18d~ ; Oscar
Linke, Adnlf GZaser, Leipsic, 1899; Westermann's lllu.'^trirtc
Deutsche Monatshefte, Dec, 1899.
S.
GLASER, EDXJARD: Austrian traveler and
Arabist; born March 15, 1855, at Deutsch-Rust,
Bohemia. After completing his elementary and col-
lege education in Komotau and Prague, he studied
matliematic'S and geodesy at the Prague polytech-
nical high school and devoted himself privately
to the study of Arabic. In 1877 he went to Vi-
enna; in 1880 to Tunis; thence in 1882 through
Tripolis to Alexandria; and in 1883 to South Arabia,
which he crossed in various directions. In 1885-86
he undertook a second, and in 1887-88 a third, trip
to Arabia, succeeding on liis last journey in penetra-
ting to Marib, the ancient Saba. Glaser collected
more than l.OOOHimyaritic and Sabean inscriptions,
and made important geograpliical discoveries. In
1890 the University of Greifswald conferred upon
him the honorary degree of Pli.D.
In 1892 Glaser undertook a fourth trip to Arabia,
penetrating from Aden to the interior, mapping the
country from Hadramaut to Mecca, and collecting
about 800 inscriptions, numerous old Arabic manu-
scripts, and manj'- specimens of various dialects,
particularly those of the Mahra tribe. Glaser has
published " Skizze der Gescliiclite und Geographic
Arabiens von den Aeltesten Zoiten bis zum Propheten
.Muhammad," Berlin, 1890; "Die Abessinier in Ai.i-
bieii und Afrika," Munich, 1895; "Zwei Inschritten
iiber den Dammbruch von Marib," Berlin, 1897;
"Punt und die Sudarabischen Reiche," ib., 1899.
Bibliography: De^itsche Rundschau fUr Geographie und
Staiistik, xii. (1890) 136 et sec/. ; Hommel, in Hilprecht's Ex-
plorations in Bible Lands, Philadelpbia, 1903, pp. 722 et
seq. ; Meyers Konversations-Lexikoii, 1S97.
S.
GLASER, JULIUS ANTON (JOSHUA
GLASER) : Austrian jurist and statesman ; born
at Postelberg, Bohemia, March 19, 1831 ; died at
Vienna Dec. 26, 1886. After taking the degree of
Ph.D. at Zurich (1849) and that of LL.D. at Vienna
(1854), he became privat-docent of jurisprudence at
the latter university in 1854, assistant professor in
1856, and professor in 1860. In 1871 he entered the
Auersperg cabinet as secretary of justice. Resign-
ing this office in 1879, he was appointed attorney-
general at the Vienna Court of Cassation, which
position he held until his death. From 1871 to 1879
lie represented Vienna in the House of Representa-
tives as a member of the Liberal party, and later
became a member of the House of Lords. He was a
convert to Christianity.
Glaser was an authority on Austrian law, and has
written many well-known works, among which may
be mentioned : " Das Englisch-Schottische Strafver-
fahren," Vienna, 1850; " Abhandlungen aus dem
Oesterrechischen Strafrecht," ib. 1858; "Anklage,
Wahrspruch, und Rechtsmittel im Englischen
Schwurgerichtsverfahren," Erlangen, 1866; "Ge-
sammelte Kleinere Schriften liber Strafrecht, Zivil-
und Strafprozess," Vienna, 1868, 2d ed. 1883;
"Studien zum Entwurf des Oesterreichischen Straf-
gesetzes t;iber Verbrechen und Vergehen," ^■6. 1871;
"Schwurgeichtliche Erorterungen," ^■6. 1875; "Bei-
trage zur Lehrevom Beweisim Strafprozess, "Leip-
sic,"l883; "Handbuch des Strafprozesses," i&. 1883-
1885. With J. Unger and J. von Walther he pub-
lished "Sammlung von Zivilrechtlichen Entschei-
dungen des K. K. Obersten Gerichtshofs," Vienna,
1857-1883; and with Stubenrauch and Nowak he
edited the " Allgemeine Oesterreichische Gerichtszei-
tung."
Bibliography: Vnger, Julius GZaser, Vienna, 1886; Meyers
Konversations-Lexikon.
s. F. T. H.
GLASGOW : Seaport and largest city in Scot-
land, with a population in 1901 of 760,329, of whom
about 6,500 were Jews. The Jewish community of
Glasgow dates from about 1830. After 1850 a site
was acquired at the corner of George and John
streets, and a synagogue was erected and consecrated
in 1858. In 1878 the congregation removed to the
present building in Garnethill, a handsome edifice
erected at a cost of £14,000, and consecrated by Dr.
Hermann Adler in September of that year.
Until 1881, when an additional place of worship
was established in Commerce street, there was only
one congregation in Glasgow. The Commerce street
congregation soon sought more commodious quarters
in Main street. In 1883 tlie two congregatious co-
alesced in the Glasgow United Synagogue. In tlie
course of a few years, the Main street synagogue
having been outgrown, a new house of worship was
erected at a cost of £9,000 in South Portland street,
and consecrated September, 1901. Meanwhile an
additional synagogue had been erected for the south
677
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Glaser
Qleaning
side in Oxford street (1899). This congregation also
became a constituent of the United Synagogue,
which thus comprises three congregations.
The community has now one common cemetery.
The principal charities of tlie conununity are the
Jewish board of guardians, the Hebrew Benevolent
Loan Society, and the Hebrew Ladies' Benevolent
Loan Society. The board of guardians relieves
about 400 cases a year, and the Hebrew Benevolent
Loan Society grants 200 loans. Glasgow also has
its Jewish schools and literary and social societies.
Two of the most prominent members of the com-
munity are Michael Simons and Isidor Morris, jus-
tices of the peace for Glasgow.
Bibliography: James Brown, A7i Acc(mnt of the Jews in
the City of Glasyuw, London, 1858; The Jeivish Year Book,
London, 5663.
J. L H.
GLASS : A fused mixture of metallic silicates,
generally transparent or translucent. Its manufac-
ture dates from the earliest times, glass-blowers
being represented on tombs dating from the fifth
dynasty in Egypt, of the
fourth millennium B.C., as
well as on the tombs of the
Beni-Ha'san, c. 3500 (Wil-
kinson, "Manners and Cus-
toms of the Ancient Egyp-
tians," p. 240). Pliny's
well-known storj^ of the in-
vention of glass-making by
the Phcnicians (" Historia
Naturalis, " xxxvi. 25) is
merely a fable; but, next to
Egj'pt, Sidon was the chief
center of glass-manufacture
in the Mediterranean world
during Bible times.
Biblical Data: The
spoons, drinking-vessels, bottles (Kelim xxx. 1-4),
beads {ib. xi. 8), lamps, beds, stools, seats, cradles,
and paper-knives and -weights (Tosef., Kelim, ill.
Tear-Bottle Found Near Je-
rusalem (Probably Phe-
nician) .
(Id the possession of J. D. Eisenstein.)
only direct reference to glass
in the Old Testament is that
in Job xxviii. 17, where it
is declared that neither gold
nor glass (n'313T) can equal wisdom ; from which it fol-
lows that glass, though known, was very expensive.
Yer. Targ. to Dent, xxxiii. 19 interprets the "treas-
ures hid in the sand " as referring to the sands of the
Belus, the scene of Pliny's fable. Glass bottles
have been found in excavations in Palestine (War-
ren, "Underground Jerusalem," p. 518; Petrie,
"Tell el-Hesy," pp. 52, 53). Also, a perfect lacri-
matory or tear-bottle has been unearthed at Jerusa-
lem (see illustration) ; it is therefore possible tliat the
expression " Put thou my tears into thy bottle " (Ps.
Ivi. 8) may refer to the curious use of such vessels.
In Rabbinical Literature : By Talmudic
times the Jews seem to have acquired the art of
glass-blowing. It is referred to as being practised
by them (Yer. Shab. vii. 2), possibly because many
Jews were settled near Belus, known for its sands.
White glass was very dear (Hul. 84b; Ber. 31a): it
is even stated that its manufacture ceased after the
destruction of the Second Temple (Sotah 48b; Suk.
iv. 6). The poorer classcp used colored glass (Tosef.,
Peah, iv.). A remarkable number of articles were
made wholly or j^artly of glass; e.g., tables, bowls,
r
■91
Iff
SSgf
^k.' -jj^tt^^K - w
>^
V "" ^Vf 1
» \d^
%
^Hl^^
L
' f J
§
^^^m
^^^1
i4
\l
F '^
, 1
■l »*
,'QSS^
■/'/■
.♦.-■?
L^B
W'
uB .
)W
■©^ .Jt,^'
i
^ V./W
'
•/^
A
, • 'A ^ '
w
k
4- -y^
1^- . -• -1
f
^
m
W^
Greco-Pheniclan Tear-Bottle Found Near Jerusalem.
(Iq the possession of J. D. Eisenstein.)
7). These were sold by weight by Jewish merchants
(B. B. 89a; B. K. 31a). Mirrors were usually of
metal ; but glass ones are referred to (Kelim 30b ;
Shab. 149a).
Bibliography: Hastings. T>iet. Bible, a.v.; Herzfeld, Han-
delsgeschichte, pp. 125, 193. 319.
J .
GLEANER, THE. See Periodicals.
GLEANING OF THE FIELDS ("leket").—
Biblical Data : The remains of a crop after har-
vesting, which must be left for the poor. The
Mosaic law enjoins: "And when ye reap the har-
vest of your land, thou shalt not wholly reap the
corners of thy field, neither shalt thou gather the
gleanings of thy harvest. And thou shalt not glean
thy vineyard, neither shalt thou gather every grape
of thy vineyard ; thou shalt leave them for the poor
and the stranger: I am the Lord your God" (Lev.
xix. 9, 10). "When thou beatest thine olive tree,
thou shalt not go over the boughs again: it shall
be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the
widow. When thou gatherest the grapes of thy
vineyard, thou shalt not glean it afterward: it shall
Gleaning'
Oloss
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
678
be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the
widow " (Deut. xxiv. 20, 21). These provisions be-
long to the agricultural poor-laws of the Bible, the
transgression of which was punishable with stripes.
In the Book of Ruth there is a description of the
manner in which the fields were gleaned. The poor
followed the reapers at their work, and gathered
all the remains of the crop, both those that fell out
of the hands of the reaper and those that escaped the
sickle (Ruth ii. 2).
E. G. H. J. H. G.
In Rabbinical Literature: The Rabbis in-
terpreted and limited this law in different ways.
They made it applicable only to the cases enumer-
Glass Bottle Found In a Jewish Catacomb at Rome.
(From Garrucci, " Arta Christiaua.")
ated in the Bible, namely, to corn-fields, orchards,
and vineyards, and excepted vegetable gardens (Si-
fra, ad loc). The master of the crop could derive
no benefit from the gleanings (Hul. 131a; Mainion-
ides, " Yad," Mattenot 'Aniyim, i. 8). He dared not
discriminate among the poor; he might not even
help one in gathering; nor could he hire a laborer
on the condition that his son should be permitted to
glean after him (Peah v. 6; "Yad," I.e. iv. 11). He
who prevented the poor from coming into his field
by keeping dogs or lions to frighten them away, or
he who favored one poor man to the injury of an-
other, was considered a robber of the poor. How-
ever, if there were no poor in the place, the proprie-
tor was not obliged to seek them elsewhere, but
might appropriate the gleanings to himself (Hul.
134b; "Yad," I.e. iv. 10).
Although the provision was made in the interest
of the Jewish poor only, and such Gentiles as
had adopted Judaism ("ger zedek"), in order to
establish peaceful relations among the various in-
habitants of the land, the poor of other nations were
permitted to glean together with the Jewish poor,
no one being allowed to drive them away (Git. 59b).
This provision, as well as all other agrarian laws,
was obligatory only in Palestine, as the expression
" your land " indicates (Yer. Peah ii. 5). Still, many
of the rabbis observed these laws even in Babylon
(Hul. 134b; "Yad," I.e. i. 14). At present, Jewish
farmers are not obliged to observe them (Shulhan
"Aruk, Yoreh De'ah, 832, 1, Isserles' gloss). See
Poor-Laws.
Bibliography: Hastings, Diet. Bible, s.v. Gleaning; Ham-
burger, R. B. T. s.v. Aehrenlesen.
s. s. J. H. G.
GLEDE. See Prey, Birds of.
GLOCKENER (GLOCKNER). See Schul-
KLOPFER.
GLOGATJ : Town in Prussian Silesia, Germany,
with a population of 20,529, including 863 Jews.
Jews were living there as early as the eleventh cen-
tury, their quarters being near the Breslauer Thor,
in the vicinity of the present Evangelical cemetery.
Although they were generally well treated by the
Austrian government, they were still subjected to
occasional attacks. In 1442 the Jews' street was
plundered and the synagogue destroyed. In 1485
Duke Hans expelled them, and they were obliged
to worship in secret, even outside the city limits.
One hundred years later a new congregation was
formed by virtue of the privileges granted to the
Jewish family of Benedict. The Jews lived near the
present castle. All legal cases were decided in their
own court, consisting of the rabbis and the elders.
In 1636 a new synagogue was built by the Benedict
family, in which the community worshiped for 260
years. At that time it numbered 1,500 persons.
When Silesia came into the possession of Prussia,
the Jews were soon granted political equality, espe-
cially by the Steiu-Hardenberg laws. Another syn-
agogue was built in 1893, at a cost of 300,000 marks.
Among the eminent Jews of Glogau may be men-
tioned: Solomon Munk, Eduard Munk, Joseph Zed-
ner, and Michael Sachs. Among those who have
occupied the rabbinate of Glogau may be cited:
Mannes Lisser; Arnheim, one of the editors of
Zunz's"Bibel"; Klein; Dr. Rippner (1872-99); and
Dr. Lucas, the present incumbent.
Bibliography : Allg. Zeit. dcs Jud., 1853, No. 37; 1854, No. 2,
E. c. N. L.
GLOGAU, JEHIEL MICHAEL BEN UZ-
ZIEL : German rabbi ; lived at Halberstadt in the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. He was the
author of "Nezer ha-Kodesh," glosses on "Bereshit
Rabbah" (Jcssnitz, 1719). Along responsum, ad-
dressed to Zebi Hirsch Ashkenazi and quoted in
"She'elat Ya'bez " (§2), Altona, 1739, was written
by him.
Bibliography: Stelnschnelder, Cat. Bndl. col. 1281; Fiirst,
Bihl. Jud. i. 336.
D. M. Sel.
679
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Gleanings
Oloss
GLOGAUER, ABIGDOR BEN SIMHAH
HA-LEVI : German Hebrew scholar of the eight-
eenth century. He published " Dabar Tob," an ele-
mentary Hebrew grammar with paradigms, printed
with Moses ibn Habib's "Marpe Lashon" (Prague,
1783); "Iggerot," Mendelssohn's letters (Vienna,
1794); "Hotam Toknit," Hebrew poems, the appen-
dix to which contains another edited series of Men-
delssohn's letters {ib. 1797).
Bibliography: Stelnschneider, Cat. Bodl. col. 663; Zedner,
Cat. Hebr. Boolts Brit. Mus. p. 12.
D. M. Sel.
GLOGAUER, JT7DAH BEN HANINA
SELIG : German Talmudist of the beginning of
the eighteenth century. He was the author of a
work entitled "Kol Yehudah," a collection of notes
on the Talmud by various rabbis of his time, with
some remarks of his own. (Amsterdam, 1729, often
reprinted).
Bibliography: Furst, Bibl.Jud. 1.336; Steinschnelder, Cat.
Bodl. col. 1327.
r>. M. Sel.
GLOGAUER, MEIR BEN EZEKIEL (also
called Marcus Schlesinger) : Bohemian Talmud-
ist ; died at Prague in 1829. He wrote : " Dibre Meir, "
novelhe on the Talmudic treatises Gittin, Shabbat,
Rosh ha-Shanah, and Baba Mezi'a (Prague, 1810);
"Shemen ha-Ma'or," commentary on the Shulhan
'Aruk, Orah Hayyim, and more especially on its two
commentaries, Magen Abraham and Ture Zahab (ib.
1816). He also published his father's "Mar'eh Ye-
hezkel " (ib. 1822). Glogauer died suddenly while
delivering a eulogy on Mordecai Benet (see preface
to responsum "Goren Dawid," Paks, 1885).
Bibliography: Fiirst, Bibl. Jud. i. 336; Steinschnelder, Cat.
Bodl. col. 1700.
D. M. Sel.
GLOGAUER, MOSES BEN ZEBI HIRSCH :
German scholar ; lived at Hamburg in the eighteenth
century. He was the author of a work entitled
"Hebel le-Hahayot," a collection of ethical essays,
puzzles, and charades (Altona, 1803).
Bieliography : Fiirst, Bibl. Jud. 1. 336.
D. M. Sel.
GLORY OF GOD. See Shekinah.
GLOSS (Tyi?, plural Dnj;^) : A foreign word or
sentence, in Hebrew characters, inserted in Hebrew
writings. In order to convey to the reader the exact
meaning of a Biblical or Talmudical word or sen-
tence not easily explained in Hebrew, some com-
mentators acccompanied the Hebrew word with
an equivalent in the vernacular. These glosses, most
of which occur in Old French, are of great value to
philologists, but unfortunately many of them have
been so corrupted that it has become impossible to
trace their origin. Not only were numerous mis-
takes committed by ignorant copyists, who frequent-
ly, for instance, confounded 1 with 1, n with n,
or 1 and j with ^ and J, but the system adopted by
the authors of representing the numerous vowels
by the Hebrew semi-vowels, M X> is misleading.
Often the copyist, of a nationality other than that of
the author, and happening to know the signification
of the gloss, changed it to an equivalent in his own
language. Thus it is not unusual to find in works
proceeding from French authors Spanish, Italian,
and even Slavonic glosses.
The first author known to have used glosses was
R. Gershom of Metz (1000; surnamed " Ma'or ha-
Golah "), in his commentaries on the Talmud. His
glosses, to the number of 130, are mostly in Old
French, though some are in German.
Gershom's R. Gershom was followed by Rashi,
Glosses. whose Old French glosses are numer-
ous and of great value. His commen-
taries, according to AnsSne Darmesteter, contain 3, 157
glosses, 967 on the Bible and 2,190 on the Talmud.
Of these, some are in Italian, German, and Slavonic,
as, for instance, the glosses on I'Jt^ (Deut. iii. 9), of
which word the German (tJaj^N) and Slavonic (jyjs)
equivalents are given. Simhah ben Samuel, a pupil
of Rashi, also used Old French glosses; there are no
less than 209 in his Mahzor Vitry. The Bible com-
mentators of the twelfth century, Joseph ben Simeon
Kara, Joseph Bekor Shor, Samuel ben Meir, and
Eliezer of Beaugency, likewise had recourse to Old
French, while to the twelfth century belong also
the glosses quoted in Isaac ha-Levi ben Judah's
" Zof nat Pa'aneah. " Judah ben Eliezer, Jacob Tam,
and Jacob's two brothers, Isaac and Samuel, contrib-
uted 150 glosses to the Tosafot. Moses of England,
in his "Sefer ha-Shoham," and Berechiah Natronai
ha-Nakdan, in his "Mishle Shu'alim," sometimes in-
serted Old French glosses.
From the twelfth century on, the practise of
gathering glosses, especially those of Rashi on the
Bible, into works called "glossaries" began to de-
velop. The glossaries were arranged
Glossaries in the order of the Biblical sections.
from There are nine glossaries known, all
Glosses, still extant in manuscript: two at
Paris, one at Basel, one at Leipsic, one
at Oxford, two at Parma, and two at Turin. Dur-
ing the time of the Renaissance glosses were neg-
lected. They were, indeed, incorporated in the
printed texts, but no attempt was made to elucidate
them or to correct the mistakes committed by the
copyists. Buxtorf, in his edition of the Bible, was
the first to make use of them again. He was followed
by the Biurists. Some of Rashi's glosses on the
Talmud were interpreted by Simon and Mordecai
Bondi in "Or Ester" (Dessau, 1812). In 1809 Dor-
mitzer published at Prague a work entitled "Ha'a-
takot," in which he translated all the Romance words
used by Rashi and certain other commentators. Lan-
dau, in his Prague edition of the Talmud (1829-31),
explained the Talmudic glosses of Rashi. The ex-
planations by Dormitzer of the Biblical glosses and
those by Landau of the Talmudic glosses were pub-
lished together by the latter, under the title "Marpe
Lashon" (Odessa, 1865).
The practise of adding glosses, common among the
French authors, was adopted also by authors of other
countries. Nathan ben Jehiel has about 350 Italian
glosses in his " 'Aruk." Zedekiah ben Abraham ha-
Rofe Anaw, in his "Shibbole ha-Le-
Other ket, " and Jehiel ben Jekuthiel ben Ben-
Lan- jamin ha-Rofe, in his "Tanya," often
guages. fell back upon the vernacular (Italian)
to explain difficult Hebrew expres-
sions. Slavonic glosses are found in the " Or Zarua' "
of Isaac ben Moses of Vienna and in the " Yam shel
Shelomoh" of Solomon ben Jehiel Luria ; Isserles.
Gloucester
Gnosticism
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
680
in his annotations to Caro's Shulhan 'Aruk, trans-
lated the Romance glosses of the latter into Polish
and German. Judaeo-German glosses are very fre-
quent in the writings of Russian and Polish Jews,
especially in ritualistic works.
As to the various systems of transliteration into
Hebrew characters, see Transliteration.
Bibliography : Steinschneider, Die Fremdsprachlichen Ele-
mente ini Neuhebrliischoi und Hire Benutzung filr die
Lingiiistik, Prague, 1845 ; Zunz, O. V. p. 456 ; idem, in Zeit.
fUr die Wissengchaft des Judenthums, pp. 279 et seq. ; Ar-
sene Darmesteter, In Romania, i. 14 ; idem, in Archives des
Missinns Scientiftques, 2d series, vii. 87-100 ; 3d series, iv.
383-432; Neubauer, in Bohmer's Romanische Studien, i.
burg, 18«); Konigsberger, Pi-emd-iprachliche Glossen, L,
Pasewalk, 1896 ; Jos. Oesterreicher, Beittilge zur Qesch. der
JUdisc)i-Franz6sischen Sprache und Litter atur im Mittel-
rtlfer, Czernowitz, 1896; Gustav Schlessinger, Die Altfran-
zOsischen W/irter im Machzor Vitry, Mayence, 1899 ; Louis
Brandln, In R. E. J. xlii. 48 et seq.
J I. Br.
GLOUCESTEB. : Large town in the west of Eng-
land, dating back to Roman times. The earliest date
mentioned in connection with the Jews of Glouces-
ter is 1168, when an alleged ritual murder of a boy
named Harold was charged against them ("Hist. iS.
Petri Glocestriae," ed. Hart, i. 20). The leading
Jews of that period were Moses le Riche, Elias de
Glocestre, and "Hakelot." A contemporary was
Josce, who was fined heavily by the king for finan-
cing Strongbow's expedition to Ireland (1171). The
community appears to have prospered until the ex-
actions of John began, when their situation became
critical. In 1217 a special royal order was issued
guaranteeing to them immunity from oppression.
The family of Elias then took the lead among the
Gloucester Jews, and his son Bonenfant attended the
so-called "Jewish parliament " of Worcester (1240) as
principal delegate, while three of the five remaining
representatives of Gloucester were his immediate
relatives (Margoliouth, "Jews of Great Britain," p.
326). Bonenfant was an assessor, or " talliator, " with
the rank of " major," and was one of the richer folk.
When he died his sons betook themselves to London,
leaving their mother, Genta, behind to conduct their
father's business. Bonenfant's successor was Jacob
Copin, or Coperun, who directed the affairs of the
community until his death in 1265. His widow,
Bella, inherited his estate. In 1275 most of the Jews
of Gloucester were deported to Bristol, but some
appear to have sought refuge in Oxford, Hereford;
and Worcester. The Jewry was in East Gate street,
the synagogue being on the north side.
Bibliography: Jacobs, Jews of Angevin England, p. 376;
Jacobs and Wolf, Bihl. Anglo-.Tud. Nos. 11 and 30; F. W.
Maltland, Plea^ nf the Crown for Gloucester ; additional
charters (British Museum) Nos. 7178 and 7179; Byland, History
J ^ M. Da.
GLUCK, ELIZABETH. See Paoli Betti.
QLUCKSMANN, HEINRICH (pseudonym,
Hermann Heinrich Fortunatus) : Austrian
author; born at Rackschitz, Mahren, July 7, 1864.
He began his literary career at sixteen, one of his
first productions being "Aufsatze iiber Prauensit-
ten und Unsitten," which appeared in the "Wiener
Hausfrauen-Zeitung" under the pseudonym "Hen-
riette Namskilg." He then became a teacher in the
Vienna School of Acting. From 1882 to 1885 he was
editor of the " Fiinfkirchner Zeitung," and from 1884
to 1886 held similar positions with the "Neue
Pester Journal " and the " Polit'sche Volksblatt " of
Budapest.
In 1886 Glilcksmann published an illustrated bio-
graphical edition of the works of Michael von Zichy,
the painter; and in the same year he published a
biography of Munkacsy. Since that time he has
been active as a feuilletonist and dramatist. His
works are: " Weihnachts-Zauber," drama, 1888;
"Die Ball-Konigin," comedy, translated from the
Hungarian, 1889; "Wien," literary almanac, 1891;
"Neues Evangelium," drama, 1892; "Das Goldene
Zeitalter des Gewerbes," 1893; "Uugarns Millen-
nium, " 1896 ; " Liebesbriof , " transl. , 1897 ; " Kreislauf
der Liebe," transl., 1897; "Dr. Idyll," transl., 1897;
"Die Biirde der Schouheit," romance, 1897; and
"Franz Joseph I. und Seine Zeit," 1898-99.
Bibliography : Elsenberg, Das Geistige Wien, 1893, p. 158.
s. E. Ms.
GLTJGE, GOTTLIEB (THEOPHILE) : Phy-
sician; born at Brakel in Westphalia June 18, 1812;
died Dec. 22, 1898, at Nizza. Ho studied medicine
at the Berlin University (M.D. in 1835). Two years
before his graduation he wrote " Die Influenza oder
Grippe, nach den Quellen Historisch-Pathologisch
Dargestellt" (Minden, 1837), receiving for this essay
a prize from the faculty of his alma mater. He had
the distinction of being the first physician to describe
influenza.
After finishing his studies Gluge went to Paris in
1836 to take a postgraduate course. In 1838, upon
the recommendation of Alexander von Humboldt and
of Arago, he was appointed professor of physiol-
ogy at the University of Brussels, and he held this
position until 1873, being also for many years phy-
sician to the King of Belgium. In 1846 he became
a naturalized Belgian citizen, and after resigning his
professorship in 1873 he resided at Brussels, though
he spent much time in traveling. He is a member
of the Royal Belgian Academies of Science and
Medicine.
Gluge was one of the first physicians who exam-
ined microscopically the diseased tissues of the body,
in this way seeking to gain knowledge of the pri-
mary causes of maladies, and thus to ascertain the
correct course of treatment. He discovered a curious
parasite in the stickleback, to which the name Olugea
microspora has been given. He has been a con-
tributor to the leading medical journals of Germany,
France, and Belgium. Among his works may be
mentioned : " Anatomisch-Mikroskopische Unter-
suchungen zur Allgemeinen und Speziellen Patho-
logic," vol. i., Minden and Leipsic, 1839; vol. ii.,
Jena, 1841; " Abhandlungen zur Physiologic und
Pathologic," Jena, 1841; "Atlas der Pathologischen
Anatomic," Jena, 1843 to'1850; "La Nutrition, ou la
Vie Conslderee dans Ses Rapports avec les Aliments, "
Brussels, 1856; "Abcfis de la Rate et Sa Guerison,"
lb. 1870.
Bibliography: Annuaire de V Academic Romaic de Bel-
gique, 1900 ; Hirsch, Biog. Lex. s.v.; Pagel, Biog. Lex. s.v.
s. F. T. H.
GLUSKER MAGGID: The evidence that
Abba Glusk Leczek.\ really existed and was not.
681
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Gloucester
Gnosticism
as Kayserling holds ("Moses Mendelssohn," p. 431,
Leipsic, 1888), "a poetical presentation of Solomon
Maimon," seems to be conclusive. An anonymous
writer in "Ha-Karmel" (1872, p. 462) relates that
Abba lived in Glusk, near Lublin, and was well
remembered by its old inhabitants. Max Letteris
quotes a parody which Abba is said to have impro-
vised on the occasion of his being thrown down a
flight of stairs by the impetuous Jacob Emden in
Altona. A study of Abba Glusk appeared in the
"Vossische Zeitung" (Aug. 30, 1885), in which are
reproduced several interesting anecdotes, especially
of Abba's troubles with the unfriendly representa-
tives of the Berlin community, and later with the
police of that city. It seems that after wandering
aimlessly in various Western countries, Abba re-
turned in his old age to Poland, after which all trace
of him was lost.
Bibliography : Letteris, in Ha-Maggid, v. 21, No. 7 ; Kohut,
Moses Mendelssohn und Seine Familie, p. 51, Dresden and
Leipsic, 1886.
H. R. P. Wl.
GNAT. See Fly ; Insects.
GNESEN. See Posen.
GNOSIS. See Gnosticism.
GNOSTICISM : An esoteric system of theology
and philosophy. It presents one of the most obscure
and complicated problems in the general history of
religion. It forced itself into prominence in the first
centuries of the common era, and the Church Fathers
were constrained to undertake its refutation. Wri-
ters on the history and dogmas of the Church have
therefore always devoted much attention to the
subject, endeavoring to fathom and define its nature
and importance. It has proved even more attract-
ive to the general historians of religion, and has
resulted during the last quarter of a century in a
voluminous literature, enumerated b}' Herzog-
Hauck (" Real-Encyc. " vi. 728). Its prominent
characteristic being syncretism, the scholars, accord-
ing to their various points of view, have sought its
origin, some in Hellenism (Orphism), some in Baby-
lonia, others elsewhere. This question, however,
can not be discussed here, as this article deals with
purely Jewish gnosticism.
Jewish gnosticism uuquestionablj' antedates Chris-
tianity, for Biblical exegesis had already reached an
age of five hundred years by the first
Jewish. century c.E. Judaism had been in
Gnosti- close contact with Babylonian-Persian
cism. ideas for at least that length of time,
and for nearly as long a period with
Hellenistic ideas. Magic, also, which, as will be
shown further on, was a not unimportant part of the
doctrines and manifestations of gnosticism, largeh-
occupied Jewish thinkers. There is, in general, no
circle of ideas to which elements of gnosticism have
been traced, and with which the Jews were not ac-
quainted. It is a noteworthy fact that heads of gnos-
tic schools and founders of gnostic systems are desig-
nated as Jews by the Church Fathers. Some derive
all heresies, including tiiose of gnosticism, from Ju-
daism (Hegesippus in Eusebius, "' Hist. Eccl. " iv. 22 ;
comp. Harnack, "Dogmengesch."3d ed. i. 232, note
1). It must furthermore be noted that Hebrew
words and names of God provide the skeleton for
several gnostic systems. Christians or Jews con-
verted from paganism would have used as the foun-
dation of their systems terms borrowed from the
Greek or Syrian translations of the Bible. This fact
proves at least that the principal elements of gnosti-
cism were derived from Jewish speculation, while it
does not preclude the possibility of new wine hav-
ing been poured into old bottles.
Cosmogonic - theological speculations, philoso-
phemes on God and the world, constitute the sub-
stance of gnosis. They are based on
Pre- the first sections of Genesis and Ezekiel,
Christian, for which there are in Jewish specula-
tion two well-established and therefore
old terms: "Ma'aseh Bereshit" and "Ma'aseh Mer-
kabah." Doubtless Beu Sira was thinking of these
speculations when he uttered the warning: "Seek
not things that are too hard for thee, and search not
out things that are above thy strength. The things
that have been commanded thee, think thereupon ;
for thou hast no need of the things that are secret "
(Ecclus. [Sirich] iii. 21-22, R. V.). The terms here
emphasized recur in the Talmud in the accounts of
gnosis. " There is no doubt that a Jewish gnosti-
cism existed before a Christian or a Judaeo-Christian
gnosticism. As may be seen even in the apoca-
lypses, since the second century b.c. gnostic thought
was bound up with Judaism, which had accepted
Babylonian and Syrian doctrines ; but the relation of
this Jewish gnosticism to Christian gnosticism may,
perhaps, no longer be explained " (Harnack," "Ge-
schichte der Altchristlichen Litteratur," p. 144). The
great age of Jewish gnosticism is further indicated
by the authentic statement that Johanan b. Zakkai,
who was bom probably in the century before the
common era, and was, according to Sukkah 28a,
versed in that science, refers to an interdiction
against "discussing the Creation before two pupils
and the throne-chariot before one."
In consequence of this interdiction, notwithstand-
ing the great age and the resulting high develop-
ment of Jewish gnosticism, only f rag-
Sources, ments of it have been preserved in the
earlier portions of traditional litera-
ture. The doctrines that were to be kept secret
were of course not discussed, but they were occa-
sionally touched upon in passing. Such casual
references, however, are not sufficient to permit
any conclusions with regard to a Jewish gnostic sys-
tem. If such a system ever existed (which may be
assumed, although the Jewish mind has in general
no special predilection for systems), it surely existed
in the form of comments on the story of Creation and
on Ezekiel 's vision of the throne-chariot. It is even
probable that the carefully guarded doctrines lost
much of their terrifying secrecy in the course of the
centuries, and became the subject of discussion
among the adepts. Magic, at first approached with
fear, likewise loses its terrifying aspects as the circle
of its disciples enlarges. The same thing happened
in the case of gnosticism, which was itself largely
colored by magic. Hence it may be assumed that
the scattered references of the amoraim of the third
to the fifth century c.E., which in view of the state-
ments made by the heresiologists of tlie Christian
Church are recognized as being gnostic in nature.
Quosticism
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
682
contain much older gnostic thought. They are
quoted in the names of later scribes only because
the latter modified the ideas in question or connected
them with passages of Scripture, and not because
they were the authors of them or the originators of
the system. It is also Iiighly probable that a not in-
considerable part of the earliest Jewish gnosis is still
extant, though in somewhat modified form, in the
mystical small midrashim that have been collected
in Jellinek's "Bet ha-Midrash," and in the medieval
products of the Jewish Cabala. Although at pres-
ent means are not at hand to distinguish the earlier
from the later elements, it is undeniable that the
devotees of secret science and magic in general can
not be easily exterminated, though they may seem
to disappear from time to time. Krochmal, and
after him Joel, have already pointed out gnostic
doctrines in the Zohar. Further investigation will
show the relationship of gnosticism to the Cabala, as
well as that of both to magic in general.
In the gnosticism of the second century "three
elements must be observed, the speculative and
philosophical, the ritualistic and mys-
Definition tical, and the practical and ascetic "
and Termi- (Harnack, I.e. p. 219). These three
nology. elements may all be traced to Jewish
sources. The ritualistic and mystical
element, however, was here much less developed
than in JudjEO-Christian and Christian gnosticism,
as the liturgical worship and the religio-legal life
had been definitely formulated for many ages. Al-
though very clear traces of it exist, it is difficult to
determine exactly the limits of gnosis and to distin-
guish between what belongs to its domain and what
to the domains of theology and magic. This diffi-
culty is due to the nature of gnosis itself, the chief
characteristic of which is syncretism, and also to the
nature of the Jewish sources, which do not deal with
definite problems, but with various questions indis-
criminately. If the gnostic systems were not known
through other sources, the statements relating to
them in the rabbinical works could not be recog-
nized. These elements were, in fact, discovered
only in the first half of the last century (Krochmal,
Gratz), and new ones have been ascertained by more
recent investigators (Joel, Friedlander, etc.); much,
however, still remains to be done.
The speculations concerning the Creation and the
heavenly throne-chariot (i.e., concerning the dwell-
ing-place and the nature of God), or, in other words,
the philosophizings on heaven and earth, are ex-
pressly designated as gnostic. The principal passage
with reference thereto is as follows: "Forbidden
marriages must not be discussed before three, nor the
Creation before two, nor the throne-chariot even be-
fore one, unless he be a sage who comprehends in
virtue of his own knowledge ["hakam u-mebin mi-
da'ato "]. Whoever regards four things would better
not have been born : the things above, the things be-
low, the things that were before, and the things that
shall be. Whoever has no regard for the honor of his
God would better not have been born" (Hag. ii. 1).
As Johanan b. Zakkai refers to this interdiction, it
must have been formulated in pre-Christian times
(Tosef., Hag. ii. 1, and parallels). The characteristic
words " hakam u-mebin mi-da'ato " occur here, corre-
sponding to the Greek designations yvuaig and yvaxj-
TiKoi (I Tim. vi. 30; I Cor. viii. 1-3). The threefold
variation of the verb J?n^ in the following passage is
most remarkable : " In order that one may know and
make known and that it become known, that the
same is the God, the Maker, and the Creator " (Abot
iv. end; Krochmal, "MorehNebuke ha-Zeman," p.
208); these words clearly indicate the gnostic dis-
tinction between " God " and the " demiurge. " " Not
their knowledge but my knowledge " (Hag. 15b),
is an allusion to gnosis, as is also the statement
that man has insight like angels (Gen. R. viii. 11
[ed. Theodor, p. 65, JUD]). These expressions also
occur elsewhere, while yvuacg and yvuariKdg are not
found once in the rabbinical vocabulary, though it
has borrowed about 1,500 words from the Greek; it
may be concluded, therefore, that these speculations
are genuinely Jewish. In classical Greek yvuariKdg
does not mean "one who knows," but "tbat which
is to be known " ; hence the technical term may even
have been coined under Jewish influence.
Gnosis was originally a secret science imparted
only to the initiated (for instance, Basilides, in
Epiphanius, "Hsereses," xxiv. 5) who had to bind
themselves by oath, appr/ra (pvXd^ai rd r^f Sidaa-
Kalida ciyu/xEva (Justin, "Gnost." in
A Secret Hippolytus, "Philosophosemena," v.
Science. 24; comp. ib. v. 7: dnoppr/Toc Myoc; Kal
fivoTiKdg; also Wobbermin, "Religions-
geschichte Studien zur Frage der Beeinflussung des
Urchristenthums D urch das An tike My sterienwesen, "
p. 149; and Anrich, "Das Antike Mysterienwesen in
Seinem Einflussauf das Christen thum," p. 79). The
gnostic schools and societies, however, could not have
made very great demands on their adherents, or they
could not have increased enough to endanger the
Church as they did. The Pneumatics, who formed a
closed community, endeavored to enlarge it (Herzog-
Hauck, I.e. vi. 734). Indeed, most gnostic sects prob-
ably carried on an open propaganda, and the same
may be. observed in the case of Jewish gnosticism.
The chief passages, quoted above, forbid in general
the teaching of this system, and Eleazar (3d cent.)
refused in fact to let Johanan (d. 279) teach him it.
Origen, who lived at the same time in Palestine, also
knew the " Merkabah " as a secret science (" Contra
Celsum," vi. 18; comp. Friedlander, " Der Vorchrist-
liche Jiidische Gnosticismus, " pp. 51-57, on Philo and
the conditions of being initiated). Joseph, the Baby-
lonian amora (d. 322), studied the " Merkabah " ; the
ancients of Pumbedita studied "the story of the
Creation " (Hag. 13a). As they studied it together,
they were no longer strict in preserving secrecy.
Still less concealment was there in post-Talmudic
times, and hardly any in the Middle Ages. Philos-
ophy never has been hedged with secrecy, and the
mandate of secrecy reminds one of the K<l>vl3e, Kphfie
of the magic papyri. Gnosis was concealed because
it might prove disastrous to the unworthy and un-
initiated, like magic formulas. By "correct knowl-
edge " the upper and the lower world may be put in
motion. When Eleazar was discussing the throne-
chariot, fire came down from heaven and flamed
around those present; the attending angels danced
before them, like wedding-guests before the groom,
and the trees intoned songs of praise. When Eliezer
683
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Gnosticism
and Joshua were studying the Bible, "fire came
down from heaven and flamed around them," so
that tlie father of Elisha b. Abuyah, tlie gnostic re-
ferred to below, asked alirightedly : "Do you mean
to set my house on fire? " (Yer. Hag. 77a, b; comp.
Lev. R. xvi. 4; Friedliinder, "Der Vorchristliche
Jiidische Gnosticismus," p. 59). These men were
all pupils of Johanan b. Zakkai. When two other
scholars interpreted the Merkabah the earth shook
and a rainbow appeared in the clouds, although it
was summer. These stories indicate that this secret
doctrine revealed the eternally acting media of the
creation of heaven and earth.
Knowledge of this kind was dangerous for the
uninitiated and unworthy. When a boy read the
Merkabah (Ezek. i.) before his teacher and "entered
the hashmal with his knowledge " [^DKTia |''3D n\Tl],
fire came out of the hashmal [comp. Ezek. i. 4, "as
hashmal out of the fire"] and consumed him [Hag.
13a], for the boy was one who knew [D3n = yvua-
TiKoc]. Gnosis is neither pure philosophy nor pure
religion, but a combination of the two with magic,
the latter being the dominant element, as it was the
beginning of all religion and philosophy. The
expression "to shake the world," used by the
gnostic Bar Zoma (Gen. II. ii. 4, and parallels), re-
minds one of the origins of gnosis. The phrase " to
trim the plants," occurring in the second leading
passage on Jewish gnosticism, quoted below, must
be noted here, for it refers, of course, to the influ-
encing of the heavenly world by gnostic means.
The ophitic diagram that Krochmal shows in the
pictures that "may not be looked upon" (Tosef.,
Shab., and parallels), is evidently de-
Gnostic rived from magic, for the cabalistic
Signs. sign of the pentagram is found on one
of the earliest shards (Bliss and Mac-
alister, " Excavations in Palestine During the Years
1898-1900," plates 29, 42; Dr. Emaus, in "Vajda,
Magyar Zsid6 Szemle," xvii. 315 et seq.). A mere
reference to this view must suffice here ; its impor-
tance has been noted by Anrich, I.e. pp. 86-87; it
points the way to an understanding of Jewish
gnosis. A few interesting examples may be given
here. The following passage occurs in the Berlin
Papyrus, i. 20, Parthey : " Take milk and honey
and taste them, and something divine will be in
your heart." The Talmud, curiously enough (Hag.
13a), refers the phrase, " Honey and milk are under
thy tongue" (Cant. iv. 11), to the Merkabah, one of
the principal parts of Jewish gnosis, saying that the
knowledge of the Merkabah, which is sweeter than
milk and honey, shall remain under the tongue,
meaning that it shall not be taught (comp. Dietrich,
"Abraxas." p. 157: "honey and milk must be of-
fered "). The Valentinians taught that in order to
attain salvation the pneumatic required nothing fur-
ther "than gnosis and the formulae \kTTippTifiaTa\oi
the mysteries" (Epiphanius, " Haereses," xxxi. 7).
"Four scholars, Ben Azzai, Ben Zoma, Aher
[Elisha b. Abuyah], and Rabbi Akiba, entered para-
dise [mis = TrapdJfiCTOf] ; Ben Azzai beheld it and
died ; Ben Zoma beheld it and went mad ; Aher be-
held it and trimmed the plants; Akiba went in and
came out in peace" (Tosef., Hag. ii. 3; Hag. 14b;
Yer, Hag. 77b ; Cant. R. i. 4 ). The entering into
paradise must be taken literally, as Blau points
out (" Altjiidisches Zauberwesen," pp. 115 et seq.).
The following proof may be added to
The Four those given there : " In the beginning
Who of the Paris Papyrus is that great ana-
Entered 6avaria/j.6^, in wliich the mystic rises
Paradise, above stars and suns ev eKaraaec ovk iv
eavT(f) Lv, near to the Godhead. By
such art lamblichus, freed from his body, endeavored
to enter the felicity of the gods [' De Mysteriis, ' i. 12],
and thus his slaves said that they had seen him, ten
ells above the earth, his body and garments gleam-
ing in golden beauty" (Dietrich, I.e. p. 152). Paul
(II Cor. xii. 1-4) speaks similarly of paradise, a pas-
sage that Joel ("Die Religionsgesch." i. 163, note 3)
misinterprets as a " picture of gnosis. " This instruct-
ive passage is as follows: "It is not expedient for
me, doubtless, to glory. I will come to visions and
revelations of the Lord. I knew a man in Christ
above fourteen years ago (whether in the body, I
can not tell ; or whether out of the body, I can not
tell: God knoweth); such an one caught up to the
third heaven. And I know such a man. . . . How
that he was caught up into paradise, and heard un-
speakable words, which it is not lawful for a man
to utter."
Philo says, similarly: "Some one might ask, 'If
true holiness consists in imitating the deeds of God,
why should I be forbidden to plant a grove in the
sanctuary of God, since God did the same thing when
He planted a garden?' . . . While
"Trim- God plants and sows the beautiful in
ming the the soul, the spirit sins, saying, ' I
Plants." plant ' " (" De Allegoriis Legum," §§ 52
et seq.\ ed. Mangey, ^§ 117 et seq.).
Philo here speaks also of trimming the trees. It is
evident that this is the language of gnosis, but the
words are used allegorically, as in Scripture. The
literal interpretation here is perhaps also the correct
one. The mystic imitates God, as Philo says, in
planting a grove — that is, the mystic becomes him-
self a creator. He likewise has the power to des-
troy. There were books on the plants of the seven
planets — for example, a work by Hermes, Bordvai
Tuv 'kpocKonuv (Dietrich, I.e. p. 157, note 1). Hence
the planets were also regarded as "plantations," and
Aher's " trimming of the plants " in paradise must
be interpreted in this sense. Berechiah (4th- cent.)
interpreted the words of Canticles i. 4, " God brought
me into his apartments," to refer to the mysteries of
the Creation and the throne of God (Cant. R. ad loc. ;
Bacher, "Ag. Bab. Amor." iii. 356). Hence he re-
garded the knowledge of the Merkabah as an enter-
ing of the apartments of God, or as entering the
"Pardes." Akiba says to his companions who have
entered paradise; "When you come to the pure
marble stones, do not say, 'Water, water!' for of
this it is said (Ps. ci. 7) : 'He that worketh deceit
shall not dwell within my house ' " (Hag. xiv. 6).
"Ben Zoma stood and pondered; R. Joshua passed
him and addressed him once and twice, but received
no answer. The third time he answered quickly.
Then Joshua said to him: ' Whence the feet [pXD
D'^J"in]?' He answered, 'Nothing "whence," my
master.' Then R.Joshua said, 'I call heaven and
earth to witness that I will not stir from this place
Gnosticism
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
684
until you answer me, Whence the feet? ' Ben Zoraa
answered thus: 'I was contemplating tlie Creation,
and between the lower and the upper waters the dis-
tance is not greater than two or three fingers' breadth,
for it is not written that the Spirit of God "moved,"
but that the Spirit of God "hovered," just as a bird
moves his wings, and his wings touch it and do not
touch it. ' Joshua tlien turned and said to his pupils,
' Ben Zomais gone [p "I^n]-' " BenZoma remained
on earth but a few days longer (Gen. R. ii. 17). The
expression "is gone" refers to ecstasy, the corre-
sponding expression in the parallel passages being
pn30 |"ny ("he is always beside himself ").
Thinkers have devoted much time to speculations
on the creation of the world ; even the Jews who
were loyal to the Law connected these speculations
with the first chapter of the Torah, which dominated
the whole of Jewish life and thought.
The Crea- In order to check the philosophemes
tion of the a scribe of the third century said, par-
World, aphrasing Prov. xxv. 2, "In the first
chapter of the Torah it is the glory of
God to conceal things; in the following ones, to
search them out " (Gen. R. ix., beginning). In view
of the imfriendly attitude of official Judaism the ex-
istence of the numerous gnostic allusions can be ex-
plained only on the ground that not all speculations
on the Creation were held to touch upon the knowl-
edge of the act of creation (comp. the principal pas-
sage in Hagigah). The wise Joshua himself gives
an explanation of the Creation (Gen. R. x. 3). The
leading questions of cosmology are : How, and by
whom, and by wjiat means, was the world created ?
"A philosopher said to the patriarch Gamaliel II.
(c. 100), ' Your God is a great builder, but He had
efficient means — clay, darkness, and water, wind,
and watery depths [tehom] ' " (Gen. R. i. 4). Johanau
(d. 279) said : " One should not strive to know what
was before the Creation, because in speaking of the
palace of an earthly king one does not mention the
dungheap that was formerly on that spot " (Hag.
I6a). One may see the nature of these speculations
from such passages: " If God had not said to heaven
and earth: ' Enough! ' they would still continue to
extend " (Gen. R. iv, 6). God is therefore called '»Tt;>
(" he spake, n " = " enough "), and among the Naa-
senes 'Raaidalog = ^ig; pK plays, in fact, an impor-
tant part (Hilgenfeld, " Ketzesgeschichte des
Urchristenthums," p. 257). The spheres of the sun
and moon are in the second of the seven heavens
(Gen. R. vi. 5). The creation of light was espe-
cially puzzling, several kinds being distinguished
{ib. iii. 4).
Jewish thought was particularly sensitive in re-
gard to monotheism, refusing all speculations that
threatened or tended to obscure God's
Demiurge, eternity and omnipotence. R. Akiba
explained that the mark of the ac-
cusative, riK, before "heaven and earth " in the first
verse of Genesis was used in order that the verse
might not be interpreted to mean that heaven and
earth created God ("Elohim " : Gen. R. i. 1), evidently
attacking the gnostic theory according to w^hich the
supreme God is enthroned in unapproachable dis-
tance, while the world is connected Avith a demiurge
(comp. Gen. R. viii. 9, and many parallel passages).
Tlie archons of the gnostics perliapsowe their exist-
ence to the word n''CJ'N"l3 = apxv. The first cliange
made by the seventy translators in their Greek ver-
sion was, according to a baraita (2d cent, at latest),
to place the word "God" at the beginning of the
first verse of Genesis. Rashi, who did not even
known gnosticism by name, said it was done in order
to make it impossible for any one to say, "The be-
ginning ['Apxff as God] created God [Elohim]."
Genesis i. 26 they rendered: "I [not "We"] will
create a man" (comp. Gen. R. viii. 8). The plural
in the latter passage is explained on the ground that
God took counsel with the souls of the pious. Gen-
esis V. 2 was amended to : " Man and woman created
he him" (not "them"), in order that no one might
think He had created two hermaphrodites (thus
Rashi; comp. Gen. R. viii.; av(^p6yvvog, 6i-p6aoToc:
"Philosoph."ed. Duncker, v. 7, p. 132; Adam apdf lo-
^7j?^vg and other passages in Hilgenfeld, I.e. pp. 242,
255; firjTpo-arup in Wobbermin, I.e. pp. 81, 85; de-
rived from Babylonian cosmogony ; Berosus, in
Eusebius, "Chronicon,"ed. SchOne, i. 14-18). Gen.
xi. 7 was changed so as to read "I will come
down. "
It may be mentioned here, in connection with
these views about original hermaphroditism, that
even the earlier authorities of the Talmud were ac-
quainted with the doctrine of syzygy
Syzyg-y (Joel, I.e. i. 159 et seq.). The follow-
Doctrine. ing passages indicate how deeply the
ancients were imbued with this doc-
trine : " All that God created in His world. He cre-
ated male and female" (B. B. 74b; comp. Hag. 15a,
"mountains and hills," and R. H. 11a). God made
man out of the dust of the earth (Gen. ii. 7) : " dust "
(" 'afar "j is masculine, " earth" (" adamah ") is femi-
nine. The potter also takes male and female earth
in order that his wares may be sound (Gen. R. xiv.).
The doctrine of the division of the waters into male
and female is intimately connected with the gnosis
of the Creation. R. Levi said : " The upper waters
[rain] are male; the lower waters ["tehom," the
great water in which the earth floats] are female, for
it is written [Isa. xlv. 8]: 'Let the earth open [as
the woman to the man] and bring forth salvation
[generation] ' " (Yer. Ber. 14a, 21 ; comp. Pirke R.
El. v. and xxiii., "male and female waters"). The
rain is called "rebi'ah " because it mingles with the
earth {ib.; Simon b. Gamaliel, 2d cent.). The rain
is the spouse of the earth (Ta'an. 6b, where the ex-
pressions used are " bride " and " groom "). In the
introduction to the Zohar sins also are divided into
male and female.
The Jews of course emphatically repudiated the
doctrine of the demiurge, who was identified bj' some
Christian gnostics with the God of the
Prince of Old Testament and designated as the
the World, "accursed God of the Jews," from
whom all the evil in the world was de-
rived (Epiphanius, " H.Treses, " xl. 7 ; comp. Harnack,
"Geschichte der Altchristlichen Litteratur," p. 174;
Herzog-Hauck, I.e. vi. 736; Friedliinder, I.e. p. 69).
The monotheism of the Jews was incompatible with
a demiurge of any kind. The passage Abot iv. 22,
already quoted, is evidently directed against the
demiiu-ge and similar views: "To be announced
685
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Qnosticism
and to be made knowu that He is the God, the
God, the Maker, the Creator, the Prudent, the Judge
. . . that He shall judge . . . for all belongs to Him.
If thy bad inclination assures thee that the nether
world will be thy refuge, [know] that tliou hast
been created and born against thy will, that thou
wilt live and die against thy will, and that thou wilt
give account before the King of Kings against thy
will." The belief in a "prince of the world " is a
reflex of the demiurge. When God said, "I ar-
range everything after its kind," the prince of the
world sang a song of praise (Hul. 60a). It was he
that recited Ps. xxxvii. 25, for it is he, not God,
who lives only since the Creation (Yeb. 16b). He
desired God to make King Ilezekiah the Messiah,
but God said, " That is my secret " ; God would not
reveal to the demiurge His intentions in regard to
Israel (Sanh. 94a; comp. Krochmal, I.e. p. 202).
The two powers ("shete reshuyot"), a good and
an evil, are often mentioned. In order to explain
evil in the world the gnostics assumed two prin-
ciples, which, however, are not identical with the
Mazdean dualism (comp. Yer. Ber.,
Two end; Krochmal, ^.c. p. 208, note; Hul.
Principles. 87a; Friedlander, I.e. pp. 80 et seq.).
On dualisms, trinities, eight powers
("dj-as," "tetras," "ogdoas"), see Hilgenfeld, I.e.
pp. 236 et seq. Hypostases often occur (Krochmal,
I.e. p. 205). God has two thrones, one for judg-
ment, and one for "zedakah " (benevolence, justice,
and mercy ; Hag. 14a).
The official view, and certainly also the com-
mon one, was that founded on Scripture, that God
called the world into being by His word (see Ps.
xxxiii. 6, 9: "By the word of the Lord were the
heavens made ; and all the host of them by the breath
of his mouth. For he spake and it was done; he
commanded, and it stood fast "). According to tra-
dition, however, it required merely an act of His
will, and not His word (Targ. Yer. to Gen. trans-
lates " He willed," instead of " He spake "). There
were materialistic ideas side bj^ side with this spiri-
tual view. The Torah existed 2,000 years before the
Creation; it, and not man, knows what preceded
Creation (Gen. R. viii. 2). It says, " I was the in-
strument by means of which God created the world "
(Gen. R. i.). This idea is rationalized in the Hag-
gadah by comparing the Torah with the plans of a
builder. Rab (200 c.e.), a faithful preserver of Pales-
tinian traditions, refers to the combinations of letters
by means of which tJie world was created (Ber. 58a ;
Epstein, " Kecherches sur le Sefer Yezirah," p. 6,
note 2).
The gnosis of the Palestinian Marcus conceived
the world to have come into being through the per-
mutation of letters (Griitz, " Ginosticismus und Juden-
thum," pp. 105 et seq.). The arocxda of the alpha-
bet corresponds to the (TToixela of tlie
The Sefer universe (Wobbermin, I.e. p. 128).
Yezirah. Epstein calls tliis view an astrological
one, and he expounds it further {I.e.
pp. 2ii et seq.). The several elements of the alpha-
bet play an important role in this cosmologic system,
a reflection of which is found in one of thehaggadah,
in which the letters, beginning with the last, ap-
pear before God, requesting that the world be cre-
ated through them. They are refused, until bet
appears, with which begins the story of Creation.
Alef complains for twenty-six generations, and is
only pacified when it heads the Decalogue (Gen. R.
i. 1). It was evidently held that the world came
into being with the first sound that God uttered.
Johanan thought that a breath sufficed, hence the
world was created by n (Gen. R. xii.). This view
is connected with another view, according to which
God first caused the spirit ("ruah " = wind) to be.
In the Sefer Yezirah, the three principal elements of
the alphabet are J^DN; that is, n'lN (air), D'O (water),
and K?x (fire: Epstein, I.e. pp. 24:etseq.). According
to this conception there are three, not four, elements,
as was commonly assun>ed after the Arabic period.
Curiously enough, the second book of " Jeu," p. 195,
and the "Pistis Sophia," p. 375 (quoted in Herzog-
Hauck, I.e. vi. 784), refer to three kinds of baptism
— with water, with fire, and with spirit. It is im-
possible to say to what extent the Yezirah specula-
tions influenced the Cabala and its principal manual,
the Zohar, as well as its prominent adepts, at the
close of the Middle Ages and in modern times, as
there are no special studies on the subject. Many
gnostic elements, as, for example, the syzygy doc-
trine (in which are found father, mother, and son),
have doubtless been preserved in the Cabala, to-
gether with magic and mysticism.
Gnosis was regarded as legitimate by Judaism.
Its chain of tradition is noted in the principal pas-
sage in Hagigah, Johanan b. Zakkai
Anti-Je-w- heading the list. Here is found the
ish Gnosis, threefold division of men into hylics,
psychics, and pneumatics, as among
the Valentinians. Although these names do not oc-
cur, the "third group," as the highest, is specifically
mentioned (Hag. 14b), as Krochmal pointed out be-
fore Joel. The ophitic diagram was also known,
for the yellow circle which was upon it is mentioned
(Joel, I.e. p. 142). Gnosis, like every other system
of thought, developed along various lines; from
some of these the Jewish faith, especially monothe-
ism, was attacked, and from others Jewish morality,
with regard to both of which Judaism was always
very sensitive. There were gnostics who led an im-
moral life, Aher (Elisha ben Abuyah) being among
these, according to legendary accounts (comp. Pes.
56a; Eccl. R. i. 8; Harnack, I.e. pp. 166 et seq:; Hil-
genfeld, I.e. pp. 244-250). But there were also gnos-
tic sects practising asceticism (Herzog-Hauck, I.e.
vi. 734, 755). Jose b. Halafta seems to have be-
longed to one of these, for he speaks of " five plants
[sons] that he planted." This is the language of
gnosis. Those parties which, though within Juda-
ism, were nevertheless inimical to it — among them
Judseo-Christianit}- — naturally used gnosis, then the
fashion of the day, as a weapon against the ruling
party, official Judaism. (On the relation between
Jewish and Christian gnosis see Harnack, I.e. p. 144,
and Friedlander, I.e. p. 63; on antinomian gnosis
see Friedlander, I.e. pp. 76 et seq.) The term "mi-
nim " in the Talmud often refers to gnostics, as Fried-
lander, and before him Krochmal and Giiitz, have
pointed out. The knowledge of the ongin and
nature of man also belonged to gnosis (Irenaeus, 1
14, 4: yr/vudKu ddev elfii; comp. Clem. Al. Exc ex
O-oat
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
686
Theod. 78; see Homunctllus ; Adam). There are
also other traces of Gnosticism iu Judaism (comp.
Gen. R. vii. 5). See also Cosmogony ; Creation.
BiBLiOGRArtiY : N. Krochmal, Moreh Nebuke ha-Zeman, pp.
199 et seo., Leraberg, 18&3; H. Gratz, Gnosticismus und Ju-
denthum, Krotoschia, 1846 (the chief authority) ; Gratz, Oesch.
Iv. 113 et seq.; Joel, Die Reli(}ionsgesch. 1. 103-170, Breslau,
1880- M FTiedVinder, Der Vorchristliche Jildische (xnosti-
ciamus, Gottingen, 1898; Schiirer. in Theol. Litteraturzei-
tuna, 1899, pp. 167-170; Honig, Ophiten; A. Epstein, i?e-
cherches sur le Sefer Yezirah, Paris, 1894 (reprinted from
B E.J.xxviii.-xxix.); I. Matter, Histoire Critique dtiGnos-
ticisme, Paris, 1828; Mansel, The Gnostic Heresies, London,
1875; A. Hilgenfeld, Ketzerqesch. des Vrchristenthurns,
Lelpsic, 1884 ; A. Harnacls, Gcsch. der Altcliristlichen Lit-
Uratur, i., ih. 1893 ; idem, Doomengesch. 3d ed., Freiburg im
Breisgau, and Leipsic, 1894 ; A. Dietrich, Abraxas, Leipsic,
1891; G. Aurlch, Das Antike Mysterienwesen in bemem
Einhuss auf das Christenthum, Gottingen, 1894 ; G. Wob-
heTrmn,Religionsgesch. Studien zur Frage derBeeinflussung
des Urchristenthums Durch das Antike Mysterienwesen,
Berlin, 1896 ; G. R. S. Mead, Fragmente eines VerschMenen
Glaubens (German transl. by A. von UlrlchK ib. 1902; A.
Wurm, Die Irrlehrer im Ersten Jnhannesbrief, Freiburg
Im Breisgau, 1903; Biblische Studien, vili. 1. For other
works, see Herzog-Hauck, Real-Encyc. vi. 728.
J.
L. B.
GOAT.— Biblical Data: " 'Ez" is the generic
name for both sexes. Special terms for the he-goat :
" 'attud," Gen. xxxi. 10; Ps. 1. 9, etc. ; "zafir," Ezra
viii. 35; II Chron. xxix. 21; "sa'ir," Gen. xxxvii.
31; Lev. iv. 23, etc.; and "tayish," Gen. xxx. 35,
etc. "Seh," usually meaning "sheep," is also used
for "goat" in Ex. xii. 5 and Deut. xiv. 4, and both
sheep and goats are comprised under " zon " (small
cattle), in contrast to " bakar " (large cattle). For
the young goat, or kid, " gedi " is used in Gen.
xxvii. 9, Judges vi. 19, etc., and the feminine form,
"gediyyah," in Cant. i. 8.
Of the domesticated goat, Capra hircus, to which
the names generally refer, the chief breed occurring
in Palestine is the mamber (from " Mamre"), or Syrian
goat, with long ears and stout horns. The mohair,
or Angora goat, with silky hair, is seldom met with
in Palestine proper. The wild or mountain goat,
Capra mgagrus, occurring south of the Lebanon, is
probably intended by "akko" (wild goat; Deut.
xiv. 5 among the clean animals) and " ya'el " (A. V.
"roe," R. V. "doe"), whose fondness for rocky
heights is referred to in I Sam. xxiv. 3; Ps. civ.
18; Job xxxix. 1.
The goat formed an important part of Palestinian
husbandry (Gen. xxx. 32, xxxii. 15; I Sam. xxv.
2; Prov. xxvii. 26; Cant. iv. 1, vi. 5). Its milk and
flesh were staple articles of food (Prov. xxvii. 27);
the kid was considered a delicacy
Usefulness. (Gen. xxvii. 9, 14; Judges vi. 19, xiii.
15, etc. ; comp. also Ex. xxiii. 19,
xxxiv. 26; Deut. xiv. 21, the prohibition against
seething the kid in the milk of its mother ; see Diet-
ary Laws) ; the hair of the goat was woven into
curtains and tent-covers (Ex. xxvi. 7, xxxv. 26,
etc.), or used for stuffing cushions (I Sam. xix. 13);
its skin was employed for garments (Heb. xi. 37;
comp. Gen. xxvii. 16) and for bottles (Gen. xxi. 14;
Josh. ix. 5; comp. Matt. xi. 17). The goat entered
largely into the sacrificial ritual (Lev. iii. 12 ; iv. 23,
28; v. 6; comp. Gen. xv. 9); on the Day of Atone-
ment a "scapegoat" carried away the sins of the
people to AzAZEL (Lev. xvi. 10 et seq.). The local
name "En Gedi" (I Sam. xxiv. 2; at present 'Ain
Jidi) attests the frequency of the goat in Palestine.
Like the ram, the he-goat as the leader of the
flock (comp. Prov. xxx. 31) symbolizes the rulers
and rich in contrast to the poor and common people
(Isa. xiv. 9; Jer. 1. 8, li. 40; Ezek. xxxiv. 17; Zech.
X. 3; comp. Dan. viii. 5); and, like the gazelle, the
female wild goat, "ya'alah," recalls the grace of
woman (Prov. v. 19).
In Rabbinical Literature : The Talmud
ascribes to the goat great strength, endurance (Be-
zah 25b), and pluck (Shab. 77b). Job's goats killed
the wolves which assailed them (B. B. 15b), and Hani-
na's would bring bears upon their horns (Ta'an. 25a,
and parallels). Goat's milk fresh from the udder
relieves pains of the heart (Tern. 15b), and that of
a white goat possesses especial curative properties
(Shab. 109b). Against diseases of the spleen the
same organ of a goat which has not yet borne young
is recommended (Git. 69b). Among the manifold
uses of the goat may be mentioned, in addition to
those given above, the making of its horns and
hoofs into vessels (Hul. 25b). The blood of the he-
goat is more similar to human blood than is that of
any other animal (Gen. R. Ixxxiv. 19). "Goat of
ithm " in Hul. 80a may refer to a forest goat, or to a
mountain goat (" bale " in Persian = height).
Bibliography : Tristram, Natural History of the Bible, pp.
88-97 ; L. Lewysohn, Zoologie des Talmuds, pp. 123-126.
E. G. H. I- M. C.
END OP VOL. V.